A Courtly Tarot Celebration

'It is a joy to set a strong foundation beneath your desire and see it grow in strength and beauty...yet when you have built a grand empire from the results of your labours you must give thanks and make merry.' ~ Kim Huggens, Tarot Illuminati

This card turned up in my earlier Authentic Life Spread using the Tarot Illuminati (Dunne and Huggens, LoScarabeo 2013). Notice I've drawn another Wands card today, after yesterday's King of Wands! Here we have a Persian-looking building in the background, a male figure is wearing the turban, the baggy trousers, the sash around the waist and the pointy-toed shoes that I associate with episodes of  'I Dream of Jeannie'. The female figure looks more European to me, like a fairy tale medieval damsel, sort of like 14th century French court. The card is very reminiscent of its RWS counterpart, having four wands festooned with garlands of flowers, and a stately building or castle in the background, with people celebrating.

The Four of Wands usually signifies having a stable foundation and/or a celebration of recent accomplishments. Things are going well and you can treat yourself. The card could also predict a special event, party or celebration.

Today I celebrate the firm foundation of daily posting here at this blog, and I give thanks for the opportunities it has given me to help people through tarot readings. I thank all those who have allowed me to read for them, offering them fresh perspectives to help them see their path more clearly. And I celebrate the tarot, such an important part of my life and practice. I would love to read for you! If you would like a reading, click the button above marked 'Order a Tarot Reading' and let's chat about it.

Another King of Wands

This week's tarot is Tarot Illuminati, by Eric C Dunne and Kim Huggens, Lo Scarabeo 2013. I love this deck, and am really looking forward to sharing it on the blog. I will write a more thorough review of it at the end of the week.

Today's card is King of Wands, and what a King of Wands he is! Everything about him, from his flamboyant dress to his confident posture, speaks of forthright boldness.

The Wands suit in the Tarot Illuminati is based on Persia, and so we have lots of turbans and feathers, pointy-toed shoes, and well, Persian-looking stuff. :)

I've been drawing King of Wands a lot lately, have you noticed? And Knight of Wands haunted me for weeks and weeks a while back. Something out there is trying to tell me something. Assert myself! Take charge! WAKE UP!

How'm I doin'?

RWS

Prairie Tarot, Robin Ator 2010

A very traditional 3 of Coins we have today from The Prairie Tarot by Robin Ator, 2010. A craftsman working on decorating a structure with three coins (or pentacles), pauses as two onlookers observe his work. As in the RWS version, one of the onlookers seems to be the patron of the project (the older man), while the other might represent a muse, a softer, more emotive point of view (the girl).

In the RWS, the craftsman works on a cathedral detail, the patron appears to be a monk, and the artistic character is a man in a flamboyant robe holding plans. Maybe he is the designer of the building. Or, perhaps the man in the decorated robes is the patron, and the monk represents the spiritual muse of the cathedral (knowing what we know about monks, such as the Cistercians, it seems more likely the monk is the businessman, though).

In a reading, the 3 of Coins often signifies receiving feedback on your work, considered opinions on your job (usually positive). It can also signify working as a team, though it seems to me that the man standing on the bench is doing the actual work while the others are providing their input. Still, without the artistic vision, the financial backing, and the skill of the craftsman, nothing would be built at all. It takes all three. So maybe the card can remind us that every member of the team has an important contribution, even if in the moment it doesn't seem that way. (This message reminds me a lot of yesterday's Justice message!)

Share the load

Prairie Tarot, Robin Ator 2010

That is one po-faced looking woman. What a face. A face like a smacked bum, I've heard it called. Well, maybe she just looks a little serious. Still, she's got a job to do. She's Justice, and Justice on the Prairie is serious business. Her expression says, 'Approach if you dare, but I am taking no sh*t from you. If these scales don't balance, I am fully prepared to run you through. Or worse.'

I like that there is a yoke in the foreground. It isn't really at her feet. It's closer to us. It makes me think of the pioneer spirit which said, if you don't work, you don't eat. Everyone must do his fair share. This is only reasonable, as survival depends on the contribution of everyone. No one can afford to carry an able-bodied person. Everyone who can contribute, must.

What is it that you can contribute, but you're not currently doing? What is that you could do that would take up part of the burden, that would share the load, that would make you feel better about yourself and part of something vital? What is it that you are now leaving out, and you know it isn't fair to others, or to your own self worth?

And what do you intend to do to remedy that situation? Because eventually, without balance, there's the sword.

Wahoo!

I needed a good pick-me-up after yesterday's tough reading, so I'm glad to see today's card from Prairie Tarot by Robin Ator is 6 of Wands. That's a good one to draw. Aleister Crowley wrote that the 6 of Wands shows 'Energy in completely balanced manifestation'. The card's title is 'Victory'. Whenever I see this card, I hear Queen singing 'We are the Champions.' Is that normal? Probably not.

