Tarot Post – Death

 

XIII-Death (♏︎)

 

Death (F)Death by G A Rosenberg

 

Caterpillar dies
His burial shroud builds up
Transformation now!

 

Rotting in the decay of stagnation
my old self putrefies
I await the awakening
as new energy infuses my being
Tho in the moment not
in the next risen
in new form, I accept
what is to come
rather than be swept away
by life’s flow.

 

I crawled for so long
feeling earth and bark beneath
my body
Gravity kept me slow
then one day I heard your call
stepped through your door
and died..
Ecstatic darkness
points of light
and then a new awakening
Emerged, I could fly
and such beauty have I
the wind against my wings
bringing me closer to the light.
Today I heard your call again
and I prepare to enter
What will become of me now?

 

In the Rider-Waite tarot deck, Death is shown riding a white horse. In its wake are the destroyed remains of a king and in its path is a praying clergyman, a young maiden with her body supplicating itself to the rider while her head is averted and a young child offering death a flower. All of these are indicative of the various ways and stages in which we react to major life-altering changes. The king, by power and position thinks he can command Death to stop only to get trampled. The Priest believes that prayer can avert the need to change and he is next to get trampled. The maiden offers herself to Death but only half-heartedly. She won’t survive so well either. It is the child who accepts whatever comes with an open heart that will survive.
Death is the transformation to a new stage through the putrification of the old. We all go through these transformations. Our jobs become obsolete. Our relationships end. Our viewpoints and our lifestyles evolve as we grow. We have spiritual experiences that transform us. We fall in love. How we accept these changes goes a long way towards determining how far we can grow as people and as the spiritual beings we are. The more we resist change, the harder the changes tend to be when they come and the more we stagnate. It is only be being open to the flow of these changes that we can be open to the flow of life and spirit itself.
 

Astrological Correspondent-Scorpio (♏︎)-The Scorpio energy is one of intensity. It is passionate and lustful and yearns for knowledge. It is a secretive force and has a strong attraction towards the transformative. As such it has an attraction towards the mystical and may be drawn towards they mysteries of sex and death especially. While the scorpion with its regenerative powers and sting is well known as a Scorpio symbol, the snake and the eagle also are used to represent this energy. The snake representing both the sexual energy and the knowledge of life and death and the eagle which represents the spiritual life beyond transitory form. Scorpio is known for both its ability to see things through and its ability to see through things, penetrating them to their core.

 

Runic Correspondent-Ansuz(‘Woden’ ‘Breath’)ansuz-100x100Ansuz is a rune of shattering transformation that brings clarity. It represents the breath of life that runs through us from birth to death. Breath deals with how we communicate and what we keep inside. Ansuz also can influence how we hear the voice of the universe and how we can transform in a flash when we become attuned to it. Other runes associated with the Death trump are Berkano and Daggaz

 

Path on the Tree of Life-Path 24-Nun-Nun means fish. The waters that the fish swim in are the dark waters of the unconscious. Nun is the path of transformation of consciousness. It connects the sephiroth of Tiphareth (“Beauty”) and Netzach (“Victory”). It is referred to as the Apparitive Consciousness and it is said to provide form and appearance for all beings according to their stature. This ties in with many thoughts on reincarnation and rebirth.

 

When Death turns up in a reading, it usually indicates a major transformatory change in the querent’s life or circumstances. Usually one that demarcates a new chapter in their lives. These changes may include a peak experience, a divorce or break-up, the death of a loved one or even a near-death experience itself. What is important is how the querent deals with the experience. Do they fight kicking and screaming to hold onto life as they have known it or do they accept the changes and move on? Usually when the Death card shows up it is a change that the querent cannot alter so coming to terms with it is necessary. The card can also indicate a fear of dying on the part of the querent. Carlos Castaneda’s teacher Don Juan, among many others have suggested that we keep in mind that we all will die someday and to use our Death as an advisor and indeed it is just one more stage. Seldom tho does the card refer to the querent’s own Death tho it can often refer to the ending of a stage of their life. It can refer to a need for the querent to release the life they have lived to now in order to embrace the life they have.

