Eight of Wands and The Hermit

Swiftness and The Hermit......  The Eight of Wands is quite close in some ways to the Ace of Wands of yesterday. It speakers of moving now, to avoid missing opportunities. But it also is about doing things in the right order at the right time. I couldn't help thinking of yesterday's Ace of Wands from this same deck, with it's giant ripe apple. The little person seeing to the dead part of the tree could actually be doing things at the wrong time or in the wrong order. While she attends to the dying leaves (which are beyond saving....), the big juicy apple could fast become rotten.. we can only see one side of it...there could already be a small worm eating it's way in there. So the Ace could also speak of missed chances like the Eight of Wands.

The Eight of Wands from Tarot of the Sweet Twilight is unusual in that it has a person it in, albeit a tree creature! I love this card love how all things are happening in unison, like the perfect arrangement of the eights. Her look is focused on the other Wands of which she is the eighth, one small movement of her fantastical hands and magic will happen for sure. Already wonderful mushrooms are growing for her and the butterfly's attend the ceremony.... maybe helping spread the spores of the fungi.  They could also represent flying..... like in a plane... to another land... and a new adventure.. woo hoo!! I have been thinking a lot of travel lately. A very magical Alice type card which has to bode well for me at this time. Whatever magic it is I need to create. I am sure the answer will be revealed soon.

 

Eight of Wands and The Hermit

 

 

From the Silicon Dawn, I drew The Hermit.. another gorgeous looking card :) Love the colours and the sense of fun which are quite opposite the usual depictions The Hermit tarot card. This hermit looks rather like a fool, in jesters hat, complete with bells. She seems to have walked through some kind of barrier, maybe from a mundane world to a more esoteric place, where secrets are hidden deep, like the workings of these gears we see here. This hermit carries a light between her hands... or is it a glow emanating from her.. a sign of her new found inner enlightenment? I could of course be illusory ...a trick of reflected sunlight, or a flare from a camera flash. She doesn't look behind her as she leaves her old pad... is she ready to go back into the world or merely fancies a different and funkier hermitage?

I definitely feel the energy of The Hermit card, very strongly at the moment. I need to spend more time looking in, I want to know which path to take next and what I am looking for.... I need answers.
The 9 is a magic number in many mathematical ways.... it also looks like it is curling up into itself, like a primitive tailed embryo. I do feel a strong need for time alone at the moment, and I do want to understand a lot of things about me and life and why things happen as they do, how to change things..... I just need to keep looking within to find the answers.

Ace of Wands and Six of Cups

The roots of fire... and pleasure...

Today I drew the Ace of Wands from Tarot of the Sweet Twilight..... and the Six of cups from tarot of the Silicon Dawn.

Ace of Wands & Six of Cups

The Ace of Wands is a great card in this deck.... I love how the little person in the tree is so intent on
trying to deal with the dead leaves that they miss the huge juicy red apple behind them. Great illustration of how we can miss something really good in our lives by looking in the wrong direction and concentrating on that which is dying rather than that which is healthy and ripe and shiny. This card is about stepping back and seeing the bigger picture. There is magic and fire and earthiness in this wand. You cannot see it in my photo, but on the ground near the tree is a magic wand with a skull on top.  Little person could be looking for the wand, realising she has let her magic fall. The skull on top of the wand could also show us that there is magic in endings.. the magic of new beginnings.

This card is bursting with creative energy, and sometimes it can be hard to know which direction to move in, with too many ideas coming at you all at once. There is a need to make a change in your life ... it's time to realise you dream, follow your heart and your instinct. But first you have to find out what this is.

The Six of Cups in the Tarot of the Silicon Dawn is another card that is literally bursting with energy. It is a card of joy and pleasure and living in the now while reaching for the heights, This card shows a huge fountain of water, like a goddess rising from the ground that has been warmed by the sun. The water in the cups is spilling out with abandon, here in the now everything is abundant.

The hidden parts of your life are coming to the surface, feelings, talents maybe, things from the past that you once enjoyed could resurface. The water goddess here has pink bows about her person which remind me of children and the the easy joys and innocence of childhood. Childhood also brings naivety which could be a warning not to be too trusting of someone who may not have your best interests at heart.