The Six of Wands RWS card shows a warrior returning home triumphant, surrounded by his cronies. Most RWS-based decks continue this tradition. The rider on a horse accompanied by a wreath is practically as ubiquitous as the valentine heart with three swords plunged through it in the 3 of Swords card. Iconic, I guess you could say.

In the Prairie Tarot, our champion is not a warrior but a lad showing off his riding skills, perhaps in a competition such as a rodeo. He leaps his horse over a set of steps, flanked either side by the fenceposts that seem to represent wands in this deck. I like this card very much; it conveys the spirit of the Six of Wands instantaneously. As soon as you see it, you get that Six of Wands 'Wahoo' feeling.

Out of curiosity, I had a peek at the Learn Tarot website to see what she has to say about this card.

'In readings, the Six of Wands appears when you have been working hard toward a goal, and success is finally within reach. The recognition you have sought so long is yours. Now you can receive the acclaim, honor and reward that you deserve. If you do not feel close to victory now, know that it is on its way provided you are doing all you can to make it happen. The victory of this card does not have to involve beating someone else. You can triumph over yourself, the environment, or the odds.'

 The most important message for me to take is: 'If you do not feel close to victory now, know that it is on its way provided you are doing all you can to make it happen.' Let that be a reminder to me to do the right things today to move me one step closer to my goals.

Examining influences

Deck of 1000 Spreads with Prairie Tarot

This morning I decided to take a closer look at something that has been bothering me a lot lately, diet and fitness. I've ended up with a monster of  a spread, which is a side-effect of using the Deck of 1000 Spreads tool--but it was fun putting this thing together.

Top row
1. Problem   2. Health   3. Conscious Desires   4. You

Middle
Negative Influences from
5. Partner (what you can't change)  6. Partner (what you can change)
7. Co-Workers (what you can't change)  8. Co-workers (what you can change)
9. Friends and family (what you can't change)  10. Friends and family (what you can change)

Positive Influences from
11. Partner
12. Co-workers
13. Friends and family

Right side
14. Success
15. Outcome

King o Farr

Prairie Tarot, Ator 2010

Pardon the title of this post. It's redneck for 'King of Fire.' I can use redneck because I was born one. (My mother would be none too pleased to hear that, but what else could you be when you grow up in northeast Arkansas? I'd say I left the world of the redneck, but having resettled in West Midlands, UK, I'm not entirely sure I've come that far. Ha.) This King of Wands reminds me so much of Jeff Bridges in 'True Grit' it is not even funny. I can hear that growly voice just looking at him, and I heard that same voice from just about every old man of my childhood.

Come to think of it, Rooster Cogburn is a good example of the King of Wands. He has supreme self-confidence, takes the straightest route from A to B when it comes to strategy, isn't concerned at all about following any rules that he didn't make himself. He's not a detail man. But he does have his own sense of honour, even if it might not quite match up to everyone else's. That's the King of Wands, for sure.

Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, True Grit

Just a good old boy

Prairie Tarot, Ator 2010

The Page of Coins here makes me think mostly of the sun, or perhaps the moon, which stands to reason, as today is the full moon, and a super moon at that. The background of the card is a warm yellow, and the only other detail on the card, really, is a lamp, emblazoned with an eagle.

The Page of Coins is generally seen to be someone who is endlessly curious about the natural world, what makes things work, how things fit together, what makes stuff tick. He's a very hands-on person, has great attention to detail, very diligent task commitment. That doesn't mean he isn't playful -- he hasn't progressed into the Knight of Coins yet! But he is the kind of person whose version of play involves finding out the answers to his ceaseless questions. He is the kind of guy who can put up a shelf for you, hook up your DVD player, and ask in return only that you come out to the park and play some softball and maybe go for a beer afterward. A good guy. Clean cut all-American type. ;)

Makes me wanna burst into 'America the Beautiful'

Prairie Tarot, Ator 2010

 This week we'll be looking at The Prairie Tarot: a Tarot of the American West, by Robin Ator. This is a wonderful self-published deck that came out in 2010. I have a great fondness for this deck because I feel that it is one of the few decks out there to try to capture the spirit of the American experience, through our own unique mythology, the American West.

How better to start than with my favourite card of all the minors, 9 of Coins! In the RWS tradition, we have a female figure holding a bird of prey, surrounded by symbols of material security. In the Rider Waite-Smith deck, it's a medieval lady of leisure in her pleasure garden, surrounded by grapevines, and with her sprawling villa in the background. In the Prairie Tarot, we have different symbols of plenty -- the wide open plains, no boundaries in sight, the fertile native grasses, and the plow. I fancy that the bird soaring through the air in the background can only be an American eagle. I see it that way, in any case.

Love it, love it, love it.

Hey Britannia, I dig that dress

Legend Arthurian, 1995

The Queen of Cups in the Legend Arthurian Tarot (Ferguson, Llewellyn 1995) is Britannia, also known as Brigit or Brigantia. To be honest, I'm having a hard time making a connection between Queen of Cups and Britannia. Surely the land would be the Queen of Pentacles. Perhaps this has to do with my innate aversion to the Queen of Cups, who I find a bit too fragile and needy for my taste.

