Card of the Month

5 Days of Samhain for 2020

Counting Down (Lay them out in reverse order- pull five cards, lay the 5^th first.)

The traditional 5 days of Samhain were symbolic of the steps into the underworld, into the grave, from where the next cycle would be dreamt, conceived, then born. These steps prepare one for the dark period of the winter and the deep introspection it brings.

What do I need to finish? The Knight of Pentacles. The grounded Knight needs to complete the quest immediately at hand. The direct and urgent matters, not the far-flung dreams or goals. Clear the deck methodically and diligently with skill applied thoughtfully and effectively. This is not the time for the grandiose moments. Tireless and determined, this will relieve the distractions of unfinished business.

What has failed? The Queen of Swords. The art of discerning the truth from the illusion, the ally from the liar has not been applied diligently. She has failed to cut off that which is unjust and strangling. Time to reassert herself and take the rule of the land back into her own hands. Cold reason is needed not hysterics and self-delusions. The power of the cold, calculating mind, she is the paradigm, when she shifts, so does her realm.

What is not real (what is illusory)? The Page of Wands. The proclamations have been empty. The fidelity has been a lies. This messenger’s tidings are false and unfounded. The testimony has been perjury. The stability has been an illusion. New patterns and convictions need to be developed. The rug has been pulled out from under us all.

What do I take with me? The Two of Pentacles. Finding new rhythm and balance through trial and error. The understanding and instinct to act when prudent and hold back when necessary. The act of learning how to juggle by increasing the load slowly and acclimatising to each level before adding more. Taking pleasure in the act of learning new skills and satisfaction in each achievement.

1.What waits ahead in the Darkness? The Three of Cups. Deep doors are opening to those who are ready. The subconscious and the emotional urges surging forward. Actively seeking what is desired. Learning how to find and value fulfilment. This is a current, always flowing, sometimes gently, sometimes violently. Deep motivations not yet comprehended. Pure desire. In the occult, this is the desire that informs the Will. The seduction and surrender. Phases of spiritual evolution. Deeper connections now that the shallow have been exposed. Empathy borne of true compassion, connection, and understanding. The dreamer, awakens.

October card of the month is the Moon. Once again, the Moon emerges from the deck bearing a message. This time a warning. Speaking of hidden dangers and shifting tides the Moon is here in a dark phase. Prophecies ignored, dishonesty, ulterior motives, hidden enemies, and disruption of the cycles the moon influences.

The Wounded of this card: Doubt, confusion, fluctuations in emotions, mood swings. Fear or feelings of madness. Resistance to the Shadow-self. The unconscious uncontrolled. Deep traumas emerge as nightmares to haunt and torment. That which is not healed or addressed lashes out like a hurt child, unable to discern friend from foe or help from harm.

The Darkness of this card: This is the ebb and flow, the tides of the deepest part of the subconscious. Submerged. For those who fail, psychosis and madness result. This card traditionally represents the most shadowy part of the path. Often referred to as “the Dark Night of the Soul” meaning a time of deep introspect ions and facing what has been suppressed and hidden. The metaphoric journey through the Underworld. Night, untamed desire and the animalistic instinct. Face and understand your fears or you will be destroyed by them.

September card of the month is the High Priestess. Here she is speaking of an unrevealed future on one hand and what is hidden in the depths of the subconscious on the other. Anxieties and fears are everywhere, yet what is to come is undecided. There is much still able to be affected and influenced. The internally buried fears and anxieties are will create a paralysis if not dug out and faced openly in the full light of day. Being afraid to move, afraid to decide or commit, even afraid to hope will leave one exposed and at the mercy of the will and whims of others’ agendas and manipulations.

The Wounded of this card: Apathetic and cynical using these as an excuse to not be decisive. Giving in to doom and gloom, hiding in depression. Fearful of the bogeyman in the subconscious. Rejecting intuition and too caught up in the esoteric world. Escapism.

The Darkness of this card: Intuition at its strongest and most mysterious. Emotional truth that moves beneath the surface, controlling and directing all action and thought. The deeper passions. Primal understanding that language cannot convey. Envisioning what can be, therefore moving to make it so.

August card of the month is Judgement. There are deep changes happening. Clarity about the past will drive profound desire for change. Modern imagery and associations are about coming clean, self-evaluation, concluding a transition of the personality and a spiritual awakening. Judgement’s awakening is kin to the Tower, but where the Tower is a violent strike, Judgement is a Clarion Call. All things must have a great reckoning before moving on.

