February 11, 2012: I've had some issues uploading images for a few days, so haven't been being an online TarotWitch (real life tarot witchery was just fine, however--yes, there is life offline). But I finally think I have fixed the "issue" by going back to the old blog interface, so we're back. And since we've missed almost a week, instead of the card-a-day draw that is my usual procedure, we've got an actual full reading today. We missed five days, so here's a Five Elements Spread, with the associated questions and interpretations for each card. (A note about the elemental order here--I am a Traditional Witch so my Compass moves from Air to Fire to Earth to Water to Spirit. If you use the Wiccan/Golden Dawn correspondence system, this draw will still work for you, however, because it is not about directional correspondences but about each individual element--so try not to think of them as being "out of order" but simply consider each card individually)
1. Air/Ideas and Insights: What should I be "seeing" today that I usually don't "see"?
We've drawn the four of stones from the Haindl Tarot, which is the "power of earth". In this deck, "earth" stands for the Planet, the Living Earth. So--there is something in our physical surroundings today that we usually don't notice, that maybe we need to have brought to our attention. Take a look around your house, your yard, your neighborhood, your world...what natural object, phenomenon, occurrence, is there that needs your focus today? This isn't about doing chores in the yard. It is about your "message" from Mother Earth. She's speaking to you. Listen.
2. Fire/Desires and Passions: What do I "want" today, and is this what I should "want", or is my "Will" something else?
We have here the Seven of Wands, again from the Haindl Tarot. Wands are Fire in this deck, so the resonance of the element is squared. And the Seven of Wands, labeled "Courage", is the card we use in this deck to represent the ability to withstand opposition and keep to our designated course and focus...we are courageous enough to stand firm, even if we are standing alone. So--for today, what/who is going to try to make you change your mind about something you Will/Want--and why shouldn't you?
3. Earth/Mundane and Physical Circumstances: What is my "condition" and what should I pay attention to in the realm of the physical (i.e. "real life") today?
This card is the Three Of Cups from Daniel's Bootstrap Tarot. The lovely ladies are a perfect representation of the basic meaning of Three Cups--conviviality, friendship, celebration, exuberance--so--Is there a parTAY in your day today, and if there isn't, should there be? Someone is trying to tell you to sit back and relax with friends, celebrate not cerebrate, have a cuppa--or three. So--let's go do that!
4. Water/Emotions, Change, Flux and Flow: What is changing for me today, and how might I like to respond to that emotionally?
We've drawn the four of Wands, reversed, which gives us an interesting view of "Perfection", especially in the Element of Water. Sounds like we're being told to stop trying to "feel right" or "feel perfect", and simply relax into what we are really feeling. Our emotions have a tendency to be the main place we suppress ourselves, and we're being told today to turn the expectation of perfection on its head, and just feel our feelings, whatever they are.
5. Spirit/The Gods, Inner Light: What is the Universe trying to tell me today?
This one is absolutely perfect in the light of the other four cards. The "Knowledge" here doesn't mean book-learning, nor does it indicate factual knowledge. It exemplifies awareness, being in the loop of whatever it is you're considering, and to use one of my most-utilized magical phrases, "Paying Attention." In the light of the other cards, I would use the concept of "Know Thyself" as my message from the Universe. I've been asked to be aware of Mother Earth, stand up for my own Will, enjoy life with friends, and permit myself to feel how I really do feel--so the Universe sums it all up by saying, "You need to Know who you are, and you need to do that thing, and be that thing...." So---I will. You?
February 6, 2012: Luna *The Moon", Daniel's Bootstrap Tarot
The Moon in the traditional Tarot is of equivocal meaning; sometimes it is about Deception, and sometimes it is about one's own Inner Light, as reflected by you from the Light you see shining in others. Mutability, cyclical movement, water and emotion, they all fall into the realm of the Moon. Today's card gives us another view, the Lady in the Moon, Luna, she of the joyous abandon of constant change (did anyone else ever notice that the phrase "constant change" is an oxymoron?)
Luna is dancing, swinging on her silver crescent, naked to the world, and expressing her freedom and her joy in living. She is not particularly securely balanced on her crescent, but I get the idea she might not care if she fell off--it would simply be another night adventure. And somehow, I see her singing. She's simply giddy with the moment, and she's totally immersed herself in the shower of stars around her.
