I didn't notice this last night before shutting down! I slept in this morning since it's 18 F or -7C and the water is frozen...lol All this talk about water and emotions, immersion in the flow of life, awareness, intuition, this is great!
I laid out some of the cards we've been discussing and was struck by the difference between Judgement and Death. The Death card and the Tower are more closely related, image wise.
Judgement almost feels like a celebration, something uplifting, the promise of growth with the apple blossoms. I'm wondering if there is also some element of sacrifice when heeding the call...I just really noticed the figurehead of the barge, almost looking sort of like the crucifix, arms open in supplication, acceptance of what is to be. The gold working above this figure make me think of wings or the antlers of the Stag, another strong, pure uplift for the direction we need to go? How have I missed the water sprites? thinking they were the splash as the barge slices through the water, yet they seem to be supportive, holding it afloat as well as guiding it to the island. And the rock, to warn us to watch out for obstacles, or that the obstacles are only our excuses to avoid completion of what we really need to do?
Sophie-David said:
In my meditational cycle, Judgement was a looking back and weighing of the journey, an opportunity to resolve remaining disunity and pain, a preparation for the final integration of the World. In my dreams the night before last, Judgement was expressed as the promise of a "my ship coming in", that I needed to be vigilant and ready, to keep watch, that a new cycle of growth would soon begin, a new journey into the ocean of the unconscious.
I love this.
Lyones said:
With Death we have total change, a situation we may not want to accept nor go through, an extreme of dying to the "old" way of life, which can be a bit scary. Judgement feels more accepting of consequenses - without fear, looking forward - exciting even, being able to make positive decisions to see you through a change, deciding which path to take, taking the past and making it part of the future, improving what you already have. Judgement has more of a continuance about it - immediate movement, or natural conclusion, where, although things are happening with Death there seems to be more of a juncture where things end, sometimes abruptly and other things begin to grow, sometimes very slowly, a replacement more than the renewal of Judgement ... ?
Perhaps Death IS the call, the Hunter's Horn calling us to acceptance, bringing about the renewal and growth of the Judgement card. No matter how much we may fear it, we can't escape the inevitable decline and fall in order to create the coming of something new.
Now Death...Gwyn Ab Nudd and the Wild Hunt...whoa! These are much more fascinating and scarier than the spectural Grim Reaper I think, well sort of. Good card to talk about for the ending of the old year too!
This looks almost adventurous, even tho' if they caught sight of you, they would hunt you down. (hence, the adventure of hide and seek?) The storm clouds, lightening and thunder, the toumolt of emotion and suddeness of change appear on the Tower as well. The dragons fighting in the Tower, lighting a conflagration of the castle and in Death the castle is in ruins, abandoned, lifeless.
Red Maple said:
I live my life in growing orbits
that move out over the things of the world
I don't know if I shall ever achieve the last
but that shall be my attempt
I am circling around God
around the sacred tower
and I don't know yet
if I am a falcon, or a storm,
or a glorious song
I'm not crazy about the tower as an image of God, but I love the circling, and the sense of your life getting larger and larger as you realize your connectedness to everything.
I think the Tower is a great image for God...shaking us out of complacency, the lightening bolt of illumination, to discover what is real and what isn't, the battle of "good & evil", forcing us to look with and discover our realities and burn away the baggage we store in the attics, that gather dust and more webs. The things that bind us and blind us as well.