I will no longer be posting here. I’ve decided to merge all my various little blogs into one big exciting blog.
This may or may not be a huge mistake.
Please visit me at Archer Tarot.
The Magician card is full of contrast – of brightness and shadows. Where is his body? Has he even noticed it’s missing?
By seeing both light and dark at the same time, he can explore all possibilities. He occupies both night and day. The beauty and complexity of crystals mesmerizes him. There is no problem that exists for which he cannot find a solution.
The Magician lives simultaneously in the world of reason and magic. He knows there is no difference between science and imagination – that there cannot be one without the other. We cannot hope to understand reality without first embracing fantasy.
I am beginning to feel that the questions I ask the universe are mere formalities. A question can open a dialogue, but the reply isn’t always about the same subject.
In the middle of 3-cards I drew today was the Four of Stones – the Power of the Earth. The question I asked was about an immediate problem and I interpreted them accordingly. Later, I looked the cards up in Rachel Pollack’s books. I always do this for any reading I do with the Haindl – partly to jog my memory but also as a form of bibliomancy. Sometimes I find another aspect to the reading this way.
As I read about the 4 of Stones, these phrases sprung out at me:
…if we understand our fears we can overcome them
…with most people living in cities, the Earth seems less fearsome
…and understood their own place in the world
…tell us to…find our own place
Reversed, the Four of Stones indicates losing a sense of place…
…does not know where she or he fits…
When some conqueror…forced them to relocate, they became lost.
All of which probably won’t mean much to you, until I tell you that we’re in the process of moving house. Which, by the way, has nothing to do with the question I asked.
We have yet to find somewhere we want to live but this week the couple buying our house have found a first-time buyer for theirs, so the pressure is on. We are planning to move from the “city” (it’s technically a large town), to the sticks. I won’t deny I’m a little anxious. (Excited, yes, of course, but the thing I’m excited about still appears so distant that anxiety trumps it, no problem.)
…it describes thunder as a great shock…people become terrified…yet in summer a thunderstorm can also bring joy
As well as describing the situation, the book suggests solutions:
The background for the Four of Stones comes from the same painting as the Seven of Wands [Courage] and the Ten of Cups [Success].
The card calls us to respect the sources of power in our lives.
We have lived here a long time. It is familiar and safe, and although we want to start a new life somewhere else, it takes a ridiculous amount of courage to do so. The last line I quoted suggests recognising the other things in my life that make me feel familiar and safe – most of which I will be taking with me when we move. And when we get there, the power of the earth – nature, wildlife, the seasons and the stars – will provide me with a familiar background against which to build our new life.
Who is Spider Woman? This is what I see when I look at her.
She is old. The lines on her face are deepened by the labyrinth etched across it. She has endured hard winters. She squints in sunlight. She stays in the shade.
She is still, unmoving. The landscape changes around her. Seasons come and go. Children grow up, fall in love and bear their own children, but she changes not. She is beetle-bodied, a small head on a round torso. When she moves, she moves slowly.
She is silent. For her, words have no use. She listens, she nods, she says nothing. Even her thoughts are wordless. Much can be learned from the wind, from the running of a lizard, from the earth itself as it moves. Her expression is inscrutable. She gives nothing away.
She weaves and cooks. She feeds and clothes. She tends sickness. She knows how to do all these things. She does them silently, without sympathy or emotion.
She sees all. The labyrinth extends from her eyes, ears, and nose like a spider’s web. She senses everything that happens as a spider feels every vibration on a thread. She has lived a long time. She has experienced thousands of days, hundreds of years. Nothing shakes her.
She is the centre, the hearthstone, the matriarch, the source. Through her, all her people are connected. Brothers and sisters, mothers and daughters, generation after generation, she is the grandmother of them all.
For her, every day begins when the sun rises and ends when it sets. For her, every day is the same. For her, this is life. Breathing the same air as the coyotes and the eagles. Walking the same earth as the ants. Letting the animal of her body live in the world.
