Recently I signed up to do a class with Emily at Wise Woman Witchery about creating a story about myself, my past, my present and my future. This was a really interesting class, using Numerology and a tarot spread of sorts to write the story.
I used two dates with Numerology to find out what two cards were my Lifetime and Year cards. My Lifetime card was The Emperor, although the deck I used to do this has a different name for it (The Forest Lord), and my Year card ended up being The Hermit. This was interesting because I did a Year Ahead reading for myself back in December and I chose The Hermit to represent myself then.
Below is the story I wrote based on the eleven cards I pulled during the course of building the story and then the two cards found using Numerology. Each section was written based on the energy of one card and the order they appear is the order for the story.
Once upon a time, a portal opened birthing me into the world, a seed ready to blossom, full of authority, connected to nature, focused on the future and how I can better connect to nature. I was surrounded by green, healing and cleansing energy. I was also full of hope for the future. I wanted to have structure and guidance. I was full of masculine energy, swinging between light and dark energies.
As I grew, so too did my curious and powerful Gifts, nurturing me so I could nurture others. At times I felt left out in the cold but there was always someone to care and look after me, to show me the way forward. There was always someone willing to show me my next new beginning. The gift of sleep would sometimes evade me but I was always shown a new way to discover a new side. I was shown the power of love, in its simplest and purest form.
One seemingly perfect day, a message arrived in the form of knowing and I was required to sacrifice romantic love and connections. I was being asked to walk this path alone, without a human companion. But this allowed me to discover a different type of love – that of self-love, acceptance of who and what I am so that I could assist others with their own discovery and nurture of self. I was near to others but apart from them.
In the aftermath, I looked in the mirror and found reflected knowledge, not new knowledge but ancient. So ancient that the owls still continue to protect it from those who would abuse it. This knowledge was of all things, past, present and future, and how they weave this world together. It spoke of how cyclical everything is, the seasons, life, death and rebirth. It showed the patterns that are present in every aspect of life. But knowledge doesn't just come from books because I found I could learn from animals, plants and trees just as much. I also discovered the power of individuality and how amazing it is to not conform to the practices and expectations of others.
A shattering occurred, the constructs of my old beliefs fell away and a new story emerged. A story of being different and retreating into my own company. A story of self-respect and love as I built boundaries between myself and those around me. But these were not impenetrable walls, rather they allowed me to be accessible but only if that is what I wished to do. I was not alone as I had messengers with me to guide me on how to be with myself and comfortable in my own skin.
One initiation after the next led me to my most recent birthday the omens foretold when I discovered the power that comes from solitude and focusing on my own passions and journey. I was led to a greater knowledge of my self, not just the good but also my own Shadows. I discovered that they are an essential part of me that I need in order to find completion. I rediscovered hobbies that I hadn't done in years, things I had forgotten about. These things allowed me to see that I am an essential thread in the world and that my own story is being woven into the story of the world as a whole. I may feel separate, like a spectator of the world, but I am still a part of it.
New gifts arrived in the shape of the ability to lead others along their path of self-knowledge and illumination. I paved the way and guided them as they discovered their own power and light that joined the throng and shone like stars to guide others. Each was different and unique and at various stages but I approached them with gentleness, love and compassion, adapting my own experiences so that they could find their own methods that worked for them.
Yet still as the clock struck the witching hour, I was haunted by the ghosts of self, appearing as dangers which my intuition warned me of. I did not always listen to my intuition so I kept putting myself in danger of losing everything I had gained until then. I wanted security and abundance but I didn't see that I already had it in its most natural form. I was blinded and stubborn, forcing my ill-formed plans without realising what I was doing with them. That I was my own worst enemy, pushing the world away.
As the shell of Winter cracked and the Spring whispered soundlessly, the ghosts made their needs known: I needed to stop and think about the consequences of my actions before I did anything. I was needing to reconnect with nature and learn how to be patient again. I needed to learn how to listen to the messages being carried on the wind that I had previously been ignoring. I could not truly guide others if I could not take my own advice and do that which I was teaching. I needed to ground myself in reality so that the future, the Great Unknown, held nothing fearful.
In the deep sleep of integration, prophecy bled from dreams and slid into the now with the promise of a soul family in the future. There was a new beginning waiting for me, full of the fertile promise of Spring. My uniqueness would not be alone, and I would find the company of those who were like me. After a deep journey within, promoted by Winter, Spring held the promise of new growth and a blossoming, with a future promise of an abundant and plentiful harvest.
The ancestors and descendants gathered as guides and offered a new perspective of life, a view that was filled with wonder and childlike enthusiasm. They spoke of finding the awe-filled wonder that I had had as a child but somehow lost in my adulthood. They showed me that nature has always surrounded me and that there is so much I could learn from plants and trees that I hadn't realised was possible.
My future Self reached back across time, wisdom echoing with a message of patience and inner work. My future Self was guiding and nurturing me to see that I am being prepared for the next phase of my journey, but that I would be guided to it if I could only give over control about when it would be made manifest in my life. I was needing to remember and integrate past lessons before I would be birthed into the next phase of my life. I was needing to allow myself to be suspended, literally and figuratively, before I could move into my future.
In the end, my next beginning was born when I could see my fears as they truly are and now how I imagined them to be. My next beginning was possible only when I confronted my Shadows and accepted them. In the darkness, it was easy for me to imagine the worst but my imagination would not consider the lessons I had the potential of learning from my fears and shadows. I could not see that my own fears and insecurities were holding me back but I was being shown that I had the power to free myself from them.
I did read through it and made some small amendments to bits where I didn't feel I had accurately described the energy of a card. Then I shared it with a close friend without any context to what I wrote before telling her about the cards and she said that from the story, it appeared that my focus now isn't on my previous path and that I do actually have a strong focus on my future, goals and desires which have been influenced by my past. I thought this was interesting as she is my closest friend and has given me further insight into the events of my past and how they have influenced me, while this story is about my past (cards 1-5), present (card 6) and future (cards 7-13).
A second exercise was suggested for after the class concluded and I have taken the time to do this as an extra personal activity. This was to write a poem based on key-words or phrases that I took particular note of when re-reading the story through in my own time. So here is my poem:
I was connected to nature
Through the balance of light and dark,
Allowing its healing to nurture
A new beginning of the simplest
And purest love that is self-love,
Acceptance of being alone.
Seeing the ancient patterns of
Individuality and self-respect,
Of boundaries and being with my Self,
Noticing my Shadows so I can walk
The path to self-knowledge,
To inspire others to shine like stars
Using love and compassion to
Find inner security, to learn
How to be patient again, to
Listen to the words being
Carried on the wind.
Becoming grounded in reality so
I am connected to the Great Unknown,
With the promise of Spring bringing
New growth and a new beginning,
Allowing a blossoming of wonder
And childlike enthusiasm for
Patience and inner work,
Learning how to give over control to
Integrate past lessons experienced
Through confronting my Shadows
And accepting my own
Fears and insecurities
Were holding me back but I do have
The power to set myself free.
This was really interesting as in the Divination topic of the Priestess Path course, a suggested exercise was to draw three cards and write a story with a beginning, middle and end based on the images of the cards. I had planned on doing this exercise but I've used the Once Upon A Time class instead as it is very similar.
If any of you are thinking of working with Emily at Wise Woman Witchery in some way, I would recommend following that idea through because she has been so helpful to me in my own journey and I haven't a single regret about working with her. Every penny spent on any course, class or conference is well-spent, in my opinion and I hope you grab any opportunity to further your own growth with both hands.
I hope this inspires you to look into your own story using tarot as the inspiration.
Peace and love to all!!!
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