Week in Review: Faerie Tarot

Eh, I'm fed up of Lenormands right now, let's look at something different today. How about a week in review using a tarot deck?

Faerie Tarot, Natalie Hertz, US Games 2008

Now, what a colorful deck, I really like this one. I trimmed some of the outer borders off the cards because I thought there was just too much distraction in their original form, and I quite like the effect. I haven't used this deck nearly as much as I ought to, it's actually really quite charming. 

Lenormand Journal 2.0 -- Day 4

What will I find out today that I didn't know before? (Postmark Lenormand, Melissa Hill 2011)

Postmark Lenormand, 2011

Ring + Stork + Clouds

AM (6.07 )
Key themes: a promise of change causes confusion; travel commitments become muddled
Prediction: To be honest, I am not sure at all what these cards predict. A promise, a commitment...a promise or commitment that changes...confusion about a promise or commitment changes. Uncertain focus about a commitment to change. Confusion about contract changes. Confusion about renegotiation. Grrrr! Thought just popped in my head...I did just send out an email to a customer, and we are working on settling on her reading topic, spread and so forth...so maybe that could be the negotiating of a 'contract'? Could be.



PM ( 16.49)
Accuracy: Medium
What happened in relation to the cards: Yesterday I made a valiant attempt to start a new project, thwarted at many turns, but I did not give up. This morning, I got right back into it first thing. So I guess that might be what this was a reference to. There was definitely some confusion going on there!
Observations: Remember that oracles don't watch the clock, especially if you don't specifically ask them to, so what they refer to may spill over from the past as well as edging into the future.

Lenormand Journal 2.0 -- Day 3

What will be the highlight of my day? (Titania's Fortune Cards, Quadrille 2000)

Titania's Fortune, 2000

Stork + Letter + Path

AM ( 6.15 )
Key themes: message involving change
Prediction: Both Stork and Path can have to do with change, travel, routes, etc; and Letter is about communication. I also associate with Stork with pregnancy and birth, both literal and metaphorical, and Path with life's journey in addition to literal travel and mundane routine. Today gives birth to a means of communication involving one's path. I am almost certain I know what this refers to, something I've been thinking about lately, a new project. Will today be the day I start it?

PM ( 20.50 )
Accuracy: High
What happened in relation to the cards: I did start my new project today -- twice! I spent hours on it, then had to do it all over again. So THAT'S why there's a long road in this draw. I'm knackered.
Observations: Remember that Path can mean a LONG journey. A long, long testing journey. ('Are we there yet???')

Lenormand Journal 2.0 -- Day 2

What should I look out for today during work? (Mystical Lenormand, AG Muller 2005)

Mystical Lenormand, 2005

Fish + Mountain + Cross

AM ( 6.00 )
Key themes: serious money blockage, a giant obstacle to overcome with regard to money
Prediction: There are many forms this could take, but as it's work related there are probably only a few that apply. The safe will be locked and we can't get in it, or the money will have been stolen over the weekend, or there will be a big discrepancy in the balance. I don't think it will have much to do with actual customers, but will a problem staff side. Maybe the person scheduled to do the money will not turn up today and it won't get done, leading to bigger problems later in the week. (I've also read that for daily draws one should choose the most mundane, lowest level interpretations, so I would expect the disruption to be minor. Also, am meant to seek references to the weather, and the Fish reminds me of water, so perhaps it will rain all day, which might or might not cause problems of some kind??)

PM ( 21.54  )
Accuracy: Medium
What happened in relation to the cards: It is true that the money couldn't be done today. But nothing else could be done either. The entire network was down, so no PCs, no printing, no access to management systems, or anything else. Now if we look at the Fish card in its more general meaning of business rather than the more specific meaning of money, the cards make more sense.
Observations: It might be a good idea to watch for the Fish card to see if it turns out to be business in general...this was an interesting draw. But a very loooong day.

