Parting the Mists

Interesting that there is the cranes in the background of this card as the other strong card today was the Crane, which points to the need for patience and secret knowledge. As a Taurus, I can tell you the Bull can keep going and going as long as it’s properly motivated and cared for. Tap into that for your financial matters right now.

Blessings,

Thistle

BULL – WEALTH, POTENCY, BENEFICIENCE

MEANING: The Bull (Gaelic: Tarbh) mediates the influence of Taranis, the Jupiter-like god of the Druids, whose beneficence and expansiveness can bring you the opportunity for a rich and abundant life. The Bull is a symbol of wealth and as such it is auspicious to draw this card when considering financial matters. But remember that the ancient ones were wise enough to understand that true wealth is to be found in the heart and soul first, and only then in the material world. The Bull represents fertility, potency, abundance, and prosperity, but these things can sometimes take a while to achieve. If you need to work steadfastly in trying circumstances for a considerable period of time in order to achieve your goals, the Tarbh will help you to do this without becoming drained or depressed.

This card may also indicate that you are having difficulty in feeling motivated. There is no animal more stubborn than a bull who refuses to move, and – you may be making more of a choice about life than you believe. You may also need to ask yourself whether you are sufficiently sensitive to others’ needs. Do you perhaps act like “a bull in a china shop” when confronted with certain situations? A bull’s power when harnessed or channeled can be awesome, but when a bull is maddened he can become dangerous. You may need to attend to the way in which you react under provocation, and the way in which you might be tempted to use your personal power as “power over” others.

THE CARD: The card shows a bull roaring with three cranes circling in the air above, and with the leaves of a willow tree in the foreground. Two Celtic monuments, carved in the first century, both show a bull with three cranes and a willow tree. The cranes in the card remind us that, although the bull is an animal representing earth, he is also linked with the sky and the heavens. We see the bull’s testes which remind us of the association of the bull with fertility and virility. Early Druid shaman-rattles were shaped in the form of a bull’s testes, and one is shown lying on the grass. To the left we see a Bronze-age Druid horn, whose sound mimics the bull’s roar.

The Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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Flying high above the ground, the Air Dragon brings perspective when we need it. Take some time today to get a different perspective and possibly some needed clarity.

Blessings,

Thistle

Air Dragon (Draig-athar) – Inspiration, Insight, Vitality

The card shows one of the dragons of Beli flying high over the magical city of Dinas Affaraon in Snowdonia. In the distance, a bolt of lightning reminds us that Draig-athar (Air Dragon) is one of the servants of the Sky God.

MEANING: Coming into contact with the air dragon can be as a bolt of lightning to the psyche and intellect – and as such must be treated with care and considerable respect. Sometimes manifesting as sudden flashes of illumination, Draig-athar brings insight and clarity to your thought and imagination. As conveyer of numinous power, the air dragon can be seen as a symbol of visitation – for he is a messenger of the Sky God.

This card may also indicate that you are in danger of becoming the servant of an idea, dogma, or belief system. Contact with spiritual concepts and energies can sometimes stimulate the intellect in a way that produces inflation and delusion. To avoid this, constand reality-testing in the everyday world of relationships and practicalities is essential.

The Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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Today we were greeted by what I consider an auspicious set of cards: A Land, Sea, and Sky trio. The Stag is the key card today and is described below, but the Hawk respresents Nobility, Recollection, and Cleansing while the Otter add Joy, Play, and Helpfulness to an otherwise solid but serious set of cards.

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and came through the Arctic weather blast OK.

Blessings!

Thistle

Stag – Pride, Independence, and Purification

The card shows a stag bellowing as it stands before a gateway of birch trees. According to Druid tradition, the birch is the tree of beginnings, and the stag is a creature from the beginning of time. The gateway represents the place transition from this world to the Otherworld, and the stag is often seen as Otherworldly messenger. On the rock beside him is the carved figure of a man wearing antlers – he is the god Cernunnos, Herne the Hunter, or Merlin. The plants in the foreground are all associated with the stag – pennycress, (deer’s pot-herb), mountain sorrel (Deer’s Sorrel), common asparagus (deer’s son’s leek), and heath rush (deer’s oats).