Frustratingly, I don’t know any German, so I can’t understand a word of this film. Nonetheless, it’s fascinating to see the cards being created.
Part One: in which Hermann Haindl splashes a lot of paint on a large canvas and we zoom in for a close-up of the Star.
Part Two: in which we’re shown the early stages of the Universe, the Magician and the Moon, plus the Devil coming to life.
Part Three: in this, the most action-packed episode, we see Haindl choosing backgrounds for the minor arcana and painting the cups on the 2 of Cups, plus what must be the very first set of cards.
Seven wands reach for the moon. This card always makes me think of someone standing on tippy-toes, stretching as tall as they can, yet the thing they want remains out of reach. These wands are striving so hard to reach their goal yet they’re still clinging to the rocks. Is it fear that holds them back? The rocks are familiar, safe. They provide stability. But it’s madness to believe you can touch the moon without taking your feet off the ground.
What is courage? It’s a quality of spirit that pushes us forward in spite of fear. The word screws itself into a ball, like fear tightening your heart in your chest. Courage comes in all forms. Telling someone how you feel about them takes a lot of courage. So does standing up to the bad guys, or even the good guys if you think they’re doing something wrong. Anytime we put any part of ourselves on the line, we are courageous. Even when we know there’s a chance we’ll get hurt, the consequences of not doing anything are worse than the prospect of failure. Maybe just the smallest glimmer of hope that we might succeed is enough to help us overcome our biggest fears.
It takes courage to change the status quo as well. There’s nothing wrong with not leaving those rocks but could you live with yourself if you never even tried? That’s what this card is speaking to me about today. I’m trying to make a big change in my life and, at times, the enormity of it overwhelms me and I start allowing compromise to creep in. I start looking for a safety net. What if I didn’t take such a big step all at once? Would it really be that bad? Things aren’t so bad where I am so why take such a big risk? It’s very difficult to leave the familiar when you’re not entirely sure what you’re leaving it for.
The hexagram on this card is 40, Loosening. It symbolizes release from obstruction and from whatever has been holding you back. Knowing what that is is half the battle. If you look closely at the base of the wands (starting with the leftmost) you can see that the first, fifth and sixth wands aren’t touching the rocks. They have begun to rise, to leave behind the safety and stability of the rocks. With this small but tremendous act of courage they are on their way to the moon.
Some courageous quotes:
Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears. ~Arthur Koestler
Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. ~Ambrose Redmoon
Courage can’t see around corners, but goes around them anyway. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960
Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. ~Raymond Lindquist
But screw your courage to the sticking-place, And we’ll not fail. ~William Shakespeare, Macbeth
The Daughters in the Haindl Tarot roughly relate to the Pages in more traditional Tarot decks. (Although really I think it’s a mistake to try and make the Haindl court cards fit into the standard court card template – they don’t take well to being pigeon-holed.)
Pages are sometimes thought of as messengers and this made me wonder about the Daughters and what messages they bring me.
Radha, the Daughter of Wands, shows me how to enjoy life. She tells me to play, dance, laugh, and love – to appreciate beauty and music and art in all its forms. She reminds me that life is something to be enjoyed.
Brigid, the Daughter of Cups, shows me that I am part of something much bigger than myself – something that existed before I was born and that will keep on after I die. She reminds me to honour the connection with my past, my ancestors, and the places I come from. She tells me to care for and celebrate my family and cultural ties.
The Daughter of Swords, Isis, shows me how to learn and to listen. Learning isn’t something that just happens in formal education – it’s something that we do every day, every time we meet a new person or find ourselves in a new situation. Isis tells me to be open, honest and humble, and to remember that everyone can teach me something.
White Buffalo Woman, the Daughter of Stones, tells me how to value my material possessions and to see them not just as possessions but as gifts that help me live my life. She teaches me that it’s not just sacred items that should be cherished, but everything I have, from the shoes that protect my feet to the house that shelters my family. She makes me want to get rid of everything I have that I don’t value.
