Cult of Tarot Forum

Welcome to Day 4 of the Yule - Winter Solstice readings.

Please everyone feel free to jump in when and where you like.

The theme for today's reading is:

4. Hopi Time of Renewal - Dec 23rd
This card indicates the best way for us to seek purification and renewal, and to increase our understanding, compassion and empathy.

Right away, my first thought when I saw this card in relation to the theme, is how we all seek "purification." How we have some concept of perfection of some kind and how we occasionally actually get there, only to fail later, to fall down, to disappoint ourselves, and try to work our way back.

A good place to put some empathy and compassion is with ourselves.

None of this is easy. But we learn so much from our disappointments and failures, for some reason more than we learn from our successes. This should tell us how valuable they are.

If we can can good at that, at showing ourselves kindness and compassion, we can be better at offering the same patience and understanding to others.

XIII La morte
Ok, things are getting strange around here! The cards are being very literal. Purification? Renewal? Death is here for it! Death is getting rid of something completely, so definitely purification. And something has to end for something new to begin, so renewal, too. I see renewal in the illustration, as Death marches forward on his horse, almost a more inevitable form of the Chariot. But he looks back, too, to see what he’s already cut down.

So to apply this to me, lately I’ve been struck by how much I’m continuing to change and grow, even though it’s been 6 or 7 years since the big change in my circumstances. And I guess I’m just really thankful for the opportunity to grow, even though it’s coming at the middle to end of my life instead of in my youth! Even when I was younger, I was surprised by how much we let go of over time. Things I was passionate about and committed to are now just gone. And it’s a good feeling, freeing. Opening me up to be passionate about something new!

And these understandings are a good basis for understanding and empathy, I think. When trying to deal with or understand someone, I should remember they’re in a certain stage in their life, for good or ill. Their opinions and passions may change later, or they might not. But just understanding that they’re subject to mistakes and positive and negative changes, and, yes, death, leads to empathy and better fellow-feeling.

So thanks, Death, for this important lesson!

4. Hopi Time of Renewal - Dec 23rd
This card indicates the best way for us to seek purification and renewal, and to increase our understanding, compassion, and empathy.

Card for Renewal: The Lovers 6 Renaldo & Clara

Dylan claimed that his film Renaldo & Clara was all a dream, tying in with the dream-related draws of the last few days. Shot during his Rolling Thunder Tour, which reunited Dylan with old friends and fellow musicians, R&C was an exploration of identity, choice, fate, and matters of the heart in the material world. This period marked the end of Dylan's writer's block and signaled a new stage of artistic growth. I take this card to indicate the embrace of the unknown, faith in the guiding spirit, and going with the flow wherever it may lead. The Lovers card promotes the taking of chances, and a foundation built on trust which allows for forays outward. Of course, it is also the card of Love, and my own lover is literally a girl from the Red River shore - the card's reverse song.

Looked at critically, Renaldo & Clara was something of a failure, and Dylan lost money with the Rolling Thunder tour. While constituting advances personally and creatively, this card's themes also warn against over-confidence, the evasion of responsibility, self-delusion, and male-centered hubris.


Card for Purification: 3 of COINS

After Dylan's disastrous double-album Self-Portrait, he went into the studio to quickly record a follow-up. George Harrison, fresh from The Beatles' split, attended the recording sessions. Together, they wrote the card's upright song, If Not For Your - part love song, part hymn. The reverse song, I'll Keep It With Mine, Dylan wrote for Nico and her son, and both songs signify all the songs Dylan wrote or co-wrote with and for other performers. Like The Lovers, this is a card about partnerships, emphasizing the creative process. The unfinished, collage aspect of the card underscores the abundance of raw material and the need - and fun - in refining that into a coherent whole. So often, when working on a project, you open yourself up to possibility and change, and this glimpse into what could be can allow for a greater understanding of not only how things could be other than they are, but how they are other than you may believe and, by extension (and run-on sentence), how others can be who they are.

Today's ideas of purification and renewal are tightly woven and reflect one another in the 2 cards drawn, with particular emphasis on cooperation, hard work, open-heartedness, and faith. As seen with day 2's solstice card, The Chariot, the tarot appears to be urging renewal and rejuvenation through creativity and determination, with the foundations strong enough to withstand what comes my way. Like Jonah and the whale, we can't run away from our fate, only deceive ourselves that we can or prepare for whatever it is by tending - to paraphrase Voltaire - our own garden.


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