Meaning: Damh brings us the qualities of grace, majesty, and integrity. Contemplating the stag can help you achieve a greater sense of poise and dignity. If you are ever confronted with a situation in which you feel vulnerable or under scrutiny, such as in the court of law or a public appearance, by attuning to the stag and asking for the protection of his spirit you will find yourself feeling calmer, stronger, and more dignified. The stag signifies independence too – both spiritual and physical. By drawing this card you will be able to find the strength to gain and maintain your independence. In Ogham, the Druid language of the sacred trees, the Stag is related to Beith, the birch tree and and number one. The Birch is associated with the blessing of beginnings. It is auspicious to draw this card when contemplating new projects. The stag’s connection with fertility and sexuality signifies that you will find a way to bring dignity, grace, power, and integrity to your sexual life.

This card can also show that you need to examine the degree to which your pride is helping or hindering you. Pride can be a valuable feeling when it helps you to give only your best, but it can also block your development and enjoyment of life if it exists only to protect your feelings of vulnerability and inadequacy. Ask yourself whether your pride is serving you, and if not, see whether the qualities of the stag can help you find integrity and dignity without the need for inappropriate pride. The stag-god, as Lord of the Hunt, is responsible for culling, which can be seen as a process of purification and sacrifice, maintaining a proper ecological balance. Drawing this card reversed may signify the need for sacrifice or purification in your life – perhaps through a letting-go of unnecessary possessions or emotional attachments, thereby helping you to gain independence and integrity.

Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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We saw the Wren from the Wildwood Tarot not even two weeks ago, but here we have the Wren from the Druid Animal Oracle (same artists, different authors). Perhaps we still having something to learn from this little but smart bird. Cunning often has a negative connotation and for good reason – so many people use it in ways that are harmful. But cunning can be a useful tool when kept in check. Examine how you use this trait – are you using it to move a goal or project along that will help many? Or just to advance yourself?

Blessings,

Thistle

Wren (Drui-en): Humility, Cunning, God

The card shows a wren holding a feather in its beak, as it guards its nest filled with eggs. Tradition calls the wren’s nest the “Druid’s House.” A bolt of lighting represents Taranis, the bull-god of thunder and lightning, the oak tree, and the wren. The Ogham sign on the stone is Duir, the oak.

Meaning: Wren allows us to glimpse the beauty of God or Goddess in all things. He tells us that “small is beautiful,” and that self-realization lies not in grandiosity or apparent power, but in humility, gentleness, and subtlety. Cunning, if tempered with humor and good intent, is a way of achieving great things with an economy of effort, and a rational and honest use of the achievements of others.

On the flip side, this card could mean that you need to look at whether your humility and gentleness actually render you invisible to others. Are they your way of defending yourself from life and from others, rather than facing life and its difficulties? Perhaps you also need to look at how you use your cunning, your native wit. It is easy for the habit of building on the work of others to become dishonest exploitation of others’ achievements, just as it is easy for the cunning to become malign rather than benign. Remember that the story of the wren and the eagle can also be interpreted in a way that sees the wren as a cheeky and dishonest “upstart” who naively believes he can fool others and win status for himself through his ruse. Cleverness and building on the work of others require wisdom and honest skill if they are to be of value.

The Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and the fabulous artist Will Worthington

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The Bear is always a powerful card – a blend of protective energies and primal power. One does need to balance these qualities or the Bear can be destructive.

Blessings and have a wonderful weekend!