Anna-Marie Ferguson clears up the confusion (sort of) in her companion book to the deck called A Keeper of Words: 'In the stories Peredur (approx 13th centuryWelsh) and Perlesvaus (13th century French,, the Grail bearer appears as both the beautiful maid and the repulsive crone. In light of this, it seems logical to assume that the figure who bears the Grail in the home of the Fisher King is the Sovereignty of Britain, sometimes called Brigid, Brigantia or Brittania.'

Oh. Is it logical? I guess it is to Anna-Marie Ferguson. So as near as I can figure, she's saying the Queen of Cups is the Grail Bearer from the Fisher King's palace, who is also Britannia, and might also be Elaine (the chick from 9 of Swords who starves herself and floats down the river to be buried at Camelot, for love of Lancelot). I can see how Elaine might be Queen of Cups (or at least her shadow aspect), and I can see how the Grail Bearer might be seen as Britannia, but I can't see how Britannia is Queen of Cups.

But no matter! It's still a female figure and a cup's on the card, so we can read it like any Queen of Cups in any deck. She's an emotional woman, quite empathetic to others, but she has a tendency to go a bit codependent if she's not careful.

Equilibrium

Legend Arthurian, 1995

The Lady of the Lake emerges today as Justice, looking a bit like a topless Angel of the North. She rises from the water, arms outstretched to mimic scales, the scabbard on one side, and Excalibur on the other. The rather startled little dude in the front is our hero, King Arthur. I hope that sword magically shrinks down to his size, or he's gonna have a hard time carrying it.

I'm not sure why The Lady of the Lake has been chosen to represent Justice, but the image says enough without us necessarily being able to relate her story to the card. Anna-Marie Ferguson suggests that she represents 'cosmic law', and that her appearance 'signifies the workings of destiny and karma.' Fair enough.

'But Lancelot mused a little space...

Legend Arthurian, 1995

...He said 'She has a lovely face. God in his mercy lend her grace, The Lady of Shalott.' 

The Nine of Swords is the card of worry, nightmares, mental stress, anxiety, sleepless nights, and so on. In Legend Arthurian (Ferguson, Llewellyn 1995) it is represented by the Lily Maid of Astolat, Elaine, who in Tennyson became the Lady of Shalott.

In this card, Elaine is floating down the river toward Camelot. She has given up on life and is in the throes of despair because she loves Lancelot, but he cannot return her love. (She dies on the journey and her boat arrives in Camelot, where Lancelot takes care of her funeral arrangements. Nice of him).

Rider Waite Smith

I don't have any particular worries today, as we are heading off on holiday to Wales today. I'm hoping that we will have a restful week off and there will be no Nine of Swords nights or moments at all! :)

I've always loved the story of Elaine, and also the poem 'The Lady of Shalott'. And of course the beautiful Waterhouse painting:

The Lady of Shalott, John William Waterhouse

Potential

The Spears suit in Legend Arthurian (Ferguson, Llewellyn 1995) is the suit of Rods, Wands or Staves in other decks. Here, the Ace of Spears is the Grail Lance, the Lance of Longinus, the very spear that pierced the side of Christ on the cross. It was housed in the castle of King Pellam, and it is this that Balin picks up in self-defense and stabs King Pellam in the thigh with it, thus dealing the Dolorous Blow that lays waste three kingdoms and creates the Fisher King.

That backstory is not important to interpreting the card, though. The Grail Lance is the spear of all spears! And the Ace of Spears (or Wands) is the wand of all wands, the very essence of its suit, which is the element of Fire--action, drive, purpose, initiative, potential.

When you draw the Ace of Wands (or Spears, or Lances, or Rods, or Staves, or whatever your deck creator has called them), you know that you are entering a phase of great creative potential. The key word is potential. The Ace of Spears hasn't done anything yet. But wow, is it poised to spring.

Well, it's Tuesday, I don't know how I feel 'poised to spring' today -- but we are going on holiday tomorrow, so maybe the card is pointing to that. :)

Fools rush in

Legend Arthurian, 1995

We saw Percivale (Parzival, Parsifal--there are many spellings) last week in the Haindl Tarot, where he is both the Fool and the Prince of Cups. He makes another appearance as the Fool today in Legend Arthurian by Anna-Marie Ferguson (Llewellyn 1995).

In this card, Percivale has just arrived at Camelot. This is his first glimpse of the castle shining in the sun, framed by rainbows. He's fresh from the boondocks of deepest Wales and doesn't know the first thing about being a knight. He is filled with optimism and untapped potential. His adventure is about to begin, and he is oblivious to dangers or pitfalls.

That's all you need to know about Percivale in order to see how he's the Fool in this deck. There are many ways in which Percivale at the beginning of his journey is a tarot Fool, but this moment depicted in this card says enough.

