COVID19 Update 1st May 2020
Sunday 3 May 2020
COVID19 1st May 2020
Saturday 2 May 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 2nd May 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 2nd May 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.
28 - GENTLEMAN / MAN
This card stands for the person asking the question if it is a man, and so it is the person card for men. If the person asking the question is a woman, the card represents her present or future partner, i.e. the man she feels closest to.
Friend, husband, significant other, boyfriend, love. Also action, aggressiveness, logic, will-power.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.13 - CHILD
This card symbolizes your own child. It stands for a new beginning, but it can also express that a matter is small or that a person has a childish, naive disposition. Furthermore it can stand for children, teenagers, your daughter, your lady lover or a young woman.
Naive, young, playful, a child. Trust, friendliness, children.
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.Recent influences: Any recent influences that may impact on the day.
16 - STARS
Another card of luck! Depending on the questions asked, it indicates that a matter will succeed. It is the card of success. It also stands for intuition, spirituality, psychic powers and astrology.
Cosmos, Universe, the point of life/being, the laws of the universe, spiritual aspirations, the melancholy of dreams, eternity, the call of angels.
Friday 1 May 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 1st May 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 1st May 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.
20 - PARK / GARDEN
The park stands for places open to the public, for society and any place where a lot of people come together. This can be a concert, a hospital or a fair. Depending on the questions asked, this card is an indicator that many people are involved.
Creativity, meeting, party.
Society, connection, peace from thoughts and worries, multi-levelled feelings, get-togethers, gathering places.
Social network, the public, nature of the crowd.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.11 - WHIPS
The whips card brings arguments, i.e. scathing disagreements. If the card lies next to card 10 (SCYTHE), there is an increased danger of accidents.
Cleansing, two/dual, consequences, call to cleanse the soul, arguments, heated debate, strife.
Strife and conflict, arguments.
Self-discipline, self-punishment, feelings of unworthiness
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.25 - RING
The ring is the classical card for partnership, marriage, a relationship or a connection if the card lies on the right of the person card. If the card lies on the left however, it can indicate that a relationship is going to end.
Karma, group work, monotony, cycles, connections, contracts, protection.
Marriage, partnership matters.
Thursday 30 April 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 30th April 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 30th April 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.
21 - MOUNTAIN
At the place where the mountain appears there is a blockage. An obstacle has to be overcome and nothing is working at the moment. The card can also be an indicator of a powerful enemy.
Obstacle, danger, block, frustration, coldness, hard work.
Large, momentous.
Fixed, long-lasting or permanent.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.4 - HOUSE
This card stands for your home, the place where you feel comfortable, a secure place. In combination with card 17 (STORKS) it denotes moving house.
The home, fruitful projects.
Stability, the home, family ties, responsibility.
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.34 - FISH
The fish is the classical card for money. Everything to do with finances and money is indicated by this card. It can also stand for a businessman.
Intellectualism, material success and wealth, also: instability, excess, drugs, alcohol.
Excess, luxury, wealth, money.
Trade, exchange, sales, business matters.
Wednesday 29 April 2020
Liz Greene - a link to Astro.com
The Current Quality of Time
By Liz Greene
The full details are in my post dated today.
THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME for May 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 29th April 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 29th April 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.
29 - LADY / WOMAN
This card represents the woman asking the questions and is therefore the person card for women. If the person asking the questions is a man, the card symbolizes his present or future partner, i.e. the woman he feels closest to.
Friend, wife, significant other, girlfriend, love. Also intuition, passiveness, instinct, patience.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.2 - CLOVER / VIOLETS
This card brings luck and hope, if it is close to the person card. If it is close to card 6 (CLOUDS) however, you won't be lucky.
Hope, good luck and wealth. Lucky happenstance.
Hope, Simplicity, Luck, all things Natural.
Magical, Opportunity, positive vibrations
Denotes speed and quickness (the antithesis of the slow/gradual MICE)
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.6 - CLOUDS
The clouds card always points to an unclear, unfathomable situation. It is essential to look closely at the cards around it. The light side of the card brings an improvement, the dark side a deterioration of the situation.
Obstacles and unpleasant events.
Secret worries, doubts, fears and weakness, negative period of time.
THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME
THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME for May 2020
Saturn-Pluto During recent weeks, we have all had ample opportunity to experience the workings of the planetary qualities firsthand, especially those of Saturn and Pluto, which formed a challenging conjunction on January 13 this year. The quality of time is now imbued with their themes. In a flash, Saturnian limitations were established: Curfews, border closures or ʹsocial distancingʹ are now part of everyday life. The archetypal Saturnian figure of the Hermit is symbolic of the secluded life inside oneʹs own four walls that many have to endure these days. But also the themes of Pluto, lord of the underworld, are ever present. We are confronted with archaic fears of death, and we may feel compelled to do things we never wanted to do. Even though it is currently hard to predict how things will develop, it is very likely that the consequences of this crisis will occupy us for a long time to come. But donʹt let yourself be drawn into Plutoʹs hypnotic spell too strongly but have the courage to turn your gaze away from the horror again. The planets continue to follow their cycles and bring new topics with them.
Venus The month of May is strongly influenced by Venus themes. She is currently in the communicative sign of Gemini. We long for lightness and ease in our lives again. On May 4, Venus forms a square with Neptune. The longing for exchange and for clarity in relationships is great. This is a good time to make new connections and open up new channels of communication. Be creative and dare to show yourself from new and different sides. However, the longing can hardly be completely fulfilled, especially during the time of the passionate Full Moon on the Scorpio-Taurus axis on May 7. On May 13, Venus begins her retrograde phase, which will last until June 25. The square with Neptune therefore remains active for most of the month. It could be worth your while to take a closer look at the nature of your longing. Unsatisfied neediness could tempt us to remain in a passive attitude, either feeling victimized or making constant demands on others, instead of using our longing as a blueprint for actively shaping our own life.
Two more planets will turn retrograde this month: Saturn on May 11 (until September 29), and Jupiter on May 15 (until September 13). With Pluto already in retrograde since April 26, all three planets involved in the events of recent weeks are now moving backwards through the zodiac. Much of what has happened all too quickly since then must now be carefully fathomed and corrected if necessary. Mutual recriminations are to be expected. Mars enters the sign of Pisces on May 13, which, on the one hand, gives hope that such disputes will be conducted with a certain degree of leniency. On the other hand, it may sometimes be difficult to get to the heart of the matter. Unclear or even clandestine actions could have consequences at a later stage.