Lenormand Journal 2.0 -- Day 1

Pixie's Astounding Lenormand Cards, Edmund Zebrowski, 2012

Last October, I did a series of posts experimenting with using the Lenormand Oracle for predictive readings in daily draws. That's eight months ago, and it seems like I ought to revisit the Lenormand for a refresher.  One thing that's got me thinking about Lenormand lately is this post from LeFanu's Curious Cabinet, in which he laments that one can no longer learn cards with 'just me and my books and decks, nobody correcting me, propelled forward by my own thirst and good old-fashioned study.' He says, 'You’d think that with all the information out there things have never been better and yet it all looks set to accelerate into gobbledegook.  But why does it feel harder to learn Lenormand now than it ever did? Partly there is so much to have to bookmark and not get round to reading. There is so much to put into “favourites” and then never look at again.  So many online courses to print off, bind beautifully and put on the bookshelf.  There are so many systems to set off against each other; French? Dutch? Peruvian? Pose a question out there – what does my bonsai think of me? – then post a three card spread and you will get a plethora of interpretations that won’t help you in the slightest because there are as many interpretations of Lenormand cards as there are people reading them. A daunting thought.'  To which I say, why should this thought be daunting? Surely it should be the most freeing thing you can realize.

She...may be the song that summer sings...

Anna K, US Games 2013

Who's this lovely dark-haired lady harvesting everything there is from one grove? It's the Queen of Pentacles, one of my favourite court cards. I wanna be a Queen of Pents when I grow up.

She is the closest thing to the Empress in the tarot courts. But whereas the Empress has a distinct 'It's-not-nice-to-fool-Mother-Nature' danger about her, the Queen of Pentacles is all soft edges and connection. She does seem to be pregnant in this image, a condition often used in tarot art to denote growth, fruitfulness, abundance, continuity. The vine is also a potent symbol of the riches of the earth, and so we have one curling about our Queen of Pentacles. She is surrounded by baskets, each containing a different type of fruit or vegetable, suggesting that abundance of all types flows through her, boundless bounty. She has just picked a ripe plum and is enjoying its fragrance, probably about to take a bite of it, because the Queen of Pentacles is nothing if not entirely plugged in to the earth, and of all the tarot queens she understands and enjoys the pleasures of the physical plane. She also most deeply understands and empathizes with its pains and sorrows.

Nothing either good or bad...

Anna K Tarot, US Games 2013

Today's card comes from the mass market edition of the Anna K Tarot, US Games 2013. I have had the 1st edition self-published version since 2009, and I also owned the 2nd edition self-published deck, but traded that one as I did not particularly like the card stock. I was so pleased that a mass market version of this deck came out, so that many other people can have the chance to own a copy of this charming and highly readable deck.

Ten of Rods does accurately reflect my mood this morning. I didn't sleep well or long last night, and I've got up feeling quite heavy, dragged down, and weary. I have no idea why I feel this way, and probably the figure in the card doesn't, either. The Golden Dawn meaning of Ten of Rods is 'Oppression.' Because the Rods (or Wands) suit is the suit of action, the thing that oppresses here has more to do with tasks or actions than thoughts, feelings or responsibilities (swords, cups and coins, respectively). So in a reading, I would see this as being oppressed either by having too many things to do, too many irons in the fire (the Rods are the Fire suit, after all), or by feeling overwhelmed by an action or actions that need doing. If the thought of doing something (or the obligation to do something) fills you with anxiety or dread, I would say that is a Ten of Rods moment. It's the action that is the cause of the anxiety.

'Mystic Bastard' Day Five

Mystic Faerie Tarot 2007,  Deck of the Bastard 2013

It's the last day of 'Mystic Bastard', a combination of two very different decks. Today it's Knave of Cups and 8 of Coins. The Knave of Cups (or Page of Cups) is a 'water sprite,' according to the Mystic Faerie Tarot; all the Cups creatures are these mer-fae with wings. I've never seen anything quite like them. They're an oddity to me. Winged mer-folk. Anyway, this Knave of Cups expresses the open guilelessness of the Page of Cups well enough, with the innocent face, androgynous appearance, and friendly demeanor. Meanwhile in the background, the apprentice in 8 of Coins has his sleeves rolled up while getting on with the somewhat thankless task of cranking out loads of 'product', over and over and over. I have a feeling this combination refers to today at work...the BT lines are being replaced and there will be disruption to computers, phones, WiFi and our management system. So there will be a lot of tiresome churning out of the same explanation and apologies to customers, delivered via a pasted-on sweet smile mixed with a bit of 'it's not my fault' in the sub-text. Much fluttering of eyelashes and deflection of poo-poo will happen. Over and over. Yay.

