psychic writer – True Tarot Tales

The Decans of Pisces 2026

Last time we looked at the ancient story of Pisces, the season of the winter thaw and the spawning of fresh water fishes in the northern hemisphere where this mythos began with the stars as seen from this part of the planet. And we looked at the Pisces Sun sign Archetype. Now let’s take a quick look at the Decans of Pisces, and the astrological weather, so to speak, in Pisces Season 2026.

Western Tropical astrology as we know it today is believed to have originated in what is now modern Iraq, back in 2700-3000 BC/BCE. While the Mesopotamians (Babylon and Sumeria) were developing the signs of the zodiac and the concept of natal astrology, the astrologers in Egypt were developing the system of the decans.

Each of the 12 signs of the zodiac (Wheel of Life) represents 30 degrees of the 360-degree wheel of the zodiac, tracking the course of the Sun over a year. Each sign is subdivided into three parts of ten degrees each. These are the decans from the Greek word “deka” meaning ten. Each zodiac sign contains three decans, aka three blocks of ten days or so, and each decan has a different planetary co-ruler.

The Egyptians used Decans not only to tell time, but also to read the early celestial signs of seasonal changes, not least for guiding the governance of critical agricultural activities. Then the Greek astrologers adopted the decans around the 2nd century BCE, associating each decan with a planetary ruler, pairing them with stories and meanings related to the gods and mythologies in Hellenistic culture. This was codified by Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian astrologer of Greek descent, who referenced the decans and their planetary rulers in his work, the Tetrabiblos, in the 2nd century AD/CE, thereby enshrining their place in Western astrology.

The decans are not considered particularly significant by astrologers in general. Or not at the collective level, except for timing purposes. But in terms of a natal chart they do supply further clues, nuance and texture, supplying extra insights in respect of situation, stakes, character and potential destiny.

“If you’ve ever wondered why people born in the same sign seem different, the decans can help answer this puzzle,” – astrologer Rachel Lang.

I have found that using decans in Tarot cards readings may assist in attempting timings in forecasting. If I draw The Moon card or The Hanged Man, we may be looking at developments detected as likely to be occurring in Pisces season. But if I draw the Eight of Cups, we may be able to narrow it down to the first ten days of Pisces Season, i.e; 18/19 – 28/29 February. And so on.

Indian (Vedic) astrology, uses similar but distinct systems… like the nakshatras (lunar mansions), which divide the ecliptic differently.

First Decan Pisces

Pisces- Pisces

Dates: 19 Feb-29 Feb

Planetary rulers: Jupiter/Saturn

Tarot card: Eight of Cups

*Smith Waite Centennial deck © U.S. Games Systems, Inc.*

Card meanings: Walking away, moving on, cutting ones losses, leaving something behind, but not in anger. Reversed: disillusionment, regret

The first decan of any sign is considered the most archetypal or typical. Pisces makes for versatility and adaptability, while Neptune presents a yielding manner or appearance. This Pisces decan is rarely directly confrontational. This doesn’t mean they do not find ways to get their own way. But there is a sense of a push and pull going on here, just as the two fish of Pisces are pictured, joined by a starry cord, while swimming away from one another. On the one hand Jupiter, the original ruler of Pisces, means Pisces thinks big and steps forward. On the other hand, Neptune means Pisces is secretive, swims in circles, or hides in the weeds. Fish may be hunters too, of course, and lie in wait in ambush.

This Pisces native connects with other people on an unconscious level, almost hearing what they are thinking. Maybe they haven’t noticed this about themselves yet, or they take their telepathy for granted, but if this is you, watch out for the signs. Pisces, the sun sign ruler of the Twelfth House, is associated with endings, and all that is mysterious and unknowable. Including ghosts.

While Pisces may seem self-contained…and they are…this Pisces especially, has deep passions and their love life can be tempestuous. Their ideal partner will be lively and communicative with a can-do approach, but the first decan Pisces tends to go on a lot of detours before arriving or settling in their happy place or rightful destination.

They often look younger than their age, but they need to be especially aware of their dietary and other habits in order to protect their health; mood, and the chest, lungs and the feet in particular. Pisces is extra-sensitive to infection, food poisoning (dirty water) and the effects of overindulgence of alcohol or mood- altering drugs.

Second Decan Pisces

Pisces-Cancer

Dates: 1-10 March (approx.)

Planetary ruler: Jupiter/Moon

Tarot card: Nine of Cups

Card Meanings: the wish card, dreams come true, food and drink, the hospitality industry. Reversed: overindulgence, complacency, self-satisfaction

The sub-influence for this decan is Cancer, ruled by The Moon. Cancer is the natural ruler of the fourth house of home, family and security. These Pisces subjects are devoted family members, possibly more inclined than any other sign, excepting Cancer, to stay physically closer to birth family members. They may struggle to loosen parental ties, becoming fully independent, but must do so if they want to progress and develop and become the adult in the room (Saturn in Pisces.)

The zone of the sky from March 1 –10 houses the stars of the water of Aquarius, Eridanus The River, and the westernmost fish of Pisces. These are the faintest, most elusive stars. Now you see them, now you don’t.

These Pisceans blend in anywhere. Sensitive and psychic, like moss, this decan absorbs and retains what is happening around them. The undercurrents too. For the same reason these highly empathic people need to choose their company with special care.

Third Decan Pisces

Pisces-Scorpio

Dates: 11 March-20 March

Planetary rulers: Mars/Pluto

Tarot card– Ten of Cups

Card Meanings: contentment, completion, arrival, family life, stability, safety and security, team effort, a happy home Reversed: losses, family conflicts, break-ups, unhappiness

The sub-influences for this decan are Scorpio and its rulers, traditional Mars or modern Pluto. Energetic Mars and Scorpio – natural ruler of the eighth house of desire, willpower, drive and determination – bestows extra charisma, and the drive and determination to push forward. This Pisces native has the artistic creativity of Pisces/Neptune with extra sticking power to turn dreams into realities.

Pluto brings depth. Mars brings speed and energy of attack. This Pisces native needs to keep busy, with plenty of energy outlets. Pisces marks the completion of the zodiac wheel. This final decan marks the point at which we move into Aries, the cycle starts over again and Aries too, is ruled by energetic Mars. What these Pisces natives start, they finish.

These Pisces natives, like the other decans, are enormously attuned to their environment, but there is a tendency to stay somewhat more aloof and watchful, while less likely to blend in. They are highly observant, natural detectives, disciplined, well-suited to police work, and like its opposite number Virgo, this Piscean is not only super intuitive…while potentially pretty stubborn…but highly analytical, numerate, with a talent for investigative work. Pisces-Scorpio listens between the lines, homing in on what is not being said.

The Cusps of Pisces

Pisces is Pisces. But still, one may be more of an Aquarian Pisces, or more of an Arian Pisces.

Aquarius-Pisces: February 15-21

Aquarius-Pisces: This is a Pisces native with Aquarius tendencies; a person of high principles, quiet, refined, and with strong likes and dislikes. This Pisces native is likely to do a lot of travelling. They have executive capabilities and can earn or make a lot of money, but tend to become bored quite easily. This native as a young adult needs to be careful not to get trapped, committing too soon in a relationship that really doesn’t work well for them, simply out of a fear of being left on their own.