Gemini On May 20, the Sun enters Gemini, followed by a Gemini New Moon exactly trine Saturn in Aquarius two days later. Mercury forms a conjunction with Venus, both of them squaring Neptune. The airy themes of Gemini are now emphasized even more strongly. Ideas are exchanged and a certain lightheartedness may arise here and there. On the downside, there could be quite a bit of trickery and a general tendency toward verbosity. Yet, there is another important Gemini theme - trade -, and it is quite possible that some restrictions will be lifted and small trade may get a chance to recover and develop again.
Tuesday 28 April 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 28th April 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 28th April 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.
20 - PARK / GARDEN
The park stands for places open to the public, for society and any place where a lot of people come together. This can be a concert, a hospital or a fair. Depending on the questions asked, this card is an indicator that many people are involved.
Creativity, meeting, party.
Society, connection, peace from thoughts and worries, multi-levelled feelings, get-togethers, gathering places. Social network, the public, nature of the crowd.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.24 - HEART
The heart stands for love, the love of life and kind-heartedness. In combination with cards 8 (COFFIN) or 36 (CROSS) it denotes lovesickness.
Love, happiness. Love, feelings, the heart, the heart of something, connection, God-love.
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.21 - MOUNTAIN
At the place where the mountain appears there is a blockage. An obstacle has to be overcome and nothing is working at the moment. The card can also be an indicator of a powerful enemy.
Obstacle, danger, block, frustration, coldness, hard work.
Large, momentous. Fixed, long-lasting or permanent.
Monday 27 April 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 27th April 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 27th April 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.13 - CHILD
This card symbolizes your own child. It stands for a new beginning, but it can also express that a matter is small or that a person has a childish, naive disposition. Furthermore it can stand for children, teenagers, your daughter, your lady lover or a young woman.
Naive, young, playful, a child. Trust, friendliness, children.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.23 - MOUSE / MICE
The mice bring about loss, sorrows and theft. If the card lies next to the person card, there's something nagging at the person. In combination with card 8 (COFFIN) it can be an indicator of disease. It can also stand for a thief.
Secrets that nibble away at a person, obstacles, losses, hidden enemies, old debts, deep level instincts.
Theft, losses. Worries, anxieties.
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.19 - TOWER
The tower represents the authorities. It can also indicate isolation and lonliness. Sometimes it is an indicator of a separation that is yet to come, or of a long life. Above all, it can stand for a person in a leading position who has a lot of power or influence.
Stability, success, aloofness, remoteness, the elevation of the spirit.
The course of your life, long life, someone or something from the past, protection.
An institute of authority, a company or business.
Governmental institution, particularly when paired with MOUNTAIN.
Daily 3 Card Spread 26th April 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 26th April 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.24 - HEART
The heart stands for love, the love of life and kind-heartedness. In combination with cards 8 (COFFIN) or 36 (CROSS) it denotes love-sickness. Love, happiness.
Love, feelings, the heart, the heart of something, connection, God-love.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.19 - TOWER
The tower represents the authorities. It can also indicate isolation and loneliness. Sometimes it is an indicator of a separation that is yet to come, or of a long life. Above all, it can stand for a person in a leading position who has a lot of power or influence.
Stability, success, aloofness, remoteness, the elevation of the spirit.
The course of your life, long life, someone or something from the past, protection.
An institute of authority, a company or business.
Governmental institution, particularly when paired with MOUNTAIN.
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.1 - RIDER / CAVALIER
This card brings good news. If however, card 6 (CLOUDS) lies between the horse rider and the person card, it is bad news. The card also expresses that something is set in motion. Or it can stand for a young, mostly sporty man.
News from a foreign country or from far away.
Thoughts, news, hunches, dynamic processes. This is a positive card, a good messenger, whatever you intend will go well.
Sunday 26 April 2020
Daily 3 Card Spread 25th April 2020
The Daily 3 Card Spread 25th April 2020
1st Card
Any recent influences that may impact on the day.18 - DOG
The dog stands for friendship, for someone you can rely on. If card 6 (CLOUDS) lies next to it, you ought to be cautious and incredulous. The card can also symbolize your son, brother, a young man or a lover. Reliable friendship.
Follower, faith, Belief, simple spirit, friendliness, connection, friends, finding one's place in the world. Reliable, loyal, friendly.
2nd Card
This is the DAY CARD which reflects the present situation and implications over the whole day or 24 hours.8 - COFFIN
With this card something comes to an end so something new can come into existence. Next to the person card, it indicates disease or sorrow.
Completion, serious illness, large loss of money.
Transformation, major change in a a situation, endings, secrets uncovered.
3rd Card
Card 3 reflects on both cards 1 and 2 and may provide answers to any outcome over the coming days.10 - SCYTHE
Danger is lurking from where the tip of the scythe points. However, if there are good cards nearby, the danger is alleviated. The scythe tells us that something will happen suddenly. This can be both a sudden ending and a sudden new beginning.
Break-up, great danger, accidents.
Renewal of inner knowledge without the fundament of understanding that knowledge, experiencing something one does not understand... a card which says to be careful, something that happens quickly and can bring much pain. It can also point to a harvest though.
Friday 24 April 2020
Today's Oracle 24th April 2020
Sacred King (The Oath)
The sacred king represents the successful union of the sovereign goddess with a mortal king. If the king is faithful to his oath, the people prosper. The sacred king signifies honourable and responsible actions.
Invoking the Qualities of honour and Responsibility.
In former times, before the Norman conquest of Britain and coastal Ireland and Wales, Celtic kings were chosen by the sovereign goddess who granted the new king otherworldly powers so as to reign justly and wisely. To find the rightful man among the young men of the royal clan, the candidates were watched and tested by the druids for signs of providence. Niall of the Nine Hostages was born by a well, a sacred threshold to the Otherworld. Later, he meets and couples with the goddess there and is elected king of Ireland.
The tests of honour for the rightful king remain much the same throughout history. The king must show exceptional virtue, as though already appointed by the Otherworld. In Ireland, according to tradition, the royal cloak must fit him, the royal chariot must obey him, and the Stone of Fál at Tara must shriek when he touches it. Then, the sovereign goddess of the land must accept him as her own choice from among the others. In myth, their union is sexual: the exchange of primal energies bringing fertility and greenery to the land. Recorded in the twelfth century by the Roman chronicler Giraldus Cambrensis (Gerald of Wales) was the ritual bath of the Ulster king in the broth that boiled the butchered flesh of a white mare, symbolizing the sovereign goddess. At the royal court at Tara, the heart of legendary Ireland, their union is ritually reenacted. Ériu, a goddess and namesake of Ireland, offers a gold goblet of red wine to successive kings, symbolizing their union and her promise through this union to bless the land with ceaseless bounty.
