Philip Bews and Diane Gorvin, British artists from Coleford, Gloucestershire (Website Bews-Gorvin).
Just for a change, I thought we might look at an alternative iconography for Virgo season and the mythology of Inanna, Shula, Ishtar, Isis, Aphrodite, Demeter, Ceres, The Hermit and The Empress.
This is a sculpture of the Norse Fire Giant, Surtr, own picture taken on a trip to Grosvenor Park in Chester in September 2021.
Chester is a beautiful city famous for its Roman history, but it also has a Viking history. The Danes occupied it for a while during the reign of the Christian Saxon king Alfred, until he drove them out by seizing their cattle and laying waste to the surrounding farmland. And then Alfred strengthened the city walls to make sure they didn’t come back.
But still the Danes left their cultural footprint. Chester has a most beautiful cathedral.
Chester Cathedral, credit Don Hazeldine
But in Norse mythology, to those uninvited squatters, the Danes, the primordial being, the Ice Giant Ymir was the Almighty creator of the cosmos.
This being, the Ice Giant Ymir, himself born from a “yeasty venom” found in the glaciers, fashioned the Earth from his own flesh; the oceans from his blood; the mountains from his bones, trees from his hair; clouds from his brains; the heavens from his skull; and from his eyebrows, he created Midgard. That’s us. Home Sweet Home. The middle realm in which humankind lives.
Philip Bews and Diane Gorvin, British artists from Coleford, Gloucestershire
But the fire giant Surtr (Old Norse Surtr, “Black,” -possibly a reference to his charred appearance) would finally end this world, leading the other giants of Muspelheim…an ashen wasteland riven by rivers of lava…. into battle against the Aesir and the Vanir gods at Ragnarok, the destruction of the cosmos.
Ragnarok was foretold as series of future cataclysmic events, including a great battle in which great Norse mythological figures and many of the gods would perish during a catastrophic series of natural disasters, including the burning of the world, and culminate in the submersion of the world underwater.
After Ragnarok, the world would rise again, cleansed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods would meet, and the world would be repopulated by two human survivors
Surtr’s name, fiery black, could possibly be equated etymologically with the word “sooty.” His destiny was to kill the god Freyr, the great god of the Vanir, a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. Freyr embodied kingship, peace, fertility, prosperity, fair weather…AND therefore by the same token of these things A GOOD HARVEST.
But Surtr was fated to kill Freyr, and to be slain by him in turn.
Lorenz Frølich
The old Norse rune associated with the god Freyr is ING or INGWAZ, signifying energy, drive, fire, seeds, germination, crops, and specifically masculine potency, can be connected to the words in English Ignition, Ingle-Nook.
The fire of ignition. The seeds of new life. This rune, associated with the god of the germination of crops, Freyr, is thereby pitting the eternal cycle, the fires of creation against Surtr’s fires of destruction.
While war, fire, drought and flood wreak havoc this El Nino season of mutable earth, this harvest time, 2026.
The eve of Aries season 2026, the eve of the spring equinox, I looked out in the darkness, looking out of my window just in time to see a hare loping full stretch across the garden below, then disappearing, round the corner of the building. It had come off The Moss behind where we live.
Only once have I seen “mad March hares” fighting just like this picture below, facing off in a field among a herd of pretty nonchalant munching sheep, late one sunny March morning. The fight ended when one of the hares turned tail and fled, and the other went bounding after him.
There are two hare species in Britain. The mountain hare is native. The brown hare (European hare) is said to have been introduced by the Romans but is now considered native. The hare is symbolic of moonlight, witchcraft and shapeshifting. A harbinger of spring, associated with Easter/Eostre/oestrus it signifies mystery, fertility, intuition, speed, agility and acuteness of the senses.
Considered sacred to the ancient tribes. There is a story that a (brown or mountain?) hare, released from a trap by Queen Boudicca herself, perhaps as an act of orchestrated divination (?) then ran towards the Roman line — a dreadful omen for the tribes, announcing the coming doom of the Iceni…and the conquest of Albion.
This was the moment of sunrise of the day of the spring equinox. The equinox portal of sun and stones, Here, where the sabre-toothed tiger once stalked the mighty wild cattle…the auroch …on the massive meeting/mating ground, or “lek” that is Salisbury Plain, the setting for Watership Down, with animation closely modelled on the actual topography.
The old Norse rune that denotes -or invokes- strength, physical power, stamina and recovery from sickness is URUZ. Named for the auroch.
