Joan Marie's Equninox Readings

[Joan Marie]

I love a good Cosmic Signpost.

I'm still on the fence a bit for a deck, but I will decide in a few minutes here.

[Joan Marie]

I decided to go with my Cult of Weimar Deck.
It's the energy I think I am looking for right now. Considering in part that we are at the one-year anniversary of The Pandemic and no one knows what's in store and very little is assured, the kind of fun hopeful irreverent vibes of that deck are what I think might be most insightful to me now.

Day 1: 15.3.

Today is the first day of week-long celebration of Cybele, the great Mother Goddess, and her youthful consort Attis. Today's card talks about love and eros in your life, and how you can celebrate them.


First thing I want to say is I like to always start these readings by looking into the theme a little deeper. It's always so interesting!
Was happy to see there were many many many cults devoted to Cybele!


So I drew this interesting card:

She appears to be on a break from eros, maybe contemplating its nature or the role in her life.
This makes a lot of sense to me in this context. Sometimes the best way to celebrate something is to take a step back and carefully consider it and appreciate it. Our relationships to certain aspects of life, maybe especially love and eros, grow and change over time. It's important to recognise this and not resist it.

When love is new it's easy to understand really. It's the kind of love we all learn about from popular music etc. and the kind of love we so wish to have always. As love grows and matures it takes on other qualities that, sadly as a society, we value mostly in a sentimental way. We fail to appreciate the newness and thrill they can bring to life. It's maybe not the roller coaster of the early days, but seriously, even roller coasters gets stale.

This card reminds me to take some time to appreciate and make the most of life as it is and to remember that every day with the ones we love is a gift and to never lose the thrill and newness of that. All the rest follows from there.

[Joan Marie]

Day 2: 16.3. Gahambar Hamaspathmaidyem

Today begins the Zoroastrian Holiday Gahambar Hamaspathmaidyem, celebrating the life cycle of human beings, from creation to death, and the presence of angels. Today's card connects you to your own path in life and the angel/power/energy that protects you.

I have to confess (an ironic verb to use here) that I have always had an ambivalent relationship to the Hierophant card.
But i must admit it is an interesting fit here in regard to the context of the day.

I grew up in the Catholic Church and boy do they ever follow you from birth to death. Literally. From your baptism to your last rites.

I like on this card how the women are reacting. It sums up a lot of my feelings.

Behind the Hierophant is a document covered with cryptic occultist symbols. (It's actually a prop from the 1922 film "Nosferatu")And I wonder if what this is card saying to me is that my path in life has been full of questions and seeking. And maybe it is curiosity that keeps me moving.

In the booklet I wrote something about how authority requires mutual respect. This is a concept I am glad to have finally learned to understand. It isn't what I was taught in Catholic school or elsewhere in society. Normally we are taught to respect authority, without ever considering authority must also respect us. It seems so logical and simple and yet it's a concept I think too few consider. Understanding it creates a strong sense of self, of boundaries and an gives one the ability to make healthy life decisions.

Glad I pulled this card now. This is a good message for me for many reasons.

I would add that I am all for the presence of Angels, but another lesson I've learned in life is that what I must believe in and count on most in life is myself. I think this card today has reminded me of that.

[Joan Marie]

Day 3: 17.3. Liberalia

On this day, the Romans celebrated the Liberalia festival of freedom. Today's card tells you how you use your freedom and encourages you to be really free of bonds that limit your personality, talents and longings. What are the bonds you have to break to be free?

She looks haunted by ghosts of the past.
That's what pops in my head and it ticks the box of what is holding me back.

In the booklet with the deck I wrote something about being tricked into a position of defensiveness.
I do have a tendency toward becoming defensive when challenged. Always have. This is just giving power over to people. Allowing them to dictate to me how I should view myself, my decisions etc.

Yeah, this hits. And has given me a very interesting topic to work on.

Liberalia! A festival of freedom. What a brilliant idea. I'm in.