It's Monday. I wonder what will be Foolish about the day for me today.

Decisions, decisions

Legend Arthurian Tarot, Llewellyn 1995

Today's card from Anna-Marie Ferguson's Legend Arthurian Tarot (Llewellyn 1995) is Two of Swords, and depicts a scene from the story of Balin and Balan...

The Story of Balin and Balan (as told in Malory's Morte d'Arthur)

These were two brothers, and knights of the Round Table. As with most characters in Arthurian legend, things don't turn out well for them. To be honest both of them are actually rather nasty pieces of work; their actions don't make sense to the modern mind. Much of 'chivalry' just sounds to us like lawless thuggery, 'honour' killings and gang warfare. For example, Balin, fresh out of jail for murder, uses a magical sword he picks up (despite being warned if he keeps it, it will end up killing the thing he loves most -- he doesn't believe it) to lob off the head of the Lady of the Lake, a revenge murder. Thus Balin again becomes a wanted man, and goes on the run, meeting up with his brother Balan to wage war against one of Arthur's enemies in the hopes of getting back into Arthur's good graces. That ends well, so both Balin and Balan go their separate ways, heroes again.

Balan meets up with yet another knight and kills him, but is then caught in a spell that causes him to have to live on an island and fight every knight who happens his way. These things happen, you know.

A Witch in the Woods

This week's deck, in all its purple glory, is Legend Arthurian Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson (Llewellyn 1995). I bought this deck and its companion book, A Keeper of Words by Anna-Marie Ferguson, some time back, but I just haven't got around to looking at properly. Something about it tells me it is a deck I am likely to keep. (Though since I have left AT, it's likely that my deck buying habits will change dramatically. I decided to leave about three weeks ago, withdrew my membership and everything. So nice to be free.)

This Moon card plays up the powers of the moon and its associations with magic. The sorceress Morgan le Fay sits beside a deep woodland pool, absorbing the moon's energies from above while plumbing the depths of the mysteries represented by the water below. Surrounding her are leafless trees, their shapes reminding me very much of beech trees. 'Reflecting the conscious light of the sun,' writes Anna-Marie Ferguson, 'the moon illuminates the hidden realm of the mind.' The moon mysteries are the depths of our subconscious minds, a realm that can be, as Ferguson describes, 'a harrowing realm' to explore, but it is certainly rewarding. We can see glimpses of our subconscious minds in our dreams, our daydreams, and in our 'chaotic, lawless imagination'.

In a reading, the Moon card could be taken as a cue to pay attention to dreams, or to indicate confusion, bewilderment or illusion about an issue. The Moon card advises us to take a harder look beneath the surface of things.

'You have chosen wisely'

Haindl Tarot, Lotos 2002

I found something I wrote about the Haindl Tarot last year ( What's it all about?) in which I try to explain the tone and mood of this deck, as it seems to me. I don't think any card in the deck captures the mood of this deck as well as Parzival, the Prince of Cups.

Parzival (or Parsifal) also appears in the Fool card in the Haindl Tarot, which depicts the scene where Parsifal kills the swan, an impetuous action which caused him to discover sin, death, and responsibility. The Prince of Cups ( 'Son of Cups in the North', as it is called in Haindl Tarot) depicts the moment when Parsifal achieves the Grail. His face is lit up by its radiance, his expression shows he is overwhelmed and in shock. He's melting away, look at his hands, and how his image seems to liquify and smear right off the card.

Rachel Pollack says this is a complicated moment. 'On one side it signifies the discovery of spiritual truth, something greater and deeper than personal desire. Parsifal becomes aware of the Holy Spirit and Divine Truth. This challenges him to goals beyond his own gratification...' Pollack goes on to suggest that Parsifal sees in the Grail the wounded earth, and our need to restore it. This wounded earth theme pervades the Haindl Tarot, as does the 'shock-and-awe' of enlightenment, so I think the Prince of Cups is the quintessential Haindl card.

Once all the high-flown stuff is out of the way, in a real drawing, the card is usually interpreted a lot like any Prince (or Page) of Cups: someone who is sweet-tempered, naive, easily moved. Possibly self-centered but only due to his naivety. When it's pointed out to him how he's aggrieved someone, he feels genuinely sorry (like Parsifal and the swan). He's just a gentle, tender-hearted kid, really.

Authentic Life Spread

James Wells of Circle Ways has created a tarot spread based on the book 'Top Five Regrets of the Dying,' which aims to help us 'live a life that is less regret-filled and more fulfilling and authentic.' That sounds like a very good aim, and so I am going to try out the spread here using my newly arrived Tarot Illuminati by Erik C Dunne, with companion book by Kim Huggens (Lo Scarabeo, 2013). 

1     2     3     4     5

1. How can I remain true to myself?
2. How can I remember to set work aside for other important things?
3. How can I develop and maintain the courage to express my feelings?
4. How can I remember to stay in touch with people whom I love and value?
5. How can I demonstrate my choice to be happy?