By John Nail
The magnificent auroch have long ago gone, finally hunted to extinction about 3000 years ago. A few charred bones remain of ancient roasted banquets. Their descendants live on the domesticated cattle, represented by another strong rune, FEHU, signifying wealth earned through cattle and the hard work of husbandry. The modern word in English FEE, payment, comes from this same rune. The domesticated bull is still an immensely powerful animal. But smaller than the ancient auroch. One may call on Fehu for luck in financial affairs and most particularly in job hunting. This is a rune of earned income rather than bequests and legacies, which are connected with another rune, Othala, the rune of ancestors.
The auroch are long gone. Nothing left of them but cave paintings, runes and the aforementioned bones on Salisbury Plain. The sabre-toothed tiger is an ancient memory few would associate with Britain.
The rabbits abide, and the hares. The great plain abides on Watership Down and everywhere. Beauty abides, and sorrow with the joy. But when it is time for us to go, ready or not, the Black Rabbit has seen it all, and means no harm.
Today is the Aquarian Full Snow Moon in Leo at 13 degrees, and this is typical of the Tarot. I drew 3 Tarot cards inviting comment about the Full Moon and drew the Strength, the Six of Wands and the Nine of Pentacles. The Strength card, ruled by Jupiter and correlating with the zodiac sun sign of Leo (as does The Sun card) The Six of Wands which correlates with the second decan of Leo at 13 degrees.
A Full Moon of fighting energy, winning energy, scoring victories. The Sun in Leo says, ME, myself and I, with the bombast or the innocence of a child. But the Six of Wands says, the victor may wear the laurel wreath, but he did not do it alone, and the victory did not come quick or easy. It was worked for. Earned. The Six of Wands also talks about transport issues, literally, travel AND the vehicles themselves. MOTs, cars, vans, motorbikes and of courses, horses, and at this coming New Moon we will be entering a year of the Fire Horse.
These cards have “merely” reflected the astrology of this Full Moon but the synchronicity is striking.
The third card, the Nine of Pentacles is ruled by Virgo. The card nicknamed “Luxury”…this comfort has been hard earned through consistent effort. Virgo in turn is ruled by Mercury which is currently in Aquarius. A theme therefore of devotion, duty and attention to detail in tending to “our garden.” Also health matters. A Full Moon In Leo speaks, not only of our inner diva and personal projects, but of a time of great focus upon the wellbeing and happiness of what we love; new things, young things, of children and grandchildren.
The first of February marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also known as Candlemas, the Christian festival of presenting Jesus at the temple. But long before Christianity this time of year marked a more ancient celebration in Gaelic Britain: the rites of spring, and the fire festival of Imbolc.
February
Let’s get with the programme and parade down the street, and go pray for the health of the fields! It’s all about the health of the SOIL.
January and February were two new months added to create the new Gregorian calendar matching it up correctly with the 365 days of the Earth’s journey round the sun.
The Anglo-Saxons called February Sōlmōnath, from sōl , the Old English word for wet sand or mud, alluding to the weather this time of year, and the effects of rain and snow-melt. The romantic Solway Firth between North West England and South West Scotland is actually the massive tidal ‘Mud Way,’ rather than the romantic ‘Sun Way.’
The northern English scholar monk, saint Bede, wrote that February was celebrated as “the month of cakes,” when ritual offerings of savoury cakes and loaves of bread were made to ensure a good year’s harvest.
Imbolc- In the belly of the ewe
In the belly of the ewe is gestating the fiery Aries Ram-Lamb.
The fire festival of Imbolc and Brigid began as a neolithic festival marking the 1/2 way point between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Beltane.)
This half-way point correlates with 15 degrees of Aquarius. And so Imbolc this year astronomically speaking is happening 3-4 February. For more about this look up Maureen Richmond who suggests we could treat 1-4 February as the window for any observance of Imbolc this year.
Imbolc marks the start of spring, celebrating the arrival of the goddess deity Brigid, “The Exalted One,” the harbinger of the first lambs, so vital to the survival of those early communities. The deity Brigid later became conflated by the Church with the Christian figure of Saint Brigid of Kildare.
Brigid From The Sacred Circle Tarot
‘Imbolc’ is thought to mean ‘in the belly.’ It will soon be the time of the first lambing, though the start of the lambing season can vary by up to two weeks in any given year.
Brigid was a protector of women in childbirth, as well as the safe birthing of precious livestock. She was not only a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann, The Tribe of the Gods, but a triple goddess of healers, poets and smiths.
Via Wiki Riders of the Sidhe, the Tuatha de Dannan
“The Tuatha de Danaan, the people of the (mother) goddess Danu in Celtic mythology; a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians (the ancestors of the modern Irish). They were said to have been skilled in magic, and the earliest reference to them relates that, after they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge, they descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the Milesians. The Leabhar Gabhála (Book of Invasions), a fictitious history of Ireland from the earliest times, treats them as actual people, and they were so regarded by native historians up to the 17th century. In popular legend they have become associated with the numerous fairies still supposed to inhabit the Irish landscape.“-From The Encylopedia Britannica
Brigid might visit your home at Imbolc. People would make a bed for her, and leave food and drink and items of clothing outside in the hope of receiving her blessings, petitioning her to protect their homes and livestock.
