But I wanted to join in in some way - so here's my contribution:
Monday, 24 September 2012
Autumn Equinox Spread
But I wanted to join in in some way - so here's my contribution:
Monday, 17 September 2012
September | New Moon | The King of Cups
 |
| Odin - just hanging around |
The Father of Cups from the Haindl, that's who.
This deck is very special to me. It was the first 'fancy' Tarot deck that I ever bought. It was also the first purchase that I ever made on ebay! I *know.* I'm a veritable FONT of spiritual insight.
The image in the card depicts Odin, the Head Honcho god of the Norse pantheon. The suit of Cups represents the North and the Northern Gods. Interestingly, the Queen of Cups is The Willdendorf goddess, which I mentioned earlier this month, here.
Monday, 10 September 2012
Amplifiers | Child of Fire | Passion
Sometimes a Court Card can just stump us - and our client. No matter what we say about the energies of the character in the card, the client can't relate it to either herself or anyone that they know.
When that happens, I use an Oracle card to help point me in the right direction. You can read more about this idea here and here.
Today's card combination really does what it says on the tin - which might make interpretations more tricky! We have the delightful Child of Fire (equating to the Page of Wands) from the gorgeous Gaian Tarot by Joanna Colbert-Powell and the amplifier card is Passion, from Mindy Somers' Dreaming in Colour Lumen deck.
The Child of Fire finds joy in the dancing flames before him and he reaches out his hand - to touch it? To just feel the heat a little more?
This card reminds me of an anecdote told by Aleister Crowley (he of the 'wickedest man in the world' fame. The world had clearly never met Simon Cowell). When he was a youngster, Crowley was out walking with his father. The duo encountered a huge patch of nettles. His father told him to keep away from the stinging weeds, but young Aleister didn't want to listen to the warning, he wanted to EXPERIENCE it for himself - so he ignored his dad and got stung to blazes for his troubles!
The Page is alllll about experiencing new things and finding delight in that experience.
But what if your sitter doesn't recognise this person, these traits? The card pulled at random as the Amplifier is Passion. Red tulip-like blooms blossom over the card - what does this add to our understanding of the Child of Fire?
What does 'passion' mean to you? How does it affect the Child of Fire?
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this card combo!
Thursday, 6 September 2012
The King and Queen of Pentacles
We've looked at all the other couples of the Court, now we turn our attention to the final Royal Mr and Mrs: The King and Queen of Pentacles, depicted here in the DruidCraft Tarot (Philip & Stephanie Carr-Gomm and Will Worthington).
As the Pentacles govern the North, Winter, Midnight, the Winter Solstice and Earth (in my system), I find these cards excellent representations of these mystical, wintery feelings.
Both are dressed in green in red, but whereas the Queen is in mainly red with a green hood and cloak, the King is in green with a red cloak - nicely yin and yang.
Are you rather surprised that the Queen is depicted out of doors while the King is holed up, nice and cosy in the great hall - the fire roaring away behind him with the hog on the spit? The Queen is, after all, associated with the nurturing and growth aspects of a suit - why have the King all toasty and warm?
I think that the King has been depicted like this because the King of Pentacles also represents the luxury of success. This is the Druidcraft equivalent of the big corner office and if they had been invented, the King of Pentacles would have been wearing red braces and smoking a fat Havana cigar.
He is Earth and Fire (Pentacles and a King) which can be VERY productive if the energies are handled correctly - too much fire and the Pentacles energy hardens and shatters. Controlled fire, as in a kiln, can create much that is useful and luxurious.
The oak leaves oh his shield, by his side, tell us that he's a wise, strong and a slow to react sort of a chap.
His bare foot rests on a plinth that depicts a goat - Capricorn - although I tend to think of him as a Taurean character - what do you think?
The Queen sits in a similar pose to her husband and she plays on her bodrum drum with a snow-white bone - simple and effective. It feels to me, looking at these two characters side by side, that he is more interested in high status and symbols of success (heck, even his BEARD looks fancy!) than his good lady wife, who is content to play her music outdoors to the audience of a single bemused hare.
The hare halts as he hops past, his winter coat contrasting against the greening grass. Hares are prolific breeders - a nod to the Queen of Pentacles ability to create (on many levels!)
