COMING TO TERMS WITH THINGS THAT SCARE US

With Halloween just a few days away, I’ve been enjoying driving around and viewing other people’s Halloween yard decorations.  The current trend seems to be going for scarier displays.  Here in Michigan, a number of people have erected figures of gigantic skeletons and ghouls in their yards.  Then, because these objects are apparently difficult to take down and store, they leave them up year round, and decorate them for other holidays, like putting tinsel on them at Christmas.  Psychologically, this is a way of taming the things that scare us, (and that is a big part of what Halloween is about).

One of my new books on tarot that I’m working on offers folk magic remedies and other comments on how to mitigate fears when we pull a tarot card that throws a scare into us, so I’ll provide some snippets here, related to the Nine of Swords, The Tower, the Five of Swords, and The Devil, respectively, illustrated with The Halloween Tarot by Karin Lee and Kipling West, where the Swords suit is the suit of Bats:

Nightmares: The anxieties associated with Nine of Swords situations may well induce nightmares.  For children, put one of their dad’s used socks in the bed, as the testosterone scent is magically protective.  The use of dreamcatchers, (net-like, web-like hooped constructions, often enhanced with beads and feathers) originated among woodland Indians who hung them from cradle boards to ensnare the bad dream spirits; these have now become popular decorative items.  Some other traditional practices include putting an open scissors under one’s bed, or putting the key in the keyhole (of old fashioned doors that still have keyholes) to prevent the “mares” from slipping through.  An old Italian remedy was to put three sunflowers on the outside windowsill, as these are what the nightmare spirit “loves best.” 

                There are also folk remedies to dispel negative energies upon waking.  If you should wake up in the middle of the night and are afraid of going back to sleep, get up to turn on the light, comb your hair, wash your face, and brush your teeth; because these activities separate the Day World from the Night World, you can afterward return to bed to get more sleep.  In Japanese lore, a monster called the Baku, which is a strange creature that looks like a cross between an elephant and an anteater, will come and devour your nightmares if you call it three times by saying, “Bakusan, come eat my dream.”  (This can also be done prior to sleep.)  In Talmudic practice, a bad dream can be transmuted by saying, “I have beheld a good dream,” and getting at least three of your family or friends to respond in kind by saying, “Verily, it is good, and may it be good, and may God make it good,” and repeat that seven or nine times.  This way, the dream is reframed as positive.

Omens: Because of the sort of major life changes that The Tower can predict [when you pull this card], your Unconscious may already be sending you warnings through dreams and omens.  Omens occur when your Unconscious tries to get your attention by putting symbolically meaningful events and objects in high focus.  Some of these are personal, and some are cultural.  For example, there is nothing inherently unlucky about black cats, but because there is a common cultural superstition that black cats are unlucky, you may now see a black cat crossing your path and suddenly feel unsettled, even if you’ve seen plenty of black cats before and had no reaction.  If you do have some ominous occurrences, you can say, “I acknowledge this omen, and give thanks for the information.” Then, be extra mindful as mentioned previously.

And by the way, never take it out on the messenger when you get bad news or omens.  In the case of innocent black kitties, there's another superstition that you can reverse any bad luck by blowing the cat a kiss.  (Plus, you get extra good karma by being kind to animals, and that will help offset some bad karma.)  It can also help to ease your mind if you know that different cultures have different views of what is lucky and unlucky.  So, in parts of England, (and also in Jamaica), black cats are considered to be lucky, and it's especially lucky if a black cat crosses in front of a bride on her wedding day.  (Some brides even carry plush black cats along with their bridal bouquets.)

Transforming Perceptions: Although change itself is neutral, [the Five of Swords being a card about change], we tend to perceive it as stressful.  Part of the magical mindset is being able to change the way you perceive a situation, and in this respect, it is helpful to know a bit about how people in other cultures perceive things.  For example, I knew a lady who was disturbed because some bats had gotten into her house, and asked me, “aren’t they the Devil’s creatures?”  I was able to lighten her mind by explaining how in other countries, bats are good luck.  In China, for example, an image of five bats, called “Wu Fu” is a popular design motif, because the word for bat puns on the word for luck.  The five bats stand for the five Confucian blessings: health, wealth, longevity, love of virtue, and a natural death.  Bats are, of course, creatures of the Air, and a whimsical “Halloween” Tarot deck even uses bats to represent the Swords cards.  Therefore, if you find the appearance of the Five of Swords unsettling, counter it by wearing or displaying an image of the Wu Fu.

