Witches' New Year -- Reassessing our goals

Samhain marks the mid-point of the Air Tide (the period between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice). The Air Tide, to me, is the 'season of the witch' -- it is a season of winds, swirling leaves, rustling treetops, electric storms, hanging mists, and glorious sunsets. At this time of year, I invariably find myself studying, reading, and immersing myself in learning projects. This sort of thing reaches a kind of zenith around the middle of the season, at Samhain, one of the four Celtic fire festivals (agricultural festivals). So this is the reason, for me, that I consider this the 'Witches' New Year'. We remember absent friends and family, particularly those who have passed beyond this veil. Also, in the old Celtic calendar, Samhain marked the beginning of winter, and I believe that is another reason some consider this festival a 'New Year'.

All I know is, this time of year always sees me feeling stirred up in many ways. I take stock of my direction, where I've come from and where I'm heading.

The advice here is to review past goals and set new ones. So...let's see what the cards have to say about this. I've asked five questions, in honour of the five-pointed star: 

1. What should I know about my past goals? Page of Swords

2. Which goals should I keep in the new year? 4 of Coins

3. Which goals should I abandon? 5 of Coins

4. What new direction should I go in? Devil

5. What can I do to support achieving my goals both old and new? 4 of Cups 

Lovers' Tarot, Jane Lyle 

 My past goals were mostly in my head and never got off the ground. The goals I should keep are those focused on maintaining the status quo in the material plane. I should abandon the goal of trying to feel comfortable in the material plane -- by that I mean, the goal of NOT feeling like 5 of Pentacles. Uncertainty is okay. In fact, I found a song about it yesterday. I'll just share it here:




'Be like a bird who, halting in her flight
On a limb too slight, feels it give way beneath her,
Yet sings, sings, knowing she has wings,
Yet sings, sings, knowing she has wings.'

(This turns out to be based on a quotation by Victor Hugo: 'Let us be like a bird for a moment perched on a frail branch when he sings; though he feels it bend, yet he sings his song, knowing that he has wings.')

Life is precarious; it is not certain. We long to feel that there is a solid foundation beneath us, but there is not. At any time we could lose a loved one, we could lose a livelihood, we could lose our health. But  whatever falls from under us, we won't plunge to our destruction. We can survive whatever ground or support disappears from beneath our feet.

What new direction can I go in? The Devil tells me to say 'F*ck it.' In fact, I just checked out a book from the library last week called 'F*ck It: The Ultimate Spiritual Way', by John C. Parkin. 'Up there so high in our Perspective Machine,' he writes, 'we realize our lives are just like that of a firefly. Except the air is full of seven billion fireflies. They're glowing beautifully for one night. Then they're gone. So f*ck it, you might as well REALLY glow. And there we go. Did you taste it? That was the brief taste of freedom. Sometimes it doesn't last very long, but it's an unforgettable taste. Personally, I've always tasted it when I've contemplated the utter meaninglessness of my own existence. It's a rush of freedom and it tastes good. If my life means so little, then F*ck It, I might as well go for it and just have a laugh.'

So how can I support this new devilish F*ck It philosophy? Refuse to be upset by trifles. The number 4 means 'things stay the same', and if Cups represent emotions, then that shows a pretty stable emotional response. Four of Cups in fact may be the ultimate F*ck It card. Four has the elemental affinity of Fire so 4 of Cups is Fire of Water. It takes an active choice to decide to say 'F*ck it.'  :)

Well, at least I've got my new motto for the year.

Handsome lad

Tarot of the Hidden Realm (Llewellyn 2013)

I've drawn another Fire of Water card today, the Ace of Cups. The chap doesn't look terribly playful; in fact, he looks dead serious. (Though the companion refers to him as a 'she', with those eyebrows and mustaches, I just cannot see him as female! He reminds me of Dr Watson from Sherlock Holmes.)

