Wednesday 1 February 2017

Ace! Tarot Blog Hop – Imbolc 2017


Welcome to Alison’s Alembic!   You may have arrived here as a stop on the Tarot Blog Hop from either Karen's The Pure and Blessed Way's or Chlöe's Inner Whispers blog.  Or you may have found this through TABI’s Facebook page, or though one of the many wonderful tarot bloggers in the ether... It doesn’t matter – what does matter is that you’re here!

Imbolc (pronounced i-molk or i-molg), also called Brigid’s Day or Candlemas, is a cross-quarter festival , marking the end of winter and beginning of spring (in the northern hemisphere). As the Celtic year was based on both lunar and solar cycles, the festival would probably have been celebrated on the full moon nearest the midpoint between the Winter Solstice (Yule) and the Vernal Equinox (Ostara) -  so if you’re living in the southern hemisphere, you’ll be celebrating this in August!

The name ‘Imbolc’ comes from the old Irish “i mbolg”, meaning “in the belly”, referring to the time of year when sheep and goats are pregnant, carrying their young.   Other etymology includes “oimelc”, meaning “ewe’s milk”, a reference to the onset of lactation in ewes about to give birth.

Birth, beginnings… a time of hope, a time to look towards the future, and what might be.

 Our wrangler for this Imbolc blog, Arwen Lynch Poe, has asked us to look at the Aces in the tarot.  The Ace represent the seed, the thing we plant and then go on to nurture as it grows. Each Ace holds the seed of the energy of its suit, be it the creativity and fire of the Wands, the ideas and … of the Swords, the … of the Cups or the … of the Pentacles.

With this in mind, Arwen has asked us to answer the question -
“How can I best foster the energy of the Aces in my life?”

- in whatever form we choose, be it a spread, a poem, a recipe, or whatever our imaginations come up with. I’m excited to see what everyone else is writing about!

And me? I’m fostering Ace energy by creating Ace haiku…



Ace of Pentacles (trimmed):© Shadowsapes Tarot







Earth full of promise
Nurturing, stabilizing,
Ready to take root.




Ace of Vessels (trimmed):© Wildwood Tarot











Well-springs’ constant flow
Carries seeds of love and joy
To fresh hearts and homes.



Ace of Swords (trimmed):© DruidCraft Tarot




Clouds lift, storms abate,
A sword cuts through, points the way,
Stimulates new thought.


Ace of Flames (trimmed):© Margarete PetersenTarot












A small spark of light
The flame grows higher, hotter:
Ignition, blast off!






Thank you for stopping off here on your own journey through this Imbolc Tarot Blog Hop!  Please do come back and read some of my other posts.  

The next stops on the Tarot Blog Hop are - depending on whether you’re moving backwards or forwards through the list – The Pure and Blessed Way or Inner Whispers. The Master List can be found here.


DruidCraft Tarot created by Philip Carr-Gomm and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections
Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA/Deep Books, 2004
Shadowscapes Tarot created by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore, published by Llewellyn

Wildwood Tarot created by Mark Ryan and John Matthews, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections

9 comments:

  1. Ooh, I love your haikus, Alison! Beautiful, deceptively simple post :)

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  2. Great haikus and I love the idea of the Ace of Wands as "blast off" :)

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  3. I'm coming to really love haikus. Perhaps because it requires the writer to say so much with so few words :) Yours are beautiful. The Ace of Wands from the Margarete Petersen Tarot is fantastic - so vibrant and powerful!

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    1. Thanks, Olivia. I've been writing haikus for each card over the past year but for some reason I'd not tackled the Aces until now!

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  4. Those are such lovely poems!! And so beautifully accompanied by the images. The Ace of Flames certainly packs quite the punch visually. (Three Cats Tea & Tarot).

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  5. Ace and hiakus - what a great combination! Lovely post.

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  6. Haiku is a fave of mine. Greatly enjoyed this. :D

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