Embracing the Darkness

Back, L - R Chronicles of Destiny Fortune Cards by Josephine and Emily Ellershaw, Oracle of Visions by Ciro Marchetti

Fey Tarot by Mara Agham and  Ricardo Minetti, front center Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen

Recently I've noticed the days here are starting to get considerably shorter, as summer starts to loosen it's hold  Just weeks ago it was possible to enjoy sitting out in the garden until almost bed time.  Now it has turned cooler and my nights need a focus.

I've taken the opportunity to prepare in advance for how I shall invest my time and gave into the urge to splurge.  

Three of the four items I bought had been sitting on my wishlist since their respective release dates.  Chronicles of Destiny Fortune Cards (Shiffer Publishing) sparked my interest due to its unique reading method.  So far I've used it only for a couple of daily draws.  To say it has been spookily accurate is an understatement.  Although it may be a while before I take them 'out to play', as I'm a little bit besotted with them and don't want to share.  (Imagine a woman in her late forties, clutching the box and throwing a tantrum while shouting 'but they're mine, waaaaaah!!!!'  Embarrassing, I know) 

The next item that mysteriously ended up tumbling off my wish list and into my eager little hands was Oracle of Visions (US Games Systems).  I am a huge fan of Ciro's Legacy of the Divine Tarot deck.  This deck and I go back a few years, and I understand some people don't like digitally designed deck's (some are truly awful), but this deck really speaks to me, it's vibrant and chatty and having been in its bag for a few months, it likes to have a catch up.  It never disappoints.  This spurred me to get Oracle of Visions, having seen the images online I knew I had to have it.  Heck! I even started my journal on it before I even had the deck.  The artwork doesn't just speak to me, it sings, like John Owen Jones. It hits the emotions, triggers the intuition and just sends me off into a rather surreal land in my head. But it makes sense to me,  even without 'definitions' (which I actually prefer).

The final 'oops how did that get in my basket' purchase was, of course Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot.  After all the amazing reviews and write ups I knew I had to have it.  I love Benebell's blog and the tone of the book is similar. It's easy to read and understand.  The chapters are not heavily laden with jargon.  I'm loving what I have read so far (and given the size of the book, percentage wise it's not much).

My final purchase was only by coincidence.  I've liked the look of Fey Tarot (Lo Scarabeo) for a long time, but always prioritised other decks on my wish list. As much as I like a lot of Lo Scarabeo deck's, the accompanying LWB leaves much to be desired
For 5 days running, this deck kept popping up, on blogs, in exchange readings,on the temptation feed Amazon put on your personal page, you know the one.........other things we think you may like.  Never ever be tempted to look, it's a trap!!!!!  So I decided, there must be a reason this deck is haunting my every online moment.  There it was an 'as new' copy for not a lot of money, so I guessed why not.  I got a good bargain, but imagine my utter joy to find the full companion book for sale too, for less than £2.  (Ironically this was delivered 3 days before the cards arrived).  The book has delightful preliminary sketches of card details as done by Mara Agham, and goes into detail of how she expanded or even changed her original artwork to capture, what is a lovely, readable deck. 

So now that the nights are drawing in, and the neighbours retreat behind their front doors earlier than of late, I'm content to retreat too.  I have new worlds to visit, new lands to explore, oh, and a Christmas list to compile. I'll be heading over to Amazon then to re-categorise my wish list, (just a subtle hint to my family, if you're reading this)

The Birds, The Bees and The Ace of Wands.

Legacy of the Divine Tarot bu Ciro Marchetti

I love to think 'outside the box' and I know that sometimes when I come up with ideas/thoughts, I tend to get that blank look from my nearest and dearest.  I can almost read the thoughts of 'what is she on?' when I start rambling. 

This is why I love tarot.  There are no right or wrong ways of what a reader sees in a card, it is also why I like to have several decks that are varied in their imagery. In every deck there is something different to glean from each artists interpretation.

In Legacy of the Divine's Ace of Wands I see the classic definition of the creative spark, the fiery passion.  And as I did my initial study of the deck, making notes on what the imagery could symbolise, I wrote down words that images reminded me of.  Reviewing it later I was surprised that I had written 'ovum' for the sphere at the head of the wand.

