Finding The Light In The Dark - Ten of Wands

There are those of us who are afraid of the darkness, or find it oppressive and depressing. Some embrace the darkness, especially those who live in the North. They find a beauty, and peace in the dark of the North, that many Southerners may never experience or fully understand. I was blessed to have been able to have lived in Northern Canada for three years. Initially it was an adjustment, but I adapted quickly to the lack of daylight. I will say the excess of light in the Summer months made up for it, and because of this, I actually found it more of an adjustment when I moved back to the South,  if you can call Nova Scotia being the 'South'.

An over active imagination can contribute to our fears of the dark, but if we can learn to embrace the darkness we will eventually find the light, and be able to overcome our fear of the unknown.

Upon first impression, the Ten of Wands, the last numbered card of the suit of Wands, gives a feeling of heavy oppression, because it speaks of taking on too much, and feeling overwhelmed. We have lost enthusiasm for our once new creative project or undertaking. Here we see Jason surrounded, and bound by burning Wands, with the Golden Fleece on the ground, and the once great Argos is beached and wrecked in the background. You would expect a different scenario after Jason's accomplishment.

Being surrounded by the burden of the Wands on fire, we ask ourselves, what now, and how am I going to get out of this situation? Will I ever get back to were I was once was creatively? We all experience what some call creative blocks, or what I call a kind of spiritual dryness where depression can follow a particular creative or happier time. Often when we are feeling oppressed, this can lead to suppression, and eventually unconscious to repression all this can stifle our creativity, and happiness.

We may feel like, some how we have lost our way, and are out of touch with ourselves, maybe we are feeling burnt out, under the weight of many burdens.
Although this fire can hurt us, if we let it, it still provides us with a light that points to the way out, and can illuminate our path on the pilgrimage of life.


For me, the Winter Solstice is the time to deeply reflect, take an inventory of my life at present, to prioritize, and to apply the slogan, ' first things first'. I need to discern what it is I need to unburden myself from, and perhaps add to, or reorganize my life in order to restore my vision.

When we hit the darkest low points in life, I do believe, we can only go down so far, before we begin to come back up, as my strong mother, and wise mentor would always say, in so many words.  The darkest hour is truly just before the dawn, when the restorative life giving warmth of the sun, will come shining through.

This past year has been a difficult one for me personally, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Today seemed to be the culmination of a rough past two weeks. As I was writing this post, there came a knock at the door, and I found a very dear, kind friend, who reached out in generousity, and I was overwhelmed with emotion, in  great gratitude.

The Crescent Moon Bear- Catherine Meyers