Today’s card is Dreamer Queen, aka Queen of Swords, from the Tarot of Sidhe. The queen is sitting in a green field on a stack of books on the top of a mountain. This mountain is so high that the queen is seated above the clouds. The knowledge she gains and judgment she provides won’t be clouded by any of her personal issues. The Sun is shining brightly to emphasize her bright mind and clear insights.
But the knowledge we find in books can only bring us so far. There always comes a time when we have to close the books and digest everything we have learned to make it our own. The Queen in this depiction is conferring with a little bird which could represent her intuition since all the Queens of the deck are highly gifted with this trait, even our more distant and reserved Dreamer Queen. Look how focused she is on the soft tune the little birdie is singing to her. And gradually the knowledge she has found in her books will be integrated with what she already knew and spiced up by her profound wisdom.
“Knowledge without wisdom is a load of books on the back of an ass” (Japanese proverb)
Today’s Card is Maker King, aka King of Pentacles, from the Tarot of the Sidhe. In this card we see a male member of the Sidhe, bare-chested, standing behind his anvil. He is admiring his latest achievement: a golden crown, still hot from the blazing fires of his forge. What I love about this king is that it is crystal clear he has earned this noble position not by birth or election but merely by mastering his skills. This is the kind of king I would like to get advice and guidance from. He has experienced everything his people have been going through or are still going through. Their ups and downs, their accomplishment and failures. He is a king of the people and for the people.
I wonder how the world would look like if all our leaders were a bit more like the Maker King. Perhaps we should make a kind of rule that every leader should live amongst his people (incognito) for at least year. Who knows what difference that would make. Maybe they would have more compassion and empathy for the people they are about to rule….?
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.
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.
Today’s card
is The Moon from the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding. This card feels a
bit melancholic to me but after yesterday’s Maker Five –Winter’s Bite, it is definitely
an improvement. Yesterday was a very challenging day for me which has made it
quite clear to me that even though I have learned a lot already, I still have a
long way to go. There is some serious water gazing waiting for me. What stands
out for me the most in this card is the promise of support from Spirit. We see
a woman sitting beside a moonlit pool and she sees a whole different world
in its reflection. Beneath the surface she is not alone and maybe she is coming
to this pool to be reminded of this because during the business of Summer’s
sunlit days there is often no time for reflection.
This card advises
me to sit with my feelings and not to run away from them. It is not necessary to explore them on a deeper level. Not yet. Acknowledging them is okay for now.
Just sitting there and watching my reflection is progress enough.
Today’s card is The Dreamer Prince – Gift of Liberty from the Tarot of the Sidhe by
Emily Carding. We see a Sidhe prince with his hands over his ears and from his
head a flock of birds is taking flight. When I think of the twittering of the birds
in my garden, this flock of birds could be deafening for our Prince. So many idea’s,
so many thoughts are sprouting from his ever busy mind. He always has inspiration
enough. His well of ideas never runs dry.
But it is very difficult for him to stop
his train of thoughts and to focus on one subject or idea and to elaborate on it,
let alone do something with all his bright ideas.
Often I
feel overwhelmed by my own stream of consciousness. I have all these thoughts
about what I want to do and most of them
never gets done or when I am starting vigorously with something new, I am losing
interest along the way too soon and so I have a pile of unfinished projects stacked away for more productive times.....
Since I am getting
older, I also seem to leak my greatest ideas without being aware I’ve lost something
precious. So now I am always, wherever I go, carrying a notebook with me to jot
down the things I want to remember. I also like to make lists and mind maps to keep
my thought process a bit within limits.
“He dreams of more than any could know,
But they are seeds he cannot sow,
His winged thoughts fly upon the air,
Never to land within a prayer…”
E.
Carding
Just before
posting this I was thinking how much he resembles me when I try to meditate...
Today's Card
is Dreamer Eight ( Eight of Swords) and Maker Four (Four of Pentacles) from
the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding.
Carla from Rowan Tarotwrote this morning about how she felt
when she would draw acard like this as her card of
the day. Well clearly I can sympathize now. The Eight of Swords been my nemesis tarot card for a very long time and now it has found its
way back into my life as Dreamer Eight - Web of Mirrors. This card is all about being trapped in your own
limiting beliefs and being unable to see reality. This is often caused by fear of letting go the illusion of control. The figure in the card is a spider
like Sidhe who has woven her own web of self sabotaging thoughts. Thread by
thread, thought by thought, she has imprisoned herself more and more.
