Rachel’s Sacred Days of the Vernal Equinox 2021

[Rachelcat]

Happy to be joining in! I’m going to be using Button Soup Tarot. I recently re-discovered it on my shelf, and that I hadn’t even added it to my collection list. I think I was still dazed and confused about the quarantine when I got it, and just let it sit. So now I’m using it as a celebration of one year of quarantine and the comfort and creativity of the forum!

Day 1: 15.3. Cybele and Attis Festival

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.

Judgement
Well. let’s start off with a bang! Or a (horn) blast! At its best, romantic love can be a call to a higher level of life, calling for compassion, selflessness, care, patience, and openness. What we learn in the crucible of romantic relationships can be carried over to relationships of all sorts, even with strangers. Especially when we start so young, before we have time to learn how to be adults in other ways.

This card is reminding me of that. To use what I’ve learned instead of trying to hide away, and hide away from, a (shall we understatedly say) unsuccessful relationship. Interesting! I didn’t think I would be getting much from this topic.

As I said, a good start! Happy Spring, everyone!

[Rachelcat]

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.

Tower
Great! My favorite card. But you know what? I’m going to look at this as my past life path. That should influence my future life path? I really don’t remember how hellish it was, and how I almost lost everything that matters, my son’s wellbeing. And it would have been totally my own doing. So glad I pulled back from that cliff. Maybe someone was watching over me then. If so, I’ll be eternally grateful.

This Tower still has its crown on top. I think the power that looked over me was my higher self, sensible and real but spiritual and powerful all at the same time. It’s a tower of flame, and that’s power, too (even though it’s not light). I can’t really explain what I’m thinking about the card, but it’s giving me the right message right now! I fell but I didn’t die.

It should influence my future life path in that I should live every day fully and joyfully. Glad to have another day to be a good person in.

Obviously, I’m still processing some stuff from my past. But in a positive way. Have a lovely Tuesday, my friends!

[Rachelcat]

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?

Emperor
Wow. All majors so far. I swear I shuffled . . . And this is definitely apropos to the topic! There is freedom in discipline. I definitely believe that. Many of us are free to do pretty much anything we want, but if we don’t plan and hold ourselves accountable, we don’t get anything done. And that’s a freedom of a kind, but who wants freedom to do nothing all the time? Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.

The emperor is saying I have the freedom to choose my discipline. Work toward my own plans and goals, or be forced to work for someone else’s.

In Weight Watchers, there’s a saying, choose your hard. It’s hard to dedicate yourself day in day out to losing weight, but it’s also hard to be overweight, unhealthy, and miserable. Choose your hard! And it applies to so many other situations.

I choose to be the emperor of my own life. Not only do I refuse to be controlled by others, I also embrace discipline and hard work to accomplish my own goals.

A great message from a great deck! Have a happy and green St. Patrick’s Day!

[Rachelcat]

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?

Death
Ok, what’s going on here? Another major. Well, at least I’ve already had Tower and Death. Once I get the Devil, I won’t have to worry about any other cards . . .

The way for me to enjoy life is to realize it could end at any time. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

Or maybe let bygones be bygones and enjoy the here and now. it’s probably good to let go of the future as well as the past. It’s not that productive or enjoyable to be constantly thinking “when will things be back to normal,” whatever that means.

This card illustrates the much-quoted fact that some trees don’t release their seeds unless they experience the heat of a forest fire. Only then can new life start to sprout. Butterflies same. To get a beautiful butterfly, you have to let the caterpillar die.

So basically, Death says Carpe Diem. I can get with that! Or at least try to.

Have a very happy day, everyone!

[Rachelcat]

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.

Page of Cups
Be open and receptive to surprises. The child blows into a horn and out comes a fish! It’s a beautiful horn and a beautiful fish. Surprises can be beautiful and pleasant. Don’t be afraid to show my young, soft, feminine side. I dreamed this morning that I was young and just beginning a romantic relationship. This card is telling me to pay attention to that, for sure.

Have a beautiful day today, everyone!

[Rachelcat]

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?

Justice
Back to majors today! This is totally off topic, but this card just made me realize how earth and air are elemental opponents. Just as opposite as fire and water. But I never had that intuitively before right now! (Although now that I look at it, I think the bottom of this card is water. But the insight still stands.) Back to your regularly scheduled reading:

I recently listened to a video about implicit bias. It brought forth to me how much work everyone has to do, internal and external work, before everyone has access to true justice. The hands here are holding and treasuring justice itself. We can’t just say we like justice and want justice and then hope it happens. It’s something all of us have to work toward. The change and renewal I need to embrace is fixing myself at the same time I do something to try to fix society/the system. It’s the old “what can one person do” saw. The answer is it’s always one person doing something. Even if it’s together with others. This is a very forward moving card and a very good design that really says something to me today.

Have a beautiful vernal equinox, and may the year ahead bring you all good things!

[Rachelcat]

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?

