2 Cups

The promise of the Druidcraft Tarot's Ace begins to be fulfilled in the 2 of Cups.

Two lovers stand in a windswept landscape, gazing into each other's eyes as they hold their cups aloft for each other to drink from.

They are equally matched in stature, pose and even in the billowing of their robes!

No surprises here - this card is about love.

While it often speaks of romantic love - and usually the misty-eyed idealistic stage of a relationship, it can also point towards partnership in other areas too; maybe family, friends, or colleagues.

The 2 of Cups promises that the creative juices will be flowing when like-minded people work together.

This card can also indicate that it's time for you to be more loving to a part of yourself too - perhaps you deny or ignore your creative urges?

For me, the woman having the stone at her side signifies good solid groundedness on one partner's part.  The Water beside the male and the grave behind him can indicate that a tumultuous emotional time is now behind one of the partners in the situation.

The 2 of Cups asks:

Where can you bring healing through love?
How can you be more loving towards your creative self?

#tarot #druidcraft  (Ali)

Ace of Cups | Autumn Equinox | Water

As we approach the Autumn Equinox, the fiery energy of the Wands is finally extinguished by the arrival of the watery Cups suit.   Cups are associated not only with the element of water, but also the season of Autumn and of dusk.

Water spills from a golden chalice, flowing in five rivulets over the brim and onto the rocks beneath. There the chalice waters mingle with the fast-flowing waters from a river which is fed by a distant thundering waterfall.

A sliver of waning moon hangs in the darkening sky.  Dusk is a 'gateway' time where the boundaries between our world and the Otherworld mingle and merge;  a time for inspiration to strike.

In the foreground we see over-hanging hazel branches, pregnant with nuts.

As an Ace, we know that this card offers us a gift from the divine source.  Since this is the suit of Cups, we know that the gift will be associated with relationships and love in its many forms.

The salmon and the hazel nuts remind us that this gift is also a form of wisdom (both are strongly associated in the Druidic tradition with knowledge); being emotionally intelligent is to be prized. The Ace offers us this gift in its potential state; the results of the Ace will take time to germinate and make green shoots in our lives.

We are offered the gift of loving abundance.  Will you accept?

#tarot #druidcraft   (Ali)

XVI The Tower

Cernunnos helped us identify our delusions and obsessions and with that new awareness, we now encounter the destructive forces of the Druidcraft's Tower.

A bolt of lightning darts out from a brooding storm cloud, striking at the great tower, shattering the walls and illuminating the interior with its explosive power.

Two small figures plummet from the Tower, towards the rocks beneath.

When The Tower appears in our life we can expect cataclysmic change - change that threatens to dash us to death on the rocks; change that rocks our very foundations.

We begin to immure ourselves into Towers from the moment we are first labelled with a role:  We are Son, Daughter.  Perhaps at the same time we become brother or step-sister.  Then we become 'Pupil', 'Colleague', 'Friend', 'Enemy', 'Boss', 'Girlfriend', 'Wife', 'Mother' and so on and so on.

These are all roles that society has made for us, or we have made for ourselves.

You know that you are not the same person with your children that you are when you are advising on mortgages in your place of work.  You are not the same person that you are with your lover that you are with...your husband?

They are ALL you, but different facets of you.  Behind that ever-growing facade YOU sit, unable or unwilling to start chipping at the plasterwork that holds you, Rapunzel-like, in the Tower.

SUDDENLY!

A bolt of lightning comes out of nowhere and strikes at your Tower.  And yes, your very foundations are rocked as your defining roles are blown apart, like bricks in the wall.

And the Tower begins to shake and tumble to the ground.

But, in that terrifying demolition and release comes an exhilarating liberation and opportunity for growth.  You can clear away the rubble, get back to your foundations and build anew.

Tower asks:

Where has destruction provided illumination?
What roles no longer define you?
How does the way you see yourself differ from how others see you?


#druidcraft #Tarot    (ali)

Princess of Cups | Autumn Equinox

The Wheel now moves around to the first of the Druidcraft's Cups Court cards to guide us through the next couple of weeks: The Princess of Cups

A young woman stands, barefoot, at the side of a lake.  A breeze catches the surface of the water and plays with her golden hair as she holds a golden goblet respectfully before her.

Behind her a great tree displays its russet foliage and fields show their golden harvest.

Welcome to autumn!

The Princesses in the Druidcraft equate to the Pages in a traditional deck and symbolise the same child-like approach to life - straightforward and open hearted.

No matter what age you are and how challenged you have been by life, the Princess of Cups asks you to open your heart and welcome in tender feelings.  Now is the time to let warm and loving heart-felt burst through the dam of fear that you may have built up within you to keep yourself 'safe'.

As the harvest is scythed and the fruits picked from the tree, she asks us:

Are you prepared to cut down your old pains?
How can you be more loving in the world?
Are you ready to open your heart?

#tarot #druidcraft  (Ali)


PS - this painting was originally entitled 'Autumn' before she became the Princess of Cups.

10 Wands

The fiery suit of Wands has blazed out since the Summer Solstice.  As we encounter the energy of the 10 of Wands we are also preparing for the powerful emotional currents of Cups to pour into our lives at the Autumn Equinox.

As we look back over the energies of the Wands, we can see that it is of constant challenge, struggle and hard-won victory.

The image in this card shows a man struggling beneath the weight of his burden - 10 Wands.  He has made it along the winding path and is now on the final push to reach his destination before nightfall. The path gives way to a rocky climb - is nothing ever easy for the Wands?!