This was a time for feasting and visits to sacred wells, and a time for ritual divination. A St Brigid’s cross is made from rushes and was placed in doorways to protect the home from harm, representing the wheel of the seasons.
Fire is not gentle. Spring is not gentle. New life is not gentle. It rises up fast and fierce. It has to fight in order to “become”, or it would never break through. Like a space rocket leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. Spring is fierce in its quickening of new shoots. It is initiation. Spring is fire, just as Aries the Ram of the zodiac is a cardinal fire sign, even though we do not enter Aries until late March.
Where Brigid represented an essentially feminine energy concept, the old Norse rune ING/INWAZ or INGUZ, a fire sign rune in particularly associated with masculine principles of fertility, vitality… and also recovery from sickness.
This ancient masculine fire rune represents the power and potential of “The Seed” matched with action. Literally, the name of this rune means “the seed of the god Ing.” When we say we are do-ing, writ-ing …anything at all with -ing at the end of it, we are describing an action, and indirectly, invoking the magical energy of Ingwaz.
The Elder Norse fire rune Ingwaz
The people would light bonfires on the hilltops by night, and by day, they might run cattle through the smoke of lower lying bonfires, asking divine protection for the livestock. We can think too of the comfort and the contained danger of the fire in the ingle-nook.
With the whole of Pisces season coming up next, we are being given a sneak preview of Aries.
Imbolc was a key moment in weather forecasting. This was the time when The Cailleach —the divine crone of Gaelic tradition—gathered firewood for the rest of the winter. If the Cailleach knew the winter was going to last a good while longer, she’d make sure of good weather during Imbolc, and use it to gather more firewood to top up her stores. Bad weather at Imbolc was regarded as welcome news. It meant the Cailleach wasn’t worried about running out of firewood. She had turned over and gone back to sleep, and the worst of winter was almost over.
Via Pinterest
I am somewhat mixing up these cultures, systems and traditions, but Nature is the common ground and I make no apology for it.
As I mentioned earlier, Imbolc falls at 15 degrees of Aquarius, within the second decan of the fixed Air sign of Aquarius. The fixed signs denote the height of a season. The second decan of Aquarius marks the height of winter, at least symbolically speaking, in the northern hemisphere… and yet already the snowdrops are breaking through.
The Six of Swords in the Tarot deck is a card of recovery and onward progress, taking matters into our own hands, we chart our own course into the unknown, steering the passing of winter’s peak point.
The Gilded Tarot
See the toad in the rushes? The frogs and fishes are, right now, undergoing a alchemy of profound physiological changes, getting ready to spawn. The light is coming back again, galloping faster it seems, by the day. Dark sacred night’…yes, and the night is dark. It is sacred. It brings rest and healing. But when the dark goes on too long, we rouse ourselves to purposeful Action, stirring the Promethean gift of fire.
You and I overcame such odds just to be here, to get born as US and not someone else. Science suggests the statistical odds against you and me getting born as us, and not as someone else were 1 in 400 trillion. Yet here we are. Somehow we broke through. We must have had our reasons. Mighty powerful ones.
The first of February marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also known as Candlemas, the Christian festival of presenting Jesus at the temple. But long before Christianity, this time of year marked a more ancient celebration in Gaelic Britain: the rites of spring, and the fire festival of Imbolc.
Let’s get with the programme, Imbolc style, and parade down the street, and go pray for the health of the fields! It’s all about the soil. Modern soil scientists will agree.
February
The name February comes from the Latin ‘Februarius,’ referring to Februa; a Roman festival of ritual purification. Below, the Roman spa at Bath, UK.
Two new months of January and February were added to the older Julian calendar in the 700’s BCE to create the new Gregorian calendar, matching it up more closely with the actual length of the Earth’s journey round the sun.
But the Anglo Saxons called February Sōlmōnath, from sōl , the Old English word for wet sand or mud, alluding to the weather this time of year, and the effects of rain and snow-melt. The romantic Solway Firth between North West England and South West Scotland is actually the massive tidal ‘Mud Way’ rather than the romantic ‘Sun Way.’
The northern English scholar monk , saint Bede, wrote that February was celebrated as “the month of cakes,” when ritual offerings of savory cakes and loaves of bread were made to ensure a good year’s harvest.
Imbolc
The fire festival of Imbolc and Brigid began as a neolithic festival marking the 1/2 way point between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Beltane.)