4 of Pentacles
I love this pup! He has ALL the Frisbees and isn’t sharing. This might be a bit off topic, but my irrational prejudice is that I don’t like to give to health charities. (I sometimes give to the American Heart Association because it’s a group thing through my work.) I have a completely irrational idea that they’re somehow not 100% honest or helpful. I don’t know where that’s come from, but I think I need to work on that. Right now I’m only giving to food banks and homeless charities. I do think it’s important to support local organizations, that’s not irrational at all!

I definitely have an irrational fear and misunderstanding of ill and disabled people. (Which is dumb because my niece and her wife are deaf, and are perfectly wonderful people!) But we fear what we don’t understand.

Well, I didn’t know this little doggie was going to lead me to this! That’s why I love tarot. It tells you things you already know, but you didn’t know you need to know. This is definitely something I’ll be thinking about and working on. Thank you, doggie and Nemia!

[Rachelcat]

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?

Fool
This is a sweet card, but with lots of details for clues. My kite is tangled in the tree. My intellectual life has gotten in a rut. I need to look around and see the bigger picture. There is so much to see and think about and work on. The bees for work and teamwork, the dove for love and relationships, the flowers for enjoying beauty, and the butterfly for transformation. And the warmth of the sun to just soak it up!

I remember, and it wasn’t so long ago, that there were too many books and not enough time to read them in. For years, I gave up reading fiction because there was too much to learn by reading nonfiction. Now I can’t think of a thing I want to read, fiction or non. I’m sure it’s just a phase, and I’ll be back to furiously researching something soon. The Fool is here to tell me to take it easy on myself. The whole world of knowledge is out there, and I’ll be out in it soon enough.

Have a great Monday, everyone!

[Rachelcat]

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.

5 of Swords
Not usually a card to get a chuckle, but I’m going to go for it. Worth a laugh or two is seeing the chaos behind what we think we know. The mind/ego thinks it’s got everything figured out, but truth and reality are so much wider and wilder. I think I can gather up all meaning in my hands, and it’s just not like that! In fact, it’s laughable.

And negative thoughts are like clouds floating by. Let them go by and let them go. And smile at myself for thinking they were permanent. Or an important part of me.

This carries on from yesterday’s reading, I think. There’s never an end to learning and thinking things through, and that’s definitely something to be happy about!

Wow, this card is so full of ideas! (Including I’m such a snob, glancing at it and at first seeing, “oh, it’s just a RWS copy.”) And then it opens up beautifully!

I hope everyone has a day of fun and laughter!

[Rachelcat]

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?

8 of Pentacles
I can honor the earth by supporting sensible, science-based environmental policies. I work with lawyers who specialize in US federal environmental regulation. It’s interesting and sometimes worrying to see how laws and regulations play out on a specific level. But now that we have actual leadership for our country, we can finally move on from idiotic climate change denial and letting the foxes guard the henhouse of environmental protection. (What was really worrying was seeing up close the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act protections being chipped away, over and over, over four years. Because nothing is more important than oil companies making more money. Evidently.)

Planning and science, and political activism supporting them, can make a big difference in how our country responds to environmental issues.

I didn’t get into the illustration of the card much yet. Let’s see: The marionette guy is making powerful progress along the path, even though he’s just following the plans of the controlling hand. Some of the beautiful goals are already being met, but he’s not going to stop until they all are.

I hope you have a lovely day!

[Rachelcat]

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.

Fool, Magician
Since I already had the Fool, I pulled an additional card. Once again, I swear I shuffled.

I need to let go of being completely out of control or completely in control. And desiring or fearing one or the other. Nothing in life is all or nothing. I was just discussing recently about how I’m not comfortable with actually using magic. It seems not quite right to use spiritual means for physical results. But then that’s the kind of dichotomous thinking I’m trying to let go of . . . And then I’m perfectly fine with divination, just not magic. Maybe what I need to let go of is inconsistency! Or caring about inconsistency?

Interesting to see here the unicursal hexagram. I recognize it, but I’m not sure I remember what it means. And is that the constellation Gemini? Ok, the real question: what is splattered on the magician’s arms? Is it the starlight before it sinks into his consciousness? Or rather his ability to act, since it’s arms? I need to read up and study, which is probably the message the magician has for me today!

Well, this was very vague, the risk you take when reading with majors! Have a lovely day, everyone!

[Rachelcat]

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.

2 of Swords
Well, this is appropriate. I just read that my transit today is Mercury sextiles Moon, so swords relating to the moon works. I think the meaning is appropriate too. The way I can be more in touch with quiet, shadow, and spirituality is to balance my analysis and synthesis, my skepticism and belief. It’s important to be skeptical about spiritual claims, or you can get tied up in something that doesn’t make much sense. But you also have to have some kind of faith, or it doesn’t mean anything.

The crossed crystals are the two swords. The skull is blindfolded. It has to trust to at least some extent. But there always comes a day when the blindfold slips off, and then where will it be?

I really enjoyed our reading together for spring. And getting to know Button Soup! Thanks to Nemia for leading us!