Tarot & Yule
Tarot & Yule Part 1
I work with a group of solitary pagans. Our practices all differ slightly, but we come together for celebrations on the wheel of the year. I have always written the ceremonies. Let’s be honest! Nobody else wants to do it!
Never, in 10 years have we repeated a ceremony! That is because although we speak of ‘the wheel of the year’ it is really a spiral. I always liken it to the Circle underground line in London. You may arrive at the same station again, but the time of arrival, and the passengers are different on each visit.
A great deal of meditation and thought precedes the actual writing of a ceremony. As we approach each seasonal node, I send out the ceremony, and a summary of my musings on the subject so that the group knows where I am coming from. They then suggest any changes/additions they would like to make.
Yule celebrates the ‘birth’ of the star child to some pagans, or a welcoming of the ‘new’ sun to others. This year two words have emerged from my musings. Dark Balance! I don’t mean dark thoughts, but the idea of thoughts balancing in the darkness of the mind.
Both Samhain and Yule seasons are considered the dark half of the year. A time to discard all that is old and outworn in your life. But you use what you have learned from the things that you are discarding as materials for bringing forth the new. Think Phoenix!
That requires a lot of thought, thought takes place where no one can see it, in the dark of your mind. This has to happen before you can manifest anything new into this world. That is the dark part of dark balance.
The Crone is the Goddess ruler of Samhain and Yule, and we see her destructive force of the weather at this time of year. But, The Crone also nurtures and creates. She is the midwife to the Star Child, or the new sun. Her destruction creates the materials needed for the ‘reign’ of the new sun. At its most basic, The Crone clears the land ready for the new crops, and that can be the physical land, or the land of the mind. Within us, she clears away old habits and prepares for the seeds, of thoughts, of where we go from here. In secular terms, we start a new solar year and create new year intentions.
This year, my thoughts for myself and ceremony surrounded dark balance. Welcoming the new sun/star and that suggested to me… The Star tarot card!
Traditionally, The Devil is associated with Yule because astrologically it is Capricorn. Yule begins the astronomical and astrological Sun sign Capricorn. I am going to write part 2 on that.
Tarot is also about knowledge and intuition applied together, and this Yule, I feel drawn to The Star. I believe that the chaos in the world today is due to one age/aeon ending and another beginning. We have been right on the cusp of The Age of Aquarius for some time. I wonder if I am drawn to The Star (representing Aquarius) due to this? I am referring to the precession of the equinoxes when I talk of the coming of the age of Aquarius. This will happen when the sun rises between Aquarius and Aries on the vernal Equinox. Currently the sun rises between Pisces and Aries, but is edging ever closer to Aquarius. This astronomical event happens once every 25,700 years, so it is a big deal, and thus my thoughts on The Star probably only apply to this year.
I feel that, despite the chaos in the world, we are in the birth pangs of the coming age of a new age, where individuality and balance is going to be the aim. I think that’s why I am pulled to contemplating these things.
Now whether this idea of dark balance is just for me, or whether it is some precognition of where the world is going in this coming year, I don’t know.
None of the above is a prediction, nor did I at any time draw a tarot card. I have been working with them for so long, if someone mentions a card I can just ‘see’ them in my mind, and they just present themselves there without my asking. This blog is more about me using my left brain (logic and manifest) to try and understand what my right subconscious is is telling me. For you, accept or reject as you see fit.
It is where I am at, at this Yule. Does it apply to you too? I would love hear if it works for you too
FYI: I do not identify as a witch. Not all pagans are witches, and not all witches are pagans.