Once elected, the king is bound by sacred oaths and strict rules of conduct, securing that his reign will provide for the well-being, prosperity, and protection of the people. He is not free to do as he pleases and follow his whims. He is bound by rules of fealty and honour, the betrayal of which signals his individual ruin, a lackluster reign, the failure of crops, and the demoralization of his people. His only honourable choice, once king, is to govern wisely and justly, speak only the truth and keep his promises, show impartiality, provide protection to the weak and the strong alike, render hospitality, take up arms to defend the people from enemies, and in his noble conduct set a standard for all to follow.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your actions must be especially honourable and unselfish. You are in a situation of responsibility asking you to protect the well-being of others. Your sense of honour and duty demand that you put aside personal inclinations to serve others.
In order to be successful, your actions must be honest and impartial. In the present situation, your personal likes and dislikes, or impressions formed in the past, may be untrustworthy. Make decisions based on what is valid and invalid, on the weaknesses and strengths inherent in the specific circumstance. Tell the truth and keep your promises. Accept responsibility graciously. Extend generosity and concern, especially to those who are less fortunate in your community. Be mindful that your personal life is now an aspect of your public life and that your actions set an example for others.
Thursday 23 April 2020
Today's Oracle 23rd April 2020
Mother goddess Carrying Children/Food (Well-Being)
The goddess of care-giving provides comfort, ease, and contentment in the home and wherever she goes. Her qualities provide for daily nurturance and the necessities of life and support for our physical and emotional fulfillment.
Invoking the Qualities of Comfort and Contentment.
Images of the mother goddess of well-being are found throughout the Celtic territories. As a local maternal sovereign, she attends to the everyday needs of life by sustaining the local crops, blessing the harvest, nursing the babies, comforting the sick and the dying, pouring out the wine, and dispensing the fruits of the harvest. The passing of life, the cycle of birth and death, and the vicissitudes of day-to-day existence are her concerns. Her presence is familiar, homey, and soothing. Amid the insecurities and dangers of life, she blesses life with comfort, constancy, and contentment.
Whether depicted as a single goddess or in groups of two or three representing her magnificence, the mother goddess in her aspect of loving care carries symbols of well-being, security, and prosperity intended to bless and provide for life's daily needs. In image after image, she holds fruit, grains, ears of corn, bread, pots of honey and mead. Ordinarily, she carries babies and is encircled by toddlers and older children seeking her attention and perhaps her good counsel. In this lovely image from the Rhineland, she carries two enormous cornucopias, signifying her bountiful presence in providing food and sustenance throughout the years.
The goddess of the home and locality is immortalized in the words of the ancient poet Amergin:
"I am the womb: of every holt, I am the blaze: on every hill, I am the queen: of every hive, I am the shield: for every head, I am the tomb: of every hope."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting physical and emotional comfort and well-being into your life. You may be in the midst of a challenging situation, or the mundane activities or weariness of life's struggles may be tiring or exhausting your reserves.
Drawing this oracle is a wake-up call to nourish yourself with soothing activities and relationships. A complete rest is not necessary. Nonetheless, you are asked to focus your attention on your immediate and personal needs for comfort, nourishment, and well-being. What activities would soothe you? Is your diet supporting your life? Do the people around you give you comfort and reassurance? Is there a way to receive more physical or sexual contact and comfort? Do some people and activities unnerve you or deplete you? Even seemingly minor activities can be enormously tiring or rejuvenating. Look for patterns, especially in your home life. Write them down, even if they seem unimportant at the time. Since the mother goddess is devoted to tranquillity at home, it is especially important to consider ways to bring more ease, contentment, and security to your domestic life.
Even amid trying situations, it is possible to support your physical and emotional well-being. Small signs of joy, acts of kindness, personal prayer, meditation, and attention to diet and exercise are essential. The presence of this oracle gives hope that the nourishment and comfort you need is available in your immediate environment.
NOBODY IS LISTENING ANYMORE!
Is our planet fighting back? 🌍
I wrote this in April 2011
Chaos theory is a field of study in applied mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions; an effect which is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. Small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general.[1] This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved.[2] In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable.[3][4] This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos.
Chaotic behavior can be observed in many natural systems, such as the weather.
The above article is from Wikipedia, (Link – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory)
I’m not a scientist, economist, biologist, or philosopher and yet I can sense something BIG is going to happen soon to our planet and more than likely its inhabitants too. With worldwide communication becoming ever more instantaneous and with instant access to everything and anyone, we have enabled ourselves to become a global community, and yet we are unable to act like one, especially in the more developed countries.
Materialism, selfishness, and greed has superseded compassion, regard for each other, and dignity and so maybe, just maybe the planet that we all share and inhabit is starting to feel this wave of destruction heading its way and is fighting back.
It’s as if all the unrest in Africa and the Middle East have become the butterfly’s wings and the earthquakes in Japan, the tornadoes in America just might be the effects of those wings fluttering to the point of destruction of the whole planet.
I’m not a doom and gloom merchant, I’m just a realist. If what I can feel and sense from all the news reports and television coverage day in and day out, something has to give very soon.
Today in February 2020
Wild fires in the USA and Australia, the corona virus epidemic, floods in the UK, deforestation, plastic pollution, wild animals decreasing rapidly, it keeps happening over and over.
All we seem to care about is our next iPhone or Big Mac meal.
Wednesday 22 April 2020
Today's Oracle 22nd April 2020
Faery Hill (The Hidden World of Faeries)
By legend, the faeries are the descendants of the Tuatha De Danann, a godlike race who once inhabited Ireland. They now reside beneath the ground inside hills and mounds in the countryside. Their presence signifies inspiration.
Invoking Inspiration.
