The Mysteries of The Rose

The rose is seen as and considered as the most beautiful flower of them all. In Alice In Wonder Land the Queen of hearts has a rose garden which she has painted red. The rose has also been used as symbol in many different cultures and points of time in history. So there is no surprise that within the Tarot that the rose holds many symbols and meanings.

Most famously the rose is seen as love and romance as has become the mascot for valentines day around the world. A lover or suitor may give you a bunch of 10 red roses or sprinkle your bed with rose petals, for a night of red hot passion and sensuality. The rose being associated with the Greek and Roman goddesses of love, Aphrodite and Venus.

For me personally I have always seen the rose of a symbol of unification, peace, the joining together of loved ones and power. Coming from England at school we all learn about the war of the roses, where two royal families fought for the crown, the white rose of the house of York and the red rose of the house of Lancaster. Henry Tudor took the crown in the end, his mother from the house of Lancaster and his wife, Elizabeth of York, the white rose. Resulting in The Tudor Rose (above), a white and red rose.

I think it is important to incorporate historical symbolism and your own intuition to form your own reading of such a remarkable and mysterious symbol.

Persephone: The Misunderstood Queen of Darkness

I have recently become intrigued with the mythology of the Greek Goddess Persephone and her troubled , yet compelling story of love, trickery and sacrifice.

Persephone’s story is of the goddess of the Underworld. In one myth, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the king of darkness,  and taken to live in the underworld as his wife. Her mother, Demeter (goddess of the Harvest), was so distraught  mourned for her daughter  causing an elimination of natural growth and the creating a forever winter state of baron land.

Zesus saw was was happening and could not leave the Earth to die, so he commanded Hades to return the beloved daughter, Persephone.  However Hades had a plot, he tricked her into eating four pomegranate seeds, because of this, she was condemned to spend four months in the Underworld every year. During these fours months her mother mourns again creating the winter season on Earth, and when Persephone returns spring and summer appears.

Blessed be, F x

Interviews & Success

This week i have secured two interviews so I want to see what success will these events bring to me this week. I decided on a four card spread looking at the factors and outcome of the week.

The first card in the spread was the Three of Cups, a joyful energetic card, the three women are cheerful in the garden surrounded by beautiful blooming roses, toasting to good health, prosperity and the forming of bonds and friendship.

My second card, a factor card, is the Queen of Pentacles. Yet gain this card shows a blissful summers eve with flowers in bloom and collected ripe fruit. The Queen holds a special energy which can be used in to inspire you in a future events. The next factor card is the six of cups, an innocent pure, youthful card. The card bring a positive, loving warm energy which can be channelled

Finally, The outcome card, The Knight of Wands. The card of adventure, risk and change. Maybe this can be seen as a sign of taking risks, taking on new challenges and accepting change will result in success. The Knight is speeding ahead into battle assured of his talents.

In conclusion, relating to my question is does prove to be positive, forming bonds, stay youthful and take on new challenges with excitement and confidence.

Sex Power: Phallic Worship

Important parts of life are birth, love, sex, money and death. These are essential assets with govern our daily lives, they form a creation, dreams, fears and identity. Within Tarot they are also common themes with crop up, sometimes we ask the god and goddess to provide answers to these questions and problems.

Throughout history we can see evidence of these very same issues, one with I want to look at today (and I will gradually explore them all) is the issue of sex, sexuality and its relation to power and the masculine form.

The worship of the phallus goes back to the dawn of men and women, and has survived through history and is still present within today’s culture. In ancient Egypt the penis was seen as a sign of fertility. In Greece many Gods such as Pan and Hermes were adorned with huge erect genitalia. The Rome the phallic symbol warned off danger. In history the penis was generally a positive sign of power, fertility, love and protection. Within modern days the penis has been stigmatised, seen as a weapon of male domination, used as a powerful force against women, the Atom bomb is phallic in shape. With pornography the large penis is a sign of sexual potency, adequate masculinity and female adoration.

Within Tarot you may come across issues of sex, power and phallic forms and its important to let your intuition guide you in your reading, but its interesting to think how a simple body organ has has had such an enormous impact on civilisations, theory and culture throughout time.