Thistle

Bear (Art) – Primal Power, Sovereignty, Intuition married with Instinct

Bear connects you with the very deepest of your ancestral roots. Here, at this level, you are in touch with the Primal Mother – the Bear goddess Artio who will defend you fiercely from all danger. You are connected also with the Bear god Artaois, the mighty warrior Arthur, the guiding Pole Star of the Great Bear. Your intuition will never fail you, if you will listen to it in the still darkness of the night. Working with the Bear gives you the opportunity to become a spiritual warrior – like Arthur. You can find the way to come into your power by marrying your strength with your intuition. Integrating your primal power with your intuition means uniting your star-power with your animal-power – and both are symbolized by Art, the Bear.

This card could also be giving you a clear warning that you must take care not to be overwhelmed by the ferocious mother, by the berserk warrior – by forces of anger and primal ferocity that, untempered with the human qualities of compassion and reason, can damage not only your own life, but those of others around you. Art brings a strong presence and great reserves of power, and with perseverance you will be able to integrate your spiritual, intuitive qualities with your primal, instinctual qualities.

The Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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Don’t be fooled by this simple looking little bird. The wren was the Druid’s bird as well as the smart and strategic King of Birds in Celtic myth. They are birds of prophecy and augery as well as winter. The little wren represents determination and mystery, and that self-realization can be subtle.

Have a great Thursday!

Thistle

Page of Arrows – Wren

MEANING: The colors of the Goldcrest – red, white, green, and black – were once held to be sacred and the common Wren was considered a guardian of the winter mysteries. Druids kept wrens as totem animals of augers and prophecy and ritually sacrificed them on Saint Stephen’s day, December 26.

READING POINTS: Study and application brings wisdom and understanding that can be applied to most situations. Your youth and determination will carry forward and your nascent skills bring you to a dynamic realization.

TRACKS AND PATHWAYS: Watchfulness, mystery, determination, work, scholarship, wisdom, and a vigilant guardian.

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

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While getting perspective is good at any time, I think it’s especially useful at this time of year. The holidays can be beautiful and joyous but also filled with stress and “musts.” If you are someone who gets so busy doing a gazillion things to make the holidays “perfect,” perhaps it’s time to realize that they don’t need to be perfect if it damages your physical or mental health (and not to mention your fiscal health). Take some time to consider what you are doing for joy and what you are doing to fulfill the expectations of others – and trim accordingly. Reach out to loved ones and ask how to simplify gatherings.

On the other hand, if you are typically a Scrooge, perhaps it’s time to lighten up and see some of the joy and peace of the season. While our society pushes a certain image of the winter holidays upon us, we don’t have to accept them. Some of my favorite holiday evening were just a small group of us having cocoa and popcorn with a movie and the Yule lights on.

Blessings!

Thistle

Hawk

Meaning: Hawk (Seabhac in Gaelic) brings the ability to see your life in perspective, to free you of unnecessary baggage and to connect you to your ancestral roots. See if you can take some time out of your daily routine to survey your life calmly and to see events in context. The Hawk can help you to recollect the missing pieces of the jigsaw you will be trying to assemble and he will help, too, to spot the details which are significant.

When you have a sense of your roots and of the breadth of your life, you will start to feel pride and a growing sense of nobility and stature. Once you know where you have come from and where you are going, your life will be filled with inspiration and enthusiasm, you will sense a new day dawning, and you will be able to make decisions with confidence.

On the flip side, Hawk can suggest that you could be paying too much attention to detail. Being precise and “hawk-eyed” can be valuable, but taken to its extreme and without a wider overview, it can lead to cruelty. High ideals, if not balanced with a sense of humility, lead to arrogance and ultimately denial of the heart. Be careful not to get carried away by the justness of your cause, while forgetting to take into consideration the feelings of others.

Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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Interesting card to come up today as, here in the United States, it is Veteran’s Day – when we honor all those who have served in our military branches. However, we must remember that being a warrior and leader is not just for those who wear a uniform; it is for all of us to answer the call to stand for something greater than ourselves and yet that represents ourselves. A short meditation with this card’s image might be fruitful today.