With the coming of the Celts to Ireland, the powerful Tuatha De Danann, the people of the goddess Danu, eventually retreated from the Middle World on the earth's surface and yielded the land's surface to the Celts. They gently slipped into the Otherworld, where they now live fanciful and merry lives as neighbours in a parallel realm to humans. Living in certain hills throughout the countryside, often ancestral burial mounds called sidhe or sí (pronounced "shee"), the inhabitants of the sidhe are known as faeries. At night some faery hills are seen as ablaze with sparkling lights and alive with merrymaking and music. On certain nights the doors between the worlds open, particularly Samhain (now Halloween), marking the beginning of winter, and May Eve, marking the beginning of summer. On these nights, faeries are often encountered travelling about in our world and may lead humans to gateways to the Otherworld. Familiar caves and cliffs may open, revealing splendid faery castles within. While kindly observers and visitors may be rewarded, interfering with faery hills or castles invites reprisal.
A typical story from Donegal in Ireland tells of a man stacking turf on the bog. Returning at nightfall, he comes upon "a big black hole with mud lying on the surface ... and a kind of big opening down into the ground. He stuck his stick into it." When he tries to pull the stick out, "what did he do but take a jump into the hole. He went down until he hit hard ground at the bottom and began to walk until he reached a castle where there were many people singing and great entertainment and eating and drinking. He sat in amongst them but he did not eat anything" because he might never return home if he ate or drank.
The presence of the faeries living close by animates the landscape of the earth with lively activity. Along with nature spirits particular to trees, flowers, and features of the landscape, the Otherworld of the faeries imbues the natural, human world with movement, exuberance, and passion. Our world mirrors theirs.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracted to the spiritual forces around you. These spiritual forces, whether faeries or nature spirits, are sometimes the special friends of poets, artists, playwrights, musicians, and the inventive and creative ones of every trade or profession. The presence of the faeries and nature spirits gives the landscape around you its wondrous qualities, and you are attracted to its supernatural qualities.
While the Celts are unusually attentive to the presence of otherworldly beings who share the earth with us, the earth is sacred wherever you live. If you live in nature, especially in secluded places where supernatural beings are more at ease, you may be especially aware of their presence and passionate, spirited vitality. Quite unlike contemporary notions that portray the faeries as fearful and meddlesome, the faeries would much rather cooperate with us, especially sharing inspiration, visions, frivolity, song, and music. Unfortunately, the faeries - and other nature spirits - have become wary of humans, so attracting their support requires respect and care for our natural environment and the spirits who dwell there.
Tuesday 21 April 2020
Today's Oracle 21st April 2020
Water Horses (Magical Encounters)
Water horses, are magical horses riding over the seas or appearing from the depths of inland lochs. Water horses appear magically and swiftly. Their presence signifies masculine strength and beauty.
Invoking the Union of Strength and Beauty.
Crossing the seas or arising from the depths of inland lochs, water horses bring a bright union of strength and beauty. Glistening in the sun, they combine the strength and vigour of a horse, the radiance of sun in swift flight, and the mystery of its origins beneath the sea. In The Voyage of Bran, a mythical sea horse conveys the chariot of the god of the seas, Manannán Mac Lir, and his company to meet Bran and his sailors, who are in search of the enchanted isle. As Manannán comes closer to the boat he begins to sing:
"Bran's boat shims over calm waters.
Bran's ship is revelling in a clear sea, but to me, in my chariot, it is a flowery plain.
In my gentle land, the home of Manannán Mac Lir, sea horses glisten in the sun, and rivers pour forth honey.
Flowers are growing where Bran sees waves....
Row steadily, Bran, row steadily over my kingdom and you will reach the Land of Women before the setting of the sun."
Manannán and his chariot disappear beneath the waves and Bran and his sailors row on.
Water horses radiate strength and beauty in popular tales from Ireland and Scotland. Many of the stories tell of a poor farmer whose farm is near a lake or the sea. One day he discovers a foal in his field and she grows into a magnificent mare. She is beautiful, of "fine limb and graceful form" and as "swift as the wind and had no equal." Many years later, he mistreats her and she disappears with her foals back into the sea. In a typical story from County Sligo in Ireland, a poor farmer encounters a foal grazing on the shore near his small house:
"One morning when he got up he went out to the well for a can of water for his tea. To his great surprise, he saw a young foal on the shore. He went down to the shore and brought the foal in. The foal grew to a mare and every year she had a foal. This continued for seven years and after some time he was a rich man.... But one morning a strange thing happened. The man went out to the stable to let out the mare. When he was letting her out, he hit her with her bridle. As soon as he did, the mare neighed seven times and the seven foals came galloping up to her. They all turned in the direction of the sea and swam out into the water. They were never seen again."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are called to renew some aspect of your life with the joining of beauty and strength. Perhaps your life now feels too familiar, routine, conforming, or emotionally flat. Your daily activities may lack spontaneity and vigour. Male or female, the depths of your masculinity may long for opportunities to explore new strengths and capacities. You may wish to express your outward authority, mastery, and leadership in tender and gracious ways. If so, new challenges and experiences may be drawing close. Your judgment and skill will be tested. Opportunities to explore the unknown may enter your life. By joining beauty to strength, you have the opportunity to break out of the overly familiar and experience vigorous and harmonious ways of living and acting.
Monday 20 April 2020
Today's Oracle 20th April 2020
Pooka (The Trickster)
From the Pooka, a goblin and trickster of the Otherworld, expect the unusual. The Pooka is known to take humans for a ride and dump them. He is not what he appears to be. Be open to unforeseen experiences, circumstances, or insight.
Invoking the Unexpected, Curious, and Whimsical.
The Pooka is the trickster among the Irish and Welsh goblins and is known to take many forms. Always rough and unkempt, the Pooka appears as a horse, a goat, a dog, or occasionally an eagle the size of a horse. Sometimes the Pooka appears as a ghastly-looking creature resembling a horse with great big long horns or an unknown mix of several animals. Appearing as a horse, it may sneak under a man and between his legs and then take off galloping. At the cave under the Dun of Clopook, there is "a spirit of a Pooka in this cave which frequently presents itself in the form of a fleece of wool, which issued from the cave and roamed over the field with astonishing celerity. Its motions were accompanied by a buzzing sound.
