Will O' the Wisp - Jack O'Lantern (Fire)
Will O' the Wisp is too bad for heaven and too clever for hell. He therefore forever wanders the countryside with a wisp of light. Using the creativity of fire unwisely or selfishly brings misfortune. Seek to use creativity and talent with generosity and compassion.
Invoking the Use of Creativity and Talent.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your creativity and talent may be going astray. A wise person uses his or her creativity wisely and unselfishly. Are you undervaluing your talents and skills and therefore undermining your endeavours? Are you withholding your strengths? hoarding them? trivializing them? neglecting them? overlooking their potential and not attending to their development? Are you supporting your talents through proper diet, exercise, and rest?
Will O' the Wisp was a poor and quick-witted man who ill used his talents taunting his neighbours, including the devil. Some say he was an awful man who always got the upper hand with his neighbours, and even with the devil. When Willy died, he was welcome neither in heaven nor hell. He still wanders about the Irish bogs at night with a lantern or his nose afire. His presence signifies the fires of creativity and talent and their right use in the world.
Mysterious lights are seen on the bogs in Ireland at night. Holding a wisp, a lantern, or with his own nose ablaze to illumine his way in the dark, poor Willy the Wisp (also known as Jack O' Lantern) forever wanders the countryside. "Willy the Wisp ... refused admittance of heaven and hell, was given a wisp for light by the devil. And Willy goes about lonesome places from that day to this and the wisp with him." Willy the Wisp was too bad for heaven and too clever for hell.
When alive, he had been a terrible bad man who played spiteful tricks on his neighbours. His wicked eye was said to have the power to turn a person into a goat. Carried away with his own cleverness, though, he taunted the devil and got the upper hand of Old Nick in every deal. At long last he died and was sent down to hell. When the devil saw him coming he ordered all the doors and windows to be securely locked and bolted. Poor Will walked up and down expecting to be let in at any moment. Losing patience at long last he went over and began peeping in through the bars. What do you say if his nose didn't catch fire! But he had no chance of getting in. The poor fellow had to come back to Ireland and he is wandering up and down the country ever since with the tip of his nose on fire. That's the light you see when he's crossing the bog.... The fire on the tip of his nose is so strong that all the water in the ocean wouldn't extinguish it. He'll be wandering about night after night till Doomsday and then if the devil doesn't let him in I don't know what will become of him.
Never follow Willy's meandering light in the bog. He will lead a man or woman astray.
Unwise or selfish use of creativity and talents brings misfortune. Wise and generous use of talents brings peace of mind and contentment. Compassionate use of talents brings much joy to the heart. In seeking to develop your talents and how to use them it is wise to seek guidance from those who have manifested their own talents in creative and generous ways. Such guidance will be inspiring and sound, because it is based on having already wrestled with the tensions of ambition and impatience, success and failure, giving and receiving, and passion and resistance.
