CARD OF THE WEEK...PLUS! December 26-31, 2022

 

The Chariot

above:

Morgan-Greer Tarot 

Lloyd Morgan, art by Bill Greer

below:

The Light and Shadow Tarot

Brian Williams, art by Michael Goepferd

 

December 26-31, 2022: Since Saturday ends 2022, I'm adding Saturday the 31st to our Card of the Week reading. I will begin a new cycle with a separate Card of the Day for Sunday, New Year's Day!

At this pivotal time, we're strengthened by the authoritative mental energy and resolve of The Chariot.

This archetype counsels us to bolster our aspirations by developing and maintaining focus. Pay attention to the small details and steps that lead the way towards our desires.

Draw up a plan, and let it guide you. If unexpected bumps and complications arise along the way, you will be better prepared to deal with them. If the need or even fun opportunities for improvisation come along, you will be well resourced--mentally, emotionally, and/or physically--to adjust and be remarkably creative.

Our two examples of The Chariot express this in different ways.

The Morgan-Greer's charioteer wears a crown of pentacles. His head and its thoughts are crowned by all the necessary elements--Air, Water, Fire, Earth and Spirit. And though the horses drawing him forward are polar opposites, they move in unity. Eyes on the prize, he knows where he's going.

The Light and Shadow's charioteer--clutching a lobster to his belly--is a cross-legged, Buddha-like figure. Unlike his Morgan-Greer counterpart, he does not gaze ahead with steely authority. Head bowed, eyes closed, he gazes within.

Compared to the Morgan-Greer's barely visible wheels, this chariot's wheels are prominent in the artwork but, from the look of them, not likely to move anyone or anything forward in this three-dimensional, earthly world.

And those hybrid beasts at the base of the image?  Not horses! Surreal and a bit unnerving, they're clearly not harnessed, directed, and pulling in the same direction--if they're pulling at all. This charioteer remains firmly, physically in place but goes far.

Don't forget to follow this link to learn about the lunar symbolism of the lobster and explore which of its many correspondences may hold relevance for you as we enter a new year.

Today is also the first day of Kwanzaa. If you are Black-identified and celebrate this Black diasporic tradition, you might draw a single Tarot or oracle card, or even an entire layout, for each of the Nguzo Saba--seven principles contemplated over each of seven days--to enhance your understanding of how these principles might work in your life in relation to self, family, community, and race:

Day 1: Umoja (Unity)

Day 2: Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

Day 3: Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

Day 4: Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

Day 5: Nia (Purpose)

Day 6: Kuumba (Creativity)

Day 7: Imani (Faith)

Additionally, you'd do well to keep in mind how our Card of the Week, The Chariot, speaks to the meanings and actions associated with each of these seven principles.

Friends, thanks for visiting and enjoying hummingwitch throughout 2022. It has been a pleasure to share my knowledge and ideas with you. As always, in the year to come, I'll hold a vision for your very best!

******

VENMO ME: @Eva-YaaAsantewaa

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CARD OF THE WEEK: October 3-7, 2022

 

Queen of Wands

The Light and Shadow Tarot

by Brian Williams with art by Michael Goepferd

October 3-7, 2022: You don't need color to feel the vibrant fire of the Queen of Wands as artist Michael Goepferd has imagined her here in this black-and-white image. The art crackles with energy and warmth. I love everything about this depiction, especially the details of sunflower, leopard, and flaming staff.

Draw close to this queen if your energy is low and need replenishment, if you have lost your taste for something in your life or for life itself, if you need encouragement and a loving but firm push towards a new step or new achievement.

Or perhaps something will need your warm energy and good cheer this week. What can you contribute to perk up a situation, get it moving? Yes, if necessary, we can find these archetypes within ourselves and express their ways in the world.

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CARD OF THE WEEKEND: August 6-7, 2022

 

Two of Swords

The Light and Shadow Tarot

by Brian Wiliams with art by Michael Goepferd

August 6-7, 2022: Early in my Tarot journey, I learned that Two of Swords signifies a clash of ideas and words, a meeting of the minds--on a field of battle! It can also indicate one person's internal conflict, and artist Michael Goepferd depicts it here as a figure wearing a blindfold and positioning the feet in a way that restricts movement. The swords also lock in a cross in front of the figure's headdress like a shield.