Pisces-Aries: March 17-23

Born on the Pisces-Aries cusp, this native is especially instinctive and brave. This mix of energy combines physical and moral courage with compassion for others which can make this Pisces individual a successful leader. This person is loyal to friends and colleagues and they are also generous, and eager to see others do well.

Famous Pisces subjects

Michelangelo, Copernicus, George 111, Albert Einstein, Neville Chamberlain, Sidney Poitier, Elizabeth Taylor, Yuri Gagarin, Michael Gorbachev, Osama Bin Laden, Steve Irwin, Steve Jobs, President Erdogan of Turkey

Pisces Season 2026

Pluto in Aquarius, and Saturn and Neptune, both now in Aries since February 20, are now the evolving biggest picture for the collective, the universal background, the supra-personal continuum, while the year of the Fire Horse only adds to the speed and impetus on the global stage this year in particular.

The Emperor in the Legacy of The Divine Tarot

The Fire Horse denotes action, force and momentum, courage and above all, stamina. Much emphasis is placed on the Fire Horse this year, given the extra powerful Aries conjunction of Neptune and Saturn in Aries signifying a reset to Zero, Spring, fresh new starts. The Individual. The Emperor. The rise of new Empires.

The Fire Horse, if viewed as Aries, symbolizes the power of governance and Heads of States. But…but…the horse may be a lead mare, or a lead stallion, but still, the horse is a herd animal. A herd of horses moves as one. Or a people moves as one.

group of horses — Photo by Mario Steinheil on Unsplash

A few dates to watch for this Pisces Season 2026…

February 27: Look up this evening for a stunning sight if the skies are clear. Jupiter will be right beside the waxing Moon, which will be above Gemini, with its “Twin” stars, Castor and Pollux.

February 27/28: Sun conjunction north node in Pisces, good for clear and productive exchanges.

February 28: Mercury (retrograde in Pisces since 26 February) is conjunct Venus in the second Mercury conjunction this year. The first conjunction was in cerebral Aquarius on January 29. With Mercury retrograde in Venus, we need to think again, to revisit what we first thought – and the emphasis is on thought, given that the first conjunction was in airy Aquarius. Now, other feelings surface that prompts a question to the heart.

March 1: Mercury sextile Juno in Capricorn.

March 2: Mars into Pisces until April 9. May work best for the third decan Pisces native. Read about it here at Cafe Astrology

March 3: Full Moon/Blood Moon/lunar eclipse in Virgo. The Moon will slip into Earth’s shadow in the early hours, turning a reddish colour as viewed across much of the United States. The Sun, Earth, and Moon are lined up perfectly, with Earth in the middle, and rather than going completely dark, the Moon glows red as the sunlight bends through our atmosphere, softly lighting the surface of the Moon just as the same effect gives us red sunrises and sunsets on Earth. No telescope needed.

A blood moon appears in the dark sky. — Photo by Erika Löwe on Unsplash

March 11/12: Jupiter goes direct in Cancer at 15°05′ signalling the end of a four-month retrograde period which began on November 11, 2025, at 25° Cancer. Jupiter will be staying in Cancer until June 30, 2026 and it is exalted in Cancer, the Fourth House of Home and Hearth, kith and kin, homeland and shared heritage. Tarot card is the Three of Cups. Happy times. Get togethers. Old friends. Good for home relationships and a renewed momentum with delayed opportunities in learning, teaching and travel.

March 18-19: New Moon in Pisces at 28 degrees. Beginning anew, powerful memories, dreams, ghosts. Something wistful, perhaps even a little sad. Inspirations, visions, perhaps a time to revisit and look again with a fresh eye at something we used to do, used to love; a cherished project. Memories of kith and kin. Nostalgia or regret. This is not only occurring at a degree in the last decan of Pisces, this New Moon, but in the last decan of the Zodiac.

Tarot card: The Ten of Cups. Mars in Pisces. The meaning and power of legacy.

March 20-April 19: Sun in Aries.

Many Happy Returns, Pisces. Saturn’s new two-year visit in your sector of income, and Mars surging through your sign in early spring, says your energy, passion, time and talent counts or translates in terms of new or added sources of income and reputation. There is what you can afford to share generously and freely, and what you may choose to keep in reserve, costed and protected in ways that honour your time, talent and artistic gifts. From July and August there may be a change in tempo, and likely some happy times around young people, or new pets or other animals During August, the North Node enters your twelfth House of Aquarius, and you find yourself balancing your obligations with a need for quiet time.

Take care, and thank you for reading.

Back soon 🙂

Stories of Scorpio: Part 2

The Death card and a psychic dream premonition

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is pexels-photo-5005210.jpeg — Photo by Jo Kassis on Pexels.comcaption…

Last time I was talking about on the origins of the Scorpio story: the history, natural history and the scorpion itself, the symbolism, and the astronomy and astrology. Now for a further look at the archetype.

The Scorpio Archetype

The zodiac signs represent archetypes, meaning something that is considered to be a perfect or typical example of a particular kind of person or thing. The zodiac signs paint a ‘poetic’ portrait of a person born at a particular time of year.

Scorpio is The Sorcerer, The Witch, The Investigator, The Hypnotist, The Alchemist and the Necromancer. Scorpio is also the World Serpent, and the Eagle, and the mythological Phoenix, the fire-bird of resurrection, as new life rises from the ashes –The Phoenix.

a blurry photo of a yellow flower — Photo by Egor Litvinov on Unsplash

Scorpio is the season of fast dwindling daylight and with this comes the new season of chills and influenza. The medical salt associated with Scorpio, the tissue cell salt Calcium Sulphate, performs a cleansing and cooling function in the body. Injury or infection may produce pus which may form a boil, and then the boil bursts, expelling infection and with it, expelling the dangerous heat of inflammation. But better out than in. Though like a volcanic eruption, the immediate aftermath may be destructive. This can be viewed as an allegory of world events.

What has been festering, must either turn inward, bringing sepsis, rot and death, or must find a way to break out. Scorpio breaks out with heat and violence and/or conceals by means of stealth, wealth, secrecy and intrigue.

New readers will often discuss the water cards in terms of how healing they are, and and sensitive, ‘spiritual’ and emotional. True. But great emotions will just as readily wreak great turmoil. There are terrifying floods. There are storms at sea. Heaven help Jamaica at the time of writing. There are tsunamis. The fixed water sign that is the Scorpion of the zodiac is ruled by Mars and the red star Antares. It doesn’t freeze. It may steam. It may simmer. But it may scald. It may boil.

a pot sitting on top of a fire next to a log — Photo by Adams Arslan on Unsplash

The cards representing the fixed water zodiac sign of Scorpio are The Death card, The King of Cups, and the Five, Six and Seven of Cups.

The Death card sits in between two mutable cards: The Hanged Man card of Pisces, denoting twelfth house matters, hidden matters, and a time of inaction, and Temperance of Sagittarius, representing ninth house matters, and the power of right timing and targeted action, just as the arrow of the Archer flies to its mark.

Temperance is also the card of healing where Scorpio is Life or Death.

