Fairy Lights Pairs: Star and 6 of Swords

Fairy Lights Tarot, LoScarabeo 2013

This week, I will feature pairs from the Fairy Lights Tarot by Lucia Mattioli (LoScarabeo 2013). The distinguishing feature of this deck, other than its ethereal and non-traditional art work, is that the paintings were done and then divided in half and each half assigned to represent a tarot card. As the LWB says, each card can be read on its own, or placed side by side to blend meanings to create a new story and expand upon the message of the tarot. The pairings are not traditional. In fact sometimes it is quite a stretch to see how traditional tarot card meanings would align between the pair. I thought it would be an interesting exercise to look at them in pairs, so I matched them all up and scanned them into my computer (still not done with them actually!) and then to draw, I open the folder, close my eyes, circle the mouse around and click. Whatever I land on is the draw for the day. :D




So today I've drawn XVII Star (called 'The Stars' in this deck) and 6 of Swords. Star has been coming up a lot lately for me. In this deck, it is paired with 6 of Swords, a card generally associated with moving on after a defeat or setback. The Star card is somewhat traditional--at least it depicts a female figure pouring water from two vessels. The 6 of Swords, however, doesn't bear as much resemblance to its RWS counterpart, which shows a man rowing a woman and child across waters which are troubled on one side and still on the other. In the Fairy Lights Tarot, we see three light brown fairy and one dark faerie hovering over water whilst a waterspout rises up from the silver-grey surface of the pool. There seems to be a tiny new white faerie emerging from the top of the waterspout. Maybe we are witnessing a birth in this card, and the hovering faeries are its midwives.

If we look at the picture as a whole, we see the female faerie on the shore, who appears to be some sort of satyr (she has awfully furry legs, and what looks like a hoof), who pours the water from the 'shimmering vessels of hope into the world', as the LWB says. Beautiful stars accompany her overhead, and I see them as tiny faeries of great luminescence. She pours the hope in on one side of the picture, and then rising up around the bend on the other side of the picture is this new swirling life, a new faerie of hope--perhaps it is a new star faerie. The brown earth faeries and the dark shadow faerie (maybe a faerie of air, or Swords suit) work together to birth this water/star faerie. Maybe all these faeries are able to morph from one to the other, or to choose which type to manifest as in each incarnation. Either way, I like the idea of a circle of hope, being poured out onto the world and manifesting, its destiny to cycle through all elements and return again to source.

On a mundane level, this combination of cards offer great comfort for those who have come through some sort of trial or trauma. The universe has an inexhaustible supply of hope on offer -- those golden vessels never run dry. And neither will you. You can rise up again and again, a new creature, the result of all that has gone before, and yet also a fresh new being in your own right. Just like a butterfly, or in this case, a star faerie.

For a daily reading, I am seeing this as a suggesting to pay special attention to insight or subtle thoughts, inspiration that comes from the gentlest sources. For example, right now, I am sitting in a slant of sunlight in front of the window, and a cool breeze is rocking the curtains. Outside I hear my beloved pair of crows cawing. Life is beautiful, what I'm experiencing with my senses is beautiful, and that itself is hope enough to make one feel refreshed, even made anew.