Candlemas Hags

In my last post, I mentioned how I used the seasonal card search technique with Mason and Franklin’s “Fairy Ring” Oracle, to see what this Candlemas-tide (which extends to “Old Candlemas,” aka Valentine’s Day) might bring, and how the flanking cards were the Blue Hag of Winter and Dame Habetrot, who the Oracle depicts as something of a Summer Hag. Because I was doing a personal reading, I took it as a philosophical statement related to personal growth issues. I wasn’t thinking in literal terms, but our Michigan weather has made the transition from bitter, biting cold to yesterday’s record high of 66 degrees, all within this week before Valentines, (though the Winter Hag is about to reassert herself). So, the winter to summer reading also turned out to be a weather prediction. A lot of people downplay prediction, arguing that the cards are meant for more noble meditative purposes, yet when the cards’ images manifest themselves in such a noticeable outer-world way, it is a satisfying demonstration of how the physical world can reflect the imaginal world of the Oracles.