Sunday, June 21, 2015

6/19/15 The High Priestess reversed and the Knight of Swords reversed

The Shadowscapes Tarot jumped out at me today, so I threw The High Priestess reversed and the Knight of Swords reversed.  The Shadowscapes Tarot does not have reversed meanings; a reversed card, however, does serve as a red flag, or as a figure jumping up and down and waving her arms and yelling “Look at meeeeee!!”

The High Priestess (Water; the Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination; Gimel, the camel who safely crosses Da’ath, the Abyss, and thus, has the secret of life; and the Path between Tiphareth, the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify, and Kether, the source, limitless possibility), is one-half of the Major Arcana representation of the Sacred Feminine, with The Empress being the other half. The High Priestess is the source of the power of The Magician (who is also in this pair), the feminine version of The Hierophant, and the Keeper of the Mysteries.  She is the Gatekeeper who determines whether I am ready to experience the Mysteries, and she is somewhat removed from everyday life although her mind is receptive.  She is not about mental analysis at all; when upright, she tells me that in order to access the Mysteries she guards, I must know my inner self completely, and accept the messages of my Inner Voice, even if they defy analysis.  She is reversed today, and while she may be able to balance the outer realms with the inner realms in an effective way, I won’t be able to do the same.  Her tools are not my tools today, and I would be better off looking around me in the physical world for messages.

The Shadowscapes High Priestess is a beautiful card!  The HPs is floating upward, wrapped in a veil of the palest lavender embossed with crescent moons, her wings and arms spread and her dark lavender skirt festooned with green oak leaves and slate blue feathers, holding a pomegranate in her left hand.  Her hair spreads around her head like a corona, mimicking the rays of the sun.  Below her a ghostly white owl flies, wings and tail spread.  The sky is sprinkled with stars, but the darkness is soothing rather than fearsome.  “In the gloam, the night is full of whispers – the secret knowledge of the stars, of the trees, and of the earth.”

The Knight of Swords (the cusp of Taurus, “I have,” sensual, stubborn, cautious, and Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, dual, intelligent) is outspoken, assured, alert, and logical, as well as rude, domineering, critical and sarcastic.  His daring and courage, and his ability to respond quickly to situations, are impressive, but he can also be disruptive, too.  While all of the Knights can be considered as mercenaries, the Knight of Swords truly personifies this career.

The Shadowscapes Knight of Swords is also flying through a star-studded night sky, but the colors of this card are more intense.  Our Knight sits proudly on his swan, coming directly to the point without spinning the facts.  He does not acknowledge the possibility of defeat, does not back down once he has engaged, because he will only allow himself to visualize success.  He slices through the night sky, not noticing the storm of swirls and eddies behind him, caused by his passing.

The events of this day just might distract me from that quiet, calm and confident place within me, that place attained by working to obtain and understand knowledge and then manifest that knowledge with wisdom.  The lure of being the hero, of saving the day in a blaze of intellectual glory, just might be the distraction.  Neither of these cards are the wrong thing to focus upon, but neither of them are the right thing either.  Perhaps a balance of the two??

$>

No comments:

Post a Comment