Casting light in the shadows: Margarete Petersen’s The Crone

Now that we’ve moved into Virgo, let’s take a break from the suit of Cups and look at the equivalent of The Hermit (associated with Virgo) in Margarete Petersen’s tarot. She calls her card ‘The Crone’, who appears (to me) to be represented by a woman carved out of black stone...very earthy, befitting the Earth sign of Virgo.  

The Crone IX (trimmed):
© Margarete Petersen Tarot

I can’t see a lantern in her hands, but there’s a massive burst of light above her which, although it leaves her in shadow, does provide illumination. Margarete Petersen writes, in her accompanying book, of “aging as a spiritual journey”, and “listening to the voice of the heart” so the traditional values of The Hermit are certainly at work here.   

I’m not sure I’d ever thought explicitly about the connection to ageing, although the gaining of wisdom through experience has always been there in a more implicit way – the self-containment, inner wisdom, etc.  I think the mutability of Virgo comes through here too - being able to take the wisdom and disseminate it, sharing it.

Drawing on wisdom

Withdraw, contemplate, alone

Listen to the soul.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004

Bliss: Margarete Petersen’s Ten of Cups

Ten of Cups (trimmed):
© Margarete Petersen Tarot

The final card in the Cups Minor Arcana – the Ten.  Margarete Petersen’s version is suffused with light, dancing over the soft, gold-soaked waves.  Petersen writes, in her accompanying book, that the sea has “welcomed you, held you, absorbed you, thrown you around, gently rocked you, washed you up onto the shore and pulled you back" – how beautiful is that?!  When I look at the image, I feel at peace, as if I’ve finally ‘arrived’.

Ace of Cups (trimmed):
© Margarete Petersen Tarot

When I look back to the Ace, at the beginning of our journey through Petersen’s Cups suit, I see the focus on one specific thing – that lotus, full of promise of love, ready to open its heart. 

Now, in the Ten, the expanse of ocean feels all-compassing; the seed of the Ace has grown into its fullness.  

 “Accepting all facets of your emotions”, to quote Petersen,  and perhaps beyond, to satiety.

Sustained by the sea 

Ebb and flow of emotions 

The tideline’s treasures.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, AGM-URANIA, 2004