The Tarot is saying that Death too may be a way of healing. Or rather perhaps, that Death itself is healed. That the Dead go forward into the unknowable with the safe escort of the angel of Temperance, thought to be Michael, the angel of Fire, returning home again. They are going home to the source whence they came, reascending though the Gate of the Gods in Capricorn, rising through the Milky Way, straddled by the constellation of The Archer.

As mentioned last time, and the tarot readers here know all this, the major arcana card in the Tarot representing Scorpio is the Death card, one of the most feared cards in the Tarot deck. Note the Biblical ‘pale horse’ of Death and the white rose. The rose signifies beauty and immortality. The rose is meant to suggest all that has ever once been, is recorded somewhere, somehow, forever.

The Death card is rather played down these days. Many readers rush to assure us that the appearance of the Death card does not predict a death, or not in the physical sense. Rather, it is the end of a chapter. And this is often true. But not always. I have learned in my own experience as a reader, the Death card can mean exactly that, and there can be no bottling out. The Death card demands we face the truth of our existence.

A long time ago I saw in a dream the death of a long-ago neighbour, a friend of my parent’s. She was still only quite a young woman, the mother of five children. I woke haunted, the dream was still so vivid, and it sat with me all day. I had not seen this family friend, let’s call her L. for some years. What was she doing in my dreams? So often, when we wake, if we remember them, we clearly see that our dreams have only been processing recent events and conversations.

But what do you do with a dream like that? What can you do? Nothing. You forget it, blame it on cheese at bedtime, or you might log it and put it on one side. A fortnight later I was visiting my parents, and while I was helping my mother in the kitchen, I said, “by the way, Mam, how is L. W.…have you heard from her at all lately?”

My mother turned sharply. Her face set hard like stone.

“Why do you ask?”

“I had such a strange dream about her.”

“Tell me.”

I described the dream. How I had seen people and cars arriving at L’s house one street away from where we had used to live when I was growing up. Some, though not all of these visitors, wearing black. But it was my mother who opened the front door to greet them, and not L or her husband. L did not appear in this dream, herself.

The absence of L, at her own front door, with visitors arriving dressed in black, said this was a dream of death.

And now my mother told me, she had just heard from L’s husband who was a close colleague of my mother’s, that L., only fifty at the time, the mother of five children, a fun, brave and vivacious person, a real fighter always, a local politician, an educator, and something of a social justice warrior, had just a few days previously been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

In terms of the date, I will never know how closely the news of this dreadful diagnosis coincided with the dream of the funeral or wake. But how much closer did it need to be, my God.

L. had been in a minor road traffic accident. She had hit another car, no great damage done. But she hadn’t seen the other car. So she went to the opticians who saw something he did not like the look of, who referred her to a specialist and then they found the tumour.

How long did dear L have, my -always very hard-headed- mother now asked. How long did I think?

I am a Taurus sun sign sun native. People may not tend to think of the earthy mid spring sign of Taurus in terms of all things psychic, supernatural or occult. But The High priestess which is widely associated with Pisces, represents Hathor and the Bull Cult of Apis, and Walpurgis Night is in Taurus, April 30, May Eve, the spring time equivalent of Halloween and all things the other side of The Veil. The crescent moon of her headdress does double duty as the cow horns of Hathor, her throne festooned with the pomegranates of Persephone, queen of the Underworld.

Scorpio is the opposite sun sign of Taurus and vice versa. The shadow sun self, one might say, while my own personal Taurus natal sun is in the eighth house, ruled by Scorpio.

We are not defined by our birth charts. Or by our sun sign. We are zodiac kaleidoscopes. But still, we are the children of the place and season into which we were born. The rocks, the light, the animals, the flowers, the birds, the skies at night at the time of our birth. The hours of daylight and the vitamin D of our mothers. The melatonin. Our zodiac sun sign is our touchstone and our totem.

Back to my mother’s grief stricken question. How long did our friend L. have? Those children at home, and the youngest still only little? Of course I do not know the answer to such questions. Nor do I want to. But I told my mother what I felt, that she had maybe two years, and sadly, it was not even quite that. L died at home one night aged 52, sitting up suddenly, fighting for air, in the bed she still shared with her husband, and with her mother who had come to stay to help with the children, there in the next room and beside her when she died.

God bless and keep L. and her mother, now also long gone, detaching gently from the tree like a faded leaf.

But unpopular Pluto, Hades, lord of the Underworld has a compassion all his own. It is not Death itself that is our enemy, or the enemy of Life itself, but despair. Like the song says, after all, the ‘Seasons Don’t Fear The Reaper’.

Scorpio confronts us with Death. But this is not about any kind of a death wish. It is the cry of Life’s own longing for itself.

Many years later, when I started to work with the cards, I was trying to understand more about this dream, and other such experiences. Where did such dreams come from. And what was the point of them? What good did they do anyone?

I did not like it. But it is what it is. And later, when I started to learn to read the cards, I sometimes saw death in the cards, although I will never predict it. But still, a reader should be prepared to “go there” and at least discuss it if someone asks in all seriousness. To walk the road alongside. No ducking the tough discussions. There is much that can be discussed. Not least, family matters. Usually, a legal professional is already being consulted, as is wholly appropriate. But people have still wanted this other kind of conversation and there is a careful, critical line between respect, ethical responsibilities, and officiousness or nannying.

It is important to note that there are other cards in the Tarot deck that may indicate a death. The Three of Swords or the Six, Nine or Ten of Swords, for instance. The Death card, in my experience so far, has tended to denote a peaceful natural death.

The entirety of human experience is encapsulated past, present and the future unknown in a deck of only 78 cards. It is of no use for a reader to seek to work with the tarot or any oracle, shirking the most difficult questions, though we must still adhere to strictest ethics, and like Hippocrates, first we must do no harm.

It’s a tricky line at times. Readers are on the one hand, fallible, and need to remember this at all times, while on the other hand, to be of service, we have to trust ourselves sufficiently to speak clearly, and to the heart of the matter in service to this oracle of the human spirit.

full moon covered with clouds — Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

“The man, who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight, has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and of the world.”~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Old age is not our natural birth-right. Few animals reach old age living in the wild. The scorpion itself lives 2-3 years in the wild…although in captivity, incredibly it may live 25 years. The price of freedom, hey? But it is this sharp focus of such an awareness that gives Scorpio its drive, intensity, its passion, or its preoccupation with the “darker” side of life, and with the occult and the mysterious, but also its power of regeneration, and the drive to procreate new life.

Thank you for reading.

Back soon…the decans of Scorpio, and Halloween

Till next time 🙂

Today’s Tarot: 28 January, The Moon card and the waning moon in Virgo

Today’s card is The Moon, and this is likely to be a theme for many of us one way and another over the next few days. The illustration is from the Astrology Reading Cards deck.

Astrology Reading Cards: Your Personal Guidance From the Stars: 96pp book & 36 full colour cards

The Moon card means many things in physical concrete terms, not only in terms of what is emotional or abstract, immensely powerful or consequential as these invisible workings are. But The Moon also speaks in literal terms of observable, material phenomena and events, including floods, diseases, pandemics, infections, poisoning, or the menstrual cycle, conception or pregnancy.

And the Moon card is not wrong of course, deciding to show up today. We are after all in Aquarius, THE season for floods, colds & contagion, in the northern hemisphere at least. Such are the seasonal workings of nature. The Moon card is Nature itself, the ebb and flow of the tides, and the governance of all cycles, and fertility.