At her feet are snowdrops - the earliest herald of Spring - and the dark silhouette of a naked tree shivers behind her. Yet she doesn't look cold. She is at home here. In her element. The Queen is Water and Earth - the creative pulse of our planet.
While the King rests his feet on a Capricorn goat, the Queen's throne is decorated with the Taurean bull. What do you think of these associations - do you have them the other way around?
Both these royals are barefoot - this keeps them close to their native element, the earth, and keeps them grounded and in tune with their roots.
The sky behind both seem to be at the liminal stages of either dawn or dusk. I choose to see the King at dusk and the Queen at dawn. These threshold periods are important magically and just as the King presides over the dusk and the Queen the dawn, between them they oversee our safety through the dark of the night, and also the dark of the winter.
As a pair, depicted this way, neither of them seem particularly bothered about the other - but they appear relaxed in each other's company. The other way around, their heads incline towards each other, with the Queen looking a bit more interested in the comfortable surroundings of her hubby. The King, on the other hand, continues to gaze out at us as if to say 'yeah, I knew she couldn't stay out there in the cold for ever.'
What do you think of the King and Queen of Pentacles?
As the Pentacles govern the North, Winter, Midnight, the Winter Solstice and Earth (in my system), I find these cards excellent representations of these mystical, wintery feelings.
Both are dressed in green in red, but whereas the Queen is in mainly red with a green hood and cloak, the King is in green with a red cloak - nicely yin and yang.
Are you rather surprised that the Queen is depicted out of doors while the King is holed up, nice and cosy in the great hall - the fire roaring away behind him with the hog on the spit? The Queen is, after all, associated with the nurturing and growth aspects of a suit - why have the King all toasty and warm?
I think that the King has been depicted like this because the King of Pentacles also represents the luxury of success. This is the Druidcraft equivalent of the big corner office and if they had been invented, the King of Pentacles would have been wearing red braces and smoking a fat Havana cigar.
He is Earth and Fire (Pentacles and a King) which can be VERY productive if the energies are handled correctly - too much fire and the Pentacles energy hardens and shatters. Controlled fire, as in a kiln, can create much that is useful and luxurious.
The oak leaves oh his shield, by his side, tell us that he's a wise, strong and a slow to react sort of a chap.
His bare foot rests on a plinth that depicts a goat - Capricorn - although I tend to think of him as a Taurean character - what do you think?
The Queen sits in a similar pose to her husband and she plays on her bodrum drum with a snow-white bone - simple and effective. It feels to me, looking at these two characters side by side, that he is more interested in high status and symbols of success (heck, even his BEARD looks fancy!) than his good lady wife, who is content to play her music outdoors to the audience of a single bemused hare.
The hare halts as he hops past, his winter coat contrasting against the greening grass. Hares are prolific breeders - a nod to the Queen of Pentacles ability to create (on many levels!)
At her feet are snowdrops - the earliest herald of Spring - and the dark silhouette of a naked tree shivers behind her. Yet she doesn't look cold. She is at home here. In her element. The Queen is Water and Earth - the creative pulse of our planet.
While the King rests his feet on a Capricorn goat, the Queen's throne is decorated with the Taurean bull. What do you think of these associations - do you have them the other way around?
Both these royals are barefoot - this keeps them close to their native element, the earth, and keeps them grounded and in tune with their roots.
The sky behind both seem to be at the liminal stages of either dawn or dusk. I choose to see the King at dusk and the Queen at dawn. These threshold periods are important magically and just as the King presides over the dusk and the Queen the dawn, between them they oversee our safety through the dark of the night, and also the dark of the winter.
As a pair, depicted this way, neither of them seem particularly bothered about the other - but they appear relaxed in each other's company. The other way around, their heads incline towards each other, with the Queen looking a bit more interested in the comfortable surroundings of her hubby. The King, on the other hand, continues to gaze out at us as if to say 'yeah, I knew she couldn't stay out there in the cold for ever.'
What do you think of the King and Queen of Pentacles?