FIRE OF WATER
Why choose Otter to represent the fiery inception of the Cups suit? (All Aces have the elemental affinity of Fire.) Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm's Druid Animal Oracle companion book describes Otter as a symbol of the 'strength of family ties', and recounts a tale called The Voyage of Maelduin, in which a family of kindly otters bring fish to seafarers who find themselves stranded on the Island of Otters. 'Here the otter is is portrayed as a friend of man, exemplifying the ideals of service, charity and helpfulness,' explains the book, which goes on to describe the many Celtic names for otter which show the man's-best-friend aspect: water-hound, brown-dog, water-dog, sea-dog. So, the otter can represent joyfulness, playfulness, and helpfulness, all of which must surely have their source in the Ace of Cups.

I learned about elemental affinities in Benebell Wen's book, Holistic Tarot. I already knew that court cards had elemental affinities, but I did not realise that all minors have them. The system comes from a book called Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus, published in 1892. (I've created a new page here called 'Online Reference Library'. There a link to it on the right sidebar under 'More Rowan Tarot'. This page contains links to the full text of classic tarot and occult texts. You can link to Tarot of the Bohemians from there.)

This otter I must admit doesn't look quite as friendly or cuddly as other depictions I've seen...but then, emotion is always warm and fuzzy, and the Ace of Cups does represent the source/inception of emotion, intuition and relationships in their many guises, not just the warm fuzzy ones. For the moment at least, this card is working for me.

Hey, that's no bird! 4 of Cups in Tarot of the Hidden Realm

Let's look at the elements at work in this 4 of Cups card from Tarot of the Hidden Realm by Barbara Moore and Julia Jeffrey (Llewellyn 2013).

At first glance, I see a faerie in a tree, with birds. But on second glance, those aren't birds, they're seals! Then it becomes clear it's not the wind lifting her hair but the water. And those aren't tree branches, they are seaweed. It turns out what we are seeing is a selkie, sinking back into the deep.

The selkie (or silkie) comes from Scottish and Irish lore of the seals. The legend is that some seals will come ashore and shed their skins and take the form of beautiful human males or females. I don't know much about the male version; I think they mostly came ashore to comfort wives whose husbands were at sea. The females would come ashore and fall in love with a man, and if he could get her seal skin and keep it hidden, she would stay with him forever, though she would often sit and gaze longingly out to sea. If she ever did find the skin, she would be unable to resist putting it on and returning to her seal form. Sadly, once back at sea, she would then feel longing for the land. So she was both happy and sad in both places. Always longing for one or the other, no matter where she was.

This strikes me as a poignant representation of the 4 of Cups, which we often hear interpreted as 'boredom', when in fact it might better be described as dissatisfaction or unrest arising from longing. (Though we may not often know what we're even longing for.)

FIRE OF WATER
The element of suit of Cups is Water, which corresponds to feelings, intuitions, relationships. The elemental affinity of the number 4 is Fire, which corresponds to passion, drive, vitality. Thus the 4 of Cups is Fire of Water. Boredom can't really be seen as 'fiery', but emotion can be. Not the emotion of anger, but of longing. And the element of Fire is an element of taking action, which the selkie does by leaving the sea and by returning to it. Why does she do this? The passion is what drives her to it. The love is what keeps her in place for so long in both places. 'Dissatisfaction with what you have and wishing for something you don't have,' is how Barbara Moore describes it, in the companion book to Tarot of the Hidden Realm. 'Humans pulling this card are not doomed to the selkie's torment.' (That's a relief!) 'This card asks you to open your eyes to what is before you and recognize the happiness that is right under your nose.'

Which is all well and good and very fine advice. It's the moments before we 'open our eyes' that the card depicts with such accuracy (even in the RWS version - though the 'open your eyes' aspect is more overtly shown by the hand offering the cup) -- not boredom, but deep unrest arising from dissatisfaction. Fire of Water.

Four of Cups

The Llewellyn Tarot by Anna-Marie Ferguson (Llewellyn 1995)

I have really been enjoying the water colour artwork of the Llewellyn Tarot this week. It's a lovely deck. I even like the wide borders; they seem in keeping with the art. I just wish the deck were even bigger than it is. The art's so beautiful, I'd like to get a closer look at it.

