I am in the process of drafting my handouts for next Sunday, which include tarot exercises involving “the magic of shining,” so I am trying to articulate what this means, and will try to explain a little more about it here.
In spiritual and magical systems throughout the world, we often find a high value placed on bright and shining things, as well as shining qualities of character and spirit. So, shiny, sparkling objects or substances (such as gold, silver, crystal, glass, etc.), are used in spells, charms, and sacred medicines to attract the attention and affect the potency of the Spirit World. For example, among the Ki-Kongo, one puts oneself in alignment with the powers of the Spirit World by invoking “the flash of spirit.” (Here I reference Robert Farris Thomson’s “Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy.”) Some of this relates to the qualities of “like attracts like,” because of the shining nature of spirits and the Spirit World. In Asia, certain nature spirits and elevated types of spirits are called “dewas” or “devas,” meaning “the shining ones,” with roots related to our own word “deity.”
In a book I recently read on the Salish People of the Pacific Northwest, [“What I’ve Always Known: Living in Full Awareness of the Earth” by Tom Harmer], people who seek relationship with the elder nature spirits are referred to as the “come-alive people,” and, as a shaman explains, undertake a training which includes “cry[ing] to the powers of this world for soemthin’ to make the world shine for ‘em again” [38]. This terminology is used throughout the book, as when Harmer wonders, “… who are they, the ones who wait for a person, out in the mountains? Who show themselves, give instruction, do things for a person?” the shaman replies, “They’re the ones who make the world shine when we sing their songs!” [30].
Shining qualities are not just attributed to the spirit, but also to the mind, as when the Buddha says, “This mind is luminous,” with the idea that as you purify your thinking through meditation and mindfulness, the light of wisdom shines through.
In mythology, a quality of shining is especially associated with gods and goddesses who are friendly to humans, as in the case of golden Aphrodite, who bestows “golden gifts.” In “Goddesses in Every Woman,” Jean Shinoda Bolen relates this to “Aphrodite consciousness,” which “is present in all creative work,” and “Whenever Aphrodite consciousness is present, energy is generated: lovers glow with well-being and heightened energy; conversation sparkles, stimulating thoughts and feelings” [228, 229].
In folklore and ethnopoetics, we see that shining qualities of appearance and personality are especially characteristic of kings and queens, wonder children, virtuous maidens, fay-like women, and heroes, (e.g. the knight in shining armor). Robert Bly explores this concept in “Iron John,” describing the archetype of “The King [who] in his upper room comes toward us with a shining face—he blesses, he encourages creativity, he establishes alone an ordered universe” [113], or the archetype of “The Woman who Loves Gold,” (and her trace, “The Track of the Moon on the Water”), which recognizes, nourishes, and inspires talent and other glittering qualities in people. Describing how this latter archetype can shine through individual females, Bly says, “The Gold Woman in the other world sends her radiance down through the atmosphere, and the radiance appears on the girl’s face” [135]. For those of us older folks, Bly sees the experience or memory of the experience of these archetypes as helping us to recover our core creativity. Citing what William Stafford describes as “taking in our fingers the golden thread,” we can ask, “What were the delights we felt in childhood before we gave our life over to pleasing other people … or doing what they wanted done? Mythologically, catching hold of the end of the golden thread is described as picking up a single feather from the burning breast of the Firebird” [ Bly 112]. I relate this to the process of re-discovering the creative qualities in one’s Sun sign (among many other things). We may be intrigued when we are young and first learn of the different sun signs, but after a while we take them for granted, and some of their related personality traits get suppressed as we get older and have to conform to the world’s expectations. Going back to rediscover you sign can give you an unexpected source of new energy and vitality.
Related to the management of daily life, the concept of shining is a desirable personality trait. So, different peoples, including the Japanese, Balinese, and Thai, have social injunctions to cultivate a “bright face” or a “bright heart,” because that helps to promote social harmony and uplift everyone around you. Contrast this with certain aspects of American individualism, where you “let it all hang out” and indulge your every passing mood, without regard to the effect on other people. Note that these observations of our effect on other people may seem to contradict what I said in the previous paragraph about rediscovering our core personalities and the things that bring us pleasure, but they’re really not paradoxical when you explore their nuances. When we are able to cultivate a shining spirit, heart, face, and mind, we put ourselves in greater alignment with Deity.
Well, I could go on and on, but those are a few of the thoughts I am laying out. You can see that the concept of shining has many applications, and can be appreciated on many levels, both mundane and sublime. Next Sunday, we will explore these different meanings through the tarot, with the nature of the cards determining whether the most mundane or sublime aspects are present for us.