The Moon can mean all these things, plus powerful dreams, psychic insights or even ghosts…or it can mean confusion, delusion, paranoia, lies, infidelity, our deepest fears. The Moon is our wild side, walking on the wild side. The dog and the wolf. Our home side and our OTHER hidden side, or our hidden potential. The foragers, the naturalists and the animals, the hunters and the hunted. Let’s all go bark at the Moon or howl….while the crayfish signifies secrets emerging from the hidden depths of the water.

Is there something here for someone to do with salts, sea salt, the kidneys or diuretics? This is not a prediction, only an observation.

First Decan of Aquarius

We are still in the first decan (ten days of Aquarius) which in tarot is represented by the extremely challenging Five of Swords (defeat, chagrin, or a pyrrhic victory that comes back to bite someone.) We’ve already discussed this card in recent posts, and the reputation of Aquarius as the Babylonian “Curse of Rain.”

Five of Swords from the Tarot Illuminati

Once upon a time I did a reading for a lady who asked me to draw a card about her father. She was worried about him. I drew The Moon and asked about flooding, and she explained that he lived in Bangladesh. His house had been badly flooded the previous month, leaving a lot of damage, and he was in frail health.

two people in a small boat on a river — Photo by Nishaan ahmed on Unsplash

The Moon can, on occasion, be speaking literally in respect of timing issues, indicating something that may happen in a month’s time or a Monday. Surrounding cards may suggest to the reader which of the two seems more likely.

The Moon in Virgo

Today’s waning Moon is in Virgo and the moon will stay in Virgo until Tuesday when it moves into Libra. Virgo is the sixth house of the zodiac, to do health, food, arts, crafts, household management, duty and service to others. Virgo is also the sign of lab analysis, medical tests and so on. Those born under Virgo, or with Virgo rising or a Moon in Virgo are known for a talent for art. But the Virgo artist is still somewhat scientifically inclined. Big on technique. Virgo dots the “i.” There is a certain analytical flair, making them suited to investigative work of all kinds.

Many of us, it stands to reason, especially this time of year, are preoccupied with health matters or test results at this time. However this is a waning Virgo moon which in symbolic terms, says an seasonal illness or infection is – slowly- on the way OUT.

The old Norse rune LAGUZ (lake) carries this meaning in divination, and may be used magically for protective purposes to do with travel or health. We draw it on a piece of paper, say its name, call on it, asking for its agency. It looks like this…

The Moon card can be referring to far travel and events at sea, when it may be warning us about the risks of travel, and reading the fine print if we are thinking of booking such travel at this time. What is the cancellation policy? Make sure you insure it to the hilt.

The Moon may be referring to a risk of food poisoning. Beware buffets, says The Moon card, except for small domestic or social ones. or ones you have prepared yourself. The Moon can be poison where a Virgo Moon rules the digestion.

The homeopathic cell salt associated with Virgo is Kali Mur- potassium chloride.

“It is most beneficial dissolved in warm water for cramps in the stomach, or crushed and rubbed onto the gums of infants for colic. Kali Sulph No 7: Virgo rules the alimentary canal. Its salt is a cell oxygenator, supporting the action of Ferrum Phos (iron phosphate)”

All in all, The Moon is a tricky card, and mighty powerful. Its gifts are immeasurable; its mysteries, its governance of the cycles of the tides and fertility.

The immediate takeaway here, apart from the things we’ve already touched upon, is to do with watching our words at this time, choosing them with utmost care and double checking everything. It’s not a case of being over-vigilant. We are always right to trust our instinct, but if we get stuck up in our heads, now we are grinding the wheels, engaging in wishful thinking or worry, and that’s not the same thing. Instinct is felt in all of the body. Moonlight shadows can play strange tricks.

It’s about working with daylight, dealing in workable facts, and when we are in doubt, sticking with those workable facts. Does this stand up to scrutiny under the microscope? Sometimes our worries can get the better of us, and we may misconstrue comments or situations in the light of that worry. Virgo is big on investigation.

green and white typewriter on blue textile — Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

The Moonstone

Moonstone Gem Guide and Properties Chart

The Romans and the Greeks associated the Moonstone with Artemis/Diana/Cynthia/Selene…the many names of the goddess of the Moon. In India, the moonstone was seen as an amplifier of divine wisdom or clairvoyance.

Moonstone, also written as moon stone, is a unique form of feldspar; a sodium potassium aluminum silicate. The feldspars are the most common group of rock type on the surface of the Earth, but vary widely in their makeup.

“The name moonstone derives from the stone’s characteristic visual effect, called adularescence (or schiller), which produces a milky, bluish interior light. This effect is caused by light diffraction through alternating layers of orthoclase and albite within the stone. The diffracted light varies from white to blue, depending on the thinness of the albite layers…” via Wiki

Magical uses: calming, stress relief, clarity, clairvoyance, right brain stimulation, lucid dreaming, hormonal support, strengthening the “yin”-feminine power and protection.

Something needs sorting, putting in better order. The waning Moon in Virgo says tidiness is the order of the day. Stuff, paperwork, health, home. The Moon card is always to be treated with an element of precautionary care and discipline when it appears, but this is a largely benevolent moon.

“For broken dreams, the cure is, dream again and deeper.” C.S. Lewis

person seated on grass — Photo by Илья Мельниченко on Unsplash

Thank you for reading, and my best wishes to you.

Back soon.

The sure-footed Four of Pentacles, Hecate and the January New Moon in Capricorn

We have now entered the cosmic territory of the third and final decan of the sun sign territory of Capricorn the wise, celestial Mer-Goat.

(We have looked at the origin myth of the Sea-Goat in a previous post: https://katieellenhazeldine.substack.com/p/songs-of-solstice-salutations-capricorn)

The third decan of Capricorn correlates with the dates 11-20 January, and with the tarot card The Four of Pentacles.

Images from The Rider Waite Tarot and The Gilded Tarot

The Four of Pentacles is nicknamed The Miser card, unfairly, really, because he is holding on tight to what he’s got. Unfairly, because you can’t give or share what you haven’t got. We cannot make a place for ourselves without the will and the means to do so. You can’t create a shelter, a warm spot, a safe place, a sanctuary, for yourself or for others without the effort and the discipline it takes to put even just a little by, and not blow it, especially when there is little to spare.

The decans, as mentioned in previous posts, deal in seasonal archetypes. The third decan Capricorn native is clever, shrewd, proud, industrious and conscientious in the workplace. Possibly opinionated. They can be secretive, mistrustful of others, and when under pressure, calculating or possibly deceitful. They may be also constitutionally prone to melancholy, pessimism. But they have a keen, if mordant, wry, dry sense of humour, and they are kindly, indeed passionate in devotion; deeply attuned to the power of landscape, and the wild creatures that make it their own.

The Four of Pentacles represents a guarded, watchful pause, a time of taking stock, before we move forward into the volatility of the fixed Air potency of the Aquarian Five of Swords, commencing 20 January…which this year will be a planetary humdinger, coinciding with the momentous entry of Pluto into Aquarius for the first time this year.

