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. 

So, yes, like the Fool, I am unfettered in many ways. No kids at home, no family ties here, nothing to bind me, nothing to 'take up my time'--I have the freedom of the Fool to take any leap that strikes my fancy. And in fact, getting myself into this situation was in itself a leap of the Fool. But this Fool has been flying through the air since 2002. Even flying can get tiresome after awhile -- and we know what happens to astronauts who spend too much time in space. They lose bone density and their muscles deteriorate. They lose blood volume and their sense of balance. Their immune systems are weakened. In essence, the longer they're up there, the less fit they are for real life on earth. So while space flight and weightlessness sounds like a big adventure, it's not sustainable. Same with the Fool's leap. It's a great thing, if you eventually come down. But it's no way of being as Your World. 

And so the best way to describe my world is seen in Dancer Nine, where the figure is in silhouette, existing in a twilight realm, distracted by her own vague dreams and wishes. She's only got one toe on the earth. If she ever comes out of this state of mind, how much time will have passed? And how much will she have accomplished?  It's a beautiful card, and the time and freedom to indulge in 'making wishes' all day is enticing, but again, is it the best way to live your life in the World? You can't dream forever. At some point, you have to make it happen. Or at least get up and go make breakfast. 

Which leads to the one thing that needs to be changed. The spread isn't saying I shouldn't enjoy my freedom, or set limitations for myself. I'm not saying I should abandon dreaming. The spread position is called 'The one thing you should think about changing,' which implies that everything else about my World is all right. And the one thing I should think about changing has to do with groundedness. The card is Maker Six, Generosity. An apple tree having a big faery face, offers apples in its outstretched branches to the sidhe below. Both the tree and the sidhe seem happy with this arrangement. The trunk of the tree is thick and strong and though we can't see the ground it's connected to, we know that is firmly rooted in the earth, drawing energy and sustenance from it, and offering the fruits of that synergy to the world. There is a give and take going on between the tree and the earth, and the tree and the world (represented by the sidhe). 

The one thing that needs to be changed then, is my relationship to the earth and to others. I need to reconnect to earth, I need to reconnect to my own body, and I need to reconnect with other people. To reach out and pick an apple and to eat it is to take a real action, not a dream action. To bring forth fruit and to offer it freely to the world is a real action, not a dream action. What I must do is figure out what fruits I can bring forth (or have brought forth but have taken no notice of) and how I can offer them to the world. And not just dream about offering them, but actually doing it, like this apple tree hands the sidhe an apple and can then stand and watch her eat it and know she has been filled. 

....I was going to say 'Much to think on'....but surely that is the point of this whole spread. Not much to think on. Much to do. It doesn't matter what it is today, I should find a way to give. A way that grounds and nurtures both me and the other.

Fortunately for me, in my reading of Emily Carding's Faery Craft, as soon as I finished writing this post, I read a meditation -- and could it have been more appropriate? It is called 'The Apple Seed', and its purpose is to help you find your gift. 'You may already have a good idea of where your strengths lie and what gifts you would bring to the world of Faery... Keep strong connections with the land and your otherworld allies, and this will help you uncover your potential. This exercise was gifted to me by faery to help you on your way...' In the meditation, you contemplate an apple, visualise it sliced in half horizontally to reveal the pentagram-shaped seed formation within. When one of the seeds lights up or otherwise gets your attention, imagine taking it out into the palm of your hand, where it will change shape and become a symbol of 'what you are here to share with the world.' You are to ask your faery ally, in your mind's eye, to accompany you to plant the seed in the ground of otherworld. When you come out of the meditation, you are to make notes or draw the symbol so you don't forget. Then you are to slice the real apple in half, choose a seed to represent the one from your meditation. Take the seed and two apple halves to a special place in nature, if you can, and offer one half, eat the other half, and plant the seed in the ground. This meditation is on pages 157-159 of Faery Craft. So...I have my Bank Holiday project then!  Isn't it amazing, the synchronicity of the tarot spread and the meditation?