CARD OF THE WEEK: May 30-June 3, 2022

 

Mountain

Mystical Lenormand

by Regula Elizabeth Fiechter with art by Urban Trösch

May 30-June 3, 2022: The Lenormand card Mountain need not carry a negative meaning. Certainly, it's daunting and can represent difficult things or situations. However, as I see it, Mountain's challenges can sometimes be viewed as positive strengthening and clarifying experiences or lead to positive outcomes. Mountain can tell of obstacles and hardships but also overcoming them. It can signal the potential for well-earned advancement.

Mountain can be the card of high aims, goals that require determination, careful planning, crafty strategizing, serious focus, responsibility, team effort, tenacity, stamina, resourcefulness, and resilience. It is definitely the card of "adulting"--a way of being that some of us dislike and resist and some of us can, at times, find revelatory, exhilarating, and rewarding. There is possibility here for high achievement and celebration at the summit.

It's good to take a full week to meditate on Mountain and see how the meaning and energy of this card intends to play out in your life. Its significance and operation will work out differently for each person. Even if Mountain turns out to carry a heavy, difficult meaning for you, how you choose to perceive and work with that difficulty will make all the difference.

***** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to:

hummingwitch@gmail.com

I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK/WEEKEND posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARDS OF THE WEEKEND: May 28-29, 2022

 

Queen of Cups and Five of Cups

Revelations Tarot

by Zach Wong

May 28-29, 2022: As you can see from the sample images above, Zach Wong's Revelations Tarot (reviewed here might prove interesting for folks who regularly enjoy the option of reading cards that come up reversed. In the reverse of the Revelations cards, Wong gives us an entirely different central figure with whom to commune and consult. 

For example, at the center of his Hanged Man card, you'll find two Hanged Men, very different in sartorial color scheme and positions of the arms, cleverly interlocked by their legs. It's one of the most intriguing depictions of this archetype that I've seen:

The Hanged Man

Revelations Tarot

by Zach Wong

Given that Tarot's classic Hanged Man, himself, is flipped upside down, the implications can be fascinating when this Major Arcana card comes up reversed. And now, here's Wong's card--already providing us with a separate figure in its reversal. Exactly which world are we inhabiting at any given moment?

Whew! Heady stuff.

Anyway, the Hanged One might be another story for another day. This weekend, we're concentrating on two of Wong's Cups cards--Queen of Cups and Five of Cups.

I'm particularly drawn to the idea that, throughout the deck, Wong's figures may be one and the same being, external and internal, conscious and subconscious, and the like. This gives me a lot of stories I can tell. Or perhaps, how can we see one as the companion and ally of the other? They need not be positive-negative and antagonistic to each other.

For this weekend, the realm of Water is key. So, focus on emotions, sensitivity, close relationships, and/or creativity. The intuitive, empathic, insightful Queen brings profound, 360°, multi-dimensional knowledge of the element of Water and all it symbolizes. You want to go to her with any questions or needs in these areas.

The Five of Cups, as you will remember from the classic Rider-Waite-Colman imagery, represents disappointment, regret, and grief at loss but with a note of hope for the future (the two goblets that, out of view of the mourning figure, remain upright). So, take a look at Wong's card. When it's upright, you'll notice that three goblets have fallen out of the figure's control. The card's remaining two goblets are firmly in the grasp of the reverse figure's hands.

This weekend will allow time to be in your feelings--or attend to the joy or development or healing of a relationship or a creative project. That time spent will be an essential part of a longer process but should be respected even if, at the moment, it appears to be a small investment. It's important.

What you might not be able to see, at this time, the Queen of Cups can see. (Note the gem at the Third Eye chakra of each of the Queen figures.) She asks you to release what must be released and contribute what you can to a future she has already envisioned.

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to:

hummingwitch@gmail.com

I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK/WEEKEND posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARDS OF THE WEEK: May 23-27, 2022

 

The Moon and Temperance

The Llewellyn Tarot

by Anna-Marie Ferguson

May 23-27, 2022: I own a Majors-only review sample of Anna-Marie Ferguson's Llewellyn Tarot which I think I liked well enough but, I guess, not enough to seek out all 78 Majors and Minors when the full deck was published in late 2006. I stored the Llew away, never used it for readings, and I'm just noticing that the collection of sample Majors included an instructional card with a five-card cross like mine but with a different sequence and position meanings. If you have the deck, you might find its five-card layout a helpful alternative. Try mine, too, of course!