The Five of Swords- conflict- Rider Waite Tarot

–Pluto represents the underworld, all that is underground, mining, power, secrets, deep state, momentous change, death in any sense of the word)

–Aquarius represents the element of Air, clouds, Humanity itself, Cloud Tech, Space Tech, Medical Tech, new ideas OR wholesale imposition of ideology, revolution.

Aquarius, the sign of the Water Bearer is also the Cloud Bearer, known to the Babylonians as Sabatu- The Curse of Rain, because it brought floods in February, and not infrequently these were devastating.

Sadly we are seeing this in action big time in the UK even before we have entered Aquarius in 2024.

Pluto in Aquarius is where the story is heading. The last time we were there, 1778-1798. what sort of things happened?

-The French Revolution

-The American Revolution

-The Haitian Revolution

-The Enlightenment

-The invention of cast iron and the cotton gin, beginning the Industrial Revolution

-Discovery of Uranus

-The Smallpox Vaccine

During the previous Pluto in Aquarius, 1523-1553, Europe underwent the upheaval of The Reformation, when King Henry v111 of England split with the Pope, and his subjects were now Catholic no more, on pain of being liable of being put to death for

a) heresy

b) treason

I live in Lancashire where this history leaves its ghostly marks to this day. Alice Nutter, who was hanged for being one of the Pendle witches, was part of a notable Lancashire Catholic family, and was likely targeted as such. Such is the darker fundamentalist potential of Pluto in Aquarius.

Roughlee, Nelson, Lancashire. Poignant statue in memory of Alice Nutter. Sculptor David Palmer

This will be a fascinating next twenty years in world history. But it’s not as if a new era is entered into overnight or indeed, is not already making itself felt. The Post Office Scandal in the UK, which convicted more than 700 innocent sub postmasters, some of whom actually to prison, including a pregnant lady, on the say-so of a computer glitch which no-one in charge at Fujitsu would admit to, though they knew about it, could hardly be more a dystopian display of the worst potential of Pluto in Aquarius if it tried, but has been going on since 1999. Read about it HERE

The New Super Moon in Capricorn 2024

Pluto in Aquarius is well nigh here, but we are not quite there yet. Meanwhile, today’s New Moon was in Capricorn very early in the morning, around 6:57 AM Eastern time. This New Moon is also a Super Moon. We can’t see it, but the Moon came closer today than in a normal New Moon, and today was only the first of five Super New Moons in 2024, a year of turbo charged lunar energy for digging and planting, instigating change. Typically, there are 3-4 Super moons in a year, and they can make a difference of 2 inches in the height of the world’s tides.

person holding green plant stem — Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash

All New Moons are nature’s planning windows. Tonight, tomorrow and over the next few days, fortune works with us when we plant seeds and start to water them. Seeds of ideas for new projects or changes for example in the way we do our finances, or in our work direction or in the way we present ourselves to the wider world. This sturdy, hardworking, grounded yet experimental New Moon at 20 degrees of Capricorn will be trine Uranus, uber planet of change. Astrologically speaking this is a particularly optimistic, energetic, upbeat and potentially ambitious New Moon, not of making do, but of making and doing. Mars is also in Capricorn until 12 February, and this gives us an energy boost in tackling practical- and creative tasks.

There is a world of difference between taking a chance on doing something new or differently, and between being reckless, feckless or downright daft. They do say a change is as good as a rest. Capricorn thinks long term, and when it moves forward, it is not much given to wallowing or looking back.

This is a time for ditching what is long overdue for dumping, while surprises, chance encounters and new work opportunities all go with this territory.

Hecate, goddess of the New Moon

total lunar eclipse — Photo by Mark Tegethoff on Unsplash

All hail to Hecate, the Greeks and Romans would say in honour of the impending New Moon. Hecate was the goddess of the waning moon, where Persephone was the manifestation of the Waxing Moon, and Artemis was the face of the Full Moon.

Hecate, the keeper of the crossroads, is better known today as the goddess of witchcraft, but she was worshipped in Rome as a protecting household deity. None could enter without permission a household that was under the protection of Hecate. More HERE in a previous post:

Image via Pinterest

Tonight in magical practice would be the night to honour or petition Hecate’s help with prayers or gifts of incense, raisins or apparently she is partial to virtual offerings of currant cake.

Eat it on her behalf so Hecate can enjoy it vicariously. Give an ancient goddess a break. It’s tough I know, but think of Hecate. Someone’s got to do it.

Bon courage. Thank you for reading.

You can also find my posts on Substack: https://katieellenhazeldine.substack.com/

When Mars goes into Capricorn….

What’s the push and pull in the collective energy today? I draw two crux Cards from the Touchstone Tarot deck by Kat Black and I draw Death and the Page of Coins (Pentacles)

Saturday 6 January 2024

It is a waning moon, not a time for sowing and planting. We are haunted, maybe grieving. Dreams are vivid. Today’s waning moon is in the fixed water sign of Scorpio, denoting a strong outgoing tide of deep feeling with a sting of loss attached but we may also experience a sense of irritation, not quite knowing where to put our physical, intellectual and emotional energy.

The Death card, curiously, is the card corresponding with the zodiac sun sign of Scorpio. The appearance of this card signifies endings. Many readers these days will state that the Death card never, but never represents an actual death or bereavement. My twenty odd years of reading for other people tells me that in general, the Death card is talking metaphorically. A job may come to an end, or a relationship for instance. But it can raise the question or the spectre of an actual human death. Oh yes it can, it will and it does. And so it should. Death is part of Life. It colours our experience of Life through the awareness of our own mortality and that of all those we love most. Death – and Birth are THE greatest life events, our own. The Death card needs handling with care. I do not make predictions of Death. I could be wrong. Nor will I avoid the conversation.

The appearance of the Death card reflects the dreadful events we are seeing on the news, if we are not living through them ourselves. And the Death card shows that we are feeling acutely aware of the passage of time, and of our own mortality. Time and tide wait for no man. Oh, do they not? I have known when loved ones were about to go. I do not mean that I was sensing anything imminently. But it was there all the same. Their tide was on the turn for the last time. There was a presentiment. An ebbing tide, pulling at my own inner water.

And yet the appearance of the Page of the element of Earth is timely. Mercury has now gone direct again, while energetic Mars has entered pragmatic Capricorn on 4 January and stays there till 13 February. The echoes of recent troubles may be powerful, yet this new wind may still prove favourable. Hold fast to the greatest tasks in hand…we have been stuck, but now necessary things can and should and will get done.

We are now in the second decan of Capricorn, associated with the creative and productive Three of Coins or Pentacles. This card, again from The Touchstone Tarot shows a master craftsman at work. See the sketch and quill behind him. An eager patron looks on, agog to see what beauty shall be created, proudly sponsored by him. Oh yes, he gets to claim much kudos. This is the card of making a house a home, but above all it is a card of excellence.

This is a good time to surge ahead with creative projects and businesses. A Tamil friend has a silk weaving business for instance, making sarees/saris. The Three of Coins is an apposite card for ant kind of business like this.

A medicine for grief -or anxiety is to do something constructive, creative or useful. Sort your admin (yawn -but it feels so good once you’ve done it.)

Or read and study. Learn something new.

