The High Priestess – Uncovering and facing fears

Today’s card is The High Priestess from the Deviant Moon Tarot. I don’t pull her often. The last time was March 2016 and the time before was December 2014. But today she is here in a more grounded version of herself. The bare feet and the checkered floor both indicate to me that she is not at all an airy-fairy kind of Priestess but more the kind of woman who has gained her wisdom through the trials of her life. She guards her wisdom well and is not eager to share it with just anybody who comes along. Besides being known for her well-guarded wisdom she is also the keeper of secrets and she inspires us to tap into our intuition because facts and logic can only bring us so far.

In many ways, she reminds me of the Queen of Swords. Perhaps because her face isn’t as gentle as we are used to seeing in depictions of the High Priestess. She looks stricter and more aloof to me than others versions of this archetype

So why has she decided to come along today after being absent for so long? I feel she has guided me today to face one of my hidden and deep tucked away fears. After too many years, I have dug it up dealt with it and in the end, it wasn’t that scary and emotional as thought it would be. Facing these kinds of issues instead of avoiding them, releases energy which can be redirected into something fresh and new. 

After all of this, she looks so much softer and gentle than I thought she was. I hope she will pay me a visit more often.

New moon in March

For this New Moon I've drawn two cards as usual. The first one for the energy I am going to release and the second one for the energy which is beneficial for me to embrace. From the Raven’s Prophecy Tarot I pulled:

Release – The High Priestess

In this depiction of the High priestess we see a hand holding  a mirror, which doesn’t reflect her face but a clouded sky. She holds her secrets within. She is all about the silent inner journey into the hidden parts of ourselves. But not for me this lunation. It is time to look at life itself; Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming and the sun is shining. Holding my mirror, I might forget there is so much to enjoy  in the outer world.

Embrace – The Knight of Cups

Mmm not the Knight I had expected, but I suspect we’ll get along just fine. The Knight of Cups is represented by feather adorned with ribbons. They will dance in every breeze they'll catch. Being present with my feelings is quite a challenge of me.  Making heartfelt decisions as well. Having been stalked by Swords for  a long time, the Knight of Cups feels as a soothing balm for my mind. He will inspire me to seek out beauty in the world around me and create colorful pages in my journals. He will inspire me to find the inner peace to enjoy music and novels. Yes, he and I are going on a quest for love, beauty and making dreams come true!

Winter Solstice Tarot Reading

On the evening of the Winter Solstice I did a tarot reading for myself.  A lot of the blogs which I visit regularly had several spreads to choose from: Beth from Little Red Tarot shared with us her Winter Solstice/New Moon Tarot Spread

Sarah from the Tarot Parlor came up with  a Short & Sweet New Year Spread which is of course also perfect for the Winter Solstice.

Last but not least Kerry from Neopagan Priestess has posted her Yule spread.

This is the one I've picked for myself to use on this special night. Not only because it is a very profound spread but honestly also because it was the smallest one and I do like my spreads to be both meaningful and simple.

I love it when I can visualize these small spreads during the following days and when I do decide to blog about them there is less to translate. (just kidding J  )

Kerry's spread has two cards with the following questions:

1) What will help me sit with the darkness right now?
2) What will help me transform  it into light?

I've used the Wildwood Tarot which is personally for me the most wintery deck I have and I've got:

       

1 The Seer (The High Priestess)

In the card of The Seer,again we see the symbol of water. The Seer is using it for scrying and to me that is a lot like “diving deep”  from my previous post. When you look at her face she is very concentrated and perhaps a bit anxious for what she is about to see beneath  the surface of the water but when the moon is dark and the Winter Solstice is here, it is just the time to explore these caverns of your soul. You may encounter secret longings, abandoned and or sacrificed parts of yourself, less favorable traits and so on. Just to look at them and acknowledge them can help you to feel a bit more whole again. 

2 Ace of Stones (Ace of Pentacles)

Then there is the Ace of stones: a large standing stone to go to and wrap your arms around in order to ground and center yourself after being submersed into your inner darkness. To transform this darkness into light you just have to be and to do. Take the opportunities given to you to really engage in the here and now.  I have been sitting on the bench to long due to my neck pains and had too much time to worry and feeling sorry for myself.

Being just a few days away from Christmas there will be a lot shopping, baking bread and cookies and (a bit of) cleaning to do. I am going to try to participate in these activities as much as I can without overdoing it. Watching over my physical well-being is also a gift from the Ace of Stones.

