Posts tagged fairy tale tarot
This Week’s Fairy Tale Tarot: Six of Cups, The Nightingale
Apr 6th
This week’s Fairy Tale Tarot comes from a Danish story called “The Nightingale”. This story was written by Hans Christian Andersen and was originally published in Copenhagen in 1843 and is said to be a story based on the author’s unrequited love for an opera singer of the time, Jenny Lind. The story has been adapted into films and plays including a stage version in 1982 in London featuring the amazing singer Sarah Brightman, and in 1983 is was a featured tale on Shelley Duvall’s show of the time, Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theater. The story tells the tale of an emperor who makes the mistake of being swayed by visual beauty rather than listening to what his heart truly desired.
There once was an emperor in China that lived in a beautiful palace with beautiful gardens. He was very proud of what he had until one day when he heard a poem that referenced a bird that sang the most beautiful song you’d ever hear, a bird that lived within his gardens. Not being aware of this bird her ordered his advisors to find out more and find this bird. After asking around a little girl was found who knew of the bird. She said it was a nightingale and that she could take them to it.
The little girl led the emperor and his men into the gardens where they found the bird. She asked the bird to kindly sing for the men and she did. The emperor was taken by the bird’s wonderful song and he took the bird back home with him. The bird was given a perch next to the emperor’s throne where she would sing, always bringing the emperor to tears. The emperor offered the nightingale a golden slipper as a gift but the bird refused saying the emperor’s tears were the greatest gift she could receive.
One day a box came from the emperor of Japan that had the words “The Nightingale” written on it. Inside was a beautifully made music box with a jeweled bird atop it. When wound it played a beautiful song and when the emperor asked the Nightingale to sing along she was unable to make the tone and pitch of the mechanical bird and instead hung her head in shame. Everyone was so awed by the mechanical bird that they failed to see the sadness on the face of the nightingale. They also failed to see the bird fly away out the window knowing it had been bested by a machine.
The emperor was sad at the loss of his companion but his advisors convinced him that the fake bird sounded better and could bring even more joy to him than the other bird, and that it’s golden and jeweled body was far more beautiful. The emperor was soon convinced but still pined for the nightingale to return. As the years passed, the mechanical bird was wound many, many times and played it’s tune over and over. Eventually the bird didn’t sound like it once did and it soon stopped playing. The clockmaker came to fix it and told the emperor that it was old, its gears worn, and that it should only be played once a year.
Soon the lack of music in his life caused the emperor to fall gravely ill. One day he lay in his bed, as sick as he’d ever been, and his advisors were sure he’d be dead soon. As the emperor lay there, a great weight came upon his chest. As he looked he saw it was Death, and around him were spirits of his past, some bringing good memories and some bringing regrets. The emperor noticed saw that Death was wearing his crown and carried his saber and flag so he knew his time had come.
Sensing something was ailing the emperor the nightingale flew to him and perched himself on a branch outside the window of the emperor’s chambers. The nightingale began to sing once again and the sound slowly brought life back to the emperor as her song moved Death to tears. Death stood up, dropping the emperor’s crown, saber and flag to the floor and flew out the window, taking the other spirits with him. With the weight of Death no longer pressing down on him, the emperor began to take deep breaths and began to be revived. Just as his men entered his room, coming to declare their ruler dead, they saw him rise to his feet, rosy cheeked and smiling.
From that day on the nighingale was free to come and go as she pleased, making the emperor promise to keep her stories and songs that she shared with him between only them. From that day on they remained great companions all the rest of the emperor’s days.
The Six of Cups is a card that traditionally talks about things like family nostalgia, receiving good will from those we are close to, and experiencing innocence, feeling taken care of and being almost blissfully unaware of things going on around you. We can see this in the story; the emperor is unaware of how the nightingale is being impacted by the introduction of the mechanical bird even though the nightingale provides a great deal of joy, peace and care for the emperor, something he isn’t even fully aware of until it’s gone. And once it’s gone, he finds himself in a position of longing for its return.
