First Footing....

This morning I received an email from Tarosophy advertising a new course called Tarot Life. The course runs for 12 months and each month is accompanied by an instruction booklet available on Kindle or as a PDF. I have been looking for a Tarot study for the New Year and this seems perfect. I have purchased the book and worked out the initial steps.. very exciting. I will use my blog to record my results now and then and keep ypou updated with how its going. Even if noone ever reads my blog, it can keep me updated and act as a reminder... well, in theory!

So its the last day of 2012. This time last year I was about to leave the UK and return to New Zealand. I was not happy about that. I looked forward to seeing my home again and my older girls and my goats and cats, but leaving my mum and my sister and Dilly my best friend, was not easy. Not to mention leaving the cool winter weather for the humid heat of Nelson. I have no idea where we were at new Year, what time zone we were crossing, it went by unnoticed, although I was awake the whole 26 hours we were in the air. I do remember the airport staff at Heathrow were lenient with our extra hand baggage, as a salute to the season though, so that was nice!

Today, reflecting on the year I thought I would devise a 3 card spread to give me a snapshot of this past year. I have called it First Footing after the custom in Scotland, my Motherland.

The spread was designed to show where we excelled in our life journey and personal growth in the past year, what we want or need to leave behind, and what we should pack in our rucksack to take with us when we go first footing!


First Footing Spread


1****2****3


1. What you will leave behind in your footprints as you leave the old year
2. Your biggest path of growth this past year
3. What you will take with you as you step into the new year 

So... these are the cards I drew for this spread. I used my Deviant Moon deck as it was one of my most used this year, especially in the first half of the year :)

5 of Pentacles, 9 of Pentacles & The Tower from Deviant Moon Tarot

 

1. What you will leave behind in your footprints as you leave the old year - Five of Pentacles


Leaving behind hardship and poverty seems like a good thing to me! Although this card seems to be about judgement from how I see it. The watching eye in the church, the female character sneaking around, as if ashamed to be seen. Also the Judgement card is number eleven and I cant help but see the two chimneys as an 11. The poor naked creature appears to be bathed in moonlight from her colour, which brings to mind Diana, the Moon goddess, who was also a goddess of chastity. She was also a patron of slaves, and they would always be given sanctuary in her temples. Interesting, so she could be seeking sanctuary, from judgement, the undeserved judgement of society who shunned her, because they only saw what they wanted to see. Far from a loose woman she could be running from the rape of society.

All these things are good things to leave behind, there has been judgement, but the strongest judgements have been self imposed... as they say, we are our own worst judges!


2. Your biggest path of growth this past year - Nine of Pentacles

This is a funny old card.... nine different Pentacles  hang in the sky, the masked creature is chained to a small skull that looks like it came from a gravestone... could this be mortality? The earthly life. And those Pentacles could symbolise riches in heaven, or in the spiritual world rather than the physical. She has had some setbacks in life, with no arms, and the loss of one foot. But the foot has been replaced by a wheel, which will enable her to move faster maybe. Kind of a built in scooter! In spite of her Venetian style carnival mask and lack of limbs, she does have an air of confidence. Her dress looks well made but with the moon buttons this could be illusion, like everything is not what it seems.
She may look well dressed and bodily incomplete, but she is actually more whole than many, as she is rich in spirit . Her mask could symbolise her lack of presence in the material world and like the moon carved into the stone she walks on, this turns the traditional meaning of the card on its head rather. Her robe could actually be that of a holy or spiritual order, and the mask be her veil, sheilding her from the eyes of the world. No arms could be a way of showing that she reaches out with her soul for wealth rather than grasps with her hands at happiness in material wealth. I see this card here, as being about the importance of enlightenment and spiritual growth.

Also of interest is that 2012 for me has been a 9 year, and the card is a 9....this could signify that the spiritual development that started this year will go on to become stronger in 2012


3. What you will take with you as you step into the new year  - The Tower

Here I see the breakdown of illusion, and falsehoods. The moonlight is burning through the tower causing it to begin its collapse. The tower itself is actually very small, and so the falling man could actually be in a dream or an Alice in Wonderland kind of world. Perhaps the moons light has set him free from the tower, and although it had seemed a huge thing, we now see how small is actually is. Like the line from the Eagle's song, Already Gone which I have quoted before:

"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
 And we never even know we have the key "

Self imposed imprisonment has come to an end, and it may feel like you are falling and losing security but actually you are gaining freedom from a prison that was way too small and confining to fit who you really are. The other guy lying down could be the prisoner who is now being put to rest, .... he could represent self criticism, judgement..... like in the first card....Makes sense!

