Today's Oracle 29th March 2021

 Power of Place (Calling in the Spirit of Place)

The landscape, its hills, glens, plains, shorelines, nooks, and crannies, are the features of the body of the mother goddess, the earth. Place-names honour the unique qualities and lore of place. Similarly, honouring the power of place situates us in the passage of time.

Invoking the Qualities of Familiarity, Remembrance, and Continuity.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are yearning for a place you can call your own, perhaps a home, a village, a region or country, or a community. You seem to want somewhere to root, to settle, and invest yourself fully. Not anywhere will do. The place must be uniquely right for you. The power of the place compels you. Its atmosphere, physical features, people, vegetation, smells, and wildlife attract you. It may be where you are but your psyche has not yet fully engaged it. It may be a place deeply familiar and redolent of personal memories. Wherever this place is, you are more fully alive there, as though the outer landscape mirrors the inner landscape of who you are and who you are becoming. This remarkable correspondence brings vitality and a sense of contentment and well-being.

The Celts often name a place for its qualities and lore — a dell for providing shelter, a marshy corner for its soft and rushy bottom, a ring fort to signal an otherworldly ambiance, a meadow to mark the battles fought, or a holy well for its protectress. Affecting recollection, familiar places help us to situate ourselves in the passage of time and locale. Recalling such a place, Irish poet Cathal O Searcaigh concludes: "Contradictions are cancelled on the spot."

The landscape - its rocky slopes, the forks of a river, an elder tree, a spring at its source, a widening plain, or undulating hills - reveals the features of the body of the mother earth, the goddess herself. Her countenance is found in the physical appearance of each place. The power of each place is utterly unique, so that its physiognomy and stories, so familiar, are wedded to the memory of the men and women living there. In Ireland and other Celtic lands, power implicit in the stones and earth of a place is frequently distilled in place names, recollecting in a word or phrase the deeds and fortunes of memories past. Like tonic to the human spirit, the power of place - in all its nuances, the horrific and foreboding, the beautiful and innocent - links individuals and community to lore and locale.

In discussing a genre of Irish literature known as dindseanchas, the poet Seamus Heaney writes that its poems and tales "relate the meanings of place names and constitute a form of mythological etymology ... marrying] the geographical country with the country of the mind. Heaney continues:

"The landscape was sacramental, instinct with signs, implying a system of reality beyond the visible realities. Only thirty years ago, and thirty miles from Belfast, I experienced this kind of world vestigially and as a result may have retained some vestigial sense of place as it was experienced in the older dispensation. As I walked to school, I saw Lough Beg from Mulholland's Brae, and the spire of Church Island rose out of the trees. On Church Island Sunday in September, there was a Pilgrimage out to the island, because St. Patrick was supposed to have prayed there, and prayed with such intensity that he branded the shape of his knee into a stone in the old churchyard. The rainwater that collected in that stone, of course, had healing powers, and the thorn bush beside it was pennanted with the rags used by those who rubbed their warts and sores in that water... That legend, and the ringing ascetic triumph of rising in the frosts of winter to pray ... all combined to give Blemish a nimbus of its own.

The power of place is so intimate and "self-contained" that it is virtually hidden from those who inhabit the home, the locale, the village, or the city. Entering the place, the stranger "is immediately aware of the otherness and the intimate nature of the 'place.' One senses the odours unique to the place - its sounds and artifacts.... It is this quality of intimacy, based on uniqueness, that provides the possibility for placehood." By intertwining landscape and lore, the power of place connects the human psyche within the nexus of time and space.

Over the course of life, there are times to take pilgrimages to distant places and to garner their qualities to yourself. At other times, such as now, you are invited to situate your life in a particular place, to settle in and to mature amid the familiarity and memories built up over time. Surrounded by these intimacies as though encircled by the lacework of your life, your inner life and external surroundings blend together in support of each other.

Today's Oracle 28th March 2021

Lugh/Lludd (Warrior, the Shining One)

Lugh, the master of all arts, is one of the Tuatha De Danaan and a great warrior of the Irish mythological cycle. As foretold by a druid, he kills his own grandfather, Balor of the Evil Eye. A warrior's quality is mastery.

Invoking the Quality of Mastery.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting adventure and challenges to your life. This oracle signifies the actions of a mature and seasoned warrior, capable in many arts of action and contemplation. Seasoned warriors do not go out looking for high adventure, but challenges seem to find them nonetheless. To meet approaching events, you will want to combine authority with grace, skill, and artfulness. In acquiring many skills, you will be both flexible and strong. A true warrior has complete command of her or his actions. By coupling your skills to one another in your actions, you will master both the situation and yourself.

The Irish warrior Lugh is the master of all the arts. When he approaches Tara, the fort of King Nuada, the king's eyes are dazzled by the bright light of Lugh's countenance, as though he has gazed straight into the sun. Lugh's counterpart in the Welsh tradition is the warrior-king Lludd, who joins with his brother Llewelys to overcome the three plagues oppressing the Isle of Britain. A warrior's special quality is mastery of all the arts, including poetry, music, smithing, pageantry, and healing.

Long ago in Ireland, in mythological time before the time of the Celts, the Fomorians lay siege on the Tuatha De Danaan, who were living peacefully on the emerald isle. Among them, Lugh is a warrior more beautiful and noble than any man. Born of supernatural origins, he is the son of a prince of the Tuatha De and a Fomorian princess, the grandson of the powerful Fomorian king, Balor of the Evil Eye. When Lugh approaches the gates of Tara accompanied by his warriors, he gains access to the king's court as the master of all the arts, including carpentry, smithing, music, combat and war, poetry, magic, healing, cupbearing, pageantry, and gaming. Once the Tuatha De king, Nuada, sees that Lugh is matchless in all the arts, he enlists his aid against Balor. Soon, Lugh enlists the help of Manannán Mac Lir, the powerful ruler of the sea. From Manannán, he acquires a breastplate that no weapon can pierce and a sword whose thrust no one can survive. As Nuada watches Lugh and his warriors returning to Tara, his

"Eyes were dazzled by a bright light as if he had looked full into the sun, but then he saw the brilliant rays shone from the face of the leader of the troop and from his long golden hair. Darts of light came off the young man's armour and off his weapons and the gold-embossed harness of his horse. A great jewel blazed from the front of the golden helmet he wore on his shining hair, and Nuada knew that Lugh had come back to Tara."

