Welcome to This Game of Thrones, my blog about the Court Cards of the Tarot. Chances are you have alighted here as a stop on the Tarot Blog Hop from either Donna Faber’s blog or Priestess Tarot’s blog. Heck, perhaps you wafted in here from Twitter or Facebook links and haven’t a clue what the Tarot Blog Hop might be!
The Tarot Blog hop is where a whole load of Tarotists (what is the collective name for a bunch of Tarotists anyway? a Fool of Tarotists? A World of Tarotists?!) blog on the same topic, relating it to Tarot or Oracles in whichever way the Muse moves them. We all post at the same time (that’s the theory and the challenge lol!) and link together like a daisy chain. Today our subject is: Celebrate The Sunrise.
Today, the Summer Solstice, is the longest day, and along with the Winter Solstice, these two tend to be the dawns that we consider significant amongst the other 363. But surely EVERY dawn is worth celebrating?
‘Every day you waken up, you’re winning’ is a quote, from goodness knows where, which I hold very dear.
So, my question today was, how can we best celebrate our sunrise, not just today, but every day?
I selected a court card at random from the Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert. The card drawn was the charming Child of Earth. Standing in his verdant green woolly sweater beneath a great apple tree, the little fella is completely engrossed in the scarlet apple in his hands.
In this deck, the Child cards (equating to the traditional Page) all ask us to approach life with ‘Beginner’s Mind’.
I like that, for me there is no better way to look at a sunrise as an opportunity to start afresh; for us to look at life with new and curious eyes. We can choose to drop our baggage of experience and refuse to let our previous encounters taint our enjoyment of the new day.
And of course this works on other levels.
We all have our own particular sunrises, those things that light up our lives with hope. The could be our families, our faith, our career, our hobbies – the thing that makes your life worthwhile! The Child looks at that apple as if he’s never seen it before, appreciating it for the miracle that it is. And he urges us to do the same.
Be honest, we tend not to do that. Just think – I wrote this on a little box in Scotland and you are reading it on your own box somewhere else in the world. We are linked together by cables, plugs and, frankly, magic! We have SO much magic in our lives that we no longer see because we have grown complacent to it and accept it as ‘normal’. We can fly like birds to every part of the world! We can switch on a box in the corner of the room and watch a football match being played live on another continent (obviously there is WAY too much Euro 2012 footie on the telly!)! We eat fresh vegetables from distant counties (and countries!)…. our lives are filled with the most amazing and wondrous things. And we tend not to bother about them 🙂
One of the things that lights up my life is my recently-found pleasure in learning to playing the keyboard. Beethoven I’m not, but I really enjoy plinking away at Killing Me Softly or Danny Boy. Mind you, I’m not sure whether my family enjoys it QUITE as much as me. The Child of Earth prompts me to appreciate how far I’ve come, how much fun I have with it, and to take delight in the noise that I make!
The Child card urges us to keep that personal sunrise fresh, unjaded, curious and fun. Approach your own sunrise as a miracle for your day, just as the sun rising over the horizon is a miracle to ALL our days!
The Child’s companion animal, the rabbit, is often found at dawn and dusk ‘when it is easiest to slip between this world and the Otherworld,’ Joanna reminds us.
Most of the time we don’t give much thought to sunrise or sunset – we sleep through the former and the latter passes in a blur of TV shows. But dawn and dusk are very special times of the day, thresholds between this world and the Otherworld, as Joanna says. We should honour them all, don’t you think?
As far as our own personal sunrises are concerned, when you are doing something that you love, you tend to zone out or enter Flow – isn’t that a perfect way to experience the Otherworld?
Through the Child of Earth, we can celebrate our sunrise (in whichever form we recognise it) by allowing ourselves to be delighted and amazed by its existence in our lives. On a daily basis we can give thanks for all those things that light up our day.
Can we look at an apple and see it for the first time?
I hope that you have enjoyed your time here on This Game of Thrones and maybe you’ll come back and visit me again. You might like to sign up for my Court Card newsletter so that we can keep in touch?
Next stop on the tarot blog hop trail…..
Stop being confused by court cards! Start being excited by the possibilities! Become a court card adventurer along with me 🙂 The Tarot’s Court Cards are my specialist area. They talk to me. Not LITERALLY though ….
Comments
33 responses to “Celebrate your Solstice!”