Monday, 3 September 2012
Blue Moon! The Queen of Wands | Mary El
We had a Blue Moon the other night, the last one for quite some time (next one is 2015) so I paid close attention to my full moon reading this time.
...and you may have noticed that I've not been around much - a combination of school holidays and quite a lot of work. And, if I'm honest, a bit of soul-searching too.
This is going to be a significant card for me. I can feel it in my waters....
Who has come along to guide me through the slightly murky waters of the next couple of weeks? This is a slightly different slant on what I usually do with the Full Moon/New Moon cards. Usually I ask whose energies will be incoming (at a New Moon reading) and fading (at the Full Moon reading). This time I'm looking for a navigator to the New Moon - someone to hold my hand and keep me moving forwards.
And the card is the Queen of Wands from the Mary-El Tarot.
I am hugely relieved because the Queen of Wands means a great deal to me and I confess to feeling a bit more like the Queen of Wands reversed recently - my va-va-voom had va-va-moosed!
Let's take a look at Marie White's Queen of Wands.
The first thing that strikes me about the card are the earthy tones - rich browns that initially feel more like they belong to the Queen of Pentacles rather than the fiery Queen of Wands. The second thing that I notice is that she is a massive figure of a woman - filling the entire card with her generous proportions. She's completely Willendorfian, isn't she? She clutches a jaguar cub, a sacred animal.
Marie's book that accompanies the deck states: 'She shows you yourself, the greatest gift you can receive. She provides a safe, warm and abundant environment where you can grow from a small cub to a powerful jaguar yourself.
'She helps you develop yourself into your full potential with a clear vision of yourself...your growth and creativity.'
I really needed to hear that right now as I have been struggling (as do many of us!) with what in the HECK my vision of myself is! I wear many hats (not literally, although I am partial to something with a broad brim that I vainly hope makes me look like Margaret Lockwood in The Wicked Lady) and I enjoy most of them. But there is also a nagging voice that tells me that I've lost something, left something behind, that is really important. It feels a lot like not knowing exactly where your handbag is.
If I pulled this Queen of Wands for YOU, in the role of helper, for the period up to the New Moon, how would she help you explore and develop your full potential?
...and just in case you're wondering:
...and you may have noticed that I've not been around much - a combination of school holidays and quite a lot of work. And, if I'm honest, a bit of soul-searching too.
This is going to be a significant card for me. I can feel it in my waters....
Who has come along to guide me through the slightly murky waters of the next couple of weeks? This is a slightly different slant on what I usually do with the Full Moon/New Moon cards. Usually I ask whose energies will be incoming (at a New Moon reading) and fading (at the Full Moon reading). This time I'm looking for a navigator to the New Moon - someone to hold my hand and keep me moving forwards.
And the card is the Queen of Wands from the Mary-El Tarot.
I am hugely relieved because the Queen of Wands means a great deal to me and I confess to feeling a bit more like the Queen of Wands reversed recently - my va-va-voom had va-va-moosed!
Let's take a look at Marie White's Queen of Wands.
The first thing that strikes me about the card are the earthy tones - rich browns that initially feel more like they belong to the Queen of Pentacles rather than the fiery Queen of Wands. The second thing that I notice is that she is a massive figure of a woman - filling the entire card with her generous proportions. She's completely Willendorfian, isn't she? She clutches a jaguar cub, a sacred animal.
Marie's book that accompanies the deck states: 'She shows you yourself, the greatest gift you can receive. She provides a safe, warm and abundant environment where you can grow from a small cub to a powerful jaguar yourself.
'She helps you develop yourself into your full potential with a clear vision of yourself...your growth and creativity.'
I really needed to hear that right now as I have been struggling (as do many of us!) with what in the HECK my vision of myself is! I wear many hats (not literally, although I am partial to something with a broad brim that I vainly hope makes me look like Margaret Lockwood in The Wicked Lady) and I enjoy most of them. But there is also a nagging voice that tells me that I've lost something, left something behind, that is really important. It feels a lot like not knowing exactly where your handbag is.
If I pulled this Queen of Wands for YOU, in the role of helper, for the period up to the New Moon, how would she help you explore and develop your full potential?
...and just in case you're wondering:
Margaret Lockwood: Never-knowingly under-hatted
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