As soon as Lugh takes his seat in the court of the king, a horde of slovenly Fomorians bears down upon Tara. To Lugh's horror, when the unkempt men stumble into the court, Nuada and his household rise to their feet. When Lugh protests, Nuada replies that these Fomorians are returning to claim their taxes and a third of the crops and a third of the children as slaves. Outraged, Lugh brandishes Manannán's sword and kills all but nine of the Fomorians, sparing them only to turn to Balor with Lugh's deadly reply.

The Tuatha De Danaan and the Fomorians prepare for war. King Balor, Queen Ceithlinn of the Crooked Teeth, their twelve sons, and a great army of warriors march across Ireland to Tara. On the Plain of Moytura, the ground becomes "slippery with blood" as men fight and die, friend and foe side by side. When Balor fells Nuada with a single blow, Lugh is so enraged that he taunts his grandfather Balor to lift the eyelid of his deadly eye. Ten Fomorian warriors pull on ropes, as though drawing a curtain, to raise the weighty lid. Lugh thrusts a stone from his sling into Balor's eye as it opens, killing him instantly as the eye falls back through Balor's head. Though the dead are "as countless as flakes of snow," the Fomorians are forever routed from Ireland."

If the present situation is dangerous to yourself or others, wise action is to seek guidance and assistance. A warrior rarely journeys alone, but is accompanied by kindred companions and trusted friends or advisors. Pursuing worthy and risky objectives without the aid and wise counsel of others is unwise and sometimes perilous. Concerted action adds strength to strength.

Today's Oracle 27th March 2021

Stag (Wild Nature)

The king of the forest, the stag deer represents dignity and potency in life. By bringing the quality of dignity to passion, the stag focuses the passionate, wild, and sometimes unruly forces within and outside our own natures.

Invoking the Union of Focus and Passion.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you want to act from the passionate and spontaneous side of your nature. Yet your passions are still unruly, creating disorder within and around you. By bringing focus to your passions, you can harness the passionate and sometimes unruly forces within your own nature. Without this inner focus, even creative passions can generate tension and conflict. In emulating the quiet dignity and watchfulness of the stag, you can skilfully command your passions and create harmony in your life affairs.

The stag represents the wildness of nature. Associated with Cernunnos, the Lord of the Animals, and the goddesses of the sacred hunt, the stag acquired divine status among the Iron Age Celts. The stag's noble presence among the animals, its branching antlers resembling mature trees, and potency and aggression during the rutting season, epitomize the great forests of old Europe over which the stag presided as King of the Forest. The stag represents the noble and wild passions within all of nature.

In the Camonica Valley of northern Italy, cave walls contain rock drawings dating from the late Neolithic people through the Bronze and Iron Age Celts. The Celts were renowned hunters and their numerous stag images on cave walls indicate a reverence for the stag and an eagerness for the sacred hunt. Images from the fourth and seventh centuries portray stag like or antlered hunters, suggesting shape-shifting or, at least, an intimate correspondence with the quarry. Dominating over three-quarters of the religious imagery, drawings of the stag are often blended with another powerful Celtic image, the sun. At times, the rays of the sun appear as antlers, signifying a common sovereignty. Attesting to the stag's noble, if not divine, status, one rock drawing shows a circle of figures dancing or praying around a stag with tremendous antlers.

A synthesis of archaeological and mythological evidence points to the stag as symbolizing wild nature, the King of the Forest. Ancient Gaul was heavily forested, as was England and Ireland. The stag's antlers branching like a tree into the sky, together with its speed, dignity, and carriage, imply a noble signature among the forest animals.

Typically, the stag is associated in Celtic mythology with Cernunnos, the Lord of the Animals. The Gundestrup Cauldron depicts an antlered Cernunnos with his familiar companion, the true stag. Perhaps resplendent of an older tradition, goddesses are closely linked with the stag, especially when power and fertility are invoked. The Irish goddess Flidhais, who kept herds of deer as though they were cattle, seems to personify the wild and fertile nature of the surrounding forest. A goddess presiding over the sacred hunt of the stag was found buried with a Celtic warrior in an Iron Age site at Strettweg in Austria.

Lastly, in the Christian era, the deer is associated with St. Patrick in Ireland: The king has sent men to ambush Patrick on every road leading to his court at Tara. Patrick passes the soldiers with his company of eight young clerics, followed by Benen carrying Patrick's writing tablets on his back. The men pass unnoticed, appearing as deer followed by a fawn with a white bird perched on its shoulder.

The stag's sovereignty amid the wildness of nature is quiet, alert, and reserved - ample balance for the virility and power within. In walking quietly and attentively in danger, remaining calm and alert under stress, and meeting each situation with the right balance of speed and strength, the stag models inner and outer poise and self-control. A calm and steady focus will allow you to remain calm in any situation, as though you were walking serenely in a forest. However unruly your nature or the situation, a one-pointed focus will bring power and strength to your actions.

Today's Oracle 26th March 2021

 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.

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.

The power of the sun to give light and warmth and its return each day have been revered for thousands of years, from the time of the Bronze and Iron Age Celts. Portrayed as a spoked wheel or swastika, the sun rolls across the firmament pulled by a chariot and team of horses. Among the Romanised Celts, a powerful sky god brandishes his solar wheel as a shield as he crushes the head of a monster with his foot or hand. The sun god signifies majesty, power, radiance, fertility, and beauty.