I Want It : Sacred Rose

I have fallen in love this tarot is simply beautiful ! I love it’s colours, symbolism and art work. The artwork is based about medieval stain-glass which you can see quite clearly and the symbolism has Qabbalistic overtones. It is a must for me to get soon! The artwork is by Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman.

Symbolic Fish

The fish is a popular symbol which is included within the Tarot and I think its very important to find your own meaning for the fish. For me a way to establish this knowledge is to look back at history and different cultures and see how they interpret the fish.

Within Buddhism the fish is a sign of happiness as they have absolute free reign to swim in the oceans, freedom being an important  aspect in life. Also the fish is a sign of fertility for its rich abundance of fish eggs. In contrast the fish can been seen a fearless force swimming out into the unknown, within Indian tradition. In China they eat fish for the chinese new year, this a symbol good luck and surplus, meaning plenty and abundance.

Read It: Daily

So today i decided to do a reading for tommrow, as sunday is the begining of the week it would nice to have some guidance of how it is gong to start. I shuffled a did a simple three card spread with the third card being the Outcome card for that day.

The first card is the nine of pentacles, from my intution this card seems serene, calm and elegant. She is surrounded by the fruits of the earth, with a pink sky above. She is trusting herself, and is now relaxing at the endof the day enjoing her fruits of labour.

The second is the Page of Cups, this is a water card, water is fluid and can mould to situations, the page seems moved my the fish which is lovingly cradled within the cup. In chinese tradition the fish is seen as a symbol of luck and prosperity.

The outcome card I pulled was The High Preistess, to me she is the gate keeper of the spirtual world, the holder of the mysterous. She is strong, knowlegable of her power but not overbaring or conceited.

This read for my day tommorw encourages me to sit back and look at what I have achieved, taking loving care and let the methodical mechanics of life start to tick and move.

Blessed be, F x

The God of Sex & Magic

If you look at the devil card on some Tarot decks, espcially in the Rider Waite tradition, you will see a horned goat-man representing the devil, often assumed as the image of the Greek god Pan. To me Pan has always held a postive energy of youth, laughter, fun and dance but in the context of the tarot card it does represent a more darkerside to the playful god.

Pan is the Arcadian god of sex, lust and magic. His stories tell of how he seduces men and women using his magical phallic and libido like flute with the sound of sweet music. Pan seduces the Moon Goddess, Selene, by disgusing himself in rams clothing and taught the bad habits of masturbaition to the sheperds. It is this connection of lust which provides my meaning of the devil card. The addiction of the music, the blinded lust people seek and become addicted to attain material and unearlthly pleasures and then ultimatly become chained to unable to breakfree.

Read It: Daily

So following yesterdays read about staying in my family city, a few developments have happened, I have been asked for an interview here! So all good, but I am a bit nervous about the interview because there is a testing section in the interview… the mention of test or assessment always makes me nervous. So i decided to ask the cards on my new deck, The Hanson Roberts Tarot Deck (above), about how will my interview go.

My first card is the Ace of Wands. This card symbolises new opportunities. As you can see from the card the sun is coming up from the clouds and the flowers are opening, ready to open into new and exciting world ready to take on new challenges. My second card is The World, my second time in two days. This card, to me, tells me if I want this opportunity I do have the ability to achieve it depending on my state of mind and spirit, the world is your oyster. My final card is a battling card, the experience of competition and rising to the challenges and obstacles ahead.

In the context of my interview i get the intuition that I have the ability to perform well, rise to the occasion and experience new opportunities, this however is only possible if I truly set my my mind and heart to the task at hand.

I will keep you updated!

Blessed be, F x

Iris: The Goddess of Hope

Iris was a Greek goddess, messenger to Zeus and bringer of hope and emotions. In tarot she is an important figure, specifically to the Temperance  card. Even if your card does not feature the winged goddess you can probably find her traits littered throughout the card, such as Iris flowers, named after her, or a rainbow.

Greek mythology tells us of the story of Iris and how Zesus used her as a messenger, sometimes travelling on a rainbow. One story i recall tells of how how Zesus used to send Iris to the underworld with a golden cup. The gods of the underworld would drink from the cup. This cup detected if they lied or did any evil, and if the did they would be banned from Zesus’s party, also Iris was said to have carried her messages within the cup and simply pour them into the hand of the receiver.

From learning a little about Iris, her symbolism and her story you can now incorporate that into your understanding of the temperance card.