Yet another encouraging, hope-filled card for discouraging times!
It is also the third Major Arcana card I’ve pulled out of seven since I began this Card of the Week feature, a fairly high percentage. If the Majors truly represent our soul challenges, I can see how the lessons of Bindweed, the Canoe and the World are an accurate reflection of my own life right now, as well as that of the larger community.
Last night as I shuffled my deck, I looked ahead to the week to come. I was thinking mainly about my upcoming journey to the Santa Cruz mountains toward the end of the week. I am headed there for my naming ceremony with the Sisterhood of the Silver Branch, and I am expecting an initiation into the next phase of my life, a phase of renewal. At least that is what I am sensing.
But my journey to the Boulder Creek / Felton / Ben Lomond area is also a “coming home” of sorts. I fell in love with that redwood-filled valley as a teenager and vowed to live there some day. I never pulled that dream off, but as a young wife and mother living in the East Bay, I often took my boys camping at Big Basin Redwoods State Park. I remember one camping trip in particular, when each night after dinner the four of us would gather round the fire and I would read aloud from the just-published “Mists of Avalon.” What a magical setting in which to read such a magical book. I had just come out of a toxic decade in a fundamentalist church and was floundering for a new spiritual direction. That book in that setting led me to the path I have walked ever since.
My son Steve told me last year that he and his father took some of the ashes of our beloved Jake and scattered them in Big Basin. Jake died in 1990 and I never knew they had done that. So it makes the area even more sacred to me.
One of the meanings of the World card is the ending of one cycle in preparation for the beginning of the next, as it is the last Major Arcana card and in some ways sums up the entire Fool’s Journey (or Seeker’s Journey, or Hero’s Journey). For me, experiencing a spiritual initiation at one of the sacred sites of my earliest spiritual awakenings is a profound return to my beginnings, and the completion of a cycle. It’s almost as if the Crone that I now am (and who we see in the Gaia card) is embracing the Maiden who once touched the Divine in those redwood groves.
So my initial response to turning up the Gaia card was: oh, that’s so lovely. She is reminding me of Her presence, that She is present and blessing my upcoming initiation.
Later in the evening though, the message shifted to the promise that “All Shall Be Well.” Craig and I received a distressing email that threw us both off-center, regarding the process of buying the house we are now living in (Rainbow Cottage). My heart started to race and I fell back into the shadow Capricorn tendency to expect the worst possible outcome. And here is Gaia the World, at the end of a cycle, saying to me: No matter what happens, All Shall Be Well. Expect the best possible solution for all concerned, not the worst. All Shall Be Well, All Manner of Things Shall Be Well.
So I start this week with hope in my heart and the trust that no matter what happens with this house or anything else, I have the tools and resources necessary to stay calm, to stay centered, to stay happy, to stay well. Blessed be.
And how about you, dear Reader? What does Gaia the World say to you?
wow, Joanna, yet again this weekly card is giving me chills. Yesterday in the UK is was 'Mothering Sunday'...so, perfect in that respect to have the great Mother turn up!:)
Also I spent yesterday on the beach, with my hands in the sand, sensing energy from all around & communing with the earth energy. I felt as though I was being embraced...truly!
This week I also drew some cards that hinted at the end of a cycle for me...so what you said here resonates with me on many levels.
As always...your Gaian tarot speak more clearly to me than any other Tarot or Oracle! :) Thank you
xxxx
Posted by: Julia Guthrie | March 23, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Joanna, I am moved to tears by your story(ies). I too have an intense and spiritual connection with that "neck of the woods." I lived in the Bay area for over 26 years in my teens, 20s, 30s. Spent MANY days/nights in Santa Cruz and Big Sur. Limekiln is a particular favorite. I intensely feel Gaia is in me when I hug a redwood.
This is, indeed, a perfect card for this week. Over the weekend, my husband and I spent much time studying and discussing, and one of the big topics was the Primordial Goddess of creation, and her status as Crone. So I love that your image has the blessed Crone holding the world (and all worlds, and the universe).
I am in Young Crone phase, and am hoping for a rite of passage this year. And I too am clearly receiving messages that ALL SHALL BE WELL - with my personal life, with my family's life, with our global community and economy.
Some of the lessons I'm learning lately are coming by failing at something. And having some Crone wisdom come through me and ask - why, how, could it have been different, is the result to the greater good, and so forth. I've learned and grown through each "mistake" or "failure."