“The best thing for being sad,” said Merlin, “is to learn something. It is the only thing that never fails”

(T.H. White The Once and Future King)

DO something. This is a medicine, a reliable Ju-ju for blasting the cobwebs or soothing sorrow. Action in the material world. Anything really, so long as it ain’t stupid. The young man representing the Page of Coins is a scholar (from an original painting by Hans Holbein. He could equally be a crafts-person or a cook or a pet owner.

When we are treading water, or right up in our heads, we can earth ourselves by going for a walk, feeding the birds, or by giving our mind and our hands something to work on front of house.

This day of a legalistic waning Libra moon we learn that the next UK election will not be in the spring as has been lately rumoured, but will be in the second half of the year.

The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a Taurus sun sign native, and the leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer is a Virgo sun sign native. Is Rishi waiting until after late May when Jupiter will move into Gemini, or will he wait until the 2 October eclipse in judicial, contractual Libra to call the election?

There is plenty good about Jupiter in Gemini for communications, publishing, teaching, aviation…but Jupiter is in detriment in Gemini, meaning that when it is in Gemini, Jupiter is sitting opposite Sagittarius, the sign it naturally rules. What this can mean is that we have super intelligent decision making during Jupiter in Gemini, or a load of flopping about, quibbling and hot air and nothing of great moment actually gets decided.

Globally, we are witnessing such dreadful devastation. Mars in Capricorn seeks to acquire- territory, resources, status. But it also seeks, like the Page of Coins or Pentacles, to rebuild.

Resolutions and rebuilding in Gaza and Ukraine can’t- and won’t come fast enough to satisfy any ideals of justice, kindness or basic decency. It never does until that last moment has long, long since passed. Those tides have gone right out, and are coming in again as tsunamis- “waves in the harbour”. I write this, realizing that I am speaking metaphorically in the very same week that Japan has experienced earthquakes and tsunamis on the very first day of 2024.

Source: Wikipedia

“As above so below.” The planet Earth, Gaia is unsettled, and so are we. The hive is rattled. The bees swarm, buzzing. We are experiencing Solar Cycle 25 and all that. This was expected to be a weak cycle in terms of solar flare activity. And maybe it will still be weaker than the average solar cycle. But it is early days in this cycle, and it is already proving stronger than was predicted back in 2019, with the next solar maximum expected any time between now and October 2024.

More info HERE

But Gaia will settle again, and so will we.

The stone associated with Capricorn is the garnet, symbolic of loyalty and devotion, The garnet is considered a lucky talisman of protection, and for the health of the heart.

a pair of red and silver rings — Photo by Paige Johnson on Unsplash

Back soon.

Thank you for reading True Tarot Tales.

Tarot talking 2024

a number that is written in sparklers on a black background — Photo by Moritz Knöringer on Unsplash

Let’s take a quick look at the Numerology of 2024. The key numbers of this year are 2, 0, 4 and 8. Why 8? This is the number we get when we add up the digits. You’ll notice we have a dominance of even numbers: 2, 4 and 8; all of them divisible by 2.

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This is all about creating or protecting our stability during a time of great shifts, but the 0 stand for the wild cards at work in our lives. Births and rebirths, literally or metaphorically. Zero is the most numinous number, or non-number. Originally invented as a placeholder, The Fool card in the Tarot stands for Wyrd or Destiny, and is the greatest mystery of all the cards in the deck.

The Major Arcana card representing the Number 8 is Strength. This card correlates with Leo, which like Aries, is also ruled by Mars. This card stands for health, strength and courage. This is both physical and moral strength, resilience and fortitude, the kind that says we don’t give up. The one who wins is the last one standing. “Tomorrow is another day.”

There are no easy answers. We will all be tested this coming year, guaranteed, and this will be collectively and personally. This is not a quiet cycle we are in, the whole world is feeling it, and we may not come out of this cosmic wash-cycle that began in 2019/2020 until February 2026 when Saturn quits Pisces for the final time in this current cycle of transits.

When I look at Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, time and again I draw The Hanged Man reversed, signifying either significant Pisces timing and/or an unwanted compromise that is ultimately reached. This card of Pisces points out that Saturn moved into Pisces in March 2023 and does not finally move out of Pisces until February 2026. This does not mean the war can’t end sooner. The Hanged Man could indicate Pisces season 2025, possibly triggered by events around the time of the eclipse in Libra season 2024. As ever, only time will tell. The reader is always “looking in the glass darkly.”

I have been struck by the physical resemblance to Zelenskyy of this card from The Tarot Illuminati deck. This card below, I drew in a reading for Zelenskyy back in March 2022. I was looking to see if Russia would succeed in assassinating him, as we understood Russia was trying to do at that time, and the feeling was no. The cards showed he will come through all this, but emerge a very different man. Not defeated, not diminished but disappointed. Reading between the lines, Russia’s President Putin will get away with far more than justice says he rightfully should, although much less than he wants.

We are all desperate to see an end to the darkness of the wholesale horror we are witnessing in Ukraine and in Gaza. There could be crucial turning points in these and other conflicts (and also in personal matters) around 14 February, around the solar eclipse of 8 April, during Leo/Virgo season- July and August, and again, around the solar eclipse in Libra, 2 October (ruled by Venus, cards 2/3 Swords- diplomacy/severance) and again towards the end of the year in Sagittarius around Christmas Eve, 24 December 2024, though this last date could likewise prove very tricky.

My cards have not so far seen a second term of office for Donald Trump. I first looked at this in 2021, looking to see signs of a second term after the Capitol Riot.

Link to that 2021 reading is here.

But nor are they showing me a second term for Joe Biden. I will be looking more closely at this later, as will twenty gillion other readers and astrologers. Some Vedic astrologers do say it will be Trump.

May-June could prove the most productive and easygoing months this coming year when Jupiter moves from productive Taurus into agile arch-communicator Gemini.

The April solar eclipse in Aries suggests a window of opportunity, bold decisions finding ways forward, and at a personal level for any of us, but especially for the Aries native or those with Aries rising, brave new initiatives in prospect.

The tarot card of this eclipse at 19 degrees of Aries is the expansive, outgoing and far seeing Three of Wands.

The possible negative interpretation of this card is the clear and present danger and obvious potential in 2024 for an escalation of maritime aggression in any of these areas: the Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Straits of Hormuz, in the South China Sea or the Straits of Taiwan.

This is a twitchy year and the very end of the year may prove the trickiest time.

Image from The Legacy of The Divine Tarot.

First comes the vision, but planning, co-operation and timing is everything. We are equal to these challenges, and we can achieve more by approaching our most personal problems with an attitude of kindness and respect. The lady in the Strength card does not subdue the lion by killing it. This card references an old story, Una and the Lion from Edmund Spenser’s 16th-century poem The Faerie Queen. Una is the daughter of a king and queen who have been imprisoned by a dragon. Most unfortunate.

Una undertakes a quest to free her parents, but on her journey she encounters a lion. Rather than eating her, the lion is so captivated by Una’s innocence that he follows her instead, accompanying her as a protector, and in the painting by William Bell Scott, Una gently rests her fingers in the lion’s mane, as they make their way together through the autumnal wood.

But the lion is not going her to kill her, either. She calms its threat by holding her nerve, moving decisively but quietly, and using a carefully measured restraint with the lightest touch.

Image from The Gilded Tarot.