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."

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.

Today's Oracle 25th March 2021

Brigit, the Snake and Fire goddess (Transformation)

The snake goddess is associated with midwifery, smithing, and the fostering of the creative arts. Her capacity for change and renewal inspires creativity in challenging situations, and enhances our capacity to meet old circumstances with renewed vision. Her qualities are imagination, intuition, and vision.

Invoking the Qualities of Imagination, Intuition, and Vision.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting change and regeneration into your life. The snake goddess brings creativity and power. Domestic activities, family and friends, and circumstances close to daily activities are likely to be sources of breakthrough and insight. Old and fossilized circumstances and relationships may begin to breathe with new life, vision, and activity. Creative projects, artistic pursuits, and unexpected insights may appear in ordinary circumstances. New and creative ideas may present themselves while conversing with friends and family or while engaged in everyday activities. Now is a good time to watch for newness and allow your imagination to roam freely.

Aligned with snakes and with fire, Brigit is the guardian of transformation and change. Present in moments of creativity and vision, she presides as midwife, prophetess, and patron of the arts, especially of poetry, hospitality, healing, breast-feeding, and the brewing of beer. The young and beautiful Brigit is composed, vigorous, passionate — and usually a virgin. Her presence inspires creativity and the capacity to meet old circumstances with renewed vision.

The Goddess Brigit, who also appears in Christianity as St. Brigit, figures powerfully in the Celtic world. In many ways, Brigit is a youthful composite of all the attributes and symbols of the Celtic goddesses. Derived from the Gaelic word brig, the name Brigit means "High and Exalted One." Often appearing as three sisters, she is identified with the transforming power of the Dark Goddess herself.

Brigit's special symbols are snakes, fire, and sometimes the cow. Surrounded by snakes, Brigit remains close to the earth, lending authority to transformation and change. As a child is about to be born, the attending women intone softly to invoke her presence and assistance. In Christian legend, she is known as the midwife to Mary when she gave birth to Jesus. Aligned with the element of fire to forge and mould, Brigit also presides over the hearth of the blacksmith and over imagination, vision, and prophecy. This excerpt from a simple prayer from the Scottish Highlands invokes her to shield men and women from danger at night, inspire song, and give guidance:

"I am under the shielding of good Brigit each day
I am under the shielding of good Brigit each night
I am under the keeping Of the Nurse of Mary
Each early and late, every dark, every light
Brigit is my comrade-woman
Brigit is my maker of song
Brigit is my helping-woman,
My choicest of women, my woman of guidance."

The first of February (or the thirteenth of February by the old style) is the Feast of the Bride - Brigit - celebrating the coming of spring. Brigit, as a serpent, emerges from the brown hills and turns winter to spring. Fragments of the ancient songs still survive:

"The serpent will come from the hole On the brown Day of Bride
Though there should be three feet of snow On the flat surface of the ground."

Snakes shed their dry old skin only to grow new skin. Close to the Otherworld and its powers, Brigit's snakes signify creativity as well as caution. The presence of regeneration can transform positively or can manipulate others and circumstances for personal gain. The otherworldly powers of the snake not only inspire but may also confuse, resulting in mistaking your own desires for the needs of others and even turning into trickery and deceit what may have appeared to be a worthy pursuit. Check your intuitions with the counsel of those you trust to tell you the truth.

By remaining open-hearted and generous to all, you will experience renewed vitality in everyday encounters and activities as you attract the qualities of imagination, intuition, and vision into your life.

Today's Oracle 24th March 2021

 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.

Today's Oracle 23rd March 2021

 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.

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.

Accomplished in the arts of Druidry, the godlike Tuatha De Danann came from the isles to the north of the world to invade ancient Ireland. The Tuatha De brought four treasures with them: the Stone of Fál, which shrieks when a rightful king sits upon it, the Spear of Lugh, which grants victory, the Sword of Nuada, from which no one escapes, and the Cauldron of the Daghdha, from which none leave hungry. Each treasure represents power and its challenges.

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.

Today's Oracle 22nd March 2021

 Raven (Truth telling and Prophesy)

Ravens and crows represent the power of speaking the truth and sometimes the power of prophesy. The raven brings truthfulness, clarity, and insight into the nature of a relationship, event, or situation. Tell the truth in the present situation.

Invoking the Qualities of Insight, Clarity, and Discrimination.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the raven is your benefactor and companion. Your present situation may require speaking the truth in order to clear the way for newness and avoid misunderstandings. Regardless of the situation, lying about mundane or important aspects of your life tears at the fabric of your nature because it disables your emotional and spiritual maturity. On the other hand, bludgeoning others with your opinion without cause or necessity is not mature truth-telling, either. Telling the truth means seeing the world clearly and speaking what you see.

The earliest depictions of the raven are found drawn on prehistoric cave walls. Large ravens are portrayed speaking to human figures, as though prophesying from the chthonic to the earthly realms. Irish druids watch the flight of ravens to predict the future. Appearing as ravens, goddesses wreak havoc among armies, predicting death and the outcomes of battles. As a messenger from the Otherworld, the raven signifies speaking the truth and prophecy.

Like mother goddesses, carrion birds are complex symbols of death and rebirth. Statuary and coins depicting carrion birds hint at myths and symbols long forgotten by history. At temple shrines dedicated to the mother goddess Nantosuelta, ravens perch near her as though bearing messages from the Otherworld. Unique Celtic coins suggest an unknown story: an immense raven rides on the back of a horse. The reins appear to be held by the bird, and its talons dig deeply into the horse's back. Sometimes carrying a small cake in its beak, the raven may be bearing fruit or gifts from the Otherworld.

The earliest traces of Celtic art are cave drawings found in the Camonica Valley in the Italian Alps near Brescia, the work of Iron and Bronze Age Celts. Ravens appear to speak to a human figure who stands before the bird, as though listening.