Imbolc marks the start of spring, celebrating the arrival of the goddess deity Brigid, “The Exalted One,” the harbinger of the first lambs, so vital to the survival of those early communities. The deity Brigid later became conflated with the Christian figure of Saint Brigid of Kildare.
Brigid From The Sacred Circle Tarot
‘Imbolc’ is thought to mean ‘in the belly,’ referring to the precious ewes in lamb. Soon it would -it will be- be the time of the first lambs, though the start of the lambing season can vary by up to two weeks in any given year.
Brigid was a protector of women in childbirth, as well as the safe birthing of precious livestock. She was not only a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann, The Tribe of the Gods, but a triple goddess of healers, poets and smiths.
Via Wiki Riders of the Sidhe, the Tuatha de Dannan
“The Tuatha de Danaan, the people of the (mother) goddess Danu in Celtic mythology; a race inhabiting Ireland before the arrival of the Milesians (the ancestors of the modern Irish). They were said to have been skilled in magic, and the earliest reference to them relates that, after they were banished from heaven because of their knowledge, they descended on Ireland in a cloud of mist. They were thought to have disappeared into the hills when overcome by the Milesians. The Leabhar Gabhála (Book of Invasions), a fictitious history of Ireland from the earliest times, treats them as actual people, and they were so regarded by native historians up to the 17th century. In popular legend they have become associated with the numerous fairies still supposed to inhabit the Irish landscape.”
From The Encylopedia Britannica
Brigid might visit one’s home at Imbolc. People would make a bed for her, and leave food and drink and items of clothing outside in the hope of receiving her blessings, petitioning her to protect their homes and livestock.
This was a time for feasting and visits to sacred wells, and a time for ritual divination. A St Brigid’s cross is made from rushes and was placed in doorways to protect the home from harm, representing the wheel of the seasons.
Fire and Spring is not gentle. New life is not gentle. It rises up fast and fierce. It has to, or it would never break through. Spring is fierce in its quickening of new shoots. It is initiation. Spring is fire, just as Aries the Ram of the zodiac is a cardinal fire sign, though we do not enter Aries until late March.
Where Brigid represented an essentially feminine energy, the old Norse rune ING/INWAZ or INGUZ is a fire sign rune, associated with male fertility, vitality and recovery from sickness. You can read more about runes here in a previous blog post on my website, True Tarot Tales.
This ancient masculine fire rune represents the power and potential of “The Seed” matched with action. Literally, the name of this rune means “the seed of the god Ing.” When we say we are do-ing, writ-ing …anything at all with -ing at the end of it, we are describing an action, and indirectly, invoking the magical energy of Ingwaz.
The people would light bonfires on the hilltops by night, and by day, they might run cattle through the smoke of lower lying bonfires, asking divine protection for the livestock.
The Cailleach
Imbolc was a key moment in weather forecasting. This was the time when The Cailleach —the divine crone of Gaelic tradition—gathered firewood for the rest of the winter. If the Cailleach knew the winter was going to last a good while longer, she’d make sure of good weather during Imbolc and would use it to gather more firewood to top up her stores.
Bad weather at Imbolc was regarded as great news. It meant the Cailleach wasn’t worried about running out of firewood. She had turned over and gone back to sleep, and the worst of winter was almost over. We shall see. It has been cold and clear and glorious today where I live on the NW coast of England.
Via Pinterest
I am somewhat mixing up cultures, systems and traditions here, but Nature is the common ground and I make no apology for it. Imbolc falls in the second decan of the fixed Air sign of Aquarius. The fixed signs denote the height of a season. The second decan of Aquarius marks the height of winter, at least symbolically speaking, in the northern hemisphere and now the snowdrops are here.
The Six of Swords in the Tarot deck is a card of recovery and onward progress. This can be read in terms of the natural seasons as the thawing, the passing of winter’s peak point, and now we are steering into spring.
The Gilded Tarot
See the toad in the rushes? The frogs and fishes are, right now, undergoing a alchemy of profound physiological changes, getting ready to spawn.
The light is coming back again, galloping faster it seems, by the day. Dark sacred night’…yes, and the night is dark. It is sacred. It brings rest and healing. But when the dark goes on too long, we start fighting back with the Promethean gift of fire and action.
We are HERE. And we overcame such odds just to be here, to get born as US and not someone else. Science suggests the statistical odds against you and me getting born as us and not someone else were 1 in 400 trillion. Yet here we are. Somehow WE burst through.
We must have had the need. We must have had our reasons. Mighty powerful ones.
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.
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.
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.
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
What we know of Norse Mythology comes largely from the Eddas, two collections of writings from assorted anonymous writers, dating around 1250 CE.
All Hallows Eve, Halloween or Samhain is a Gaelic custom, not Norse. The Norse peoples did mark this time of year, although in a different way, with Álfablót – the Elf Ritual.
