A Whole Buncha Cards
What Am I Even Doing Today?
I thought I would do something really different today. It's been a strange day so far. There are technical difficulties all over the place. Evidently, Facebook has been down for a lot of us as well as some of the other Tech and social media sites. (It’s the end of the world!) I wasn't able to post yesterday's card draw until today, because my home internet was down. We share our internet with a neighbor and she doesn't charge us anything, so we can't exactly complain if there's a problem. We just roll with it.
After posting yesterday's card this morning, I considered skipping a draw entirely today. When Facebook, which is where I usually link my posts crashed, I got sidetracked by a bunch of tarot related research. Then I started dipping into a box of decks that I haven't looked at in a while and decided I would pull three decks at random and subsequently, three cards.
What's really interesting is that to the best of my knowledge, all three decks that I pulled were published around the same time, mid-2000s and I think that all of them are out of print. Buckle up because I thought this was going to be simple and fun but it really threw me down a rabbit hole. This is going to get a little convoluted. Bear with me; all I've had to eat today is an energy bar with two cups of coffee. I've been listening to meditation music, the rain and the occasional needy cat aria. It took me a while to write this as I chased down links and wrestled with Google's insistence that I meant to type Rhianna instead of Rhiannon and its voice to text capitalizing random words.
After posting yesterday's card this morning, I considered skipping a draw entirely today. When Facebook, which is where I usually link my posts crashed, I got sidetracked by a bunch of tarot related research. Then I started dipping into a box of decks that I haven't looked at in a while and decided I would pull three decks at random and subsequently, three cards.
What's really interesting is that to the best of my knowledge, all three decks that I pulled were published around the same time, mid-2000s and I think that all of them are out of print. Buckle up because I thought this was going to be simple and fun but it really threw me down a rabbit hole. This is going to get a little convoluted. Bear with me; all I've had to eat today is an energy bar with two cups of coffee. I've been listening to meditation music, the rain and the occasional needy cat aria. It took me a while to write this as I chased down links and wrestled with Google's insistence that I meant to type Rhianna instead of Rhiannon and its voice to text capitalizing random words.
The first (center card) is not a tarot deck and not quite an oracle deck, but the imagery is powerful all the same. The deck is called, Goddesses Knowledge Cards. The goddesses are painted by the amazing fantasy artist, Susan Seddon Boulet and the text is by Michael Babcock. I have used these cards many times for spells, meditation and for readings they have often graced my alters. There is an accompanying art book called, The Goddess Paintings.
The second deck (card on the left) is called, Wiccan Cards: The Dance of Life.
I no longer have the instruction booklet for this deck, but as I recall it was pretty sparse anyway. There are 33 cards that are supposed to help baby wiccans with learning the traditions and they can also be used for spells and divination as well.
I no longer have the instruction booklet for this deck, but as I recall it was pretty sparse anyway. There are 33 cards that are supposed to help baby wiccans with learning the traditions and they can also be used for spells and divination as well.
The third deck (right hand card) that I pulled was from, Raven Grimassi and Stephanie Taylor’s, Well Worn Path deck which is also based on Wicca and Celtic traditions. So it is a “learning about the craft” oriented deck as well. Again, it works for spellwork and divination. Somewhere deep in my storage unit is the accompanying book which I believe is called, A Traveler's Guide to the Well Worn Path.
The first card is, Rhiannon, the Welsh goddess of Celtic lore, made famous by Stevie Nicks who didn't have a clue about the goddess, but made the name famous by writing a song about a “Welsh Witch.” Try to say that fast three times!
Rhiannon is a moon goddess. She is also a goddess of birth, death and regeneration. Rhiannon represents many things: the power of hope and will, fertility, love, beauty, forgiveness and feminine power. She is also a goddess of birds and horses. She often appears as a white mare. I am not sure why she is represented her specifically with a stag on this card. It’s important to note that these images were chosen after Boulet’s death and the names may not match her original subject matter.
I know a bit about the legend of Rhiannon, but I am not an expert on Welsh mythology and have not actually read the entire, Mabinogion. Babcock's text speaks about Rhiannon being the “source of the king's power “and that a candidate for kinghood would meet Rhiannon “dressed as a stag, a regal figure symbolic of rejuvenation, beauty, strength, and instinctually masculine energy.” I am not sure why a goddess who is usually represented by a horse or a bird is depicted by a male symbol. I can't find anything outside of quotes of this text or other fantasy related fiction that talks about this. Going by Babcock’s description one would think the takeaway, is behind every great man is a great woman. *sigh*
On the other hand, I am willing to give Babcock some latitude here as he was very close with Boulet and is the definitive source of information on her works.