I have very recently been concentrating  my energy on things which no longer work in my life or serve me in any positive way. I could be missing out on huge chunks of juicy apple joy because of this inability to let things die naturally. I do have lots of inspiration from different sources and end up confused as to which way to turn. As a result, one day life seems full of possibilities and the way forward seems very clear, and the next day I am back underground looking up through a wormhole where everything seems huge and impossible.

I can be way too trusting of some people.. and that trust has recently been proved to be misplaced. But I do have a pure way of seeing things sometimes, and tend to think others are like me. I do need some Six of Cups joy and pleasure and play in my life at the moment though.... been a long time!

I an thinking that the Ace of Wands may be telling me to see the big picture, and also saying its time to act without too much thought. No more procrastination! Looking at that giant apple again that is hidden in the background, a part of me wonders if the little person deliberately ignores it? Maybe she knows something about it that we don't.. maybe it is not so good as it looks, it could be an illusion created by the magic wand. Could it be that she wants to cure whatever is killing the leaves she is inspecting, to heal the tree? Maybe the BIG apple sapped all the life from the tree and that is why it is starting to die. This reminds me very much of a situation in my life right now.

Five of Wands and Judgement

This week I decided to use two decks for my daily cards, in one form or another, the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight and Tarot of the Silicon Dawn. Today I drew one card from each deck; the Five of Wands and Judgement respectively.

Five of Wands - Tarot of the Sweet Twilight

The fire continues from yesterdays King of Wands.... it seems to be building up in fact... if my mood is anything to go by. A burning for change. This card showing today is illustrating my inner conflicts, indecision, not knowing which way to go. I have several people telling me what is best for me, but I need to step back and work out what is best for myself.

The trouble is that outside of me there are all the opinions of my nearest and dearest pulling me different ways, and inside I have my own muddled ideas and half though out plans. There seems to be no clear way, like the creatures in the picture, they seem to be working together but actually they are not, they are either confused as to the rules or looking to see what each other is doing as they have no idea themselves.

It would be nice to have someone to work with to help me see things clearly, none of these gals seem to be paired up, but all leaving the *party* with a rather lost look. Maybe they came to the wrong party... and ended up more conflicted that they started. Anyway the 5's are often about change, and I feel change in the air. I need to fire myself up to maker it happen... and if it is not right, well.. I can always make another change.

Five of Wands & Judgement

Judgement - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

Hurrah the sax is playing and we are awakened from sleep....jumping and dancing for joy.. come to the Jazz party and boogie on down.... Time for reawakening and to reinvent yourself.... you've had plenty of time for sleeping and now the big day is here...

All change requires sacrifice of some sort... the blue (bluesy jazzy boogie on down n dirty..) tone of this card speaks of some regrets maybe or sorrows... but you can't take everything with you or there would be no change ... no freedom ......

Kris Kristofferson wasn't joking when he sang "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.....'

Endings and beginnings... realisation that it's time to try something different, I been at this particular blues fest for long enough. Time to rise up and greet the winds of change... and I can bring some of the good stuff with me...

Its like I am literally being called out of the grave like those in the traditional Judgement concept... at least something in me is, something that has been lying dormant,  waiting for the chance to be let loose.... my Gypsy!!! Sooooo its quite apt, that before I drew these cards I spent hours on Trademe looking at housebuses for sale :)

...... and more bags!

Three more bags I have made recently... for my very spoiled Tarot decks.

This is more of a wrap, than a bag, it is perfect for my Icelandic Tarot, and doubles as a spread cloth for up to 5 cards.

Icelandic tarot Wrap - Open

I love the size of these cards and their stark black and white contrast...I love its smudginess too :) 

Icelandic Knitted Tarot Wrap with Matching Cord.

I really love this little deck, and trying to get it back in its box was nigh impossible, but it looks great in this snuggly knitted wrap, and I made the cord from satin ribbons and wool, to match the cards. I love how the cord matches the backs of the cards.

Icelandic Tarot Wrap Closed

This next bag was for my Thoth tarot deck.... it needed a special bag and it needed to go with the deck. After a few trials this is what I ended up creating. I made the bag with layers of metallic and sheer fabric scraps, silks and lots of free machine stitching.

This photo shows the card that inspired the bag, the Two of Disks, or Change as it is labelled. The evolving circles give a feeling of movement and change.. transformation. The bag is padded and lined in cream coloured silk, which matches the edges of the cards.