I've never considered this before, but the Two of Swords is a big honking NO! card. It refuses. It resists. It leashes and controls. It's stubborn as hell, and it doesn't even want to take the risk of seeing what's right in front of it.

There are times that legitimately call for this sort of resistance and self-protection, just as there are times when this response turns into an unfortunate mistake. Consider that difference as you look at what's emerging within or around you this weekend. It's important to discern that difference and choose your next action wisely.

****** 

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

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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!

******

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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!

******

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CARD OF THE WEEKEND: March 26-27, 2022

 

above:

Queen of Swords

The Light and Shadow Tarot

Brian Williams with art by Michael Goepferd

 

below:

  

Judith with the Head of Holofernes (1520/1540)

by Lucas Cranach the Elder

 

 

March 26-27, 2022: We've seen Tarot's Queen of Swords here before, and a formidable monarch she is, always. This time though, Michael Goepferd's art for The Light and Shadow Tarot evokes the apocryphal tale of the Israelite widow Judith who saved her embattled city by seducing and slaying the drunken Assyrian general Holofernes.

Take a glance at the card's lower left corner. Is that not Judith's trophy, the sorry general's head?

Judith is an icon of heroic resistance, often depicted by master painters such as German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder and Italian Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi.

As I see it, Goepferd introduces two arresting and useful qualities that enhance our usual relationship with the Queen of Swords:

First, Goepferd's Queen is not only an expert on all things related to the magickal element of Air and the Sword as ritual tool. She is an experienced warrior who, more than a few times, has risen from her throne to throw down. Not just a symbol of dominion, her sword has been tested in battle.

Second, when you approach her--perhaps with a question or petition--you'll readily see that Goepferd's Queen has already taken action on your behalf, and she's proud to show you the result--gruesome though it may be. It's as if she's saying, "Look! I've done it!"

Done it. Got it. Bagged it. Next question!

******

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CARD OF THE DAY: February 16, 2022

 

 The Empress

The Light and Shadow Tarot

Brian Williams with art by Michael Goepferd

 

February 16, 2022: The cards in The Light and Shadow Tarot's gorgeous black-and-white deck are so large, you might feel moved to frame and hang them rather than shuffle and read them. A bit large for shuffling, I find, but so intriguing, you can definitely feel their energy and hear their stories.

A most welcome card to get, in any case, is The Empress, as I have long held onto what a Tarot teacher once told our class: The Empress blesses every layout in which she appears, turns any iffy or negative situation to something positive. As you can imagine, when The Empress comes to call, it's lovely to be able to reassure a worried querent.

Artist Michael Goepferd's Empress strikes me as being alert, active, a vision rising from the natural world--waves, fish, birds, sheaves of wheat arrayed around her, the flower in her left hand, the pelican whose head she cups with her right hand. Note the bottom of card where enthroned royalty represent each of Tarot's four elemental tools--Swords/Air, Wands/Fire, Cups/Water, Pentacles/Earth. Each has extraordinary powers, but all are ruled by her, and it is she who deploys them.

So, when The Empress shows up, all bow, ready to do her bidding.

Focus on how a situation might be turned around, and seek her favor.

****** 

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CARD OF THE DAY: December 24, 2021

Princess of Wands (Page of Wands)

from The Light and Shadow Tarot

by Brian Williams and Michael Goepferd

Below: more samples from this deck

December 24, 2021: The Light and Shadow Tarot (not to be confused with John Matthews' The Tarot of Light and Shadow) has amazing linoleum block prints. I was inspired to give you several card samples. This is an extraordinary work of art by Michael Goepferd (with a book by Brian Williams and Goepferd).

Today brings us the Princess of Wands with a tiger that claims most of the oversized card space and brings an irrepressible burst of fiery energy into your day.

I think you can tell from the samples I've offered that Goepferd's art emphasizes the robust inner energy to be activated when you feel whole, complete, integrated--no longer separated into parts either sanctioned and prioritized or repressed.

What do you will to bring forward today? How will you honor, coordinate, and utilize all parts of your most vital self?

Let's go!

******

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