The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for January 13, 2017
Active Influence: Jord/Queen of Coins
Rune: Eihwaz/Yew
Hidden Influence: Vafthrudnir/Two of Swords

You are so ready for the weekend, but first, you do have some things to wrap up. You will be able to enjoy the weekend more fully if you don’t have unfinished work hanging over your head, so clear the decks of distractions and get on with it. The need for strong boundaries continues, although today it’s more about removing things which keep you from doing your work than defending against personal attacks.

Focus, do what must be done, and if you can sneak out early without penalty, go for it!

The Community Altar for January 2017 has been posted on my Patreon wall! I apologize for the delay in actually posting it. I’ve been trying to get all of the technology to cooperate, in order to post a photo of the altar with all of the candles lit that isn’t either a) too dark to see anything or b) totally washed out by the camera flash. I finally found a way to light the photo so that it can be see, without overlighting it and losing the magical effects of the candles.

Check it out!

The Death of Myth-Making
~ Sylvia Plath

Two virtues ride, by stallion, by nag,
To grind our knives and scissors:
Lantern-jawed Reason, squat Common Sense,
One courting doctors of all sorts,
One, housewives and shopkeepers.

The trees are lopped, the poodles trim,
The laborer’s nails pared level
Since those two civil servants set
Their whetstone to the blunted edge
And minced the muddling devil

Whose owl-eyes in the scraggly wood
Scared mothers to miscarry,
Drove the dogs to cringe and whine
And turned the farmboy’s temper wolfish,
The housewife’s, desultory.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for January 12, 2017
Active Influence: Fenris/The Devil
Rune: Ior/Jormundgand, Boundaries
Hidden Influence: Gunnlod/Two of Cups

Ior returns from yesterday’s reading, emphasizing the continued need for strong and well-defined boundaries. Keep out what is not yours to deal with, and do not inflict on others what is properly yours to manage.

Odin returns as well, and in chronological order pf the story of His theft of the Mead of Poetry. Yesterday, we saw him as the serpent in the Hidden Influence; today, again in the Hidden Influence card, He has invaded Suttung’s secret treasure vault. Having resumed an Aesir form, he woos Gunnlod in order to steal the Mead of Poetry. She’s been locked away in this vault by herself for years, so she is more susceptible to the charms of this random visitor than she might otherwise be. Likewise, you may have a vulnerability you’re not aware of that makes others think they can take advantage of you. If someone is making wild promises, keep your emotions in check and bide your time.

Fenris (Jormundgand’s sibling, just to add another layer of connection) is the Active Influence. Today, think carefully before taking action. Be honest with yourself about your motives, and what is actually driving your behaviors. We all have the monster within who threatens to break free and wreak havoc, and we all have to learn to deal with that monster in a way that relieves the pressure without destroying the world. If someone is directing their Fenris energy at you, call upon Jormundgand to reflect it back to them.

Running Water
~ Alfonsina Storni

Yes, I move, I live, I wander astray—
Water running, intermingling, over the sands.
I know the passionate pleasure of motion;
I taste the forests; I touch strange lands.

Yes, I move—perhaps I am seeking
Storms, suns, dawns, a place to hide.
What are you doing here, pale and polished—
You, the stone in the path of the tide?