The only way
out is for her to become aware that this entangling situation is of her own
doing:
“Yeah, as long as we know we’re trapped, we still have a chance to escape” (S. Grant)
Then I asked
what would be a helping attitude for me to face reality. And I got the Maker Four- The greedy Tree.
This what not what I had expected at all but this is what I got, so there was bound to
be a message for me in there somewhere: Besides being greedy this card is also about
protecting what is precious to you. So today this card is all about protecting my self-worth, my time, my health
and about feeling grounded by taking care of my physical me. Doing something
is for me personally the bestway to unravel thosecobwebs in my mind
Today’s
cards are a very appropriate for the Summer Solstice: the Maker Ten
and the Dreamer of the Tarot of the Sidhe. And yes the deck is in honor of the Solstice too!
First let’s look at the Maker Ten. This is a card of prosperity, abundance and
stability. An important man is about to be crowned as leader because of his accomplishments for the community. It is a happy occasion with food and drinks
and many merry Fae who came to honor this man.
“The
crown was forged by Maker King
And to him
Fortune’s gifts we bring
For all
will flourish in this land
Under
our noble leader’s hand”
(E.
Carding)
But the second
card makes me wonder if this happening is more about what the Fae people want than
about the wishes of their leader. The blazing sunlight is illuminating the mind of The Dreamer. I get the impression the leader's mind is already focusing
on his next project or idea. Something beneficial
for his people no doubt and he will be glad that tomorrow he can go about business
as usual.
“All things are born in the land of Dream
In an insubstantial airy gleam
In the eternal Dreamer’s golden mind
As pure as one by Gods Divin’d”
(E. Carding)
It strikes me that this group resembles my family very much: a father, a mother and three children
The Fae man reminds me
of my father, the provider of his family, a tower of strength for all of us. He
was not so keen on celebrations with himself as the center of attention. He was a gentle, modest and such an intelligent
man. I miss him and not only today on Father’s day…
I was a bit
hesitant to draw my card for today. After the two last ones, I honestly
considered to take an oracle break. But
that didn't feel right. So I picked up my deck and started to shuffle and, what
seldom happened, one card flew out of the deck in my lap. I turned it around and I sighed with
relief: The Elder! How I needed this
rendition of The Hierophant. A wise woman is sitting near a trunk and is inviting me to join her. A
soft red velvet stool is waiting for me. Here I can sit down and rest from my
all my swordy tribulations. Dreamer Ten en Dreamer three: what are the odds!
Sitting in the shade of the Apple tree, which connects
this card to the beginning of autumn, the season of introspection and
reflection, we talk and she listens to me and after I've shared my feelings she starts to
teach me….
Only after I have let go of all my rigid thoughts and beliefs, I
will be open to listen to her message, to learn what really matters.
This card touched me so deeply and it feels
like this was exactly the right card for me today. I am ever so glad I continued
working with this deck!
“Join me
and see the pattern of life unfold. You may learn yet you may teach. Take the
spiral path of aged rings and find your sacred welder within.” (Emily Carding)
Well to be honest, I didn't expect to get this
card after yesterday’s Dreamer Ten. But today we've got Dreamer Three (the
Three of Swords) from the Tarot of the Sidhe. We see a Sidhe woman with her
heart ripped out. It is torn apart and eaten by three black ravens. The three
trees which are rooted in her skirt are bare. With her hair she is connected to
the blood red clouds and behind her a large sun is rising behind the mountains.
She is fully merged with her surroundings yet she is heart - and soulless.
Every time
when I get this card I wonder: What is eating away my soul? Which grief and/or
pain have I not fully embraced yet?
So often
grief and sadness are cloaked in anger, fear, guilt or regret. Those feelings
can fester deep and feed off your joy
and energy. Only when we can dig deeper, beyond the surface and dare to feel
the pain, we can heal and move on. It can be a scary and lonely road because
when one pain is discovered a lot of the others might wake up too and this
can be a very overwhelming experience. So it is good
to know the morning sun will always lead you home again. The relief and the
related relaxation will make it so worth your while to embark on this journey.