For this week, two poetically conceived cards called my attention: The Moon and Temperance. They make an interesting pair.

With The Moon, you fly under the full moon over the Lake of Maidens, your owl-like perception further heightened and intensified by an unfettered expanse of emotions symbolized by the element of Water. Ferguson's Temperance, though--the spirit of careful balance and moderation in all things--appears to live at the bottom of the lake where, accompanied by her white dog, she pours water from a clay vessel into a well.

Pouring water into a well under a lake?!

We've slipped into a mythic world.

In this pairing, Temperance's surreal and compelling scenario hints at an unexpected place of serenity inside that deep lake of emotion, inside the power of all that water. There's a steadiness or meditative calibration within all that power. We're back with our Magician's knowledge and skill that keep the potential danger of working with the forces of nature under control. You really have to know what you're doing and, oddly enough-d, that might well be a combination of doing and not doing.

For this week, contemplate that pairing--doing and not doing.

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com.

I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK/WEEKEND posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARD OF THE WEEKEND: May 21-22, 2022

 

The Magician

Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot

by Stephanie Burrows with art by Adam Oehlers

May 21-22, 2022: Perhaps you've never thought of a bird's nest as an altar. But look at this card from Oak, Ash & Thorn Tarot!

This weekend will be for gathering the elements you need to make the changes you want to see in yourself, your life, and/or your world. Gather and build your nest/altar. Visualize yourself as a bird flying from your prospective nest/altar to pick up the building pieces you'll need. Bring them back and place them just so.

You're selective but also innovative, creative. You find various building items you might not have anticipated; some might even be completely new to you. You intuit their utility, even if, at first, you're not yet sure how you will use them. But, for some, you know exactly what they can do and how to wield them because you've been here before.

The Magician is Tarot's "can-do" figure--mainly, because all The Magician needs for any task is arrayed right there on a well-organized altar. On the Oak, Ash & Thorn card, you find Tarot's four elements--a simple branch for Wands/Fire; a rustic goblet for Cups/Water; a coin stamped with the five-star symbol of Pentacle/Earth; an unadorned sword for Swords/Air. For a truly mystical touch, artist Adam Oehlers envisions a quintet of lightning bugs visiting the nest and its smart and Spirit-empowered Magician.

The ritual tools shown here are not fancy. They serve their purpose, get the job done, through the Magician's crafty knowledge, strong intent, and a blessing from Spirit.

So...! What's on your altar? What's in your nest?

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com, and I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK/WEEKEND posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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LAYOUT OF THE WEEK: May 16-20, 2022

The Fool

and Nine of Wands Reversed

Morgan-Greer Tarot

by Lloyd Morgan with art by Bill Greer

Something new!

With this post, I'm introducing a new feature in which I'll occasionally post a card layout that you can try for yourself. You'll learn how divination cards work in relationship to one another, further amplifying the stories they tell and illuminating their meanings.

To start, let's look at a layout I call the Five-Card Cross. It has just enough cards to interest and challenge you without being overwhelming.

After shuffling a Tarot or other oracle deck of your choice, draw a single card (Card 1) at random and place it face down in the middle of a space with some room around its edges for the rest of the layout. Card 1 will form the focus of your layout; the next four cards you pull--also at random and placed face down--circle it:

Place Card 2 in the space above it.

Place Card 3 in the space below it.

Place Card 4 to its left.

Place Card 5 to its right.

In our CARD OF THE DAY, WEEK, and WEEKEND series, we've examined messages derived from single cards. Now, let's see how a central card receives greater definition from its accompanying quartet and, in turn, may impact and flavor those other four cards.

Keep all the cards face down for a moment.

The central card carries the highest energy and consequence. You can designate it in any of a variety of ways. Some examples are:

Significator 

Thought of this way, it identifies or gives you the most important information about the main person (perhaps you, if you are reading for yourself, or your querent) in the matter in question.

Spirit Card

As a Spirit Card, it identifies or describes a spiritual being--say, ancestor or other--who is central and influential to the matter in question.

Turning Point

As the Turning Point, it represents a crucial factor or the significant timing for a major change or development in the matter at hand.

You can decide for yourself, beforehand, what you'd like this central card to represent--Significator, Spirit, Turning Point, or something else--and you can work with that consistently or change it from reading to reading according to your point of view and your needs. 

You can even read the same layout in different ways, viewing the central card as, say, both Significator and Turning Point or both Spirit Card and Turning Point.