Symbolically, Lisa Hunt attributes the saber to justice, the green flag to vitality, and the gold dragon on the flag to male energy. The window represents a new dawn and the cherry blossom on which the nightingale sits represents hope with the nightingale itself being the bearer of renewed joy.
The message in the Six of Cups in the Fairy Tale Tarot is that of needing to take a break. We should set aside time to simplify things and revisit the memories and times in our past that brought us happiness and joy. This is a good time for renewing and revitalizing relationships with those from our past who we may have lost touch with or whom our connections to have become strained or weakened. Use this as a guide for you week ahead and take the time to reconnect to the people and places of the past that can help to relieve the stress of the present.
Weekly Fairy Tale Tarot Card
Mar 27th
I was going to bring this back on Wednesdays, and it may very well fall on that day of the week once I get back in the swing here, but for today and for your coming week, I’ve got a card for you today. I had enjoyed working with Lisa Hunt’s Fairy Tale Tarot a great deal and I know some of you were enjoying learning from it, so we’re going to get this started again as a once a week thing. I hope you all enjoy it. This week the card that comes out for us is…
The Sun
The Three Animal Kings
The story is one of my favorites that I discovered through this deck but it’s also one that I have not been able to find any information on, so I am assuming that it has another name somewhere in time. According the Lisa’s companion book it is a tale that comes to us from Italy. Here is a summary of the story.
Three princesses of Green Bank fall in love with three princes from Fair Meadow. When the princes were babies they were cursed and turned into animals; one was a falcon, one was a stag and the other a dolphin. Because of their form and animalistic ways the King of Green Bank refused to let his daughters marry the princes of Fair Meadow.
Upon discovering this the princes decided to cause problems for the King in hopes that he would change his mind. The falcon called on the winged creatures to swoop down and destroy the King’s flowers; the stag called the rabbits and mice to come and destroy to cornfields; the dolphin called on the creatures of the sea to cause problems in the harbor. The King realized he’d been bested and agreed to let his daughters go with the princes. In doing so the Queen gave each daughter a special ring so that should they ever become separated they would be able to identify one another.
Shortly after the princesses depart the Queen gives birth to a son named Tittone. Tittone hears many tales of his sisters as he grows up and one day he decides to venture out to find them. Before leaving the Queen gives him a right like the one his sisters have so that they would know each other when they saw one another.
Tittone goes to meet each of his sisters and each of his bother-in-laws and find himself surrounded by love and hospitality by all. Before departing each couple, he is given a gift, a feather from the falcon, a hair from the stag and a scale from the dolphin. Each tells him that should he ever find himself in trouble and in need of their aid to throw the item to the ground and yell “Come hither!”
As he is journeying back home Tittone finds himself engulfed in a thick fog. Suddenly he sees a tower rise in the fog and a maiden in the tower calls down to him asking for rescue. She says she’s been trapped by a dragon who means her harm and she will surly die is he doesn’t rescue her. Tittone takes the gifts he was given, the feather, hair and scale, and throws them to the ground and yells “Come hither”! Suddenly his bother-in-laws appear to help. The falcon calls on the griffins to bring the maiden down from the tower window and she lands on the ground safely. The noise wakes the dragon and the stag calls on the wild beasts of the forest to come and ravish the dragon, clawing him to death. The dolphin then calls on the seas to come and flood the tower, sinking it forever.
The maiden is grateful and tells the three brothers that she has been the key to breaking their curse. She is a woman of high standing, she says, and because they saved her the curse will be broken and they will become human again. The princes are turned back into men again and soon they are reunited with their wives. The couples together board a carriage that drives down a sun-drenched path to a mountain inn where they rejoiced in their triumph and new found joy. In the morning the couples emerged from the inn, hand in hand, stepping into the bright sun of the new day to journey into their new, happy lives.
Lisa’s description of the symbolism is lovely.
The sun represents the center of the life force and enlightenment with it’s power to nourish and illuminate body and soul.
The stone steps represent the solid foundation which their dreams are built on.
The trees have strong roots that are firmly affixed to the trail while their branches keep reaching upward and outward.