Elves were associated with burial mounds (also known as barrows) as it was believed that they lived in or around them, and more than this, elves were associated with the souls of the dead, rather than fairies in the other sense of the word, as a supernatural entity that was never human.
Rakni’s burial mound, Noway, Public Domain
It is the largest burial mound in Scandinavia, 77 metres in diameter and over 15 metres in height. There are a number of stories associated with it, one associated with a roving sea-King Raki or…
In the wake of the resignation of Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party, although not as Prime Minister until the autumn (unless Labour, the MSM and the newly re-elected Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee and its members have their way and force him out with immediate effect)
Yesterday I drew the following cards, following a speech from Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party.
#Tarot#PrimeMinister Knight of Pentacles- Virgo-Mercury is reflecting wider economic picture, a temp slowdown, shrinking bear market which will be a problem for Virgo sun KS if elected as for any other candidate. Knight Pentacles reversed translates as slow, dead slow=inchworm
What does the same question look like when I use playing cards (cartomancy) ?
J
#Cartomancy KS speech. Future PM? Poss not prob. Ace Spades=BJ resigns. Ace Hearts=KS delighted, making his offer. 6H=finds favour with existing voters+8D=economy (his best ‘bet’) Working against him 7D + 8 Spades slander/mistrust. #Runes say secrets/bear market/defence? 1/ cont
There is a preponderance of red suit cards and a minority of black suit cards. Read in this way, – an accepted method of interpretation is via colour counting, we can read this as a yes answer.
But when I look at the overall pattern, the strong cards, the Aces are in the column that represents the premise of the situation. These cards have already been played, if you like. The answer to the question as stated is contained in the central column and while these cards are positive, they are weak. The 8 of Diamonds is stable, and represents money, but the suit of Diamonds,while it is the speediest of the suits- it is the suit of RIGHT NOW – is the least stable and the most volatile of the suits.
The cards in the right hand column represents factors that will influence the outcome.
Without a second Vote of No Confidence, or a snap General Election, voters will be without an outlet of expression. The Seven Diamonds says an element of fiscal instability- although it may not be his fault, any more than certain things have been the fault of Boris Johnson- bad luck or mistrust seems likely to dog his chances all the same. The Eight of Spades, nicknamed the Hospital card also suggests that the NHS will be a thorny issue for Keir Starmer, as it is for any Prime Minister faced addressing the unthinkable heresy- that the ever mounting demands uponthe NHS have long ago outstripped its original remit of provision.
The writer is here speaking as someone who first approached the NHS for help in 1986 (PM Margaret Thatcher) and then again in 1990 (PM John Major) and then again in 2000 (PM Tony Blair) for a mysterious problem that was only getting worse, and was eventually diagnosed as chronically acute sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis/spondylarthropy. By this time there was significant malaise, fatigue, pain, affected mobility and other movement and joint damage in multiple joints. By 2013 (PM David Cameron) I had lost the ability to walk or even stand. It meant a wheelchair, with surgery ruled out as no longer viable. The damage already done was too great.
The point here, as something of a floating voter, is that it is all too easy to blame any one government for the vastly expanded load and mission creep that has been happening over a long period of time within the NHS.
Another reading of the Eight of Spades within the context of this particular reading, is that the same thing that may be our strength may also be our weakness. In this case, the appearance of this card means that Keir Starmer is a stickler for detail, a famous weak point of Boris Johnson. But as Prime Minister he may prove intellectually inflexible in responding to grade A crises requiring vision, strategy, agility and utmost speed of decision and response.
But something is missing here from this reading for Keir Starmer. A reader looks for what is absent as well as what is present.
Tweeted
2/ Majority red suit=+ve but something’s missing. No card or rune that outright says leader/government. Diamonds=money, yes, good but least stable suit. Clubs =THE suit of government/government leaders. No Ace, King, 2, 10 Clubs. No Ansuz/Othala/Tiwaz #rune No Joker (destiny)
On the world stage
What do the cards suggest for the dynamics in the coming weeks through till late August?
There is a dominance here of the suit of Pentacles- earth suit cards to do with the bottom line: economics, money, food in the mouth whether there is a table or not.
The King of Pentacles is the first card drawn in this spread, sitting in the job, work, home and money department. Money is naturally always a high priority, but this month it is a collective high priority under fierce public discussion.
Rishi Sunak, contender for the position of the new PM of the UK former Chancellor of the Exchequer (literally a Taurean Mr Moneybags) is a Taurus subject. He is currently a front runner for the job. But that Devil card could scupper his chances of the leadership.
This is one of the cards in the Tarot that specifically talk about agriculture. The others are The Empress, Knight of Pentacles and The Seven of Pentacles.