Rhiannon is a moon goddess. She is also a goddess of birth, death and regeneration. Rhiannon represents many things: the power of hope and will, fertility, love, beauty, forgiveness and feminine power. She is also a goddess of birds and horses. She often appears as a white mare. I am not sure why she is represented her specifically with a stag on this card. It’s important to note that these images were chosen after Boulet’s death and the names may not match her original subject matter.
I know a bit about the legend of Rhiannon, but I am not an expert on Welsh mythology and have not actually read the entire, Mabinogion. Babcock's text speaks about Rhiannon being the “source of the king's power “and that a candidate for kinghood would meet Rhiannon “dressed as a stag, a regal figure symbolic of rejuvenation, beauty, strength, and instinctually masculine energy.” I am not sure why a goddess who is usually represented by a horse or a bird is depicted by a male symbol. I can't find anything outside of quotes of this text or other fantasy related fiction that talks about this. Going by Babcock’s description one would think the takeaway, is behind every great man is a great woman. *sigh*
On the other hand, I am willing to give Babcock some latitude here as he was very close with Boulet and is the definitive source of information on her works.
The second card from the Wicca deck is simply, Mare, which depicts a mother horse and her foal nursing. It represents joy and a new beginning. So, here we have another card related to the cycle of life.
The third card, from the well Worn Path Tarot is simply, The Book of Shadows. The Book of Shadows represents your history, the knowledge that you have saved and the knowledge and experience that you have yet to write.
The third card, from the well Worn Path Tarot is simply, The Book of Shadows. The Book of Shadows represents your history, the knowledge that you have saved and the knowledge and experience that you have yet to write.
Putting it all together
So if I relate these cards together, I find it interesting that we have a card that is supposed to symbolize Rhiannon, but instead has a male fertility symbol on it, and next to it a card depicting a mother horse and her foal. The horse is a symbol of both Rhiannon and the goddess Epona. Side by side the stag, horse and foal could be symbolic of the story of Rhiannon (if you think of the Stag as Pwyll.) And you take that further by looking at the Book of Shadows as symbolic of the historic texts of their love story.
Speaking of WITCH, another way you could relate these cards, is simply to remind yourself of the importance to keep a deep connection to nature that resides within yourself. Even though the horses are domesticated they still hold the wildness represented in the stag, within. This reading could be telling you to get in touch with nature and write about it or to do more nature based magic or perhaps you are feeling a renewed interest in getting out into nature.
There are so many ways in which to apply these images to life. Depending on who you were reading for, or the question, this could relate to a family unit: father, mother and child. You could look at the contrast between the mystery of the moonlit forest and the sunny meadow where everything is in plain sight. You could even read directionally, noting that the stag is looking longingly toward the mare and foal and yet she is turned away from him or that they are both turned away from The Book of Shadows. There are so many ways to read groupings of cards even if they are not from the same deck.
And that is the wonderful thing about divination; there are so many different ways to analyze and interpret the images, then apply them to your situation, your creative ideas or study in general.
There are so many ways in which to apply these images to life. Depending on who you were reading for, or the question, this could relate to a family unit: father, mother and child. You could look at the contrast between the mystery of the moonlit forest and the sunny meadow where everything is in plain sight. You could even read directionally, noting that the stag is looking longingly toward the mare and foal and yet she is turned away from him or that they are both turned away from The Book of Shadows. There are so many ways to read groupings of cards even if they are not from the same deck.
And that is the wonderful thing about divination; there are so many different ways to analyze and interpret the images, then apply them to your situation, your creative ideas or study in general.
Illustration from, The Mabinogion by renowned artist Alan Lee (noted for his work on Lord of the Rings)
I can't help but think of Rhiannon's magical ability to appear to be riding her horse very slowly, and yet no one was ever able to catch up with her unless she wanted them to. I think of her story and how she was constantly maligned, suspected, and punished for arbitrary reasons; not getting pregnant soon enough, being blamed for someone else's mistake, being different. Despite this she handled everything that was dished out to her with grace and forgiveness. After much hardship she always prevailed in the end.
Today, I choose to take all of this into consideration when looking at these cards. They ask, what is your great story? What makes you resilient and hopeful in the face of adversity? What choices will you make for happiness, love, and family? What history and experience will go into your book of shadows?
Today, I choose to take all of this into consideration when looking at these cards. They ask, what is your great story? What makes you resilient and hopeful in the face of adversity? What choices will you make for happiness, love, and family? What history and experience will go into your book of shadows?
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