Tarot Blog Hop - Summer Solstice

Welcome to Alison’s Alembic!   You may have arrived here as a stop on the Tarot Blog Hop from either Louise's Priestess Tarot or Joy Vernon's blog.  Or you may have found this through TABI’s Facebook page, or though one of the many wonderful tarot bloggers in the ether.   However you came to be here, welcome to this installment of the Tarot Blog Hop!
 

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, it’s the Summer Solstice today (5.04 a.m. UT) - the longest day, the shortest night. It’s the time when the sun appears to have reached a standstill; the word ‘solstice’ means ‘the standing of the sun’.  The sun has reached its zenith in the sky - its furthest boundary of power, if you like – and as such, its greatest potency.  For those of us below, it’s time to stop and look back at what we’ve achieved on our journey, since the Winter Solstice six months ago.  Now we can celebrate what we’ve created, as well as acknowledge what hasn’t worked.  It’s no surprise that this solstice (again, in the northern hemisphere) has been called the ‘Festival of Achievement’.  

Various images from the tarot flash through my mind as I think about this. The Sun is an obvious one, as cards often show the sun at either its highest point in the sky, or at full power.

Universal Waite Tarot

'The Sun of Life' , Wildwood Tarot

The Sun, Mystic Spiral Tarot

 

Six of Bows, Wildwood Tarot

But another card, from the Wildwood Tarot, seems to reflect some of this too: the Six of Bows.  Subtitled 'Abundance', I see the fire in the centre symbolizing the warmth and light of the sun, while the placement of the bows in a circle represents the wheel or cycle of life.  The 'fruits of our labours', the things we've achieved, the abundance, whether that be material or something less tangible, sit at the edges of the wheel - things we've gained along the way.

To celebrate the Summer Solstice, our wrangler for this year’s Litha Tarot Blog Hop, Sharon, has asked us to share our gifts with each other, in creative ways – to allow the Sun to shine on something that we’re good at, within the circle of the Hop.  It’s not always easy to do this – some of us, I suspect, have a tendency to hide our light under the proverbial bushel.  But if this is a once-a-year opportunity, then it’s time to grab it!

I’ve decided to draw (quite literally) on some of the traditions and images associated with the Summer Solstice and create a card which, who knows, may even become ‘The Sun’ card in my long-talked-about (but slow to materialize) tarot deck!   

The first image that comes to my mind is the sunflower, its face following the path of the sun across the sky.   I couldn't imagine summer without these, perhaps because I would see fields of them on the prairies where I grew up!

The wheel is another image.  Centuries ago, people would set fire to wooden wheels at the top of hills, representing the zenith of the Sun’s power, and then rolling them down the slope to symbolize the declining power of the Sun as the yearly cycle progresses.  The path of the sun through the sky, the ecliptic, is another sort of wheel, and gives rise to the wheel of the zodiac.  With the Sun at its peak, you might think it would make sense for the Sun to be entering the fiery sign of Leo, rather than the water sign of Cancer!  But apparently, in Denmark, the solstice is celebrated (and has been since the time of the Vikings) by visiting wells, especially those thought to have healing qualities - as well as by bonfires!  The well-visiting seems to have fallen by the wayside nowadays, but I'll re-visit that idea in my next post...

 

This is also the time when the Oak King reaches his prime, and gives way to the Holly King, who will rule for the next half of the cycle, until we reach the Winter Solstice. From now on, everything will be withdrawing – the crops will be harvested and stored, the earth will prepare to rest, to sleep – and we will begin to think about what it is we want to nurture during the time of the Holly King. But today, it’s time to celebrate our creativity – the gifts we’ve been given which allow us to express ourselves best – and to pass that on to others in our circles.

And so, I offer this ‘Sun’ card as my gift on this solstice – may the blessing and the abundance of the Sun shine on you and your creative endeavours!

'Summer Solstice' copyright Alison Coals 2013

Thank you for stopping off here on your own journey through this LithaTarot 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 – Louise's Priestess Tarot or Joy Vernon's blog . The Master List can be found here.

Mystic Spiral Tarot created by Giuseppe Palumbo & Giovanni Pelosini, published by Lo Scarabeo.

Universal Waite Tarot created by Mary Hanson-Roberts & Pamela Colman-Smith, published by US Games Systems, Inc.

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

Tarot Blog Hop – Beltane 2013

Welcome to Alison’s Alembic!   You may have arrived here as a stop on the Tarot Blog Hop from either Arwen Lynch's or Morgan Drake Eckstein's 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!

'Taurus' . Copyright Alison Coals

We’ve arrived at Beltane, an ancient Celtic festival which marks the beginning of summer and celebrates the waxing of the Sun. It’s symbolized by the lighting of bonfires, which also act as a means of purifying and cleansing.   Beltane is a cross-quarter day, marking the mid-point of the Sun’s journey between its location at the Vernal or Spring Equinox (0° Aries) and the Summer Solstice (0° Cancer). In astronomical terms, the date this occurs is usually 5-7 days later – this year the Sun reaches this mid-point (15° Taurus) on the 5^th May.

Beltane falls in Taurus (in the northern hemisphere).  As a double Taurus myself, I feel a real sense of connection to this festival, perhaps through the link to the land – although I think it’s more likely to be the promise of longer and warmer days!  I have very little Fire in my natal chart, so perhaps I’m drawn to the Beltane fires, searching for that spark to set my creativity alight...

There are so many traditions tied in to all our festivals, Beltane included. It’s linked to May Day, to Walpurgis Night in Germany, to Calan Mai in Wales – mainly northern traditions, it would seem.  It feels fitting, then, that our wrangler for this Imbolc blog, Arwen, has asked us to write about traditions – in particular, what traditions are important to us in how we read the Tarot.  

