The High Priestess

Easter and the days leading up to it, in conjunction with Spring, have always been important to me, and it's the time of year I love the most. I have joyful sweet memories of going to yearly Easter Sunday service with my mother when I was little. I affectionately remember our usual special bonding ritual of searching for the right Easter bonnet , and then being all decked out in our outfits on Easter Sunday, where my mother would play the organ in Church.
Although my religious practices have changed and evolved, I still feel a very strong attachment, with great love for this time of year.

Drawing the High Priestess today reflects many of aspects of my spiritual beliefs today. I do not see these as being in contradiction to how I once celebrated Christian holidays. The liturgical seasons have simply been absorbed into part of my own spiritual journey.

There is something so beautiful to me about Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday, because it speaks of humility, and service to others. The symbolic ritual of the washing of one another's feet reminds us to love one another as we are loved by the Creator.

The High Priestess symbolizes this spirituality, our spiritual mother, where I find the womb of the unconscious, the inner workings of perception, the pattern, and the purpose of life. The High Priestess stands between two pillars, one black, one white representing the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge or Death.

She wears her gown of personal growth and the crown of truth. The Narcissus is symbolic of death and resurrection. The pomegranate she holds represents the fruit of the dead, undeveloped creative capacity, and immortality. Passing between the pillars heralds entering a new life, or another world.

I don't get an Easter bonnet any more, but if I did, it would be this one.

Tree of Life - Invocation of The Orchard

Kabbalah Tree of Life

 I thought I'd take a break from the discussion of the Major Arcana cards today and share a bit about when I first became interested in the Tarot. I learned how directly related Kabbalah was to understanding the cards. I found the explanation of Kabbalah  to be very complex and full of deep meaning that can be very overwhelming, because there is so much information to be learned. I have been very drawn to Judaism and Mysticism from a young age, and so I was keen to find out as much as I could. I do not pretend to begin to understand the Kabbalah, as it is a life long study. It has been described as being a system of thought, and the Tree of Life is a map of personal energies and thought. It is a way to describe or a way of describing God.

It has been long held, and believed, that the Tarot has it's origins in Kabbalah. I take what I have learned, and adapt this information when I am doing readings or studying the Tarot cards.

A particular invocation and prayer I like to say prior to my readings is the Invocation of The Orchard. It makes me feel grounded and connected to the earth and connected in ancient tradition.

INVOCATION OF THE ORCHARD

"I pass through this orchard remembering that what I may learn, and what may pass before my eyes will be for the purpose of healing the world, and bringing Unity into this dimension, into the plane of human awareness. This orchard is the transition point between the transcendent and the imminent - the abstract and the concrete.
My personal path can adapt and absorb this forest slowly, and as it sees fit. My basic person hood remains intact, while sampling the myriad forms and concepts in the grove. Drinking from the river of delights of the Creator's house, my own specific root into the infinite is a path of emanation along which I can safely and respectfully traverse.

"All the world is a very narrow bridge - but the point is to be fearless."

"Sepher Malchus is also called "Kingdom," and is the realm of the earth, of the body, and immediate physical sensations."

Sepher Malchus is the grounding point, where I am centered, and where I will return after contemplating the trees, springs, fragrances, and many-faceted gems in the enclosure. Sepher Malchus is the point of connection and return to my personal concrete reality and viewpoint, to my ideal stability."

The Kabbalah Tree of Life

I Did My First Online Tarot Reading Today!

O Bonny Portmore, I am sorry to see
Such a woeful destruction of your ornament tree
For it stood on your shore for many's the long day
Till the long boats from Antrim came to float it away.

O Bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before

All the Lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.

All the birds in the forest they bitterly weep
Saying, "Where shall we shelter or where shall we sleep?"
For the Oak and the Ash, they are all cutten down
And the walls of bonny Portmore are all down to the ground.

O Bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords of Old England would not purchase Portmore.

I had my first reading online today. I was feeling very happy and excited! Sorry to say the offer of a free reading no longer is available, as I have had my first comment and had the pleasure of honouring that.

The cards never seize to amaze me. The more I read, the more I learn, and the more amazed I am. I love the oldest spread, the Celtic Cross. I have been so drawn to all things Celtic. It's like I feel in deep down in my roots!
Perhaps I was a Druid in another life, as they had such a love of trees, and believed them to be sacred. It may explain my deep affinity with  trees too.

I've was asked what kind of deck am I wanting to get next, and I said a Celtic Tarot deck. I found  an artist who has set my soul afire who designed this exquisitely illustrated deck with his beautiful Celtic art. His name is Courtney Davis. Simply for the art work alone is plenty enough reason for me to purchase this deck.That said, his dedication to his art work, and his remarkable life's journey, does not surpass his God given gift of his talent and creativity. These cards below a just a mere glimpse of his prolific art work he has created.