The tarot of the week will be the Arthurian Tarot by Caitlin and John Matthews, first publised by Aquarian Press in 1990. I have the edition in the sliding box (not the plastic 'video case' box pictured). I also have a companion book called Hallowquest: Tarot Magic and the Arthurian Mysteries, Aquarian Press 1990. Recently, a new edition of the Arthurian Tarot has come out, in a green box. I am not sure how many editions this deck has been through. Mine have the black arched borders. I trimmed the white outer bits off. At least one other edition has the arches in white. I would like to have a white-bordered one in addition to the black-bordered one I will be using this week. Maybe some day I will run into one...
Today's card is XVI The Spiral Tower. Holy crap, what a start! Fortunately for me, the Tower almost never spells disaster. As I've said before, the Tower is usually something quite mundane for me, and don't think I'm not grateful for that. This Tower doesn't speak to me of disaster, anyway. It's more like a channel for receiving great power from the universe. Okay, it does cause the Tower itself to disintegrate, but surely that is a purification rather than a disaster. Once that Tower is razed, there'll be nothing left but the hill (and the new spiraling 'pure' tower reaching up to the heavens), the sky, the fields, the owl (symbol of wisdom), and all those glowing zodiac symbols. I'm not sure why they are there. I know nothing about astrology. Maybe someone can enlighten me with what they think of the symbols. The companion book only says, 'About the tor, the signs of the zodiac glow within the land.' Hm. Well, we will just have to see what happens today. I predict, not much, personally, but it will probably be rather stressful at work. Busy, maybe.
How funny that we're both using decks by the same authors, though set in completely different time periods. A good reminder of the scope of the work they've done.
ReplyDeleteIt's true, that's a rather beautiful depiction of the Tower :) Not knowing much about astrology, I associate the glowing symbols with the influence the heavens have on us - as in the energy you described pouring down. Also, maybe, that no-one, no matter what their star sign, goes untouched by the influence of the Tower, whether "striking" or not.
Rather than a tough day at work, I wonder whether it might more be a challenge to your established way of being. Which a tough day at work could also do, encouraging you to think about what you'd rather be spending your Saturday doing...
The signs are all signs of the zodiac Carla ie: Capricorn (me), Taurus, sagitarius etc etc.
ReplyDeleteMum is into Astrology, she says that Saturn is my ruling planet - although I find it difficult to believe that a planet 800 million miles away could influence my life although I do love this kind of stuff
i must say, that is rather one of the least scary/disaster-ful looking tower cards i've seen. and yeah, i personally find i tend to see it more as something positive/necessary, if not always fun, when it comes up for me rather than something scary/bad/actual disaster :]
ReplyDelete@Chloe - I like your take on the zodiac signs. Thanks for sharing that.
ReplyDelete@Tim - I just can't seem to muster any interest in astrology; I have tried so many times just to memorise these symbols but I lack the will.
@Bonkers - So I'm not the only one who doesn't get crashing catastrophes with the Tower! I think I may (fingers crossed) have had all my Towers already in this life. Or at least most of them.
I have this deck as well. I've had it for years
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