Parting the Mists

This is a great card as many of us are stuck in a pandemic rut – or stuck in a pattern of stress about other things going on in the world. It’s time to look at your patterns and see what will make your life a healthier and more pleasant experience.

Blessings!

MUMMY – “Change”

The sand in his mouth
The bandage wound
Jealous of the living
Eternal life bound

The ancient Egyptians took death very seriously. Death was not seen as many of us see it – a finality to be dreaded – but as just the beginning of a new life and often eternal life, in a better place, the “afterlife.”

The practice of honoring and preserving the body through a complex process of mummification was central to ancient Egyptian culture. This was not just a physical embalming process but a carefully enacted ritual process that ensured preservation in the next world. Many other cultures also mummified their dead including the Incas, the Argentineans, the Maori, and many cultures of the Torres Straight Islands.

In our modern horror genres, the mummy has become an icon. From early horror writing at the turn of the century to the very popular films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, the plot normally revolves around the mummy returning to life and cursing and hunting down the living. The discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tombs and other long-hidden Egyptian treasures in the 1920s in particular sparked an explosion in mummy-related films and literature.

Should you pull the moaning Mummy card from the deck, know that change is inevitable and that no matter how hard you try, things will not be preserved exactly the same way. The card also indicates that this change will be for the better. The endings, the closed doors, the barriers? This is just a healthy pause and and an indication that a change of tactics is needed. You are not cursed – you have just developed a pattern. You can take control and change it.

The Halloween Oracle by author Stacey Demarco and artists Jimmy Manton√

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Skull of Flowers is such a visually stunning card but so is its meaning. It does seem as though there is so much ash now, but don’t forget that when anything that is broken down can be rebuilt better.

Blessings!

SKULL OF FLOWERS – Creating through the ashes

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The Witch card is about recognizing your own power to change your reality. So often, it is easy to put off making changes until the “perfect” moment. There is no perfect moment.

Blessings!

THE WITCH – The earthly weaver of the worlds

Earth, Air, Fire, Water
A woman lovely, a woman strange
Weaver of the worlds, moon’s daughter
Witch: The catalyst for change

Witches have had bad PR for a couple of millennia now. Originally the healers or cunning women of the village, the very word “witch” is believed to come from the Celtic word “wicce” meaning weaver or wise.** When the new religion of Christianity spread through the land, the custodians of the old Pagan ways, in part witches, were labeled as evil and – as we know from history – persecuted. They were driven underground (or under the night sky) into the shadows of misunderstanding and darkness.

However, for the purpose of Halloween, let’s look at witches as the weavers of magic and change. Through spells and rituals and even through herbal recipes (yes, often brewed in a cauldron), they weave the powers of this world and the next in synergy to solve problems and heal.

Holding the Witch card means that you can weave your own change throughout life and that magic indeed is afoot! You must understand that you have power and it is real. It may also indicate that others may be threatened by your developing personal power and that they may not appreciate or like the changes in you as you grow. Be prepared for this and do not be discouraged. New friends and better opportunities will be attracted instead.

The Halloween Oracle by author Stacey Demarco and artist Jimmy Manton

** This is the oracle author’s view. The etymology of the word “witch” is actually much more complicated than this, and debate goes on about it. I suggest looking it up in the Online Etymology Dictionary and historical sources.

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This is a bit like the Death card in the Tarot – there is no need to fear the Underworld for it is a place for change, transformation, and sometimes cleansing before starting something new. Take time to consider what you need to transform your life and what needs to change.

THE UNDERWORLD – Where all things pause and begin again

Another realm, shadow filled
Travel from death’s bed
Where we stop and transform
Within the realm of the dead

The idea of the Underworld, a whole realm that we go to after we die, is a concept that crosses a huge variety of cultures and eras. The Sumerians, the Turkish, the Incas, the Greeks through to the Siberians, the Maori and the Kymers – all had a distinct word for the Underworld. What is different though is how these cultures treat this concept – whether the Underworld is seen as a place of rest and rejuvenation or horror and punishment.

