4/30/15 Ten of Wands and Daughter of Swords

The last day of April, already!  Today I am working with the Wild Unknown Tarot.  The cards I threw are the Ten of Wands and the Daughter of Swords. 

The Ten of Wands (Saturn, discipline, responsibility, limitations and resistance, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, blundering) tells of being taxed to some perceived limit, or of feeling as if we are out of gas at the bottom of a hill that must be climbed.  This card can also tell of a passion or idea that has taken a life of its own and then gotten out of control or taken over everything else.  Sometimes success can be oppressive; if we get lucky and we are not prepared to take on what we’ve been given, the burden can seem crushing. 

The Wild Unknown Ten of Wands is a dark card, the darkness is caused by the many Wands, acting like dark brambles, blocking the light that is in the background of the card.  Just the anticipation of attempting to push through those brambles to the light beyond them, or even to cut them away in order to allow the light in, is overwhelming.  Granted, the end result could be beneficial, but from this vantage point, all I can see is an almost impenetrable blockage, the overcoming of which just might take more effort than I have available to me.

The Page of Swords (Capricorn, “I build,” ambitious, competent, cautious, cunning, Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, the group, society, cause-oriented, and Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, soul growth, spirituality) encourages us to use our mind and intellect to analyze our situations as well as our emotions and feelings.  This Page may be a bit on the stern side, but she is alert and looking in all directions, she is clever, she is knowledgeable, and she is aiming high. 

The Wild Unknown Pages are known as the Daughters.  The image on the Daughter of Swords is of a young owl perched on a Sword, with a dark night sky behind the owl sprinkled with multi-colored stars.  The owl is alert and watchful, but does not seem frightened or agitated.  To me, she is seeing things clearly with eyes that have not been prejudiced by past experiences.  This ability to see things as they are right now, without imposing expectations or intentions, can offer powerful insight!

The message of these two cards is clear: today things may seem to be such an effort!  I may feel as if I am constantly needing to expend energy in order to get things done.  From my vantage point, every task may seem insurmountable, but if I examine the situation with a cool head and attempt to look beyond the formidable first step, the overcoming of initial inertia, without expectations and without examining the entire process, I will be able to make things happen.

Sometimes examining the entire process is overwhelming; in these instances, we are better off just looking at one step, one step only.  We don’t look to the next step until the current one is complete.  That should be my plan for today!

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4/26/15 Transparent Oracle Sunday!

Transparent Oracle Sunday!!

58, Grail Hollows: The Spear (Below). The direction of Below is not easily associated with spirituality, yet it is a powerful symbol representing the opportunity to create a strong foundation, and to connect to the tools and powers of the Underworld.  The Spear is about challenges and sacrifice, karma and focus, severe consequences and the concept of “piercing.”  The Spear can be seen like a scalpel which in the hands of a skilled surgeon can cut out disease (even if leaving a scar).  Redundancy is destroyed by The Spear in order to clear the land so new growth can begin.

32, Weather: Snow (North).  North is the direction of Earth, and thus of the physical or physically formed or manifested world, and of nurturing, health, finances and security, and the wisdom associated with living simply, being well-grounded, and being in touch with our physical body.  Snow has a magickal effect on the landscape and our surroundings; when snow falls, it covers everything and hides details as well as mutes sounds.  The mantle of white is made of countless tiny, unique crystals, and like a blanket, the covering of snow insulates and protects.

5, Landscape: Mountains (East). East is the direction of the rising sun, and thus of new beginnings and fresh ideas, as well as knowledge, intellectual ideas and thoughts.  Mountains tells us that our goals are in sight, but there will still need to be strength, skill and perseverance before accessing that goal.  Mountains also allow us to rise up above the chaos, confusion and noise of our mundane world in order to experience peace and solitude.  This card tells me that I’ve got a good strong foundation in place, and now it is time to look forward and up.

I then stacked my cards and created my mandala.  The Mountains appear to be surrounding The Spear, and everything is covered in Snow!  This mandala has a hugely powerful message to me: time to clear or cut away what is not serving me.  This “surgery” will take some effort and focus and perseverance, but if I shut out all the confusion around me, I can make this happen.  I have a feeling the instructions will come to me during meditation, but I do need to remember that it’s hard to sit in meditation if the physical body is not comfortable.  All of these cards tell of effort and the application of hard-earned skills; there is one common thread as well: these efforts can only be done by me, so they must be accomplished in a solitary fashion.