Pookas frequently appear around Halloween and May Eve (April 30), when the veil between the supernatural and human worlds grows thin and otherworldly beings and humans may pass more easily to and fro. Occasionally, a kindly Pooka rescues a man or woman from the faery host or other unseen dangers. More typically, though, the trickster Pooka appears to a lost and weary traveller to offer the man a welcome lift home - or somehow manages to get the man on its back. And "when he was on his back, [the Pooka] would race over the tops of cliffs frightening the man riding on him, and when the Pooka was tired of going with him, would bring him back again to the place where he was before or some lonely spot." The Pooka may laugh heartily as it gallops out of sight. A typical story from County Kerry tells of a saint who was caught out in the woods at night by a Pooka:
"The saint wasn't long more in the place, when a pooka horse came up to him. The pooka horse told him to come on his back and that he would bring him home. The saint was glad to hear the pooka saying that, and he thanked the pooka and said that he would go up on his back. Anyhow he got up on the pooka's back, and the pooka started running wild around the wood. [He] ran into big heaps of briars and bushes. The poor saint couldn't come off his back at all, and the pooka jumped across big glens and big holes and every place worse than another and the saint thought that he would be killed every minute. Anyway the pooka kept going on that way till morning, and he let the saint come off his back when it was bright day.
When the saint was on the ground again, he took a good rest before he started away again because indeed there was a right good fright on him after the night before."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may expect the unexpected. Tricksters are natural shape-shifters, so the Pooka might show up suddenly in many guises, as unforeseen events, unanticipated circumstances, unique people, or abrupt changes in direction. The Pooka's signaling characteristics are its sudden appearance (as if from nowhere), feeling tricked into doing something you wouldn't ordinarily do (against your better judgment), and perhaps being shaken by a series of seemingly dangerous or reckless events. Despite their unlikely appearance, these unsettling experiences may awaken you to new choices and opportunities. When you least expect it, the Pooka has the pesky habit of picking you up and "dumping" you into new circumstances.
The Pooka is the trickster or prankster of the Celtic world, making mischief with unsuspecting people especially when they feel lost or tired. While the Pooka may frighten and disorient, no one is harmed. Without the Pooka's intervention, you might not have been able to see clearly the circumstances now before you.
Sunday 19 April 2020
Today's Oracle 19th April 2020
Cauldron of Creation (Source)
The womb (or cauldron) of the goddess is the source of creation. As the inexhaustible cauldron, she restores the dead to life. Her presence signals a need for repose, rest, and a complete overhaul of life energies before life is regenerated again.
Invoking the Quality of Repose and Replenishment.
Life begins in the womb of the goddess. Ceaselessly, she births the Milky Way. The stars, moon, planets, trees and plants, animals, people, and all that is yet to exist issue from her womb. From an enormous force within, life spews forth, magnificently, hugely, intensely, and relentlessly. No god, no man or woman can tame this rite of passage. Like the mythic cauldron that symbolizes her womb, life tempestuously brews.
Yet, men and women try to ease the advancing passage. In a poem entitled "Mór Hatching," originally written in Gaelic, contemporary Irish poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill addresses the age-old mother with all the awe and ambivalence of an ancient Celt:
"I'm telling you, unruly Mór, that green snakes will emanate from your womb if you stay hatching out this poisoned kernel one day more.
Gather to yourself, like a bee, the hours that are blossoming in the sun's sharp sting: they ripen in the heat.
Gather them from them create honeyed days."
On the Gundestrup Cauldron, one of the prominent side plates portrays a large figure, probably divine, standing before a procession of Celtic warriors. One by one, the deity appears to dip and remove them from the cauldron, as though to restore them to life. Irish and Welsh folk tales tell of enchanted pots and bowls ever full of meal or tasty brew.
In the Tale of Branwen from the Second and Third Branch of the Mabinogion, Matholwch, an Irish king, sails to Wales, and hoping to form an alliance, approaches Bendigeidfran, son of Llfr, the king of Wales. When Matholwch is hideously insulted by an outraged chieftain, the king's half-brother, Bendigeidfran, appeases his anger by giving him a gift above price, a magic cauldron.
"I will give you a cauldron with a special property: should a man of yours be killed today, cast him into the cauldron, and by tomorrow he will be as good as ever but he will be without speech."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may be feeling weary or inwardly depleted. This oracle calls for repose, rest, and a complete overhaul of life energies before energy and vitality are replenished. While the goddess is inexhaustible in her powers to restore, you are urged to cooperate by retreating from the activities of life. Seek solitude. Do as little as possible. Sleep. Relax. Engage in small and subtle activities that quiet rather than excite the mind. Meditate or pray. Let the mind unwind and settle naturally.
Once you are emptied of your automatic and perhaps busy life, you will begin to feel more spacious and free. If you are rested and quiet within, you may notice subtle changes in your awareness. As with any birth, beginnings may at first be unsettling and even messy. Nonetheless, in time new life will naturally arise within you. You will feel replenished, as though filled up by an unknown and timeless source.
Saturday 18 April 2020
Today's Oracle 18th April 2020
Thorn Tree (The Sacred Sign)
The thorn tree is sacred and inviolable. Cutting one down brings misfortune for dishonouring the habitats of the faeries of the underground. Take care not to disturb something sacred. Attend to purifying actions and intentions, including actions in the past.
Invoking Purity of Intentions and Actions.
The faery thorn tree or bush reminds us of the presence of the faeries living nearby. The thorn tree marks the habitats of the faeries, and the surrounding ground is hallowed by the thorn. The proverbial wisdom tells us that it is plain foolishness to cut or damage a thorn tree, especially a solitary thorn growing alone in an open space, marking the boundary between neighbours, near a sacred well, faery rash (fort), or home. Even "city people" provide little courtyards amid urban complexes for lonely thorns, fearing to incur the wrath of the faeries. No small wonder, as tradition has it, that cutting a thorn tree is met with disaster, and even death. Nearly everywhere in rural Ireland, the story is told of a local man who ignored the advice of his neighbours, cut down a thorn tree, and died shortly thereafter.
A recent and well-known incident occurred in County Antrim, as told by Jim Grant of Belfast. Some years ago, during the construction of an immense factory, a thorn tree remained untouched by the workers. The local "boys" cleared everything else, but they would not chop it down or interfere with it in any way. The company finally got an Englishman to remove it. He chopped the tree down and bulldozed the roots. The next stage was putting in the Piles, concrete pilings which were approximately 12 inches in diameter and 10 feet long - to give foundation. They laid the first of the foundation with a pile driver, but when they returned the next morning, the pilings were three feet from where they should have been! ... So, they got a new length of Piles and again placed them in the ground. The next morning, the pilings were three feet from their original locations, but in the opposite direction of the first move! So they called a conference to see who was guilty.... The smallest man in the meeting, he stood up and said, "The only way you are going to build your factory here is to replace our tree where it was." So they said to him, "How can we, if it has been cut?" He said, "get it grafted." Nobody believed him initially, of course.... So, they brought a tree specialist from Holland in. He replanted the roots on the tree and grafted it. There is now a wee courtyard in the middle of the factory, with a thorn tree growing. The faery man was never seen again, but the thorn tree thrives.