There are aspects of transition and shapeshifting in the images in the card. If you look closely you’ll see the falcon, stag and dolphin among the trees.
The dolphin represents transformation, the deer love and purity, the eagle strength.
The castle in the distance represents the attainment of our dreams being within reach and a wholeness it will bring.
The message of the card itself is that no matter what may stand in your path, if we remain firm and resolved, we can succeed. Change and transition is a constant so we must flow with it and our dreams will become easier to see and reach if we don’t resist. Celebrate your successes too! Don’t let them become just another part of the journey to something else; each joy and triumph needs to be honored before moving on to the next to really embrace what you have. Each one brings you closer to enlightenment. Each step brings you closer to your own day in the sun.
You’re Weekend in Tarot
Jan 8th
It’s time to start getting things back in the swing for 2010, so we’re going to start off with bringing back the weekend tarot forecast. Here is your look at what is headed your way this weekend, Friday night January 8th through Sunday night, January 10th.
For this week’s reading we’re going to using The Fairy Tale Tarot from Lisa Hunt. I’ll give a little background on each card as well as it’s interpretation for this week.
Friday – Three of Cups – “Little Ida’s Flowers”
The story “Little Ida’s Flowers” is a Danish tale that revolves around a young girl who has a love of flowers. After picking a lovely bouquet of flower from the garden and seeing the next day they they are wilted and tired looked she is told by someone that this is because at night they are dancing and playing so they are tired the next day. Ida places the flowers in the bed of one of her dolls and so they can rest up for their dance and that night, as she sleeps, she is awakened by the sound of music from another room. When she goes to look she finds the flowers she picked, along with other flowers and plants from the home, and her doll, dancing together and having a good time. She overhears the flowers tell her doll that they will not need her bed again since they will have passed by the morning. When Ida awakes the next day the flowers have indeed passed, and she makes a beautiful coffin out of a shoe box for them and buries them in the yard and bids farewell. However, the joy and happiness that the flowers brought her and the magickal moment of theirs that she witnessed keeps her from being sad.
Some of our deepest desires manifest first as dreams and then find ways to manifest in the real world. Some of those can be short lived experiences as well. Friday night you may find yourself looking to have an “in the moment” sort of experience in order to fulfill a dream or desire or to reconnect with people, places or events that have brought you moments of special joy and pleasure in the past. Remember that when the time together ends and the moment passes not to be sad or mourn it’s ending, as all things must end, but instead hold the memories and the magick it brings you in your heart and use it as a touch stone for the days to come.
Saturday – Two of Wands – “City Mouse, Country Mouse”
With the Two of Wands and the Romanian tale of two mice who are friends, one living in the country and one in the city. When the country mouse invites her city mouse friend for a visit he travels far only to arrive at her door complaining about the distance and how boring the country seems. As the country mouse attempts to show her hospitality to the city mouse he complains at every turn and compares his life in the city to her life in the country. In his mind his way of life is more exciting and fulfilling than her life of peace and solitude. He suggests she return with him to the city to see what she’s missing. Thinking this an exciting opportunity, she agrees and the next day they venture off to city mouse’s home. Country mouse is dazzled by the lights, sounds and smells of the city. When back indoors at city mouse’s home, they begin a big feast of a dinner with foods unlike anything country mouse has ever seen but as they begin to settle in they hear loud, earth-shaking footsteps heading toward them. They run and hide, holding their breath, and waiting for when it will be safe again. After several of these interruptions country mouse gets up to leave and declares that she would rather live a life of simplicity in the country than a life of danger in the city.
Today you might find yourself tempted by something that seems better than what you already have. It’s easy, especially when tempted by those around us, to think that something else will be better than what we have now; the idea that the grass is greener on the other side can be a seductress. Don’t make any rash decisions to go somewhere or do something because you feel that it might be better than what you have going on now without spending a little time looking into it first. Your temptations may very well be founded and just, but don’t do anything blindly whether it’s packing up and moving suddenly, ending a relationship, or quitting a job. Today might be a day or temptation, possible brought on by current frustrations, but take your time in any decision making you might need to do. As the saying goes, “all that glitters isn’t gold”.
