Queen of Cups reversed/Ten of Cups. All Cups today!! The Queen of Cups is Water of Water, and can be seen as the purest manifestation of the element of Water, focusing on emotions and the subconscious. The Ten of Cups tells of a moment in time when we feel that we have it all; it also reminds us that being aware of the riches in our possession could give us a glimpse of the Divine. I am being told today that I have these riches in my life, and for today, I should look for them outside of myself.

My Thoth card for today is the Nine of Cups. The Happiness card again! I am feeling pretty lucky today, because I am surrounded by love and serenity. Love is the strongest power there is, and cannot be bought by any coin. I am being reminded that I am rich in ways beyond the physical world.

Sheesh, these cards sound familiar. I have had court cards in just about every throw for a while now, and that Nine of Cups keeps showing up, too.

My horoscope for today: “Plans for a party or group gathering of some kind could take up much of your time and energy, dear Sagittarius. You might have a lot of letters to write, phone calls to make, or other communications to take care of, but this is likely to prove to be a great excuse for getting in touch with your friends. Today could well prove to be a kind of party-before-the party, which is right up your alley. Enjoy your day!” Yep!! Rehills and Fitzgeralds are coming down to Cape May for the first time in quite a while, and the weather is *crosses fingers* supposed to be pretty good.

I did some work on the Sacred Mists Historical Paganism Course last night, in particular the creation myth of ancient Mesopotamia called the Enuma Elish. LOL, I had to read it four times before I felt that I understood it, and I had to make up a “cheat sheet” of the deities, but now I really have a good feel for the myth. It is interesting to me how the myth seems to have been created within older Mesopotamian cultures and then changed and added to as rulers changed and cultures evolved. I think I can tell where the additions were made because the focus of the myth goes from the step by step progression of the different generations of gods born of the original primordial pair, to the glorification of one particular god, Marduk, who is thought to be Babylonian (and could have been added when the military forces of Babylon impacted the local culture).

The myth starts out with one pair of gods, who represent pre-creation chaos; their first children represent the silt of the sea bed which is grouped together to form islands within the deltas that are the meeting place of fresh and salt water. The next generation of deities represent the earth and the sky (which is a logical next step, after land first rises above the water’s surface), and are said to meet at the horizon. The children of this pair begin to be more diversified, yet still within the general categories of sky, earth and underworld. Of course, like any group of children, once there is a group of gods there is noise. The myth tells of the response of the parent deities, which response can even be identified with today.

I think it is interesting that the complaint is first brought to the Mother Goddess. This could very well be echoing everyday life, and could point toward a matriarchal society. The response of the Mother is pretty typical as well: she in effect says that boys will be boys, and wants to leave the situation as it is. Even though attempts are made to counter the response of the Mother through supplications made to the Father, they are unsuccessful; due to the actions taken by one god who is loyal to the Mother, peace is restored (after the Father is taken out of the picture). If we look at this concept literally, we can see that a river that flows into the ocean is absorbed by that ocean; in the tidal areas of a river, the incursion of salt water changes the environment, even after the tides allow the fresh water to temporarily overcome the salt water.

The noticeable change within the myth happens at this point, with the birth of Marduk. Instead of describing a naturally evolving world, the myth now focuses upon the many marvelous traits and powers of Marduk. Marduk’s ascent to power is effectively described by the author of the myth, and it is very easy to feel the increased excitement and focus within the repeated parts of the story. I was reminded by these repetitions of the Christmas carol called The Twelve Days of Christmas, and its 12 verses that repeat all that has come before with the addition of a new concept. This style of repeating the story thus far and then adding a new event serves to escalate awe and excitement, and I could easily imagine the pleasure, enthusiasm and national pride that would have filled a room as people listened to the myth being read aloud.

Also interesting was how the narrator changed the word choices regarding Tiamat. In the early parts of the myth she is not denigrated at all, but rather is treated the same way as any other deity. However, once the focus of the myth shifts to the glorification of Marduk, Tiamat is described as wheedling, growling and raging, out of control, and as holding falsehood and lies in her lips (even though Marduk uses spells, herbs and harsh words, the descriptions of his actions have a more honorable feel to them). It seems that once Marduk is in the picture, there is not an equal value of male and female (as there seemed to be in the early verses of the myth), rather the glorification of Marduk and the gods who follow him.

My favorite part of the myth is the beginning. The words seem to flow, and once I learned of the symbolism involved with the deities mentioned, the images that formed in my mind also flowed. The deities mentioned in my favorite part of this myth are:

Apsu – fresh water/male (“abzu” meant “ab” water, “zu” far, and was the word for the underground source of all fresh water, including lakes, streams and rivers).

Tiamat – salt water/female; considered to be the personification of primordial chaos.

Lahmu & Lahamu – heroes; first to be born from primordial chaos; they are said to represent the silt islands that appeared where fresh water met the salt water of Persian Gulf, or the silt of the sea bed; never mentioned separately; considered the gatekeepers of the temple.

Anshar & Kishar – “shar” means “horizon”; “an” means “heaven” and is masculine, and “ki” means “earth” and is feminine; brother and sister and husband and wife; sky father and earth mother who begat the first gods; considered to be the “axis of heavens” who met on the horizon.

My favorite part of the Enuma Elish:

When skies above were not yet named
Nor earth below pronounced by name,
Apsu, the first one, their begetter
And maker Tiamat, who bore them all
Had mixed their waters together,
But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds;
When yet no gods were manifest,
Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed,
Then gods were born within them.
Lahmu and Lahamu emerged, their names pronounced.
As soon as they matured, were fully formed,
Anshar and Kisar were born, surpassing them.
They passed the days at length, they added to the years.

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