For us, today, Luna is an icon of being in the Now. Everything changes, all the time. Nothing remains constant. And so every moment of living is unexpected, and nothing is "same old same old", because it never IS. So for us, today, Luna says..."Be absolutely full of your light and shine it far and wide. Be absolutely overjoyed at what today may bring you, because in a minute, it will all be different. Be here NOW, be YOU, right NOW....and LOVE IT!" SO--let's do that. Here's to being a Lunatic...just for today!
February 5, 2012: Four of Stones, Haindl Tarot
This card takes us back to the very roots of life, the World Tree, and the immutable, incomprehensible power of the Earth Itself, the silent force beneath, behind, and beyond every act we perform, every moment of our journey, every facet of our being. Mother/Father Earth is the Ultimate Source, and it is in conjunction with the Powers of Earth that we must learn to live our lives, either in compliance, or in transcendence. Rachel Pollock's explanation of this card includes the following ideas:
"The title of this card takes us back to the archaic idea of nature as a mystical force. We see in the Four of Stones the base of an ancient tree, with roots sinking into darkness. It could be Yggdrasil, the World tree, with its roots in the hidden underworld and its branches in heaven....The card calls us to respect the sources of power in our lives. It symbolizes creativity and new ideas. The person may feel overwhelmed by the energy of a situation. If she or he feels afraid, s/he needs to respect that feeling. The four directions tell us to orient ourselves in the situation, to see how the different parts contribute to the whole, and to find our own place."
We ourselves are individual nexi of power, but all our power is sourced in, and arises from, our connection to the Earth, since we are beings of flesh and bone. So, today, we think deeply about our Source, about life on Earth and our part therein. Where are we planted, and how do we bloom in that place?
February 4, 2012: Mother of Swords, Haindl Tarot
She arches over the earth, a starry night sky filled with mysterious stars, and surrounds the green and beating heart of creation with her ever-deepening silence. She is the shadow, the mystery, that which lies at the furthest edges of the psyche and leads us on into journeys with no destination.
She is Nuit, Goddess of the Night, and perhaps is the oldest iconic Goddess in all the cultures of the earth. Her lore is an attempt to answer the age-old question of mankind, "where does the Sun go in the nighttime?" And so, for us, she is the avatar of that-which-lies-within, and bespeaks the journey to our own dark places...
And why is she a Sword? Perhaps because the truth of darkness is so piercing, perhaps because her legends speak of her lying over the face of Geb, the Earth, the obelisk of his phallus piercing her eternal darkness...and perhaps because, of all the states of Being, for humans darkness has always seemed the most threatening.
So, today, we contemplate Nuit. Where is your darkness? What is there to explore within it? And how does your darkness enhance your light?
February 3, 2012: The Mage, Haindl Tarot
This card has layers of complexity in the artwork which were intended, by Haindl, to bespeak the many different aspects of the uses of power, and the many different ways in which we can empower ourselves and use power in the world outside ourselves.
You see the sword and spear making the cross of Gyfu, the rune which bespeaks either a curse or a blessing, or both, over the holy Grail, which is the core essence of personal worth, but which, in this drawing, looks as if it is on the way to tipping over, and whose transparency gives away the fact that it is, in fact, empty. You see the bull of Taurus, material comfort and stability, and the Norse rune Feoh, which is Cattle, wealth, prosperity, and yet between them is the changeable moon and the bleakness of a desert, reminding us of the insecurity of the material world. Our Mage has "two faces", his forward-looking, brightly "enlightened" conscious Self, smiling into the distance which invites him, and his Dark Self, the brooding shadow which literally "overshadows" him in the card, reminding us again that in the uses of power, all is seldom what it seems to be.
As one contemplates this card, different bits and pieces seem to "pop" out at one, with no necessary order nor flow of ideas, and the very lack of synchronicity says a great deal about our attitudes towards power, especially our own personal power, and how confused many of us appear to be when it is time to grasp and use it. This is the very essence of the Western world's confusion about the uses of power, and the differences between being empowered and power-over.
For us, as we look at the message of this card for this day, it needs to be made simple. Each and every day, the Mage dwells within us, and we far too often bypass his call to action. So, today, simply put--what are you supposed to be doing that will empower you, and why are you resisting the doing of it? Put behind you the confusion which whispers in your ear that you are not, in fact, a "powerful" person, and that you need others to tell you how to think and how to act. Accept, for today, the concept that you are, in fact, the boss of your own life, and that you have the power to act as you Will. Then--get up out of your chair, and go and DO it. Okay?
