Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Death – Listen to the wisdom of Owl

Today is the last day I will be working with the tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding for a while. I’ve been working with this deck exclusively for the last ten days, which is a lot longer than I usually work with a deck. Overall it felt good.  A great advantage of working with one deck is that you really get a feel for its imagery and its use of symbols;  I always could understand and speak the French language better after our vacation than on the first day we’d arrived in France.

Tarot of the Sidhe,Death, Emily Carding

For today I’ve drawn Death: It is a timely card for me. The last few days have not been that easy but I feel a lot better already.  Again I had to let go of some old beliefs, unreal expectations, grief and love, in order to be able to move on again. It seems to me life often consists of a sequence of Death and Rebirth. Just like the cycle of the seasons but I think this Death- Rebirth cycle moves even faster. It feels almost like a clashing of waves on the beach. Sometimes you even don’t have the time to get dry before the next wave hits the shoreline.
In this version of Death we see an owl flying in front of  lots of butterflies. They all are leaving the burial mound above which a crescent moon witnessing this event Their life has been transformed. They have moved from one stage to another. The caterpillars have disintegrated almost completely in their chrysalises in order to change into a butterflies. I wonder if they would have been afraid,  if they knew what they had to go through before they could become a butterfly.
It looks like the owl is showing them the way out to their new transformed life. He is holding a salmon in his claws. This salmon (a symbol of wisdom) has sacrificed his life for the owl so he can share his new received insights with the butterflies.
I wonder what wisdom Owl is offering them…?

10 comments:

  1. I imagine that owl is telling them to enjoy every delicious drop of the day, because the waves of change will crash over them soon enough. The wisdom is in not wasting time fearing what may come but in delighting in what is.

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    1. So true my wise friend, so true! Thank you for answering my question. I am going to enjoy myself with some coloring pencils and a sketchbook in my garden. I am sure that will keep the fear at bay. :)

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  2. I wonder how many of our daily actions are based on death rather than life? Quite a few I'd reckon. Not in a morbid sense but because it is always there.
    Simple ones would be not stepping in front of a moving bus or not eating green meat. But brushing my teeth is ultimately an argument with death; I'll not get an infection that would lead to it. Or writing our blogs, are we each day leaving something that will live on beyond us, or are we just flapping our (newly brushed) gums?

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    1. I don't know about the flapping. According to my dentist this morning my gums are neglected with all the problems that come along with it. So I will be flossing and rinsing vigorously for the coming time to make my blog posts worthwhile to read. :D

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    2. Don't do anything to your teeth vigorously!! Trust me, it can be just as damaging to your tooth enamel. Brush gently with a soft brush, use interdental brushes, and don't brush more than twice a day. Rinse with water as often as you like. :)

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    3. I know your an expert on this Carla So thanks for your concern. I am always very careful with my teeth, being ever so scared for the dentist. It was just meant as a funny answer to Sharyns comment about the legacy pf our blogs. :)
      I have got some gentle rinsing fluid from my dentist and some soft dental brushes too

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  3. Oh, I love your photo today! Funny, I'm not sure I notice those crashing waves, but that may be that, like my sons growing, the changes right now are intense and yet I'm so close I can hardly see them. Very interesting post, Ellen! :)

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    1. Thanks Chloe. I guess your are just riding the waves of motherhood and hardly notice if you are dry or wet. At least that's how I remember what it was like to be a mother of small children. :)

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    2. Yes, Ellen, well put, that's how it feels! :D

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