This is a year of gravitas. We are changing, and we are feeling that change. There is a sense of a greater self discipline, but also striking out in a new direction, expanding our lines of vision, enlarging our horizons as per the Three of Wands. We are starting new things or revisiting old things and re-imagining them anew.

These are just seeds or buds in 2024. We won’t see the results this year, but we are changing direction. The particular nature of this, and the life departments it will affect will depend on our own natal charts.

Jupiter is on our side in 2024, and he can be a big old bully. But Jupiter is also “the bringer of jollity.” People need to eat, but they also need beauty. They need laughter and they need other people. Jupiter keeps it large, and Jupiter in Gemini can be a big fat beautiful butterfly, the symbol of Psyche, the soul.

Airy, breezy, airy pollinator of renewal of the richness of the earth of Taurus, Jupiter enters Gemini 25 May 2024 and stays there until 9 June 2025. This can be all manner of good news, with April, May and June are the most promising months for communications, networking, teaching, publishing, business, study, travel and progress in the most general terms.

Jupiter in Gemini is endlessly curious and enquiring. Jupiter is however, in detriment in Gemini, meaning that Jupiter is opposite the sign of Sagittarius where it is exalted (most naturally at home.)

There could, in politics and geo-political conflicts, be a lot of dithering, delaying and fair- weathering.

person holding butterfly — Photo by Natalya Letunova on Unsplash

But even so, Jupiter in Gemini may bring better things to the world, while the Aries Eclipse in April is an even bigger hitter this year. Big and brave. What brave new stories shall you be creating this coming year?

Thank you for reading.

Wishing you a very Happy New Year, 2024.

Mars in Scorpio transit, 2023

The Scales of Justice and the Claws of The Scorpion

The current Mars in Scorpio transit began 12 October and continues until 24 November. Mars in Scorpio is passionate, intuitive, subtle, cunning, proud, brave, strong and energetic. But may be violent or downright cruel. Vengeful and vindictive. A lot of stuff can get sorted out on a political or personal level, but it is wiser to do it with restraint and respect, or else watch out for the karmic comeback, and that sting in the tail. It may be a long time coming, but come it will.

The Tarot card associated with Mars in Scorpio is the Death card. Other Mars cards are The Tower (shock, storm, cataclysm) and The Emperor (war, government, law and order) Sweet reason and moderation. Desperately needed in the world right now.

But Scorpio steams and bubbles and boils. It is not moderate. It is Life and Death and they are not moderate. It takes a massive surge of energy to get born. It takes a massive release of power to release our hold on life and get ourselves dead, returning to the source or the dreamland from which we have come. Unless we die suddenly, the natural dying process is a job of work, requiring our co-operation. I watched my mother having to work at it, dying with pneumonia that did not respond to three courses of antibiotics.

The fixed water zodiac sign of Scorpio is a metaphor of water (feeling) that bubbles up from deep down, whether this is down on the ocean bed or on land. It emerges under pressure like a geyser.

smoke over geyser — Photo by Kelsey Mirehouse on Unsplash

Such is the power of Scorpio. And the Scorpio native may have healing charisma. But for healing we think more of the Temperance card of Sagittarius or the hopeful Star of Aquarius. It is no coincidence however, the stars that were originally known as the Claws of the cosmic Scorpion, were later made to do double duty as the Scales of Justice in the constellation of Libra next door.

No lasting peace without justice, at home or abroad. We talk about natural justice, but there is no justice in Nature. only natural law is red in tooth and claw. But we are part of nature, so why do we cry out for justice like we do? We’re hardwired for justice. Even small babies have been proven to demonstrate a keen sensitivity to what is fair and what is not, while the Roman writer and poet Manilius apparently observed that a higher than average number of judges in Rome were born under the sun sign of Libra, which had by his time, borrowed, shared or co-opted the stars of the constellation next door. The Claws of the Scorpion were now Libra’s Scales of Justice.

Death in natural. It is deeply painful to lose loved ones. It is frightening to contemplate our own ending. But we can rise to it with a measure of philosophy and poetic understanding. But we can’t do that when we have experienced an injustice. If it is small enough, we may shrug and walk away. But only if it really is small enough. While there may be no justice in Nature, nothing corrodes, nothing eats away at the human heart like Justice denied. It is the sting the corrodes like acid. The sting is pure venom.

Famous Scorpio natives:

Hillary Clinton, politician, born 26 Oct 1947

Dylan Thomas, poet, born 27 Oct 1914

Billy Graham, evangelist, born 7 Nov 1918,

Carl Sagan, astronomer, born 9 Nov 1934

Robert Kennedy, born 20 Nov 1925

King Charles 111, born 14 Nov 1948

Until next time. Thank you for reading True Tarot Tales.

Halloween, Tarot and a true ghost story

Scorpio Photo by Jo Kassis on Pexels.com

Halloween is designated the season of ghosts. Why is that? We can encounter a ghost any time of year.

But there is an especially potent natural reason for the ghostly season. Halloween or All Hallows Eve is celebrated 31 October each year, marking the cross- quarter of the year, half-way point between the autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere, and the winter solstice, which in 2023 will occur on Friday 22 December.

Halloween began as a pre-Christian Iron Age festival 2000 years ago among the various peoples of Britain and Northern Europe popularly known as the Celts.

In parts of Britain and the Republic of Ireland Halloween is still called Samhain (pronounced Sow-an, from Gaelic/Irish meaning ‘summer’s end.’)

This is a critical turning point of the year from an ancient survival point of view: food production, harvesting and storage as the days grow shorter, the nights longer, vegetation decays, temperatures drop – and more people get sick. We are now in the zodiac sign territory of Scorpio, and the Tarot card correlating with Scorpio is the Death card.

From Halloween in the Anglo-sphere to Alf-blot (Elf Blood) in Scandinavia, to The Day of the Dead in Spanish speaking countries, the period 31 October – 3 November is a festival marking the end of the harvest season.

Russia does not celebrate Halloween as such. It is not recognized by the Orthodox Church, though it has been gaining popularity among young people since the 1990’s.

In France, again, Halloween is not a traditional festival, though certain elements may be catching on nowadays, cultural imports in the twentieth century. But La Toussaint or All Saints Day, is a widely celebrated national holiday celebrated on the first of November.

Now we are preparing for the decay of vegetation, the coming darkness, the time of hibernation of many animals, and the hardships of winter. This is a natural time to be marking the remembrance of the Dead.

Do I believe in ghosts? I have had some deeply strange encounters, and met enough perfectly sensible people who have told me their stories, and had no reason to doubt their common sense, and the validity of their account.

What is a ghost? We have the dictionary definition:

“Now chiefly, an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image and attempting to right a wrong done in life; this sense of the word is recorded from late Middle English.

The word is recorded from Old English (in form gāst) in the sense ‘spirit, soul’, and is of Germanic origin; the gh- spelling occurs first in Caxton, and was probably influenced by Flemish gheest”. – Source

But the question still remains, what is a ghost, really? Are they sentient? Do they know they are there? Do they have intent? Or are they some kind of an echo? Do they know who they are- or were? Do they know who we are? What do they want?

