Tarot Card ~ March 4

The Hierophant

Taliesin

Fortune Cookie: Get to know in a much deeper way your nature as a magical Renaissance man or woman, and bring together all of your expertise and faculties. 

 

 

No, he doesn’t look like Johnny Depp.  Or Orlando Bloom, either.  So there.

We haven’t seen this card since early August.  So I guess we all need a reminder about who we may really be.  Eh?

As I’ve said before, this is a card so dense with information and direction, I hardly know where to start.   So hang on a minute while I think about it.

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Right.  Thanks.

First, I have heard some people refer to this card as the older, more grounded partner to The Priestess.  Fine, fine, fine with me.  But let’s go beyond that.

Some readers find that this card betokens a marriage alliance or servitude, but also mercy and goodness.  Others understand it as indicating the making of a long term commitment or that a new, helpful guiding influence is about to come into your life.  So keep an eye out for that, especially if things have been more bumpy or chaotic than normal. 

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, sees The Hierophant in many lovely ways.  Some of my favorites are a person with experience he or she is willing to share; a generous spiritual mentor; initiation; drawing security and comfort from one’s roots. But also, feeling constricted by conformity to orthodoxy. [Hissssssss!]

You won’t find me negating any of those possibilities.  But, still, I go in my own direction with a card as important as this.

When this card turns up for a client, I start off by reminding them that, in some Arthurian legends, Taliesin became Arthur’s magical helper after Merlin left the scene.  (In some tales, Taliesin and Merlin together stand at water’s edge as the vessel bearing Arthur departs for Avalon.)  So it’s a card of magical assistance or guidance.

Taliesin was one of the great, archetypal Bards of the Island of the Mighty.  As such [at least as I understand it] he was a shapeshifter and wizard; a wisdom keeper; a singer; and a poet; and a musician; and he brought all those abilities together as a healer; and a teacher; and a community mediator.  Not to mention being the power behind the throne, for − in some of what I have read – you couldn’t lead a Celtic clan or tribe unless the Bards declared you were THE ONE.

So I see The Hierophant as being a kind of super, magical Renaissance man or woman, who brings together and uses (brilliantly) not only ordinary reality skills, training and power, but magical, spiritual, sacred connections and capacities as well.

This can also be the keeper of ancient and hidden and powerful wisdom… not a bad thing to be or to look out for.

One thing more.  In the first Tarot decks created LONG ago, there was no Hierophant card.  There was instead… The Pope.  Why?  Because, at the time, the Pope was The Absolute Pinnacle of Power and wealth, not only materially but  (as he was perceived at the time) also spiritually.

So when the Hierophant shows up, I often say, “Ya wanna really grow materially?  Devote a lot more quality time and effort to growing spiritually.  For you, the two must go hand in hand.”

So:

Be open to the possibility of a very beneficial new alliance.

Seek for (or perhaps seek to be) a generous spiritual mentor. 

Get to know in a much deeper way your nature as a magical Renaissance man or woman, and bring together all of your expertise and faculties. 

Own all of that, and move toward your highest and best both spiritually and materially.  

Start today!

Brightest, most diverse and magical blessings!

Thought for the Day:  All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence.  Or lack thereof.  ~Neil Gaiman

Today’s Whether:  Proof of Leprechauns.  Mild stardancers.  Future morning glories.

On Today’s Date: 1797 – In the first ever peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times, John Adams is sworn in as President of the United States, succeeding George Washington.

Daily Tarot will disappear until next Tuesday or so.  Blessings till then!

Tarot Card ~ March 3

Ten of Spears

The Green Knight

Fortune Cookie: How will you go on a wonderful, transformative spiritual adventure?  Now!

 

 

Hmmm…  We last saw this fellow in mid-November. ‘Bout time it came back ’round! 