I decided to go further with this and then it struck me........passion and creativity.  What do we create in passion?

Yes you guessed, we're going to talk about the birds and the bees in symbolic terms (I don't want to end up deemed an 18+ blog), but bear with me.  After all it's nature, it's how we got here in the first place.

Wands, as we know are masculine/yang energy.  The wand itself is designed to look slightly phallic.  At the top of the wand is this beautiful orb which in my journal I had noted as the ovum, full of potential, glowing with energy. 

Take a look at the periphery of this orb, the glowing gems, as if attempting to penetrate the orbs surface...... now do you see where I am going with this.

The explosion of fire at the base of the wand, the dragons rising upwards from those flames, the passions rising, the climax.

Even the cliff faces at the sides of the cards have some connotation in the interpretation.  Cliffs are formed from rock, made from the earth.  Earth as we know in tarot is feminine/yin energy, and all this wand/orb/dragon action is taking place within this valley between the cliffs.

So forgive me if it is just my naughty mind, but I see a bit of baby making gong on here. So if this card showed up with The Empress, a Page, 3 of Cups or 9 of Coins, I'll be getting my knitting needles and bootee patterns out.   

  

Riding Bareback Through The 6 of Wands

6 of Wands, Legacy of the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti

In some respects I can see this card as the song 'What have you done today to make you feel proud?' by M People.

Generally viewed as a positive card of victory, triumph and success, the 6 of Wands looks like a pretty good place to be.

There he sits triumphant on his horse, people around are cheering and celebrating the victory.  Just what has the rider done to deserve the acclaim he receives? 

Maybe its something that will serve others, like the union rep fighting for a pay rise for his members  and winning,  or something less society based, and more personal, like the family member that has successfully organised a surprise get together for loved ones.

Whatever the card means personally to the querant, it is a sign that they can feel they have done something  to make them hold their head up high and enjoy the congratulatory cheers.  However the 6 of Wands is usually a short lived triumph as it gives way to the 7 which can (in brief) mean challenge, defending your position or fighting off the competition. 

For now however it is all about success and being able to enjoy that success for just as long as the party lasts, because admittedly the figure in the card is sitting proud on is horse but saddle soreness will eventually kick in.  Remember that 'pride comes before a fall'.

Every card has a good and bad side though and I feel the 6 of Wands is ripe for this exploration (actually it just happened to be my daily draw for today).

Sometimes  when I see this card I feel like saying it's time to get off your high horse.  It may be that the querant or someone in the querant's life is going along blowing their own trumpet, it could symbolise that uncle who has been in the same job for 27 years with no prospect of promotion but tells anyone who will  listen just how the company would collapse if it wasn't for him.

  

It could be that they are over embellishing their success, bragging and boastful in an attention seeking manner or  they are taking credit where they shouldn't be.

We are allowed to be proud of our achievements, we are allowed a certain amount of praise for our achievements, that is natural.  It becomes a problem when constant ego stroking is needed to validate us.  It hides the deep insecurities and low self esteem which can in turn develop into grandiose behaviour and exaggerated claims.

Another aspect of the card, to me, speaks of someone spouting the moral high ground.  'Look at me, I am such a darned good person, everybody needs to listen to me and my ideals because I am right'.

We all know someone like this, whether in real life or through the media.  

I know someone exactly like this, they feel the need to voice their opinion  (and frequent disapproval) of others life choices so everybody can tell this person how wonderful she is, so wise and knowledgeable and yet, when it comes to her life choices, she doesn't practice what she so loudly preaches, then wonders why the admiring crowd have dispersed and she is left to stable her own horse.

So when you see this card come up, try and see how the rider is sitting in that saddle and just which way the horse is heading

Snuggling Down on a Bed of Nails

Legacy of the Divine tarot by Ciro Marchetti

I apologise for the hiatus, I have been taking a bit of a rest.  

Recharging the energy can sometimes be a necessity, and over the past week I have been feeling a tad drained.  It as been a readings heavy week and it isn't easing up.   My online store is temporarily closed as I have not had time to update it. 

