The Sacred Days of Vernal Equinox Spread:
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.
The colors and shapes in the oracle card immediately reminded me of an ammolite. I really love ammolite stones. Someone once gave me one as a gift. It's a complicated situation, but the gift wasn't received well by me and I was pretty mean an disgracious about the whole thing. In contrast to that, this deck's Knight of Wands appears to be a gentle, giving sort. I'm more likely to think of the Knight of Wands as an impulsive sort. He may be, but he doesn't seem to be acting that way here. As an impulsive, emotional sort, he can recognize that in others. This combination is encouraging me to pay attention to the spirit in which things happen rather than the flaws in their execution. I can do a better job at respecting when things come from a place of love.
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.
Well, looking at the oracle card, "angel" seems to be an appropriate word. There's a dark power guiding me down my path. Not dark as in evil, but, rather grim. I find this deck's Magician card so interesting. Harkening all the way to the earliest tarots, the magician tends to be seen as a youthful figure. Here, he's in his old age. Isn't, hasn't, or is no longer the figure of action that the traditional bateleur/magician is but he's not finished his path yet. There's something the dark angel needs him to do. Every since my old life fell apart, I've felt that there was something I'm supposed to do that will be both important and unpleasant, probably at the end of my life. These cards paint that picture.
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?
The Queen of Wands is a card that I've never felt that I've wholly understood. Thinking of her as the watery part of fire, I often equate her with steam. She can be healing and comforting or she can scald your face off. Ultimately, however, she's neither this nor that, here nor there. She just kind of floats away into nothing of substance. But...with the right harnessing she can power ships and trains and cities. In the oracle card we can see the wall implied by today's question about bonds and limits. In order to break through the bonds, limits, walls, I need to (re)learn how to be effective, how to shape things and power things and not just float about in a mist.
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?
Following up yesterday's draw, there's another Wands card. During this period of time, flavor and enjoyment are especially important for all of us. Together, these cards almost paint a single picture. On the top we see a riot of beautiful colors flowing out of the center and, below, an angel flies down with a fire that looks like it came from that colorful morass. With the Ace of Wands as a card of creativity and this interpretation specifically showing a flying figure brining along fire, these cards tell me that I need to be more creative and artistic. Following up on yesterday, I need to do this in a tangible way.
Day 5: 19.3. 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?
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?Another wand, another wand court. A strangely passive looking King of Wands, though. Honestly, I'm drawn more to the musician playing than I am to the king who seems to just be passively enjoying the luxuries of his wealth. This question is one about action, after all, and the lautenist is the active figure in this card. The first thing I see in the oracle card (and appropriate for the question, no less) is a brain. This is similar to the card that accompanied the Queen of Wands in so far as there is a pretty strong dividing line in the middle of the card, suggesting the brain's hemispheres. Importantly, however, the colors of the right hemisphere are making substantial inroads into the left. This pairing of cards seems to be following up on the readings of the past two days and reinforces the idea that, right now, I should be actively engaged in creative projects. Rather than analyzing the present moment to death and dwelling on the things I can't control, I need to leave matters of expertise to the experts and focus on right brain work.
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?I think this is telling me that I need to start reconsidering how I use and approach my material and moentary resources.
Day 8: 22.3. 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.When i saw that oracle card, I immediately thought of an octopus. Like a virus, an octopus is an incredibly alien form of life. Below, in the lovers, we see a man, a woman, and a child-like figure. This is my family on the nose. It's hard staying-in-place but we have to do it not just for ourselves but for everybody. Aside from just not having to suffer the sickness, our staying well leaves hospital beds open and prevents transmitting it to more vulnerable people. I help keep our community safe and healthy by keeping our home safe and healthy. I have to keep things beautiful and positive at times when it could be tense and scary. This could be a part of where all those creative projects come in.
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.These bad feelings—the recrimination, seeking of blame, trying to get one over—they're a never ending downward spiral.
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 need to be like Justin Timberlake and bring the Sexxy Back. I've spent a lot of time in recent years learning how to be more humble and responsive. Now it's time go start shining a little more again. Traffic in sex and charisma.
What a beautiful oracle card to represent this day's thought. The verdant greens and twilights purples. The drop of water and its interior complexity. Nice. The primary message of today's draw is to learn to do with less. I like how this pairs up with yesterday's draw in a slightly counterintuitive fashion. If I follow yesterday's guidance and embrace my effervescent energy, then that stuff is coming from inside of me and not from stuff. If I'm dealing more directly with people then I'm dealing less with things.
There is, however, a more specific message that I'm taking from these cards. **I'll fill this in later, gtg**
Day 11: 25.3. The Annunciation - The Christian holiday 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.
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.
