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.

The Moon

I have a very different opinion of this deck than I had a week ago, I have to say. The Witches have proved themselves beyond their duty, and I take back all bad words said. Botox, murk up and all, they are here to stay! Also if I look slightly cross eyed at the offending cards I can almost see the bad plastic surgery job as brush marks of a pre digital era ;)

Today I drew The Moon... and I realised that I had dream't of this card last night. Totally out of the blue I had a dream about being offered all these drug cocktails, especially LSD, and everyone around me was taking them... but tho half of me thought about it, something deep down inside screamed NO..! You don't need those... you re way better without them. So I walked away from them, knowing the voice was right. I just bought Thirteen's ebook on Aeclectic Tarot and this is a little of what she has to say about the Moon:

With Pisces as its ruling sign, the Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. At its darkest this can be a very scary card warning the querent of hidden enemies, mental illness, alcoholic blackouts or a bad drug trip. At its very best, however, the Moon is a card of genius, of mental breakthroughs, astonishing creativity, powerful magic, and intuition.

The querent who gets this card should be warned that they may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial, a time when they’ll do things that seem to make sense to them, yet when they come out of it they’ll wonder, “Why did I do that? It makes no sense!” Their mind will be playing tricks on them, and so this is not a good time for making decisions that require rational thought and a clear head.
This card can, likewise, signal a crazy time for relationships. Whirlwind romances, powerful and dreamlike, but not trustworthy. For families and friends this is a time of emotional ups and downs.
If the querent has any past mental problems, they must be vigilant in taking their medication and seeing their therapist. They should avoid recreational drugs or alcohol, they will have a bad reaction if they take either. At the same time, the Moon signals great creativity, enhanced psychic powers, visions. The querent’s judgment may not be trustworthy, but they will have intuitive flashes that are remarkably accurate.

Note the mention of the drugs ....  The dream was also very illusory, and kind of like going through the looking glass. So many things were the total opposite of what they are in the waking life, and I chose to reject that. Even though it was a dream I feel pretty cool about it!

I am a Cancerian, we are ruled by the Moon and it fits me perfectly. We are headed fast for the New Moon and the total solar eclipse, so it is even more fitting. It is a pretty big thing for us lunartics when the Moon eclipses the Sun, I am sure there will be a certain amount of madness in the air! I am looking forward to seeing what I can of it, although it wont be the totality some lucky folk will witness over Cairns. For those of you in New Zealand we should see maybe a 75% eclipse of the Sun round about 10.30 on the morning of Tuesday 14th November. The current weather forecast for Tuesday is cloud and rain, so in that case we probably wont notice much.

But I will *FEEL* the power!!!

The Moon - Witches Tarot

Ten of Cups

I wasn't really surprised to see this card coming after my reaction to yesterdays Five of Cups! Everything I wrote yesterday seems to be even moreso in this card today. The following is quoted directly from keen, as I was interested in the positioning they explain and how it relates to my current thoughts. Especially the relevance of this card in the Past position:

The Ten of Cups in the past position is actually the card's strongest presence in a Tarot reading. This card representing happiness functions best with that representation as a memory. Recalling happy times is actually clearer than experiencing happiness in the moment or finding fulfillment in wishing to be happy in the future. This card in this position represents a powerful foundation of faith in the world and a belief that things will work out. You are strong because of positive values instilled early in life.

In the present position, this card represents a recent breakthrough. You may be in love at the moment of the reading or falling in love with someone. This card carries emotional impact, so there is some wonderful sentiment permeating your life and your world at present. The Tarot reading confirms that you should be enjoying yourself thoroughly.

The future position indicates that your emotional contentment is coming. The Ten of Cups is a card that is the natural climax of the entire Tarot suit of Cups and so it functions well in the future position as a reminder that your goals in life are worth pursuing no matter what the current struggle may be delivering.

I found another wonderful article over on AT by Simone, I love what she had to write about this card, as I love her design. Her card which you can see at the link above, shows a large cup and a mandala of nine smaller cups, which all work together to keep the large cup filled. It shows how one thing cannot fulfill all our desires and needs in life, we need the input and balanc of several things to get it right.

My love for this card has just gone up tenfold!

Ten of Cups - Witches Tarot

Five of Cups

Yet again the card of the day came up twice.. first it fell out of the deck and then it came up in my daily draw ritual! I will be interested to see if the same thing happens next week with a new deck choice!

I have always liked this card ... I see it very definitely as the cups that didn't get spilled rather than the three that were overturned and their contents lost. To me it means be grateful with what you have, and don't dwell on what is lost. It is a card of opportunity, to rethink your situation, count your blessings and see the lesson it brings as a gift.

Today was very definitely a Five of Cups day.... My daughter was unhappy, stuck in a place that had been expensive flight wise, and needed out. Money is not abundant right now, but all that mattered was her happiness ...  so we paid the penalty and changed the flights and now she is happy with her sister for a couple of days before returning home. That happiness is the joy contained in two goblets that were not spilled! And who cares about the 300 bucks that got tipped over? It will go to feed the earth, it's not lost, it is just a contrast to underline the joy of what we have...

I feel joy that Polly is happy and getting a visit with Tabby and Liv. I feel overjoyed in the closeness of our little family, at how my kid's care so much for each other and look out for each other. I have everything to celebrate :)

The five vessels in this card, are assumed to be all the same, but what if the spilled ones contained poison, and the full ones the elixir of life and joy? Another way of looking at the Five of Cups.

In this version from the Witches Tarot, to me the mermaid looks as if she is considering this whole thing, and maybe realising that she has lost nothing and has everything she needs and more.

Five of Cups - Witches Tarot

The High Priest

This guy reminds me of someone I have met. He seems a bit more of a Father Christmas than a High Priest or Hierophant.

Once again, I got the same card twice... I had forgotten to do my daily draw and realised this while I was out. I did a random with an iPhone app and got The Hierophant. When I got home I thought I would just test these Witches.... so I did my usual daily draw method.... and up came the High Priest.. what can I say?

I need wise counseling? Well I have been waiting to see a psychologist for a while now, maybe the appointment will come this week! Another meaning for this card is to join a club or group and have to do things their way. This has been cropping up recently with a local club a friend and I go to. They have suddenly gotten much stricter with rules, almost to the point of making it uncomfortable to go there anymore, it is such a change from how it used to be. But maybe we are seeing things the wrong way and need to adjust a little :)

My son has joined a new group today, and I have to go to pick him up now...!

Happy High priest Day.......

The High Priest - Witches Tarot