All the energy spent needs to be restored, and so I have taken a few days away to give my brain a rest.  It can be mentally draining when you spend a lot of time staring at cards and working through their messages, don't get me wrong, I love tarot and being in the position now to be able to call it my job, I am happier than ever.  Like any job though it can be draining on the mental energy levels

No matter how detailed you make a reading some querants decide that they need 'more' information than what the reading is giving them.  Usually it is a point  you pick up on that is not what the querant was expecting to hear that they start to ask more about  so any compassionate reader will seek the clarification they require, but this takes its toll on the mental faculties and low energy levels do not help a reader work to their best ability.

So when I drew the 4 of Swords on Saturday morning as my daily draw, I knew that I had to take notice.  I needed a time of rest and re-energising, to spend time sleeping on those thoughts that that niggle about every day in the mind.  It can even seem as though the Legacy of the Divine depiction is telling us to get on top of those thoughts and then, you can rest.

No matter what you do in your life, everyone has thoughts that are flitting through their heads like annoying wasps, be it about shopping, laundry, kids, partners, everyday things on that never ending to-do list, those thoughts that drain you , as they are ever present.  The 4 of Swords can tell us that unless we get on top of these we are not going re-coop that energy.  

Time out can help us prepare for the next round of whatever life has to offer us.  Whether it is about rest and regrouping with ourselves, or preparing for something we all need downtime, we need to shut down our inner computer and allow it to update and configure otherwise, just like my laptop has just done, it can crash and lose all that work you have just done, leaving you with a feeling of wanting to bang your head on a hard surface.    

And this is exactly why I took some days out from the blog, tumblr, and some of the forums (well I wasn't going cold turkey).  Honestly? I feel back up to speed, and ready to go again.  

Sir Bob Crowned King

King of Cups, Legacy of the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti

When people start reading tarot I find the majority of confusion regarding card meanings comes from the Court Cards, Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings.

The issue being, is this an actual person, is it the energy of the querent or the energy of a person in the querent's life? 

I think if the Court cards were removed people would learn tarot in half the time, however they are ever present and need to be learned and understood.

Older tarot teachings even attached the physical attributes of the person supposedly represented in the cards.  More modern thinking has used the energy the card represents (we are after all a lot more multi racial these days).

To really start tackling these 16 mind boggling cards I looked around at various methods and found the ones that felt like they could work for me.  There are simply hundreds of different methods, each as valid in their own right.  

The only way to stop yourself going into melt down is to find 2 or 3 methods to start with that feel comfortable and don't leave you sobbing in a heap over your deck (it does nothing for your self esteem or the longevity of the cardstock of your deck).

The system that has really started kicking the Courts butts into shape for me is to associate each one to a person you feel best suits the cards attributes.

My King of Cups, I associate with Sir Bob Geldof.  He is a man who is sensitive to others, he is compassionate and sensitive. He responds to the needs of others, and will fight their cause.  The King of Cups has a strength of emotion that he uses to rally people to fight for a cause that touches his heart.  He is an amazing father, who encourages his children to be attuned to their feelings and be true to themselves.  He allows them the freedom of personal expression, understanding that each one of them are individuals.

This King knows of heartbreak though and yet he puts the needs of others first and only speaks of his personal troubles in a controlled way that ensures he does not leave himself or those he loves vulnerable.  

Do not think for one moment this man is a complete saint, he does have a negative side, he can display a moody side to him, he can become over emotional about things close to his heart, where people are involved he can appear clingy and needy.  He can be impatient and intolerant to the point that he pushes people away.

But in the positive aspect I feel that is attributes point toward Sir Bob, when we look at the change he made in our understanding of third world famine, with BandAid in 1984. 
His personal and very public tragedies that has befallen his family and to rise to the call of the devastation caused to peoples lives with the ebola crisis by bringing BandAid 2014 together.  He fully deserved his Knighthood, but in my world of tarot, he wears a great big crown.

Katy Perry and th Un-Cowardly Lion.

VIII Strength.  Legacy of the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti

For some strange reason the Strength card always make me imagine the Katy Perry song 'Roar'.  The chorus sums up this card beautifully:

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter

Dancing through the fire

'Cause I'm a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar

Louder, louder than the lion

'Cause I'm a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar

Songwriters

MCKEE, BONNIE LEIGH / MARTIN, MAX / GOTTWALD, LUKASZ / PERRY, KATY / WALTER, HENRY

.Published by

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., DOWNTOWN MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC

When we look at what Strength symbolises in tarot, we realise that we have an animalistic side to us, that needs to be brought into balance.  It is also about remembering that the greatest acts of our strength are not created through physical strength, but the strength of calm, reassurance and trust.  