Thoth Tarot Bag

My latest bag is this fluffy little beauty that I made for my newly beloved Tarot of the Silicon Dawn. It had to be fun and funky. It had to have colours from the deck in it, and some fluff, and dangly bits.... and it also needed to be soft and comforting.

Funky Bag for Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

I think the bag is perfect for this deck.... I like the way it's softness contrasts with the streetwise, futuristic feel of the deck, and yet the colours blend so well. The fluffy collar gives it added zing to fly with!

Three of Wands

The image here reminds me of being in England, especially Hereford, with all the church spires. It looks like there is water in the background, like a sea or ocean maybe, and there is land in the distance. A figure climbs to the top of the tower and is welding a tall aerial or radio mast to the apex of the roof. I am sure it is an aerial because in the glossy overlay there are many signal rings emanating from the tip of the mast. These rings of wireless waves are overlapping with other rings from other tall spires.....

The Wands and Pentacles in the Silicon Dawn deck are kind of swapped, elementally anyway, although the meanings of the two cards are fairly similar, the elements are very different.... earth instead of fire. When perched on top of what could be a lightning pole I guess it is far better to be earthed than a molten rod of fire.

Three of Wands - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

This card has a few elements similar to the traditional RWS Three of Pentacles ... the spire could be a cathedral spire, the figure is using a tool of the trade by the looks of it, she also appears to be above the other spires and know what she is doing. Maybe the signals coming in from the other spires are signals of appreciation ... many hands clapping!

This deck is totally different from any other and yet it is sometimes a comfort to relate back to what is familiar. other times I feel the opposite! The signals seem to me like a message from afar, but it is getting mixed up with other messages. Could it be that the message I am sending out is being drowned out, by those coming in, or I am not giving a strong enough signal? Who or what is calling me. Am I actually sending any messages or just receiving?

Am I being called to other lands.... over the sea? Or am I just having trouble tuning in to Radio Wales to listen to the new series of Phil the Shelf.... ;)

Who are the two figures in the windows of the cathedral ... if it is a cathedral? Are they working, praying for my safety? Or are they meant to be holding the ladder!

Well I really do feel mixed up, I  sense mixed messages from the universe at the moment. But generally, this card bodes well!

This is my last draw from the Silicon Dawn as this week's deck of the week, but I am reluctant to let it go! I have decided next week to choose a new deck, and use it along with the Tarot of the Silicon Dawn. I may draw the daily card with my next chosen deck and compare it with the same card from the Silicon Dawn, or, I might draw two different cards. Haven't decided on the new deck yet.

The Emperor

This Emperor could indeed represent someone in my life, in an odd kind of way, same height, same colour hair, quite the likeness! Are those devilish horns sprouting from his head? Whose side is he on anyway? He has either just left the bridge behind him, or is about to pole vault over it.. or maybe he is having second thoughts, and is afraid he will rip his beautiful long dress. His attitude looks defensive, especialy the way he is clutching his sword, what is he afraid of? Who is he trying to kid? And what exactly is he hiding under his big dress. Those vibrant zig-zags could be a mere distraction, to keep your eyes from looking too closely into his.

Traditionally The Emperor is in control, organised, strategic, fair and a perfect mate to The Empress. But there is a dark side, the need to control getting out of hand, the insecurity as he grips that sword and looks back over his shoulder in fear. The clothes he is hiding behind. Like The Emperor in the fairytale, he is putting on a show to try to impress those around him. So self obsessed has he become that believes every bit of flattery that comes his way, to the extent that eventually he ends up naked in front of his people and only a child has the courage to tell him the truth about his state of undress.

Maybe I need to have more control over my life, stop letting others make choices for me, and stop being such malleable clay, to be shaped to their will. I certainly feel as if I could do with a bit of Emperor energy in me at the moment.

The Emperor - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

Five of Cups

This is the same card I drew last Thursday, albeit a different deck.

I wrote about it here.

In the Silicon Dawn Five of Cups we see a woman has just fallen off the back of a dragon. Falling with her are five cups, presumably they have sll spilled their contents ... if they ever had any. The faller looks she is trying to grab at the cups, she looks more unhappy at losing them, than at her fall, which could ultimately cost her life.