Only her hairdresser knows for sure

I'm an Aquarius and so it seems natural that the Star is a favourite card of mine, and this one from Haindl Tarot (Lotos 2002) is in my Top Ten of all Star cards. There's something so romantic about the maiden washing her hair in the stream here. I love it. It has to do with oneness, and vulnerability, and purity, and ritual, and all sorts of wonderful things.

'The Star shows a kind of consciousness that does not need  extreme measures. She bends down to wash her hair, and so becomes part of stone and water. With the star in the sky giving us fire and air, we find all four elements, not as in the mystic Grail emblems of the Magician, but in nature, in daily life' (Pollack, Haindl Tarot: Major Arcana).

I like the easy nature of the card, and as I don't have to go to work today (it's my day off for Saturday), I hope my day is as flowing and gentle as this card. I'm off to Spec Savers, though, to see if they can do anything about this nuisance of having to take my glasses off every time I need to something close up, and put them on again to see something across the room. My days of reading while watching TV are now in the past! And at this point, even my dinner looks blurry if I don't take my glasses off. They may give me a new prescription, but I bet they just tell me to keep taking them off and putting them on to deal with the close vs distance vision thing. Ah, aging.

Added to this card we see the Hebrew letter Tzaddi, meaning 'fishhook', the rune Eh, which means 'horse', and the astrological symbol for Aquarius. This card is associated with element Air, which is symbolized by the white border. (I forgot to mention border colours in previous posts.) To be honest, I have no clue what fishhooks and horses have to do with this card, but there you go!

Roots and rocks

What says 'earth' to you more than anything else? On a really basic level, I mean. Sticks and stones? Roots and rocks? That's what we have here in the Four of Stones from the Haindl Tarot (Lotos 2002). I don't know about you, but I see the base of a tree, its roots partially exposed, and two broad wisps of brownish mist hovering around it, with four round stones floating in front, as they are strangely wont to do in this deck.

The RWS deck of course has Four of Pentacles meaning someone being miserly or self-protective, showing a person hugging a giant coin, more under each foot, with one usually balanced on their head. Here we've got none of that, just rocks and roots. And the name of this card is 'The Power of the Earth'. That has a wonderful ring to it, don't you think?

The Four of Disks in the Thoth deck also seems to hold a feeling of protectiveness. Crowley likens the image to a fortress. He then goes on to talk about Sol in Capricornus, and various translations of the words 'queen' and 'castle', ending his comments on the Four of Disks by noting the guttural sounds of Hebrew, so...not much help from Uncle Al in his Book of Thoth.

I am not sure why each stone is a different colour (blue, red, white, yellow), but Pollack suggests it has to do with the cardinal directions (though she actually says it's the tree roots that are colours, but that must be just an editorial mishap.)

No, for me the meaning of this card comes from the combination of the image and the title. 'The Power of the    Earth', and the tree roots, and now that I look at possibly water around the roots, and the rocks, and the mist. The earth is filled with mysteries and mundanities.

For a reading, I would be most likely to fall back on numerology and suit:  the stolid nature of the four, the material/physical energy of the suit. Heavy rocks, gripping tree roots, I can see how these could link back to the fortress and protection themes of the Thoth and RWS. But I would see this coming from a much deeper and, dare I say it, 'grounded' place than either RWS or Thoth. This is an assurance that comes from the very foundations.

Stones and stripes

This card from Haindl Tarot (Lotos 2002) always makes me think of striped pyjamas, which makes me think of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', which makes me think of World War II and prisoners in concentration camps. It's awful, I know, but it's what I thought of the first time I saw the card. I later found out that the deck creator, Hermann Haindl, did spend time in a Russian prisoner of war camp. I have no idea why I've always thought of these things, but I'm pretty sure Haindl probably had no such thing in mind when he created this card. Rachel Pollack's guidebook explains that actually this image comes from a detail of a painting by Haindl of the Greek God Dionysus, 'from a section of the painting meant to indicate harmony.' She goes on to explain that the pattern seen here is like the lines of a tallis, or prayer shawl worn by Jewish men. So there's some sort of connection going on in there...

Anyway, leaving aside my odd associations, this certainly appears to be a card about balance. The two stones are balanced, the dark and light stripes balance one another, and there's a dark area in on the lower right side of the card contrasting with a bright area onthe upper left side of the card. These things remind me more of the juggling man in the RWS 2 of Pentacles than of the Golden Dawn title, 'Harmonious Change'. But I guess when you think about it, for a change to be harmonious, all its elements would need to be in balance. It's lack of balance that causes conflict, or disharmony, so actually it does make sense.

Actually, balance has been a lot on my mind this morning, so this card is a good one to draw today. Pollack says this card can represent working together harmoniously, especially in business. I would add that because this is the pentacles/coins/disk suit, it also has to do with aspects of physical health, and it's in that area that I'm seeking some 'harmonious change'. 