A little while back, I was browsing an old Aeclectic Tarot Forum thread about the Haindl and found a list of keywords for the court cards that had been posted by Lee Bursten. These keywords are actually taken from the Quest Tarot, which is based on the Haindl, but I think they work very well with the Haindl cards themselves.
I love the court cards in the Haindl, I think they’re the best part of the deck. However, it does take a bit of effort to get to know them which is why these keywords are so helpful. Here they are:
Mother of Wands: CREATOR. Untamed energy.
Father of Wands: INTELLECT. Keeper of tradition.
Daughter of Wands: LUXURY. Sensual creativity.
Son of Wands: CHARISMA. Sensual hero.
Mother of Cups: MOTHERHOOD. Oldest truths.
Father of Cups: FATHERHOOD. Sacrifice for knowledge; harsh authority.
Daughter of Cups: CONNECTION. Keeping alive the inner flame.
Son of Cups: SEEKER. Courage to act responsibly.
Mother of Swords: MYSTERY. Gentle protectiveness, with something held back.
Father of Swords: LEADERSHIP. Harsh, fair analysis.
Daughter of Swords: CONFIDENCE. Dedication.
Son of Swords: FAIRNESS. Compassion.
Mother of Stones: PERCEPTION. Serene creativity.
Father of Stones: GUARDIAN. Quiet helper.
Daughter of Stones: POSSIBILITIES. Explaining the sacred in daily life.
Son of Stones: ADVOCATE. Articulating ideals.
This was originally posted on the Archer Tarot blog on January 8, 2008.
In the Haindl Tarot, the suit of Cups is associated with the North, Europe and the element of Water. The Ace of Cups represents the Holy Grail. This theme is repeated later in the suit, when Parsival adopts the role of the Son of Cups (similar to the Knight).
The cup seems to be forming before our eyes, with golden light and water spiralling upwards into the shape of a cup. Rachel Pollack says this symbolizes evolution, “the spirit rising through its experiences to a higher level”. As the Holy Grail, the Ace of Cups seems to me to represent both the end point as well as the beginning. It is both the thing that we seek and the call to seek it. It calls us to begin our own personal Grail quest.
Rachel Pollack goes on to say: “As the Grail turns, it gives off water mixed with light. This too symbolizes the idea of development. The emotions – water – become “enlightened”. A personal Grail quest shows us the truth in our lives.” In the Grail Legend, Parsival has to go through many trials before he can achieve the grail – when he first encounters it, he’s not ready because he hasn’t experienced enough for his spirit to have risen to a higher level.
I haven’t yet had much contact with this card – it hasn’t come up in any readings I’ve done. I think it is a thing of beauty, and it strikes me as very spiritual – very pure and holy (which of course, as the Holy Grail, it is). The cup seems like a vision, somehow not real. I imagine that if I could reach into the card and try to hold it, my hand would go straight through it. I can’t just take love (in the broadest sense of the word) for granted. I can’t expect to take it when I please. A true awareness of love comes only through sadness, loneliness, loss, friendship, joy – all the things found in the other cards of the suit which must be experienced first.
Kali – Mother of Wands in the East
Everyone should have a friend like Kali.
A few days ago I drew a card to help me decide what to do about a loved one who disapproves of my interest in tarot. When I sat down to do the reading, I braced myself to do some soul-searching. Then Kali barged in.
“Screw them!” she says, in the most literal way imaginable. “You love tarot. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad about doing what you love!”
I see her point. It’s hard not to.
“And don’t try to hide it either. Live it. Own it. Wear it all over your body. Show everyone – this is what you do. This is who you are! It’s not a dirty little secret, it’s a wonderful beautiful exciting thing. And so are you.”
Well, that solved that problem. It’s great having Kali in my corner.