This is the Four of Cups, which the companion book assigns the traditional contemporary meaning of 'discontent and isolation'. However, it does add the hopeful note: 'It is an encouraging card, indicating help that seems to be divine intervention ensuring one has all the cups one needs.'

I don't feel particularly discouraged today; the weather has cooled off and I get to leave work at 3.30 today, then tomorrow I'm off to the London Tarot Festival and will see a friend I haven't seen in -- a year? Time flies. It could be that work will be a bit trying today, as it often is. This card could be a wider picture of my life, showing that things in general are just looking up, despite a gloom that has hung over it for quite a while.

I followed the advice of yesterday's 7 of Wands and submitted my application for the post. If I get the job, we will move to a new town. I could commute by train but it would be a long commute and costly.  I've lived in this town for 13 years, and have worked in the same job for 11 years (in November). It would be nice to move to a new place and work in a new place, but if I don't get the job, that will be okay, too.

We'll just have to wait and see if any 4 of Cups feelings arise today.

Took your love for granted, how was I to know

Spiral Tarot, Kay Steventon 1997

Hooray! It's the first day of my week off. I am so excited that I don't have to go back to work until 22 April. Yes!

The 4 of Cups is called 'Lord of Luxury'. Ohhh, yeah.

I really have no idea why this card has come to be interpreted as 'boredom'. An interesting perspective on it is this: four is a number of stability. If the emotions/relationships are stable, there is no risk. Where this is no risk, there is no excitement, thus...you might interpret it as boredom. But it is really a case of taking things for granted. In this card, we see the danger of becoming complacent, accustomed to the stability of our relationships, and forgetting to appreciate the great gift on offer to us -- the love of another. It is represented by the beautiful golden cup held aloft on a wisp of air beside the woman. If she ignores it too long, well. It could drop onto the ground. Or just fade away.

The card reminds me that there is a lot of love on offer around me, and it's best that I pay attention to it and love it back. Life is too short to be 'bored' of the gifts all around us. This will certainly increase my happiness today and positively impact my future. :)

You know what familiarity supposedly breeds?

Sacred Rose Tarot, 1982

This week's tarot is Sacred Rose Tarot (US Games 1982) by Johanna Sherman. It's a deck that began life in 1977, when it was commissioned by Stuart Kaplan, owner of US Games. By 1982, it was finished and the deck was published. It certainly has a 70s feel to it, if you ask me. One of its distinguishing features is the empty (white) eye sockets of the human figures in the cards. There aren't any in today's card, unfortunately.

Most RWS 4 of Cups cards show someone looking decidedly bored or distracted, and the Little White Book that came with this deck agrees with that interpretation: 'This card is the foundation of emotions, the inconsistent nature of which is symbolized by the moon and waterfall. There could be boredom, ennui, lack of appreciation of gifts, and the familiarity that breeds contempt.'

My first reaction is that it's an awfully sparkly and attractive card to mean boredom. But on the other hand, even a room full of gold and diamonds might become boring after a while -- the familiarity that breeds contempt.

I will take this card as a warning against allowing such a thing to happen, as today we are off for a weekend holiday, and I certainly don't want to be bored during it! And I certainly don't want to take hubby for granted--he's a sparkly golden aspect of my life that I should never fail to appreciate.

Bull's eye

This week, let's explore the strange world of Titania's Star Tarot (Quadrille, 2003). It is a bizarre and, at times, unattractive deck. Its companion book has tiny print, and features enormous and unusual layouts. The smallest layout has nine cards, and is recommended for yes/no questions! I have a feeling that the way of reading and using cards presented in this book is a more old school tradition than today's 'life coaching' tarot reading style. It is certainly firmly couched in astrology, though apparently does not use the traditional astrological associations of Golden Dawn. There's nothing wrong with being old school--in fact, I find it fascinating. When I first got this deck (which was kindly given to me), I took a brief look at the book and decided it was all too much like Greek to me. But one day, I think I might take a closer look at it. In fact, I intend to do a bit of that this week.