Of course, these cards may not be addressing that situation entirely. Perhaps it's saying that a positive attitude is a skill, a habit, which is learned through repetition. Like affirmations, where you keep saying it even if you don't yet quite believe it. Seems contradictory to think that a gentle, sweet attitude could be learned, but it's possible that cynicism is a habit, and that it's opposite could be achieved through determined practice. 

I'll get plenty of chances to practice today! 

'Mystic Bastard' Day Four

Mystic Faerie 2007, Deck of the Bastard 2013

I really like the pentacles suit in the Mystic Faerie Tarot. In each suit of this deck, a story is told through the progression of the cards. This works and doesn't work--it's a fun idea, but some cards are bit off the mark as far as traditional interpretation goes. In the pentacles suit, a faerie gets lost from her family and decides to live in an area where she finds herself--there's plenty to eat there, and she can make baskets and a shelter. But she soon finds it lonely without company, and after having her little home ransacked by some rats, she is befriended by mice, who take her into their community. The Six of Pentacles shows the faerie and the mice sharing their bounty with one another, in the spirit of charity and generosity often associated with this card. It's a really cute card. I love those little mice!

'Mystic Bastard' Day Three

Mystic Faerie 2007, Deck of the Bastard 2013

Wow, two majors today, which is pretty impressive for a morning when I've woken up with a slight sore throat and runny nose, and a decidedly grey sky out the window. Today we have Strength from Mystic Faerie Tarot, and the Sun from Deck of the Bastard. It is a very encouraging combination, telling me that I have fortitude and vitality.

'Mystic Bastard' Day Two

Deck of the Bastard 2013, Mystic Faerie 2007

Today's draw from Mystic Faerie and Deck of the Bastard has produced The Star and Queen of Wands. This morning I woke up with a distinct feeling that today is a good day for fresh starts, and this combination of cards suggests I can reach my highest aspirations if I take determined action. I didn't think about the configuration of the cards when I threw them on the scanner, but I like the way the Queen of Wands has ended up pointing to The Star. It's like she's saying, 'You can have this if you want it.' (With a subtext of: 'But if you want it, you have to stop talking and grab a big stick and start beating your life into the shape you want it to take.') That might sound violent, but the Queen of Wands isn't known for subtlety. It's actually interesting to me to see The Star, which I always feel is a subtle, gentle card, combined with the Queen of Wands, who always seems to me quite showy and brash in her approach to things. She doesn't always have to be, but she  is certainly a take-no-prisoners type.

I woke up this morning with the idea to do visualizations during my meditation sessions, to visualize my life the way I want it to be. Then I remembered I have a CD I bought years ago of a kind of guided meditation for weight loss and healthy living. So I dug that out and dug around and found my earphones, and then I came to the PC to find that I'd drawn The Star + Queen of Wands for today, which reinforced my thoughts and actions of the morning.

Well, if I'm going to have time to listen to that CD, I've got to cut this short. Working 8.30-6.15 today!

'Mystic Bastard' Day One

I'm combining two decks this week, Mystic Faerie and Deck of the Bastard (so-called because it is made up of cards from several different decks, all mixed up together and made to look aged). I drew one card for each day of the week using the Mystic Faerie, then drew cards for each day of the week using Deck of the Bastard, to see how they work together. Today's cards are:

Mystic Faerie 2007, Deck of the Bastard 2013

The cards suggest that though today may be a day of trouble, I should keep things in perspective.