[Joan Marie]

Day 4: 18.3. Ugadi

The Hindu holiday Ugadi is celebrated in some parts of India as New Year. Its traditional food represents the different tastes: sour, salty, sweet and bitter. Today's card shows you how to balance the flavours in your life, to be able to enjoy it to the fullest in the months ahead. How can make you make your life more flavourful and enjoyable?

When the pandemic first started, I really thought that I'd be forever changed. But I think I underestimated and misunderstood where those changes would take place exactly.

Where I live almost everything has been closed for months now. The only stores that have been open are grocery and pharmacies.* I was talking to a friend yesterday about how we spend so much more time in these stores, really looking at everything they have. These are the stores you normally breeze in and out of, grab what you came in for and go. But now we are looking at them differently as our options to shop have shrunk to almost nothing.

I get a sense that maybe I am learning to not live in a constant state of judging and evaluating and have learned to let the world in, as it is. Yeah I miss all the things that are gone now and will probably flock in gratefully to restaurants and bars and stores when they re-open. But I hope that I can do it without losing this feeling, this inner quiet of just letting my eyes land on whatever is in front of them and taking it in.

Death reminds us of all the wonderful little things we forget to notice in a busy world full of options and stimulation. Like the sound of a clock ticking, or the mind boggling number of toothpaste brands that exist. Or what waiting in a line really feels like. Or a freshly ironed shirt.

Just letting the world in as it is. That's the umami.

*garden stores were allowed to open recently and they are a real slice of heaven I can tell you.

[Joan Marie]

Day 5: 19.3. Eostre/Ostara

The Germanic goddess of spring is celebrated with eggs, rabbits and the ringing of bells. Today's card reminds you of a bell ringing in your life, a bell that calls you forward and that you didn't heed or overhear until now. Understand what this bell wants to tell you, and in the coming month, try to make its voice heard.

This Knight looks like she hears a bell all right.

I sense it is less a call to action than it is a call to her intellect or her spirit (which could be the same thing, no?)

The figure is Anita Berber and she's standing in front of the Universum Cinema in Berlin. Anita was trained a s a dancer and gained most of her fame that way but she was also a film actress, something she is less famous for but likely just as talented.

Maybe this bell I'm hearing is calling me to explore my lesser used talents and see if I can't make a go of that. break out a little and try something new, or something I've only dabbled in but for all I know could be quite good at.

Yes, I have heard that bell in the distance for a while now. Time to heed it.

[Joan Marie]

Day 6: 20.3. Spring/Vernal Equinox

This is the day of balance between day and night, when new things grow and push through the earth, when Kore/Persephone returns from the underworld and brings flowers with her. Today's card calls you to contemplate on creativity and renewal in your own life. Where do you resist change, and where should you embrace it?


I drew 2 cards because there are 2 questions.

Where do I resist Change?

Where do I embrace change?

These really can't be read separately. They go together and they tell a story of what I have been experiencing the past couple of years.

There is a natural conflict when one engages in certain pursuits. Well, when I do anyway.
To really get out there, to really connect with people, you have to make yourself vulnerable.
Naturally, there is a resistance to doing that.

One has to learn and practice and improve, but then you've got to get over a fear of exposure.
And you have to be careful, but not too careful. It's tricky to find the balance.

I want the spoils of war without the battle. That's a rough way to put it, but I get what I mean.

On this first day of spring I will think of the little purple crocus' in my garden right now who have pushed their little heads up already only to be greeted by frigid temps. But they shine anyway and who knows, maybe they will last longer because they are basically refrigerated right now.

Happy equinox everyone.

[Joan Marie]

Day 7: 21.3. Harmony Day

In Australia, Harmony Day celebrates inclusiveness and acceptance. Today's card asks you to probe your own hidden prejudices, and what you can do to become more open and tolerant. Challenge yourself to inform yourself and get to know cultures, topics or people that until held irrational negative associations for you. How can you become an ambassador for inclusiveness and harmony in your society and immediate surrounding?

This is interesting.

This card speaks to me about authenticity.
In regards to this topic, harmony and inclusiveness, I think there is nothing more important than being authentic.