Titania's Star Tarot, 2003

Like most of the cards in this deck, the 4 of Cups is seen as a positive card. Titania Hardie's companion book states that fours fall under Scorpio and represent 'fruitfulness borne of practicality and a sensible approach.' This is okay for 4 of Wands, the firm foundations card; 4 of Swords, the card of taking a break from thinking; and even 4 of Pentacles, the card of holding on to what you've got. But in the Four of Cups in the RWS and most Golden Dawn decks, Four of Cups is said to represent boredom, ennui and dissatisfaction. Titania Hardie bucks that trend:

'The Four of Cups indicates, always, an increase in family, and usually a good loving relationship with a healthy physical life. Only if reversed and surrounded by difficult cards, the 'increase' might be ill-timed in the relationship. The key is increase.'

This succinct card description (none of the pip cards are any longer, to be fair) doesn't tell us much. I look at it and see a green target with four goblets superimposed on it. They are arranged in a solid, 4-suqare shape. If I were going to read this intuitively (which Titania does not seem to advocate), I might be inclined to say it has something to do with focusing one's attention on the true relational foundations of life. The concentric circles almost become a tunnel when you stare at them, and the four cups get sucked into the whirling vortex. Not sure why, but I envision these swirling cups going straight into the heart chakra. Is that too fanciful?

Wicca Moon Saturday

Wicca Moon Tarot

The 4 of Cups in the Rider Waite Smith deck is usually interpreted to mean boredom. I don't hold with these RWS meanings so much anymore...and I'm finding more and more that I prefer pips-only decks to fully illustrated ones. For a long, long time, 6 of Swords meant to me only a boat crossing the water, and all that image might symbolize. But the 6 of Swords is far more than that, and the 4 of Cups is far more than a petulant youth leaning against a tree.

I'm opening up more and more to an older method of card reading. (At least I assume it's older...) Using just numerological meanings and elemental correspondences of the suit, interpret the card in the context of the question. Then use any additional visual cues on the card, if intuition suggests it. So in this 4 of Cups from Wicca Moon Tarot, I cannot fail to remember that the Cups suit is the suit of Water, which represents feelings, emotions, and relationships. The number four is associated with stability, security, even conformity. So using the number + suit = meaning method, I would start from the basis that this card has to do with stable emotions, relationships, feelings. Whether that would be the need to stabilize, or the need to rock the boat a bit, would depend on the question asked, the card position assigned, and the other cards around it in the reading.

Reading this card in context of my draw for the week, I would say that today will be a day of good feelings, secure and balanced emotions, though the storm clouds and tipping cup remind me that keeping that equilibrium is my own choice and responsibility.

I love the Wicca Moon Tarot, hope you have enjoyed seeing the cards this week. :)

Overindulgence--Dancer Four, Tarot of Sidhe

I drew this card this morning and thought, 'Hmph, I'm not bored -- and I'm off today for a weekend trip and surely I won't be bored during that!' The keyword for me for 4 of Cups is 'Boredom', but there's more to it than that, and it's that second level of meaning that then rose up. Lethargy, gluttedness, overindulgence. Oops, guess who made a pan of brownies yesterday? And guess who ate more of them than did the only other person in this household?

I've also been overindulging lately in spending money on 'stuff'--oh yes, 'spiritual' stuff, like a meditation DVD, a few tarot and oracle decks, a couple of yoga bolsters, a little figure of a blackbird (a power animal for me), a wonderfully useful little seiza bench . But you know, I don't have an endless cash flow, and besides that, surrounding oneself with 'spiritual paraphernalia' doesn't do a thing to advance one's spiritual practice. A lesson most of us need to be reminded of again and again, because those of us who are into divination and such tend to be little magpies, don't we? (Another totem of mine). We do so love to buy more esoteric/occult items, or as I like to call them 'sparkly stuff'.

Tarot of the Sidhe has little quatrains in the LWB, and the verse for Dancer Four goes:

'But when our soul is fed too much
Reflective longings are as such
That we lose sight of all that's good
And boredom drains our dancer's blood...'