By tradition, the thorn tree blooms on the first day of May, signaling the coming of summer. Always liking a good party, the faeries may favour the thorn, not only for its fierce, protecting thorns, but for the merrymaking that comes with summer.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the thorn tree asks you to purify actions and intentions, including purifying those of the past. The thorn tree is sacred and inviolate. It sets a very high standard and should never be disturbed in any way. Impure actions and ill intentions, however minor, harm other forms of life as well as yourself, both outwardly and inwardly. Living in accord with the actions of nature, which sustains all life impartially, is to live humbly and richly, gently and courageously, in the giving and receiving of life. The purity of your actions and intentions, rather than how others think or feel about you, sets your course toward well-being and the acquiring of wisdom.
The presence of the thorn tree reminds you that all aspects of your life are sacred. Take time to reflect on what you may be overlooking or ignoring in your life. When you identify it, pay attention and protect it. Remember that the thorn tree is among the humblest-looking of trees and that some of the most precious aspects of your life may not be immediately apparent.
Friday 17 April 2020
Today's Oracle 17th April 2020
Sun god (god of the Sky)
The power and return of the sun has been acclaimed and honoured for thousands of years. The warmth and light of the sun kindles the life-giving potential of the earth's biosphere. The sun's qualities are majesty, radiance, fertility, and beauty.
Invoking the Qualities of Power and Radiance.
The sun gives warmth, light, and cycles to the year and is therefore associated with the giving of life, fertility of the crops, and the conquering of menacing forces. Complementary to the earth's primal power over life, the sun touches the earth and sparks the life already there. From archaeological evidence from the Bronze and Iron Age through the mythological period, the allusion to sexual coupling is obvious: the warmth of the sun enters the moist interior of the earth where life begins. Solar images adorn the bodies and are conveyed by goddesses and gods alike. In the Camonica Valley in northern Italy, the Celts of the late Bronze and Iron Age carved on cave walls solar images, round disks or spoked wheels held aloft or volleyed by human figures. The Gundestrup Cauldron bears the image of a magnificent sky god portrayed as being upheld, perhaps conveyed, by a wheel. Small clay figures of young goddesses are affixed with sun wheels surrounding their bodies or adorning their breasts, bellies, and thighs. Images of the sun and earthly abundance appear to harmonize in the Celtic imagination. Though sun images are primarily associated with male deities and images of earthly abundance with mother goddesses, it is not uncommon to find goddesses associated with sun wheels and gods carrying cornucopias and signs of a prosperous harvest.
Images of the sun wheel and swastikas, sometimes accompanied by a chariot and horse, on cave walls, coins, and armour, distill in imagery the mythic portrayal of the sun conveyed across the sky by a chariot and a team of horses. Perhaps only an animal as prestigious as a horse could accompany the sun. Epona, the horse goddess, is sometimes accompanied by solar imagery.
Solar deities in the Roman period, however, became increasingly masculine and fierce, though benevolent toward those they protected. Borrowing some of Jupiter's appearance from the Romans, the Celtic Jupiter is a powerful god, portrayed as standing and holding his solar wheel authoritatively. He frequently appears as a victor and as a god of generous mien and majesty, mounted on a horse and brandishing his (entirely Celtic) solar wheel like a shield against the enemy. Beneath him, pressed down by his foot or hand, is a monstrous, serpent like creature. The Celtic Jupiter is a warrior god, conquering the hideous forces troubling human life.
Two of the great fire festivals of the Celtic world, Beltaine at the coming of summer (May 1) and Lughnasa at the coming of the harvest (August 1), ritualise fire as the sun's semblance on earth. The cycles of the sun bring life. Celebrated into the nineteenth century, a midsummer celebration in Germany, for example, involved setting a wheel of straw on fire and rolling it down a mountain into the Moselle River. If the wheel reached the river still ablaze, a good wine harvest was foreseen. Similarly, the great fire festival of the Christian year, Easter, became associated in time with the sun. On Easter, the country people in Ireland rose early in the morning in hopes of seeing the "sun dancin' in the sky."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are sensing a fiery power emanating toward you or from within you. You marvel at the majesty of the sky world and the delicate fabric of life stirred by sunlight. You cannot seem to get enough sunlight. The brilliance of light attracts you. You may want to wear bright jewelry, or even be attracted to precious gems, especially diamonds.
Drawing this oracle suggests that you have an opportunity to attract majesty and radiance to your character and attitude toward life. This is your time in the sun, a time to shine, bringing a sparkling quality to your own life as well as to others'. If you are attracted to a spiritual path, you may sense an inner light that propels you to focus more intensely on your meditations, prayers, or practices toward gaining enlightenment.
The sun's constancy and radiance invariably help to instil confidence and assurance. Positioning your life within the sun's beneficence brings balance to the flow of ordinary life events. In sensing the constancy of movement beneath change, hard times will bestow resilient and bountiful times, steadiness, and hope. By mindfully drawing closer to the sun's radiance, your life will seem more buoyant, majestic, powerful, and inspiring.
Thursday 16 April 2020
Today's Oracle 16th April 2020
Divine Couple (Union)
The divine couple promotes the health and well-being of the family, household, or locale and assures the continuity of life, even after death. The presence of the divine couple brings domestic harmony, prosperity, and success in business and commerce.
Invoking the Qualities of Harmony and Balance.
Divine couples are a common feature of Celtic iconography, even more so than among the Greeks and Romans. Popular local goddesses personifying the land partner with gods of fertility and prosperity to assure the continuance of life.
In areas occupied by Roman armies, native goddesses acquired Roman gods as partners, creatively sanctioning both a military and a spiritual reality. Portrayed as equal in size and balanced in authority, these divine partners provided assurance of the orderly continuance of life through the dangers and unpredictability of daily life amid conquest and occupation, and even beyond the portals of death.
Together as partners, or individually, Sucellus the Hammer God, and Nantosuelta, a territorial river goddess, were widely revered throughout Provence, Burgundy, Germany, and Luxembourg. They are a handsome couple of equal size and proportions, usually portrayed seated beside each other on thrones or standing regally, accompanied by their individual symbols of authority. He holds a hammer or mallet, and sometimes a pot; she carries a cornucopia or plate of fruits and grains, and occasionally a scepter festooned with a symbol of a house. Together they are associated with prosperity, health, and wellbeing, the success of the wine harvest, and through regeneration the protection of the living and the dead.