Sunday – Five of Wands – “The Snow Queen”
The European tale of “The Snow Queen” brings us the energy of the Five of Wands with it’s tale of two friends, Gerda and Kay. The two friends, who were poor peasant children, lived in adjacent attics which shared a roof space. They decided to plant a rose bush between their homes to share together and bring some beauty into their lives. One evening as Kay looked out his window a large snowflake fell on the planter box where the rose bush grew. The snowflake got bigger and bigger until a woman made of ice and snow stood before his window, beckoning him outside. Kay recoiled and remained inside, fearful of the woman outside. In the spring while working on their small garden something stung Kay in the eye. The more he rubbed the worse it hurt. Gerda came to comfort Kay but he snapped at her and ended up kicked over the flower box. Through the seasons into winter, Kay’s bad attitude became even worse. One snowy day Kay went to the hill where other children where sledding and beautiful white sleigh pulled up beside him with the Snow Queen sitting inside. Kay tied his sled to her sleigh and went with her, snow and ice stinging his face and he was pulled behind. They stopped and she brought him into the sleigh with her and calmed him, releasing his fears. She kissed him once, causing him to become very cold, then she kissed him a second time and he forgot all about who he was and why he was there. Gerda waiting for his return, but it never happened. She went to the river and offered her best shoes if the river would take her to where Kay was. The river carried her to a magickal shore with trees and flowers. A woman in a large flower hat saw Gerda and pulled her boat to shore. The woman invited Gerda into her home and quickly erased all memories from Gerda as she brushed her hair, causing Gerda to forget about Kay. Meanwhile Kay remained locked in an icy prison with the Snow Queen where he would surely stay until Gerda came to his rescue.
Conflict, both within ourselves and the issues of others who we may care about, can cause us to become preoccupied and cause us to quickly loose sight of what we need to do for ourselves. If you’re finding yourself preoccupied with a specific situation today, take the time to separate yourself from it before it completely consumes you. If you find that the issue isn’t yours and it is something that you are being pulled into because of a friend, take your time to remember that, for as much as you love and care for those around you, their problems are only your problems in as much as you allow them to be. If your loved one doesn’t want your help and is resistant, you may find that forcing yourself and your help on them can only lead to your own problems and conflicts. Take the time today to keep yourself from being easily distracted by things happening around you, especially if it doesn’t directly involve you, and keep your focus on what you need to do for yourself.
What does this all boil down to…
If you find yourself reconnecting with old friends or friends you haven’t seen in awhile over the course of the weekend, don’t be surprised if they happen to come with some sort of drama in their current lives that they want to gain your help with. Helping is certainly not a bad thing but know that you can only help so much and that at some point you have to stop and say no if you stand to lose yourself in the process of trying to be a good friend. Things aren’t necessarily greener on the other side, either. So if you find yourself in the reverse situation, and you’re seeking help from a friend, don’t assume that they have all the answers because things on the surface look shiny and new to you. This is not a weekend for taking any sudden risks or making any sudden movements. If there is something that you really feel drawn to doing or a situation you feel you need to lend a hand in, make sure that you take the time to think things through and keep yourself somewhat separated from things so that you can keep your clarity and sanity in tact.
Nine of Swords – The Moss-Green Princess
Nov 13th
One of the things I really like about The Fairy Tale Tarot is that I get to read a story every day and many of the ones in this book I haven’t heard before. Today’s story, a South African tale called “The Moss-Green Princess” is one of those. After reading it and relating it to the Nine of Swords, a card that I felt was specifically speaking to me today, I found it to be the perfect analogy for this card.
There is little history available on the story other than it orginates from South Africa and is likely an old folk tale that’s been passed on for many years. It’s a little longer and more involved than some of the others so I’ll summerize as best I can here.