February 2, 2012: Imbolc Day, and Groundhog Day
Again, today, on the second day of Imbolc, our draw is not a Tarot card, but a Celtic oracle. Yesterday we dealt with trees, today we are using the Animal Oracle...Happy
Groundhog Day to our American brothers and sisters, and today's draw is
a cousin of the groundhog!
The Animal Totem for today is "Badger."
Badgers were highly revered by the Celts, with Badger skins found buried
in the graves of chieftains. The nickname "Brock" is derived from its
old Gaelic name of Brocc. Pictish Druids were known as Badgers. This is
probably because the Badger lives deep within the earth, the supposed
dwelling place of gods and ancestral spirits, and is therefore privy to
their secrets, including the mysterious germination of life that takes
place in the underworld. The Badger is one of the sacred animals of the
goddess Brighid and a totem of Imbolc, when the Celtic women gathered
together to celebrate the rebirth of spring symbolized by the Badger
emerging from beneath the earth, just as new growth mysteriously
emerges from the ground.
If it sometimes seems that the whole world is
against you, turning you into the "Badger in a bag", then listen to the
lessons of Badger. His defenses are his fortitude and his indomitable
will, even against overwhelming odds. He does not waste time on blame or
regret, but stands his ground, tenacious and unyielding. If you feel
powerless and angry, stop blaming other people, they can only make you
feel what you allow them to. Go within yourself and find the power of
Badger - centered, grounded, and unshakable. Badger may be advising you
that healing may come from earth-based therapies, such as herbs,
essential oils, massage, and body work, from grounding and feeling your
deep connection to the physical realm. Blessed Bees!
February 1, 2012, The Feast of Imbolc, Brighid's Day
As is my many-years-long tradition this day, my draw of divination on Imbolc is not Tarot, but the Celtic Ogham. And today's Gift from My Lady Brigid is the Hazel, Coll, the tree of
Hidden Wisdom for the Seeker of Wisdom.
As
well as poetic skill, this Ogham card represents intuition, the power
of divination leading straight to the source. Hazel twigs have
traditionally always been used for divining because of their pliancy and
affinity with water. So the Hazel embodies many talents: poetry,
divination and powers of meditation. Through the guidance of this card,
these talents can also be a channel for creative energies, especially
that which allows you to inspire or increase these capacities among
others, through your work, interests and pursuits.
The Hazel, in fact
allows you to be a catalyst or transformer, working through the
promptings of intuition to bring ideas to the
surface. Inspiration from a higher source will be bestowed upon you, as
the Hazel feeds you with spiritual nourishment. You are at a creative
high point. Everything will proceed smoothly if you trust your intuition
and proceed bravely, with the knowledge that all will going accord to
plan. Through your apprenticeship, you are discovering your own power.
Sometimes you will need to act quickly and change your plan as you go
along, but you have all the wisdom, energy, and inspiration that you
need to dance through situation with grace and power.
From the skill and
dexterity needed to crack a seamless hazelnut and remove the meat
without crushing it comes the saying, "that's the whole thing in a
nutshell." The Hazel encourages us to seek out information and
inspiration in all things and emphasizes the value of the enquiring mind
and of learning of all kinds. Just as the hazel concentrates all its
goodness and its continued existence in the kernel of its fruit, so we
attain wisdom by reducing knowledge down to its purest form and passing
it on down the ages.
Through meditating on the essence of wisdom, we
gain creative inspiration. Like the limbs of the hazel, we must remain
pliant in our approach to learning. Concentrated thought in an open mind
can, like the hazel, become a connection with the divine source of all
things. The hazel teaches us the noble arts of learning, teaching,
communication, and healing.
1. Air/Ideas and Insights: What should I be "seeing" today that I usually don't "see"?
2. Fire/Desires and Passions: What do I "want" today, and is this what I should "want", or is my "Will" something else?
3. Earth/Mundane and Physical Circumstances: What is my "condition" and what should I pay attention to in the realm of the physical (i.e. "real life") today?
4. Water/Emotions, Change, Flux and Flow: What is changing for me today, and how might I like to respond to that emotionally?
5. Spirit/The Gods, Inner Light: What is the Universe trying to tell me today?