 

Death reversed can often show a dramatic resistance to change. The querent may have grown complacent and lazy in their life holding back on living fully in order to stay safe and comfortable. It may also represent the querent refusing to acknowledge changes that have already happen and move on. It is almost as if they are haunting their past rather than living their present. It thus indicates the necessity for change. The reversed Death card can also represent a feeling of loss and grief. In this instance again it is the mourning for the way things were.

 

Tarot Post – King of Wands

King of Wands (Fire of Fire)

KIng of Wands (N)King of Wands (Reimagined) by G A Rosenberg

Lead with passion’s grace
Mastery of the fire
tempers rulership

 

Come join me
You know your way will fail
while mine is glorious!
I will create our futures
and blaze a wide trail
doing things in ways
No one else has conceived of.
Let’s go!
the quest awaits
and yes there’ll be danger
but we’ve seen worse
Are you coming or not?

 

The suite of Wands deal with force-creative, spiritual, and vital and are associated with the element of Fire. Kings are the leaders, the shakers, the initiatory force or person that get things moving and are associated with the element of Fire. The King of Wands is someone who will gladly sweep you along in his path. He will pull you along on adventure after adventure and after you encounter him you will see life in a totally different way. He is a leader and wants everyone to come along on his journey. You may easily find yourself consumed by his intensity. He may not follow the adventure through to the end or want to stick around very long before beginning a new endeavour. His inspiration is likely to be in the area of spirituality, teaching, challenging and infuriating those he encounters with both his brilliant insights and his brutal putdowns of those with whom he disagrees.At his worst, the King of Wands can be quite intolerant of the views of others with a cruel and bigoted streak. Despite these tendencies tho, the King of Wands is difficult to dislike as we all tend to be drawn towards his bright flame.

 He has amazing ideas even if he hasn’t laid the groundwork for them and lacks the steadfastness to follow them through to the end. He will be on to something else fast enough.

Astrological Correspondence: 21° Scorpio – 20° Sagittarius Elemental: Fire of Fire
The Court cards according to the Golden Dawn among other sources have a corresponding influence that goes from the third decan of one sign through the second decan of the next.
Thus the King of Wands has a Scorpio influence that gives him his strong will and generous and caring nature that tempers his Sagittarius love of adventure and impetuosity.
The King of Wands therefore will care deeply about whatever adventure he is currently engaged in and then in a lightning flash will switch to another endeavour of which he is equally passionate about.

 

I Ching Correspondence – 51) Zhen – Taking Action / The Arousing (Thunder) –

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The trigram for Thunder is doubled. This hexagram represents the energetic older son who powerfully seizes the reins of power. Thunder when its doubled doubles its energy. Tho the sound may startle, it is a temporary fear that fills us with joy as it passes, the equivalent of the universe jumping out from behind a corner and yelling “BOO!”. How many of us were told as little kids that when we heard thunder it was the angels bowling. My sister and I would gleefully call out whenever we heard something loud enough to be a strike. Sometimes in order to accept the new, we must first be shocked out of our complacency with the way things have been. After the shock, we need to take stock and see how our perspective has changed before continuing onwards.

 

Quite often when the King of Wands shows up in a reading, it refers to someone who is very creative and intense and who carries us along in his (or her) wake. It may also mean that these are qualities that we need to find within ourselves during this period of our lives. This energy is visionary and conceptual rather than detail oriented. If this refers to a person in our lives, it may be someone who is expecting us to take care of the details while they do the creative work.

 

When the King of Wands shows up reversed, we may be encountering someone who cannot see beyond their own vision. They may be selfish, greedy, bad-tempered and bigoted not wishing to either share credit or see value in the ideas of others. It may also mean that we have temporarily lost sight of our objectives and are not listening to others.

Tarot Card of the Day – Dec 4 2010

Six of Cups – Pleasure

The light reflects on the water
as our bodies reflect on each other
a coming together of elements
yearning for something new to come of it…
We may have met this way before
on this beach or another
in another time or existence
but every moment is NOW
and every beach this one
Fall into my body
as my spirit touches yours…..

Tipareth in Water
Sun (☼) in Scorpio (♏)
I Ching Hexagram 20
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_________
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Kwan – Manifesting or Contemplating

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Six of Cups – Pleasure by G A Rosenberg