Showing posts with label Aphrodite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aphrodite. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
The Magic of Opening and Tarot
Last Sunday’s workshop theme was “the magic of opening,” in keeping with the month of April’s association with the word, aperio, “I open,” (because at one point, it used to open the year, and because spring equinox opens Nature’s year), as well as the month of April’s being dedicated to Aphrodite and her divine powers of opening. Our tarot exercise therefore involved posing questions and doing a card search to find areas in your life where you can find a magical opening. This was more involved and subjective than other April card searches we have done, (such as searching for the Fool card to identify some area of life where you may feel that the Universe is playing a cosmic joke on you, but where you might also encounter rewarding synchronicities), because people had to go through their decks until they found a card whose imagery conveyed the idea of opening for them. So, here are a few thoughts and observations on images of opening in the tarot, (using the RWS as the standard).
Because the Judgment card shows people who have risen from their graves, it can denote a change in status or a new phase in life that result in things opening up for you. It is also apropos of Easter/Springtime’s theme of emergence.
Another card that hints at emergence is The Moon, which portrays a crayfish, (which can represent impulses that come from some very deep, primitive part of the Self), partially emerging from the water (of the Unconscious). In her book, “Tarot as a way of Life: A Jungian Approach to the Tarot,” Karen Hamaker-Zondag discusses the rising of symbolic images from the unconscious, when, “In The Moon stage we open up to these inner images” [168]. Notice, also, that the road shown leading off into the distance is an “open road.”
A card that conveys a very reassuring sense of openness is The Sun. The Sun’s face is gazing straight outward with its extended rays like the open arms of the joyful child. The “idea” of the Sun can also suggest being out in the open, in open country, the freedom of nature, etc. Yet, there is that wall there, though it suggests not so much a barrier as a protective enclosure, and although the sunflowers echo the sun-face, they are a cultivated plant.
Some of The Sun’s imagery is echoed in The Lovers, where a sun image is the background for the angel, whose arms are spread in blessing, and the man and woman, whose arms are also outspread. The man and woman in this card are nude, suggesting their openness and honesty with each other, as well as their essential humanity. We see similar body imagery in Judgment, The World, and The Star.
Some cards can have images of openness, yet remain somewhat equivocal. In the Star card just mentioned, the woman is out in open nature under an open sky, but her preoccupation with her task makes her slightly closed off to the viewer, and although there is openness in The World’s joyful dance, she is enclosed in a sacred circle. When cards have mixed imagery, you have to think about how the themes of open and closed play off of each other in your particular situation.
The Fool is another tarot figure who is out in open nature under and open sky and a radiant sun, with arms spread in an opening gesture, but the chasm he’s about to step off into represents a more dangerous open. Unlike the figures whose nudity suggests a lack of social pretensions, he is fully clothed.
Some Minor Arcana cards may hint at the idea of openness, though overall, they have a more closed-off quality, with their human figures confined within their own little worlds, (or elemental spheres). An interesting example is the 8 of Cups. The Number Eight has a very organized character, which can contribute to a sense of comfort and security, but which can also convey the feeling of being locked in. This can conflict with the very fluid, emotionally expressive nature of the Cups, which can then lead to the desire to leave an emotionally confining situation. The RWS card illustrates this with a person who has turned his back on the cups, and is wandering off into the wild, following the path of the river. That he may have found some emotional opening to pursue this adventure or make this escape is suggested by the arrangement of three cups on top of five cups, with a gap in the top row. The symbology might have been different if the cups had been in two tight rows of four, as that would have suggested more of an emotional holding pattern. This shows how the little graphic decisions made by the artists/designers can bring in quite different nuances.
Well, I have more to say about themes of openness in the tarot, so I will carry this into my next post. TO BE CONTINUED …
Because the Judgment card shows people who have risen from their graves, it can denote a change in status or a new phase in life that result in things opening up for you. It is also apropos of Easter/Springtime’s theme of emergence.
Another card that hints at emergence is The Moon, which portrays a crayfish, (which can represent impulses that come from some very deep, primitive part of the Self), partially emerging from the water (of the Unconscious). In her book, “Tarot as a way of Life: A Jungian Approach to the Tarot,” Karen Hamaker-Zondag discusses the rising of symbolic images from the unconscious, when, “In The Moon stage we open up to these inner images” [168]. Notice, also, that the road shown leading off into the distance is an “open road.”