Today’s card is Dreamer Ten (Ten of Swords)
from the Tarot of the Sidhe. This is a very dreadful card: We see a sword, which pierces
the sun and causing it to bleed heavily, a gushing stream of blood which
floods everything in its way. People are drowning in blood and trees are
falling from the hills: Everything is dying. The two eyes in the hills are red
like blood. The only thing positive to this card is the yellow light of the
sun.
Although a
scary and depressing card, it is a very apt one for me. As is the case often, I
am inclined to over think the unthinkable. So is my spirituality (as many of
you probably will know) a perpetual dance between doubt and knowing, finding
and searching, intuition and thinking. After a reasonable time of inner
balance, the thinking part is getting too loud and is pressing too much for attention. This is awaking my
doubts and thus disturbing the balance. My primary instinct is more thinking,
more reading, searching for more information. But this only causes doubt and
insecurity to grow stronger. This card is telling me to let go of all my
thoughts and convictions, of trying to
puzzle everything in a neat structure. When I can manage to do so, the sun will come out
again and will warm and illuminate my heart where God(dess) can be found.
For today I've drawn Maker Two ( Two of
Pentacles) from the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding. Instead of the juggler
trying to hold both of his pentacles in the air here we see an oak tree which
has brought forth a Fey child with two acorns in his hands. The child is still attached
to the tree by a navel cord. Two butterflies are flying in opposite directions and
the sun is shining brightly.
For me this
card is all about planting seeds: starting projects, committing to intentions
and promises. But besides that it is also about being responsible for these
seeds. Planting them is not enough; they have to be tended: fed, watered and loved.
When a new project becomes a boring chore it is destined to wither and die.
Without love and passion, seeds won’t grow strongly. Of course we all experience
lack of these motivating feelings from time to time. Then maintaining the seed
can be enough for a while but the true responsibility
in my opinion lies in to love and care for your "babies".
For me this
is not always easy. I am a passionate beginner of projects but most of the time
I find it difficult to keep working on them and even more to finish them. It is
almost a miracle I am still blogging after a whole year. Painting
regularly in my art journal is much more
difficult. It can take weeks before I pick up my dusted journal which I had intended
to work in al least three times a week. Yesterday I've joined
the 365-30 lists Face book group. Only to receive the monthly list subjects,
which I want to write daily in my new Eldori.
For now I am excited but I wonder for how long I can manage to keep writing
those lists. J
Yes our
seeds can vary in importance and need of support but when tended well they
return your loving attention with fulfillment and pride and a sense of self worth
For today I've drawn The Magician from the
Tarot of the Sidhe. This is a card that I rarely draw, so I will pay particular
attention to its appearance today. I like this depiction very much. This
Magician is situated in a landscape where all the elements are present: sun,
sea, sky and land. He himself is composed of different elemental aspects:
fishtail, a tree, fire in his hands and wings. He says: “I am the Mouthpiece of the elements.
At first I thought he was a bit scary but now
I appreciate his diversity. I especially like the blue throat chakra (Sidhe
Glyph) to emphasize the power of the spoken word. When you speak your mind, you
can manifest your thoughts into being. That is magic and that’s why it is so
important to think before we speak. How many words we have wasted on quarrels
and gossip, on whining and complaining.
The
Magician teaches us we can channel our inner power into the world and choose
where we want to focus it on. We can draw from the elements which are all
around us and inside us
Sometimes
it scares me to see this card. It is like The Magician is expecting more from
me than I am able to give. “Go for it! Do the best you can”, he seems to say to
me. Usually This feeling has a tendency to extinguish my creative fires. Then I
am more inclined to dig my heels in than to manifest anything.
But today I
finished my painting of the Divine Feminine. I knew exactly when it was finished and I was so
happy with the result, I think I am going to buy a frame for it and put it up in
the living room. J (I’ll post
about it tomorrow)
So today the
Magician was all about self confidence and creativity for me.
Rest , Rejoice and Recuperate: those were the
first three words that came to mind when I drew the Warrior four – Foundations blessed
from the Tarot of the Sidhe.
This is a
card about celebrating achievements and gathering around hearth fire to share stories,
food and most important love. No need to
worry about the mountains in the background yet.
Love is the
inner fire that drives us. Sometimes tender and gentle like a flickering candle
flame, sometimes with blazing flames of passion and desire.
