Greenwood: Dedication

What should be the focus of my spiritual practice this week?

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

I have not engaged in any formalised spiritual practice in a very long time. This last week has been hard, and I believe that returning to a daily spiritual practice can only be a good thing. I've been playing with the Greenwood all week, just shuffling and looking at it and reading the book, not doing any readings, trying to decide what role it should play in my life right now.

The image here is luminous. The female figure in blue robes, decorated with spirals and leaves, having swan feathers in her hair, plays the bow with an arrow like a violin. More arrows shoot out from her in all directions. Thousands of luminous flecks light up the area around her. It's like she puts out her energy and receives luminous energy back in return. It is an interplay between herself and the universe. But she cannot experience this without the key ingredient of dedication.

'To heed the calling to dedicate one's life to any skill, spiritual path, belief system or philosophy requires sincerity, self-discipline and hard work. It is a sacred summoning that requires time and effort,' writes John Matthews and Mark Ryan, in the Wildwood Tarot companion book (which is more or less an expanded version of the Greenwood companion book.)

The card I've drawn spells it out very plainly. If I want a spiritual practice, I have to do it. I can't just think about it, intend to do it, or write journal entries about it. I must do it, and that requires dedication. The card portrays the rewards of this dedication very well.

Greenwood Week - Day 5 - Stones and the Maiden

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

Another card about ancient wisdom. 'The ability to relate to ancient knowledge and pass on the lessons of ancestral memory and ritual,' according to the Greenwood guidebook by Mark Ryan.

On her website, Potter writes, 'Be aware of the patterns of connection linking you and nature around you to the past, present and future. Deep learning. The memory of much that has been revered in the landscape can be retrieved in periods of respectful stillness. Learning from elders.'

Celtic Shamans Pack, Matthews 

Hm, another card about learning from elders. I really need to find what wisdom this is point to.

Does Celtic Shamans Pack help? I've drawn The Maiden. 'The manifestation of young and burgeoning life. She is the lost innocence we all seek, and which is strongly present within us at the time of spring.' I suppose I could do with some of that.

Today's just a Thursday, though, and at the moment, I have no idea how these cards might play out in my day.

I'll report back at the end of the day with an update.

Greenwood Week - Day Four - Waterworld

Six of Cups: Reunion 
In the golden light of an autumnal sunset, two souls are reunited on an ancient mound, the source of the waters of memory and deep love. Six green cups full of golden liquid float in the pool of knowledge. Two otters, animals of loving and playful affection, hunt nearby. Reunion with an old friend, soulmate or a wise part of oneself. A feeling of inner peace. -- Chesca Potter

The otter on the right stands on a bit of log, and seems to be presenting the other otter a fish. The otter on the left stands upright on its hindlegs, perhaps to get a better look at this old friend who's turned up with a gift. In the background water pours out from the burial mound. Potter calls it the pool of knowledge.

What wisdom from the ancient past offers itself to us in such abundance today? What old friend provides a bit of nourishment? It appears it may be an issue that the sun seems to be setting on, and the source of wisdom is very old indeed. (The mound has mature trees and grass growing on it and probably looks nothing like it did when originally built.)

What ancient, spiritual wisdom will flood out for us today, in a playful, affectionate, and nourishing way?

The oracle card from Celtic Shaman's Pack offers an echo. The Inworld is 'the abode of the ancestors and thus one of the prime sources of knowledge and wisdom. The roots of the Tree of Vision and Tradition grow down into this realm and it is reached by descending through a tunnel or deep hole in the earth.' Could this be the view inside the mound from the 6 of Cups?

All we can do is humbly ask what primordial wisdom is on offer for us today.

(I think my message may have something to do with the wisdom of going two days with no vegetables beyond the toppings on veggie burgers and pizza.)

Flow with the waters of the wisdom of the ancestors today, whatever that may mean for you.