The High Priestess - Finding the keyhole

My card for the day is the High Priestess from the Shadowscapes Tarot. Just like The Hermit, The High priestess is one of my most favorite cards and both of them rarely come up as my daily draw. So when I do pull one of them it feels like a special energy is visiting me.

The High Priestess is the embodiment of intuition and profound wisdom. She is the keeper of the well of knowledge and truth. A well with abysmal ink black depths where secrets safely rest, where the collective unconscious resides.

She however is free to rise up and bask herself in the radiant sunlight. An owl, her trusted companion and a symbol of wisdom, is flying with her while holding in its claws a key with a red ribbon which, unlocks many mysteries.

This particularly High Priestess looks so happy and blissful. It's like she has unraveled yet another mystery. Again this brings me back to my creative ventures. It feels like because of the experimental painting I've been doing, I've found a hidden keyhole. Something deep inside of me has been unlocked; a door has opened and it makes me so happy. I’m still working on the same painting. A few times a day I add something to it and try to figure out what my next move will be. It is like a game of chess for the soul I guess. Working on this painting is giving me the same lighthearted feeling as this Priestess must have. No pressure, no fear of failure, just enjoying  the process and following my intuition.

My First Impressions of The Joie de Vivre Tarot

Yesterday I've received The Joie de Vivre Tarot By Paulina Cassidy in the mail. I've ordered it two weeks ago at Book Depository. And to be honest is was a kind of an emotional purchase. Although I am celebrating my birthday in about three weeks and I am promised some tarot presents, I really needed  to treat myself on a light, friendly and uplifting deck.

A deck which will comfort you. A deck which will tell you the truth but in a gentle and kind way. A deck which will emphasize the positive side of a situation. Even the most dreadful cards are friendly and they speak more to your compassion than to your fears.

For instance the figure in the two of words is being  held by birds and the girl who is falling from the tower is held by butterflies

It had to be also a deck which would distract my mind form worrying. So there had to be enough symbolism in de pictures to keep my mind busy. Look how many symbols there are for instance in The Wheel: the zodiac, the moon cycles, the four trees on his head, the lemniscate on his jacket. In every card there are little treasures to be found.

And that’s when I knew it had to be the Joie de Vivre Tarot:

“French for 'joy of living', the Joie de Vivre is designed to access the childlike energy in each one of us to help stimulate, enhance, and inspire joy in our own lives. A truly fantastical people, the living beings in the Joie de Vivre realm are all sentient souls of love who want nothing but the best for those who take a journey through their world. An amplifier of intuition and a connection to the divine source, they hope the Joie de Vivre deck will help awaken a response from deep within your heart, mind, and spirit.”

It is the second tarot deck by Paulina Cassidy. I don’t own her first deck: the Paulina Tarot, because the artwork was too detailed for me. In the Joie de Vivre tarot the pictures are less crowded but still they contain a lot of little adorable details and symbols. The pictures were done in watercolors and ink. The colors are soft and transparent. The backgrounds are often just made  with a color wash and some swirls which is a good contrast to the detailed figures. The cardstock is average and the finish is glossy and smooth. The colors are much more vibrant than I had expected and they are absolutely beautiful.

One more thing about the LWB. Paulina has written a tiny little story about each character in her pictures and she has even named them. This makes this little booklet a very surprising addition to the deck

AL together it will be rather obvious I totally adore this deck.  And I haven’t even started reading with it. I do have already begun to knit a bag because the little tuckbox didn't survive the long journey overseas. 

The High Priestess - You don’t have to know all the answers

Crystal Visions Tarot

This is a card I seldom pull from a deck and now  I've got it twice shortly after each other. It is my Embrace card for this lunation which encourages me to focus on listening to my inner voice.  (Listen is a my word for this year.) And to be honest I am having a hard time with it. Lately it is difficult to silence my inner dialogues which contain mostly worries, negative self talk and bottled up irritation.

What stood out the most in this .of The High Priestess, is the fact she is surrounded by butterflies and none of them are touching her . The guidebook tells me the butterflies are a symbol of transformation but to me, today, they are representing every fluttering thought which crosses my mind during the day and sadly sometimes at the night too

So what is her secret? Why is she able to keep them at bay?

For a new perspective on this card,  I picked up one of my tarot books.  For today I choose “Tarot 101” by Kim Huggens.  (One of my favorites on this subject). And there I found an eye-opening sentence: “The High Priestess is the silence of true wisdom and the ability to truly listen to others and the world around, instead of trying to think of an answer”

Especially the last part of the sentence was enlightening: I don’t have to know the answers! I just have to listen; to others as well as to myself.  My inner dialogues are always tempting me get involved and to come up with solutions for (non) existing problems and when I do so, the merry go round keeps on turning, because none of my answers are ever good enough.  But what if I didn't fell in that trap over and over again. I don’t have to know the answers and maintain control. Sometimes things will just have to unfold by themselves and I will observe, listen and only act when needed. And again it all comes down to living in the present moment  and to be mindful.

