Hannah de Tora

The Empress

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:55:23 +0100

Oh the shame! 54 days! Let's not dwell on it, though.

The Empress

She is woman personified. She sits in the lap of luxury in cushions and on a throne marked with the symbol for female within a heart - you don't get much more womanly than that! Well, actually, you do. This card is filled with symbols. The corn that grows up around her throne is strong, straight, golden and ripe and so the ground (the foundations for her throne) is very fertile. There are trees in the background, not too densely growing, which would allow for more fresh growth at their feet, especially since their roots are nurtured by a fast flowing stream which cascades into a waterfall that eddies at the base of The Empress's throne. The sky is a sunny yellow, success, happiness, a Good Day for it. And, this hasn't even touched on the Empress her self.

She, wears a fullsome robe of white, decorated with ripe pomegranates (I think) showing all their seeds and pulp - a full rich harvest. She is also pregnant, although my card doesn't show her swollen belly very well (I know that others do) but her pose is very much of a pregnant woman: legs slightly apart / leaning back / resting her hand on her knee. She holds a golden sceptre because she is a queen, no more than that, an empress. She has a crown which has 12 stars which symbolise the zodiac - her children, who are all present in the tarot. And at the base of her crown is a wreath of leaves, because she is in touch with nature (in case we forget it by her regality).

She is the fools earthly mother, The Emperor is her bf.

She is a symbol of fruitfulness, creativity (she is creating a child and she promotes growth), pregnancy (sometimes literally, sometimes in that an idea is brewing), she is joy (III), she is the beginning of something (III), she is perhaps symbolising the beginning of a period of creativity.

She is a GREAT card to start back with!!

HdT

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7 of pentacles - today's card

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:39:12 +0100

6 golden pentacle discs sitting in a lushly verdant bush and 1 beneath his feet.

He has worked hard for this. And it's paid off. So, he's taking a moment to assess the fruits of his labour - which are many. He could pick the coins one by one now, or he could wait - nurture them more, see how they grow. See how he leans on his rake? He's not sitting down and relaxing, he's just pausing. And this looks like a pretty barren place he is in, I can't see any other trees around, or grass, or even water. He's made this out of nothing, on his own. There are purple mountains in the background, perhaps he had to traverse them to get to this good and bountiful place. He wears undergarments that are the colour of the sky on a good day, yet the sky itself is grey - this strengthens the idea that this is his own work which has caused such a good harvest, not simply a matter of luck.

Because this is the suit of pentacles, this is all about wealth / job / home / health - so maybe it means that the 'client' has done well in their job through their own hard work and it's paid off. Perhaps somebody has become very fit and healthy because they've been running every morning. But whatever has been worked hard at, there is more work to come, so the message is to keep on doing what your doing and all will be well.

I am off on holiday now, my trip will take me 3 days and cross 3 countries and will earn me a fortnight's holiday at my destination. I'll be continuing my tarot journal en route, on paper - and then post on the other side, if my destination doesn't proove too exciting, which of course it may well do. I worked hard to take this trip, I earned the money for it myself and I planned it carefully to make sure that I didn't harm the environment to get there. And yet my work is not yet done because I still have to make the physical journey - perhaps this is what the 7 of pentacles is telling me?

HdT

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today's card: 9 of swords

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 11:35:37 +0100

I love the dramatic cards. This card is one that turns up for me rather a lot. I have found that most people see this as a terrible card. But I quite like it.

The swords - of the air: representing thoughts / ideas / the mind - weigh heavy. They are hanging above the protagonist of the card who has just woken up from a dream. The protagonist is not, perhaps, aware of these many heavy, dominant thoughts. They certainly do not have control of them and are not using them to take action of any kind (as in the 2 of swords, where she holds the swords in her hands and is ready to use them to fight people) - so this tells me that these swords are metaphorical. The 9 swords are overwhelming, as they hang horizontally over the bed, they are causing this person anxiety and worry - perhaps to the extreme. But the person is not acknowledging or dealing with these swords/thoughts/ideas. So, they continue to hang heavy in the dark.

The number 9 is also significant. It is 1 before 10 and 10 is completion: the end. Sometimes, in the moments, or the time before finishing something, the idea of it can become totally overwhelming. And of course the 10 of swords is a pretty heavy card too (I got it on Saturday and didn't write very much because I was in a rush!) and perhaps this 9 contains that feeling too, that that is what could happen next - absolute destruction - but that card's full of melodrama too, as I already said.

Think about waking from a nightmare and those moments when you are totally alone, lonely, without comfort from another human - the topics of your bad dream going round and round in your head and you clutch it because you can't think of anything else to do. This card is that feeling. However, think about the moment after that, or perhaps, when the sun has come up and you feel a little silly for allowing yourself to be so overwhelmed by what was essentially just a bad dream - it is not as bad as it seemed. It was just a dream and most of the anxieties that woke you were dramatised by the night, over-the-top and nothing to worry about now that your conscious mind has been able to untangle them and work out what it's all about.