A very blessed and wonderful 2013 to you all......

Thanks 2012.. for everything.

A Gothic Moon

It was quite appropriate to get this card today, as we have just had the full moon, she being blown around in a stormy sky. First thought on studying this card was that the moon lady with her crescent headdress makes me think of  Cerridwen, Celtic goddess of the moon, who had a wolf as a companion, just like this lady in the card.

The Moon - Bohemian Gothic

The Wolf rules winter from Samhain to Imbolc and the Celtic word for February (when Imbolc is celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere), is Faoilleach, which translates as Wolf Month. Imbolc is also known as St Brides Day which is another name for Brighid the Celtic triple Goddess of healing, poetry and blacksmiths. Brighid, like Cerridwen also had a wolf friend. In St Johns church in Glastonbury there is a beautiful stained glass window which features St Bride and her wolf companion, they are shown minding sheep, which are pictured in the next adjacent pain of glass. Sheep and wolves!

The Moon is a a card with a nature as slippery as her watery element, she can enchant and confuse. The woman's face here looks confused to me and a little worried, unsettled I felt a little like this today, but that is what the full moon does to me, she being my ruling planet. Of course her mood could be in tune with the melancholy sound of the howling wolf, or the pipes of the Pan God who sits on a rock by the water. She has turned away from the town in the distance and looks into the dark, as a mirror, seeing what is on the inside, or maybe the past and the future, trying to work  them out.  Moon's ability to create illusion makes one wonder just what is real and what isn't, and even if it really matters.

The wolf howls freely in the night, by day he is shy and hides away, at nighttime enchanted by the Pan Pipes we can follow a path very different to the one we tread by day. Night changes our mood and behaviour, like the werewolves I believe our characters change in the dark hours. We are wilder, free to be more of who we are, to explore our deeper darker nature.

I have always been a creature of the dark.... and the cold months... I can really relate to the image on this card, what a fabulous Moon she is!

The High Priestess

I have been feeling more at peace with myself recently, less likely to become stressed or feel guilty for things I shouldn't feel guilty about. I was thinking about this earlier, and so when I did my daily draw I asked what was the best advice the cards could give me to help me maintain  and even add to this feeling of all being pretty much well in my world.

I shuffled the Bohemian Gothic and randomly cut a few times. The card I turned over was The High Priestess.

If I stick to the traditional RWS meanings this makes a lot of sense, even reading it intuitively I come up with similar stuff. Amazing card that lead me on quite a journey through ancient alchemy and the discovery of Colloidal Gold and it's use in medicine, to old buildings in Prague and the use of white gloves in the Catholic church.

The High Priestess is covered in rich robes in the colours of the four elements. She is protected by the robes and the elements. On her hands she wears white gloves, in the Catholic church these white gloves are only ever worn by a conductor of ceremony, usually the Priest or maybe even The Pope. In her gloved hand she holds a vial on a stand, filled with rosy coloured liquid, it coud be blood, or wine that has been blessed, but I think it is Colloidal Gold, used by alchemists and scientists over time for healing and enhanced intelligence. A side effect of this chemical is a grey or pale mauve palor to the skin, this would explain the unreal, vampire like color of her face.

This robed Priestess sits between two old stone pillars topped with skulls. One is lit up by the last rays of the sun but the other has already fallen into shadow.  The town in Bohemia where these pillars stand, also houses the Bone Church. Home to the bones of 40,000 human skeletons, this chapel is dark and painful and yet beautiful, the art is exquisite. These people mainly died of the plague, but the chapel seems to honor those lives and show that they belong in higher places. Who knows what spiritual transformations can be brought about when one is surrounded by death and has only death for a future.

It feels like she stands before a gateway to whatever is beyond, and like with the Sphinx, unless you have the right skills you cannot pass her. The light is behind her so I am thinking that you need to get those skills in order to move forward, get past the darkness of the columns and move into into the light. Perhaps you need to partake of that liquid first, Elixir of Life. Only we can know what our particular elixir is.... I think to solve the riddle we need to find it.

And that answers my question :)

Two of Swords again....!

Today I got the Two of Swords again, from the same Bohemian Gothic Tarot. I shuffled well and counted through to 28 (todays date), and up it came. As I had already gotten it 3 days ago I decided to ask the cards why... whats the message? I drew the Six of Cups in answer.

Two of Swords & Six of Cups - Bohemian Gothic Tarot

So.... if the two of Swords shows blind instinct and the Six of Cups shows innocence, then I see this as a time to go back to basics, simple blind, childlike faith.. and intuition.

