ADEPT LEVEL; 21 Ways . . . Step FOUR

Chela

adept level FOUR

chapter 4. Druidcraft tarot, Rachel helped with this one

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Part 1: I described the card (9 of Pentacles) and used "you" messages about it.

There is a woman standing in a walled garden. She’s got one hand on a branch. She’s looking out at us from behind that branch with a pensive look. She’s gazing at us. She holds a falcon in one hand and has on a falcon glove. The bird also looks at us. The wall has the 8 pentacles on it. There are flowers on the ground, and the sky is gray and overcast looking.

I made up a story about the card and used "you" messages.
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You are standing in a garden. You have a falcon on your hand. You don’t look too sure. Gazing, kind of standing with one hand on the branch, keeping it between you and the person in front of you.

You have just put on a lovely gown with Celtic embroidery, very nice. You take a walk in the garden with your bird. You hear a noise and push the branch out of the way. What is there? A fantastical creature! You are not quit sure what it’s doing in your garden. It’s private, yet something is here. You have a worried look on face. You are gazing at it to see you should do.

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Rachel told me how the card and the story relate to her question (What is important for me to know about my life now?)
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There is a lot of sadness around her - her husband's coworker has cancer, a person in the town died recently, the car is broken down - and her husband is depressed and negative.

She doesn't feel depressed, though. She is in a good place; has a job, son has graduated, has money.

Relating it to the card, she keeps her distance from her husband and his negativity by keeping the branch between them as a barrier. and/or She stands there, wanting to move away or ahead, but held back by the branch.

As she talked, I saw her husband as the "creature" from the story, and she watched and listened to him dispassionately while keeping her distance behind the branch.

"This is accurate because it reminds me of the different attitudes of my husband and me. He is rather pessimistic and feels like most things in our life are going downhill. I really feel almost the opposite—that things are going fine, and we have enough money to do anything we really want to. And everyone is well, etc. Chela suggests that I am intentionally putting something between me and the more negative attitude. I agree, saying I might be taking the opposite view just to balance things out!"

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Part 2: Rachel describes the card and makes a story. (same question)
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The Magician
He wears a feathered cape, which is unusual, ritual jewelry, ritual clothing (...more description of him). He stands, pointing his wand to the sky. There are items on the stone in front of him; another wand, a cup, a pentacle, a sword. There is a rooster crowing, so it must be dawn.

I am a great magician and will perform a dawn ritual in Stonehenge. If I do it right, I'll be causing the sun rise every morning. I am putting my wand to the sky at the moment the cock crows and the sun peeks over the horizon. I am the great wizard of my clan. Everyone else is afraid to go to the circle at night, so everyone pushed me out the door to go there by myself. I said the prayers and everything turns out right, but I wish the others would come with me to see how it is and how it goes and to watch and participate with me. Everyone benefits from the sun. The sun shines on everyone, not just me.

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Rachel relates the card to her life.
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I want to share all the fun and magical stuff with someone/others who can relate. Tarot and magic is a fun hobby for me, and I learn about myself, but it would be nice to have others to learn and practice with. I put a lot of energy into studying tarot.
 

Jewel

Chela said:
well, I don't have anyone to "play" with just now.
Chela, I hope you are able to come back to this step in time and complete it. I really enjoyed doing it with someone that does not use the tarot and has never worked with tarot cards. This was really a cool step and did not take too long. I hope you can talk a friend or family member into doing this step with you.
 

rachelcat

Step 4 for Me!

Step 4:1 Fairytale

Once upon a time, there was a mighty king of the land of fire. Now the strange thing about this king was that he could only remain king as long as he could keep at least three sheep in his presence at all times. (Awkward when going to the bathroom, but he did it anyway!)

One day, the king was chillin’ in his throne room, well, not literally . . . He was thinking his older sheep were starting to look restless, and that a trip to the farm would soon be needed to get more lambs, when suddenly he heard a terrible racket in the hallway.

And what to his wondering eyes should appear, but a huge ram wearing a crown and followed by three human children! Well, this is awkward, thought the king, but, being well trained since a child in courtly ways, he rose, invited the guests in, and asked what they wished. (He didn’t really know if the ram could answer, so he was leaving the option open for one of the children to speak.)

But indeed the ram answered him, and most courteously. “Fellow royal monarch, I give you most friendly greetings. I think you will be very interested in the news I have for you.”

He told an incredible tale of a mirror kingdom where sheep are nobles and commoners and humans are kept as pets. The king was all astonishment, as you can guess, but the most astonishing news of all was this: the children with the ram king were his own children, and the sheep he had been living with these last years were the children of the ram king!

It seems there was some kind of hostage exchange in ancient times that had passed out of living memory until the ram king found out about it from an ancient manuscript.

A new exchange was soon arranged for all sheep and humans. The kings were pleased with the fine upbringing their children received in the opposite court. And there were often trips and excursions between the two kingdoms, to the lush pastures of the land of fire and the cool mountainsides of the land of sheep.

Step 4:2 First Person

I am a mighty king who is used to living with sheep. All the time. They’re much smarter than people think, and I think they have developed some affection for me (and I for them).

Imagine my surprise when a sheep king visited me in my court! With a strange tale of his sheep kingdom. All this time, he was raising my children, and I was raising his!

I am quite pleased with my children’s manners, but they do need some remedial education in the ways of humans, as is to be expected.