Evocative of an intimate connection between the birds and goddesses is the mysterious winged goddess. She appears as both in this world and of another world. While shape-shifting between forms is commonplace in Celtic images, portrayals are rarely "frozen" midway in transition. Like the raven, the winged goddess may be a messenger between the realms, bearing gifts as well as prophesies.

From the Iron and Bronze Age through the Roman period, ravens appear as benign, even auspicious, in their accustomed role as prophets and messengers from the Otherworld. However, in the warrior culture of medieval Ireland, their aspect changes. Forecasting death and carnage on the battlefield, tales of terror recount a better story. In the celebrated account in the Ulster Cycle of the death of Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster, the truth-telling Morrigán appears as a raven and concludes the scene:

"Holding the huge wound in his body together, Cúichulainn .. . took a drink and washed himself and turned from the lake to die. On the shore, a little distance away, he saw a pillar stone and he struggled towards it and put his back to it for support.

Then he took his belt and tied himself to the pillar so that he would die standing up, for he had sworn he would meet his end "feet on the ground, face to the foe. Upright and facing his enemies, he called to them to come near him and cautiously they approached and stood round him silently in a circle. They stayed there and watched him but none of them dared lay a hand on him for the hero light still shone round his head....

For three days his enemies watched Cúchulainn. The ravens of battle, the Morrigu and Badb, hovered around his head and at last the hero light faltered, flickered, and went out. As it did so, Cúchulainn let out a great sigh and the pillar stone split at his back. A raven lit on his shoulder and settled there."

Telling the truth is akin to prophesy. It cleans the "eye of the heart." In time your inner vision will see things in their essence and into events seeming to take place in the future. Having been drawn to this oracle, you may have an opportunity to open the windows of perception, to see more deeply into life, and to bring insight and discrimination from the world of spirit to the ordinary, seemingly mundane affairs of life.

Today's Oracle 21st March 2021

 Green Man (Renewal of the Earth)

The face and features of the Green Man are formed of leaves. He represents the masculine role in sexual coupling and fertility and the flowering of life and talent. Progress is uncluttered and easy. His qualities are innocence, success, and easy progress.

Invoking Innocence, Easy Progress, and Success.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting youthful, zestful energy into your life. In the manner of the greening of spring, easy progress is ahead of you. Ideas and actions will seem innocent and spontaneous.

In conveying the fertility of the forest and plants to people and livestock, the Green Man is the consort of the mother goddess, assisting in the greening of spring and summer and the fruitfulness of the earth. The Green Man's face and features are formed of leaves and vines. Deriving his prowess from the earth, he represents the masculine role in sexual coupling, fertility, and the flowering of human life and talent. He signifies innocence, easy progress, and success, especially in initiating new activities.

Throughout Celtic history, mother goddesses have various consorts. Often goddesses and gods, such as Nantosuelta and Sucellus and Rosmerta and Mercury, are consistently paired as divine partners or lovers. The Green Man is one such consort, a precociously sexual and youthful consort conveying fertility wherever he goes.

The virility of the antlered god Cernunnos and the Green Man are interrelated, so much so that the Green Man might be considered a variant of Cernunnos. From the earliest evidence left by Bronze and Iron Age Celts, Cernunnos presides over the forest, wearing the branching antlers of a stag. His imagery is potent and powerful, assuring the fertility of the natural world in human life. Similarly, in a carving from Germany known as the St. Goar pillar, vegetation grows from the Green Man's head and forms his beard. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, the head of a male is covered with the stylised hair formed of intertwining leaves. As in so many Celtic images the power resides in the head.

Images of the Green Man adorning European cathedrals and churches portray his head and especially his hair, beard, and mustache as a composite of leaves, branches, and vines. Long leaves may stem from his mouth to form an exaggerated beard or mustache. Grapevines, sometimes bearing grapes, run out of the sides of his mouth encircling his head as stylised hair and beard. A mass of leaves may surround his head. His image on the facades and interiors of churches artfully combines the Green Man's foliate persona with figures from the Christian gospels. His appearance is typically placed as though he were an unnamed guardian, as in the Gothic spire of the Münster of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Largely hidden from view from below, heads of the Green Man look down from the open fretwork spire in grief and sorrow at the crucified Christ on the cross below. In a Romanesque carving from Exeter, the Virgin Mary holds her child supported by the foliate head of a Green Man, his eyes closed as though in ageless invocation.

In contrast to the subtle fertility imagery of church art, the explicit, sexual imagery of a youthful consort is boldly portrayed in Irish myth and legend. Like the land itself, Irish legends are rich and moist with youthful sexuality. Much lighthearted phallic humour, for example, quickens the narrative of the Irish epic Táiin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). As a responsible sovereign, Queen Medb (often thought to be a personification of a goddess because Celtic tribes did not necessarily have queens) tests the prowess of her many consorts. In their encounter in the wood, Fergus fails to meet Medb's expectations and he "loses his sword." Similarly, Imbolc, the Feast of Brigit celebrated on February 1, is marked with sexual overtones evocative of an older agrarian perspective that linked the fertility of crops, livestock, and humans. According to one folk tradition, the man of the house enters the household in the name of Brigit and "those within ... go on their knees, open their eyes and admit Brigit," an overtly sexual reference to mating on Imbolc as a means of invoking the blessing of the goddess on the fertility of the household. The robust and fertile image of the Green Man is continued in the Irish Strawboys, the "masked and straw-costumed well-wishers who graced with their presence the house-parties of Irish country weddings."

However, your success is limited by natural circumstances beyond your control. Though appearing in many guises through the centuries, the Green Man is always younger and less experienced than the mother goddess, the sovereign Mother Earth. This youthful innocence can accomplish many ends, but you will need greater strength, confidence, and maturity to fully accomplish your goals. By accepting the limits of the situation, you will find much personal satisfaction and ready success. On the other hand, if you overextend your energy or ambition or brashly push ahead, the situation may turn from success to disappointment, and even ridicule.