Yesterday, I had some ideas for some new Major Arcana-type archtypical cards/concepts. They just whinged into my mind, and I'm working some of them out in writing.
I love you, Joanna, and All Shall Be Well.
Posted by: Sage | March 23, 2009 at 11:03 AM
When I looked at this card, I saw Mama, holding her child with love, saying: "I'm so proud of you -- I know things have been rough, but you're doing a great job. Keep up the good work. I love you so much."
Thank you.
Posted by: Angelica | March 23, 2009 at 02:35 PM
I am all too familiar with that side of Capricorn, expecting the worst possible outcome, I have walked hand and hand with that feeling. I have to say reading your words/stories/sharings/teachings (they are all that) It gives me hope as I hear hope the hope in your voice. I am feeling the "all will be well" of this card. corny but true - wishing you bright blessings on your naming ceremony.
Posted by: Karen | March 23, 2009 at 07:12 PM
Julia, thank you. I love hearing about your life in Cornwall - a very special place to me. I hope to visit again someday. Sage, how lovely to hear that you know the Santa Cruz mountains too. I remember Limekiln back to childhood. There are no failures, only growth experiences (haha). Looking forward to seeing your Tarot ideas! Thanks Angelica - great message. Karen, glad we can pass the hope around. :-)
Posted by: joanna | March 24, 2009 at 08:02 AM
Just to remind us that any card can have negative connotations...
I feel crowded by all the beings in the card; everyone wants my attention! I don't feel the smile and the bliss. The whole world is at my disposal, but the whole world wants its share of ME!! Too much, way too much....
OK, I'll breathe and remember that I get to choose my moods and the actions that I take.I choose to see the beings in the card as allies that can help me meet the needs/requests of others. I put a smile on my face until I am smiling because my mood is one of ease, joy and optimism. I seet the golden orb behind my head expand to surround all of me and I have a cushion that allows me the space to think and choose in. Much better. Now I can think and belive that what ever I desire is available to me.
Posted by: DragonSong | March 24, 2009 at 12:01 PM
I, too, have been thinking a lot lately about Dame Julian of Norwitch's meditation that "all shall be well."
I recently read some more about what she wrote of her conversation with God/dess (Personally, when I read such things, I just substitute She for He and Goddess for God. Of course, your mileage may vary.):
"You will not be overcome, were said very insistently and strongly, for certainty and strength against every tribulation which may come. He did not say: you will not be troubled, you will not be belaboured, you will not be disquieted; but he said: You will not be overcome.
"God wants us to pay attention to these words, and always to be strong in faithful trust, in well-being and in woe, for he loves us and delights in us, and so he wishes us to love him and delight in him and trust greatly in him and all will be well."
Posted by: Beth Owl's Daughter | March 25, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Oh that's so lovely, Beth. Thank you for recognizing the quote first of all (do you know the melody too?) and second, thank you for the entire passage. Love it.
Posted by: joanna | March 25, 2009 at 10:28 AM
This card today is very meaningful to me, too. I had my 19th radiation treatment (out of 33) for breast cancer this morning. I've been very fearful and full of worry. The message "all shall be well" is just what I needed. I've also been meditating on "the only way out is through" which got me through menopause. I've been missing my mother lately, who passed ten years ago this year, and being a crone myself now, still feel the need for that special "motherly" advice sometimes that, yes, you can do it, just believe in yourself. My card I drew today from your deck was The Moon card. Very peaceful and also meaningful for me as I'm very much a night person. The moon to me is not cold, but a beacon to see me through another dark night of the soul. Enjoyed your post very much today, thanks Joanna! Joyce
Posted by: Joyce Gaslin | March 25, 2009 at 11:25 AM
Sending loving energies that all shall be well, and that the wellness includes Rainbow Cottage.
Posted by: Cate (KerrdeLune) | March 29, 2009 at 05:00 AM
This was the last card I thought would come up this week...that is until after the New Moon. My week began with doubt, being hopelessly lost and confused. A series of incidences led me, finally, to a confirmation of my deepest beliefs- beliefs that many would ridicule or degrade me for having.
Now, The World, Gaia, comes into play. At last I have the solid convictions to hand their world back to them, and to start embracing mine. There will be consequences for abandoning them, but that's okay. Their threats are empty. I know what matters now. Many of us are waking up to this.
Posted by: Kat | March 29, 2009 at 12:11 PM