And they have confided in me that they sometimes miss the cool breezes of the sheep kingdom mountainsides. So we are going to make a return visit to the sheep king’s court this summer as a family. And I can catch up with the young sheep now living with their father. I kind of miss them.

Step 4:3 Personal Reflections

Well, I’m having a bit of trouble coming up with how this story relates to my life, so I tried to read meaning into it like I am studying it in English class. :) Possible meanings/morals of the story:

Things that seem normal and natural are really out of place? Or keep that beginner’s mind. Look at normal things as if they are strange!

One can live in two worlds and be happy in both?

Kindness always repays itself. Golden rule.

Changes, even shocking ones, can be for the good, and can expand your world beyond what you could even imagine. Just because something is changing and uncomfortable, doesn’t mean it’s bad. You may find love and fulfillment and family you never knew you had. You may discover love in a totally unexpected place, or right under your nose!

(Mary would say, “now repeat this in the first person”!)

Family is about more than just blood. I am always fascinated, in truth as well as in fiction, of “created” families, people who just come together and become a family out of choice or circumstance. “There will be a family where there once was none.” (This is from a song of which I can sing most of the words, but I don’t know the title!) As a Cancer sun person, I guess I relate best to people as family, or as if they are family. I should get over caution and reticence (also very Cancerian!) and realize that strangers are just family you haven’t met yet!

I will continue with Step 4:4 when I read for Chela this weekend!
 

Jewel

rachelcat said:
Step 4:3 Personal Reflections

Well, I’m having a bit of trouble coming up with how this story relates to my life, so I tried to read meaning into it like I am studying it in English class. :) Possible meanings/morals of the story:

Things that seem normal and natural are really out of place? Or keep that beginner’s mind. Look at normal things as if they are strange!

One can live in two worlds and be happy in both?

Kindness always repays itself. Golden rule.

Changes, even shocking ones, can be for the good, and can expand your world beyond what you could even imagine. Just because something is changing and uncomfortable, doesn’t mean it’s bad. You may find love and fulfillment and family you never knew you had. You may discover love in a totally unexpected place, or right under your nose!

(Mary would say, “now repeat this in the first person”!)

Family is about more than just blood. I am always fascinated, in truth as well as in fiction, of “created” families, people who just come together and become a family out of choice or circumstance. “There will be a family where there once was none.” (This is from a song of which I can sing most of the words, but I don’t know the title!) As a Cancer sun person, I guess I relate best to people as family, or as if they are family. I should get over caution and reticence (also very Cancerian!) and realize that strangers are just family you haven’t met yet!
I really enjoyed your study and the deductions you arrived at. I had to go back to remind myself of your card, and I think you really touched on the importance it is that the Emperor be flexible and open to changes. To see them as opportunities. The last parragraph of your post in this exercise also reflects love and loyalty. If rulers or authority figures could approach their subjects or subornites from this point of view the world would be kinder place, and we would all feel valued.

What this tells me about you, is that you value fairness, loyalty, and people in general. I look forward to reading the rest of your Step 4.
 

rachelcat

Jewel said:
If rulers or authority figures could approach their subjects or subornites from this point of view the world would be kinder place, and we would all feel valued.

Kind of like the Confucian idea that the Emperor (or leader or ruler) is the father of his subjects. Not a very popular idea these days, but if a political leader REALLY acted like a parent--lovingly, with only the child's best interest in mind, and making sacrifices for the child--what a different world it would be!!

Thank you for your kind words. Step 5 or bust! (I actually already started on it!)
 

SistaSpirit

21 Ways...Adept Step 4 RWS

Step 4

I asked a friend because no one else was available; she was very receptive and thought it would be fun.

Her first card was the two of swords. (RWS) A blindfolded woman sits on a bench by a river. She’s holding a sword in each hand, blade pointed up and crossed over her chest.

Emotions: Determined, strength but confused about the position she should take. (This is my friend's, current situation)

This woman is in need of clarity in her life, she needs to commit to the life she wants instead of to the life she thinks others want her to live, which keeps her torn.

You are a very loving mother and daughter who is torn between your mother who lives in another state and your adult children who lives here. Whenever you are with one you feel guilty for not being with the other one.

She owns a home in both states and has part of her household goods in both places.

She responded that I already knew this about her how did the card help. I explained that twos indicate duality and that the 2 of swords could indicate indecision or being of 2 minds. She accepted this as being accurate and that she was ready to move beyond this but didn’t know if she could.

She shuffled and drew the 10 of pentacles. She did a good job describing the card, albeit she thought the pentacles were bubbles or balloons, other than that her description was ok.

Emotions: contented, happy and satisfied

It was difficult for her to make-up a fairytale until I turned the card face down then she became quite fluent in her fantasy about reaping the rewards of a life’s work and living in comfort and contentment in her senior years. Her children are flourishing in their careers and married perfect, sucessful partners and have beautiful children and everyone lived happily ever after.


We compared the emotional angst in the 2 of swords to prosperity of the 10 of pentacles, of course she would rather be living that life then the the life of 2 of swords which she thought reflected her reality. I asked her how could she move from the 2 of swords to living the life she worked so hard to have. She said she’s going to have to let go and live her own life at some point but she doesn’t know how or when.

She did feel that the cards confirmed her current emotional state and life.