The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for December 16, 2016:
Active Influence: Hrungnir/Seven of Wands
Rune: Os/The God Voice
Hidden Influence: Asvid/The Hierophant

While the contentious Sisters of the Five of Wands took today off, Their pal Hrungnir shows up with His brand of querulous energies. Don’t challenge Gods to riddle contests. Don’t get drunk at a party. Don’t get into a fight with someone bigger and stronger than you.

Those things aside, you may find yourself in an unequal battle with inadequate tools against an adversary who has stacked the odds against you. If you must fight, use all of the tools available to you, enlist those who can help to join your cause, and do your best.

Os appears (again) reminding you that you need to listen. Many arguments can be avoided if you take time to hear what’s really going on, rather than taking things at face value and/or making assumptions. Os is associated with Loki, so perhaps eloquence can help you through this difficult day—or perhaps it’s a warning not to take someone at their word. It is certainly not a recommendation to engage in trickery—that’s not going to have the desired results.

Asvid urges you to operate from your best, authentic self today. Heed the wisdom of others who have walked your path. They may have helpful suggestions to solving your problems—or at least really good advice about what doesn’t work. You don’t know everything, so be willing to learn.

My Baby Has No Name Yet
~ Kim Nam-jo
Translated from Korean by Ko Won

My baby has no name yet;
like a new-born chick or puppy,
my baby is not named yet.

What numberless texts I examined
at dawn and night and evening over again!
But not one character did I find
which is as lovely as the child.

Starry fields of the sky,
or heap of pearls in the depth.
Where can the name be found, how can I?

My baby has no name yet;
like an unnamed bluebird or white flowers
from the farthest land for the first,
I have no name for this baby of ours.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for December 15, 2016:
Active Influence: Kolga/Six of Cups
Rune: Gar/The Unknown
Hidden Influence: Mordgud/Judgment

Some part of your emotional past is thawing, and feelings long-forgotten (or perhaps never acknowledged or expressed) rise to the surface. Mordgud tells you that you must deal with your stuff, because your stuff is going to deal with you. Gar brings in Odin’s energies, poetry and magic and sacrifice. You can’t predict what’s going to happen, and you don’t actually need to know. Do your work, and let the Universe do its part. Don’t make the Universe wait for you to catch up—you won’t like the results.

A simple poem, yet breathtaking in its imagery.

Men in the City
~ Alfonsina Storni
Translated from Spanish by Rachel Benson

The woods of the horizon
are on fire;
eluding flames,
the swift blue bucks
of twilight
cross.

Little golden goats
migrate toward
the vault
and recline
on the blue moss.

Below,
the city
rises up,
a cement rose,
motionless on its stem
of dark cellars.

Its black pistils—
towers, cupolas—
emerge,
waiting for lunar pollen.

Suffocated
by the flames of the fire
and lost
among the petals of the rose
almost invisible,
crossing back and forth
the men . . . .

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for December 14, 2016:
Active Influence: Loki, Angrboda, & Sigyn/The Lovers
Rune: Os/ The God Voice (reversed)
Hidden Influence: Groa/Nine of Wands

I admit—I pulled the Five of Wands out of the deck before I shuffled today, and suggested to the contentious sisters that they go get their nails done and have a massage, relax a bit. Because I really didn’t want to see them today. Cheating? Perhaps. Do I care? Not today.

The Lovers card is not without its conflicts, however. Like Loki attempting to balance his relationships between his two very different wives and sets of children, you are pulled in different directions, which may appear irreconcilable. Instead of either/or, however, see if you can find a way to create a both/and situation. You may not be able to do everything you want in both spheres, but there’s probably a way for you to do enough in each to keep the peace, internally and externally.

Groa says that, while the balancing act may be more work than you feel you can handle, you won’t know unless you try. You will need to keep strong boundaries around your time and energy, and move forward in confidence that you are equal to the task.

Os reversed is a caution to pay attention. You are being sent messages, and you are not hearing them. Listen to those who have something to teach (here we come back to Groa), and you will save yourself a great deal of time and pain. Remember that you have one mouth for speaking and two ears for listening, and act accordingly.