You might find another way to think of the central card. For example, it could represent the oracle's view of a major new job opportunity you're considering or a city you might want to move to; the circling cards would offer helpful information about these possible decisions.

What about reversed cards? When you turn your cards over, you have the choice to leave any reversed card as is. Some readers do not read cards reversed. They turn them right-side up. I do like reading reversed cards, feeling that reversals usefully expand the cards' possible meanings and do not necessarily suggest negative meanings.

Next, turn over your central card. Leave it in place and spend some time observing its features and sensing its message.

Then, move on to the four outer cards:

2: Above

Identifies and describes a current and dominant influence on your question or situation

3: Below

Identifies and describes the current and grounding context or environment for the situation in question

4: Past   

Shows a significant influence or influences specifically based in the past

5: Prospect

Shows potential or already-developing situations and outcomes

Here's a lovely example of this layout in operation for which I used the Morgan-Greer Tarot.

At the top of this post, I've shown you two of the cards I pulled--The Fool, my Above card; the Nine of Wands Reversed as my Spirit Card. Not only have landed in opposite directions, they're also opposite in level of experience--The Fool, a fresh-face beginner; the wand-bearing knight of the Nine of Wands, a seasoned veteran of many battles.

The five cards I pulled for my layout were:

1: Nine of Wands Reversed

2: The Fool

3: The Star

4: Eight of Cups

5: Page of Swords Reversed

Try it out with your own deck--whatever deck works for you--and see how it feels.

For me, this layout presents a vigilant, but confidently laid-back protective force--say, ancestral energy--at the center of a scenario in which relationships, events, conditions of the past have been sorted out and dealt with (Eight of Cups). The ancestors may be subtle when they feel all is going well, but they are an ever-present force, and nothing occurs without their loving oversight. Make no mistake. They are ready to rock when necessary. They'll do the spirit equivalent of turning right-side up. You'll definitely feel and see their force at work in your world.

The current context is alive with energy and a sense of meaningful, influential connections (The Star). 

The current, dominant influence is the unknown--uncertainty in the positive sense of a fresh beginning, a clean slate upon which something new can be written (Page of Swords Reversed) in the unpressured spirit of openness, curiosity, and eagerness to learn.

Again, central to it all is that cheerful green light given by guiding and protective ancestral spirits. It's like when a parent--without overbearing doubt and anxiety--backs off a bit and allows a toddler to take a few small, brave steps on their own.

No matter how advanced in age you might be, it's never too late to have a happy childhood, as they say. It's never too late to learn something new or try your hand at a new skill or project, identity or responsibility.

You'll be fine. Just begin.

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com, and I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK/WEEKEND posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARD OF THE WEEKEND: May 14-15, 2022

 

High Tide

Sacred Geometry Cards for the Visionary Path

by Francene Hart

May 14-15, 2022: Open your awareness to the feeling of those spiraling waves. That's what hits first--the sensation of being swept up in their unbound energy.

Take another look at this card and notice the ethereal transparency of these waves. High Tide, from Francene Hart's Sacred Geometry Cards, is not so much the story of any actual ocean we might gaze upon as it is the heightened force of Water, the archetypal element governing feelings, emotions, changeability, and cleansing.

Just as the power of water can carve and reshape surrounding land--think how the Colorado River formed the Grand Canyon over millions of years--Water's intervention transforms the Earth element within and around you, upending, remaking, refreshing what is most in need of re-visioning.

This will be a good weekend to set up comforting space for yourself. Sit with music that will open your heart. Write in your journal with your favorite pen. Let yourself have a long, deep cry--the one you've been holding back and stuffing down for quite a while. Or let those raw feelings well up and pour out in song.

Let go, and let Water do its work.

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com, and I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY/WEEK/WEEKEND posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARD OF THE WEEK: May 9-13, 2022

 

Knight of Swords

Oriens Animal Tarot

by Ambi Sun

Vermilion Flycatcher, adult male (photo: Greg Lavaty)

May 9-13, 2022: With inspiration from Ambi Sun (creator of Oriens Animal Tarot), I am imagining this bright flycatcher zipping through the night sky on a mission to deliver a critical message. Tarot's Knight of Swords is fast, direct, able to get the job done in no time. But you have to be fast and pay close attention, too, so you don't miss what he's bringing.

Tarot's Swords represent the element of Air and symbolize speed, speech, and specificity. They can also symbolize thought, decisions, and differences or conflicts. How do one or more of these keywords fit with your objectives or overall situation for this week?