Greenwood Week - Day Three - Watch out for the massive...dose of maleness

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

The two cards I've pulled today from Greenwood Tarot (Mark Ryan and Chesca Potter, 1996) and Celtic Shaman's Pack (John Matthews and Chesca Potter, 1995, 2015) have, to say the least, a strong masculine energy.

The 5 of Wands from Greenwood features the Cerne Abbas Giant.  Nobody knows why or when this figure was cut into a hillside in Dorset, but the first earliest mention of it isn't until 1751. It almost certainly isn't as ancient as it appears. And no one knows who cut it or why. Strange.

Potter has added some embellishments that reinforce the themes of the figure -- virility, fertility and power. The oracle card also depicts a powerful male figure, as a head emerging from a cauldron.

The questions that spring from these cards today:

What will give me this fiery drive today? How will it manifest? In what way can I ground and direct it, so that it is not wasted engine revving? What project or idea will I turn my attention toward? Or will it be a series of rapid, staccato tasks, buzzing through a to-do list?

How will I be assertive and authoritative today? How will I be a strong leader?

What fires me up?

What gets me excited?

What germ of idea or action will I fertilise today?

What lights a fire under my feet?

What do I need to bash with a big club?

And how do I keep all this raw male power from becoming overly aggressive?

Greenwood Week - Day Two - Justice

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

One of the many curiosities of the Greenwood Tarot is that the majors are not in the traditional order. This is probably why they don't have numbers on the cards, as it could confuse people. Instead, the cards are arranged in Wheel of the Year order. By this reckoning, created as far as I know by Mark Ryan,  Justice falls as trump number 4, at Spring Equinox.

Chesca herself seems to have thought of the cards more firmly in the traditional order, possibly linking them numerically with the minors. Either that, or she decided to present them in the order we're familiar with in her online guide book. She places Justice in position 8, and then follows that with words about each of the minor 8s. We can see Chesca's thoughts about the Greenwood here, where she states:



'Position on wheel: Spring Equinox
Element: Fire 
Chakra: brow
Colour: red. 
Polarity: red 

There is strength in this card, that will not tolerate injustice. The deer speaks with the voice of nature itself. This card is particularly applicable at the moment when so many forests are being destroyed. The figure stands firmly, watching you with ancient eyes; tangled moss-covered branches of the Wildwood are animated by the spring sap. The red dawn sky emphasises the reawakened will to act. In one hand it holds the cutting edge of the axe, in the other a shield, upon which is an oak tree, a symbol of injustice thwarted; of the dispossessed in the Greenwood mythos defending themselves, and their natural right to live off the bounty of the land. Justice is placed in the element of fire as it was the human discovery of fire which gave us the ability both to destroy nature and warm and protect oneself. Humans have so often misused this position, acting without care or responsibility. The energies in both Justice and The Archer cards require steadiness of intention; integrity of thought, and wise action. If unharnessed, one becomes selfish and headstrong; impetuous impatience leads to ineffective action. Justice is a strong and powerful ally; a guide to a wise balance between action and defence.'

The figure in the card is a guardian of justice. But that doesn't mean he rewards the right and punishes the wrong. Mark Ryan says, 'The concepts of forgiveness or reward are not appropriate in Justice. They are human ideas which have no reality in natural lore. One reaps what one has sown.'

He goes on to say, 'We must, as individuals, constantly observe the rules and regulations of society, and these can fluctuate as the views and knowledge of civilization change. Whether on a political or moral level, we subconsciously know when a realignment of our perception is due.'

Or as Maya Angelou said, 'Do right. Just do right. Right may not be expedient. It may not be profitable. But it will satisfy your soul. It brings you the kind of protection that bodyguards can't give you.  Try to live your life so that you will not regret years of useless virtue, and inertia, and timidity. Take up the battle -- take it up. Pick up the battle and make it a better world, just where you are.'

Celtic Shamans Pack

The oracle card from Celtic Shaman's Pack, by John Matthews and Chesca Potter, which I've drawn today to accompany Justice is The Eagle, which stands for wisdom, aspiration and clear-sightedness. All of these are essential qualities if we want to achieve and receive justice in our dealings, our lives and our world.