I think the Six of Cups has a shadowy side for definite..... and this is a Sun influenced card to balance the Moon influence on Two of Swords.. Both images on the cards seem to be set in the darker hours of the day though. I would say the Six of Cups is early morning. Maybe these two are sneaking out before anyone else is awake, as they know what they are doing is against someone's rules. This card could also be something like "make hay while the sun shines....". It has the children and they look a couple of rascals, it also has the blue flowers which I see as Morning Glory, and these signify the shortness of mortal life, as their own life is less than one day.

They are in a graveyard, so have lost someone, maybe their mother, but she wants them to carry on and enjoy life while they have it. The buildings in the background make me think of turning ones back on authority, and grown up rules. Its time to play.

There is of course a warning though, from the Two of Swords, to look before you decide which path to take. If I had to choose a song for this card I think I would choose this.

Who art thou Redcrosse Knight....?

Today I drew The Knight of Cups from the Bohemian Gothic.... a very dark looking card colourwise, darker than most, you really need to get into the light with a magnifying glass to see the detail in any way.

Knight of Cups - Bohemian Gothic Tarot

 The first detail I noticed on the card was the horned devil character carved into the stone of the castle wall. At first I thought it was a Green Man effigy, but when I took out my magnifying glass (a very useful Christmas gift...), I saw the horns and also it looks like his tongue is in two halves, or forked. So this dude could be escaping from the devil in order to bring something precious, back to its rightful place. He could indeed be a good guy like the traditional knight of cups.

He looks like he is not quite hurrying away, but there is some haste, he holds his arm up as if to show victory....showing off his trophy (which could represent the Holy Grail, as it is a kind of Chalice but has a devil on top by the looks of it), maybe he is holding it up to someone out of the card.. a crowd even?  Could it be devils blood, the elixir of eternal youth? Or eternal Vampirism...... Was the cross to protect him from the likes of Dracula in that dark castle?

The portcullis is raised so they haven't resisted his escape, unless they had no time. Looks like he entered the castle courtyard by nightfall, but surely the hooves of his horse would have been heard. He looks sinister and a bit sneaky, but he has no weapon I can see except this chalice. I think this goblet or its content has great power.

I originally connected the red crosses with those of the crusades and the Templars but their red cross was always on a white background.... that this is on a dark background makes me wonder if he is on the side of the shadows.

There is a Redcrosse Knight  in the Faerie Queen poem... written by Spenser in 16th Century... He was also called the knight of holiness. Like St George (who also had a red cross) he fought a dragon like monster and killed it. He had a lady who was in love with him called Una which means truth, but I am thinking maybe he fought for love of the Faerie Queen... Elizabeth. He was a Christian, Una means truth, and I think she was the symbol of the true faith in the poem. At one point an adversary of the Redcrosse knight uses faerie magic to change a sprite into a false Una and so try to lead the knight astray. When the real Una found he was gone she was bereft. I wonder if this is mean't to be Spenser's knight?  It seems to cross a bit with legends of Lancelot and Guinevere and Arthur in some places too. I must read it again someday but as it is written in old English it takes some time to translate!

The horse has a Fleur de Ly's on its collar, usually associated with the French but also popular in much heraldry and royal coats of arms throughout Europe. Both horse and rider are covered in armour, and heraldic drapes, only the eyes show, but those being the windows of the soul, maybe that is all we need to see... in a Knight of Cups......

I think though he knows no one will come after him, he may have sold his soul to the devil in order to get that grail, and that's why his eyes are so empty looking.... Even his horse looks disapproving. The grail as we know caused men to burn in fever. The light leaves his immediate path lit but all else in shadow, like a light between worlds of darkness. But what is the light, has he been enlightened?

I see little romance about this knight, and not too much emotion either, but maybe he is doing it all for love as did Lancelot.... so dangerous because he represents the threat of stealing your heart, and love and possibly taking you to a dark place. Looks like he will stop at nothing to get what he wants anyway.

Hmmmmm I guess he is the kind of guy I get attracted to come to think of it....

Well that was a lot of stuff to come at me in a short time as regards this card. I think I will just watch out for men wearing red crosses, and bearing silver goblets. Especially if they are heralded by the ghost of a dragon or followed by a creature with a forked tongue!

Still..... two knights in shining armour, in a couple of days..... can't be too bad I suppose!

The Feast of Stephens...

When I was a child the sales didn't start until January, after New Year... which I thought was too soon! Now people queue from late Christmas day, drawn in by the promise of 50% off something that they probably didn't need or even want in the first place. It is consumer madness, but today I shopped...the first day I have ever actually shopped on Boxing Day. I went in late to pick up my sons laptop which was his Christmas gift, but was out of stock before. I didn't do the sales, but as I avoid unnecessary trips to  town and had to take Polly home, it seemed opportune. Even at the end of the day I had to queue!!