Today's Oracle 19th March 2021

 Hag, the Initiator (Beginnings)

The hag initiates change and transformation, and signals the potential for significant change and transformation in relationships and the affairs of everyday life. Her often terrifying appearance is a test of your readiness for change.

Invoking Readiness for Change.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the hag may be testing your readiness for change. Her presence signals the potential for significant shifts in business and professional life, relationships, and the affairs of everyday living. New beginnings are possible. While the hag's outward appearance may be ghastly, welcoming her signals your readiness for a shift in awareness and fortunes. Anything may happen if you embrace such an unlikely stranger across the threshold of your life.

In Irish myth, a ghastly hag symbolizes the sovereign goddess of Ireland in the quest for the rightful heir and king. Through her, he is joined to the land. When the hag mates with the rightful heir, she signals his sovereignty by becoming a lovely maiden. In Irish and Scottish folk tales, the hag gives birth to the mountains and valleys, hills and rocks, and the various creatures of the land. The hag tests and initiates beginnings and rightful change.

The powerful hag is one of the three aspects of the Triple-Mother Goddess, the sovereign goddess of the land. Typically old and yet ageless, her terrifying appearance tests the readiness of kings and heroes. In Irish, Welsh, and Scottish legends, she enchants her "chosen" heroes with magical powers and confounds and hounds any who spurn her advances. Her shape is spine- tinglingly horrid and yet radiant, as captured in a contemporary poem, originally composed in Gaelic, by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill:

"She stood naked in the dark, her palms cold like luminous fish on my shoulders:

her hips flashing fire beneath the two moons of her breasts.

I sank my head in her sea-weed hair and bitter waves of sea bruised and battered me, our white-horse waves rusted to rats: all became empurpled.

In the morning waking my head aching I saw sallow scales encrusted her and rotten teeth from the abyss snarled at me and hissed.

I took my awl and last and left the place fast!"

In approaching this goddess, the Irish kings were chosen. By legend, the reign of the U1 Neill, descendants of Niall, was initiated by the blessing of the goddess of sovereignty, the hag. Though the youngest of the five sons of the king, Niall became the king of Ireland from 379-405. As the story is told in an early fifth-century manuscript, Niall and his four brothers were out hunting in the forest and were overwhelmed by thirst. One by one, each brother comes upon a pool of water guarded by a hideous hag. She offers each a drink in exchange for a kiss and each one flees at her dreadful appearance, except for Niall. He kisses the crone and makes love to her. As they kiss, the hag becomes the loveliest of maidens, her face like the radiance of the sun - none other than the goddess of sovereignty herself.

Folk tales in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland abound in stories about the hag, the "Mountain Mother," the "Great Old One," or the Cailleach in Gaelic. Striding across the land, she "lets fall from her skirts" the natural features and creatures of the land. In Ireland, many tales tell of benevolent hags, loathsome hags, hags saved by saints from peril, and hags who turn to hares and turn back into an old neighbour woman again when caught milking the cows!

Life presents many situations that are unsettling, even abhorrent. When troubles arise, they may represent the presence of the hag, artfully disguised. There is no way to prepare for her, except to watch for her presence. She has come to test your nerve and willingness for living in a new way. Welcoming her many manifestations signals a ready and awakened consciousness. Having crossed the threshold of danger, many things - anything - is possible.

Today's Oracle 18th March 2021

Tír na nÓg (Blessed Isle to the West)

The Tír na nÓg is one of many blessed and magical isles to the west. It is the land of the forever young, revelling in beauty, merriment, and harmony. Its qualities are joy, pleasure, peace, and blessing.

Invoking the Qualities of Harmony, Peace, and Blessing.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are becoming more aware of the simple and delightful pleasures of living. The blessings of a land "flowing with milk and honey" in your own terms are coming into your life. Long-held tensions, grudges, hurts, and fears are losing their hold on you. Personal and professional conflicts are being resolved. Harmony and contentment are replacing disappointment and loss. Your life's work is beginning to manifest in clear and concrete ways.

The blessed isles lie off the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, as if to follow . - the sun in its homeward path. At the coming of the Celts to Ireland, the ancient Tuatha De Danann take shelter there. In The Voyage of Bran, Bran and his men wander the seas in search of the Island of Women, a land revelling in harmony, beautiful women, and merriment. In the Fionn Cycle, the young champion Oisín and the princess Niamh of the Golden Hair ride on the sea as if it were a plain to Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young.

The sanctity of islands to the west harkens back to a mythic time. Dozens of lake islands and islands off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland are revered as sites of homage and pilgrimage, associated with monasteries and abbeys in our time. The prospect of enchanted islands, beckoning the youthful and the adventurous, appearing and disappearing from sight, riding on shining pedestals to glisten in the sun, singing with music to sweeten the air, and bestowing gifts on the virtuous and forsaken has long inspired the Celtic imagination. "West of the sun," for example, is the island of Iona, St. Columba's (Colm Cille) holy strand.

The isles go by many names: Tír fo Thoinn, the Land Under the Waves; Tír Nam Beo, the Land of the Living; Tiirn Ail, the Otherworld; Magh Mór, the Great Plain; Magh Meall, the Pleasant Plain; Tir Tairngire, the Plain of Happiness. Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young, is a delightful place fit for myths and legends.

Bran mac Feabhail is feasting with his chiefs when a beautiful woman appears from nowhere. She is so lovely that "the company held its breath." Turning toward Bran, she begins to sing:

"I bring [an apple] branch of [the Isle of the Happy], In shape like those you know.

Twigs of white silver are upon it, buds of crystal with blossoms.

There is a distant isle, around which sea-horses glisten.

