Tarot Card for the Day ~ February 25

Six of Swords

The Eachtra

 

 

As I said last time this card turned for us, the Six of Swords as I work with it has several layers of meaning, and requires a bit of storytelling and explanation.  So please bear with me.  Go get a another cuppa, a beer, a bowl of porridge or fudge ripple or chips, whatever. 

 

According to Anna Marie Ferguson, author of A Keeper of Words  − the book that accompanies Legend,the Arthurian Tarot  − The Eachtra is the Irish phrase for an Otherworld journey and adventure. 

 

In some Arthurian legends, one adventure involves a great quest in which Arthur and his knights venture to the realm of Annwn − the Celtic Underworld − to meet Arawn, the Lord of the   Underworld, and (depending on which version you harken to) form a brotherly alliance, king to king, (or do grievous battle, army to army) so as to win and bring back (or steal and bring back) magic and magical tools for the grace and hope of Camelot.   

 

Funny how variable those legends are.  I blame it on the mead the monks imbibed.  And those funny little mushrooms they put in the salads.  Ah, the good olde dayes!

 

Let’s see.  An otherworld journey and adventure…  That’s a pretty perfect thing to have recommended for right now − a time between the seasons. 

 

In many shamanic traditions, it’s the places in between where the magic is, and where the paths between the worlds (realms) lay!  So, as we approach springtime, some of us may be sensitive to a thinning of the veils between ordinary reality and the realms of spirit. 

 

How will you let yourself explore the doorways to goodness, wisdom and healing that are available just now?  Dream on it at least, I hope!

 

Anyway, back to the card, more or less. 

 

In the teachings of modern core shamanism, journeying is the term given to the deep, powerful meditation used by shamanic practitioners to travel to alternate realities. Often, the first teaching journeys are to the lower world, into beautiful, fruitful, healing darkness entered through an opening into the Earth.   

 

So, in my work with clients, and based on my shamanic work, I’ve come to refer to this as The Journeywork Card. 

 

The Six of Swords directs us to go deep – deep within the self, into the core of our hopes and dreams, to the very essence of our being. It tells us to believe in, seek and find the beautiful, powerful, enlightening, inspiring treasure within us. And it asks us to then embrace it fully and bring it up and out into the world to share with and benefit all.

 

Explore the realms of the sacred and the healing.  Go deep within and find the treasure there, then bring it out to share with us all.  Be part of the beautiful and powerful magics of the season.

 

Bright blessings and miraculous journeys!

 

[For more information on journeying, please see my article at

 

http://shamanspath.org/index_ShamanicJourneyIntro.htm  ]   

 

 

Quote for the day:    As far as I’m concerned, the entire reason for becoming a writer is not having to get up in the morning. ~ Neil Gaiman

Tags: Becoming a writer, Journey