Blessing [in relation to pulling The Devil card]: Some old stories describe how negative entities were mollified by extending blessings.  A Polish legend tells of a bridge over the river Solokija in Belz, where anyone attempting to cross the bridge at midnight was pelted with stones by some invisible entity.  One night, after a traveler crossing the bridge was struck by a stone, he paused and pronounced a traditional Slavic blessing, “May you be in God’s care.”  A shade emerged and said, “Thank you for your good word.  So far everybody has been cursing at me, and it is you who put me under God’s care,” and so the haunting ended.  In Buddhist lore, a group of monks staying in a haunted grove were attacked by spirits who tried to frighten them off with gruesome apparitions.  However, the spirits were placated when the Buddha advised the monks to extend loving-kindness meditations toward them.  If you sense some negativity coming your way, you can use a simplified version of this by reciting, “May all beings be happy.   May all beings be free from troubles.  May all beings be protected.”

Book Reviews: Bringing Tarot Magic to Life

Hi, Everybody--and profuse apologies for my being so bad about tending to this blog!

Back at the beginning of this year, I reviewed five books for shepherd.com, but because I have been overwhelmed with family caretaker duties, I am only just now getting around to posting the link here.  So anyway, I encourage everyone to visit this site, and read these great books if you get a chance.  Here is the link:

https://shepherd.com/best-books/bringing-tarot-magic-to-life

2025 - YEAR OF THE HERMIT (continued)

 Yesterday I wrote about The Hermit as the year card for 2025.  Here is another snippet from the tarot magic book I’m working on—it is about using The Hermit in tarot spells.

Tarot Spells:  When The Hermit card comes up in a reading, you can look for interesting graphic associations if the Hermit is holding up his lantern to an adjoining card.  For example, The High Priestess card often denotes secrets or hidden knowledge, so (using the RWS deck) The Hermit appearing to the right of the Priestess would indicate his help in illuminating the mysteries that the High Priestess conceals.  (By contrast, if he appears to the left of the High Priestess, it would indicate that you are looking in the wrong place for the information you seek—maybe too absorbed with the past to notice what is right before you.)

Going on the same principle, when you want to create a tarot spell to bring some matter to light, you can set The Hermit to the right of whichever card best illustrates your concerns. Based on the example of the High Priestess, (and depending on whether the deck you use has The Hermit figure facing left), you could lay The Hermit to her right when you want to uncover some secret or gain intuitive knowledge.  (If using a deck in which The Hermit is facing to the right, the Priestess would go to the right.)   In other examples, The Hermit placed next to Justice can be used for seeking justice and transparency in legal matters, next to The Star for seeking a spirit guide, next to The Hierophant for clarification of received teachings, to The Moon to shed light on a path through darkness, the Ace of Pentacles for transparency in financial matters, the Page or Knight of Pentacles for help with gaining practical information, the Knight of Cups for a better understanding of what he brings to his mission of healing, the Seven of Swords to reveal the identity of a thief-- and so on and so forth.  The possibilities are numerous.

  

In this example, notice the graphic resonance between the Knight's pentacle and the Hermit's lantern.

2025 – YEAR OF THE HERMIT

In magical numerology, 2025 is the year of The Hermit, because 2 + 0 + 2 + 5 = 9, which is the number of The Hermit card in tarot.

So, the question is, how might this affect us as individuals, as well as our larger society? 

This is just speculation on my part, but we in the U.S. have just gone through a very contentious election, so whether you are happy with the results or unhappy with the results, a lot of people are sick and tired of the social strife, and may decide to just turn inward, focus on their own interests, and avoid friends and family members who still want to argue politics. 

Alternatively, it is possible that some situation could arise that would result in enforced isolation, so I hope we won’t be experiencing another pandemic, (though I am optimistic that we’ve gotten better at managing epidemic situations). 

 Also, in earlier days before the card was labeled “The Hermit,” it just portrayed an old man carrying an hourglass, (the archetype of the “Senex”), so the focus was on aging and the wisdom of elders. For our society, issues around aging and elder care could come into prominence. [I also note that we’ve just replaced one very elderly president with questionable mental acuity with another very elderly one, so that might have some implications for government and for society.]

