Tarot Tuesday:: A Day Late

To start I have to say that I intended this to come out yesterday. Half way through writing the article, Word up and quit on me suddenly and in disgust I walked away.  I was able to recreate most of the original this morning, but true to form, I do not feel it as good as the first.

Happy Mercury Retrograde everyone...make of it what you will.

The Star: Guiding Light

The Star, and stars in general, have been a source of guidance for quite some time.

Steampunk tarot by Barbara Moore

In tarot, the Star is associated with Aquarius, that dreamy, rule breaker, who moves along its course by rules only it understands and baffle those looking in. Logic and reason are very much there, but it seems to follow a path so twisting that it rarely touches on the mundane.

This card tends to be one of the more ‘gentle’ cards out of a deck. It calms and for a moment the person knows that there is guidance and that a way will be shown. This card tends to soften the blow of some of the other cards that leap in your face with no buffer.

The Star invites reflection and introspection, but to do so in a way that heals that hurts. Accept the flaws of yourself and others and move along.

This is a card for dreamers and artists. It invites you to look at the starry Heavens and be inspired at the wide wonder laid out before you.

If you are seeking guidance, it is there with a little patient looking. The Star is Nuit personified, She whose starry belly vaults over the Earth in love and rapturous delight.

Aquarius is an Air sign for all that He bears the cup for Zeus. Winds move the waters of the ocean, and so too our thoughts and emotions move one into the other. Sometimes overriding and subsuming as a hurricane or tsunami.

From the Star flows clarity upon the ocean of Chaos.

First, relax and rest. Take a deep drink of the sustenance of creation, of life, or calm and serenity.  Rest your weary soul.  Then, look towards the horizon and find the guiding star. Where do you desire to go? Plot your course with care and follow your path. You are a Star!

Practical Study

We have officially entered the first Mercury retrograde for 2015 and that can turn communication on its head a bit.

Thoth Tarot by Crowley

Use this time for meditation with The Star to find a point of stability inside of yourself.

Refer to the sections of Liber al vel Legis on Nuit and to remember that you are a Star in your own right.  Take the time to meditate on your True Will and higher callings.  In this way you can make of yourself your own guiding light and maybe help others find theirs as well.

Tarot Tuesday

Temperance and The Art: Alchemy of the Soul

Most people see Alchemy as crazy men in Renaissance Europe heating dangerous chemicals in the attempt to turn lead into gold. You would not be far wrong with that image but it does not cover all of it.

Thoth Tarot

Alchemy was a spiritual practice. Hidden symbols and goals to find the elusive Philosopher’s Stone, the Universal Medicine, the substance of dreams and immortality, are scattered throughout the art of the old alchemists. Spiritually alchemy was also about turning the soul into its purest self for only a pure soul could create the Philosopher’s Stone.  My husband has said it was a concern of turning the “lead of the soul into gold”.

I primarily work with the Thoth tarot, and rather than naming the card Temperance, Crowley named it The Art. In a way this card represents the ultimate completion of the Lovers from Atu VI.

Here the Black King and White Queen have performed the sacred marriage and become an androgynous figure of both sexes and yet neither. The figure holds fire and water and is able to mix them to create the substance it seeks. Here is Universal balance, perfection, to create what has been sought after for ages.

If you study most a Rider-Waite based deck then you are familiar with this card as Temperance.

Generally there is an angelic figure, one foot on land and another in water. There does not seem much here that gives a message.

I’ll admit, I never thought much of the Temperance card until I started to study high magic(k), and took another look at it from the perspective of the Thoth tarot.

Now, I’m not going to involve myself in the ‘War of the Decks’; nor am I going to get into how much Crowley hated the Rider-Waite deck…because my gods did he hate it. My opinion is this; I believe that the Thoth tarot is a more complete deck than the Rider-Waite system. The imagery conveys deeper meanings and has better symbolism. This is why it is my preferred deck over any other.

Disclaimer done, there is actually a lot to learn from Temperance.

This card conveys balance. Balance of the mundane and the spiritual, balance of the

Steampunk Tarot

elements. It can teach us a lesson of balance. One thing to look at is that nothing is static. The water ripples from the toes of the angelic figure, the balls convey a twining motion to maintain the balance.

Perfection is not set in stone. Even the Philosopher’s Stone isn’t really a stone; it was also called the Red Elixir. This infers that it was a liquid as well as a solid.

Perfection in motion and changing state.

The Art and Temperance are both associated with Sagittarius, the Archer. The Archer was usually shown to be Chiron, the wise centaur who taught many of the heroes of classical mythology. Sagittarius is associated with the 9^th House, the astrological house of Higher Learning and Philosophy.

Whichever of the two systems you prefer there is much to learn from the 14^th card in the Major Arcana.

Practical Study

Find an image of the 14^th card you prefer and either pull it from your deck or print it from the internet.

With the Sun in Sagittarius now, use that power to go into deep meditation and trance over the imagery found. Do some studying on Alchemy as both a physical science and spiritual practice.