As it happens, I’d been thinking about traditions anyway. In a recent blog about the Hierophant, the Major Arcana associated with Taurus, I was reflecting on the ‘outer’ forms of tradition that have held communities together, in the form of the written or oral word – texts, prayers, teachings, and yes, ritual.  Such traditional forms of ‘teaching’ have held together societies and cultures for millennia – the Haindl Tarot’s Hierophant carries (top left) the Hebrew letter ‘vav’, meaning ‘nail’, to remind us of this.  And ritual carries with it, of course, a sense of the seasons, the turning of the year. We celebrate the passing of the year through a variety of rituals – leaping through the fire on Beltane being one of them!  Again, the Haindl’s Hierophant carries a reminder of this through the rune ‘radh’ (top right), meaning ‘wheel’, while the Wildwood’s Ancestor represents the end of hibernation and the coming of warmth and light; the return of abundance – a very Taurean word!

Social mores, religious dogma, cultural traditions passed down from one generation to the next (depicted by the grandfather-father-son in the Haindl image) - these all carry the idea of being fixed – perhaps even (Taurus being the fixed Earth sign) ‘set in stone’.  But the Hierophant is also about the need to transform and change, not just about sticking with tradition. Sometimes our traditions outlive their usefulness, and we need to recognize what no longer serves us as well as what’s still useful.

With all that in mind, how to answer Arwen’s question?  What traditions do I use when I read the tarot?   Am I a traditional or non-traditional reader?  Well, I do draw on traditional meanings, but I’ve come to realize, over the years, that just sticking with tradition doesn’t work for me – so I can connect to the Hierophant in that regard.  I’ve come to rely more and more on being able to connect intuitively to the symbolism in the cards.  I prefer decks that have images on all the cards, so I’m not a traditionalist in terms of using unmarked pip cards.  More of a High Priestess approach perhaps, which feels appropriate, combining the 'opposing' (in terms of duality) forces, creating a more 'complete' reader?

Just thinking about the fires of Beltane has sparked my imagination, inspiring this little spread to gain some extra insight...

In what way do I read ‘traditionally’?

In what way do I read ‘non-traditionally’?

What helps me to ‘leap through the fire’ when I read?

What is fuelled by the fire as I leap over it?

Using the Wildwood Tarot (created by Mark Ryan and John Matthews, illustrated by Will Worthington, published by Connections), I’ve drawn the Nine of Stones, The Wanderer, King of Arrows, and the Ace of Bows.  I follow tradition in the way I respect and use card meanings that have been passed down through time, yet I can allow myself to trust my intuition and necessarily ‘follow the rules’ – which for me required a leap of faith when I first started out!  I’m able to remain impartial, offering clarity rather than ‘judgement’, and in doing so, I can give the gift of empowerment to others.

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, Arwen Lynch and Morgan Drake Eckstein. The Master List can be found here.

Tarot Blog Hop: Imbolc 2013

Welcome to Alison’s Alembic!   You may have arrived here as a stop on the Tarot Blog Hop from either New Moon Tarot's or Inner Whisper's 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 St Brighid’s Day), is a Celtic/Gaelic festival marking the end of winter and beginning of spring. 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 and the Vernal Equinox (so if you’re living in the southern hemisphere, you would have celebrated this on the 1^st-2^nd 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. Fire and purification have played important roles in this festival throughout the ages, with celebrations involving hearth fires, bonfires and the lighting of candles to represent the return of light and warmth to the land. It’s also traditionally a time of weather divination, with people watching for serpents or badgers (or groundhogs!) emerging from their winter dens.

Our wrangler for this Imbolc blog, Aisling, asked us “What is in your belly? What do you wish to give birth to, to nurture, during this new season? What is the poet, healer, maker, within you longing to do or become?”  Such good questions...

Wildwood Tarot (Connections)

What’s in my belly, and what I want to carry into this new season, is hope. Hope for a number of things - on a personal level, a local/familial level, and on a global level.  For me, the most potent sign of this time of year is the emergence of the snowdrops – that sight always lifts my heart, and gives me a sense of hope.  One of the first things I do when I move somewhere new is to ensure that I plant snowdrops in the autumn so that I have this to look forward to during those short dark days.  The card in the tarot that symbolizes that hope and optimism is, of course, The Star – the card that’s linked, astrologically, to the sign of Aquarius (which we entered on the 19^th January).

Wildwood Tarot (Connections)

Over the past year I’ve been working more and more with the Wildwood Tarot (Mark Ryan-John Matthews-Will Worthington, published by Connections), which connects strongly to the Wheel of the Year. As the deck’s creators start the Journey at Imbolc, it feels appropriate to look at the cards they assign to this festival – the Ancestor (5) and the Pole Star (17). Both cards, then, are linked to beginnings and to the “guidance systems” we have available to us – the Ancestor representing our inner ones, the Pole Star the outer.  In some ways, the Wildwood’s accompanying book’s description of the Pole Star (a symbol of “universal law, spiritual knowledge and power”) is not unlike the way I think about the traditional Hierophant. What brings it back to the traditional meaning of the Star, for me, is the idea of universal knowledge being a web – a very Aquarian concept! 

Haindl Tarot (US Games Systems Inc)

I’ve also been working with the Haindl Tarot recently. One card that keeps coming up for me is the Daughter of Cups, which just so happens to be represented by Brigid. Talk about being hit over the head by the cards!  This really speaks to what it is within me, in my belly, that longs to be born - greater freedom to work creatively and intuitively ...  I have the wisdom I’ve gained from past experience (the Ancestor) and the guiding light with which I can navigate into the future (the Pole Star) to help me with this birth - the birth of hope and optimism, and the reminder not to be so cynical and jaded about the state of the world!  

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 – New Moon Tarot and Inner Whispers. The Master List can be found here.