Five of Cups - Silicon Dawn

 

So this is what happens when you catch a ride from a dragon, you are taken to a land far away, possibly somewhere you didn't want to go, and cast out alone, with not even a cup of water to drink.

Has she realised too late the value of what she had, before she chose to throw caution to the wind and cavort with creatures of fantasy, is she dreaming? I remember many childhood dreams of falling...

Where did she come from? Was it possibly a worse place than she is now, or did she just feel the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This card has a kind of magenta tint, and in the printing process magenta removes green ..... so maybe the flight to fantasy land removed all the lush green grass from her world, and left a pink desert.

I wonder if I have been trying to ride a dragon, if so this won't be the first time I fell. Maybe this is the first time I realise what I stand to lose, and that what I would gain, would not be anything like  I expected. Is this card telling me to stop before it's too late? Avoid free trips with dragons at all costs?

Certainly today actually feels like loss, compared to the past couple of weeks ... and I suppose it is in my hands to do something to stop it. Do I have it in me be St George... for me, and not for someone else?

Four of Swords

Another Sword card!

The Four of Swords shows a couple sitting down chilling out and sharing a pipe ... they are surrounded by four swords. They are having a break or have maybe given up the fight ... maybe a well-earned rest after the battles of everyday life. Outside the window there seem to be figures or shadows of people each carrying a sword, raised as if ready to attack, but they can't get in! Nope these two have decided to call it a day for now.

Four of Swords - Silicon Dawn

So, chill out time.... time to get outta my head and escape for a while? This card is pretty much a permission slip for this! As it happened that wasn't what today was about... apart from the morning which was very chilled and lit by the darkened skies of the eclipse. Eclipses leave a very different, still atmosphere. No rest for me, it wasn't an easy day.

Yesterday I drew the Six of Swords, time to leave something behind and move on. Today's events may have been highlighting that which I need to move on from .... I do feel that I have lost some of my personal power today, I feel weakened, unsettled, disrupted.

It could be time to give up on something, which although not exactly a battle has been a long hard struggle.

Six of Swords

After yesterdays talk of how everything has to move in order to grow and evolve, it was quote apt that today I should draw the Six of Swords! Although this is far from a traditional Rider Waite style Six of Swords with the boat crossing the water, it is still about growth and change.

This card shows a figure at a workbench, with all the tools of her trade hanging behind her, including five of the swords. Swords can represent hardships and tough times, having her back turned on five of them, is very much like the traditional meaning for this card. Leaving times of trouble and moving on to something better. The sixth sword is on the bench and the figure appears to be working on it, maybe giving it superpowers. There is doubt as to whether she is doing it right, you can see this in her expression.  Maybe she is not sure she wants to leave all her old weapons and tools, and forge ahead with just this one shiny new super powered sword. There is also a large shadow of herself cast behind her, but she is leaning towards the light, away from the shadows pull.

It is hard to leave things behind..... there is always something we will miss, always some sacrifice we need to make before we can move on to better things. My life seems to be about moving on, but like this wee crafts person, I am not quite sure of the way forward. Things should become clearer though, if I can try to maintain balance between my emotions and passions and logic. I have never been a great fan of logic. The super sword is perfectly balanced, razor sharp, and can cut through the gloom with its laser beam brightness.... it can also swiftly and finally cut us free from the anchor of the past.

Six of Swords - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

I have been drawing a daily Oracle card this week too, and today's was *Otherworld* from the Hidden Path oracle. The images shows a woman dressed in white, in a boat, crossing to what could be Avalon. The clouds are just parting to reveal the brightness beyond.... like they have just been cut ... by a sharp blade ...

Once again the cards are underlining and highlighting their messages in neon lights..... yes it is hard to move on, yes it is easy to stay safely hidden in the murky clouds and stagnant water.... but it's not so great when the mosquitoes come out for a feast!

I hope my Dad has reached the Otherworld safely, and that there were many folk to welcome him.

Otherworld - Hidden Path Oracle

Star

Two Moons followed by a Star..... the heavens seem to be getting their heads together about what in the cards for me ;)

This Star from the Tarot of the Silicon Dawn has all of the elements of the star we are used to in the Rider Waite Smith tradition, and some. There are the trees, the water being poured maybe onto earth and sea, the star and the female figure, as well as the stars that show the night sky.