Hmmmm . . . that is my current focus in my Third Degree training, as I am walking the Pathway of the Solitary.  Looks like this Pathway just might be life-changing, if I can hang in there and focus to the end.

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4/22/15 the Ten of Cups and The Empress reversed

Today I chose to go back to my Llewellyn Welsh Tarot, and I threw the Ten of Cups and The Empress reversed. 

The Ten of Cups (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, drive, in Pisces, “I believe,” feeling, duality, spirituality, suffering and growth) in an upright position offers the manifestation of happiness, simple joys, and fulfillment. The number Ten is about the completion of a cycle or manifestation, and the suit of Cups is about emotions, feelings and the inner self, so this card offers the bounty that comes with the successful experiencing of all the lessons of the Cups cards.

The Llewellyn Welsh Ten of Cups is a lovely card.  Children play along a stream near a small bridge, surrounded by green grass and protective mountains, with a house in the background, an embracing couple in the foreground, and a rainbow arching over all.  Everyone in this image is blessed with love and happiness, obtained without money or fine clothes or a fancy home.  All those outer embellishments aren’t necessary for happiness!  All you need is love!

The Empress (my significator card, which corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes, and stable, material, practical energies that are slow to change), Venus (beauty, allure, pleasure, relationships), the Hebrew letter Daleth (door or womb) and the Path between Binah (female receptive energy and the origin of form and structure) and Chokmah on the Tree of Life (dynamic male energy and the origin of vital force and polarity)) is one half of the Major Arcana representation of the Sacred Feminine (along with The High Priestess), the half that is about creativity, fertility of all kinds, a deep connection to Nature and the nurturing of others, and an enjoyment of the senses. My Empress, who is the mother of form, tells of creative intelligence; she reveals the concepts guarded by The High Priestess, and she encourages me to immerse myself in the manifestations of the physical world. 

The Llewellyn Welsh Empress sits on a throne, clothed in green and blue and white, embroidered with red flowers.  In her lap she holds a scepter (symbol of royalty) and an orb (symbol of feminine energies or traits); a shield embossed with two swans shaped in a heart (symbol of love) rests at her feet.  This is a fertile card, filled with verdant growth and living creatures, and a queen who is kind and capable.   Because my Empress is reversed, there may be a bit of turmoil in my day that will shake my serenity. 

That Ten of Cups makes perfect sense to me, because I am preparing to spend a weekend with close friends, celebrating a wedding!  We will all be gathering in the name of love, and the fancy dresses and fine foods are not what will bring us happiness; it is being amidst friends and loved ones that will make us all feel blessed.  I need to remind myself that the extravagances and decorations, no matter how beautiful, are not the important thing, and I need to remember that this weekend is not about me and my pleasures, it is about my guests and the family of the bride and groom. 

As a side note, The Empress has been appearing reversed quite often lately.  I wonder if I am being told that it is finally time to release The Empress as my significator card.  She has been my “representative” for a decade now.  Just for the heck of it, I picked up my Llewellyn Welsh deck again, thinking about which Major Arcana card might be my significator.  I began to shuffle after asking for guidance, thinking that I would just keep turning cards over until I came to a Major Arcana card, and I’ll be damned!  There, in the middle of the deck, was one card turned upright.  Ask a question, and you will get an answer!!  My new significator: The Hierophant!!

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4/20/15: The Lovers and the Eight of Wands reversed

I went back to my Haindl Tarot today, and threw The Lovers and the Eight of Wands reversed.  Hmmm . . . again with the Eight of Wands reversed. 

The Lovers (Air, hot/separates and wet/adapts, quick and animated, intellectual, problems or challenges; Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, sociable, dual; Zayin, double-edged sword; and the Path between Tiphareth, the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify, and Binah, female receptive energy and the origin of form and structure) tells of duality, union, and personal choices.  This card is about love, but it is also about our personal values and how they affect our choices, and the promises we make to others.  The traditional image on The Lovers offers three people: a man, and two women (one representing virtue and one representing sensuality).  The Lovers presents the two halves that when united with balance are greater than the sum of their parts; in other words, The Lovers is about a unity that is necessary for fertility and creativity to have an effect.