Today may I have the strength, clear-sightedness, and higher perspective of the Eagle, so that I can deal with others justly, and that others may be just in their dealings with me.

When does a deck become a legend?

The Greenwood Tarot: Pre-Celtic Shamanism of the Mythic Forest 

by Mark Ryan & Chesca Potter 

(Thorsons 1996)

Is there a tarot deck in history that has attained such mythic status in so short a time? How did this happen? Why? And does it live up to the hype?

Flying reindeer

More cups. We're off from work all week in honour of our big anniversary so this looks like a loved up thing...

Yep...Chesca Potter's comments bear this out: 'Drawing this card denotes companionship, deep friendship. A sharing of profound understanding, a mutual love of knowledge from the past. Possible creation of a home together, a sense of home-coming and enduring friendship.'  

Awww!

The two reindeer stand nose to nose in front of a tent made from wooly mammoth fur, tusks and bones. Wisps of homey smoke rise from the tent. You may wonder why there are fly agaric mushrooms featured in the card. Check out this clip from BBC Weird Nature:




That's pretty freaky! So maybe that happy home with the smoke coming out the top could also be a sweat lodge with a shaman inside having a vision of some type. Maybe that little bowl is his reindeer urine receptacle. LOL How silly. But I wouldn't be surprised at all, as the Greenwood Tarot is considered to be a shamanic deck. Let me just go check the book...

All it says is: 'The picture shows male and female reindeer as both have antlers. Male reindeer rut in autumn and the antlers are a potent symbol of sexual power. The fly agaric is also found at this time and the reindeer appear to eat this highly toxic  red fungi and seem to get 'drunk'. Some shaman drank the purified urine of the reindeer for its hallucinatory properties once the toxins had been removed.' Hmmm.  A little clicking around on the internet led me to some musings by a contemporary shaman who uses the Greenwood deck, Mi-shell of Aeclectic Tarot.

Mi-shell suggests that you should ask yourself this when you draw this card: What do you envision for the forthcoming future of your family -- your wishes, dreams, 'pipe dreams' and what should go to project status toward realization, how would you go about it and what help could the reindeer guardians offer?

At this 10th anniversary of our marriage, it's a good time for such stock take. And also a good time to appreciate all the positive aspects of the King of Cups, the master of emotions and relationships, the 'Lord of the Waves and Waters.'

I remember you

Air of Water
'Prince of the Chariot of the Waves'

Chesca Potter wrote of this card: 'This card denotes someone whose life serves a greater purpose, someone with perseverance, determination, self-sacrificing and wise. Could have a tendency to martyrdom-to give away too much of one self.'

Today is my 10th wedding anniversary.

What do I see in this card? It looks like a sunrise (or sunset) over a burial mound on which trees are growing, and flowing out of the entrance is water, pouring down a stepped spillway toward a golden bowl that floats on a pool of blue. A colourful salmon leaps from the water in the foreground, beside some cattails.

This is nothing like the Wildwood Knight of Vessels, which features an eel swimming and which I find not remotely appealing. Some of the landscape from the Greenwood is used in the Wildwood 6 of Cups; the leaping salmon before cascading water is in the Wildwood Queen of Vessels.



I prefer Potter's otherworldly coloration. There's a surreal quality to the light in this Knight of Cups card. There is something about Potter's colour palette in this deck that seems to lend itself easily to trance. There's a flashing colour quality to it.

(In Irish mythology, there's a story of a salmon that ate hazelnuts from trees surrounded the well of wisdom, and that the person who ate the flesh of this fish would become wise. Some other stuff happens. Click the link.)