Food security will be a hot news topic in August as we enter harvest time towards the end of the month, especially in view of the Russia theft of Ukrainian grain and blockading of Ukrainian ports. Should Russia manage to re-take Snake Island it is an added threat to Romania also.
Who else might this King of Pentacles figure represent in real life? Possibly Erdogan.
But every deck is different. One look at this artwork says ‘Japan’ and ‘Samurai’.
Readers don’t necessarily take the artwork into consideration, but sometimes it turns out that the artwork itself holds a key. That the picture itself is the Tarot’s answer.
I feel the Tarot is reflecting big developments coming out of Japan this month. It seems this card also personally represents Shinzo Abe, the assassinated former Japanese Prime Minister. An election held only two deaths after his sudden, shocking death was supported by a far higher than expected turnout, by voters who saw his murder as a threat to democracy.
One consequence of the resulting victory for the Liberal Democrat party coalition in Japan, may prove to be that in death the hawkish Shinzo Abe achieves something he campaigned for in life, to repeal Article 9, the pacifist clause in the constitution of Japan that was signed in 1947 after the Japanese surrender at the end of WW11.
(1) Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.(2) In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as another war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized..
There is something big happening here now and through August, Japan and the US gearing up in response to moves made by China in the South China Seas, the Strait of Taiwan and the Solomon Islands.
The recent China-Solomon Islands security agreement has sparked concerns among the United States and its allies about a Chinese naval presence in strategically important waters. In response, Washington should ramp up diplomacy in the South Pacific.
A clause in the agreement says that China can “make ship visits to, carry out logistical replacement in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands,” as well as send Chinese forces to the country to “protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects.” This has stoked concerns in the United States and its allies in the region that China could send troops to the Solomon Islands and establish a permanent military base there, less than two thousand kilometers from Australia.Source
The Prince of Pentacles presages key developments in the early autumn, for the UK government but also in other world arenas. These will centre upon homeland,boundaries and borders (based on the central Nine of Pentacles=Virgo=Spica=wheatsheaf) and harvests and global food production and supplies.
That Nine of Wands at the bottom represents a collective sense of battle fatigue. For many of this, this is literal, while for others it is an emotional or nervous fatigue based on monetary anxiety and the wider events of the last two-three years.
The Devil warns that there are further crisis to come before this current seismic activity in human affairs settles into its new fault lines, whatever those may look like.
The Nine of the Wands and the Nine of Pentacles however, are cards of fortitude, determination, courage, stamina and tenacity.
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends”….
In terms of timings, the Nine of Pentacles-Nine of Wands spans early October-early December for pivotal developments in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. A treaty? Likely not so soon, because of The Devil. Ukraine, if Putin offers terms for a ceasefire, which may happen if he consolidates possession in the Donbas, may not agree terms at his price.
The Prince of Cups, a most happy, congenial and positive card in general terms ‘-summer time and the living is easy’- is drawn with the Moon card (danger by night, danger by water, or by contagion) possibly detecting key naval and maritime events between late summer/early autumn and early winter, in respect of Russia or China or both.
The Devil card represents frustration, entrapment, desire, temptation, and
a) authority in all its forms, positive as well as negative, eg, responsibility, care, duty, wise counsel
b) Capricorn in terms of timing.
This seems to show an up-scaling of the situation in the Black Sea, where Russia is essentially blockading grain exports from Odessa, and other Ukraine Black Sea ports, exporting stolen grain.
NATO have been laissez-faire, had their eye way too long off this potential Achilles heel in the Black Sea is a point being made in the YouTube presentation below.
It needs tackling with a will before winter, suggests the ISA rune- (the ICE rune is the little black stone painted with what looks like a capital letter I.)
Putin will understand this perfectly and won’t be in any hurry.
However:-
Putin and Zelenskyy edge closer to Black Sea shipping truce
“The leaders of Russia and Ukraine held separate talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Monday on plans to reopen safe routes for shipping grain via the Black Sea.
Erdoğan’s phone calls with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy will boost hopes that he is making progress toward brokering an agreement that would allow shipments of grain from Ukrainian ports to resume.
“President Erdogan noted that it was time for the United Nations to take action for the plan regarding the formation of secure corridors via the Black Sea for the grain export,” a Turkish readout from his call with Russia’s president says.”
Full Moon 12 August in Aquarius is conjunct Saturn and is square to Uranus and Mars – a recipe for high global tensions and armed confrontation, suggesting this is not yet the time for any talk of a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine, or between China and the US
New Moon 27 August is in Virgo, Jupiter is on the seventh house cusp in London, UK. The Seventh house is the zodiac house of diplomacy, marriages, agreements, trues and partnership. There may be talk of a snap election to come in the autumn, though this is not looking highly likely at the time of writing. Jupiter is the Greater Benefic, and symbolically a reason for optimism sitting in the house of negotiations. Could this represent a glimmer of hope for de-escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine?