Well...my soul hasn't been fed too much I don't think, unless it's the acquisitive little imp in my soul, but it's true that when I fall into a pattern of spending, all of a sudden I want everything I see, and lots of stuff I've noticed in the past comes swimming back up into my awareness and I'm off to order those things as well...and it gets to the point that opening a parcel is anticlimactic compared to the thrill of clicking 'Buy' and then you know you're in trouble.

So okay, a hiatus on online ordering, then. And I won't buy any more chocolate for a while either--gosh, the Sidhe are strict!

Musings on the Celtic Tarot: Cups

Cups suit from Celtic Tarot, Davis, 3rd edition 2002

The Cups do not lend themselves immediately to a continuous story, as the Wands suit does. There is a thread that runs through them, though. Each card features cups suffused in a kind of effervescent glow, suspended in front of a circular pattern reminiscent of a rose window. The groupings of the Cups and a few subtle cues in the rose window are all the clues you get, really, to help you interpret these cards.

Shantideva--'Divine peace'

I didn't realise that Shantideva wrote 'Way of the Bodhisattva' until I drew this card and read about it in the Sol Invictus companion book.

The card shows Shantideva resting under a tree. Sanskrit words lead from his head to a floating, shining cup, reminiscent of the Holy Grail. Nearby, three of Shantideva's fellow monks have their tea from the three remaining cups of this Four of Cups card. In the background is the temple/monastery where they live. The traditional Four of Cups card generally shows a solitary person under a tree, surrounded by three cups while being offered a fourth cup by a hand from above. The figure is usually ignoring this cup, and the card is taken to mean boredom, being uninterested or unwilling to partake of what life has to offer, not seeing what is on offer before you... In this card, it is not Shantideva who is ignoring the shining cup in the sky. He is directly connected to it. It's the three bikkhus who seem to be ignorant of what's on offer. Two of the monks are staring at Shantideva, as if in judgement or as if laughing at him, while the third, pointing his finger skyward, seems to have launched himself into some long speech, or perhaps he is merely distracted by the beauty of the day and has lost himself in a revery. I've just noticed that Shantideva seems to be resting beside a pool on which is floating a lotus blossom. Water is a symbol of hidden depths and the subconscious, as well as the emotions, while of course lotus flowers represent enlightenment. Shantideva is hooked in to enlightenment in this card. It's the men in the background of the card who are oblivious to the fourth cup and all it represents. Why? Because they are distracted by their cup of tea, their conversation, their silent (or perhaps not silent!) judgement of Shantideva for sleeping when he should be awake, even perhaps by the beauty of the day. But instead of sermonising to the others or sitting and thinking about things, Shantideva has surrendered himself fully to the experience of the day and the moment, to the extent that he can meet his physical need of sleep in good conscience.

I didn't know that Shantideva was the source of the important Mahayana work, 'Way of the Bodhicitta,' until I read about it in the Sol Invictus companion book. There are several nice retellings of the story of Shantideva online. I enjoyed this one very much:

Shantideva, from the blog 'Bodicharya: Awakening the Heart by Opening the Mind'

To summarize, Shantideva was not thought highly of by his fellow pupils/monks because he never did anything. He was always seen to be lazing about doing nothing, and of course this caused terrible resentment. They wanted to get rid of him, but he had broken no rules, so they decided to try to humiliate him to get him to leave, and pushed him into agreeing to teach a large group of people. They built a throne for him to sit on, to further humiliate him. But on the day, Shantideva surprised them all by delivering extemporaneously the text of 'Way of the Bodhisittva'. And he was then lifted up and disappeared from view.

This is a very rich back story to draw from in order to interpret this card in a reading. You could identify with Shantideva, or the three people in the background. Perhaps the card could be telling you to pay attention to what is obvious before you, take advantage of what is on offer. Perhaps it's saying that the reward that is before you is not something to be worked for but to be surrendered to. Perhaps it's saying to let go of the judgement you are hanging onto and look at things from the point of view of the person you are judging. There may be a great teacher in your midst. In all instances, the original spirit of the Four of Cups is retained--the sense of refusing to see what is before your eyes. That shining cup is pretty darn promiment!