Tarot Thursday Three: Everywhere Synchronicity

It's been a while, but here is another round of Tarot Thursday Three, hosted by Julia at Spiral Sea Tarot! Feel free to create a post of your own with the same questions, or comment below with your own thoughts....

1. What is the greatest lesson tarot has so far taught you?

I suppose that I'd say that working with Tarot - and divination as a whole - has taught me that synchronicity is an intrinsic and ever-present aspect of the essence of the universe. People often discuss the "mystery" behind why the cards are accurate - after all, aren't they "just" paper and ink? Yes, yes they are. But that's the funny thing about synchronicity - it touches everything, and that includes the cards (and even apps!). Tarot is evidence of synchronicity on a micro-scale.

Jodorowski-Camoin Tarot de Marseille

2. What is the biggest way tarot has so far changed your life or added to it?

Tarot has been an amazing tool for self-development and personal growth. I can't count the number of times that I have worried about [insert topic here], and found incredible, practical, sensible, and deeply helpful advice in the cards. Tarot has helped show me the best way to approach challenging situations, has encouraged me when I've been wrapped up in self-doubt, and has given me the hard truth when that's exactly what I needed to hear (even if I didn't want to).

3. What keeps tarot interesting and fresh through the years (or months if you're a newer reader)?

On some level Tarot becomes part of the regular life routine. I often pull a card in the morning, or throw some when I'm feeling confused or anxious or curious or excited. I sometimes read for others, which never gets old. But I can say that Instagram has been a wonderful forum for engaging with other readers, glimpsing new decks, seeing how others read or relate to the cards. And then, of course, there are the never-ending supply of monthly divination challenges which provide a reading focus for each day. In fact, Tarot brought me to Instagram to begin with!

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.

Dance and Synchronicity

This morning my mother sent me a link to a group called 5Rhythms and asked me to take a look. Before I had a chance to delve in, I noticed that she had also posted a couple of videos of one of the Australian-based teachers of The Dancing Path (part of 5Rhythms), and decided to have a listen. The first video was about the importance of "occupying" our bodies - of living into each aspect of our being, utilizing each of our senses to its fullest, and ultimately of living now rather than focusing on the future.

The second video, by the same teacher (Kate Shela), was related to the topic of dance. One thing that she said that particularly resonated with me was the notion that the entire cosmos lives within each of our beings; the axis-mundi, the World Tree, is entirely part of us, as if all of us were home to the whole universe. Dance, she said, is a way to activate our entire beings, and to re-member our selves.

A short while later I decided to pull a card from the Dat Black Mermaid Man Lady oracle, and drew one of the "David" cards. David is a character from the theater production that goes by the same name as the deck, and his energies correspond to Chango. The "David cards" all connect to the energy of "Purpose."

Upon flipping the card over to review its advice, I found the following:

"Dance." Well hey.

Purpose; dance.

According to the website, the 5Rhythms include: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. It says:

"In dancing 5Rhythms you can track perceptions and memories; seek out gestures and shapes; tune into instincts and intuitions. They reveal ways to creatively express aggressiveness and vulnerability, emotions and anxieties, edges and ecstasies. They reconnect us to cycles of birth, death and renewal and hook us up to the spirit in all living things. They initiate us back into the wisdom of our bodies and unleash movement’s dynamic healing power."

There is deep purpose in this.

I don't dance nearly as much as I should. Perhaps it's time to start.

Gifts in the Mail

I've been really sick this past week. Well, "really sick" is just a matter of perspective, but it's the worst head cold I've had in almost a year, and it really flattened me for a few days (I can happily report that I'm now improving). They say everything happens for a reason, and in that light I have to say I was the happy recipient of a lovely box of goodies from a friend which couldn't have arrived at a more opportune time.

The lovely Robin from The Quartz Cafe had told me she had an extra copy of the Mystical Kipper deck, and she wanted to pass it on to me. Okay! Kipper cards (Kipper Karten) are a fairly new (circa 1900-ish) particularly German-style divination system similar to Lenormand, which I'd been interested in beginning to experiment with. In fact it was Robin who brought them to my attention to begin with, so in some way it seemed appropriate that I should come by my first deck through her kindness. The deck is really cool, and has been fun to play with thus far. She told me that she was sending the package very well wrapped and marked; she had spent many years as a postal clerk and was very keen on making sure a box arrived at its intended destination!

So I was sick at home when the FedEx fellow rang my doorbell announcing the arrival of my new Kipper cards. The box was a bit larger than necessary for a tiny box of cards, but hey, Robin doesn't mess around!  Well, maybe that last statement is true, but the reason for the large box was that it contained much more than just a set of cards.  She had sent me loads of different teas, a sack of dried rose buds, a nice card, and several types of cone incense!!!  I was surprised, excited, humbled, pleased, and really touched.

Plus, I was sick. And I love tea. And this box of tea was precisely what I needed, and at just the right time. As I descended into the depths of mental fog, brain congestion, and feverish aches and pains, I found great pleasure in sorting through the box of tea and deciding "what next??" Hmm….maybe some mysterious Chinese black tea, immediately followed by Pumpkin Spice….then a berry tea, and then maybe some Prince Grey. Some I drank plain, some with a little honey, some with a touch of milk. And all were piping hot, and just what I needed to get me through the rough seas of a bad head cold.

Meanwhile, between nose-blows, I pulled out my new Kipper deck and began to explore.

Thanks to Robin for the immensely thoughtful package, and to the Universe for the synchronicity.