Parting the Mists

These two were both strong today, so I decided to post both. I’m feeling that the suggestion is that some of us need to slow down and rest to receive the guidance we need. Sometimes approaching a situation without proper thought and rest for the mind and body just leads to more confusion. Take a breath and a rest and see where it leads you.

Blessings!

Four of Arrows – Rest

Meaning: Recharging after a period of stressful activity, work, or emotional trauma. Allow time for the imagination to sojourn into the Otherworld to renew and rejuvenate vitality.

Description: On the ground lies a figure with closed eyes. There are four arrows driven into the earth, two at at the head and two at the knees. Rising above is a great multicolored butterfly from which rays of energy pour in all directions, bathing the figure in light.

Reading Points: In this stressful and demanding world, we sometimes forget that rest is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle and sleep a vital part of recuperation and the healing process. This primal mechanism is not just for the well-being of the body but the mind and imagination as well. Muscles need time to repair and rebuild after strenuous exertion, and the functions of the human psyche need dreams and deep sleep to aid the process, bringing order to what sometimes seems the chaos and random machinations of daily life.

Sometimes, inspiration and insight can also come through restful meditation and lucid dreaming. Welcome these insights joyfully and take note of what your subconscious is saying to you. One of the first human instincts when confronted with survival situations in any wild environment is to find or build a shelter to provide protection from the elements and act as a safe place to rest and sleep in safety. Though that basic human security requirement, survivors often become disoriented, make poor decisions and become unable to physically complete simple and necessary tasks, eventually losing hope. Rest and sleep are vital to restore stamina and vitality.

THE POLE STAR

READING POINTS: The power of universal lore is at work here, either within the individual or permeating a web of circumstance that will bring profound change and new spiritual hope. The Pole Star of prophetic guidance and inspirational knowledge has risen and will guide you on your forthcoming journey through the forest. If you hold this ancient and basic truth near the core of your being and navigate by it you cannot go far wrong; it is there as a talisman as well as a symbol of the universal cycle of nature. Whenever you are feeling lost in the dark Labyrinth of life, remember that the laws and primal matter that bind the Pole Star and fuel its giant heart also formed you.

DESCRIPTION: The pure white light of the Pole Star illuminates the dark void of the universe and casts its radiance upon the Earth. The star represents the remotest power in the celestial sky and the interaction and fusion of particles that produce heat and light. Stars rise above the Earth, beckoning our searching minds to reach beyond our own solar system and grasp the vastness of space. The swirling clouds of stellar dust that formed the heart of the stars spiral outward into infinity and turn with the cycle of the universe. The blessing of the Pole Star radiates to the Earth across the abyss and reminds us that the same stuff of creation that fuels and binds these mighty sentinels of the night sky burns within us. Latest research shows that stars are initially formed as a sphere within a ring or circle of matter, echoing the cup and ring symbols found carved on stones of prehistory that may represent the seed of manifestation and the source of creation itself. The blessing of the stellar world bathes the Earth and the human spirit with healing and regenerative energy.

MEANING: The Pole Star symbolizes universal law, higher spiritual knowledge and power. The first breath of creation formed the stars and binds them together as constants within the visible universe. Our own star, the Sun, reminds us of the awesome power that burns at the heart of these stellar giants and yet that they are only the sentinels of our own visual reality. The Pole Star reminds us that there is a greater, unseen power in the universe, one that can manifest and balance the enormous gravity, light, and energy that form the heart of a star and yet also weaves the sublet interations between the subatomic particles that exist in multidimensional states that we can only theorize about.

Since the dawn of time, stars have been revered and studied as they traversed the sky. For the first travelers, the Pole Star offered a constant navigation aid as the star fields wheeled about its fixed position. Long-range calendar predictions and mathematical equations also developed from these first attempts at astronomy. Research suggests that the th pyramids were laid out in the shape of constellation of Orion and ancient people saw mythical beasts, gods, and history laid out pictorially in the twinkling star patterns of the ngith sky. Like the Sun and Moon, the stars moved through the heavens in a regular, predictable cycle, some vanishing beneath the horizon during the summer and reappearing during winter. Mythical stories of great hunters and slain warriors honored by the gods and placed forever in the night sky were handed down through time and developed into ancient religious practices.

The Wildwood Tarot by authors Mark Ryan and John Matthews and artist Will Worthington