So, altogether now: 

Tens in any Tarot deck betoken the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, or even the end of one way of life and the beginning of another.  So, if I were reading for you today and this card came up, I’d ask:

How do the things you have been experiencing – and more importantly, how do the things you have begun to long for in life just now – represent a strong message to you that you must allow yourself to acknowledge the end of a cycle and the powerful potential for you to move into something wonderful and new, even miraculous?  How can you keep that in front of you not only today, but all through the year?  [Because you should, you know.]

Then I’d say:

Beyond that general information about cycles, I believe the Ten of Spears says in no uncertain terms, “You.  Yeah, YOU!  Go on a spiritual adventure.  Let yourself be open to new and incredibly transformative experience.  Keep a sharp eye out for integrity, in yourself and in those around you – particularly teachers, leaders and spiritual directors.  And seek spiritual renewal through the wondrous.  Yes, starting RIGHT NOW.  Get going!  DO IT!”

So, in consideration of the fact that it’s time for you to begin an entirely new phase of your life, and in consideration of the fact that I’m reading for YOU today, let me be a little pushy and ask a couple readerly but obnoxious questions.  [Doofus reader clears throat, straightens vest, cleans french fry grease from shirt, looks for lost fries, if any, for a snack, clears throat again]:

What ARE the spiritual adventures and transformative experiences and magical evolutions you’ve always hungered for but never really had the courage, or time, or cash, or whatever to pursue? 

Now, given that you and I are

~ a.) Looking at the specific energy you are being asked to embrace to start this (suddenly new) cycle, and ~

b.) Bearing in mind that you are being asked to accept, own and foster this energy and therefore this transformational nature of yourself over an extended period (so you don’t think you hafta have it all together by dinner tonight) ~

c.) What dreams, hopes, changes will you PLEASE actually give yourself permission to believe in and REALLY pursue so as to have achieved them by, say, a year-and-a-day from now?   

(Okay, for you Capricorns, Virgos and Aquariuses {Aquariusae? Aquamarines?  Aquascutums?} you have my permission to take a minute and write the answers down in a list on paper.  Aquarians — like me — will have lost the list by lunch anyway.  Virgos will have the list memorized, backwards and forwards.  With neat little inked-in squares at the head of each point.)

d.) And what are one or two baby steps you can take today and this week and this month to begin the concrete process of demonstrating your commitment to this new cycle and beginning your quest?  (Aquarius, that would mean finding the list. Or even typing/printing out the questions and taping them above your desk.  Or to your forehead.  Or making them into a tee shirt.  Writing them on your palm.  Anything.)

So, will you love yourself and the world enough to take those questions on — for the “New” You (new cycle, new way of life, whatever)?  We’d all sure appreciate it!

By the way, here’s some info about how other folks see the Ten of Spears:

Some view the Ten of Spears as a card of

~ oppressive energy that is overcome to achieve success (So know that you may feel challenged by the nature of the changes or goals you give yourself permission to go after, or perhaps by those around you who don’t get the point.)

~ disguise or false seeming (That’s why it’s important to keep an eye out for integrity in those you connect with, and perhaps even in yourself and your own motives.)

 ~ an awesome task which is successfully accomplished through perseverance (You deserve to take on something awesome.  That’s what’s worthy of you and your true nature.  Besides, that’s why you’re HERE right now.  Right?)

So, for today and for this “New” You:

How will you (how would you wish to) end one cycle and begin another? 

How will you go on a wonderful, transformative spiritual adventure? 

How will you be open to miraculous experiences, and recognize the miraculous nature of your life and of yourself? 

How will you guard your integrity and seek for it in others? 

How will you make this the most beautiful and wondrous of times

starting today, starting now?

Bright blessings and miracles!

Quote for the Day: A vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you’re attempting can’t be done. ~ Terry Pratchett, from Equal Rites
 

Today’s Weather: Nessum Doormouse.  Treebeard.  Pickets against nursery rhyme lockouts. 

On This Date: 1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs.

There are 303 days remaining until the end of the year.  So fire up.