While this card is about anxiety, worry and feelings of alone-ness, it is a temporary state that will lift. That's not to say that these feelings are not overwhelming and sometimes even crippling at the time, it's just to say that things are not as bad as they seem.

HdT

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Today's card: DEATH!

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:00:32 +0100

Uh oh.

An armoured yellow skeleton riding a white horse with red eyes. He carries the tudor flag. A great loss, but then a rebirth - which you can see by the gorgeously bright sunrise in the distance, between the two pillars. These pillars are like the ones in The Moon card. All kinds of people succumb to death, the holy man, the king, children - doesn't matter how rich or poor you are. His horse is strong and it has cool skull and cross bones tack. Death is unavoidable, but this card doesn't mean death as in the end of life, but rather symbolises loss of some kind, which makes room for some sort of gain.

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Sunday's card: 3 of pentacles

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:48:51 +0100

Planning. Planning to build something. A development card. Three's often mean coming together. All the pieces are in place and this is the start of something. The three pentacles are unusual in that they are carved in stone, embedded into the archway above the people (usually they are gold discs, like coins - which is what they were originally called). This card is about creating something solid, a house, work... and perhaps doing that with other people - a team.

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Saturday's card of the day: 10 of swords

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:44:35 +0100

The 10 of swords.

Looks dramatic doesn't it? A bloody grim death. But think about it: 1 sword would have been enough to kill the man, the other 9 are really superfluous, so it suggests melodrama. Sure, it's not a good card, but, once the pain has passed, there is light on the horizon.

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TODAY'S CARD: the 2 of pentacles

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:28:51 +0100

Indecision. Choice. Two ways to look at this two. I think that indecision is the more negative way, and choice the positive. Two's often mean a cross roads, a choice, it's the nature of that number. This two is the two of swords. The swords are the suit of air and air is all about thought, ideas and communication. This two is a woman sitting on a stone chair by a sea. The sea to me seems symbolic of opportunity. She has blind folded herself, deliberately. She makes her choices through logic, because she is a sword. She holds two swords, at the ready, and she will use them if anyone approaches her. She doesn't want to open up to making choices yet, so she keeps her blindfold on in order to concentrate on the decision she has to make, doesn't want any emotions creeping in to muddy her logic. She sits in a moonlit scene, the moon represents all being not quite what it seems, but we know, by her blindfold and crossed arms covering her heart that she is not open to emotion or feeling about this issue - so it's not currently a balanced way form of decision making. It is, though, time of stillness, a time of waiting and considering. She could do with a wand really (wand's are the suit of spirit and action) to come along and give her a little push forward.

I would like to be able to make decisions using logic alone and not get so emotionally involved, but I am a leo - of fire / of wands - and so I tend to take action rather than think about choices and see where this action takes me. This kind of logical decision making of the head is not really my style, but it is an aspiration.

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yesterday's king

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:08:57 +0100

Yesterday's king came into my life in the form of work. Like the King of Pentacles I now have a bit more money a bit less time and a bit more responsibility...

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card of the day: King of Pentacles

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:30:47 +0100

This blog snuck up on me. I evidently set it up three years ago, blithely blogged a blog and never looked at it again. It has lain dormant and then appeared in my inbox, in message in German - which I cannot read. Anyway, so now, it's going to be my tarot journal.

Hopefully it will take me to more interesting places than Bognor Regis, as the mystery commentator suggested. I wonder who that was?

I am a fledgling tarotist. In my mind, I am drawn to the tarot as a way to explore my Self, and possibly your Self too!

I am not a fortune teller, although, I do like to sprinkle the drama of the tarot on my readings because it is fun and they are beautiful in their drama.

I try to draw a card each day, at least, and perhaps read a spread too. I have decided that this blog will be for me to practise and speak freely, without cheating (ie looking things up). Let's trust me.

Today my card is:

I love this King. He instantly reminds me of a friend. Of course the court cards can mean a real person, somebody close to the "client" (in this case me) or it could just meant the qualities of the card.

It is a king. A rich and worldly king. Pentacles are the earth element of the suits of the tarot and this is their king. He is the mature confident ruler of all things earthly: body, health, home and work. See how he rests the pentacle on his knee, with one hand holding it, like bouncing a baby. This king is in charge of his wealth, he made it himself. His other hand holds a sceptre, a kingly accessory if ever there was one. His robes are printed with ripe red grapes, fully matured, ready to harvest. Because pentacles are also all about nature, mother earth. You can almost smell the heavy fruit in this image. The way it is growing freely all over this place in his castle where he sits. His robes look like they are a very rich fabric to me, see how heavy the folds are? Abundance. His throne is carved with bulls, another reference to the earth element - the patron animal of the earth element. The sky is a vibrant yellow, a bright day, a sunny day, this means success. And his foot pokes out from underneath his robes, it's armour clad. He is relaxed, but the armour shows how he fought for this position and how he is ready to fight again.

This king tells me these key things: mature / confident / healthy / wealthy / hard working / well-earned / not afraid to stand up for what is his, or what he believes in / abundance

HdT

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First entry

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 22:29:48 +0200

Well, this is my first ever blog entry and I have no idea where it's going to take me...

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