Parting the Mists

This is such a fantastic card for those of us who seek the inner mysteries. It’s quite easy to delude oneself if we aren’t careful, however, the inner world is rich with lessons for us. Keep it balanced.

Puffball – Mystery, Relief from Pain, Inner Connection

Meaning: Mushrooms are mysterious; they grow in the darkness and feed on decaying matter. Picking this card may mean that something peculiar is happening, or about to happen, that you can’t fully understand. Mushrooms are symbols of the Inner Mysteries: they are connected beneath the ground in vast networks, they grow in darkness, and they perform the alchemy of turning dead matter into new life. Like the Inner Mysteries, they have guardians that prevent access to the unworthy, but if approached with reverence, they will show you their inner world. Befriending mushrooms gives you access to a deep level of the Earth’s mysteries and, some say, access to the realms of Faery. With this comes the healing of any sense of woundedness and a feeling of being connected to the Web of All Being.

This card also can mean that mystery for mystery’s sake is a dangerous game to play. We all want to be noticed and admired, and some of us have learned to achieve this through acting as though we are privy to mysterious secrets. Choosing this card may mean that you, or someone you know, is trying to pull the wool over someone’s eyes by pretending you know more than you really do. This pretense may be motivated by a sense of inadequacy, or it could be happening unconsciously. 

Mushrooms can connect us to the inner workings of the Earth and the spirit world, but they can also lead us into the realms of delusion and hallucinations. The spiritual quest is full of tests and challenges, and this card reversed presents one of the most common. So much stress is placed in certain “New Age” and occult teachings on psychic powers that it is easy for a seeker to become misled or seduced by the idea that they possess unusual abilities. Humility and discrimination is needed when treading the spiritual path. 

The Druid Plant Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, and artists Will Worthington