Anyway, I like this card very much. Like many cards in the Greenwood, there is something somehow mournful about it. The salmon has always struck me as a good symbol for self-sacrifice. I asked hubby what a salmon represents to him, and he said, 'Endurance. It's doing something that's hard, but it wins. It's doing what it's supposed to do. Just because it dies doesn't mean it loses. It's doing what it's supposed to do. It's following the natural order of things.' I didn't tell him anything about this card or how I think it might have anything to do with our anniversary.

Being married for ten years hasn't exactly felt like swimming upstream (not the whole time anyway :) ). but it is true that a marriage requires some 'sacrifice' or compromise, a bit of effort. There's a quality of sadness, too, there, lurking in the background. We push onward through this life together joyfully, and when it's not joyful, we hold each other up, but somewhere inside we are always aware of the ultimate destination. We know that end will come, and we push on toward it anyway, because it's the only direction we're allowed to go in. The most romantic thing people can say to each other is that we want to grow old together. It is romantic, and it's wonderful, but it's also sad, of course. We know when we finally get there, one of us is going to go first and leave the other behind. We know our days together in this life are numbered. Our time is brief. Twenty years, thirty years, forty years. What is that? It's a twinkling of an eye. This is why people cry at weddings, and at anniversaries, and when they decide to get married. There's so much of life, and so little at the same time. You don't cry  because you're sad, but because there's so much beauty and fragility to the whole thing. It overwhelms.

 An anniversary is a both a celebration and a reflection. Time goes by so fast.

Nat King Cole is my favourite, and every year hubby and I have a little slow dance to this on our anniversary. It's our song:

Greenwood Tarot - Knight of Arrows

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan and Potter, 1996

I'm so happy to say I have now got a copy of the Greenwood Tarot by Mark Ryan and Chesca Potter, Thorsons 1996. I don't really know why the deck has reached cult, almost mythic, status. But I can't deny the images are powerful, much more so to me than the deck's offshoot, Wildwood Tarot (Ryan, Matthews and Worthington, 2011). I will draw from Greenwood this week.

The card seen today is Knight of Arrows, or Knight of Swords, represented by the Hawk. Each court card in Greenwood Tarot is represented by an animal instead of a human being. I would say that the companion book is of little use to interpreting the cards, particularly courts and minors. Clearly we are meant to find our own meaning in these images. The book merely says, ''Quick, graceful and master of the element of air, the hawk is a symbol of vision and power. The ability to fly and nest at high altitude and see prey and hunt from a great height brings a special reverence to this majestic and fearless and creature.' Actually, that bit of information is enough to set you off on all sorts of free association.

It is a beautiful image of the bird in flight against a spangle of sun, with the shape of an arrow and some accompanying spirals to remind us of the air aspect of the suit of arrows.

Wildwood Tarot

The Knight of Swords is air of air, 'Lord of the Winds and Breezes'. The hawk is such an apt choice for this Golden Dawn title. The hawk, like all birds of prey, has the enviable ability to spread its wings and ride the air, hovering and wheeling for long periods with barely a flap of its wings. It soars and wheels with great agility and speed. Certainly to our eyes, anchored to the surface of the earth as we are, it looks fearless! We also admire the hawk's amazing visual acuity, ability to spot tiny objects from long distances. The hawk's perspective on things is brought out more sharply in the Wildwood Tarot, while its freewheeling flight in the sun is emphasized in Greenwood. I like both images (I am a fan of Worthington's style, though some have commented and I tend to agree, that the art in Wildwood is a bit more 'cartoony' or 'comic bookish' than some of his other work.) Still, we can see the hawk's intense focus in Potter's Greenwood card, and I think overall, it speaks to me more of air and flight than does the Wildwood, which hints only at potential flight. As I meditate upon the Greenwood Knight of Arrows, I begin to visualise for myself the landscape below the hawk, and its wheeling, turning angles as the hawk soars over it.

The Knight of Arrows today, then, tells me to take the long perspective on things. Today is a day to view things both dispassionately and intensely --  from a distance, but with keen attention to detail. More than that, the image reminds me to spread my wings and enjoy the feel of the sun.