These cards can help you find the balance you crave in your life. They also teach that perfection is never static but a changing and evolving state that flows from one crest of the wave to the trough and back again.

Deck Credits

Card One:: Thoth Tarot by Crowley and Harris

Card Two:: Steampunk Tarot by Moore and Fel

Thursday's Thoughts

Can I serve the Gods of my Ancestors?

Being a polytheist can be hard enough under the larger umbrella of the term Pagan without added dramatic bullshit. Most pagans now self identify as pantheist, New Age, or even atheist (seriously?) that for those who actually worship and are called into service of the Divine it gets pretty ridiculous.

Sacred Ibis in flight

Polytheists tend to get the cold shoulder and shunted towards the outside. Which is fine, I don’t much like playing on the swings with people I don’t like anyway.

Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t like all polytheists are one big happy family either.  There is a great deal of infighting and who is doing what wrong.  There are in fact few polytheists that I admire, let alone like, outside of my local community.  In this I am very fortunate; most of the people where I am are polytheistic as well.  This makes it nice; to have real touchstones and flesh and blood people to talk to.

I took a stint away from the online pagan blog-o-sphere for a few years and got behind the latest ‘You can’t do it that way!’ trend.  Then for some ungodly reason I started reading The Wild Hunt again.  I made the same mistake I always do, I started reading the comments section.

Internet rule…DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS SECTION!!

It seems that the latest trend amongst them all, a few that enrage me, is that as an American I should not be worshiping any gods but the gods of this land.  Now, I’m white. I am a straight, white woman (you won’t hear me call myself Caucasian because my family didn’t come from the Caucasus Mountains). As far as we can prove there is not one drop of First Nation blood running through my veins.  There is rumor and conjecture but nothing more to make that a solid fact.  When you see me you would think I stepped off a boat from Germany or some other Northern European country. I am told I can’t worship the gods of this land because my family isn’t First Nation.

Honestly, I respect their traditions too much to even try.  I am not called by their Ancestors, spirits, and Gods. Read and educate myself, fuck yeah! I love to learn, but I won’t step into where I am not called.

Mother of Ravens by Leo Tomasic

I am called by the blood that is still tied to lands across the ocean.

In reality though, who the hell has the right to tell me what gods to follow when the gods themselves called me into their service.

See, I didn’t just flip open a book at random, throw a dart and decide that was the two Gods I was going to dedicate the rest of my life to. In point of fact I had very little say in the whole matter.  At least one of them has dragged me kicking and screaming the entire way.

Don’t believe me, if you could ask my friends and those in my coven you would know, I did not take this as a happy camper and still some days tug at the reigns that hold me.

Honestly, when it comes to it, no one has the right to tell me who and what I can do or can follow or what Gods I serve.  They are not the personal mouth piece of the gods; whom I have discovered can tell me what they want very clearly.

I read, I research, and I journey and divine. I have done what I can to prove that I am not totally crazy.  I honor, respect, and serve the Gods to the best of my abilities and then push harder.

My service is to Them and no one can take that away. Scoff, scorn, and disagree all that they desire, but in the end I have to do what is right and what I am called to do.

Tarot Tuesday:: The Moon

Follow the White Rabbit

Ever changing in the night sky, the Moon has inspired poets, magicians, priests, and man far back into the mists of recorded history.  It is there, a luminous body once counted as a planet.

Enlightenment Tarot

The Moon is Goddess and God, Brother, Sister, and Grandfather. The Moon houses a fantastic array of mythologies from rabbits to a man to ancient civilizations. It tugs at our hearts and inspires romance.

It also inspires nightmare and deception. The very fickle nature of the Moon is said to draw peoples’ emotions and driving them into lunacy, accidents, murder, and all kinds of general mayhem.

In Tarot the Moon is generally seen as a warning that not all is as it seems.

A veil has been drawn over the eyes of the questioner and when pulled aside they can be in for some harsh truths. This card, along with the Devil card, is calling for you to explore the Dark Teatime of the Soul. Walk the shadow roads and cross the threshold.

Moonlight softens the edges of everything that we see. As the light changes, wanes and waxes, so to do the shapes of what we observe.  Here we see the deception, but we enjoy the beauty of it that we do not desire to step across the boundaries. We do not struggle and so stay trapped in the web of lies and deceit.

The Moon card is associated with Qoph, which aligned with the back of the head. Here we have the connection to the subconscious.  Just as your waking mind is building, creating, and expanding, so too is your dreaming mind.  This is something we need to wrestle because all too often we let that part have free reign and then have no idea where the thought forms and egregores we have no intention of making come from.  We have unconsciously dreamed up our worst nightmares into being.

Thoth Tarot

The Moon can be an initiator into deeper mysteries.  First though, look to see what that soft and beguiling light is hiding.

Practical Study

Take stock of your mind and your mental state. Journal your emotions, your thoughts, and your fears to that they are laid bare on paper.  Examine them. Are these practical fears or simply limiting ‘what-ifs’? If they don’t serve a purpose banish them!  You do not need that kind of baggage hanging around your neck.

