Welcome to my personal blog.

Here you will find my musings, thoughts and observations, all inspired by my experiences as a full-time professional tarot reader.

Christiana Gaudet 4/30/14 Christiana Gaudet 4/30/14

Beltaine Tarot Blog Hop: A Union of Opposites

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Welcome to the Bealteine 2014 Blog Hop!

Perhaps you are joining me from Arwen’s blog. When you finish here, please continue the hop by visiting Joy Vernon’s blog. If you find a break in the chain, our wrangler, Aisling, has the Master List for you.

Blessed Beltaine to you! Today, in the northern hemisphere, we celebrate the cross-quarter day between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice. At this time of year we gather together to leap the belfire, drink from the maybowl and dance the maypole.

Our wrangler, Aisling, has identified Major Arcana 6, the Lovers, as a tarot card often associated with the lusty festivals of fertility celebrated at this time of year.

In modern times, many readers associate the Lovers with passion and romance. Aisling reminds us that there are older traditions for this card which discus the Lovers as a union of opposites.

I like to think of the Lovers in this way. In the Rider-Waite-Smith image, the man gazes at the woman, but the woman gazes at the angel. One focuses on the physical, the other, on the spiritual. The push-pull yin-yang energy of this card speaks to me of the reality of what it is to maintain a relationship.

The Lovers is typically associated with the astrological sign of Gemini, and therefore the element of Air. Not Water, for romance, nor Fire, for passion, but Air.

The union of opposing forces is created through the force of reason and logic.

There is power, too, in the union of opposites. This is a theme we see in a few Major Arcana cards.

As I think of the Major Arcana cards I might associate with this theme other than the Lovers, three come to mind.

The steeds in the Chariot, be they the black and white sphinx in the Waite image or the zebra-fish creatures of World Spirit Tarot, show the union of opposites in action.

Strength shows a union between the fierce, wild lion and the gentle, loving woman.

Temperance, the card of art, time and alchemy, shows the making of a perfect solution from imperfect parts.

For a few years now I have been working on my 78 Poems Project. That is, one poem (not necessarily a good poem, mind you) for each of the 78 Rider Waite Smith cards.

As it turns out, I had already written poems for these three cards. And, in each poem, I had written something that now seems pertinent to our discussion about the union of opposites.

As I think about these cards I am struck with an idea. In bringing opposites together in harmony we create something both peaceful and powerful. At this time on our planet there are opposing forces seemingly unable to compromise or work together. In these tarot images we find the wisdom the world needs to move forward in peace.

On this Beltaine I send the power of the Lovers, the Chariot, Strength and Temperance to embrace the world in a new balance, a new cooperation and a new way forward, through the power we find in the union of opposites.

The Chariot

Opposites in union pull forward
Directed not by hand but by will.
The power of myth and the power of mind
The hero is traveling still.

Transportation and transformation
A singular vision and quest.
The warrior speeds commanding his steeds
Envisioning total success.

Swift motion and great calculation
Under the cover of stars.
Mastery conquering mystery
Whether ordeals or journeys or cars.

Strength

As water with patience carves into stone
So do hearts carve one on the other.
And when nature battles civility
New friends are drawn together.

Each has more reason to fear than to love
The dangers beckon, not understated.
This war is waged not with bullets but blooms
And fine compassion, communicated.

The gentle maiden must be of mind fierce.
She has enraptured a fierce jungle king.
The beast submits not by violence but choice
To a union of forces opposing.

Strength then is found not in warfare or blood
Nor in doctrine nor laws to rely on.
True strength is found in faith and control
With your hand in the mouth of a lion.

Temperance

Water poured from cup to cup, and metal turned to gold
Sorrow turned to patience, and ego turned to mold.

One foot on the water, another balancing on land
Not a drop is spilt by the angel's gentle hand.

Caution guards the recipe, stirring grace with balance
Art and time make alchemy with these select ingredients.