I take some issue with the word "tolerance" in this context. Tolerance is hidden prejudice in my mind. It feels to me like "holding one's nose," pretending to be okay with something that you really aren't. It's not enough to be tolerant sometimes. if you find yourself simply tolerating other cultures than maybe you need to work on that.

And the best way to work on it is to learn. And to seek out things that are not familiar, by and from people you don't have a lot of contact with. There are so many opportunities to learn if you just look. There are so many communities of people who are maginalised. But they make movies and tv shows and they write books and I learn so much from these. You learn to see beneath the surface to the humanity of the individuals through this art.

For example, you can't expect a severely handicapped person, or a transgender person, or an immigrant, or a person in prison, an unhoused person, etc. etc. (we marginalise a shit-ton of people in this world) to sit you down and teach you what you need to know about their world. But through art, through story and character, your eyes can be opened up in the most surprising ways. And it changes you, it opens you up to new experiences and people. But even this kind of art is marginalised. You really have to seek it out. Some break through, a lot does not.

Maybe what I am describing here is just me. My way. I've had people tell me I'm doing it wrong. We can't all do the same things the same way. Some people make better activists. I support them in my own ways.

Makes me think that a list of marginalised art would be helpful to people. It would be to me.
I will think about that.

I know a lot of really good ones.

[Joan Marie]

Day 8: 22.3. Minerva Day

Minerva/Athene is the Roman/Greek goddess of intelligence, rational thinking and objectivity. Today's card asks you how you use your intelligence and talents, whether you give them the proper place or whether you feel you have undeveloped potential. What can you do to make the best use of your mental powers and intelligence?

Funny, I have been thinking about this a lot lately and had a discussion about it this morning already.
I just finished a 6 part Adam Curtis Documentary called "Can't Get You Out of My Head"

It's about how power never changes or always reverts back to the belonging to the same people or groups and how it is largely the result of the fact we live in a world of myths and made up stories that we internalise and make our own and create our identities around them.
(In case you'e interested: https://thoughtmaybe.com/cant-get-you-out-of-my-head/ )

Okay, so now I'll draw a card, and create a meaning around it, tell myself a story!
(It's always good to question and test our beliefs from time to time... coincidentally, I am taking a course from Enrique Enriquez at the moment and it seems to also revolve around this idea, although I am still not quite sure yet, that one can read tarot cards quite effectively without attaching a ton of meaning to each card, just seeing it for what is there.)

so here is my card:

Ha! She's literally distracted by a shiny glowing thing and ignoring what is in hand.

It's fun to make up stories, but there is a time and a place. Stories I create, tell myself, run round and round in my head. I think everyone does this. It's how we help ourselves understand our lives. We attach all kinds of meaning to things, but it's all made up, assumed, extrapolated. And it affects us, distracts us and stunts us.

There is a concept in Buddhism (I am not a buddhist, just have a cursory knowledge of it) about detachment. I think this is what I need to get better at. Stop trying to create little stories around everything to explain it to myself and just observe, say what I see.

This is pretty much exactly the instruction Enrique has given me for reading TdM Trumps. Seems to be applicable elsewhere.

[Joan Marie]

Day 9: 23.3. Hilaria

The Roman holiday of Hilaria celebrates laughter and fun. Today's card throws a light on the place light-hearted fun and humour have in your life. Do you laugh often enough? The card challenges you to find things that make you laugh and forget your worries, and do them regularly from now on.

Is this card telling me to dance naked more often? Because that would be funny!

When I first moved to Germany people here told me that when they spent an evening with me they never laughed so much. It is my nature to find humour. I grew up in a place where people competed to be the funniest, to make the best joke. Every joke was a running joke and everyone's goal was to top the last one. Even at funerals. Humour was a way to cope. Crying and laughing at the same time was normal. Even during an argument, sometimes that was when the best jokes happened.

This is not to say that the humour made light of sad or difficult situations. Not at all. It was just an acknowledgment of the absurdity of it all. It was just looking at things from that point of view sometimes. It made things tolerable when they seemed totally intolerable.