The Haindl Lovers card is chock full of symbolism: a red rose (love) superimposed with the Star of David (as above, so below and the four elements), with each point of the star adorned with a leaf (element of Earth, fertility, Nature); a spear (Wands, element of Fire) pointed down (ownership), and a unicorn (purity, innocence and enchantment).  There is a tree on either side of the couple, reminding us of the Garden of Eden and the Trees of Life and Knowledge found there.  The most important symbol in my opinion is the fact that the two Lovers hold each other’s hands behind a golden Cup, telling us that while we have many important personal choices in our lives, choices that can affect our physical environment as well as our emotional and mental selves, love is in front of it all.

The Eight of Wands (Mercury, reason, intelligence, education, skill, communication, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, adventurous, blundering) is a card of action, of quick developments, and of pulling it all together so things can be completed.  The energies of this card are fast and strong and sudden, and while the dust will surely fly, the end result should be balance.  This one is kind of a Minor Arcana version of The Wheel, and its sudden eruption of energies that we can’t control; all we can control is our reaction to the manifestation of those energies.

The Haindl Eight of Wands shows eight arrows tipped with flames, shooting upward out of red fire (or blood!) at the lower left corner of the image and upward toward a blue sky.   The Haindle Eight of Wands presents the concept of many smaller energies moving in unison toward a particular goal or more pure level, an interesting take on this card!

Choices and lover are important today, and neither of them may be easy to manifest.  I do need to remember that my personal choices will have power, and they will attempt to manifest once I make them.  The difficulty lies in that reversed Eight of Wands, which tells me that there may be chaotic effects buffeting those choices as they manifest.  I won’t be able to direct that chaos, or erase it (or increase its power in order to control it), so I should stay alert.

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4/19/15 Transparent Oracle Sunday!

Transparent Oracle Sunday!

15, Landscape: Desert (South). South is the direction of the midday sun and the peak of power and illumination; this direction is associated with passionate drive and creativity.   Desert represents an extreme environment that upon initial examination seems to preclude life; actually this Landscape just challenges life, severely, but if we see that challenge as a chance to test our endurance and our ability to adapt to difficult situations, we will prosper.

67, Empathy (Within). Within is the direction of the Self, and thus the cards associated with this direction deal with the ways our Self connects to the world and perceives the world, and the Self.  This direction is mostly abstract, and yet is our bridge to the Universe around us. Empathy is about receptivity, sensitivity, and shared emotions or experiences.  This is not a detached understanding of another, but rather it is about being able to communicate without words, without conscious understanding, as if we ourselves are experiencing the feelings of another being.

35, Landscape: Forest (North). North is the direction of Earth, and thus of the physical or physically formed or manifested world, and of nurturing, health, finances and security, and the wisdom associated with living simply, being well-grounded, and being in touch with our physical body.  Forest is about the results over the long term, results which happen because of fertility and nurturing and patience; Forest represents the manifestation of age and wisdom and patience, connections (and results) that are not openly apparent but rather, like roots under the ground, are all around us.  Different energies can work together; a Forest is proof of that.

I then stacked my cards and created my mandala.  This one has no outward motion at all, and that makes perfect sense, when you consider that the middle card is Empathy.  I am being told that this week there will be important messages all around me.  They will appear in the more obvious manifestations of Nature, those that are bursting with new life as Spring slowly morphs toward Summer.  But there will be messages to be had within the less fecund surroundings as well, equally as important yet less obvious unless I take a second look.  I am also being told that there are benefits to be had from successfully dealing with a challenging environment, whether that challenge is the peak of Sun (and the lack of Water) or the peak of Earth (so overgrown that there is no Air). 

I am having a hugely busy weekend, preparing for company next weekend.  My body is sore, but I am accomplishing most of what I need to get done.  Monday will be a busy day, too, because it is submission day for my column in PaganPages.  Hopefully when I go to bed tomorrow nigh, I will be caught up!  **crosses fingers**

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4/17/15 Four of Cups reversed and Eight of Wands reversed

Today, the Legacy of the Divine Tarot; my cards are the Four of Cups reversed and the Eight of Wands reversed.  Hmmm . . .  **scratches head**  opposing messages, anyone?