The sparky promise of the Ace of Wands is now reduced to the glowing embers of the campfire.

We can accrue the trappings of a successful life and it can be wonderful, but they are also a burden to that striving, constantly moving flame that makes the Wands so special.  The task in the 10 of Wands is to recognise where you are over-wrought and over-burdened and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

What can the man in this card do? 

For a start he could get off those boulders and go up the grassy slope - same journey, just makes life a little easier.

He could take some time to organise his burden so that becomes easier for him to carry.

He could set some of his burden aside?

The 10 of Wands asks:

Do you know where you are carrying too much on your own?

What are you going to do about it?

#tarot #druidcraft   (Ali)

XIV The Fferyllt

We now find ourselves in the company of the Fferyllt, the healing druid.

She stands before her cauldron, carefully pouring liquid from one vial into another.  The white and the red substances mix together to create gold, the Alchemist's dream.

From the rafters above her hang the healing herbs and tools of her trade.

Through the doorway we can see over the water towards the Tor of Glastonbury and its rainbow - Glastonbury Tor is shrouded in myth and legend and is said to overlook the Isle of Avalon - is this where the Fferyllt is working?

Our healer is also the powerful goddess Brighid,  patron of medicine, poetry and high craftsmanship.

Turning base metals into gold isn't really what it's all about, is it?  The Fferyllt asks us to blend together those different elements of ourselves to create the REAL Alchemist's goal: a strong and unified whole.  It's time to unpack those parts of yourself that you find difficult to accept or trust and work towards accepting them as part of your glorious, complicated nature!

Bridhid asks:

What parts of yourself are you unwilling to own?
Will you accept any paradoxes within you
Where can you help opposing factions work together?



#druidcraft  #tarot   (Ali)

*** sorry this was scheduled to post back in August and I must have hit 'save' instead of 'publish' and it didn't post :-/

XV | Cernunnos

After the blending and healing offered by the Fferyllt, we enter the presence of the Horned One, Cernunnos.

We see the lovers sated after their love-making, sleeping in the long grass.  Behind them stands the imposing figure of Cernunnos.

In traditional decks, this card is The Devil, but here Cernnunos represents the dangers of becoming enslaved to our passions.

And our passions may begin innocently enough - the buzz from buying a pair of new shoes, the occasional recreational drug with friends, the high of sex.  But we would do well to remember that these material trappings cannot be allowed to become our masters.  If they do, then we then fall into the chains of servitude before the altars of addiction, obsession and greed.

Some people never raise their heads to appreciate the pale glory of the moon or accept that there is more to life than worshipping the almighty dollar.  They are as blind to the true glory of the life-force as the sleeping lovers in the long grass.

Cernunnos calls us to AWAKEN to the world and to live to our fullest potential within it.  We are not asked to turn our backs to the world and deny its wondrous gifts, but to harness our desires, accept our responsibilities and live as gloriously conscious creatures on this magnificent planet.

Cernnunos asks:

What enslaves you?
Are you sleep-walking through life?

#tarot #druidcraft    (Ali)

King of Wands

The watery energies of the Queen of Wands have now burned off and we are in the entirely fiery realms of the Druidcraft Tarot's King of Wands.

Expansive, magnetic and passionate, the King of Wands is a compelling authority figure.

With a nod to the Rider Waite Smith symbolism, the King's collar shows two lizards biting their tails - the famed salamander who represents the element of Fire.   Likewise, the rams heads on the throne suggests a link with Aries.

Very much a Big Picture character, the King of Wands is not interested in the minutiae or detail of a project.  He likes the unfettered horizon of the whole project leaving the thrashing out of the nitty-gritty to others better suited to the task.

He is a restless soul who dislikes being confined by physical, mental or spiritual restraints, preferring to roam freely to express himself without constraint.

Being purely a fiery creature, the King of Wands runs a risk of overwhelming those around him with his all-consuming passions - whether it's for making beer, keeping bees or running for President.  His inability to thrive if restrictions are too tight can affect personal relationships - never has the phrase 'he needs his space' been more appropriate!

Today the King asks you:

What grand projects will you dare to launch?
What passions ignite you?


#druidcraft  #tarot   (Ali)

9 Wands

At last, the challenge seems to be over - the javelins have all been thrown.  Surely the struggle must be over? In the 9 of Wands, the Druidcraft presents us with the final battle : defence.

In the card image we see the javelins of the 8 that have thudded into the ground. But now their ends have been sharpened and they make a lethal wall, pointing out into the unknown.  In the distance a fire rages out of control. Behind the barrier, a wounded warrior stands, waiting.

He is poised and prepared for further enemy aggression.  He doesn't truly believe that he has overcome his challenges, but simply driven them back.

When this card arises in a reading, it can represent a fear that there is more to do; that the enemy will mount another assault.  Your energy is taken up with watchful defence - your wound makes drawing a line under the situation difficult to do.

Yet in order to make progress, this is what you must do.  Cultivate an awareness around your fears - what or who pushes your buttons and has you mentally raising the defensive wall? By becoming attuned to when your 'enemy' appears, you can develop a strategy to implement - disarm your fear and once again achieve victory over it.

But always move forward, strive for progress. Don't let old fears hold you back

9 of Wands asks:

What are you afraid of?
How would you handle it if it happened again?
What old wounds are you carrying?

#tarot #druidcraft   (ali)