Layers of Synchronicity: The Star

I am participating in an Instagram "challenge" in October called CHMM Fall Challenge. Day sixteen asked the question: "What needs activation in my life?"

I drew the Star from both the Ring Cycle Tarot and the Pagan Otherworlds tarot.

This immediately spoke to me: Believe in yourself. Have faith in yourself. Let your inner light shine. These are very relevant messages to me at this very moment.

But there is more.

Yesterday I was in a local metaphysical shop and just as I was deciding to leave (empty handed) I noticed a deck in a long box with its title edge facing the wall. I thought I'd see what it was, though it was a bit difficult to remove as it was lodged there quite snugly. It was the Ring Cycle Tarot, a name that barely registered in my memory. As I read the text I learned that it was based on the Wagner production, The Ring of Nibelung, and was illustrated with the work of Arthur Rackham. Not only do I love the Norse saga of the Volsungs (which is the basis of the Ring of Nibelung) but I love Arthur Rackham's work. This combination of elements hit all the right spots for me, and so I took it home.

The Star: Pagan Otherworlds Tarot and the Ring Cycle Tarot

I first decided to pull today's "challenge" card from the Ring Cycle deck, and I drew the Star. I then shuffled the Pagan Otherworlds deck to hear its opinion, and the Star made itself known once again.

When I placed them side by side I was struck by the beautiful similarity in images:

In the Ring Cycle, Freyja stands near the tree of the golden apples of youth (Idunn's charge). Her right arm is bent, her left extended. She peers out over her left shoulder. In the Pagan Otherworlds, the Star figure crouches over the water near a sheltering tree. She, too, extends her left arm and looks back over her left shoulder. And in this depiction there is a bird perched on a small tree limb. The bird immediately brought to my mind the ability of Sigurd (the hero of the Volsungs) to comprehend the speech of the birds following his accidental taste of Fafnir the dragon's heart blood. With his new "wisdom" he heard the birds warn of Regin's treachery, which ultimately saved his life. And their words also informed him of a figure that would become an essential "signpost" in his story: Brunhild the Valkyrie, surrounded by a ring of fire.

So, in the context of the Star card, the bird speaks to attuning to "otherworldly" guidance as well as listening to inner guidance, which can indeed seem almost like a whole other language until we pay attention and quiet ourselves to its gentle voice.

Gefion Takes Me For a Spin

A few days ago the "spirit guide challenge" on Instagram featured the following prompt: "How do my personal relationships detract from my current development?" I was curious as to how this reading exercise would unfold as I don't have any "bad" relationships, so to speak, and I tend to find even the personal challenges and conflicts to be good learning experiences.

First I drew Gefion from Das Germanische Götterorakel, and I did indeed have one of those WTF moments; I ended up drawing Hel (Death) from the Giants Tarot as a secondary pull.

But knowing that Gefion held some important element that would simply take more digging and sitting and thinking, I did just that.

I love Gefion, but she has so much positive energy I was having a hard time placing it with the prompt. Gefion is said to have provided so much merriment to the court of the Swedish King Gylfi that he repaid her by allowing her to keep as much land as she could plow around in a single day. She brought in her four Giant sons, turned them into bulls, and they helped her plow a massive swath of land that she then brought over to Denmark (it is said to be the island of Zealand (Sjaelland).

Two of Gefion's more salient characteristics are that she has formidable work ethic, and she knows how to have a good time with a mug of mead and group of people. I see a lot of myself in Gefion - she is independent, she knows how to take care of business, she cares a lot for the well-being of women. She is quite a force. But what she is that I am not is particularly sociable. I tend to be private and contained - friendly, laid back, communicative when it matters - but not sociable.

The other day I was sitting in a directors meeting and was feeling rather chipper so I thought I'd share some good developments with my colleagues. I prefaced it by saying, "I know I'm quiet and you probably can't tell how I ever feel so I'm going to make it clear - I am super happy!" And they all laughed uproariously! It was a humorous moment, but definitely confirmed my suspicion that I'm a bit hard to get to know. Incidentally next week there is a "happy hour" get together for the women in leadership. I'd been hemming and hawing about attending because those events definitely push me outside of my comfort zone. But Gefion seemed to be saying that that is precisely what I should do - that work is important, but the social ties do matter. As I had that thought we were driving down the highway and I looked up and right at a sign that said "111" (a series that has been following me around quite a bit lately). That felt like a little pat on the head ("Yes, you got it!"). In that light, Hel's appearance made complete sense: I have to release in order to become. I'm glad I let Gefion say her piece!

The Heart of Self-Possession

I'm taking part in an Instagram "challenge" for June, hosted by @spiralseatarot, that focuses on our connections to spirit guides. For Day 10 the prompt asks participants to pull a card around the way in which your guide is helping you at present.

New Orleans Voodoo Tarot/S.A. Glassman

As I was shuffling, Secret Societies came flying out of the deck. This card is typically associated with Justice in a traditional set of cards, but there is more going on here. This card shows an initiate into a secret society who is sent, hands restrained, into the wild to experience the feeling of being at the mercy of the cosmos. Animals could attack, you could trip and fall, you could lose yourself in the foliage in the deep black of night. But that is also the point: this card is about having such a deep rootedness in your identity, your history, such a deep understanding of who you are, that you can look fear in the eye bravely and not run away. You can allow these creatures of the shadow to look into your eyes, to examine every part of your being, without looking down, without feeling ashamed or unworthy. You stand in your own skin, with no inclination to prove anything, or to justify your place there, no impulse to apologize for who and what you are, no urge to lower others in order to feel mightier. That is the heart of self-possession, the essence of personal balance, the center of a cool mind that weighs the scales fairly and is open to being measured in return.

Yesterday I was reading an article about how much fear we deal with in modern society, on an everyday basis. Fear is a powerful tool that can limit our growth and prevent us from understanding the beautiful immensity of our own beings. If my guide is helping to support me in learning to fully embody and honor my own essence, how can I be anything other than willing to open myself to that teaching?