Let’s hope Ukraine can dominate/reclaim/secure Kherson.
Till next time, take it easy. Eat/take plenty of vitamin B. Good for the nerves.
I can’t really see Putin eating up his bowl of fortified cereal. Unless it’s made with stolen Ukrainian cereal crops, yum yum. He needs a time sensitive reason to want to talk peace sooner rather than later.
The word ‘rune’ comes from the old Germanic, ‘runa’ or ‘runo’ meaning a secret thing, a mystery. The northern peoples saw the Earth, its forces and all things in nature seen as living forces or spirits to be honoured and respected. The runes were and still are used for psychic readings and advice- divination -or used for magical purposes and good luck – seidr.
Runes were the first systems of writing developed and used by the Norse and other Germanic peoples. These runic alphabets are known as “futharks” after the first six runes (Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, and Kenaz) – just as the word “alphabet” comes from the names of the first two Semitic letters (Aleph, Beth).
There are three rune alphabets or futharks: the Elder, Younger and Saxon futharks. The 24-character Elder Futhark was the first fully-formed runic alphabet, dating back, so far as we know, to the first century CE/AD, though it may have been in development from about 200 BCE.
Today we are working with the Elder Futhark, illustrated below.
The more specific the question, the more specific and detailed the reading. Here, we have no specific question., so the findings are very general. The reader is looking for the feel of things, the tone, and for challenges, opportunities or guidance contained within the runes selected blindly and at random.
Review -April rune reading
In a rune reading done late March 2022, the runes talked about a highly volatile, tense and unstable month to come in April 2022.
The reader wrote, “Thurisaz is the Thorn rune, symbolizing the hammer of Thor, the Norse god of Thunder and Thursdays. This rune is known as the rune of chaos, such as we have all been witnessing at extreme levels in recent weeks. Thurisaz talks about ‘thorny issues’- major challenges. It describes or forecasts situations of defence, attack and storms. This may also refer to other related natural events, such as floods or tsunamis in April.”
12-14 April we witnessed floods in South Africa, Kwazulu, Durban, 12-14 April as reported here in the ‘The New York Times’ 19 April 2022:-
Nearly 4,000 homes have been destroyed and more than twice as many damaged in the Durban area after a week of punishing rains and mudslides. The death toll is now 448, with about four dozen people unaccounted for.
Runes, like astrology, like Tarot or card reading, may be used for guidance and advice, for forecasting/prediction or for both. Many readers nowadays use runes purely for personal guidance. The problem with forecasting is, we will not always like it, and what can we do about it anyway? The answer to this can only be that forewarned is forearmed. The forecast may turn out to be wrong. It may prove to be unduly pessimistic, and if we are feeling anxious or depressed, this may only add to the weight of our burden.
The best way to use psychic prediction is to treat is as a hint , see how it fits with your own assessment and gut feeling, and for the rest, time will tell. If a weather forecaster says it’s sunny outside right now, and there is not a cloud in the sky, but the weather forecaster tells us there is a new weather front on the way and it’s going to rain later, we can decide whether or not to go out and if we do, whether to take a raincoat.
Runecastfor May 2022
We have drawn two runes for this coming month, Elhaz and Ingwaz, choosing these runes to represent the general tone and dynamic in world affairs and in our personal affairs as well this month.
Such a reading will obviously be general in scope but there are seasons in events, just as there are different seasons in the year. We have times that are quieter than others. Then we have times of mass general turmoil, as with World Wars 1 and 11 for instance, 1939-1945, and these things tend to go in cycles. We are currently in a cycle of which began in 2019 and which astrologers suggest will calm down 2025/2026.
IMG Katie-Ellen Hazeldine
Elhaz/Algiz/Eohl
KEYWORDS: Protection, guardian, awakening, courage, defence, acting on our instinct
The rune on the left, Elhaz the Elk is also known as Eohl or Algiz.
It means The Elk or The Sedge, or even, The Elk-Sedge. The runes were inspired by things familiar in the landscapes inhabited by these various northern peoples. The wild antlered elk was still roaming wild in northern Europe at that time. The sedge is a grass-like plant that grows on wet ground, found in temperate and colder climates.
Here, Elhaz has been drawn reversed (merkstave.) First let us imagine it turned upright. Now you see the ‘antlers’ and you can see that this rune also looks like rather a person raising their arms to heaven in appeal for help, or else making an invocation.