In occupied areas of Gaul, Germany, and Britain, Mercury and Apollo became popular among the Celts, Apollo even acquiring several Celtic surnames. Though Mercury retains his winged cap and Apollo his lyre, they are nonetheless paired with the native Celtic goddesses, Rosmerta and Sirona respectively. One of Rosmerta's characteristics includes holding a rudder perched on a globe, as though to guide it. Sirona is associated with curative thermal springs and healing. Though divine couples were usually portrayed as equals, a unique stone from the Rhineland in Germany suggests Rosmerta's authority over the Roman Mercury. The iconography shows the Roman god offering his money bag to Rosmerta, who sits before him on a throne.
Irish and Welsh legends are full of the intrigues of supernatural lovers, often the background or rationale for war. There is no way to directly compare these figures with the divine couples of Roman-Celtic iconography, except to point out a common lineage. Like the supernatural couples of an earlier time, the female heroines are active and forthright, and scarcely the pawns of male intrigue. Indeed, like evenly matched teams, their equal powers animate the action.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are seeking to bring confidence and strength into your life through the balancing of powers. No real success - in the external affairs of life or in the inner life - is achieved through domination or force. In time, those things achieved by force will always feel shallow and unsatisfying.
Having drawn this oracle, you are attracting to your life a situation asking you to balance strength with compassion and action with tenderness. You may wish to examine and explore aspects of your life that could be brought into greater balance. The feminine and masculine powers within you are seeking to become strong and resilient so that true balance may permeate all of your life. The harmony gained in the balancing of opposites will bring confidence and success to your personal and professional life and assurance in the continuity of life amid external changes.
Wednesday 15 April 2020
Today's Oracle 15th April 2020
The Under Tree (Taking Root in the Otherworld)
The Under Tree extends its trunk and opens its branches toward the sky and into the Otherworld. It represents our capacity to expand and stand strong in the hidden and unknown aspects of our nature and to nourish their graceful expression.
Invoking the Qualities of Exploration and Expansion.
A mysterious tree guards the entrance to the Otherworld beneath the ground. By climbing down through its branches, a traveller enters the Otherworld and encounters supernatural figures living there. In the Welsh Mabinogion, the legend of "The Lady of the Fountain" tells of the hero Owain, who becomes the champion of the fountain of wisdom and the husband of "the Countess," none other than the sovereign goddess herself. One of Owain's companions, Kynon, tells a story of being directed by the Lord of the Animals to
"Ascend the wooded steep until thou comest to its summit; and there thou wilt find an open space like to a large valley, and in the midst of it a tall tree, whose branches are greener than the greenest pine trees. Under this tree is a fountain, and by the side of the fountain a marble slab, and on the marble slab a silver bowl, attached by a chain of silver, so that it may not be carried away. Take the bowl and throw a bowlful of water upon the slab, and thou wilt hear a mighty peal of thunder, so that thou wilt think that heaven and earth are trembling with its fury.... And the shower will be of hailstones; and after the shower, the weather will become fair, but every leaf that was upon the tree will have been carried away by the shower. Then a flight of birds will come and alight upon the tree; and in thine own country thou didst never hear a strain so sweet as that which they will sing."
The ancient tree is the center of the Celtic world, connecting the earth to the Otherworld below and the sky world above. Its branches reach into the ground and sky. Sometimes the tree is silver and its fruit shimmer like jewels. If an apple tree, a branch from the sacred tree bears blossoms and apples all year long. In the Ulster Cycle, Cú Chulainn's charioteer, Laeg, eloquently describes the ancient tree as he approaches the hallowed realms of the Otherworld:
"At the entrance to the enclosure is a tree from whose branches there comes beautiful and harmonious music.
It is a tree of silver, which the sun illumines.
It glistens like gold."
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the ancient tree beckons you to take root in the Otherworld to stabilize and then expand the hidden and unknown resources of your nature. For centuries, the poets and musicians of the Celtic world have been nourished by otherworldly or spiritual forces within the earth. In this way, poets and prophets break totally new ground, bringing new ideas to awareness. If you accept the invitation, you will begin to explore undeveloped talents and inclinations in your character. Sustained periods of exploration and discovery may be ahead of you. In the Celtic world, the Otherworld is joyous and delightful and never dreary or depressive, so exploring the otherworldly (or inner) side of your nature is likely to be lighthearted and graceful. Supported by an otherworldly merriment, too much work is rarely involved. Rather, the newly matured talents and qualities will add greater depth and dimensionality to your life and work.
Tuesday 14 April 2020
Today's Oracle 14th April 2020
Spirit of Mountains (Breasts of the goddess)
Certain mountains, such as the Paps of Anu in Ireland, signify the breasts of the mother goddess, the earth. Overflowing in generosity, they symbolize the qualities of mercy, forgiveness, and impartiality in human life.
Invoking the Qualities of Impartiality and Forgiveness.
The Book of the Invasions, chronicling the successive invasions of Ireland, recounts stories of the Tuatha De Danann, the people of the goddess Anu, Áine, or Danu, who inhabited Ireland before the Celtic invasions from continental Europe. Initially from Galicia in northwestern Spain, the invading Celts compelled the Tuatha De to relinquish the Middle World and inhabit the Otherworld. Mythic history recounts the Tuatha De as a supernatural, godlike race having druids and poets of their own and hurling "a wind of wizards" against the Celts while still at sea.
"The druids of [the Tuatha De Danann of] Ireland and the poets sang spells behind them, so that they were carried far from Ireland, and were in distress by reason of the sea.... And the wind rose against the ship wherein were Donn and Airech, two sons of Míl, and ship wherein were Bres, Búas, and Buaighne; so that they were drowned at the Sand hills at Tech Duinn."