Mystic Faerie Tarot - the Sidhe they ain't

Mystic Faerie, 2007

I just received this deck the other day. I bought it used on a whim. Published in 2007, art by Lynda Ravenscroft, book by Barbara Moore, it's the Mystic Faerie Tarot. My first reaction to it is -- wow, is it tame in comparison to the fearsome and otherworldly Sidhe. This deck is gentle beyond gentle in comparison. I won't know for a while if it is a 'keeper'. Some decks come in and go out of this house so fast I barely remember having them (like Crystal Visions, for example). I can say that I find the majors very appealing, beautiful even. The minors are a bit twee, and already I am finding annoyances with them, because the deck both attempts to be RWS, but is also squeamish about the more negative cards. The courts are a bit on the insipid side as well. Still, it is early days with this deck - I only just opened it yesterday! So I don't want to reach any snap judgments. Perhaps this deck will help me see the fae with a softer edge, experience a lighter, softer side. I tend to be attracted to sharp edges, mostly, and dismiss this type of deck (not for nothing am I Queen of Swords), though I do keep buying them and giving them a shot. So there must be the potential there, if I ever find the right one.

Night and Day

Trying to shuffle this morning, a card came flying out of the deck and fluttered to the floor. I call those 'jumpers', and sometimes I pick them up and put them back in the deck with no thought, other times they strike me as calling attention to themselves and I set them aside and proceed, taking them into account at the end of the reading, and sometimes they strike me as the 'true' answer to the query and I look at just the jumper and forego drawing any others.

Today I decided to stick with the jumper as my card of the day, Dreamer Two from Tarot of the Sidhe.

Just (You do it to yourself)

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

Rider Waite Smith

This is an alarming-looking image for an easy Friday morning!

Dreamer Seven, 'A Coward Betrays', from Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe, is the equivalent of 7 of Swords, which in RWS shows a man carrying swords which he's apparently stolen, tiptoeing away from some tents. Traditionally, the card is taken to mean some sort of unethical behaviour or nefarious scheming. But it's also sometimes interpreted to mean studying and learning (such as in the Druidcraft Tarot, though he might as easily be plotting or scheming something underhand, I suppose.) Learn Tarot suggests these meanings, as well as: 

The Seven of Swords can also indicate a hidden dishonor - a choice you or another has made that does not do justice to the highest. We all make wrong choices that we want to hide. Some of these are minor, some serious. Your inner voice will tell you when this is happening. When you see the Seven of Swords, take a good look at what you're doing because hidden dishonors will eat away at your happiness and self-respect.

That is a profound interpretation of this card, and I think it is quite pertinent to the image seen on the Tarot of the Sidhe Dreamer Seven card. It is a full moon, in a clearing amongst bare trees. Five wraith-like beings have apprehended a male sidhe. One of them holds a knife overhead in a threatening manner, as if he would plunge it into the sidhe's chest. From behind a tree, another sidhe watches, in hiding. What are these terrible wraiths? What has the green-shirted sidhe done to deserve this? Is he the coward who betrayed? Or is it the other figure peering around the tree? I believe it's the overall sense of the thing rather than the details that must be considered with this particular card. Emily Carding's verse for Dreamer Seven:

'At times the shadows in Dream are hidden,
And from the depths will emerge unbidden,
They must be faced, the challenge met,
Lest dreams be tangled in cunning net.'

An Invocation of the Fey

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

'The Mysteries'

Here and now are the Mysteries.

Out of no stored and storied past

Of things long lost,

But the breathing moment of time.

Out of no twilight

But that which falls upon the hills this night.

The old trees partake of them,

And the voices of the grass,

The ghost-white blossomed elders,

And the first clouded glow

Of the rising moon.

If we can hear.

If we can see.

Out of no buried past they come,

But from the fields of our own home

Is reaped the grain

That makes the bread of their feast.

Out of the flowers of every summer

Flows the honey of their mead.

Look -- between the stones is a blade of grass,

And all the rites of the high Mysteries,

And the runes of all witcheries,

Are written upon it.

~Doreen Valiente

We're back!!!

We went to North Devon ... and got rained on. A lot. But we also managed to get one good day's walking in and it happened to be on the hubster's birthday. We walked one of the most beautiful stretches of the Southwest Coast Path, a circular walk we devised using the OS Explorer map (139) -- Hartland Quay to Hartland Point and back. It was WINDY. It rained a bit. It was cold. We both managed to get sun/wind burn on our noses and cheeks. Also saw some coastal towns and fishing villages on the other days. (Plus the inside of every Morrison's in North Devon. We always end up food shopping. Or toilet paper shopping, or birthday cake shopping. It's always something.) Good holiday, despite the weather. AND our stupid cottage flooding on the last night (don't ask).