There once was a princess named Kitila. She had a mother sister, Mapindane, who loved her very much. Her father, however, despised Kitila’s mother and treated Kitila badly out of spite and made Mapindane’s mother, his other wife, his favorite. He gave affection to Mapindane while also lavinshing gifts of cloths and jewelry on her while giving Kitila nothing. Despite this, Kitila and Mapindane were as close as could be and spent all their time together.
Kitila grew to be a beautiful young woman and this angered the king. He ordered his men to get for him the skin of a Nya-Nya Bulembu, a fairy beast who name meant “Despised One Covered with Moss”, and had sharp teeth and claws and was covered in moss. Once the skin was acquired the king forced the skin over Kitali and it adhered to her form. Her beauty was lost and she became covered in a shroud of moss. She was no longer the beautiful princess that she once was and was now a hideous monster. Had it not been for the love of her mother and sister she would have been banished from the village.
Once day birds came and carried Mapindane away to a distant village of a great king. She fell in love with the king and they lived happily ever after. Because of how far she was carried her parents did not know what happened to her and did not know if she was alive or dead.
Kitila’s father was heartbroken over the loss of his beloved daughter Mapindane and took his anger out on Kitila. She was forced into hard labor wearing the heavy monster skin which caused her to suffer and cry every day, but her mother assured her that all would be fine.
One day while in the field a fairy disguised as an old man gave Kitila a stick saying “This stick will help you to see your true form whenever you touch water.” She thanked the old man and then went to the lake and with the weight and burden of her monster skin, went into the water. As she did she began to feel light as the mossy, heavy monster skin melted away. With the feel of her human skin again the fairies coaxed Kitila to look at her reflection in the water and she saw herself as she remembered herself, a beautiful princess. She played with the fairies and when it was time for her to leave once she came out of the water to dry land the Bulembu skin returned and she once again was forced to carry the burden of the heavy moss covered skin.
Kitila would return to the water whenever she could and soon children in the village learned her secret and would come to see her transform in the water. One day a prince came to the village looking for a wife and the children told him about Kitila and how she had befriended the faries. They took him to see her at the water and he watched her transform in the water and he fell in love with her. He knew that she must be very special in order to do what she was about to do here. He went right to the king and told him that he wanted to marry his daughter.
The king thought it was a joke but after the prince’s persistance, the king agreed being happy to be rid of Kitila. On the morning of her wedding Kitila bathed in a pool and the Bulembu skin melted away but this time it went away for good. The skin came up from the water into the air and traveled to her mother’s home and landed in front of the door. Her mother knew that her daughter was now happy and free of her burdens and she knew that fairy magic had happened.
Kitila married the prince and lived happily ever after in her new village. Her father died a miserable old man knowing that the daughter he despised lived a happy life and believing that the daughter he loved was dead.
The art on the Nine of Swords is beautiful, showing the magickal transformation and the true image of the princess in the surface of the water. One of the things that I found interesting in seeing the image of the swords in the cards is that two of the swords are shown in the reflection as opposed to being lifted from the water (they may be beneath the water) and they are crossed and in front of her chest. It seems reminiscent of the Two of Swords in a lot of ways except now she is no longer blindfolded and she can see what is before her.
Some of Lisa Hunt’s comments on the symbolism in the art include the green, mossy covering showing Kitila’s connection to nature, the water symbolizing the unconscious and the fairies being divine messangers. The swords represent karma and justice and the flying birds represent the free spirit. The faces in the trees are guiding spirits which carry her between the worlds and the sparkles around her represent her shapeshifting abilities.
Here are some of the themes we see in the Nine of Swords:
Worry: worrying that things will not work out, becoming physically or mentally ill over your problems, hanging on to problems, being anxious and worked up.
Guilt: regretting something you have done, being too hard on yourself, not forgiving yourself for what you have done, not believing that you have done all you could, being focused on wishing you could go back in time and do things over (and in many cases being obsessed with such a notion).
Anguish: being at the end of your rope, great loss of joy, depression, loss of sleep, crying, in some cases thoughts of suicide.