Regardless of what else is going on in the world, taking some time for quiet reflection is good for introverts and extraverts alike. If you are in a living situation where you feel constantly put upon, and The Hermit card comes up in a tarot reading for advice, you can see the appearance of The Hermit as giving you permission to carve out some time and space alone for yourself.

Here is a snippet about The Hermit from a book I am currently working on:

Seeking Solitude:  In an extraverted society, introverts often find themselves apologizing for their desire for solitude.  If you feel guilty about wanting time to yourself, let the appearance of The Hermit card signal a time to indulge in what Nietzsche called, “the good solitude, the free, high-spirited, light-hearted solitude that, in some sense, gives you the right to stay good yourself.”  If your life circumstances have necessitated your living alone, you can also find some philosophical solace in Nietzsche, who noted, “To live alone one must be a beast or a god, says Aristotle.  Leaving out the third case: one must be both—a philosopher.”  If your circumstances are so unfortunate that you can’t find decent people to associate with, then take to heart the words of the Buddha, who said, “Better it is to live alone; there is no fellowship with a fool.  Live alone and do no evil; be carefree like an elephant in the elephant forest.”

SUPER MOON TAROT BLESSING

from the Golden Wheel Tarot
by Mila Losenko

Tonight’s full moon is notable for being both a “super moon” (meaning it appears larger due to being closer to earth), and a “blue moon” (which is a popular term for when a full moon occurs twice in a month, due to there being 13 lunar months within our 12 month solar year).  Of course, full moons are always magical, but these coinciding factors help build up some extra magical energy.

All manner of magic workings can be done under the full moon.  Among other things, this is a good time to affirm the things you desire as already manifested, because as an African—I think Yoruba—expression goes, “When the moon is full, things are fully happening.”

In the tarot deck, we do have a card that is simply labeled, “The Moon,” and whose illustrations usually feature a full moon over a wilderness landscape.  While we don’t normally think to carry our Moon card out under the moon, (any more than it might occur to us to bring our Sun card out under the sun), going outside to hold the Moon card up to the moon, (or the Sun card up to the Sun), is a way to create a circuit of energy that makes a connection with our card deck and the greater world of nature.

from the Everyday Witch Tarot
by Deborah Blake and Elisabeth Alba

Very simply, if you have a tarot deck, you might want to go through your cards to locate The Moon, then go out tonight and hold it up to the Blue Super Moon while saying something like, “Blue Moon, True Moon, I wish you may, I wish you might, infuse your shining magic into my deck of cards tonight.”

By the way, the sun is currently in Virgo, and tonight’s full moon will be in Pisces, which is the sign opposite Virgo in the Zodiac.  (Note that full moons always occur in whatever sign is opposite the current sun sign.)  Because Pisces is a water sign, this would be an especially good time to visit an east-facing beach, because watching the moon rise out of the water is a magical event in itself.  (Tonight’s moon rise is around 8:30 p.m. Eastern time.)

HALLOWEEN IN OUR HEARTS

My mother used to keep a Christmas tree up all year, and would tell people, “It’s always Christmas in my heart.”  Meanwhile, I used to joke that, “It’s always Halloween in my heart.”  Looking ahead to Halloween night 2022, I was thinking about creating some spell to capture the Spirit of Halloween, when I remembered the Halloween ritual featured in my book, “By Candlelight: Rites for Celebration, Blessing & Prayer.”  Unfortunately, the book is now out of print, but I’d like to share the ritual, along with illustrations of some cards from Stacey Demarco’s “The Halloween Oracle.”  If you have this card deck, laying out these cards while also performing the candle rite can serve as a spell to welcome Halloween magic into your life.

Here are some excerpts from the book:

"To experience the mystical energies of this season, you can light a candle on All Hallows Eve (and, if you wish, on the nights surrounding it).  … [A]s the focus of a family celebration or kick off a night of party-going, you could perform the following rite, to recover some of childhood’s sense of wonder."  

           

Light your Halloween candle while saying,  

             

 "I light this candle

      in honor of All Hallows nights,

  a time when the human world

      can touch the world of magic

   

                   So at this time,

                       may we also find wonder 

                           in the mysteries of the universe,

                   even as we rediscover

                            the enchantments of childhood.