Blessings,

Thistle

Boar – The Warrior Spirit, Leadership, Direction

The card shows a boar in the forest. In the foreground lies a bronze carnyx, with its mouth in the form of a boar’s head. Such a battle trumpet has been found in Grampian, Scotland. By the path, and also from Scotland, is the Boar stone, beside which all Pictish kings took their oaths. To one side we also see the discarded bronze helmet of a warrior, complete with a board crest found in Wales. In the foreground grows mugwort, dandelion, and wild asparagus.

Meaning: Boar (Torc) can open you to the Warrior Spirit, helping you to find your direction in life. It’s a wild and powerful animal, he calls you into the forest to discover a secret about yourself and about the world. The ritual boar paths that exist in Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, and Scotland exist in the inner world too, and if you follow them you will come face to face with an animal embodying the wild and untamed power that lives within each one of us. Stare closely at him and you will discover he is a representative of the goddess – his skin can heal you, he can inspire you to write music and poetry, and his primal power can make you a leader or chief. See if you can use your wildness and your energy for genuine acts of heroism in a world that longs for insight and healing.

This card may also mean that you have lost your sense of direction. There is a close connection in tradition between madness and pigs and boars. At a playful level this folly is expressed by the Morris dancer who beats the audience with the pigs bladder – also used a football. But at a more serious level, those who were mad were often made to act as swineherds. Merlin, in his period of madness, talks to pigs, and within this image is conveyed the concept that madness and insight are closely allied. Sometimes we have to go through A breakdown so that something wider and deeper can enter into our lives. The boar is the emissary of the terrible mother – who is also the initiator. Sometimes a period of destruction proceeds Creation or rebirth.

Druid Animal Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, art by Will Worthington

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Today, we drew what I call a Land, Sea, and Sky spread of cards – one card representing each. I tend to see this a fortuitous, so I think we may have good things in store today and this weekend.

For Land, we have Hare, which as you can see below represents rebirth, intuition, and balance. For Sea, we see Otter for joy, play, and helpfulness. Finally, for Sky we have Blackbird, showing us to enchantment, the gateway, and the inner call. A powerful trio, no doubt!

Have a lovely weekend! And as usual, we will be using the Halloween Oracle almost exclusively for the month of October. 🙂

Hare (Gaelic: Gearr) – Rebirth, Intuition, Balance

Description: The card shows the original hare of Britain – the Arctic hare, which was later replaced by the common town hare, probably imported by the Romans from the plains of Central Europe. It is nearly dawn but we can still see the moon in the sky. In the background stands a dolmen – symbol of rebirth – and in the foreground we can see a lapwing’s nest, with the eggs that were said to have been brought by the hare. Harebell, hare parsley, and hare’s foot clover grow closely by.

Meaning: Gearr brings us the benefits of balance and intuition, of promise and fulfillment. The Hare is a creature of the Goddess, the moon and the night, and yet it also represents the dawn, brightness, and the east. It is the most adept of animals at shape-shifting: we can never be sure exactly where the hare is – in this or the Otherworld. It represents intuition, which makes things appear suddenly in our consciousness, like the lapwing eggs of Easter, that magically appear in the hare’s nest. As a representative of the Corn Spirit and the the two equinoxes, the hare brings excitement of rebirth, fertile abundance, and willing release as each creative cycle comes to an end. With the hare as your ally, you will be able to negotiate times of change, and you will be able to draw on your intuition to guide you through life.

On the flip side, this card may be suggesting that there is an imbalance in your life. If is possible that you are allowing yourself to be overly concerned with the Otherworld: regarding every unusual sign as a portent, or paying too much attention to “channeled” messages. To achieve balance, we need to concern ourselves with the outer realm just as much as the inner: of channeled messages someone once remarked, “Just because they’re dead doesn’t mean they’re smart.” Wisdom and guidance come from many sources, and you may need to apply common sense to a greater degree than you have in the past.

The Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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