My mother always said that a sense of humour, a good one, was a sign of intelligence. being able to look through the apparent and find the nugget of humour in any given situation is not something everyone does. I'm not saying they can't, I'm saying they don't.

Writing this has made me appreciate this quality in myself and in others. It's also encouraging me.

[Joan Marie]

Day 10: 24.3. Earth Hour

On this international day, people stop to think about the environment and the use we make of it. Are you doing all you can to keep and preserve this earth? Today's card asks you to find your own connection to the Earth you live on, whether through environment awareness or the voice of your spiritual tradition. How are you connected to this Earth and how can you honour it?

I missed this yesterday. I was working on my environment! Really I spent the whole day working outdoors, I set up my little portable greenhouse where I will start my tomatoes etc in the next few days. Then I worked a bit on our pond and then cleared away a ton of leaves and debris.

Now I pick a card:

10 of wands

That seems right on the nose. The clean-up guy!
I wrote in the booklet the 1927 film Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt (Symphony of the Great City) which was a montage of film following the life of the city from the waking hours of very early morning, through the busy day, into the nightlife, the quiet and then starting over again.

It takes a lot of people to make a city run. It's crazy when you think about it. If any one part fails, the trash isn't collected, the mail isn't delivered, the trams and buses don't run, hospitals close, etc... chaos isn't far behind. We've all learned that from this past year of "essential workers" haven't we? (in Germany where I live they use the term "system relevant" to describe these workers, which is interesting, no?)

The message I get here in the context of this day is that to remain connected to the earth, we must remain connected to each other and appreciate and acknowledge the importance of every contribution. I think we all want the same things and we have to each contribute in any way we can, with every decision and every act. And we must never stop learning how to do it all better.

[Joan Marie]

Day 11: 25.3. Palm Sunday

The Christian holiday of Palm Sunday celebrates peace, hope and new beginnings. Today's card shows you where you have to make peace - with memories, people in your life or other painful matters. Let them go and don't beat yourself up any more.

This card reminds me that right actions come from a calm place. I've been thinking about this a lot.

I've been thinking about the concept of the "Middle Way" which is often misunderstood to mean compromise when what it really means (as I understand it) is acting not too strongly, but strongly enough. Not to over-react, but also not to under-react. For me, when I look at problems this way, I find it an extremely helpful measurement for myself.

My mistakes, big and small, always seem to be issues of either over-reacting (my tendency) or under-reacting. Finding that sweet spot in between is a feeling I really have learned to love because it feels peaceful, it feels right. (which is funny now that I look again at this card. The background is the El Dorado club in Berlin which had a big sign outside that said, " Hier ist richtig!" )

For me this is like learning to play piano - it's gonna take a lot of practice..and patience.

[Joan Marie]

Day 12: 26.3. Preparation of the Temple of Luna

On the final day of our 12 days, we prepare for the annual Roman festival in the Temple of Luna, the Moon goddess. Today's card tells you how you can become more attuned to the intuitive, quiet side within you, how you can make your spiritual work more meaningful, and how to integrate your shadow into your life. It's the message of the Moon for the spring days ahead while the influence of the Sun is rising.

Interesting end to this. The 2s are always about the other person. And this card is about issues of control and power.

It's difficult sometimes understanding this dynamic but it is one of the most important ones. It affects the way I come across to others. It affects the success of my endeavours. I'm having a strong urge to step back from some things and focus on exerting my control and power over my garden but maybe that is a great metaphor for the futility of thinking I have control or power over anything.

There is only the relationship, isn't there. The realness and honesty of that. Approaching with humility and sincerity.

It's funny when I think about it, it seems like whoever in any relationship of any kind who seems to be at the disadvantage, is truly the one with the advantage. The person trying to exert control is always the one who has the least real leverage. I think the need for control rises out of fear. And that is a a weak position to start from. For one thing, it takes a lot of energy and effort to hide that.

This gives me a lot to think about.

As has this whole exercise.

It went by really fast.