William Blake Tarot

XIX The Sun’s Flow

November 20, 2015
150723 XIX Sun Blake
William Blake Tarot

Last year, it seemed XIX The Sun was showing up regularly.  It’s been almost exactly a year since we’ve last seen it.

Have you noticed times in your readings when particular cards show up over and over?  You know, kind of like the kids poking you in the arm, “Hey, Mom”, “Hey, Mom”, “Hey, Mom”.

Well, it’s exactly like that. You’re continuing to resonate with a particular energy and your higher self is letting you know it’s an important thing to be aware of.

Sometimes it’s stuff we don’t really want to pay attention to.  But you know that’s exactly when the kids poke at you harder, right?  Or go off and get into big trouble that takes even more of your time and attention.  And we learn we’d have done better if we’d just interrupted the course we were on to attend to the pokey kids.

XIX The Sun is usually a welcome interruption (especially at this time of year, here in the northern hemisphere).  Unless you’re terribly shy and hate being seen out in public.  Or unless you’re really comfortable putting on the dog and hate being seen for who you are.

In the William Blake Tarot, we’ve got the sun on the horizon of the river of life.  We’re encouraged to jump in the river, to immerse ourselves in life, in our most naked, authentic and vulnerable state.  It’s as if we can go with the flow and follow the river right to the blessings of that sun.

It’s the participation in life that is really the reward of XIX The Sun, being out in the glorious world, sharing from our natural inclinations, being received for who we are in spirit.

Shine it on!

Weekly Card 2 of Swords Revisited

December 30, 2013
140123 2 of Swords Blake
William Blake Tarot

Since the moon’s in Libra for most of the day today, according to Western Tropical Astrology, let’s revisit the 2 of Swords.

Huh, what?!

What does astrology have to do with tarot and moon . . . Libra . . . 2 of Swords . . . what???

There are correspondences between tarot and astrology and another cousin, numerology.  There is more than one system of correspondence, and the one I use is the one I most often run across: the one credited to Aleister Crowley.  In that system, 2 of Swords corresponds to the moon in Libra (and also to 56/11 in numerology).

If you know nothing about astrology or numerology, you can file the idea of correspondences exactly where it best suits you.  And if you do have some understanding of those systems, you can use what you know to enrich tarot.

Lets look at the images on the 2 of Science in the William Blake Tarot by Ed Buryn.

(Okay, I know I just confused you with all that information about correspondences.  I’m about to do more: Buryn’s Blake Tarot uses Science for Swords, Painting for Pentacles, Music for Cups and Poetry for Wands.   Remember, we’re under the influence of the moon, where mystery – and often confusion – is a given.)

We’ve got a child standing in supplication by an open door guarded by a howling dog.  Could this be innocence at the entry to experience?  It’s in our imaginations that we speculate on potentials and possibilities. And there we can get hung up in that famously Libran inability to choose.  There’s the rub: 2 of Swords is all about choice without external interference.

Rider Waite Smith Tarot
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

There’s a story in the Rider Waite Smith tarot that progresses from the 10 of Swords to the Ace of Swords.  At the 2 of Swords point in the story, the widow of a slain warrior is in mourning.  Those swords she holds are the swords of defiance.  She’s blinded to the way of peace and is seeking revenge.  Yet she does not move.  Here we have experience, with the potential of an entry to renewed innocence.

Now, with the moon in Libra, you can look to the areas of conflict in your life, to the circumstances that lead you to inner turmoil.  Where are you seeking vengeance?   Can you find your way from there to Blake’s resolution . . . . .

innocence into a new experience

 

Weekly Card XVIII The Moon

December 30, 2013
140116 XVIII Moon Blake
William Blake Tarot

Approximately 2 weeks later, and here we are at the full moon, the time when the light through the darkness is brightest (as long as we’ve got relatively clear nights!).

Back at the new moon, we looked at II High Priestess, and the development of intuition, our inner knowing.

140116 RWS XVIII Moon
Rider Waite Smith Tarot

Here at the full moon, we’ve got XVIII The Moon itself to light our way.

If II High Priestess is the indicator that we’re being called to be receptive and recognize our intuition, XVIII The Moon offers us opportunities to apply our intuition to our daily lives.  Here we’re not just reveling in the mysteries, we’re embodying them and walking them.

That kind of intuitive development is a spiritual victory: the sacred flourishing in the midst of the mundane.  (If you’ve been reading here regularly, you’ll remember that the sacred path in daily life is a theme for 2014.)   Our feelings are elevated to motivate action and the journey of creativity; they’re fused with our thoughts in our intuition and our dreams.

That’s all if we’ve got a clear channel of receptivity and stay on the path of true purpose.  But what happens when the night is cloudy and we’ve got a bunch of subconscious fears we haven’t faced, or delusions we won’t let go of?  (lunacy/lunar, anyone?)

That would be when we can lose our balance and wander around in our self-deception.

Given that this is the Full Wolf Moon, let’s look at the wolf and dog on either side of the path in the Rider Waite Smith XVIII The Moon.  They’re another pair we need to keep in balance to stay on our path of true purpose: our wild and unknown side, and our familiar, civilized self.  Most of us wander into the delusion that we are our dog self.  When we meet our wolf self, we’re not nearly so comfortable.

Ask yourself: are you the wolf pack baying at the Full Wolf Moon, or are you the victim surrounded by the pack?

Then listen to your inner wisdom – integrate your intuition — to discover your psychic reality without the ego mask . . .

your true self dancing by the light of the XVIII The Moon

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