A Time for Renewal

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Welcome to the 2014 Ostara Tarot Blog Hop!

For this Ostara Tarot Blog Hop, our wrangler, Joanne Sprott, has asked us to honor the season by celebrating resurrection and rebirth. Gladly I will!

Although I hadn’t thought about it until Joanne asked us to, I have been in a cycle of rebirth and renewal recently. I always try to make that happen in the spring. This year it seemed to happen naturally.

Recently I found myself listening to Bob Dylan’s iconic “Forever Young.” I’ll tell you something – that song means something different now that I’m fifty than it did when I was twenty-five. As we get older, the need for renewal is greater, and also harder to find.

Whether we are celebrating the end of winter, the resurrection of Christ, the renewal of the Earth or all of the above, the energy of spring each year gives us the opportunity to feel young, if we let it. This is no less true for me in sunny Florida than it was in the snowy Northeast.

Recently I’ve found a way to nurture my renewal by honoring both the old and the new. I am trying new things, learning new skills and finding joy in them. At the same time I am re-exploring things from my past that had fallen by the wayside.

As an example, one of the old things I have revisited is playing guitar. My guitars have been collecting dust for far too long. I had forgotten how much I enjoy playing music.

One of the new things I have tried is Brussels sprouts. I have always disliked this particular food. I tried it again, for the first time in years, and discovered that now I enjoy these cute little veggies.

I think this balance of old and new is an important discovery. To be constantly renewed, to be forever young (as it were) I need to nurture the things that have always made me happy, and I need to be constantly willing to try new things. Never should I gracefully surrender all of the things of youth, and never should I be an old dog who can’t learn new tricks.

There are so many tarot cards that teach us of these processes. We honor the past with cards like the Six of Cups and the Ten of Pentacles. We honor the new with the Aces. We honor transformation and the passage of time with Death, Temperance and Judgment.

I have been exploring two-card spreads recently. For this Blog Hop I thought I would create a spread to help us find renewal by being open to new things, and by revisiting the things of youth.

Two-Card Renewal Spread

Card One: What do I need to do in order to revisit something from the past?

Card Two: What do I need to do in order to welcome something new?

I received the Nine of Pentacles reversed for position one, and the World reversed for position two.

Here’s how I see it. For me, the Nine of Pentacles reversed is about feeling insecure. In order for me to dedicate myself to playing guitar I have to get over my insecurities about my questionable musical ability.

I think the World reversed reminds me that I can’t know if I’ll like something if I don’t try. For me the World is a sense of closure and completion. In its reversed state, I see something unknown or unfinished. It also speaks to my continued need to learn and experience more of the world, for as long as I live.

That both cards are reversed suggests to me that there is still a great deal more I can do to welcome renewal.

May the new spring bring renewal to each of us.

Now it’s time to hop over to Louise Underhill’s Priestess Tarot blog.

If you are working backward you can visit Aisling’s TarotWitchery blog.

If you find a break in the chain you can visit the Master List.

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Divining with Brigid

Welcome to the Tarot Blog Hop. This time around we are wrangled by Aisling the Bard , who has given us a fitting Imbolc topic. She asks us "What is in your belly? What do you wish to give birth to, to nurture, during this new season? What is the Poet, the Healer, the Maker, within you longing to do, to Become?" Each Tarot Blog Hopper is asked to use a divination tool to answer this question.

Perhaps you are joining me from Joanne Ash's Sun Goddess Tarot.

When you finish here, please continue on to Joanne Sprott's Cosmic Whispers Tarot.

If you find a break in the chain, please visit the Master List.

Brigid's Day, or Imbolc, is one of my favorite holidays on the Wheel of the Year. I love rituals that involve fire, creativity and healing. I love the anticipation of the coming spring. Even though I now live in South Florida and no longer suffer through months of cold, snow and slush I enjoy the signs of spring. Just yesterday as I walked along a canal I saw anhinga and ibis each engaged in the dance of love.

 I feel called by Brigid, the Goddess of healing through creativity. She is my matron Goddess (note: I hate the term "patroness," and so I simply say "matron." It obviously means the same thing without the sexist overtones).

This holiday not only celebrates the rebirth around us; it celebrates the rebirth that wells up from within us.

And so as we approach the Feast of Brigid I approach tarot and ask my question directly of Brigid, my matron Goddess. I ask her to speak through the cards and answer this question. "To what shall I give birth this spring?"

Tarot is such a precise tool. The first card I pulled at random was the Ace of Wands. The second was the Three of Wands.

Since Brigid is a fire Goddess it is fitting that I should receive two such powerful cards from the suit of fire. The Three seems apt as a reference to Brigid's nature as a triple Goddess.

The Ace of Wands speaks of new creative projects and divine inspiration. The Three of Wands speaks of the success that comes from letting that inspiration take form.

But what form shall it take, I wonder. I pull another card. This time I receive the Page of Swords - the messenger of truth. I often see the Page of Swords as a writer.

I am currently working on two different books. One is my third book about tarot. Another is a more eclectic book about spirituality. I had set this spring as a deadline goal for finishing them both.

It seems Brigid has agreed to support me in these projects.

Hail, Brigid!

And, since Brigid is the Goddess of poetry, here is this year's offering.

 The Forge

Circle of love and devotion
Inner spark and blazing fire
Wild dance and somber journey
The forge flames hotter and higher.

To approach the forge takes courage
Anvil and bellows and heat
Bri'id smiles and beckons me forward
Enchanted, I dare not retreat.

Bri'id takes from me my burden
Striking hammer, sparking fire
She tempers the metal of my heart
To heal, renew and inspire.

Thanks for taking the Tarot Blog Hop with us. If you are working backward it is time to visit Joanne Ash's Sun Goddess Tarot.

Or you may proceed forward to Joanne Sprott's Cosmic Whispers Tarot.

If you find a break in the links, visit the Master List.