Tarot Blog Hop- Ostara: Paint A Journey With A New Life

Today I am thrilled and honored to be participating in a group activity, the Tarot Blog Hop.  A group of tarot bloggers have all agreed to write on one subject and share.  Today's theme is Ostara: Paint a Journey With a New Life.

You may have arrived her from Donnaleigh's blog and if so welcome!  Welcome wherever you may have come from!  When you have finished reading here, the next stop on this blog hop is Andrew.  I hope you find pleasure in all the writing you may enjoy today.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Paint is artistry, so what am I if not the artist and creator of any life I may lead, let alone a new one?  My first card will be what I am I painting, creating, now?

The second part of the theme, is Journey, and I will explore what kind of journey I am on now, what my road looks like.

The third card is A New Life, where I will end up as I paint and journey through my days.

I chose the lovely Queen of Wands, in this deck represented by Titania, as my muse and guide for this reading.  She is in fact weaving a gossamer tapestry  of dreams in this depiction, but that is close enough to painting for me, and the Queen of Wands is the kind of creative driving force that can make serious progress on a journey.

Fantastical Creatures Tarot- Six of Wands, Eight of Cups, Death

What am I currently painting- Six of Wands.  In this deck, Zeus and his white eagle combine with the traditional meaning of the card, victory, to speak of the kind of triumph one can achieve through communion with Spirit.  The white eagle is a harbinger, a messenger between the mighty deity and the mortals that serve him, one that reveals absolute truth to us in dreams and visions.  I have been diligently keeping a dream journal, no easy feat when it works best to begin to write even as you are mostly still asleep, bleary eyed, before the wisps of the dreams evaporate in the morning light.  This is a great help in clearing my mind and helping me to remember all the journeys I take at night.  Also, for me as a writer, it is critical I get all the extraneous thoughts out so I can concentrate on my story to tell.  This is a bright and confident card, and I fell that as I paint this picture for myself I am also painting one of success, happiness, and attainment of my goals.

I instantly understood the card for what kind of journey I am on- Eight of Cups.  I need to let go of my emotional baggage that holds me deep under, drowning in my own emotions at times, too heavy to float to the surface and gasp for life giving air, too human to grow gills and breathe underwater.  This card is depicted as the Daughters of Ran, a Norse sea goddess, cold and pitiless.  They are akin to mermaids, and not the Disney ones, but the ones of older lore, hungry for the souls of men.  To combine this with my last card, Death, I understand that the only way for me to leave this baggage may be to surrender fully to the horror of it, with the trust that once its' weight is lifted I can then rise to the surface, reborn.  This is a very metaphorical thought, but one of my main coping mechanisms is to pretend nothing is wrong, particularly if I feel I cannot change the wrong thing.  In practical terms, this means that I need to face my pain, admit I can't necessarily do anything about it, and then it will  lose its' hold over me.

My final card, Death, is where I will end up.  This made me chuckle, because yes, cards, I know I will die.  The only time the Death card has meant a physical death to me was when my grandfather was in hospice care, and again, it was a situation that had me sighing at my cards, "Yes, I know, but tell me something else."  Therefore, I can rest assured this card is most likely referring to the kind of spiritual death and rebirth that is necessary for growth, and for a new life.  This card is Anansi, the African Spider God, a trickster and terribly clever, wise in the fact he has learned to celebrate life and never take himself too seriously to have fun.  As I continue on my journey, I know, not entirely comfortably, that no map can guide me, and it is not for me to foresee all that I will face, as I paint my picture of creativity, of commune with the divine, and as I swim through the depths of the pain I have bottled up for far too long.  It may well be for me, the way forward is the way back, and that is how I will paint my journey with a new life.

My cards remind my of a quote from the esteemed George R.R. Martin in his acclaimed series, A Song of Fire and Ice, where one of the gods worshiped is a cold one of sea and stone.  His followers say, "What is dead may never die, but rises again stronger and harder."  At first read, this may seem a bleak sentiment, but upon reflection I find comfort in the realization that what does not kill us in fact only does serve to make us stronger, cliche though that may sound.  Often I create more pain by trying to avoid what is before me.  Sometimes it is okay to sit with an uncomfortable feeling, to let it stretch me and cause me to strive and change.  This is the fundamental base of any workout program, which ultimately serves to reshape the body.  Sometimes pain is a workout for the soul.

Thank you for visiting 78 Whispers in My Ear from Donnaleigh's blog, and I hope you will continue the Tarot Blog Hop to Andrew's blog next.  Blessed Ostara to you, rich with the fullness of the promise of renewed life in Spring!

There is a full list of participants and links to their posts at Tarot by Arwen's page if you would like to hop around rather than sequentially.  Enjoy!





This deck is Fantastical Creatures Tarot by D.J. Conway and Lisa Hunt, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.