Enter the dragon

Haindl, Lotos 2002

Another major today! This is the World card, or 'The Universe', from the Haindl Tarot (Lotos 2002). It's certainly nothing like the World card familiar to us through older decks such as RWS, TdM, or even Thoth. The first thing you notice on this card is this big fire-breathing worm or firedrake, a very romantic-sounding word, and one I prefer to the word 'dragon'. Don't you love the word 'firedrake'?

Anyway, this firedrake is flying through outerspace, and he's a big old boy, because you can see that his body and tail actually encircle the earth (the end of his tail curls around the globe and is coming round from the left side of the card, see it?) Who is this serpent and what could he mean? Because he sure doesn't remind me at all of the Christ-in-glory imagery of the traditional World cards:

Click for image source

Nor is he like the Thoth Universe card, on which this card is presumably based, though at least there's a snake in that card. In Haindl's Universe card, the firedrake seems to be based on the World Serpent of Germanic myth, who has grown so large that he encircles the earth and grasps his own tail. When he lets go of his tail, the world will end. We can see in Haindl's card that the serpent has let go of his tail, so what does that mean? Is this a card of the end of the world? In a way, yes, because the Universe card is a card of transcendence, and releasing his tail allows the firedrake to fly off into the vastness of space and have a look around, just as enlightenment for us means a greater connection to whatever is beyond our current experience and understanding. However, I have no doubts that the dragon will come back to the earth. As Rachel Pollack says in Haindl Tarot: The Major Arcana, transcendence does not mean abandonment. In fact it means embracing the earth. The feeling here seems to be that in order to unite wholly with the earth, we must release our grip on it.

Bang, boom! The Tower

My first thought on seeing this card is that in the entire 78-card deck, this is the only one in the Haindl Tarot with an image of a modern structure. It's the Tower card (Haindl Tarot, Lotos 2002). To confirm that, I did a quick check. There are only seven cards in the deck that show any sort of man-made structure at all, one shows standing stones and a barrow, and the other five details of castle or abbey ruins. I mean, really ruined, like you have to look twice to realize they might once have been usable structures. (For the curious, they are: 2 of Wands, 2 of Swords, 3 of Wands, 8 of Stones and 10 of Swords).

So in a deck that focuses on the earthiest aspects of the natural world - there is precious little green, and hardly any blue sky in this deck, mostly soil and rock - it is very telling that the card which symbolizes destruction is our temple to modern civilization and the might of man, glass and steel towers that reach with arrogance and hubris toward heaven -- the skyscraper.

You will notice that the card contains four additional bits of information: a Hebrew letter, a rune, and a planetary symbol. There's also a tiny arabic numeral, which is the 'mispar' or 'primordial number' associated with the Hebrew letter. For the Tower, the Hebrew letter is Peh, or 'Mouth', and its number is 80. The rune is Irr, 'to err' or 'to wrong', and the planet is Mars, the god of war, and an extremely masculine energy (the symbol is also used to stand for the male). I can't say I know much (yet) about the numerical value of Hebrew letters, but I certainly can see significance in the other three associations with the Tower. We see in the card image an immense, round skyscraper, struck from the outside, with debris including flags of the world flying out from it. The Tower is so huge we can only see a bit of it, we can't see the foundation or the top. There is a glimmer of hope in the card in the form of a colorful sunrise on the horizon at the bottom of the card. Peh is path 27 on the Tree of Life, the path of war.

Circle of stones

Haindl Tarot, Lotus 2002

This week's deck is the very serious and earthy Thoth-based Haindl Tarot  (Haindl, Lotus, 2002). I have the large-size German edition, which I have trimmed of borders and titles and handwritten either Haindl's revised titles or a Golden Dawn/Thoth title on the card.  Haindl created the minor arcana from existing artwork, choosing a detail from one of his earlier paintings, and simply painting the relevant number of pips on top. Each card is marked with an i-ching symbol, which I ignore entirely as I know nothing about the system and have no interest in it. I understand from those in the know that his use of them is idiosyncratic, anyway. The suits are wands, cups, swords and stones (instead of coins/pentacles). The majors and courts were painted specifically for the deck. Majors follow the usual pattern; the courts are Son, Daughter, Father, Mother. I've labelled mine in the more traditional manner of Prince, Princess, Queen, King (using the word 'King' where Crowley uses 'Knight').