Love is what brings us together and connects us through ties that transcend time and place. In that way
you will never be alone although it might seem so. Love is a fire which needs
to be kindled and rekindled, especially the love you feel for yourself which
somehow often has a way to be smothered.
So it is
important to go through this gate and take the time to celebrate what you have accomplished
so far and to be grateful for the love in your life.
Today I am
going to buy some more plants for my garden and for my husband’s balcony.
Flowers do have a way of making a house a home. Also I am also going to try to slow
down today and be more aware of the love which lives in my heart and home and try
to permeate my words and actions with it.
“The gate becomes a hearth, a home
No need for ever being alone
They celebrate the inner fire
Joyous love that will never tire”
Emily Carding
“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we
do... but how much love we put in that action.” Mother
Teresa
For today I've drawn Dreamer Six - Insight's Voyage (Six of
Swords) from the Tarot of the Sidhe. In this card we see predominantly yellow
and blue colors. For me these colors stand for truthful insights and intuition.
The wind from the East with eyes as bright as the morning sun is blowing the
little ship forwards to wherever she thinks is best. The sailor is steering and
adjusting her sail so she can benefit
from this fresh bracing wind.
This card
is all about journeying. Not only a physical journey but even more often a spiritual one. I can identify with the wind as well as with
the sailor. The wind, my inner self, will lead me into the right direction of
my quest. She will lead me to where the light of understanding shines the brightest.
But there is also the sailor; my conscious self, who knows what I want and
where I want to go. The sailor knows which ideas have become outdated and
which ones can use some patching up. She is also open to new ways of thinking.
When I look
back at my believes and convictions I see they have changed a lot over the
years. I've matured in my spiritual believes, became more liberal and open to
other philosophies, religions and practices. I've embraced the notion that I
never can get lost and I never can get it wrong. So I just sail away and throw my big net into the
deep, blue ocean of new ideas and insights
To be honest I didn't feel like blogging today. Yesterday
was our 28th anniversary and today my husband is coming over to celebrate this. A lot of mixed feelings are whirling through my mind but most of
all I am determined to make this visit a success. Especially for him and
hopefully for all for us. So some of my feelings has to be put on the
back burner for today. But when I was playing with my tarot decks just for fun
and relaxation, I noticed I kept drawing a version of the two of swords. I
thought this was so significant I had to write about it. The first two of
swords I did pull this morning was the one from the Tarot of the Sidhe. We see a
face in the sky, half black half white. It
is a quarter moon, half full, half darkened. At the bottom of the card a magpie
spreads it wings; showing his black and white feathers. Everything points out
to a stalemate situation, a temporary balance.
“Now the Mind is split in twain
The glorious whole is seen to wane
And two thoughts must find a path
To bring both peace and conquer wrath”
Emily Carding
This is a very
timely card for today. On one hand there is this profound sadness and on the
other hand joy and festivity are in place and expected. M and I have made a
delicious cake with walnuts and chocolate. This will certainly heighten the mood.
For tonight I am going to make my husband’s favorite meal: leek pie, kidney beans
and salad. So now I am going to prepare the leek and the dough for the pie and
I will put in some extra love as “secret” ingredient.
Nobody
likes to get a card like this: Dreamer Three (the Three of Swords) from the Tarot of
the Sidhe. We see a Sidhe woman with her heart ripped out. It is torn apart and
eaten by three black ravens. The three trees which are rooted in her skirt are
bare. With her hair she is connected to the blood red clouds and behind her a
large sun is rising behind the mountains. She is fully merged with her surroundings
yet she is heart - and soulless.
“The
heart of Dream is torn in three
Leaving
a hole where the whole should be
The
blessed ravens feast on sorrow
That the
light may bring a fairer morrow”
How many of
us are living like this. Going through the motion of our daily lives and not being aware
of how we feel and if we are living the
life we want. Is our heart still in it, or is it torn out and crushed by unresolved
grief and heart break. So often we don’t take the time to acknowledge our pain
and we think when we act as always, eventually it will go away. But believe me it won’t.
It will strike back even harder just as long until you feel the hole inside
you. The positive side of this card is when
you do connect with your pain you will heal. Your heart will become more
resilient and at the same time more compassionate, tender and loving. “Be gentle with yourself and only go as fast
as the slowest part of you feels safe to go”. After you've healed your
heart and soul, you can dream again about what you want out of life, because with a heartfelt
dream all options are open to us again
Lyrics:Gentle With Myself
By Karen Drucker
I will be gentle with myself.
