Welcome to the Litha Tarot Blog Hop, whether you’ve hopped from Kerry Ardilla’s blog or Chloe’s Celtic Lenormand Oracle.
Happy summer solstice! Being the big cosmology fan that I am, I borrowed a space illustration of how the Earth’s seasons work. That one on the far left is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. All that we are, and all that we live, is reflected again in the largeness of the universe.
Or this is Litha, as I am informed by our intrepid blog hop wrangler, Sharon Cumming. A very long-time celebration of warm weather, earliest harvests of summer foods (we have tomatoes already here in the subtropics of southeast Texas) and the burning of bonfires to reflect the heat of the sun in its longest sojourn of the year. I remember when I lived in England how much longer the days were at this time, with sunsets at 10 pm or later. Here in Texas, the difference is not so great between summer and winter, but 8:30 pm for sunset will do!
Sharon has challenged us to shine like the sun and show off our own personal creative impulses today (anything from recipes and knitting to writing and music and visual art). Today is the longest session of daylight for the year, and it’s a good time to expand our own creative lights.
I’m not much in the way of a visual artist or craftwoman. My cooking skills are quite good, but I like to follow other people’s instructions. My husband is in charge of kitchen experimentation. 😉
I do indulge in a bit of verse-making, though, so I’ll share with you the Tarot card (from the effervescent Ciro Marchetti) that came to me as symbolic of the thinning of the veil between the worlds of the physical and the spiritual at these times of marking and celebration, when the faery folk dance and become more visible, and we find it easier to hear our own muses speak. And although the High Priestess is associated with the Moon and not the Sun, the Moon reflects the Sun’s light to pull back the veil and reveal the mysterious journey to the soul. Sit for a moment, eyes closed, breathing deeply, chest to belly, in and out. See her sitting, flying, or standing softly in the distance; hear her calling to your soul to go deeper to find your own light to lift and guide you to the peace on the other side.
As part of the design of my Cosmic Whispers deck, based on some pretty cool pics of the larger universe beyond the Earth, I wrote a little poem about the High Priestess, which I share here along with my image choice from the veiled moon Enceladus at Saturn as my gift to the solstice and the blog hop:
Incense and smoke wind
through a torchlit labyrinth.
She strokes the shadows,
traces marble cracks
where darkness oozes
black onto her icy feet.
The other side of visions;
the other side of stars
she bows low before it,
a bright white veil waving.
Behind it, an altar looms
but no blood nourishes
these gods, only a great book.
Bound she is to its secrets,
alone she stretches hands,
raises dark gray eyes.
She murmurs sybillas
through scarlet lips.
Her curved skin shivers
along its length, shifting.
Behind the veil,
beyond the stars,
She flies into darkness
to bear a message back.
Look upon her pale form,
gaze into those smoky eyes,
and fall yourself into the deep.
Time for consciousness to sleep.
And spirit to awake.
Thanks for joining me for this Sun and Moon celebration of all the worlds.
Effervescent is a great word for Ciro 🙂 I can see how that High Priestess works for you 🙂
Wow that’s an AMAZING photo, Joanne! And excellent poem – clearly a woman of many talents!
Ali x
Thank you for your beautiful poem Joanne. You took me through the depths of your thoughts with that one. 🙂
Lovely card and lovely poem. With the grand trine in water (Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in water signs) it seems that many are choosing poetry for this hop. Nice!
That’s interesting, Cassandra. I look forward to reading other folks’ verses then. Ah, and we are Sun in Cancer now, I believe, so jump in, the water is fine!
Thanks, Alison and Vivianne!
Lovely. Just lovely, Joanne. I’m so pleased to see all my fellow poets putting forth!
I loved your poem 🙂
Love Ciro’s work. Lovely poem.
What a gorgeous poem! I never thought about what colour the High Priestesses eyes would be, and like the idea of the grey that is the dark of night and the light of the moon…
Lovely post, Joanne – what a beautiful poem! The High Priestess is associated, astrologically, with the Moon, the ruler of the sign of Cancer – so no surprise this is the card that came to you, perhaps?! Thanks so much for sharing…
A fabulous poem! You really captured the spirit and energy of the High Priestess in Ciro’s card. Your words paint a beautiful atmosphere and a striking visual image of the Priestess in action.
Thanks, all, and especially for those who persevered through the whole list this week. It was actually nice to see comments throughout the week, and to have some good inspiration to write more poems for the rest of the cards (at least the majors…).
What a brilliant word for Ciro Marchetti: effervescent!
Love the poem too, thank you – we all know writing is one of your many talents 😉
Thanks, Louise! Ciro’s digital artwork is just stunning and really draws one in. I find myself using his decks regularly, so that’s the biggest compliment I can give. And thanks for the writing kudo; reminds me I need to get to it….:)
Well, since we’ve both reminded each other of what we’ve forgotten to keep abreast of, lets hop to it. But, tomorrow, okay? 😉
Yep, Louise, for you tomorrow. For me, still workin.’ Published the new post for my Lenormand journal blog and one for this blog, to be published on Thursday. Now I’m off to update hubby’s jewelry and gardening blog…Funsies. 🙂
Oh, lots of writing!! 🙂
Enjoy 🙂