I'll use myself as an example. As a writer, I'm heartened to see Knight of Swords because he's a great ally for any communicator--so energizing and motivating.

How might this Knight of Swords inform, inspire, and support you this week?

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com, and I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARDS OF THE WEEKEND: May 7-8, 2022

 

I am choosing to see my challenges as my Highest Good.

I am a complete success.

I am in love with the adventure of life.

Goddess on the Go

by Amy Sophia Marashinsky with art by Melissa Harris

 

May 7-8, 2022: The humans in these three cards of affirmation from Goddess on the Go all appear to be holding on for dear life in the midst of dynamic natural forces. They're not afraid, though. All are here for the ride!

Some of you may have come to that place of willing mind and heart after dealing with the turbulence of Tarot's Tower card, our card of the outgoing week. So, let's look at each of these three Goddess cards in turn, and see how their messages could support your development in times of extraordinary change.

I am choosing to see my challenges as my Highest Good: Volatile weather blows up the atmosphere around you; you quickly grasp hold of the branch of a tree. Of course, trees themselves are often vulnerable in a windstorm, but you're doing the best you can with what you're able to reach in that moment so you won't be swept away!

Look around and find something that can protect, ground, and sustain you until the immediate conditions ease up. Amy Sophia Marashinsky's affirmation suggests that challenges can open the door to a better self, and I'm reminded of some exquisite wisdom from Zen teacher Zenju Earthlyn Manuel in a recent dharma talk: 

Trouble is transformation.

Trouble is deep initiation.

I am a complete success. A Ralph Waldo Emerson essay counsels the reader to "hitch your wagon to a star." I can't help but think of that expression as I look at this card. The person here has latched onto to a shooting star and, to use another old expression, "is really going places!" The star is already in motion in the right direction. So, choosing people, places, and things wisely and well and making the right connection(s) will make every difference in your outcome as the forces of change sweep staleness away. 

Looking at the affirmation itself, I would add that "success" will be one thing for one person, another thing for someone else. It's defined and appears in different forms according to an individual's values, aspirations, and strategies. Do not measure yourself against anyone else's desires and outcomes. Focus on bringing your own dreams to life in your own way. And, when they manifest, celebrate, 'cause you did that!

I am in love with the adventure of life. There you are, riding that swift horse with determination and joy as it streaks through the sky! You're making things happen, going after what you want. Instead of fearing change and feeling mastered by it, you're making change work for you. Exciting!

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com, and I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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CARD OF THE WEEK: May 2-6 , 2022

 

The Tower

The Light and Shadow Tarot

by Brian Wiliams with art by Michael Goepferd

May 2-6, 2022: Michael Goepferd's art makes the familiar Tower archetype more dramatic and visceral than you might be used to seeing. An eruption of energy (the bird/winged eye) from one world to another has caused sudden upheaval of the status quo. You might find that anything from your personal habits of mind to entrenched systems out in the world breaking down or breaking free.

Note the jagged tower structure from which--it can be presumed--the human figure has been ejected. Note the lashing waves waiting to receive him. In this depiction, Tarot takes us from the stasis of the Earth element (the built-up tower) to the rush and unpredictability of Water (waves and the mysteries of the deep, dark ocean below).

Tarot's Tower is one of its potentially "scary" cards but can be a fierce ally when significant change of any kind, internal or external, is desired or necessary. You have to be receptive, though, be willing to soften your own resistance to change, and that, in itself, might be a challenging process.

Start your week off by taking some time to sit and think about changes you might like (or need) to make and where and why you've resisted positive change. Even conditions external to you, which did not originate in your psyche, have a grip on the way you think and how you position yourself in relation to the outside world. You can do better for yourself. You can work on breaking or reshaping those harmful connections. 

If you have your own Tarot or oracle deck, set aside some private time and give yourself a reading. This will help identify what aspect(s) of yourself and your life could change and how best to begin the process. It's a good time to pick up your journal and explore this issue and your possible paths to freedom.

A cosmic alarm clock, The Tower signals that the time is now. Do not delay.

****** 

Do you have a particular Tarot or other oracle card that you'd like to me explore and write about in the hummingwitch way?

Just email a good, clear jpg photo of your card to hummingwitch@gmail.com, and I'll incorporate its message, one way or another, into one of these posts. Let me know if you'd prefer your submission to be anonymous.

Thanks!

******

Catch up with updated CARD OF THE DAY posts here: https://hummingwitch.blogspot.com/2022/03/catch-up-with-any-featured-card-you.html

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