A fair course against the white-swelling surge Four pedestals uphold it....

Unknown is wailing or treachery In the homely well-tilled land.

There is nothing rough or harsh, But sweet music striking the ear.

Without grief, without gloom, without death, without any sickness or debility -

That is the sign of [the Isle of the Happy]. Uncommon is the like of such a marvel."

She admonishes Bran to stop feasting and drinking wine, and asks him to journey across the crystal sea westward to the blessed isle.

Similarly, in the Fionn Cycle from Ireland, Finn and his men, the Fianna, are resting in Lough Lene in Kerry after the bitter battle of Gowra. In the mist of the May morning, Finn and his men send out their dogs to hunt, when suddenly a lovely young woman gallops toward them on a willowy white horse. She is so beautiful that they hold their breath as one. She is Niamh of the Golden Hair and her father is king of Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young. She tells Finn that she has come because she loves one of his sons, Oisín. So fair is he that rumours have reached all the way to Tir na nÓg. Beckoning Oisín to follow her, she recounts the island's delights:

"You will never fall ill or grow old there. In my country you will never die. Trees grow tall there and trees bend low with fruit. The land flows with honey and wine, as much as you could ever want.... As well as all of this you will get beauty, strength and power. And me for your wife."

Oisín bids his father, Finn, and all his friends farewell. The horse neighs three times and carries them across the sea, the waves parting before them.

True paradise is a state of grace. No one can give you joy or take it away. No circumstance can deprive you of your dignity or value. No dream come true is necessarily better than the delight and opportunity to dream. No accord, contract, job, relationship, possession, privilege, or status is better than your inmost vision of yourself, the paradise of being fully content and satisfied. In the Celtic imagination, such a blessing is westward, in the direction of the sun's journey homeward, inward to itself, deep within the pleasures of being fabulously alive.

Today's Oracle 17th March 2021

 Cernunnos, Antlered god (Lord of the Animals)

God and guardian of the animal realm, Cernunnos' authority is heralded by wearing the antlers of the deer. He provides sustenance and protection for the animals under his care. His qualities are generosity and magnanimity.

Invoking the Qualities of Generosity and Magnanimity.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may not think of yourself as regal, as having a noble character; yet this capacity is developing within you. Others are already looking to you for strength, support, and guidance, even if you are not aware of your influence on them and your importance in their eyes. The "others" may be your children, employees, friends, partners, family, or neighbours. If you are not in a position of great external authority, your character is nonetheless leaving a strong impression on those around you. If your meditation has been strong, your spiritual maturity may be garnering such strength that it is beginning to show in your actions and presence.

As Lord of the Animals, Cernunnos provides refuge, sustenance, and well- being for the animals of the great forests of Europe. Majestically portrayed on the Gundestrup Cauldron, the antlered Cernunnos sits cross-legged on the ground next to a great stag. Cernunnos also appears intimately allied with the mother goddesses, carrying cornucopiae and offering bowls of fruit and grain to animals. The sovereign Cernunnos signifies generosity and magnanimity toward those he protects.

As early as the fourth century B.C., Cernunnos appears in rock drawings from the Camonica Valley of northern Italy. Cernunnos's authority is heralded by his great antlers, signifying his lordship among the animals of the forest of Europe. Through the centuries, his symbols - antlers of a great stag, Celtic jewelry called torcs, and the ram-horned snake remained remarkably consistent. Drawn on cave walls by Iron Age Celts, he appears robed and standing, and arrayed with great antlers, torcs on both arms, and a ram-horned snake at his side. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, Cernunnos's portrayal is regal: he sits cross-legged on the ground like a hunter, grasping a tore in one hand and a ram-horned snake against his face in the other. He is surrounded by a bull, hound, boar, and otherworldly animals. A stag with identical antlers stands beside him, as though mirroring his image as an animal.

Extending his sovereignty to include imagery usually associated with the mother goddesses, Roman-Celtic statues of Cernunnos show him carrying abundant cornucopias, feeding animals, and offering grain or coins from a bag.'' Like the mother goddess, also common at this time, Cernunnos extends his protection to include the growth of crops and the health and well-being of animals and humans alike.

His best-known image comes from Lady Charlotte Guest's rendering of "The Lady of the Fountain," included in her translation of the Mabinogion. Cernunnos appears as the potent Lord of the Animals:

"Sleep here tonight, and in the morning arise early, and take the road upwards through the valley until thou ... comest to a large sheltered glade with a mound in the centre. And thou wilt see a black man of great stature on the top of the mound. He is not smaller than two men of this world. He has but one foot, and one eye in the middle of his forehead. And he has a club of iron. .. . And he is not a comely man, but on the contrary he is exceedingly ill favoured; and he is the Woodward of that wood.

And thou wilt see a thousand wild animals grazing all around him....

And the next morning I arose ... and proceeded straight through the valley to that wood.... And there was I three times more astonished at the number of wild animals.... And the black man was there, sitting upon the top of the mound. Huge of stature as the man had told me....

Then I asked him what power he had over the animals.... And he took his club in his hand, and with it he struck a stag so great a blow that it brayed vehemently, and at his braying the animals came together, as numerous as the stars in the sky, so that it was difficult for me to find room in the glade to stand among them. There were serpents, and dragons and divers sorts of animals. And [the black man] looked at them, and bade them go and feed; and they bowed their heads, and did him homage as vassals to their lord."

Generosity comes from confidence and magnanimity from strength, an inner knowledge that life will always be filled up and replenished anew. More and more, your actions are spontaneous and unaffected. By responding to the needs of others unselfconsciously, you are participating in the natural urge of creation to increase in generosity and love.

Today's Oracle 16th March 2021

 Nymphs (Healing)

The nymph like goddesses of healing springs are sometimes nurturing and soothing, or playfully erotic. They bring healing and loving attention to our physical bodies. Their qualities include the giving and receiving of intimacy.