The song lyrics remind us though, that it is sometimes necessary for us to un-leash the beast inside of us.  When we are in a situation where our personal power has been removed, through fear, manipulation or control, we owe it to ourselves to allow that inner tiger, lion, beast, to emerge.  A temporary surfacing is not a bad thing, as long as we know when to bring it back under control.  That is true strength.

Whether it be in a personal relationship, a work situation or even something on a global scale, letting that beast loose can sometimes be the thing we need to do to make a positive change.  To be able to stand in our own power, we need to know when patience and trust are no longer working for us, and we need to be our own 'champion'.

It is not uncommon to hear of people doing amazingly heroic acts, exercising an inner strength to protect others or even to survive themselves.  And these are people who, in everyday life, are thought of by others to be quiet, placid even, and unremarkable in every other way.  These people have full control of that animal that lurks beneath.

Strength is not about just sitting back and never getting angry.  If that was the case, the world would be a horrific place to be.  Strength is about knowing when you need to allow situations to run to their natural conclusion and when to stand up and roar.

I Am Woman, Hear me Roar

As The Empress card goes I think this one from Legacy of the Divine tarot has got to be my favourite.

If an image has to symbolise the femininity, fertility and abundance associated with the Empress, this card has it all.

I love when this card appears in a spread, it gives me such a happy feeling.  It is enough to tell any female querant that as she stands, she is amazing.

The heavily pregnant Empress, draped in her sheer robe rejoices in the beauty of the female body and its ability to grow and expand with the seed of the future.  I love explaining to querants that this does not signify pregnancy per se, but symbolises that we should rejoice in our ability to grow and nurture the seeds we plant for our future.   

As women, we tend to down play our strong points, sometimes we find they are down-played for us.  We need to learn that as the bringers of life we hold amazing power over our lives.  The Empress also shows that no matter what or physical body is like, we all hold that potential to create, nurture and reap the bounty of those sown seeds.

The Empress is the mother archetype, she not only nurtures the child growing within her, but all that is around her.  She cares for her own, for the earth and everything in it, knowing it is all connected.
  
Loving and caring the Empress embraces all, but she is no martyr to her cause.  She enjoys the good things in life, luxuriance and abundance are evident in her life.  But these things have come from the seeds The Empress has sown, that she has tended and protected.  She is one practical and grounded lady, and the fruits of her harvest are for sharing.  She is a life giver, protector and generous in her love.


There is so much more I could waffle on about regarding The Empress, however I am going to leave it there for now.  I really just wanted to share the beautiful image of Ciro Marchetti's work.  

A Festive Tarot Spread

Feel free to use this spread, if you are using it on a forum or blog or any other website, please link it back to me here.
Many thanks.

I've put together a little seasonal spread for you.  Its been tested out using Legacy of the Divine tarot deck, and seems like it is pretty accurate.

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Feel free to use it, let me know what you think.  All I ask is if it is going onto a blog, forum or any other website, can you please link it back to me here.

Obviously its festive so here are the card position definitions.

Card 1 The Tree, this is your basic 'core', where you sprang from, where your roots are deep.

Card 2 and 3, Your Branches, this is where you have had growth, the lessons you have learned, where you have been developing.

Card 4, The Tree Lights, this is where/what makes you shine.

Card 5, The Baubles, this is what hangs from the branches, subconscious thoughts/underlying issues.

Card 6 The Star At The Top Of The Tree, your hopes/fears.

Card 7, Your Gift Under The Tree, this is something coming your way.  I placed card 7 horizontally to make it neutral 'cos lets face it, nobody wants coal in their Christmas stocking.

I hope you have fun with it.

5 Coins and A Bit of Attitude

5 of Pentacles (L) Legacy of the Divine Tarot, (R) Tarot of the Hidden Realm.