I will be gentle with myself.
And I will hold myself like a newborn baby child.
- repeat…
I will be tender with my heart.
I will be tender with my heart.
And I will hold my heart like a newborn baby child.
- repeat
And I will only go as fast as the slowest part of me feels safe to go.
I will only go as fast as the slowest part of me feels safe to go.
I will be easy on myself.
I will be easy on myself.
And I’ll love myself like a newborn baby child.
- repeat
And I will only go as fast as the slowest part of me feels safe to go.
For today I've drawn the Dancer Prince , aka Knight
of Cups, from the Tarot of the Sidhe. As you can see the court cards also have
a little phrase at the bottom of the card but with them it is circumscribed as
a gift . So this Prince will bring us the gift of Passion.
In the background
we see a very large full moon with a cup depicted on the inside. For me this
represents the intense emotional nature of this Prince. He has even got a tattooed
cup on his chest near his heart.
“The
brooding hero of the dance
A poet’s
spirit of romance
He’d
steal the heart that you would keep
And lead
you darkly to the deep”
This
little poem is speaking o.a. about excessive Prince energy. When passion and feelings are
combined with the fiery nature of this court card they could boil over and be magnified all to quickly .
The Germans
have a saying derived from a song written by Goethe: "Himmelhoch jauchzend,
zum Tode betrübt" (heavenly joy, deadly sorrow). Sometimes I wish I could feel
this intense and also be aware of every feeling in between. As most of you know
I am mainly a swordy person. Cups come in play when others need me and I will fulfill the role of the King of cups but this Prince has been neglected by me far too long. So I will
gladly accept his gift and try to seek out and revive my passion.
“Don’t
worry about what the world needs. Ask
what makes you come alive and do that, because what the world needs is people
who have come alive.” ~Howard Thurman
For today I've drawn Warrior Ten, the
equivalent of the Ten of Wands. After
three Major Arcana Cards finally I've got one from the Minor Arcana and here we can
see they have a short phrase to clarify the meaning of the card. Usually I read
the Ten of wands as a warning about getting burned out, or as a sign I am almost done but here the emphasis is
put on responsibility and the dedication to bring the task to an end.
To be honest, my first impression was to put
this one back in the deck. But then again after having drawn two days in a row such morally correct cards like The Emperor
and Justice, I thought it was time to loosen up a bit. This card depicts Pan
holding a woman in one arm and a chalice filled with wine in the other. The
woman is held loosely by his vines and she doesn't seem to mind at all. He is
not the typical devil you see in many decks but he is the Spirit of the Wild
and the Green. He is asking, perhaps tempting us to let go of our self made
boundaries and restrictions; to let go of wanting to be too spiritual and to do good all of the time. He appeals to our wild nature which we deny often for too
long. And if so the chance of indulging ourselves excessively is so much greater than when you dance with the wild and the free on a regularly
and integrated basis. We are both physical and spiritual beings and one side isn't
less valuable than the other.
So for me
this card suggest to be treating myself with some physical pleasures without being
afraid of consequences and feelings of quilt afterwards. Deep down there is always
the seeking of Balance so dancing a little bit out of the center isn't that bad at all.
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods…”(Byron)
Yesterday I've posted a comment on Chloe’s blog about how Balance seems to be one of the most reoccurring
themes in tarot spreads and daily draws. We could say that living a balanced
life is an everlasting life lesson for everybody. As a confirmation of this idea I've drawn for today Justice from the
Tarot of the Sidhe.
This depiction
of Justice is emphasizing the necessity to find balance in every aspect of ourselves
and our lives. Our Body, Mind and Soul should come together in perfect
harmony. But when we speak about “should” it often indicates this isn't the case.
The card contains
a lot of symbolism which is representing for balance: The sun and the moon with
clouds swirling around them in the shape of a lemniscate and a Sidhe woman balancing
between night and day on the hilt of her
sword which is pointed in the center of the spiral. She is “The cosmic dancer of truth and balance” And she knows as
nobody else the moment you find balance you lose it and you have to adjust a
bit to find it again. It is like a never ending dance; a perpetuum
mobile.
“ The key to keeping your balance is knowing when you've lost it”