Thoth Tarot, Crowley-Harris

Today's card is the 6 of Stones, or 6 of Coins. We see six stones or boulders in a cave of some type. There is water on the cave floor, and a natural path leading to an opening that is filled with daylight. The six stones are arranged around this opening. Looking closer, the top three stones are in a triangle shape, and the bottom three stones are in an upside-down triangle shape. This has a distinct 'as above, so below' feel to it.  In the Thoth Tarot, the 6 of Disks has its pips arranged in a hexagram, too, from the centre of which glows the light of the rosy cross. So it is obvious here that Haindl has taken the original Thoth card and reinterpreted it in earthy imagery, rather than the stark, cold lines of the Crowley-Harris Thoth. It's more or less the same card, though.

image source

Rachel Pollack points out that the two triangles also form the top of the Tree of Life. The centre of the Tree of Life is sometimes called the Abyss, because there appears to be no sephira there. Actually there is, though it's often missing from diagrams or represented by a broken line: Daath. In the Six of Stones, the spot where Daath would be is represented by the glowing light of the cave door. The suggestion in the card, then,  is that the source of wisdom does not have to be separate from the material world. You can enjoy your earthly life and still achieve divine enlightenment. Or as Pollack puts it, 'We can find the true source of meaning within the happiness of daily life.'

In a reading, I would likely interpret this card to mean 'material success', just like it says on the tin, but would also see it as a reminder that success in life can be used to learn deeper lessons, even spiritual ones. The most important one probably being that the little moments of happiness in the day to day are the true keys to understanding our link to the divine. The pleasures of this world can be a gateway to divine connection, an idea which is clearly represented in this card image.

Love bubbles - have you sent any lately?

A rather studious-looking winged love bunny appears today from the Joie de Vivre Tarot (Cassidy, US Games 2011). I am quite charmed by his headdress, which sports a letter rack at the top. He's a harbinger of messages, hopefully love notes! And his bowl isn't hoisted onto his shoulder, but instead floats beside him, anchored lightly by curling ribbons. The liquid in the bowl effervesces with sparkling heart-shaped bubbles. Beneath his feet, the hill is cut away to reveal the roots of love in the earth, layer upon layer.

This card is telling me today to be the messenger of love. I should express loving, kind thoughts today, and if I feel positively disposed toward anything or anyone, I should give voice to it. Today is not a day to hold back on positive messages. Today is a day for giving genuine compliments and in general bringing some love-bubbles into someone's life. That's a nice mission for a Friday.

Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow

Joie de Vivre Tarot, US Games 2011

Yesterday I drew the Death card, wondering about endings. To be honest I never noticed anything ending, though I was disheartened to see my BMI has risen to 24.5 (teetering on the edge of 'overweight', or as my friend at work says, 'officially fat') which didn't make me happy, but didn't kill my eating of 3 or 4 jaffa cakes. Maybe yesterday was a turning point of some kind, though. I've been working on a particular project, something about the way I live my daily life, or the way I experience my life, and yesterday I had 3 or 4 unexpected positive experiences, which might suggest I'm turning the corner on it.  The Ace of Cups coming after the Death card has meaning for me, in relation to this project. It suggests that I'm heading in the direction I want with it.

Enough with the vague, let's look more closely at this sweet card. A lovely mouse-eared faerie girl in a dress decorated with big red hearts holds a giant clam shell full of water up at shoulder height, allowing it to flow in streams to the pool below. Above her a tiny angel figure holds a big key, and all around her on spirally vines sprouting more red hearts, lovely peacock-like birds perch and nibble from the heart blossoms of the vines. I love the way the mouse-eared girl has headdress of a crescent moon, with wind chimes dangling from it. Listen to the secrets of your heart, it seems to whisper, and love will flow through you.

Grateful dead

A red-eyed skeleton with blue hair perches on a fat-bodied bat. Shes holding up a flower, its petals coming off in the wind, her hair and cape flying, as the bat wings its way toward the unknown. This is the Death card from Joie de Vivre Tarot (Cassidy, US Games 2011).

There is a feeling of decay in the card, with the ribless spine of the skeleton and the sickly splashes of green. The bat is like a bug-bat combo, it's odd, fat body like that of certain moths or bees. It doesn't seem unpleasant, though, and its destination is a glowing 7-pointed star at the end of a tunnel.

There's something about this card that reminds me of the Grateful Dead. Death is encountered full on in this card, considering that the deck itself is rather fey and sweet in many ways (with some pointy edges!) This card confronts the decay of the physical body, an aspect of Death that many tarot cards skip right over in their leap to the 'transformative' effects of Death. But Death itself, as Rachel Pollack points out in 'Tarot Wisdom', is not transformation. Death is the ending that must occur before transformation can happen. This card seems to me to take a frank look at the end of physical life (as frank as you can get in a deck that also features mer-bunnies).

That said, in a reading, I would always hesitate to interpret this card as literal death, though that is always a possibility, and I think it's important that readers should not be squeamish about it. I would usually interpret this card to mean an ending of some sort.

I wonder what is coming to an end for me today. It's a daily draw, and so as I often say, anything that happens will be very mundane. I wonder...