I like how different tarot decks can bring different interpretations to the same card.  The example I am going to use is the 5 of Pentacles.  It is a card of ‘being down on your luck, of hard times and despair.

In Legacy of the Divine we see a woman begging, with a look on her face that is meant to instil pity in us.  However I feel it is a ‘poor me’, self-pity look, it is the face of someone who feels she has nothing, and nobody,  not even hope or a shoulder to lean on.   

If she could realise that behind her is the light of hope; that it isn’t all bad and the situation is not going to last forever then maybe she would not looks so hopeless, destitute and alone.  She does not need to be begging for help as the answer is there if she just looks behind her, indicating that a different direction or way of thinking would possibly resolve the problem.

I think we all have that one friend / acquaintance that, no matter what, is always full of woe, ‘the Wednesday child’.  It makes no matter if they had a winning lottery ticket in their hand, it would still be something to complain about.  They may feel their disappointments in life are not understood by anyone.  Yet they somehow fail to rejoice in their successes, they don’t reflect when they are having a tough time that there have been times of happiness, abundance and love. The ‘why me?’ mentality doesn’t wash with me, not when my beloved dad was diagnosed with a terminal illness at aged 39 and when my mother was bereft asking ‘Why us?’  My father’s dignified response was ‘Why not us?’.

In Tarot of the Hidden Realm’s depiction of the 5 of Pentacles, we see two young women, destitute, yet gaining comfort from each other.  They look cold, hungry and full of despair yet they both look as if they are reflecting on what has brought them to this place, how this has happened and hoping for an ending to it.

The figure on the left of the card looks as if she is knows it’s just a period of waiting, of letting things take their course, if they can hold out for that long.  And if they have each other then things will be more bearable.

As in life, we also have friends who will go through our tough times with us.  Some have been there themselves and can advise and sympathise.  Others are just feeling our pain and it gives them the opportunity to reflect on something that has brought some pain or difficulty in their life and possibly deal with unresolved issues in themselves.  These are our treasures when we have nothing else.   

Having that shoulder to lean on, to give an embrace when you feel so lost is sometimes the one thing that can keep us going?  And who hasn’t had that friend who has told you ‘things will look better in the morning’?  Because one morning,  it will.

8 of Cups and a Cylinder Head Gasket

8 of Cups Legacy of the Divine

Sometimes we just have to cut our losses and walk away.  It may be hard when we have invested so much into it and don’t want to feel like it was time and energy wasted.  But do you really want to keep wasting that time and energy.  Do you still have enough to give without losing yourself to a lost cause?

Over the last couple of days I have had to take a long hard look at myself to see if my situation was worth putting effort into when it was no longer working for me.

The 8 of Cups advises us to do just that.

When there is emotional investment, it can seem that we should just keep walking the same path as the idea of turning away can feel like we invalidate everything that has gone before.

But by staying with something that no longer works for us we start just going through the motions, we do it and know there is no joy at the end of it. We do it, knowing we are unfulfilled and we then start to resent it.  This, in turn, can start to eat away at us; it can start to become a burden.  Why do we do this to ourselves?

If you had money invested in that was consistently losing you money, you wouldn’t keep adding money to it.  You would hot foot your money out and put it somewhere safer.  Yet we do this with emotions and think that by keep working on it, things will improve.

Think of each act of love as a pound, a euro or a dollar, what percentage of interest are you getting back? Or are you sitting in negative equity?

Put that act of love where it is going to work for you.  Invest it in yourself.

Over the last couple of days I have felt the yo-yo of what I should do for the best, what is best for me.  And I have made that decision, as much as it will be hard to walk away, I have fond memories of when things were working, but unfortunately my car is going to the scrap yard.  I shall be sorry to see it go but I know it is for the best and I know something better will come along

XV The Devil and The Phantom

XV The Devil (L) Radiant Rider Waite, (R) Legacy of the Divne

We are probably all familiar with the saying, ‘needs must when the devil drives’.  However would it make a difference if you were offered a lift in a beat up old van or a Ferrari?

The Devil speaks to us about our base feelings.  It questions our darkest desires and needs and just what we will do to achieve them.  He challenges that feeling of entrapment, but are we really tied to a certain situation?  Or do we actually have a way out, but find it’s more comfortable and easier to stay trapped so we don’t have to face the ugly truth?