The Wounded of this card: Holding a grudge or consumed by a need for retribution. Litigious. Refusing or even denying the call. Casting self-loathing onto others. Obsessed with what has failed and assigning blame. Mired in a judgemental mindset. Assigning “value points” to every slight and betrayal; real or invented. The seeker is standing in a grave, refusal to move is stagnation and death.

The Darkness of this card: To be compelled to break down the conditioned barrier between the conscious and the unconscious cognition. Knowing the path in darkness and in light. The ego identity receives a crippling blow and the true self emerges, casting aside the “should-be” and “shouldn’t be”, embracing the whole self. Understanding that with awakening comes a greater responsibility, for one’s actions but more importantly for one’s inactions. The true final Judgement is one the individual must face from themselves. This can also manifest as a calling to a vocation or cause.

July card of the month is the Two of Pentacles. Juggling too much and losing the sense of balance. There is an aspect of frantic energy and the appearance of forced gaiety. Pretending all is well. Making light of what one is engaging in while hiding fear and anxiety that all is about to fall crashing to the ground and shatter into millions of shards. This is no time to act as if all is well or all is under control. Let things fall apart. Now is the time to shatter the existing paradigm and begin a new phase.

The Wounded of this card: Forced labour. Joyless activity. Social pressures add too much to the situation. Fear of the complexity of a situation. A pretence of lack of concern. Over worrying. Dropping all not through lack of skill but through lack of self-confidence.

The Darkness of this card: Initiation of balance on the Earth. A solid footing in all that is new and invigorating. The shifting sands that force superior balance to be learned. Intuitive balance engaged. The Querant is pushed by the very ground itself to learn better footing on their chosen path. Pushed from the nest and the awakening of surety. The confidence to break away and forge a new path. Pathfinder.

June card of the month is the Moon. The Moon is also associated with the emerging and descending consciousness; both in and out of sleep; and madness as well as awakening into intuitive and prophetic powers. The Subconscious. This card traditionally represents the most shadowy part of the path. We are walking through the underworld in these times. There are hidden traumas coming to the consciousness and old wounds that need to be cleaned and healed. This is the path of the mysterious Moon. One must keep moving forward to see the Dawn.

The Wounded of this card: Mood swings, depression, mental illnesses, this is the Dark Night of the Soul. The rock bottom of the psyche in search of truth, answers, even of meaning. One is lost; either adrift or drowned in the overwhelming pain of trauma and truths long hidden.

The Darkness of this card: The Moon illuminates the deep shadows of the night and shines in the cool darkness. Relief from the heat and the glare of the day. Hard edges and boundaries dissolve, membranes become more permeable, possibilities open. The nocturnal dreamscape and the unconscious mind which articulates from the abyss of imagination. Transformation, dreams, and deep desires. Visions disguised as nightmares show what needs to be addressed, they show the answers and solutions the conscious mind has blocked in fear.

May card of the month is the Eight of Pentacles. This is the card of one who is in the journeyman position no longer the apprentice but far from a master. This indicates a time of honing and refining skills and intellect. Use this time wisely, efforts will be rewarded in equal weight.

The Wounded of this card: Impatient for acclaim without dedication to the skill. Seeking status but having nothing to establish it. May even take credit for the efforts of others. Falsifying results, inflating the value, counterfeit artistry.

The Darkness of this card: The discipline and diligence can be all consuming, supplanting relationships as well as set personal and social conventions. This dedication inside comes from the deepest desires, born from visions in the shadows of ideals and material needs long unexpressed. This focus can be completely absorbing, changes will be methodical and unrelenting. If crossed this can lead to the individual turning away from those opposing and eliminating them from everything.

April card of the month is Judgement. Failure to see past the closed coffin of the mind. Delay and refusal to accept the reality of the current situation and the life impacting consequences of the moment. Choices need to be carefully planned and executed. Rash actions will bring about severe results. All things must have a great reckoning before moving forward can happen. Are you digging deep enough?

The Wounded of this card: Mired in a judgemental mindset. Assigning “value points” to every slight and betrayal; real or invented. The seeker is standing in a grave, refusal to move is stagnation and death.

The Darkness of this card: The clarion call of Judgement can be as destructive and devastating as the thunderbolt in the Tower. Where the Tower is a strike of enlightenment, Judgement is a summons, a calling, a call to arms- to action- to involvement.

March card of the month is the Eight of Chalices. A turning point of the heart and in the spiritual undercurrent. There is a restlessness to this card, a need to find something more fulfilling, something less draining, something less repetitive, or just something else. The act of letting go or turning away frees one for new experiences, love, and life.