Resting having climbed the Stairs of Cirith Ungol

It's walking season, and we're away again! We'll be tramping the coast path in North Devon, so fingers crossed for brilliant weather. 

If you'd like to order a reading, please by all means do so. I will read for you as soon as I get back next Thursday, 16th May. 

Namaste!

Now that's a power squat

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

My Card of the Day is Warrior Two: Power Awakes. Interesting, as I woke up this morning at 4.59 AM. I didn't feel terribly powerful at that hour, let me tell you! It's getting that time of year, though. See, I have one of the most deeply entrenched circadian rhythms on the planet -- when it's dark it's time to sleep, when it's light it's time to wake up and that's that! So of course during this time of the year when it gets light at ungodly hours (like 3.30 AM in June), I struggle. I've got an eyemask around here I use during this time of year; it went in a drawer for the winter months. I need to dig it out again!

Anyway, today's card is Warrior Two (2 of Wands) from the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding (2010). It's a beautiful card. The sidhe is covered in blue body paint (or else really is blue) and decorated with red and orange swirls, wearing a red loin cloth. His hair and face have a distinctive shape, almost as if splitting in two. He squats in a kundalini yoga frog pose, his forearms crossed in front of him, palms facing out. Emerging from his two palms are dragons of fire, which curve about each other over his head.

Heart of Faerie and Faeries' Oracle

Heart of Faerie Oracle and Faeries' Oracle are the two decks created by artist Brian Froud. The Faeries' Oracle came first (2001). The cards were created from images originally published in his book, Good Faeries/Bad Faeries. Then a few years later, Heart of Faerie came out (2010). Some people have strong thoughts about the differences and similarities between these two decks. I certainly don't think you need one in order to understand the other--they are both stand alone decks. But, to me, they also work together very well. I bought the two of them at the same time last year, so that may colour my opinion, though actually I have worked only with Faeries' Oracle since then, leaving Heart of Faeries until just this week.

There is a subtly different feel to the two decks. Faeries' Oracle seems more ethereal and otherworldly, whereas the Heart of Faerie seems more earthy, or anchored more obviously to the natural world. A large part of this is that the images in the Faeries' Oracle mostly show individual faeries or groups of faeries (Froud likes to draw them piled on top of each other, as if the world absolutely teems with faerie of all types)  in  a dark, empty or indistinct background. This lack of context lends a feeling of separation. Also, in Faeries' Oracle, there is a whole class of faeries Froud calls 'Singers', which are abstract beings of radiant light and energy. (These are actually my favourite images of faerie and I wish he would do a whole Singer deck!).

It's not about the abs

Can you ask the faeries for sensible daily advice? You can ask, but you might not always get. And then, sometimes you do. Having worked out yesterday, I thought this morning I would ask what I could do to sustain the momentum, and like yesterday's draw, one card led to another. (Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian Froud.)

Heart of Faerie Oracle, Froud

What can I do keep up the momentum with the working out? 
I need to figure out what is keeping me captive. The reason I have become resistent to working out has to do with being held captive by something. The Heart of Faerie Oracle companion book says the Captive Man shows us that we are in thrall to false ideals that may be harming us. Of course I probably do have false ideals where the issue of fitness and health are concerned. First, I have perfection in mind as a standard against which I measure myself. Most of us have a tendency to do this, some of us more than others. Second, I have a false ideal that eating well and working out will weave some sort of barrier against ageing, illness and pain. That's something most of us have a tendency to do, too. We don't do it consciously, but somewhere inside us, we feel we've made a deal: If I do 'this' (whatever it is) then you (the universe, I guess) promise that 'that' won't happen to me. If I cook a homemade meal every night and keep the house looking great, my husband will never have an affair. If I go to church every Sunday then I won't ever have any doubts or worries to plague me. If I workout to a strict regime and eat well and lose weight and do my best, then I won't get old, get sick or die. These thoughts are not something we consciously do, because they're  irrational. It's called 'magical thinking' (at least I call it that) and it's not at all an example of skillful means. So when something happens to break the deal (I worked out and did well and still my knees are dodgy and I got plantar fascitis--or even less logically, I worked out and ate well and still I lost my job), then we say, 'Screw it, who cares, this doesn't work. Bring on the Doritos.' We may not know we're thinking that way, but we probably are.

