CARD OF THE DAY: November 22, 2021

 

The Hanged Man

from The Mary-el Tarot

by Marie White

 

November 22, 2021: For all of these Cards of the Day (or Weekend), I've been stepping aside and allowing Spirit to decide which deck we'll be working with. This practice sometimes reconnects me to decks I might not have reached for in a very long while.

Today's deck is artist Marie White's stunning Mary-el Tarot. I definitely welcome this chance to dive into the intense realm--the abyss--of Mary-el. We might spend a few more days here.

Here's why I'm not surprised that Mary-el's The Hanged Man was today's draw:

A few days ago, I watched part of an online conference in which members of DreamSeed Collective spoke about their work-in-progress: the photographic DreamSeed Oracle, which will feature a range of racial and gender diversity. They showed a few examples of their photographs, and my attention was strongly drawn to their renaming of Tarot's traditional Hanged Man as Suspension--a change meant to avoid the negative ancestral connotation of hanging for Black Americans.

Posting in the session's YouTube chat, I thanked the collective--Blaise Sparda, Malanya Graham, and Maliika Nia-Imani--for this innovative change and promised to use the name Suspension in my own practice going forward. And, sure enough, as I shuffled the Mary-el for today's card, The Hanged Man--I mean, Suspension--turned up!

The ancestors are always saying, one way or another, "We're watching. We hear you."

Here are a few more Mary-el cards for you to enjoy:

 

 

Today, Suspension asks you to pause to sacrifice--to suspend--your way of perception, thought, knowing, and decision-making based on habit, popular belief, and just plain "this is the way it has always been" or "this is what everyone else is saying/thinking; I'd better get on board." 

Suspension turns you upside down for the moment, making your intellect quietly secondary to your body and/or your body quietly secondary to the disembodied. You journey out of the known into the unknown, away from familiar paths and onto the road less traveled. And when you come back, you return with new and profound perspectives, knowledge, and ideas.

If you have felt stuck in your thinking or progress, or if you are clinging to notions simply because everyone else feels they are the One True Answer, ask yourself if it might be time to strike out for a deeper dive or a higher vantage point with a less-constricted view.

Suspension offers that necessary time out of time.

This is a good moment for me to inform you that my relationship with Spirit and Tarot leads me to understandings that, at many times, might be different from what a deck's creator had in mind. Generally speaking, I sidestep a lot of systems. And that's okay. I have taught and coached Tarot and oracle reading in that way--that you build your own relationship with the images, learning how they will work with you, rather than accepting the deck author's concepts unless, as it might happen, these concepts, systems, and techniques also work for you.

A turnabout/walkabout with Suspension in any deck is certainly one courageous way in which you can begin to build a knowing and fruitful relationship that will be unlike any other.

CARD OF THE WEEKEND: November 20-21, 2021

 

Page of Swords

from The Diamond Tarot

by Marie-Louise Bergoint with illustrations by Klaus Holitzka after Pamela Colman Smith

 

November 20-21, 2021: I keep my Diamond Tarot in a white satin evening bag embroidered with pearls. You would think it was a treasure. But I have not used this deck in many years. It was not a favorite but, once upon a time, it served a specific purpose. 

A variation on the Pamela Colman Smith classic Rider-Waite, The Diamond Tarot shrinks and re-colors her 78 traditional images, surrounding each with a psychedelicized frame like the end of a tunnel that rushes you into each archetype's exalted realm.

Because each traditional Rider-Waite image is rendered smaller than usual, I found that this deck, with its distracting frames, could come in handy with clients who might get fixated on and freaked out by the nature or details of certain Rider-Waite images. Truth be told, in reuniting with the Diamond Tarot today, I'm not any closer to fondness for it.

Nevertheless, let's look at this Page of Swords. Not the most intense or messiest of the Diamond's tunnel-frames, and what you get at the end of the tunnel is a breath of fresh air--Swords represent the element of Air--and an electric jolt of mental energy and focus.

It's not peak Swords energy, but it is a bright idea, a well-turned phrase, a clever riposte, a sharp perception. It is also an eagerness to engage in (and do battle over) matters of the mind. I think I'll avoid the traditional interpretation of a Tarot Page indicating a young person (except when that's literally the case). The Page's qualities are available to--and possibly representative of--anyone at any age for any reason. Of course, as with much else, the Page of Swords can have immature, impulsive, and bitter manifestations--but, hey, let's not go there this weekend!

Best to use this energy for teasing apart the knots around anything you've grappled with in recent times. Does your situation require more light and clarity? Refined analysis? More alertness on your part? A useful breakdown of each necessary step to achievement? The right word at the right time? A word to the wise? A quick, deft infusion of humor?