A card that conveys a very reassuring sense of openness is The Sun. The Sun’s face is gazing straight outward with its extended rays like the open arms of the joyful child. The “idea” of the Sun can also suggest being out in the open, in open country, the freedom of nature, etc. Yet, there is that wall there, though it suggests not so much a barrier as a protective enclosure, and although the sunflowers echo the sun-face, they are a cultivated plant.
Some of The Sun’s imagery is echoed in The Lovers, where a sun image is the background for the angel, whose arms are spread in blessing, and the man and woman, whose arms are also outspread. The man and woman in this card are nude, suggesting their openness and honesty with each other, as well as their essential humanity. We see similar body imagery in Judgment, The World, and The Star.
Some cards can have images of openness, yet remain somewhat equivocal. In the Star card just mentioned, the woman is out in open nature under an open sky, but her preoccupation with her task makes her slightly closed off to the viewer, and although there is openness in The World’s joyful dance, she is enclosed in a sacred circle. When cards have mixed imagery, you have to think about how the themes of open and closed play off of each other in your particular situation.
The Fool is another tarot figure who is out in open nature under and open sky and a radiant sun, with arms spread in an opening gesture, but the chasm he’s about to step off into represents a more dangerous open. Unlike the figures whose nudity suggests a lack of social pretensions, he is fully clothed.
Some Minor Arcana cards may hint at the idea of openness, though overall, they have a more closed-off quality, with their human figures confined within their own little worlds, (or elemental spheres). An interesting example is the 8 of Cups. The Number Eight has a very organized character, which can contribute to a sense of comfort and security, but which can also convey the feeling of being locked in. This can conflict with the very fluid, emotionally expressive nature of the Cups, which can then lead to the desire to leave an emotionally confining situation. The RWS card illustrates this with a person who has turned his back on the cups, and is wandering off into the wild, following the path of the river. That he may have found some emotional opening to pursue this adventure or make this escape is suggested by the arrangement of three cups on top of five cups, with a gap in the top row. The symbology might have been different if the cups had been in two tight rows of four, as that would have suggested more of an emotional holding pattern. This shows how the little graphic decisions made by the artists/designers can bring in quite different nuances.
Well, I have more to say about themes of openness in the tarot, so I will carry this into my next post. TO BE CONTINUED …
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Looking forward to April 1st and the first Sunday, April 3rd
Looking forward to April Fools Day, it is believed to have originated in France, which was the first country to adopt the Gregorian calendar. The games and jokery came to fill the celebrational void that was left when the calendar change resulted in the date of New Years being moved from April 1st to January 1st, (which used to be the winter solstice). Imagine how disoriented you would feel on the eve and day of January 1st if, for some reason, they made another calendar change and moved New Year to some other day! Back then, the April Fools jokes also poked fun at backward people who insisted on celebrating New Year the old way on April 1st. In France and Italy, the fish is the symbol of April Fools Day, and a popular April Fools joke is tacking a fish to other peoples’ clothes without their knowing it. Shops feature baked goods and candies in the shape of fish, and fish are also featured on greeting cards. The idea was that in April, young fish are naïve and easily caught. Coincidentally however, the fish is also sacred to Aphrodite (who rules April), as well as the symbol of Pisces. (Although the precession of the equinoxes has put the calendar days out of sync, April 1st used to be both the Spring Equinox and the day the sun entered Aries, leaving Pisces, the sign of the fishes and of the old year.)
In some previous years, for the first Sunday in April, I demonstrated tarot readings focused on the Fool card. Also in line with the theme of April fishes, we sometimes also did a card search for the Page of Cups. (Because, in the RWS deck, the Page is gaping with surprise at a fish that emerges from his cup, the idea is, where in your life does it seem like the Universe is playing some cosmic joke on you, yet where, at the same time, can you find unexpected rewards?) Last year, we did a card search for Judgment, phrasing the request, “Please show me where I can find new life,” with the idea that the card to the left of Judgment denotes a potential source of renewal, and the card to the right shows where or how you can express energies that reinvigorate you. All of the afore-mentioned cards are harmonious with April’s theme of awakening, opening, and emergence, because the Fool is going forth on a new adventure, the Page of Cups is opening to new emotional experience and growth, and Judgment graphically portrays emergence as rebirth.
This year, I’m thinking of broadening the card search by having us ask the cards a general question about which areas of life are opening up for us. This will take more than the usual amount of consideration as people go through their decks, trying to identify themes of awakening, opening, and emergence in their cards, so we will allow time for plenty of questions and discussion. There are actually a great many possibilities, not just in the traditional meanings of certain cards, but in certain graphic elements. Of course, different decks may also bring in different graphic elements. I have just purchased a copy of Corrine Kenner’s “Wizard’s Tarot” (illustrated by John J. Blumen), which is my favorite new deck, so I am excited to explore ways that we can magically interact with this deck, and—for Sunday’s session--how we might be able to relate the new images to the magic of opening. The card normally titled the Fool is now “the Initiate,” so it seems appropriate to that idea of new experiences.
