Now we’re getting to the good stuff: the study of the actual Tarot cards! We begin with the Fool. If you’re going to do the coloring exercises, this is the week to make sure you’ve at least colored this card. If you balk because the last time you did a coloring sheet was in nursery school, let me tell you that it’s a great way to study the Tarot. You really do get forced to notice the detail while you color in the card. It’s also strangely soothing, maybe because it’s such a vivid reminder of childhood.
Brigid is a handy lady to get to know. A Celtic maiden goddess, she has three aspects all by herself: poetry, smithcraft and healing. As the sacred flame of knowledge, Brigid can be represented by anything that give off heat and light.
Yeah, I know it’s not Tuesday, but I was stuck in the doctor’s office all day yesterday. I haven’t quite got the hang of scheduled publishing here on WordPress, so I hope you’ll let me hand my homework in a bit late!
This week’s lesson is on the symbolism of numbers. Numbers are important in magick, as well as any other discipline. Think of duality, triple goddess aspects, the eight slices the wheel of the year divides into. A basic working knowledge of numerology makes learning tarot much easier, since a lot of the time the number of the card is a hint as to the larger meaning behind it.
Paul Foster Case founded the Builders of the Adytum, a Western Mystery school, in 1922 after a disagreement with SL MacGregor Mathers’ widow over the propriety of teaching sex magick (he was for) led him to leave the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. It was (and still is) a correspondence course dealing with esoteric subjects such as Hermetic astrology, qabala and, of course, tarot.
There’s a change.org petition up to help stop the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano. The volcano is considered a sacred site to native Hawaiians.
A group of activists have been blockading process on construction, and many have been arrested. There are currently 13 other telescopes on Mauna Kea.
Jason Momoa (aka Khal Drogo) has been at the forefront of the protests, as evidenced by the contents of his Instagram feed. Please sign the petition, and help stop needless construction on native land.
Map showing location of Mauna Kea volcano (found on wikimedia.org)Some of the existing observatories on Mauna Kea
Consider this my heartfelt apology for neglecting you! I tend to hibernate in the winter, and my health issues tend to act up when it’s cold outside. But I have big plans for bringing this back and hope you’ll indulge me by reading me again.
In addition to the mythology posts, there are a few other things I’d like to share! I’m currently going through Paul Foster Case’sTarot Revelations course (thanks for the tip, Issac Bonewits, wherever you are!) and at the end of each week I’ll be posting what I’ve learned. If you’re interested in following along, the link will take you to the kindle version of the course. Sadly, it appears the physical book version is out of print, but you never know what you might find in second hand bookshops (support your local booksellers!!).
I’d also like to do more media reviews. I just re-read the Mists of Avalon for the I can’t remember how manyth time so that might be coming soon. I’ve got a post about American Gods about half written (it was completely written, but I got a harsh reminder of what happens when you rely on WordPress’s autosave function). Witches seem to be big in the culture of pop recently, so we can have some fun with that.
I’ll be doing more posts about things that are important to my spiritual practice in general, so you’ll be seeing some yoga, some herbalism info, and a teeny bit of astrology. I just want to make things more personal and eclectic, more in the vein of the Yemaya post that you guys seem to like so much.
I know this sounds ambitious for someone who hasn’t written anything in months, but I hope you’ll bear with me. It’ll be fun, I promise!
Lucina's Cauldron 