Chunky monkey

I drew a card this morning from Heart of Faerie Oracle by Brian Froud and thought, 'What? Just the other day I was more or less advised by Tarot of the Sidhe to get more down to earth, and now I've drawn "The Dreaming"? Make up your mind!'

And so I drew a second card to expand on the first -- The Paradox. Oh, ha ha. Well, aren't you cute this morning. Yes, it's a paradox, hardy har. Something's good, but it's also bad. Something's bad, but it's good. Yeah, I get it. Dreaming's good and bad, yeah.

So...I drew another card. What exactly am I supposed to do, eh? And I drew -- The Pan. He's taking a flying leap, just like the Fool in my other draw!  Okay, I've got you. It's okay to dream...if I then do something. It's okay to think about stuff...if I then do it. Otherwise, it's not okay to just talk to myself about stuff. (Or write blog entries about it) I can see that. Jeez, stop harassing me!

Heart of Faerie, Froud

All I know is this morning I feel and look like a big flabby water balloon with a string tied around its middle. Glad it's warmer now. Time to stop thinking (or dreaming) about eating well and losing this weight I've put on. But no leaping or else my downstairs neighbour will be up here banging on the door again wanting to know what the heck is going on. Got to shop for some low impact (non impact!) workouts--instead of more tarot and oracle decks! In the meantime, I'll do my best to modify those I can, and fingers crossed he's not home down there! Grumpy old git.

Tough love, faeries. Tough love.

Faery Craft by Emily Carding

I'd like to share a few thoughts about  Faery Craft: Weaving Connections with the Enchanted Realm by Emily Carding, even though it's not a tarot book. It is actually related to my recent posts because 1) it is by the creator of the Tarot of the Sidhe (though the deck is not even mentioned in the book), and 2) it concerns faeries in general, in line with the two decks I've committed to working with over recent weeks: Tarot of the Sidhe and Faeries' Oracle.

This is the only book I've ever bought (or read) about faery. I bought it because it's by Emily Carding, whose work on Tarot of the Sidhe I so greatly admire. I don't know what to think about faery. Despite my interest in things esoteric, I am actually quite a hard-headed realist and skeptic. Some of you who also consider yourselves both a mystic and a skeptic might understand what a difficult position that sometimes can be! My spiritual path is quite earth-based, and I do not mess with otherworld realms much. I sense that something is 'flying around' out there (it's the best way I can think of to put it), but I feel no need to have any of those things turn their attention upon little old me. My workings are done with shields firmly up. In fact, I'm pretty sure my shields are up all the time, even when not needed. This is one reason I feel consideration of faery is good for my development. Another reason is that feeling I get when I venture out into the natural world, the feeling of a spiritual presence in the elements, and by that I don't mean the usual earth, water, fire, air, but also rivers, trees, rocks, and hills. Even a clearing or a fall of water into a tiny pool takes on the feeling of an entity to me. I want to greet them, honour them, admire them; there's something there, something more than just grass or moss or flowing water. And it's that feeling of spirit in the natural world that, to me, is the enchanted realm of faery. Forget little girls with wings (like the fairies at the bottom of the garden), or frog women wearing wreaths on their heads (like Brian Froud's illustrations), or slant-eyed wraiths with a dangerous edginess (Tarot of the Sidhe). Those are just individual artists' attempts to capture the feeling. That's not what the fae look like. Who knows what they look like. If they even look like anything. Artists famed for their depictions of faery agree on this point:

Soulmates

Tarot of the Sidhe, 2010 

Today's card from Tarot of the Sidhe is Dancer Two, Soulmates. In RWS, it would be Two of Cups. We see another twilight landscape under a low-hanging full moon, a pool of water, mountains and green grass. Rising up from the pool, the water forms itself into two faery shapes, standing back to back, one female, the other male. Their arms form a shape reminiscent of heart shape. The water churns at the surface (one can imagine the surface had been bubbling and churning in the moments before pushing itself up into the faery shapes), and the moonlight forms a rather miraculous little rainbow there. A golden fish leaps up out of the water on the left, and dives back in again on the right. So there is the circle of the moon, the circle of the pool, the circle of the rainbow, and the circular route of the fish arching over the water. I like the way the shapes of the faeries are flow into one another. This is a moment caught in time, a spontaneous surging upward of the water, and it will merge back into one and sloosh back down into the pool the second after we leave the card, and calmness will once again settle over the face of the pool, reflecting the moon.