                 So may our lives be filled with magic:

                       magic in our homes,

                                  and magic in our hearts."

Note that we can think of the days around Halloween as “Allhallowntide,” based on ancient customs where the days leading up to and following a special holiday were also sacred; this includes the old practice of the “octave,” where you have eight days of celebration around an important feast.  By the way, the cross-quarter day associated with Halloween, that is, the halfway point between the autumn equinox and winter solstice, is fifteen degrees Scorpio, around November 7^th.

Back-To-School Time and Teaching as Blessing

 Back when I was a kid in school, I held the beginning of September in awe and dread, because my golden summer of freedom was over, and it was time to go back to school.  Despite that, I had good relations with my teachers, and I regularly experience resurgent memories of teaching moments, where I can hear the voices of my teachers explaining different principles and relaying different knowledge.

                Some of those teachers have also influenced my personal values and greater life path, so September is also a month that brings to mind the Hierophant card, which represents values and traditions that are passed down—often from teacher to student through generations.

                As I have recently cut my hours at work so I can get back to my writing, I have just been working on a half-finished book about bringing out the magic in individual tarot cards, so below are some of my thoughts on evoking the Hierophant, along with an image of The Hierophant as portrayed in “The Steampunk Tarot” by Barbara Moore and artist Aly Fell.

Blessing Your Teachers:  Because the Hierophant card can denote persons who have been influential in helping you find your life’s purpose, the appearance of this card can remind you to bless the teacher figures in your life. You could say,  

                As all my teachers have blessed me

                                 by sharing their wisdom

                     and their traditions,

                so do I now return those blessings.

                My best wishes go out to all the teachers

                                who have helped me,

                and all the teachers who have inspired me.

                And where I can use further teaching,

                                so may the teachers come.

                And where I can be a teacher to others,

                                so may the students come.

                In teaching and learning, learning and teaching,

                                we share a circle of blessing.

Note that honoring teachers is an ancient practice.  For example, some ancient Romans (like Marcus Aurelius) honored their mentors as their family gods by having images of them in their household shrines, and some Zen practitioners keep an image of their teacher in a place of honor, and direct gratitude toward their teacher in their daily lovingkindness meditations.

Finding Your Teacher:   We are never too old to learn, and life is full of teachers—including hidden teachers.  Here is a tarot image search technique for identifying the next teacher to enter your life:  Shuffle and cut your deck in your preferred manner while mentally reciting, the mantra, “When the student is ready, the teacher comes.”* 

When you feel you have shuffled enough, set the deck of cards with the picture sides face up before you, then go through your deck until you come to the Hierophant card, and then also pull the cards that come just before and just after the Hierophant.

Consider how these flanking cards may provide clues as to the nature of your teacher and the areas of life where new learning can be experienced.  A court card or other “people card” would especially indicate that your teacher is likely to be a certain type of person.  A Major Arcana card would indicate a learning experience that is significant to your life path, and if it is one of the more spiritually oriented cards, it could indicate initiation into a spiritual fellowship.  A pip (Minor Arcana) card would provide clues about the general circumstances in your learning situation, as well as material world values that influence your spiritual world concerns.

 Mentoring Others:  The blessing ritual above makes mention of how you can be a teacher to others.  If you have skills and knowledge that you’d like to pass along, but don’t currently have anyone who is receptive to what you have to offer, put yourself into a meditative state as you think about the information that you have to share, while mentally reciting the mantra, “When the teacher is ready, the student comes.”

 *Endnote:  Bodhipaksa. “When the Student is Ready, the Teacher will Appear.”  Fake Buddha Quotes, March 16, 2013.  https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/when-the-student-is-ready-the-teacher-will-appear/.  Bodhipaksa explains how this quote was popularized by students in the Theosophical fellowship of Madame Blavatsky, including Mabel Collins, who mentioned it in her book “Light on the Path” in 1886.  Apparently, no one has traced it back farther, though it has a Taoist vibe to it, and I had assumed it came from Taoism.  However, Stefan Stenudd also discusses how this did not come from the Tao Te Ching.  Stenudd, Stefan.  “Taoism Explained,” Fake Laotzu Quote “When the Student  …”  Sept. 22, 2020.  https://www.taoistic.com/fake-laotzu-quotes/fake-laotzu-quote-When_the_student_is_ready_the_teacher_will_appear.htm.