Tarot Tuesday-The Devil

It’s in the Details

Enlightnment Tarot

The Devil is one of those cards that make people shudder involuntarily on sight. The imagery is usually very bold, dark, and starts to stir uncomfortable feelings deep in the mind and heart.

There is the Christian over-culture aversion to anything associated with the source of their particular all consuming evil.  It is breed into our bones.

While this card is not particularly pleasant, it does not have to be a complete disaster like The Tower card either. I like to view this card as a message that there needs to be some mental spring cleaning done.

This card aligns with the Zodiac sign of Capricorn. Capricorn is a heavy sign, not given much towards frivolous entertainments as it is ruled by the dour Saturn. This is our darkest place, our Shadow.

If you aren’t familiar with your Shadow or even the concept of Shadow work I can give a brief idea of it.  To go in depth would take more time than this blog is currently dedicated towards.

Steampunk Tarot

Your Shadow, in a nutshell, is all the parts of you that you are ashamed of, fear, or feel anger towards, and shove it aside. Your guilt, rage, and all the plethora of negative human experiences make up your Shadow self.  Most people shove it into a nice little box and never look back.  This can cause a whole range of problem when someone who practices the Art. “Know Thyself,” is a saying many are familiar with but never actually get to the heart of.

The Devil is playing on those fears and shames. This card is teasing them out into the light and demanding that you acknowledge them. Face your fear, face your insecurities, face you Demons.  You created them and now is the time to wrangle them back into the whole of your being. The Devil paradoxically is tearing away your illusions even as sometimes it can weave new delusions over your eyes.

This card is Mars Exalted, the fiery forge of creation gone awry.  In a way it is a more destructive side of creation when held against the Empress. This is obsession, even addiction; this is being chained to your creation as it rears its head against the hand that built it.

Thoth Tarot

When the Devil appears take a look at the cards around it and they can shed some insight into the message that it is trying to show you. It enhances the cards around it to their more negative aspects. Work with what you have and trying to wrestle everything back onto the path that you want them to go. As hard as it can be, rip the cobwebby illusions from your eyes and see the reality for what it is.

Practical Study

Research more about your Shadow and start learning ways to incorporate it back into your whole self.

Enlightenment Tarot by Kashiopia

Steampunk Tarot by Moore and Fell

Thoth Tarot

Tarot Tuesday: The Tower

When it Comes Tumbling Down

Let us face reality for a moment and really take into account what happens in our lives. We desire to cultivate solidarity and security. We want to categorize, analyze, and label everything around us.

Nature and the Universe have something else in mind all together. It comes crashing down around our ears when we least expect it and most certainly least desire it.

The Tower is one of the harshest cards in the deck and one that no one wants to be see.

The Tower is the complete destruction of our false security. There is not much we can do when life flips on its head except hold on and see what survives the storm.

What is the benefit of such destruction?

To learn and grow requires constant changes and lessons. In order to become more knowledgeable, in order to be more adaptive we have to go through change. We need experiences that are not always pleasant to teach us wisdom and how to deal with problems in the future. If we never experience hardship or change then we grow stagnant and boring; locked in a mental and spiritual stasis that just exists instead of living.

When The Tower appears in our lives the best things to do is lock up and take shelter till the storm passes. When it has, take an assessment and see what survived in tact and what was destroyed. If something was destroyed, did it serve a purpose or was it in fact holding you back?

A time of change and upheaval brings a new way of looking at the world and has the ability to change how we perceive the world around us. This will bring a new time of growth and knowledge that clears out the old thought process that holds us back from our highest potential.

Practical Application

Find a version of The Tower card that speaks to you on several levels and study it. Write in your journal what feelings this card invokes in you when you see it appear in a reading and what it inspires as you study it by itself. What are you holding on to, what thoughts and actions to you keep around because they make you feel secure and you fear losing them? Reflect on your emotions and thoughts and study them to see if they serve or if they are holding you back.

Thursday's Toolbox: Too much stuff

There is no denying that magical practitioner tend to have a lot of different tools that serve many different functions.  We have our ritual wear, wands, knives, athames, staffs, cauldrons, chalices, peytons, jewelry, and many more. There always seems to be another magical item that we just have to add to our ever growing collection for this working or that ritual.

It can be overwhelming and honestly you begin to wonder do I really need all this.

Well, do you need it all?

Yes and no.  Ultimately it boils down to what you yourself need and what works for you.

Go through and look at each of your tools. Is there one that has not been used in awhile? Do you really see yourself using it in the next few months? If no is the answer it is time to gift it to someone else, a friend or a student.

I myself have a few tools that I use constant and others that I use very rarely to the point that I feel they are actually detracting from the rest. My favorite tools are my cauldron (I burn a lot of incense), my sword, my tarot cards, a mask, and some bones. There are a few others here and there that get used every couple of months or so, but the others that I collected when I first start gather dust.

I feel that sometimes we need to stream line our practice and getting out our tools and examining them from time to time is a good way to do that.  Your altar, if you work magic, should be a working space and not one that sits and collects random do-dads that serve no purpose.