The Wounded of this card: Refusal to accept the ending of a situation or idea. Unwilling to move from a stagnant or unhealthy situation because of familiarity, timidity, or self-doubt.

The Darkness of this card: A deep pull away from comfort and stability. A yearning for the intangible. A clear sense who one is, and is not, at least not yet. The pull is visceral and powerful, with an undertow that can pull the very ground out from beneath.

February card of the month is the Five of Chalices. Disruption and re-alignment with the harmony of the Cosmos. Our personal patterns may serve in the short term but anything that is unhealthy will begin to show the dissonance and discordance soon enough. Our personal harmonies need re-tuning, and our relationship symphonies need to be addressed.

The Wounded of this card: Identity conflicts with family, society, culture, sexual orientation or alignment. Instability caused in the circle of family or friends. Deep loss and regret that alters the individual’s views. Deep spiritual loss, the metaphoric fall from grace. Feelings of emotional or spiritual exile.

The Darkness of this card: The Fives are the cosmos visibly intersecting with the Querant, here in the form of emotional and spiritual deluge. The overwhelming and submerging of this card breaks the complacency of the Fours. Here the tsunami is necessary to get things moving again. The isolating and revealing side of chaos. The deeper currents, long repressed, that compels revelation. The unmasking that clears the way for new relationships and a new, clearer life.

January card of the month is the Five of Swords. The disruptive nature of the Five crosses with the extreme activity of the Swords. The breaking down force of nature to clear the path for renewal is strongest here. The Music of the Spheres is shifting into grand harmonics that vibrate and disrupt lesser energies, shattering trends of disharmony and re-establishing the Cosmic Symphony. Wild swings of energy to extreme points and violent shifts in fortune are not unexpected under this card.

The Wounded of this card: Pessimism distorting and exaggerating the loss and result and colouring the ability to move on. Refusal to see the options remaining. Despair.

The Darkness of this card: The Fives are the cosmos visibly intersecting with ones path, here in the form of harsh impact and cuts. The loss and exposed treachery of this card breaks the repose of the Fours. Here adversity is necessary to get things moving again. The cutting and trimming side of chaos. The cold reality creates a heartache that compels change. The truth of separation, revelations, and loss that clears the way for new directions and partnerships.

December card of the month is the Knave of Chalices. A warning card this time. One who claims other’s visions as their own. The false friendship, one sided and advantageous. Learning to play on the sentiment of others without a true connection. Be wary of these people especially during the holiday season. They will prey on the goodwill of others but give nothing to anyone. An English 1750 deck calls this card “The Sly Knave”.

The Wounded of this card: Repressed or suppressed experiences. A vision, sight, or belief, that is ridiculed and/or attacked. To accept the jaded views or opinions of others out of ignorance and naïveté. The toxicity of trying to force yourself to adhere to beliefs or way of life that is opposed and/or harmful to your nature.

The Darkness of this card: The Page of Cups is expressing untapped desire, unspoiled and unbiased. Optimistic and at time unrealistic, but also open and vulnerable. Visionary with flashes of insight, emotional, artistic, amorous. The stirring of the subconscious.

November card of the month is The Eight of Pentacles. Eight here is leaning towards material progress and a clear sense of where and who one is now which is needed for further forward motion. Meticulous attention to detail. The means toward a desired end. A work of intricate beauty. Honing skills in a trade or craft. A developing artisan.

October card of the month is The Five of Wands. The number of disruption and change in the very active Wands suit. Active contesting. It could be battle or competition, struggle or training, but active participation is present.

The Wounded of this card: The fire of the Wands blazes out of control once again. Fair play and boundaries have been violated. Playfulness masks a true intention to cause harm.

The Darkness of this card: The wanton and freeing side of chaos. The fiery energy creates a restlessness that compels movement. The breaking down energy that clears the way for new ventures. The image here is of a fiery dragon emerging, one of passion, fire, and destruction.

I will be posting a card of the month with accompanying interpretations.

September card of the month is the King of Chalices. Outwardly calm but deeply emotional. Consort to the Queen and deeply invested in their mutual reign. Open to the power of the heart and rule side by side.

The Wounded of this card: A liar, a manipulative seducer. One who extorts rather than partners.

The Darkness of this card: Churning with dark currents that move beneath, the King of Cups is the voice of the subconscious personified, seductive, insistent, unrelenting. He moves in the depths with ease and confidence.