Very apt and a great post Ali! I've got the Gaian, but I have not yet used it. When I've finished this redecorating lark, I'll maybe pick that deck out. Might be able to find it 😉
Louise – dig it out and get using it! It's one of the best thought out decks that I've come across in ages. Worth exploring deeply.
Ali x
Another great post, Ali! This is a gorgeous card to get, and I love your take on it. Definitely a good reminder – every day is an opportunity to see the world with fresh eyes.
As for a group of us, how about a shuffle of tarotists? 🙂
Chloë x
oooh Arwen suggested a 'deck of Tarotists' but a SHUFFLE sounds even better!
Thanks Chloe 😀
Ali x
Just an outstanding post. I am glad that I have read your post. Many points are cleared to me related to free tarot by your post. Keep posting such good content.
Thanks 🙂
AX
Thank you. This blog came at a good time. To look at the world as a child is so important to remember.
Glad you enjoyed it. It's tricky always thinking of how the Court Cards can help with the blog post – but they never disappoint me!
Ali x
Love your spin … great blog, too!
Hope all goes well for your op, Donna!
Ali x
Hi Ali,
I know its a day late, but happy solstice to you (even tho its raining!) I loved the card with the little boy, and it does make you think you need to recapture awe and wonder thro child's eyes. Love it.
Mojo xx
Hope you had a lovely Solstice too, Mojo! It's STILL raining here lol!
Ali x
Your exuberance is so refreshing in this world of gloom and doom. I'm going to say this right here and right now. I love you, Alison Cross. You make me happy. You teach me something every time you post. You, woman, are amazing.
Oh, I think we'd be a Deck of Tarotists, don't you? 😀
*bwhahahha* I'm glad I make someone happy 🙂 *whispers* your cheque's in the post 😀
A Deck of Tarotists – yeah, that sounds plausible!
Gives one pause…The Magic we miss and take for granted every day. It's good to be reminded. 🙂
I tend to forget 🙂 And yet there is SO much magic – like me being able to talk with you, right now!
Ali x
Love your "personal sunrise" and the celebration of the magical space between of the twilight, opening the Underworld in the here-and-now. Thanks Much!
Hey Jordan – how are your Gargoyles?! Make the most of your Twilight – and not the glittery-skinned vampire type 😀
Ali x
I, too, resonated with your message to pay attention to the magic that is all around us. The blog hops are part of that magic for me, weaving us Tarot enthusiasts together across the globe with our technology and this time our connection back to an ancient practice of being with that sunrise at Stonehenge. I love it!
I really enjoy the blog hop topics too – it's the closest I'll get to Stonehenge lol!
Ali x
Child of Earth? Perfect! Great post!
Thanks Christiana!
Apples are also symbolic of the fae and of the dead, our ancestors. Your post reminds me to see the magic in all the connections and relationships that paved the way for me to be here today. It's so easy to get caught up in family dramas and to forget that all those connections, biological and otherwise make us who we are. I'm grateful to my family for the lessons learned, and for the positive qualities we share down through the generations. Thanks Alison! 🙂
The apple is a such a potent symbol right across the board, isn't it? From the Bible to Snow White and a slew of other references in between! Eat them to keep the Doctor Away! Give them as a gift to your Teacher! Apple Macs! The gift of knowledge and awareness…..
Ali x
Lovely post, Alison 😉 It's good to remind people to notice the magic around them that they take for granted: the sunrise is magic, and the cables that connect us around the world every day are magic, too! 😉
Thanks Christiane – I think people are really lucky if they are naturally aware of the technological magic and natural magic that surrounds us.
Hope the Tarot deck is coming on at good speed!
Loved this post. You're such an eternal optimist 😀
I'm trying to work out whether that's a compliment or whether it means I'm getting the Poly-Anna books for my birfdi.
I rather had my heart set on diamond earrings.
Ali x
POLLY-ANNA
*cough* my excuse is that I've been awake since 4am, mithering.
LOL We seem to have independently arrived at a similar take on this topic 🙂 Mind you, speak for yourself – I am daily amazed by some aspect of the wonderful world we are privileged to live in (on the whole, it's just *some* of the people that spoil it 🙂
Great minds and all that!
I shoulda put Arthur C Brown video too! He used to scare the proverbial out of me when I was little!
I don't do enough appreciation of the miracles around me. I get blase and bored and tumble into self-absorbtion!
Happy Solstice, Ali! Love your today's draw! And the expression you used – 'personal sunrise'- is anthological! xx
Happy Solstice back atcha! 😀