The Tuatha Dé are identified with the goddess Anu, an ancestral mother goddess of Ireland. Anu was undoubtedly a fertility goddess associated with the land. Little else is known, though her Neolithic origins suggest solar attributes, linking the fecundity of the earth and the fertility of the sun. One of her places of habitation, recorded in The Book of the Invasions, and an ancient center of ritual activity, is the Paps of Anu, a set of two breast like mountains lying close together on gently rolling lowlands in County Kerry. Modern-day pilgrims carry stones from the plains below to the very top of the mounds of stones left by pilgrims before them. Viewed even at a short distance, these mounds (probably ancient burial mounds) embellish the Paps of Anu with nipples (paps means breasts or teats). Below, near a natural spring and a starting point for ascending one of the paps, a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary beautifies a small clearing where the villagers still gather for occasional mass and festivals in midsummer.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are invited to let go of judging yourself or others harshly. While corrective actions are essential in the course of human life, needlessly blaming yourself or others for past actions is neither practical nor life-sustaining. However awkward or painful, both seeking and extending forgiveness frees life to be lived more fully in the present.
The image of the breasts of the goddess signifies the nourishment of a mother's milk. The image overflows with the milk of blessing. Her capacity for bestowing mercy and forgiveness is boundless. As though untouched by human logic, she gives impartially to the just and unjust alike. You are encouraged to partake of her wisdom in some aspect of your life. Rather than judging or holding court on the actions of others (or of yourself), you may wish to reevaluate and amend those aspects of your life in which a gentler and more forgiving approach would be freeing and deeply gratifying in the long run.
Monday 13 April 2020
Today's Oracle 13th April 2020
Treasures (Stone, Spear, Sword, and Cauldron)
The four treasures brought by the Tuatha De Danann to Ireland are the Stone of Fál, the Spear of Lugh, the Sword of Nuada, and the Cauldron of the Daghdha. Each treasure in turn signals power and a challenge for further development of your character.
Invoking the Challenges of Mastery and Power.
Failius, Goirias, Findias, and Muirias were the four cities of the mythic isles in the northern seas. From the cities' great sages, the Tuatha Dé Danann acquired knowledge of Druidry, magic, and prophesy. They invaded ancient Ireland with a great fleet of ships, and upon reaching the western shore, they set their boats on fire and, in so doing, destroyed any hope of returning to the north of the world. Defeating and routing the Fir Bolgs who then lived on the island, the Tuatha De controlled all of Ireland and established themselves at the royal court of the high kings of Ireland at Tara. As recorded in the Book of the Invasions, which chronicles the successive invasions of Ireland, the Tuatha De brought four great treasures to Ireland from the northern isles.
"From Failias was brought the Lia Fail which ... utter[ed] a cry under every king that should take Ireland. From Goirias was brought the spear which Lug [Lugh] had: battle would never go against him who had it in hand. From Findias was brought the sword of Nuadu: no man would escape from it; when it was drawn from its battle-scabbard, there was no resisting it. From Muirias was brought the cauldron of the Dagda [Daghdha]; no company would go from it unsatisfied."
All four treasures recur in the historical legends of Ireland, and feature prominently in Arthurian legend. By tradition, the Lia Fál (the Stone of Fál) still resides on the hills of Tara in County Meath, the mythic center of Ireland and inaugural site of ancient Irish kings. In a curious blend of ancient and Christian traditions, the Book of Invasions tells that the stone made no cry after the birth of Christ.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are either naturally drawn to power and authority, or your present circumstances require the right use of power. Power is invariably a double-edged sword capable of cutting in two directions. Your skills may involve a natural talent or expertise cultivated over time. Having mastery makes possible important personal accomplishments, expression, and satisfaction. At the same time, by holding authority you also attract circumstances and events that challenge and further develop your skill and authority. Unless you acquire personal qualities equal to your talents and skills, your life situations will become untenable and you will not be able to express the talents and skills you rightfully hold. Consider the possibility that the challenges you attract are actually invitations to bring qualities such as greater awareness, confidence, integrity, savvy, kindness, and equanimity into your nature. Take time to reflect on the particular type of challenges you are presently encountering and the unique qualities needed to meet them successfully.
Sunday 12 April 2020
Today's Oracle 12th April 2020
Sun Wheels (Talismans)
Like the sun itself, sunlight gives protection and warmth. Carved or crudely fashioned sun wheels are talismans drawing the light and warmth of the sun into the chaos, pain, and sorrow of life and even into death. The sun wheel's qualities are trust and hope.
Invoking the Quality of Protection.
To the ancient Celts, the sun in the sky was a life force rendering fertility to the moist earth, healing to the diseased and sorrowful, and solace in darkness and danger. Iron Age warriors embellished their body armour with sun wheels, seeking the sun's beneficence in danger and giving them courage in battle. Along with personal items suggesting a life after death, small sun wheels were buried with the dead to illuminate the passage in the afterlife, perhaps the journey to the Otherworld. Tombstones in Roman-occupied Alsace in France were decorated with solar symbols, as though to guide and enliven the dead in the Otherworld.
Sun wheels also adorned the bodies of small clay goddess figurines deposited as votives at healing shrines, springs, and lakes and buried with the dead. These figurines were mass-produced, inexpensively available, and crudely fashioned, and may have been popular among women seeking safety in the passage of childbirth. Sometimes referred to as "Venus" figurines, the goddesses were slim-figured and nubile, suggestive of sexuality and fecundity. Offered as prayers and left at curative springs and sacred lakes, these fertile and sun-filled figurines were conveyed to the depths of the Otherworld. This sacred union of the sun and earth brought healing and safety to their Celtic supplicants. At Bath in the southwest of England, the thermal springs of the goddess Aquae Sulis (in Gaelic sulis is suggestive of sun) gave comfort to thousands of supplicants before and after the Roman period. The hot springs and the steamy interiors of the shrine inspire a sacred link with sun and earth, a natural vortex of healing and protection to devotees.
Decorating armour and tombstones, worn as amulets, buried with the dead, and accompanying prayers, sun wheels gave hope to the weary and infirm and solace to those in danger.
IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the brilliance of the sun banishes darkness and chaos and brings you comfort and security.
There are numerous ways to convey the qualities of the sun in your daily life. You might use a sun symbol as a talisman to carry in your pocket, in your purse or bag, or on a chain. Wear an amulet as jewelry, on a necklace, string, or key chain. Keep a symbol of a sun in your office or work area to serve as a reminder, or meditate with the sun as it rises. You might wish to use a candle flame as a focus of meditation. In your imagination, bring light to any darkness and confusion in your life. Allow the outer light to fill the interior reserves of your being. Conduct your daily activities mindful of the light and warmth of the sun.
Sunlight dispels darkness and confusion. The sun as talisman draws the light and warmth of the sun into the chaos, pain, and sorrows of life. Its brilliance will bring you renewed trust and hope.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)