Mer-bugs and bunny fish

Joie de Vivre Tarot, US Games 2011

I notice a lot of cards in the Joie de Vivre Tarot (Paulina Cassidy, US Games 2011) feature underwater scenes, mer-fae, crab-creatures, fishy-folk, and in general an under-the-boardwalk-down-by-the-sea kinda groove. This is okay with me. I need more of the Water element in my mix. Far too Airy, me. Those critters that don't look fishy generally look like they're at least half bug, but in this card, the figure has a girl's upper torso, then the pinched-in waist and bulbous nethers of a bug, suddenly ending in a very skinny fishtail! It's after you notice this that you look again and see her hair's floating, not flying in a breeze, and she's underwater, and those cute bunnies are actually fish creatures, too. (Or at least that's how I noticed it).

Her name is Bliss, and her bunny fish companions are called Innocence and Charity. They flow along in the warm currents of emotional contentment, according to the LWB. Very precious.

Emotional contentment is a good thing, because today's Tuesday, which means my work shift is again 8.30 - 18.15. Pffft.

I may check back in again later with a report on what exactly the emotional contentment turned out to be today -- but remember that with daily draws, everything is really smaaaall scale. So it might be nothing more than a good laugh. And that's good enough!

ETA: I totally forgot about the 'nostalgia' aspect of 6 of Cups, but just remembered that today I was chatting to a 17-year-old member of staff about what we wore when I was 17...yeah, that was in 1984. Wow. Bit of nostalgia, I guess. And we did laugh a lot today...but we always do.

Stay the course

Joie de Vivre Tarot, US Games 2011

What a hopeful card for a Monday morning! The work environment will still be plagued by network problems today, if what we were told on Friday is anything to go by, so I'm not sure why she's so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. The LWB of the Joie de Vivre Tarot (Paula Cassidy, US Games 2011) calls this figure 'Moxie'. All the characters in this deck are given nicknames that reflect the card meaning in some way. I like that, it's kinda cute. This card, the LWB says, that a 'perfect balance of willpower and action will carry you forward with spiritual and intellectual harmony' and to 'remain confident with your ideas, and stay focused on your intentions.'

Okay, then. I will take this as encourage to stay the path of the project I am now working on. Today is the eighth day in a row to contribute to it, and my intention is to work on it daily until July. The way to do that, as this card seems to be reminding me, is to do one day at time. It's an old saying but it's remembered for a reason -- it's true!

So today's motto is:

Stay the course, light a star,
Change the world where'er you are.
                                         ~Richard le Gallienne

Moon magic

Joie de Vivre Tarot, US Games 2011

As soon as I turned this card over today I heard Jiminy Cricket singing 'Wish Upon a Star':

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Maybe it's the shadow of a star seen in the water under the feet of the figure playing violin. I imagine those three owls are harmonizing on the background vocals. There are no monsters of the subconscious emerging from the mirky depths here. Just a cute little crab, marked himself with a star, clinging onto the tree. There's an eye carving just above him. The owls have little halos containing star, moon and sun motifs. A dragonfly perches on the neck of the violin, as if receiving a message from the music which it will carry off into the night, like an intention (or indeed, a wish) released into the universe.

Well, the full moon is considered a powerful time for magic and wish-making...

I had a little check of the LWB to see what the artist, Paulina Cassidy, might have to say, and she confirms that this card is about release and fulfillment: 'Illuminating hidden truths, the moon's energy brings clarity to the surface...trust your intuition, and create a life of your imagination and design. Magic is within.' So what I see rising to the surface in this card is not the Big Bad of the depths (though Cassidy does say we must face our hidden truths)--it's the star, rising up. It's the wish from deep inside that we can bring to fulfillment. Not the hidden monster, but the hidden truth, the hidden wish.

Wish upon a star, indeed. Moon magic.

Just hangin' around

Joie de Vivre Tarot, US Games 2011

I have a new tarot deck and it's all the fault of Siddaleah and Prince Lenormand!  They have used it on their blogs lately and I was forced to buy myself a copy as a result.;) Today I drew a Card of the Day with it, my first draw from it, and got this guy: The Hanged Man.

I've looked through this deck a few times since I received it and I believe these characters may be just as cheeky as the faeries in Brian Froud's Faeries' Oracle! Because today's card is more or less exactly what is going to be happening at work today. With the entire computer network down, there's not a lot we can do but 'hang around' and put in our time. That and apologize to customers and send them to the only other place in town with public access PCs, the Community Cafe. :)

So yeah, I'll be hanging around.

There's another aspect to this card that I will need to exercise as well. How can I put this diplomatically? One of my work colleagues, the kindest soul you could ever want to meet, doesn't deal very well with disruption of ANY kind. She gets herself into a right flap about things, particularly things that are beyond our control. So the other aspect of the Hanged Man, one of patient endurance, will most likely be called into play as well.

I notice, though, that this Hanged Man's hands aren't bound, and neither are his feet. He's got his own stripey tail wound around one leg and the branch. He can let go at any time! He's in way more control of this situation than he at first appears! And that is a reminder that I don't 'have' to go to the job, it's a situation I put myself in, and it's a situation that could as easily be changed. Well, that thought came out of the clear blue this morning! But it does help to remember that I am not a victim in my life, even when I must exercise patience and endurance. Our hands are never truly tied.