Change forged of disappointment, mingling with hope
Built on tragic lessons learned that gave us skill to cope.

Expectation and assumption gone, accepting what will be
Still the angel blends the cups, creating perfectly.

Perfect are the cups' contents, and perfect is the measure
And perfect are the woes and joys, blended into treasure.

Now it’s time to hop over to Joy Vernon’s blog. Or, if you are working backwards, visit Arwen’s blog. If you find a break in the chain, our wrangler, Aisling, has the Master List for you.

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Christiana Gaudet 9/18/12 Christiana Gaudet 9/18/12

Mabon Tarot Blog Hop: The Power of Transformation

Welcome to the Mabon Tarot Blog Hop.

Perhaps you have come from Koneta's New Path Tarot.

When you finish here, hop over to Kerry Ardilla's blog, Neopagan Priestess.

If you find a break in the chain, visit the Master List so you can continue the hop.

The Tarot Blog Hop happens eight times a year, at each spoke of the Wheel of the Year. The Wheel of the Year is marked by the solstices, equinoxes and cross-quarter days in between. It is the Pagan calendar and these are Pagan holidays, but Pagans and non-Pagans alike are subject to the movement of the Earth around the sun. On some basic level, the Wheel of the Year is universal, as the sun shines on us all.

At each turn of the Wheel, the Blog Hop is "wrangled" by a new volunteer. The wrangler is responsible for coming up with the theme on which we will all write. This is my third Blog Hop. Each time, including this one, the wrangler has asked us to think about the holiday in a way that is different from my own practices and traditions. I love the opportunity to stretch out of my spiritual comfort zone and contemplate a turn of the Wheel from a different perspective - and always through the precious lens of tarot.

This is Mabon, the festival of the autumnal equinox. Our wrangler, Aisling the Bard, associates Mabon with the making of mead. I have to say, I associate mead with every Pagan holiday and festival. The "need for mead" is an expression oft-heard at Pagan gatherings.

Aisling's challenge for us is this. Mead is made by taking fresh, sweet ingredients and allowing them to ferment; to rot. For the delicious mead to be made, something must be destroyed. It is the power and process of this transformation that is a spiritual focus of this holiday. This process of making mead, done by nature and not by our hands, can be an allegory for our own souls' progress. As we are refined, we must relinquish that which no longer serves us. For this turn of the Wheel, our challenge is to find a tarot spread, card or deck that describes this process on a personal level.

For me, the answer is clear. The card I choose to describe and define this process of transformation is Temperance. The irony of choosing a card called "Temperance" as an allegory for the making of an alcoholic beverage isn't lost on me. It just makes the choice sweeter.

Temperance is the card of alchemy. On a spiritual level, alchemy describes a process of deep transformation. On a chemical level, alchemy is the turning of one thing into another, greater thing.

Other words that are associated with Temperance are "Art" and "Time." Well, doesn't that make sense? Mead-making is certainly an art. And time is the only ingredient that will cause the fermentation to happen. When we think of personal transformation this is true as well. Without creativity, and without patience and time, no transformation can occur.

That I often refer to Temperance as "The Cosmic Bartender" seals the deal for me.

To think more deeply about that process of personal transformation, there's this. I see Temperance as the card that describes the greatest level of emotional health any of us will ever achieve. Temperance understands patience. Temperance understands balance. Temperance understands moderation in all things. Temperance understands that nothing will ever be perfect, and that it is our job to find the perfect blend.

At this time of equinox, we have a moment of balance between dark and light. Temperance reflects that balance.

When I look at Temperance in this process of fermentation, I see that which must rot away within me is the desire for everything to be perfect; the requirement that everything be exactly the way I want it to be. I must relinquish the desire that everything must happen when I want it to happen. I must understand that things of quality have no fear of time.

A few years ago I wrote a poem about Temperance as part of my 78 Poems Project, a project still in progress. As I go back and read it, I see it fits this Mabon theme exactly. As so often happens with tarot, there is perfect synchronicity.