The Four of Cups (the Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination, in Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, nurturing, tenacious, moody) reminds us that too much pleasure, or maybe too much nurturing or overprotectiveness, deadens the senses. This is a card that describes what can happen when nothing goes wrong in our lives, and the “cloud” that pleasure can create might end up distracting me from the things I need to accomplish.

The Legacy Four of Cups shows a man sitting under a tree, with three beautiful cups around him; he does not see those cups because he is gazing off into the distance, daydreaming about the cup he does not have.  Dreams and fantasies can be wonderful!  They can help us to visualize our goals, and thus work harder to attain them.  But focusing only on what we are aiming for in the future just might cause us to miss out on enjoying what we have right now.

The Eight of Wands (Mercury, reason, intelligence, education, skill, communication, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, adventurous, blundering) is a card of action, of quick developments, and of pulling it all together so things can be completed.  The energies of this card are fast and strong and sudden, and while the dust will surely fly, the end result should be balance.  This one is kind of a Minor Arcana version of The Wheel, and its sudden eruption of energies that we can’t control; all we can control is our reaction to the manifestation of those energies. 

The Legacy Eight of Wands shows eight crystal-tipped wands, all facing upward, seemingly launched into space.  Behind the wands and the clouds through which they fly is an image of Sagittarius, shooting his arrow.  There is lots and lots of motion in this card, and no one controlling that motion.  The sky is the limit, and the energies are free to manifest. 

Okay, maybe not so opposing after all.  I may be thinking about the future, but that anticipation of success and pleasure won’t derail me today.  I do need to be careful, though, about bursts of energy or enthusiasm, or the lack thereof.  If I don’t attempt to control things at least a bit, I may regret any impulses, or any decisions to wait until tomorrow.  Again, balance is the key, but isn’t it always the key?

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4/16/15 The World and the Nine of Pentacles reversed

The Shadowscapes Tarot called me today, and the cards I threw are The World (wheee!) and the Nine of Pentacles reversed. 

The Universe/World, which corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes, and material, stable and practical energy that is slow to change), Saturn (discipline, responsibility, limitations and resistance), Thav (mark or sign), and the Path between Malkuth (the physical world of action and physical, outer reality) and Yesod (the place where patterns and images emerge that may manifest into the physical world) is a card of integration and involvement and understanding, a crystallization of the entire issue at hand. “Completion” is one traditional interpretation of this card, but “completion” is too simple a word to apply without qualificaiton.  Like the Seven of Pentacles, this card tells of a slowing down of movement and effect; this time the slow-down is happening because the manifestation is complete.  This can be good, yes, but it can also represent a bit of opposition or obstinacy.  The completeness of manifestation in this instance is set in stone; while it may also be the catalyst that begins the new cycle, the current cycle cannot be changed.

The Shadowscapes World card shows a woman surrounded by verdant and lush green foliage all capped with a beautiful starry night sky lit by a full, glowing moon, gazing into a large crystal ball that appears to be a smaller version of that moon, also glowing.  The glow of the two orbs seems to be connected, as if the energies of the moon and the orb were passing back and forth.  Beautiful red-breasted birds accompany the woman, and the man in the moon appears to be a bird in the moon.  This card is about patterns reflected, about “as above, so below; as below, so above,” and about the “now” and all its accomplishments, rather than the past or the future. 

The Nine of Pentacles (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Virgo, “I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented) in an upright position tells of accomplishment through the imposition of discipline.  The Nine of Pentacles sometimes reminds me of The Empress, and in a lot of ways this card in an upright position can be seen as a Minor Arcana version of The Empress. 

I love the image on this Shadowscapes card!  A woman sits in front of a piano that appears to be a part of a tree, playing for her own pleasure.  The trees are green, and the branches appear to be leaning over and spiraling toward the piano and its player.  Music and the playing of a musical instrument is a great metaphor for the energies of this card; after all, playing the piano takes discipline, but once we’ve got the hang of it we can enjoy what we’ve accomplished. 

There is a clear message here: enjoy my accomplishments (because they are substantial, and they are effectively bringing balance into my life), but beware of seeing these accomplishments through rose-colored glasses.  After all, balance is temporary and once I enjoy it for a bit, I need to begin building something new or that nice balance will begin to morph into lethargy!

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