We are back with the Legend Tarot, which I am wanting to include in the mix more. The Giant’s Dance is well known and yet mysterious – much like the Universe it represents here.
Blessings,
Thistle
The Universe – The Giant’s Dance
Meaning: Liberation. The attainment of a long-sought goal. The culmination of events, efforts, and experiences from the past. Completing a task with honors. Trumps and prosperity. Winning the admiration of others.
Attainment bringing change that still retains stability. Security and assurance. Synthesis bring a sense of peace and wholeness. May refer to travel, a new home, or graduation. The ability to direct one’s life. Confidence, success, and lasting happiness.
The card could also indicate regret, lingering doubts inserting with decision making. Delays; lack of support. Losing interest or enthusiasm after beginning a new project. Failing to follow through on plans. Loss of direction; scattered energies.
Description and Symbolism: Under the heavens and amidst the stones, the dancer celebrates life in her victory dance of being. This ecstasy comes from deep within, when the conscious and subconscious work in unison. This leads to encounters, however brief, with the superconscious and its lasting gifts of faith. This synthesis opens many doors to understanding. The woman’s dance represents embracing and enjoying life, living it to its utmost. Her iridescent veil drapes about her but does not restrict her movement, representing a flexible lifestyle and environment. She is the perfectly natural, unencumbered self, free to dance in rhythm with the universe. The wand held in her hand symbolizes that she is the mistress of her own fate, not living by the dictates of others. She carries the wand with ease, representing self-confidence and faith; there is no desperate battle for control.
As the woman dances, she travels the ditch that surrounds the stones. It has been theorized that rituals at these sacred sites involved the king, chief, or druid walking a protective circle, a Path of Blessing. This was thought to harmonize the four energies of the earth, the quaternary powers depicted on the foreground stones. These are the four evangelists traditional to the card, symboling the culmination and balance of energies. These figures correspond to the zodiac as: the man/Aquarius, air; the bull/Taurus, earth; the lion/Leo, fire; and the eagle/Scorpio, water. The qualities they bring to the card are, respectively: intelligence and independence, determination and stability, strength and enthusiasm, and intuitive knowledge and great spiritual heights. The evangelists in the painting are as they appear in the famous Book of Kells. The church associates the man with Matthew, incarnation; the bull with Luke, passion; the lion with Mark, resurrection; the eagle with John, ascension.
The Giant’s Dance
Salisbury Plain in the south of England is home to many prehistoric monuments, long barrows, Woodhenge, and most famously, Stonehenge. Excavations at the site have revealed that its construction occurred in stages that spanned centuries, from approximately 3100 to 2800 BCE. The earliest structures completed were the ditch, its bank, and the Heel Stone.
The Neolithic people of the time were farmers with small numbers of domesticated animals. Small groups of immigrants, called Beaker People because of their pottery, arrived in Britain after 2500 BCE. They settled and merged with the natives, the two groups becoming a successful community whose efforts likely added to Stonehenge. Construction and remodeling would continue until 1100 BCE. Over the centuries, its origins long forgotten, the monument would inspire many tales.
It has been argued that Stonehenge was once considered the Omphalos, the symbolic “navel”of Britain, the point from which all creation spread and the site where energies from heaven, earth, and the underworld all melded together. This is the stream of life, flowering through the World Tree from its pole star heights to the depth of its roots in the Underworld.
Legend: The Arthurian Tarot by author and artist Anna-Marie Ferguson
Parting the Mists 