In the Radiant Rider Waite deck we see the devil as a beast, a grotesque creature, the ugliness and the fear that our situation draws up in us, yet his two captives are quite happy to stay chained to him.

 

Surely he can’t be all bad then?  Is it that the beast serves us in that we can grasp what it is we want without having to ponder on the ethics of our method?  Sometimes it can be useful to have an ambition that can only be achieved by turning away from the needs of others and their opinions, an ambition that can only be reached ruthlessly and by using those dark little corners of our psyche that in reality we don’t want to acknowledge

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In Legacy of the Divine tarot, The Devil is very different; I had one friend say ‘I wouldn’t mind being tempted, if he looked like that’.

 

And maybe this is what the image of this card tries to portray.  Just because something looks appealing, tempting us with the enigmatic ‘come hither’, it is not necessarily going to be good for us.  It can sometimes lead us down a path we would not usually take and deliver us to right to the front door our own personal hell.

We see in the card, the mask The Devil wears, is this to hide the ugliness of its true face? Are we the ones insisting the mask stay on his face?  Does it tempt us with the deceptive beauty expecting us to assume the true face of him is just as aesthetically appealing? Or do we really know what lies beneath and rather cover it so we do not have to look to closely?

Our poor Fool is sitting on his sand timer, trying to push away, that which he must face, yet cannot.   What has he gotten in to? What has he to see that distresses him in such a way? Why is he wanting distance from it?

Be it a situation or a part of ourselves that we do not want to accept, as like The Devil himself, it may have looked like such an attractive proposition on first glance.  Now we have to decide can we still bare to look once the mask is off and we see the true face of it.

I am suddenly imagining Phantom of the Opera with this card, as Christine, so vulnerable and naive is led by the prospect of being an amazing and famous opera singer, lured by the promise of her unseen mentor who tempts and cajoles her with words like a protective ‘angel’, however once the Phantom's mask is removed, can she really continue, knowing what she now knows of him.  What of the phantoms true intentions, his obsession and twisted ‘love’ for Christine.  Eventually she comes to realise that the price of her fame is not worth the disgust she feels and breaks away from the ties of the phantom (although I secretly wish she’d chosen him instead of Raul, cos when you look at Ramin Karimoo why wouldn’t you)

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However I digress. The Devil is asking you to look deep at the actions you have taken, the choices you have made and whether they serve you in the right way.  Ultimately you can make a different choice.  Comfort zones are nice, that’s why we call them ‘comfort’ zones, going outside of them may bring you something far more comfortable, in your mind and in your heart.

Just my two pennies worth.  

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XI Justice and the Two Poles

XI Justice, Legacy of the Divine by Ciro Marchetti

Any tarot enthusiast is aware of the meaning of the Justice card in the Major Arcana. 

In the Rider Waite Smith deck Lady Justice is seen sitting in her seat, sword in one hand, scales in the other.

She's about balance, truth and reaping what has been sown by past actions.  'Just desserts' comes to mind.  She's a formidable character when it comes to self realisation and accepting that what you have got now, is because of what you gave in the past.

In the Legacy of the Divine tarot, I love that Justice is shown as 2 woman, their eyes covered and facing away from each other, as if they do not wish to acknowledge the other with their opposing reasoning, yet both have their hand on the scales, keeping everything in balance.  

However there is a association I have developed with this card over the time I have been using this deck. There are so many layers to every tarot card, differing meanings in each tarot deck, yet this one individual card has shown me something so unique to my close circle.  

It shows up frequently in the same 2 sitters readings, (these are friends and family, as I do not read for random strangers) and is usually accompanied by an assortment of cards that turn up regularly too.  Sometimes Justice is upright, other times reversed.

Reversed tends to show that the sitter is going into a crisis, upright it seems to show that their is some stability and may be managing their treatment well.

If I use the RWS deck, Justice is usually absent from their spreads, however with Legacy of the Divine, its as sure as eggs are eggs to turn up.

The two sitters it shows up for have one thing in common, they both suffer from Bipolar disorder (as diagnosed by a psychiatrist).
  
