Fairy Lights Pairs: 9 of Cups and King of Coins

I've sat and stared at this pair of cards from Fairy Lights Tarot, and here's the story that came to me. This is a king on a quest -- I don't think it's the Holy Grail, I think he's looking for Prester John. He's not going to find Prester John or his kingdom, because they don't exist on this earth. But maybe they exist on another plane, a plane which our king can't quite see because he's just so grounded.  It's actually pretty fanciful for the King of Coins to be out questing for a legend, so he should be given credit for starting off on the journey at all. But he's too tuned in to the here and now and the evidence of his senses to every find the citadel behind him.

We have two opposites here - the 9 of Cups, as seen in the form of the ghost tree made up of birds, is a card of feelings, deep internal experiences that defy words or even thought, mere feelings. And the King of Coins is so solidly grounded in his role as protector and provider, it would be quite out of character for him to indulge in whimsy.

How can the king learn to be more like the tree? How can the tree learn to be more like the king?

Fairy Lights Pairs: Knight of Swords and 8 of Cups

Now this is an odd picture. Where to start?  In the foreground, we have a body of water. Perhaps it's frozen. Let's hope it is, otherwise that Knight of Swords is doing a good Jesus impersonation. I have no idea why he's out there in the middle of the water, and neither does that faerie stag with the fiber optic antlers--he looks pretty startled. Behind this odd encounter, there's a very large, rangy house with Escher-like stairs and a ghostly tree. All in all, it's a weird scene and I don't know what to make of it! Tread softly as a deer, 'cause you're skatin' on thin ice???

Oh well, I'm flummoxed, so let's look at the individual cards. We've got the Knight of Swords, and in this image he seems less intent on battle than nurturing that small spark he's carrying. Maybe it's that which he's defending, because he does seem to be carrying it like one would behave in an egg-and-spoon race, eyes focused on it. The big house in the background makes me think of institutions, like social or educational institutions, and of course the Knight of Swords is all about thinking and doing the right thing as a result of those thoughts. He's not terribly nature-focused. The 8 of Cups usually stands for moving away from the familiar and striking off into unknown territory, and if that deer really does intend to step off the earth and out onto the ice (or possibly the surface of the water!), then he is certainly moving toward unfamiliar territory!

Okay, so if we look at them together, perhaps it is saying to let our thoughts and perhaps study lead us to strike out into new territory -- new experiences, new thoughts, new feelings. That's a nice message for a Monday. Something fresh would be nice, but it doesn't come to us. We have to discover it and move toward it, however tentatively and delicately.

Fairy Lights Pairs: High Priestess and 7 of Wands

Today's pair from Fairy Lights Tarot (LoScarabeo 2013) is the High Priestess and 7 of Wands. Let's have a look at the whole picture. There's a lady in a pointy hat reading a small book. She's reclining on a hillside. At a distance, at the bottom of the hillock, a smaller figure creates a swirl in the air with her arm. She's wearing a vivid pink dress and facing away from the nearer lady with the book.

Maybe the reader is the nanny or babysitter of the little girl in pink. I don't get the impression that she is her mother, but rather someone who is simply there to monitor or keep an eye on her. Both of them are lost in their own imaginations. The reader is immersed in her book, her inner world is occupied by someone else's imaginings, someone else's words. The little girl in the clearing, in contrast, is creating her own magic using her own vivid imagination. Neither is superior to the other; both are valid ways of using the imagination. That's the story I see in the card combo.

Looking at the cards as separate entities, the High Priestess has many elements of the traditional RWS: a headdress, a white pillar and a black pillar, a book. A throne of sorts. An air of detachment, and of being tuned to the inner rather than the outer. The 7 of Wands, however, is a sharper contrast to the RWS image, which usually shows a youth defending himself from an onslaught coming at him from below. The girl in the pink dress in the Fairy Lights 7 of Wands is creating her own 'onslaught' of magic and loveliness from her own imagination. Is she creating this fantasy world in defense against a childhood where she is largely ignored by those around her? I do get that suggestion from the book-reading childminder on the hill. The girl has to play alone, she must amuse herself. It's rather a sad scene, a well-off child, a child who seems to have everything, but who lacks the one essential thing for a happy childhood: companions. She has to make her own. And if she's going to make them, they might as well be beautiful faeries. (Which begs the question: did she make up these imaginary friends, or have they been provided by a higher source?)

Have you ever indulged in elaborate fantasy as a defense? How did it help you? Did it hurt you? Has it, as implied by the presence of the High Priestess, deepened your connection to your higher self, your inner Spirit?

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

Today, be mindful of your physical existence

Wild Unknown Tarot, 2012

The 'Mother' of Pentacles reminds me today of all I've been thinking about since I got up this morning. Although the card here from Wild Unknown Tarot shows a pretty picture of Bambi and his mother, the Queen of Pentacles has always been more about being in tune with the physical than being about motherhood. It's true the Queen of Pentacles is a nurturer, but she nurtures herself, those around her, and the earth, she's not just a baby machine.

The Mother of Pentacles asks us today, 'What can you do to take care of your physical body today? How can you nurture yourself? What can you do to ground your awareness in your body, to be mindful of your physicality, and to honour your connection to the earth through your physical experience today?'

Some answers might be:
When you have your morning shower or bath, pay attention to the feeling of the water, the scent of the soap, and use all your senses to experience the shower fully.

Whenever you eat today, look at your food and think about where it came from, think about it growing up from the earth, think about the hard work of many hands that went into planting, nurturing, harvesting and delivering that food to you. If you prepare it yourself, send your blessing into it. If it was prepared for you, eat it mindfully and with a thought of gratitude to the work of all those that brought it to you.