The Christian hell is a place of darkness, fire, and punishment. The Egyptian underworld is one of judgment, peace, and renewal. In Maori culture, it is an in-between place of waiting, wisdom, and transition. Many myths that mention the underworld often involve the concept of a place of waiting and of trials and eventual judgment. It can also be a place of joy and peace.

Should the Underworld card be present in your reading, you are being asked to consider exactly what you have to do to transform your life into something you find easier or more authentic to you. This may involve changing course. It may involve trials and tests. Keep moving. Whilst things may fall away and your life may appear bare for a time, this is temporary. Space is being made into which you can create the new.

The Halloween Oracle by author Stacey Demarco and artist Jimmy Manton

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Strange how two of my favorite cards from this deck pop up in the first two days of using it as we lead up to the Samhain season. Hearth and home have always been important to me, something I learned from my Mom who made our house warm in spite of the odds against her. The fact is, it doesn’t take money to make a house your home: it takes love, work, and intention.

Blessings!

HEARTH – Happiness in our hearts and homes

The heart of every home
The fire that unites
Winter’s warmth centres
Stories, love, and delight.

The ancient Romans believed that every home had a heart and it was the hearth. Where the fire burned, the family gathered for sustenance, communication, and protection. This concept was so important to the culture that there was a huge city hearth – the Vestal temple – where the fire of the home goddess, Vesta, burned forever without ever going out. This sacred flame was protected by the soldiers with their very lives should there be an invasion.

The place where the Goddess Vesta was honored within every ordinary home was also the hearth, and it is where women prepared food and cooked. Some of the food was always offered back into the fire as an offering to Vesta for her blessing and protection. Often husbands were sent away on military duty for years on end and their wives at home were not just expected to keep the home and and often the business running, but to wait for their husbands faithfully until their return. They prayed to Vesta to ensure their family members’ safe return and to keep the fires of love stoked. The saying “Keep the home fires burning” was inspired by this practice.

Should the Hearth card appear in your divination, you are being asked to look to your idea of what home and family is for you. Take the time to build up your “love” fire and have it burning brightly. Make your relationships a priority. If there is conflict within your home and family, it is time to take concrete steps to address the issue for good. If you or a member of your family is away from home due to travel and work, know that protection is being given.

The Halloween Tarot by author Stacey Demarco and artist Jimmy Manton

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The Id (as in id, ego, and superego) is key to understanding the meaning of the werewolf in folklore, pop culture, and this card. Sometimes we can be too tamed by society and our modern conveniences. This card suggests we should spend some time outdoors, dance or drum with abandon, or tap into some other wild part of your nature. The problem when we never do this? That trapped beast often lashes out when we least want it to.

Blessings!

WEREWOLF – Exploring Wildness

Luminosity triggers it
A wild moon rises
Fur and howling and wolfen guises

After a painful, excruciating, bone-jarring struggle against the change, the man releases to the magic. Howling unrestrained under the full moon, now the half-man half-wolf rises up, snarling, and goes looking for blood! Yes! We all know the power of the werewolf!

After the end of the European witch trials, an intense interest in the werewolf developed in folklore tales and evolved to become the stuff of horror stories. Fairly consistently since then, the wolf-man or “lycan” has featured regularly in tales both oral and written. Of course, during the last one hundred years, there have been many hugely popular movies including “

American Werewolf in London” and themes in books such as the recent Twilight Saga series.

The werewolf is a kind of shapeshifter – but one that has traditionally had little control over his wildness. In a way, an inner battle between civilization and wild nature fights inside the one body. The vitality, strength, and freedom of the animal versus the reason, control and intellect of the man – which one, though, is the dominant force? What is the healthy balance between our animal nature – one that is wild, free, and connected to nature – and our radically “civilized” humanness separate from or dominant over nature?

The werewolf asks us to consider this balance and to delve into our own ideas of wildness, independence and custodianship of the planet. When is the last time you spent all day outside? When is the last time you threw your head back and howled at the moon? Do you quash the vitality and curiosity of your body and mind by sitting all day in front of a computer? The werewolf challenges you to weave a balance between nature and our own nature.

The Halloween Oracle by Stacey Demarco, art by Jimmy Manton

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