New moon in March

Yesterday I've celebrated the new moon. After visualizing  my circle, I chanted to Durga and Lakshmi. After that, I sat down to meditate for a while,  trying to focus only on my breath, which is still so difficult. I wish I could turn down the volume of my inner chatter.

As usual I drew two cards from my Osho Zen Tarot. Both of them are mainly blue and both of them depict two dolphins. At first I didn't understand the Release card, Ten of Water (Ten of Cups), and it really puzzled me until M. gave me her point a view.

Osho Zen Tarot

Release: Ten of Water – Harmony

Why should anyone want to release such a beautiful state of mind. This is what the guidebook says:

"The experience of resting in the heart in meditation is not something that can be grasped or forced. It comes naturally, as we grow more and more in tune with the rhythms of our own inner silences. The figure on this card reflects the sweetness and delicacy of this experience. The dolphins that emerge from the heart and make an arc towards the third eye reflect the playfulness and intelligence that comes when we are able to connect with the heart and move into the world from there.”

I thought perhaps this card is telling me to let go of trying too hard to be successful in meditating and in bringing that state of mind into my daily life. But M said and with it she worded my first reaction to this card, it was more about letting go of trying to keep everybody happy without listening to my own needs (or inner voice J) Perhaps both options were equally valid but I feel the last is more urgent to let go.

Embrace: Inner Voice

The second card is more clear to me. It is the equivalent of the High Priestess in other Tarot decks which is all about intuition, the unconscious and wisdom.

"The Inner Voice speaks not in words but in the wordless language of the heart. It is like an oracle who only speaks the truth. If it had a face, it would be like the face at the center of this card--alert, watchful, and able to accept both the dark and the light, symbolized by the two hands holding the crystal. The Inner Voice can also be playful, as it dives deep into the emotions and emerges again to soar towards the sky, like two dolphins dancing in the waters of life."

My inner voice has been ignored too often and for too long. Even when reading my own cards,  M had to confirm my first intuitive interpretation (which wasn't all by the book), was right for me that day. I appear to be more confident than I really am.  Listening to my inner voice is something I will be glad to focus on for the coming lunar period. It seems so easy but I think the most difficult part is when you are finally able to hear that soft voice within, is to acknowledge what it is telling you. It might be a truth you don’t want to hear….

“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want” Lao Tzu

Starting my journey with The High Priestess and the Ace of Cups

Yesterday I've become aware of my need to do some exploring on my relationship with the Divine. What do I believe? How do I relate to God(dess)  and what do I expect from such a relationship? What is my part in it? How free do I feel in developing my own practice? So many questions arise when you start contemplating your beliefs. Yesterday I said I didn't want to hit the books and the internet right away. Instead I wanted to go within and delve first in my inner wisdom and own convictions before I start reading.

To trigger my intuition I've picked up my very first deck: The Rider Waite Tarot (Pocket) It felt so familiar to shuffle the small cards. I asked what advise the cards had for me on how to approach this spiritual quest. And I've got The High Priestess. That was a little  personal miracle for me. I haven’t pulled this card in months. It shows me exactly what I intended to do: go within, use my intuition to unravel my insecurity about believing in and connecting with God(dess). So my next question was how should I unlock my inner wisdom? The priestess is sitting quietly; almost like waiting for something. The veil is hiding the waters of her unconscious. So what do I have to do? Open the book, take down the veil??? 

And I pulled the Ace of cups. If She is out there She is surely communicating loud and clear. Just open your self up to Love and be ready to receive. 

It is so easy and we make it so complicated. We don’t need books and cards and statues and amulets. All  that matters is: sitting quietly, doing nothing and drink from that wonderful cup once in a while.

Every sip could be an insight in Her essence and we can show our understanding by giving this part of Her a name.* For instance If you feel her waiting patiently for you, you can name Her: Lady of unlimited patience. Be mindful how that name feels to you. In that way you can come up with so many names. One by one you‘ll paint a picture in your mind of how she shows Herself to you. In the same way you can do this with collage. Gather all kinds of pictures and words which remind you of an aspect of Her and put it all together on one piece of paper. I hope that this will help me to discover who God(dess) is to me

*( Inspired by the video from Pagypstian:  "Forming your own Image of Deity")