I recommend reading up about the Cambridge archaeologist and paranormal researcher Tom Lethbridge T.C. Lethbridge

The Moon card

The Tarot card that in a reading can suggest a vivid dream, a vision, a psychic or supernatural experience or even a ghost is The Moon card. And this Halloween, we have only just passed through a Full Moon lunar eclipse. Perhaps you have been experiencing unusually vivid dreams.

From The Gilded Tarot Royale, illustrator Ciro Marchetti

This time of year represents a ‘liminal’ space, a threshold – a doorway of some kind, an ‘in-between’ space between outside and inside, one room and another, or between summer and winter, night and dark, and therefore symbolically, between Life and Death.

Being half-awake or half-asleep is an ‘in-between’ state of mind or consciousness, when we are might have a powerful frightening or psychic dream experience or even experience sleep paralysis, traditionally known as a visit from The “Night Hag” aka The Mara, as portrayed in a famous painting in its several variants, The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.

This is a not uncommon experience that can occur when the brain is in-between deep and lighter sleep stages. The person thinks they are awake when they are not. There is a strong sense of threat, a malevolent presence, and they cannot move a muscle to defend themselves. I have experienced it myself, very unpleasant. Read here for the scientific medical explanation.

The Death card bears the Rider of the Pale Horse who comes for one and all. But the white rose is a symbol of the sanctity of life, and is a promise of resurrection.

A True Ghost Story

Some years ago, my phone rang one Saturday night, about 8 PM, a lady calling from Preston, about ten miles away from where I live. She had found my number in the psychic pages of the online telephone directory, and she wanted a psychic medium.

Note. I have never advertised as a psychic medium, but there is no separate listing for Tarot readers who are frequently listed under that same heading, along with astrologers and clairvoyants.

This lady was calling to ask me to come over to her house. Right now, please! There was ‘something’ in the hallway and it was blocking the stairs. She, her partner and the children were huddled in the sitting room with the door shut, too terrified to leave the room.

I could not go in person, sadly. Nor do I advertise such a service. But there are others who do. I gave her the name and telephone number of a local lady who specialized in clearing ‘haunted houses,’ -I didn’t know her but she had positive reviews, and meantime I reached for my cards, asking the lady what exactly had happened?

Her youngest child had been upstairs, she told me, when an invisible lady started whispering in her ear. The child panicked. Then her siblings panicked. Then the mother panicked too, and so did her partner.

Now there was something outside the sitting room door; a cold spot, a moving shadow.

I asked, what had this invisible lady said to the little girl?

The caller said, the ghost told her youngest child, her hair was very pretty.

I was looking through my cards while we were talking. This figured. The cards confirmed a benign presence – or influence. A grandmother?

The cards also indicated the lady on the other end of the phone had been under a lot of strain. I asked about this, and she confirmed a prolonged period of acute financial and other worries. Her mother had died three years earlier, and she was still missing her, really quite badly. But, she said, the littlest child was too young to remember her grandmother. Why, the lady wondered, if the ghost was her mother, had her mother not talked to her, but instead to the child, she had never known in life?

It was because the little girl happened in that moment to be the one tuned in on the ‘right’ wavelength to receive such an incoming message. The little girl had ESP in other words, and was hyper sensitive to atmosphere. This was why she alone had heard it. If there was a ghost, if the grandmother was still around, then she was tuning in to the living, seeking to deliver comfort to the mother who was her child.

The little grand-daughter was the most receptive conduit.

First things first. The lady had called to ask for help. I had given her the number of a reputable medium but she needed support right now, and help to restore order in the household.

To do this she needed to assert herself and reclaim her territory, ‘psych it out’, and show the children it was safe to go anywhere in the house.

The living can talk to a ghost, or say boo, just as it can say boo to us.There was no nastiness in these cards. If there had been, then the living can use aggression too. And tell the presence to GET GONE.

photograph of person facing opposite in smoky spotlight — Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash

This presence was not nasty. Or at least the original one was not. But it was not wanted. I suggested that she tell the family, ‘it’s all gone now’, open that sitting room door, put lots of lights on, go herself down that hallway, alone if need be, put the kettle on, serve up something for supper. Light, movement and noise will shatter such a spell, and fear is contagious and feeds upon itself.

I later heard directly from the medium whose number I had given the lady. The lady gave her my number. The medium and her team had gone to the lady’s house next day, taking with them an array of electronic equipment. The medium confirmed there was an old lady’s ghost in the house, that it was the grandmother, and that the mother’s state of stress had called the ghost forth. The ghost had behaved in character, affectionately, but since the child had been startled, and then the mother had reacted with fear, everyone became frightened, and the thing took on an unpleasant aspect. The medium said that now the mother was consciously aware of it, the house should stay quiet now.

No suggestion of judgement attaches to the lady’s handling of the situation by the way. None whatsoever. Fear was and is a natural reaction to such an inexplicable experience. But if it happened again, now that she had some kind of explanation, however questionable, and reassurance that it was not malevolent, she could choose a more controlled and matter of fact response, whilst not dismissing the child’s experience.

“The Mind has many corridors” – Emily Dickinson

Psychic author Cassandra Eason has written a book with advice for parents with psychic children available from a range of second hand book sellers online.

https://cassandraeason.com/https://cassandraeason.com/

From my point of view, since I had never spoken with this lady medium myself before her visit to the house, but had simply provided contact details, I was interested that my tarot and this lady, this psychic medium, had detected virtually identical stories.

The power of the physical, the element of Earth, is the power of the living moment, here and now. We are exalted in the Earth. We take in air. We take up space.

This time is ours. Our inheritance of Earth. Our ace card in otherworldly dealings, the Ace of Pentacles. A nice cup of tea? How about a biccie? Fed the cat. Take the dog a walk.

Take it a walk to the cemetery.

It’s nice in there.

ALL SOULS

The transient day dies silently, and at its edge,

four grey hounds hunt for signs among the graves,

snuffling in the leaves, they lift their legs

on dead bouquets and faded wreaths.

A wind sprite sneaks round urns and angels,

and whisks the skirt of a woman kneeling

with a basket beside a new earth mound.

Two small children crouch behind.

Lights come on as dusk draws in,

and the woman with her kids drifts away

with the mist, all grey, sky as one,

into the Hesperian town.

The hounds stay running among the stones,

backs bridged over their skittering bones.

Circling together they lift their heads

and howl for the souls of their ancestral dead;

hunters, and all the prey that gave up the ghost

dying together in the close embracing hills.

They know who they are calling; The Host,

All Souls, rising from the earth like smoke.

Torches have blazed with saxophone and drum.

Masked revellers with candles in the town

finally sleep. And, under the windy moon,

the graveyard walks.

-Margaret Whyte

RIP Mam who wrote this poem (23 December 1939- 27 February 2023)

I saw my darling mother’s ghost just once, the day after she died in her own bedroom at home, released from hospital on end of life care. A movement caught my eye and there it was, a faint cloud, a movement on the turn of the stairs.

But she did not linger long. She was out and through “the valley” by the tenth day, and smiling up at hills the other side, clouds chasing sunlight across the tops. A child of the Pennines always. I reckon she has found her way to her own perfect heaven.

Life is for living. But Time is not linear. There is much wisdom in superstition, and we give thanks this All Souls season and every day, for the time we have shared with all those we have loved, who have gone on before us.