Invoking the Qualities of Intimate and Loving Attention.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you want to renew your physical well-being. You may have particular physical ailments. Emotional trauma may also be impairing your health and vitality. You may desire more passion and intimacy in your relationships or in your sexual life. You may be preparing for a life transition requiring greater health and stamina.

Healing springs are associated with the healing properties of youthful goddesses, commonly personified as young, playful nymphs. Pilgrims gather around the bubbling waters, making prayers and offerings to a favoured goddess. Children and adults bathe in the curative pools. Women sleep near pools thought to cure barrenness and convey fertility. The best-known nymph is Coventina, who signifies loving and healing attention to our physical needs.

Thousands of curative springs dot the landscape of continental Europe and the British Isles. Like caves, burial mounds, subterranean passages, the shores of lakes, and islands to the west, natural springs are gateways to the Otherworld. Each spring is an orifice - a mouth or vagina - of the mother goddess, a gateway to the realm of the goddess. Though each spring is a repository of the goddess's abundance, the goddess manifests her nature a bit differently in every spring. Like a woman with many attributes to give to life, the attributes conjoined in a single spring are found nowhere else on the surface of the earth.

Natural springs inspired healing and replenishment. Many springs were known to cure barrenness in women, so women went to sleep there, and probably lovers went to the pools together seeking fertility. Some springs in particular were playful meeting places for family and friends, especially in the warm months of summer. Great numbers of pilgrims and relatives prayed at them to propitiate the goddess's favour. The pools near natural springs, particularly thermal springs, also inspired leisure and recreation. When sleeping overnight by the pools, the pilgrims were encouraged to rest and dream the answers to their queries.

In northwest Spain, southern Gaul, and Britain, the spring goddess Coventina was revered, with the height of ritual activity taking place in the late second and early third century, prior to the edict that made such rites illegal in areas under Roman authority. On one stone, Coventina is a nymph, shown resting on waves lapping against a riverbank, waving a water lily playfully in the air with one hand and poising her other arm on an upturned jug of water. At Carrawburgh, along Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, she is portrayed as a triple nymph. Akin to images of the Triple-Mother Goddess, the face of the three images varies slightly, but her imagery otherwise is standard. She appears semi-nude, pouring a jug of water on the ground with one hand and holding another jug aloft in the other. Over sixteen thousand coins have been found in her well, a level of ritual offerings higher than that at the thermal springs at Aquae Sulis in Bath, England. Other offerings found include jewelry, bits of glass, bone, metal, and leather. Supplicants came to offer prayers and petitions, bathe in the pools, drink from the well, and leave offerings to accompany their prayers.

The presence of the playful nymph signals the healing of physical distress and the replenishment of vitality. Key to receiving the gifts of her presence is your willingness to receive intimacy and love and to play and frolic. She wants you to have fun, relax, and enjoy life. A healing vacation near water or at a spa may be especially helpful. If you have the opportunity to move to a new home, you might consider living near a river or stream. Professional activities can certainly recede into the background for a while. Perhaps you have been working too hard. Perhaps at this time in your life you need to pause and refresh your physical resources. Perhaps you are approaching retirement, a change in activities or environment, or preparing to give birth to a child. Whatever your situation, this oracle invites you to renew your physical well-being and restore passion, eroticism, and wonder to the physical and sensual activities of daily life.

THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME March 2021

THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME March 2021

Mercury Communication is the big theme this month. Mars enters the wordy sign of Gemini on March 4, and Mercury is conjunct Jupiter in Aquarius on March 5. There is a lot being communicated, discussed and opined. Some of it may well be important. However, in the flood of information it is sometimes difficult to separate the substantial from the banal.

As the month progresses, words could increasingly be taken very seriously and assessed in an overly sensitive manner, especially in the days around the Pisces New Moon on March 13, which could make people somewhat thin-skinned. The Sun, Moon, Venus and Neptune are then close together, and even insensitive natures are then more often in danger of confusing subliminal messages with what is actually being said. These are lucid days that invite you to deal with your dreams, hopes and spiritual needs. It is advisable to consciously distance yourself from negativity during this time and to avoid putting unnecessary strain on your immune system.

Aries On March 20, the Sun enters Aries. This is the equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is the beginning of spring and the start of the astrological year. The Sun in impulsive Aries calls for bold and fearless forward progress. Venus follows the Sun on March 21 and is conjunct it until the end of March. Mars in Gemini and Mercury in Pisces are in tension with each other. Discussions and arguments now take place in a field of tension between belief and knowledge, whereby it is often somewhat unclear whether what is supposedly known is merely believed.

Neptune At the Libra Full Moon on March 28, the Sun is in close conjunction with Venus and Chiron, and Mars is in conjunction with the Moon's Node. Illnesses and old wounds may once again show themselves clearly at this time, necessitating decisive action. The following conjunction of Mercury with Neptune on March 30 indicates that the facts could continue to be very unclear. Honest attempts to actively improve the situation may prove more difficult than expected.

Right or Wrong

 Is the Outcome Right or Wrong?

As a Tarot reader, do you ever ask yourself the question, "How many readings did I get right today?" or "how many were wrong?" Right or wrong, who told you which, the client, another Tarot reader, yourself or don't you know? Whatever the outcome of any one individual reading then only the future can answer the question but if the reading is divinatory then surely the client can make the relevant changes on the advice given to them from the reader. Therefore any choice's made by the client may be entirely different from the outcome of that one individual reading. Free will could raise its beautiful head and the client may approach the question or issue from an entirely different angle after having a reading and the outcome could be completely opposite from the reading and yet very positive for the clients' outcome.

If it is a predictive reading using oracles, for example, using a Lenormand deck, the outcome must be accurate otherwise the outcome or answer would be incorrect and so would the reading. How many readers get accurate and honest feedback from every client and every reading they have ever done? I would say, very few and if they do or did, how can they prove it.