Do check out the Page's body language, too: the balance and grace of a fencer or dancer!

CARD OF THE DAY: November 19, 2021

 

8 of Disks (8 of Pentacles)

from The Tarot of Transformation

by Willow Arlenea (art) and Jasmin Lee Cori

November 19, 2021: The late-autumnal feeling of 8 of Disks (traditionally, Eight of Pentacles) from The Tarot of Transformation--with its majestic elk and journeyer--feels like a harbinger of the next few months ahead.

The elk appears just at the moment when one is ready to give up and turn back.The elk is more than a beautiful apparition out of the forest. It is a projected image of one facet of the highest aspect of you, come to guide you. This spirit guide brings you renewed strength. It reminds you of your capabilities and bids you call upon and demonstrate your true skills. It activates and inspires in you the courage and trust to press forward.

If you have felt hampered, messed with, tried by forces outside of yourself, know that they cannot touch you. Feel your powerful shoulders square up, and wear your glorious antlers like a crown. Keep it moving!

CARD OF THE DAY: November 18, 2021

 

 Awakened Aphrodite

from Triple Goddess Tarot

by Isha Lerner with illustrations by Mara Friedman

 

November 18, 2021: Awakened Aphrodite gives you life!

The Life Force--within and in which you dwell--always has surprises for you. You find gifts within yourself that you did not previously recognize or understand, and you find mirrors of yourself in your environment. This lifts you and moves your forward.

This is the deep and the cosmic erotic of many variable forms and shapes--ever available, if you are perceptive and receptive.

How will you manifest this Awakened Aphodite today?

I'll end by drawing your attention to the Goddess' two pairs of arms and suggest that you:

• consider gesture as practice in your contemplation of the Life Force
  
• notice how it feels to gaze at a being who has two pairs of arms--heady and disorienting? Do you feel it in your own body? Do you find yourself shifting awareness from one pair of arms to the other so that the other appears to temporarily disappear for you?

Beginning tomorrow, we will shift to one or more new decks and see what surprises they hold! Enjoy your Thursday!

CARD OF THE DAY: November 17, 2021

 

 Ancestors

from Triple Goddess Tarot

by Isha Lerner with illustrations by Mara Friedman

 

November 17, 2021: Oh, my goodness, She tried it. She really did.

Following this morning's shuffle of the Triple Goddess deck, Flame of Surrender tried to piggyback onto another card--Ancestors. But Ancestors was the one to reach my fingertips first. 

So, with a knowing wink at this cheeky three-peat attempt by Flame of Surrender--who clearly seeks to continue guiding you deeper into the autumnal weather and mood--I present you with today's card, Ancestors.

Sharing much of the warm and gentle coloration of Flame of Surrender, this Ancient One, sitting in a lotus pose, dreams you forward. You are the flower of Her dream. You are the realization of your ancestors' dearest hopes.

So, do not doubt yourself, and do not falter. Reconnect with the dream, and be who you are meant to be. 

Are you taking time to dream in this way? Are you making time to cozy up inside your hermit's dreaming cave and bring through dreams that can create tomorrows?

Although the flowering of those dreams will surely involve and affect others, you need alone time, privacy, to do this initial receiving, conceiving and birthing work on your own.

We will have one last go-round with the Triple Goddess deck tomorrow, and I can't wait to see what She has to show us!

CARD OF THE DAY: November 16, 2021

Here we go, again!

November 16, 2021: You're not going to believe this but, when I shuffled the cards, the Triple Goddess' Flame of Surrender returned today!

I love it when cards underscore their message by showing up again in a separate random draw. Spirit says, "Are you listening? Make sure you listen this time!"

So, for today, I'm just going to direct you back (or, for some of you, for the first time) to yesterday's message. Maybe some fresh insights will emerge for you or earlier ones will clarify.

Enjoy this second visit with Flame of Surrender!

CARD OF THE DAY: November 15, 2021

Flame of Surrender

Triple Goddess Tarot 

by Isha Lerner and illustrator Mara Friedman

November 15, 2021: I want to stay with Isha Lerner and Mara Friedman's deck through this week. So, expect more beauty on the way. It's a truly gorgeous--if structurally and visually iconoclastic--Tarot deck.

Take in the tender, warm energy of Flame of Surrender and the glowing autumn leaves drifting and swirling around this goddess of transition from the overt glories of the warm months to the inward-leaning, inward-tending time of the cooler and cold months. This deity knows that, as you prepare to face the rigors of winter, you will need the sweet warmth of knowing you are loved and cared for, that your sincere, human efforts are valued, met with acceptance and grace, and amplified.