In the story of “The Moss-Green Princess” we see the theme of worry most profoundly and the ideas of guilt and anguish in concert with each other. The worry comes on early when Kitila is learning to get used to her new appearance and she is trying to deal with the burdens. Her mother tries to reassure her that all will be well but she is not very easily consoled. Every time Kitila goes in the water and has her brief moments of release she leaves only to be back where she was and she feels the anguish of having to leave behind the happier image of herself that she wishes to posess again. There are elements of guilt mixed in here and there, but mostly in the form of feeling that she may not have done all she could to have made her father love her so she wouldn’t have found herself in this position to begin with.
Think about this…
When we are dealing with inner conflict and turmoil we also tend to have it reflect on our outer selves as well, even if we don’t realize it. When we are stressed and dealing with depression, anxiety and loss of sleep it almost always shows in our face. You might even notice yourself getting a little “green” as well. How do you deal with your stress, guit or anxiety? Do you allow yourself to pulled into its murky depths or do you work to rise above it? Are you able to see your reflection in the water so that you can recall your true image? Remember that by facing your troubles, whatever they may be, you are able to truly shed them. When you allow them to adhere to your form and weight heavy on you it becomes harder and harder to move.
The Fairy Godmother (The Empress) – Cinderella
Nov 12th
One of the best known and best loved children’s tales, “Cinderella”, brings us today’s Fairy Tale Tarot card, The Fairy Godmother. Here in this deck The Fairy Godmother fills the role of The Empress from the traditional tarot. As the ultimate fairy tale nurturing mother figure, The Fairy Godmother helps to bring some twists to this tarot card.
The story of Cinderella is believed to have derived from a story that dates back to the first century BC when it was recored by a Greek historian. The story tells the tale of a young servant girl who is sent to wash clothes in a stream one day while everyone else attends an event being held by the Pharaoh. While she is at the stream an eagle comes along and takes one of her sandals and brings it to the foot of the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh begins to seek out the owner of the sandal and has every woman in the kingdom try it on but it doesn’t fit anyone. The servant girl is one of the last he asks to try on the sandal and when she does it fits perfectly. The Pharaoh falls in love with her and they marry.
The version that most of us know is the one that originates from French author Charles Perrault. Perrault wrote the story which was published in 1697 in his collection of stories called “Comte de ma Mere L’Oya” (“Tales of Mother Goose”). He had taken the previous versions of the story and cleaned them up to make them more acceptable to an upscale and more refined class of reader. Previous versions told of the shoe being filled with blood from the sisters trying to cram their feet into it and even one version tells of a sister severing a toe while trying on the shoe. All of this was replaced with lighthearted bickering and shoving in Perrault’s tale. In 1812 two German brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, best know as the Brothers Grimm, would retell the story in their own collection of tales.
One of the most notable differences between Perrault’s tale and the tale of the Brothers Grimm and others is that in Perrault’s story the fairy godmother comes to Cinderella in her time of need. In many other versions including that of the Brothers Grimm, it is the spirit of Cinderella’s dead mother who comes to her aid. There are some that think in the original tales that inspired Perrault the shoe was actually a ring and that the goal was to find the woman who’s finger would fit a special ring. If you read the post from yesterday where we looked at the Four of Cups and the story “Why the Sea Moans” you’ll notice there are a lot of similarities between that story and the once of Cinderella.
Since we all know the story of Cinderella, I wont go into much detail in trying to retell it. So here is a brief nutshell version:
Cinderella lives with her stepmother and two step-sisters. All of them treat her terribly, making her sleep by the chimney and wear rags for clothes. The sisters are especially mean to Cinderella and taunt her constantly. One day the sisters are invited by the prince to attend a ball. Cinderella spends all her time helping the sisters get ready and before they are finished she asks if she can come too. The sisters laugh at her telling her she could never go to a ball dressed the way she does.