Far too many people treat the Tarot reading as a throw-away gesture these days, it has lost its history and background to modernity, today's society can have a tendency to use once then throw it away and get a new replacement, which is near enough everything that we use. Tarot readers are ten-a-penny, if that one doesn't work then try another one or is it more like, if that one doesn't give me the answer that I want, there's another dozen on the same street or website.

When you go for your next or even very first Tarot reading just give some thought to why you need a complete stranger to know your most inner feelings and worries, who is the most experienced, honest, reliable, hard working and will give you the time and effort that you deserve.

When a Tarot reader gives advice to the client there will always be consequences.

Learn Tarot

 Watch this introduction to see how to enroll on my FREE Tarot course then click on the link below to fill out the enrollment form.

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THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME

 THE CURRENT QUALITY OF TIME FEB 2021

Aquarius

With Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius, a few landmarks have already been set in recent weeks that foreshadow where the collective journey is headed. In the first three weeks of February, not only these two social planets are characterized by the freedom-loving and free-thinking Aquarian energy, but also the Sun, Mercury and Venus. Surprising and unorthodox developments in social, political and technological areas can be expected during this time. As the last air sign in the zodiac, Aquarius is considered the archetype of the humanitarian, unconventional and sometimes rebellious person. It is a good time to try new things.

Taurus

The antithesis to this experimental mood in February is mainly Mars and Uranus in Taurus. Mars shows little willingness to make quick changes and ensures that good ideas must be implemented in agreement with reality. Beware of reckless assertion of your wishes and claims, the reactions of those affected could be unusually violent.

The days around the Aquarius New Moon of February 11 are promising. Venus and Jupiter - the small and the great fortune - are in exact conjunction at 12° Aquarius. In the following two days, Mercury, still retrograde, joins them. It is a "make a wish" constellation that can actually bring serendipity, breakthroughs and deep insights here and there. Love relationships can experience an intensification during this time.

The integration of these manifold and enriching experiences is supported by the quality of time of the following days, even if here and there the difference between wish and reality might become overly obvious. On February 17, Saturn squares Uranus in Taurus, the first of three squares this year. Many of the original and creative ideas of the past few weeks are now undergoing their first reality check.

Pisces

The Sun enters the sensitive sign of Pisces on February 18, Venus squares Mars on the 20th, and Mercury ends its retrograde phase on the 21st. Venus also enters Pisces on the 25th, and Mars makes a trine to Pluto at the same time. The lofty and sometimes unrealistic plans of the previous weeks must now be brought into harmony with your own spiritual and emotional experience. Don't be discouraged if you didn't get quite as far as you had hoped. Sometimes a step back is useful to get a more comprehensive view.

The Chicken or the Egg?

What came first? The Tarot or Playing Cards.

I am often asked this question and it is very difficult to answer as there really isn’t an answer, purely because, nobody actually knows unless they could travel back in time and solve this puzzle. Many, many writers and scholars of the subject believe they have the answer to which came first and can prove it but then along comes someone else who says they can disprove it and this will carry on until the end of time. That is, unless time travel is invented and I am pretty sure that nobody will travel back in time just to find out who was right and who was wrong.

Therefore I am going to give some historic facts and theories to try to put people's minds at rest and let them decide for themselves.

Let’s go back a few thousand years to the Egyptians, Indians and Chinese peoples of our plant. Many of the Taroists of the 19th century believed through their own research along with fellow colleagues of the time that some kind of symbolism was being used in religion, spiritualism, magic and other occult systems and it was also used for the foretelling of the future, things to come, and fortune. Now as we all know, nobody can see the actual and factual future because if they could then they would be very rich and famous, and certainly rule the human race. This is fact and undoubtedly reality. I am a realist and believe in nothing except the truth, facts, seeing, touching and communicating with reality. If I honestly believe something works to improve someone's life in any way then I would use it. Back to the subject in hand. I said that I would give you some historic facts, well I could copy and paste thousands of words but I’m not, instead I will give you as many links as I know of that will explain how and where Tarot originated. These links will give you the information required to not only understand the theories these occultists believed in but also how they themselves argued amongst themselves ultimately trying to be the first one who could prove that they had found the answers to all the questions.

Links and References

The Pictorial Key to the Tarot

by A.E. Waite [1911]

This is the essential Tarot reference by the designer of probably, the best known Tarot deck.

The Tarot of the Bohemians

by Papus; tr. A. P Morton, [1896]

This is a detailed study of the esoteric roots of the Tarot. I have some suspicions about the actual claims that Papus makes in this document.

The Tarot

by S.L. MacGregor Mathers [1888]

This is a short essay on the Tarot, by a prominent occultist of the 19th Century. Mathers also wrote The Kabbalah Unveiled.

The Symbolism of the Tarot

by P. D. Ouspensky [1913]

An evocative inner journey through the Major Arcana of the Tarot.

General Book of the Tarot

by A.E. Thierens [1930]

A system of correspondences between the Tarot and Astrology.

Fortune Telling by Cards

by P.R.S. Foli [1915]

Several methods of telling fortunes with a standard deck of playing cards.

The Tarot.org Library

An electronic library with some of the most fundamental Authors on Tarot. Loads more links in here. 

Needs and Wants (Tarot spread)

 Needs and Wants (Tarot spread)

Introduction

This spread is based on a spread I used for many years. It asks what the person's

(NEEDS and WANTS) are. So asking the questions what do you really NEED?

Versus what do you actually WANT?

The NEEDS are a necessity whereas the WANTS are purely desire and materialistic.

The cards are laid-out in the following sequence:-

4-1-5

6-2-7

8-3-9

This spread can be used in many ways to find out about a person or a thing, such as, buying a house

or a new car. A new enterprise or business that requires many questions to be asked. Comparisons

and much more.