The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for March 15, 2017
Active Influence: Hronn/Five of Cups
Rune: Chalc/Chalice (reversed)
Hidden Influence: Kolga/Six of Cups

And, here we are, back to the cards being from the same suit. Bonus today: they are in numerical sequence. The odds of this are staggering, and yet, here we are.

Kolga symbolizes the thawing of frozen or stuck emotions, and the energy that wells up during the process. We may be pleasantly reminded of happy times, or be blindsided by the resurgence of the memory of a painful event.

Hronn’s presence is not reassuring—She represents fear, panic, paranoia, and emotional instability. The intensity of what comes up today may be more than you can handle alone—turn to a friend, a therapist, your Gods, whoever can help you deal with what you’re feeling. Notice that even Kolga insulates herself with a fur pelt. Wrap yourself in your favorite blanket, wear your lucky sweater, do what it takes to help you cope.

Chalc is reversed, meaning the chalice is empty. The emotions will pass if you let them pass through you. Feel them, process them, and let them go. Ebb tide follows high tide. Bless and release.

Your emotional experience of today may be challenging, perhaps even soul-wrenching; the best way to deal with it is to meet it directly, and with support.

This, too, shall pass, and the sun will rise again tomorrow.

Peace
~William Butler Yeats

Ah, that Time could touch a form
That could show what Homer’s age
Bred to be a hero’s wage.
‘Were not all her life but storm
Would not painters paint a form
Of such noble lines,’ I said,
‘Such a delicate high head,
All that sternness amid charm,
All that sweetness amid strength?’
Ah, but peace that comes at length,
Came when Time had touched her form.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for March 14, 2017
Active Influence: Gefjon/Ace of Coins
Rune: Mannaz/Self (reversed)
Hidden Influence: Glut, Einmyria & Eisa/Three of Wands

The cards are from different suits today, reflecting a balance of energies, rather than a concentration of them.

Gefjon is all about The Work. The only way for the work to be done is to do it, so get to it. The reversed Mannaz indicates you may be feeling slightly detached from yourself, which can be useful for focusing on what you need to do.

Glut, Einmyria & Eisa remind you to celebrate your achievement! Reward yourself for your efforts and results—take a hot bath, enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, read on the couch—whatever makes you happy and helps you relax.

So, it’s been almost a month since PantheaCon, and I’m just now getting around to reviewing my notes! I’m not entirely sure where the last three weeks have gone. Thus, without further ado, I present my first PantheaCon write up, with more to follow this week!

PantheaCon 2017 Report: Advancing Devotional Practice with Silence Maestas, February 18, 2017

Saturday morning, I actually managed to get out of bed earlier than I do for work (and getting up for work is no small feat, let me assure you—morning is something that happens to other people) to pull myself together to attend a 9:00 AM workshop with Silence Maestas on”Advancing Devotional Practice“. I’ve read Silence’s book “Worshipping Loki“, so it was great to finally hear her speak in person!

Silence began the discussion with the question, “What is devotional practice?” For her, it means prioritizing your emotional engagement with your spirituality, which I think is a fantastic working definition. Regardless of what you say your priorities are, your actions reveal the truth about what you value.

One of the keys to devotional practice is “radical solitude”, which gives us the time and space we need to get in touch with our selves and our truths. As she put it (I’m paraphrasing here), self knowledge is knowledge of the path, and we have to be our own manuals. I found that especially relevant, as it seems we are constantly being told by the dominant culture that only designated experts have the real information, and we must turn to them for answers. Despite the staggering number of self-help books in the spirituality section of your local bookstore, you are still the authority on your soul, your truth, your life.

From the theoretical, the conversation turned to the practical. You can’t get a room full of pagans together without the subject of altars coming up, and since altars are a significant part of devotional practice for many of us, the discussion was lively and useful.

We exchanged Handy Pagan Household tips (use a paper bag and an iron set on low to remove candle wax from carpet), discussed the acceptability of electric candles (perfectly useful, especially if you need to leave the flame unattended), and raised the question no one could really answer—”How do I keep my cat from drinking from the water offering bowl on the altar?” The general consensus was that the cat is going to do what the cat wants to do, and if you can’t keep the cat out of the altar room, the cat is going to drink the water.

From there, the conversation went to expectations versus reality in devotional practice. Many people commented that they wanted to spend more time in practice, but found it difficult to create the time they needed. Silence suggested starting by recognizing your expectations for what you want to do can be a goal, rather than an obstacle. Rather than trying to do everything right now, start with where you are, and work towards where you want to be. Which, really, is useful advice for pretty much any undertaking!

As a follow up last week, Silence did a great blog post on “Devotional Practice Shouldn’t Make You Feel Like a Failure“, expanding on some of the discussion in this workshop.

This workshop was fun, engaging, and useful, and I hope to see it again next year at PantheaCon!

A Woman Meets an Old Lover
~ Denise Levertov

‘He with whom I ran hand in hand
kicking the leathery leaves down Oak Hill Path
thirty years ago

appeared before me with anxious face, pale,
almost unrecognized, hesitant,
lame.

He whom I cannot remember hearing laugh out loud
but see in mind’s eye smiling, self-approving,
wept on my shoulder.

He who seemed always
to take and not give, who took me
so long to forget,

remembered everything I had so long forgotten.’