It can be well controlled with medication and therapy, but not always.  Stress an be a massive trigger to set a sufferer into a crisis. Some sufferers get only slight respite from their symptoms and others may only suffer the depressive side of the illness.  Each patient is unique in their presentation of the disorder
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One of my friends is mostly depressive with only minor 'ups', my family member was rapid cycling prior to diagnosis (which took almost 2 years to convince them to seek help) and even now whilst medicated has huge extremes of mood frequently and she's 3 years in to treatment. 

The card combinations that turn up again and again are a mix of 10 of Swords, 10 of Wands, 5 of Wands and XV The Devil (when depression is the dominant), or XIX The Sun, XXI The World, 10 of Coins and 6 of Wands (when mania is dominant).

Obviously I don't pull all of these cards at the same time, but a combination of them will turn up alongside Justice.  And strangely enough they seem to reflect the current mood cycle of the sitter.  It is difficult and probably really long winded to write about but when these cards show up for my sitters, I know exactly where these cards are taking me. 

One of my sitters (I'll refer to her as 'G') always associates the figure in the white robe with her 'up' side and the figure in purple as her 'down' side, polar opposites that are supposed to work together to keep balance, which in Bipolar, doesn't.

 'G' knows her signals when either one of the Justice figures is pulling harder on the counterbalance, she is really in tune now with her disorder and will look for a reading when she's starting to feel (or others notice) that her mood is becoming erratic.

Her explanation of her mania is that everything revolves around her, She's grandiose, feels she is on top of the world, can achieve anything and makes wild exaggerations about her self, family and home life and says she invariably feels indestructible.

Her depressive episodes take her down a very dark path that leaves her literally in self destruct mode and has come close to that many times.

I don't know anyone elses' take on this, but I find it fascinating that this specific card carries this association for me. I'd love to hear anyone else's thoughts. 















   

1. The Magician of the Mature Kind

The Magician from Legacy of the Divine Tarot by Ciro Marchetti

I'm feeling like The Magician today.  

I only started this blog a few days ago and felt just like The Fool,  in a rapid transition I feel  I am now The Magician.  I am starting to find things are changing and taking shape in my life. I know too that I am the one making these amazing changes.  I am the one in control of what this universe is offering me and I am embracing it and using it to its full potential.

Certain things that I felt were eluding me are now coming into being.  I had all the tools yet I didn't know it, I knew what I needed to achieve and yet I couldn't make it work.

Suddenly its as if everything has fallen into place, everything was there just waiting to be manipulated in the right way and I am now making a progression on my life path.

Being no spring chicken I assume most people would think that I should have progressed way further than this.  I had.  Yet, several times, however in the last few years I had a rapid succession of my Tower being struck down.

I'm not one to dwell on the past, never have been, I don't ever believe that going backwards achieves anything.  My motto comes from the  Donna Summer song 'I don't wanna get hurt' from about 1988 (I told you I was no spring chicken).  The 2 lines of the song are,  'I don't need all friends to remind me, mistakes that I've already made.  I just leave the past behind me, and go on believing that I'll be okay'.  Yup I live by this, it doesn't mean to say I don't have emotional scars, I do.  At a very deep level but I am working on these daily and I can see that the scars are self inflicted, and only I can heal them.  This is mainly what led me to tarot.  

However I digress.  My main point about the Magician card lies in the fact that most tarot decks I have looked at portray this card with a youthful figure.  My love of the card from Legacy of the Divine is that it portrays our magical manifestor as an older man.  Someone who has tried time and time again to get the conditions right.  

He has the face of a person who has the ravages of time imprinted on his skin.  Across his cheek is, what looks like, a scar. Was it possibly caused by previous efforts blowing up in his face ?  

This is a man who has worked many times to manifest his desires and looks as if he has had many strikes against him in his efforts. His eyes hold the look of someone who has had a 'Eureka' moment and cannot believe it is now happening. His full concentration is focused on his creation, scared to drop his gaze in fear that it will fall or disappear from him.  It is within his grasp, he can reach out and touch it, in solid form.

For this reason I love this card.  I love that it realises, that for some, it may take many years to understand how to bring everything together and make it into something real and solid.  Especially in todays world where it seems love is disposable and financial stability is fragile.  But don't get me started on that. 

Love and light xx