In some previous years, for the first Sunday in April, I demonstrated tarot readings focused on the Fool card. Also in line with the theme of April fishes, we sometimes also did a card search for the Page of Cups. (Because, in the RWS deck, the Page is gaping with surprise at a fish that emerges from his cup, the idea is, where in your life does it seem like the Universe is playing some cosmic joke on you, yet where, at the same time, can you find unexpected rewards?) Last year, we did a card search for Judgment, phrasing the request, “Please show me where I can find new life,” with the idea that the card to the left of Judgment denotes a potential source of renewal, and the card to the right shows where or how you can express energies that reinvigorate you. All of the afore-mentioned cards are harmonious with April’s theme of awakening, opening, and emergence, because the Fool is going forth on a new adventure, the Page of Cups is opening to new emotional experience and growth, and Judgment graphically portrays emergence as rebirth.
This year, I’m thinking of broadening the card search by having us ask the cards a general question about which areas of life are opening up for us. This will take more than the usual amount of consideration as people go through their decks, trying to identify themes of awakening, opening, and emergence in their cards, so we will allow time for plenty of questions and discussion. There are actually a great many possibilities, not just in the traditional meanings of certain cards, but in certain graphic elements. Of course, different decks may also bring in different graphic elements. I have just purchased a copy of Corrine Kenner’s “Wizard’s Tarot” (illustrated by John J. Blumen), which is my favorite new deck, so I am excited to explore ways that we can magically interact with this deck, and—for Sunday’s session--how we might be able to relate the new images to the magic of opening. The card normally titled the Fool is now “the Initiate,” so it seems appropriate to that idea of new experiences.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
COMING OUT IN APRIL
We are now well into that emerging, opening-out stage of spring. The crocuses have already bloomed, and daffodils are starting to poke their spear-like leaves out of the earth; at the same time, flocks of robins, blackbirds, grackles, sandhill cranes, and killdeer are flowing over the northlands like a flood. In less than a week it will be April, and of course on April 3rd, the first Sunday, I will be back to resume another year of teaching magic and tarot tips at The Triple Goddess.
Because my fist session typically falls close to April Fools Day, I sometimes build my theme around the Fool card and ideas about the Cosmic Trickster, but the first of April has another association worth exploring. The month of April is said to take its name from the Latin word “aperio,” “I open,” because, before a number of historical calendar changes, April 1st was the New Year, and also the date of the Spring Equinox, so it “opened up” the year. (Just as in springtime, we also see the world of Nature opening up.) However, there is an alternative theory that April takes its name from Aphrilis, referencing the goddess Aphrodite/Venus. In fact, the ancients also celebrated April 1st as the day in honor of Aphrodite Virilis (or Fortuna Virilis for manly fortune). Before they identified their goddess Venus with the Greek Aphrodite, the Romans honored her as a goddess of agriculture, associated with the force that drives the growth of plants, (similar, also, to their original view of the god Mars). We can see that Aphrodite as love goddess is also a force of nature, among whose golden gifts are life and growth.
Because there is a vast field of lore associated with “the magic of opening,” I will try to discuss some of the ways we can incorporate that in our lives, while also exploring how the mysteries of Aphrodite are associated.
Because my fist session typically falls close to April Fools Day, I sometimes build my theme around the Fool card and ideas about the Cosmic Trickster, but the first of April has another association worth exploring. The month of April is said to take its name from the Latin word “aperio,” “I open,” because, before a number of historical calendar changes, April 1st was the New Year, and also the date of the Spring Equinox, so it “opened up” the year. (Just as in springtime, we also see the world of Nature opening up.) However, there is an alternative theory that April takes its name from Aphrilis, referencing the goddess Aphrodite/Venus. In fact, the ancients also celebrated April 1st as the day in honor of Aphrodite Virilis (or Fortuna Virilis for manly fortune). Before they identified their goddess Venus with the Greek Aphrodite, the Romans honored her as a goddess of agriculture, associated with the force that drives the growth of plants, (similar, also, to their original view of the god Mars). We can see that Aphrodite as love goddess is also a force of nature, among whose golden gifts are life and growth.
Because there is a vast field of lore associated with “the magic of opening,” I will try to discuss some of the ways we can incorporate that in our lives, while also exploring how the mysteries of Aphrodite are associated.
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