I really would like the world to just close for a few days, at some time of year....so it is a real holiday from the madness of everyday life. I know we have some great things today that make communication easier, but sometimes I think they act as a barrier and far more folk live in isolation ... at least physically. I guess the grass is always greener, but now, for a wee while I am going back to the Victorian romance of the Bohemian Gothic tarot. Today I drew another 2... the Two of Wands.

Two of Wands - Bohemian Gothic

This card is another with many stories. The castle ruins have two tall buildings like the pinnacles in yesterdays two of swords, these could represent the two wands although I can't help but see the staff that the man is carrying as a wand. So what is their story?

The sky is full of ravens or crows, they carry messages between the worlds. I believe the woman in this card is actually a ghost or spirit, maybe related to the man, maybe just a shadow from the past. She looks sorry to leave this place, maybe she comes back every evening as the sky darkens, heralded by the crows as they fly home to roost at the end of the day.

Maybe the man came to see her, and missed her, because he turned away too soon or was looking in the wrong direction all along. Perhaps she is sorry that he can't see her, because she wants to give him a message, so she can finally rest. He looks like he has accepted the mundanity of everyday life, yet if only he would turn around, he would find that all is not as dull as it seems!

I see the ghost as me, leaving the old year behind, leaving the cycle behind to start a new one. This was a 9 year for me and next year will be a 1 year. The final forecast for 2012 from Creative Numerology, reads:

Your present reality is your only doorway to the future, and that sense of urgency you’re feeling is probably a desire to conclude something and finally put it behind you. Only you can know if this is the right time to do so. What seems unacceptable now may change into something more loving or useful next year, so don’t act or speak impulsively. Wish yourself – and others – only the best.

I think this is reflected in both yesterdays and today's "2" cards. Reality as opposed to blindness, and shadows, new life not ruins. Changing energies in the world around us.

On the first day of Christmas....

...... my BoGo gave to me ....

two swords and a blindfold... :)

Hmmmmm...... well I didn't see any ships sailing in so best take what I am given in good grace! I just love this card, and it reminds me of one of my favorites in the Victorian Romantic, the Nine of Swords. The two cards are very similar, with the woman on the rooftop, and  the closed eyes, or in this case blindfolded eyes.

Two of Swords - Bohemian Gothic

The woman stands on the balcony of a grand church, with many spires, below a starry sky. There are two sharp pinnacles atop turrets behind her, they have golden globes on each and pierce the night sky, like the swords. It looks to me like she is holding up a curtain or gown in front of her, and this is why her arms are crossed. She is blindfolded, but as she chooses to wear the blindfold then she must have good reason for it. She is lit up either from a light out of the picture or the moon.... I like to think its the moon. It adds meanings to the image for me.

The blindfold and the robe held up to cover her body say to me something like, I can't see you, but you cant see me either. I remember as a child believing that if I couldn't see someone then they couldn't see me! This lady looks very serene, no fear in her face that we can see. Is she waiting for her lover, and playing a party game? Its strange the blindfold and covering, yet standing in the full moonlight, instead of hiding in the shadows. Does the moon say that her blindness and body covering are illusory, no protection at all from whatever she is trying to avoid seeing?

The blindfold could signify denial of something she doesn't want to face up to, and likewise turning her back on those huge foreboding towers above her. Yet she is in the sanctuary of the church, which is maybe why she feels safe. Perhaps, like the vampires she is only able to come out and night. Then there is the blind justice aspect of the blindfold, although it doesn't really go with the crossed arms, they are self protective even if they are holding up her gown. Whatever the blindfold is for, it does tell us that she has chosen not to see the world, or be part of it, being out there alone... unless it is a party game after all!

Hmmmmmm.... so am I hiding away... I do hide away.... I do feel as if hiding sets me apart from the world, as if the world cannot see me. I wonder what I am afraid to see or feel....? Certainly the card has a strange air, with someone behaving rather irrationally, for whatever reason! Anyway I came out of hiding today and went to the beach with Polly and Phoebe!! Without a blindfold. Anyway as it is the party season I think maybe this card could be telling me to stop hiding and celebrate the season by joining in the fun and games... the stranger the better maybe !!!! Party time ;)

Enjoy the feasting... and if you are in the Northern hemisphere, enjoy the cool nights... it is sweltering here, and definitely not enjoyable, though I gotta say, it was great being in the sea earlier!