When I first glanced at this card I thought the water flowing down from the vessel was actually a dripping candle. Then, when I thought about it, it makes some sense, as much as any can be made from a blob of ink, anyway. The candle melts and becomes liquid and then cools and sets and becomes consumed again in it's own heat and flame. Just as Stars consume themselves over millions of years. As the water would fill the vessel, evaporate, condense and refill itself.

The goddess like creature leans out from the Cosmos and pours out the water, emptying the vessel ... of emotions? She wears a mask with a star symbol painted on it, and a feather suggestive of Carnival. The pouring out of emotion could be a ritual in the realisation that we are all the same piece of rock, and we all feel and we all cry, and we all hide it behind a mask at times.

Masks remove individuality, they can make you larger than life or invisible, in old times the peasant could become the nobleman and the lord become the serf. Wearing a mask you can be anyone you please, no one knows who is hiding behind the disguise. At the same time a mask sets you free to be totally and completely yourself, to say and do the wild and wonderful things you would maybe not be able to do if you were not in disguise. Masks are great levelers like stardust. Perhaps the star on the mask is showing that we are indeed all stardust... and so free to be, without restriction. After all we are just a miniscule, invisible part of the whole universe and all the other universes and everyhting that is out there. Does it really matter if we sometimes look the fool? Mask or no mask.

Star - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

There is quite the creation story in this card, and the butterfly adds to this effect, bringing to mind the  quote by Richard Bach:

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly."

As something ends, so something is beginning. If there were no changes, then no one would move on, we would remain stagnant. Night ends ... in dawn, as day dissolves into the shadows of night. Nature cannot be stopped and neither can we We have to allow change or we commit ourselves to life as a chrysalis ... bound tightly, dried up and dormant.

The Star lights the way. On the darkest nights it is easiest to see the stars... like tonight, the very darkest night of the Moon. Stars are for everyone, no one is excluded, except by choice. Another quote, this time from Oscar Wilde

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at stars.

The Moon - Take 2 !!

It seems the Moon has a message for me and is determined that I *get* it.

My deck for this week is The Silicon Dawn Tarot,  by Egypt Urnash,  published by Lo Scarebo. This Tarot deck is very different, very refreshing and I just love everything about it. This deck actually is more than a Tarot as it has 99 cards in all, but I am only using 82 of them at the moment. The deck seems to be a bit of Thoth, a bit of RWS a bit of Golden Dawn and a whole lot of the creators own magic. The cards are a great size, smaller than your usual Lo Scarebo decks, but I love them. Usually I don't like smaller cards, but in this deck they work very well. There are black on black cards, glossy ink highlighting some cards and great holographic effects. The colours are wonderful and I do like the book and what Egypt has to say. The deck feels like a reflection of the artist in 99 mirrors... or rather 99 reflections.  Egypt sounds like a fascinating and colourful person.... and she has amazing wings! Definitely someone I would love to have round for supper...

Moon is a visually stunning card, I love the jackal in the water and the fact that half of the lady in the moon is in light and the other half in shadow. I wondered about the jackal being her darker self,  as her shadowed hand reaches down towards it. Or.... he is maybe just an illusion cast by the moon magic... then she could as easily be an illusion.

Moon - Tarot of the Silicon Dawn

 The Moon lady has a large tail, I like tails... once upon a time humans had tails.. now lost to evolution. The human embryo still has a tail, but this is absorbed into the embryo as it continues to develop. The tail is like a phantom, a missing part...that we know should be there, like the thought that you cannot quite catch but that continues to worry at you...  giving only fleeting glimpses of its existence. This particular tail also reminds me of a serpent, maybe the snake that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Of course the devil is also depicted with a tail, they certainly have a kind of lustful sinful air about them. The figure seems to be bowing her head towards the tail, as if in deference of it's power over her.

Tails are also things left behind...  gone but still there.... in memory. My Dad died today.... he and my mother split when I was very young, but I wanted to connect with him somehow. He did wake me as he passed. Made me think back to the Ten of Cups I drew on Friday.. how memory can sometimes be more real than the now.

So two Moons in a row.... at the dark of the Moon and right before the Solar Eclipse.