Elhaz is a rune of general protection, very powerful but the power comes from the mind of the person using it to protect themselves or another. It will not remove all obstacles. We cannot and will not always be comfortable and safe in this life. Sometimes we struggle. Sometimes we need to stand up for ourselves and fight our own corner. We will never arrive at our full power if we always run away from a fight. Viking warriors used to decorate their shields with this rune but some still died in battle. The Vikings did not take this as a sign that the rune had no power, but instead as a sign that this was the warrior’s time to die; that The Norns or Fates had decreed it. It is worth noting, that the Norns, although they scratched our names and destinies in the bark of the World Tree at the moment of our birth, did allow scope for a mortal to change their own destiny, unlike the Fates of Greek mythology. The Norns saw the future in more fluid terms, less a fixed destiny, more of ‘becoming,’ or that which should be.
Personal Reflection
Elhaz reversed is a sign of vulnerability or warns us that we may be making a sacrifice with no gain. Perhaps this month we need to watch out that we are not misled by others or possibly conned out of our money, or made a scapegoat for someone else’s mistakes. Elhaz reversed warns us to pay attention to our surroundings, not to take our own safety for granted, and not to make any big moves too soon in a new relationship. We need to give it more time, and learn more about this person. Everyone makes mistakes. But we must learn from any past mistakes or be doomed to repeat them.
There may be a person to avoid this month or an offer which should be refused. The classic advice applies with Elhaz reversed. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
The rune on the right, Ingwaz is also known as Ing or Inguz. It may look like a simple diamond, as illustrated above. Alternatively it may look like this:
The word Ingwaz means literally ‘god-seed’. This rune, Ingwaz, Inguz or Ing, comes from an ancient god image Ing, which was an older name for Freyr, a later Swedish Viking god of virility, fertility and agriculture, like another famous pre- Christian figure of mythology, The Green Man.
The Green Man, Rochester Cathedral via Wiki
Ingwaz is talking about the earth itself; the planting of seeds, germination and new life. It is talking about fertility, in this case especially masculine fertility. But it may also be talking in a more abstract sense as in, planting the seeds of a new idea.
Ingwaz is a favourable rune of positive action, unity, agreements, and peace, although the situation may require plenty of careful treatment, and enough time and space to flourish. Ingwaz is all about ‘doing.’
‘Ing’ is in constant use in modern English as a language participle “-ing” adding action to a verb. We say ‘Go-ing’, ‘Read-ing’, ‘See-ing etc. The addition of “ing” represents action.
Ingwaz suggests a successful conclusion in solving a problem at hand. Ingwaz can signify milestone events, such as a new baby or a new job. It cannot be reversed. It looks the same right way up as it does upside down so it has no negative meaning unless it is surrounded by negative runes. Here, it has been drawn opposite Elhaz reversed, a negative meaning of danger. The appearance of Ingwaz in this context offers a faint glimmer of hope for diplomatic efforts to bear some fruit in May. But if not, this fiery rune promises a very determined and courageous on-going resistance to attack, wherever it is being waged by one state against another.
Ingwaz the ‘seed’ is by extension also to do with agriculture-food. Looking at Ingwaz in relation to our first rune, Elhaz merkstave, we can see that issues to do with food supplies, shortages and increases in the cost of food will be featuring large in the news this coming month, as Russia’s war on Ukraine affects exports globally, but especially Egypt and Africa.
The danger of Elhaz drawn reversed married up with the vital spark of Ing can mean sudden fiery events in May 2022, such as rockets and missiles, as we are so horrifically seeing, or wildfire such as we have witnessed in New Mexico already this month.
It may also be worth noting that 10 May big bold Jupiter, the ‘Greater Benefic’ an optimistic, generous, benevolent planet in astrological terms, left deep watery Pisces and moved into bold, fiery, hyperactive Aries, where it stays until 28 October 2022. This is big, bold, active energy for good or bad,
Generally, this planetary transit is understood as a positive influence, happening only every 11 or 12 years, although the potential for disruption is self evident. World War 1 and World War 11 both began during a Jupiter in Aries transit, but that also meant of course, a number of such transits in between these events with no war, so let us not worry too much.
Personal Reflection
Ingwaz is a powerfully positive rune in general. It tends to bring an easing of something that has been worrying us. There may be a sense of relief about something this coming month or a sense of excitement, pride or accomplishment for a problem sorted or a job well done, or a new project coming over the horizon.
Ingwaz is a positive rune in relationships, starting a family or launching a new project or venture if that is what we are looking for. It brings a boost of energy, physical and mental.
Ingwaz indicates that this coming month is a good time for home improvements on the one hand, spring cleaning, maintenance and upgrades, and at the other end of the scale, taking into account the challenges in this coming month signified by, Elhaz reversed, do we need to review our safeguarding, home security or our personal security?
In our personal lives, this rune is has a particularly masculine energy. It signifies good times, new love relationships and weddings. We could see that a project starts coming together. With care, discipline and patience, this rune says it will bear fruit.
True Tarot Tales 