It's a wonderful relationship depicted in this card. Strong and sure and always there, like the mountains and the earth and the water, predictable and dependable like the cycles of the moon, but beautiful and amazing like the rainbow, precious and life-filled like the leaping fish. The upward surging of the water into the faery shapes is like the surges of love that can wash over and amaze us, even after so many years.

This is a lovely card for contemplation of the nature of love, or for reflection on the beauties and joys of the relationships in your own life. They surge and ebb and flow, but always they are there.

Apples and apples

I saw this spread, originally posted by Arwen, featured on Chloe's blog at Inner Whispers.:

*Center Card: Your World
*Left Card: The best way to describe your world
*Right Card: The one thing you should think about changing

I thought I'd give it a try so here's what I drew from Tarot of the Sidhe, Emily Carding, 2010:

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

I was surprised by this. I haven't exactly been feeling on top of the world lately. Though there is essentially nothing wrong, I have been feeling like there is. You know what I mean? And while these cards at first look positive (the Fool, who knows no limitations, with the 'granted wish' card), they also show a lack of direction, or at least untapped potential. The Fool and Dancer Nine in combination creates an unstable, ungrounded, up-in-the-air situation. Fortunately, the Maker Six offers a way of anchoring them. 

Sit like a rock

Tarot of the Sidhe, 2010

Time to get back down to earth today with Maker Prince from Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding. He is the Prince of Disks (Thoth), or Knight of Pentacles (RWS). He appears to me some kind of satyr, having horns on his head and the legs of a goat. The Maker Prince sits in rock pose (vajrasana), a yoga pose of sitting in a kneeling position on one's heels, feet and knees together. It is said to be a very grounding pose which also aids in digestion.

It seems appropriate that the Maker Prince would sit in such a pose, as he is possibly the most grounded and practical of the all the tarot courts. We see him in Tarot of the Sidhe depicted with elements of nature that echo his personal qualities. The trees, strong and slow-growing, are like his steadfast patience and slow pace. The dog represents his faithfulness and commitment to service. The hedgehog is his humble, retiring nature. The owl is his quiet wisdom, the butterfly represents the transformative potential of all these slow and patient qualities. 

Feeling salty today?

Tarot of the Sidhe, 2010

Well, yesterday we blew away the old, and in today's card from Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe, we rise up again, renewed with card XX Judgement. 

The traditional Judgement card of course depicts the resurrection of the dead as prophesied in the New Testament:

Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ~ 1 Corinthians 15: 51-55

Instead of the usual depiction of an angel blowing the trumpet and the dead rising from their graves in their new incorruptible bodies, we see here in this card a series of sidhe, mountain spirits perhaps, each standing on her own hilltop, sending out a similar call to awaken.

Beltane, and a new day

When I woke up this morning, I thought of a phrase from one of my favourite books, 'Anne of Green Gables':  Today is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.

It's Beltane and we've got a card today with the sun sending out huge beams across the entire sky! And along with it, the wind sending leaves whirling around our Airy Princess of Swords, or Dreamer Princess in Emily Carding's Tarot of the Sidhe. I remember reading somewhere that Beltane, or May Day, used to be a day when people would take out their old winter bedding (probably some sort of bag or mattress stuffed with straw or wool or a combination of things gathered the previous summer), mats and the rushes or mats from the floors and burn them. Very practical; one can imagine all that bedding from the winter being pretty used up and ready to be replaced with fresh! Even though we don't need to do that anymore, we can continue the spirit of that ritual by looking at the things that perhaps used to make us comfortable but which are now outworn and ready to be replaced, and light our own Beltane fires to figuratively burn them away.