After seeing the sisters off Cinderella goes out to the garden and cries but while she’s there an old woman appears who is to become her fairy godmother. She asks Cinderella what is wrong and after hearing of the situation the fairy godmother asks Cinderella if she really wants to go to the ball and when she says yes she tells her to gather together a pumpkin, six mice, one rate and six lizards. When Cinderella brings these things back the fairy godmother turns the pumpkin into a gilded coach, the mice into white horses, the rat into a coachman and the lizards into footmen. She then transforms Cinderella giving her a beautiful dress and glass slippers to wear. As Cinderella prepares to leave she is warned that at midnight this will all go away and she will again be in her rags.
Cinderella goes to the ball and all eyes turn to her as she enters. The prince is taken by her and he goes to be by her side and they dance together throughout the night. At midnight Cinderella runs off before her gown turns back and she heads home. The ball takes place again the next night and again the fairy godmother helps transform Cinderella and again she heads to the ball. Again she spends the night dancing with the prince who has now fallen in love with her. But when midnight comes Cinderella must run off before anyone sees her in her rags, though in her haste to leave one of her glass slippers is left behind.
The next day the prince sets off to find the owner of the shoe. Everyone woman in the kingdom tries it one but it doesn’t fit anyone. He comes to the last house, the house where Cinderella and her sisters live. The sisters push and shove one another while trying to cram their feet into the shoe but it doesn’t fit. Cinderella, recognizing the shoe, asks if she could try it it and when she does it fits perfectly with ease. The sisters are stunned and suddenly realize she was the woman from the ball and the prince sees in her the woman he fell in love with. Cinderella goes to live with the prince in his castle and they are married and live happily ever after.
While the Fairy Godmother doesn’t have a huge role in the story it’s important to remember that if it weren’t for her and her help she gives Cinderella in her moment of need, there would be no story to speak of. She wouldn’t have gone to the ball, wouldn’t have met the prince and wouldn’t have had her happily ever after.
In The Empress card we see some of the following themes:
Mothering: giving birth and nourishing life, working with children, expressing tenderness, taking care of others especially when they are unable to care for themselves.
Abundance: extravagance, lavish rewards, luxury, feeling rich and having more than you may need
Nature: relating to, working with, and connecting to the earth, plants and animals.
All of these we see in the Fairy Godmother of “Cinderella”. She comes to Cinderella in a moment of desperate need and heartbreak and helps give her the opportunity to do something that, on her own she never would have been able to do. With this she fills a very strong motherly role and helps to nourish the life of Cinderella in a way it hadn’t been since her own mother had died. Abundance is certainly present in the lavish gown, jewels and the glass slippers that Cinderella is given. She certainly feels as though she is rich in those moments at the ball and has more than she may have dreamed she’d ever have, even if only for a short time. And we see the connection to nature with the use of plants and animals in the moment of magick that the Fairy Godmother works in order to get Cinderella to the ball.
Lisa Hunt’s connections with the symbols in her artwork are interesting. The pumpkins represent the connection between the upper and lower worlds, the fairy godmother herself represents the female principle and a connection to the power of nature with her abilities to create something useful from them. The full moon is a reminder of the constant change in our lives while the castle that it rises over represents hopes and dreams yet to be realized. The rats represent resiliency as we strive to push through obstacles while working to reach our dreams and the doves that fly overhead remind us to keep a sense of balance as we work to move toward realizing those dreams.
Think about this…
What dreams or goals have you had that you might not have nurtured and rather than seeing grow and be “born” they have withered and died? What lost dreams do you wish your own fairy godmother would come along and bring back to life? Take the time to look at these dreams that you may think have become nothing but fantasies and remember that if you are not an active part of working toward seeing them manifest, we eventually lose them. Much like the Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella” we must be resourceful, nurturing and in tune with what needs to be done to make things happen. Be willing to be more open to seeing things from an intuitive, nurturing and feeling side rather than a straight analytical side and you’ll be able to get a different perspective and find another way to work with the hopes and dreams that you may have thought were just a distant memory.
Four of Cups – Why The Sea Moans
Nov 11th
The Four of Cups is a card that holds a lot of dynamic. With the cups we deal with the element of water and in this suit we mostly find that we deal with the emotional aspect of of the suit of cups. In The Fairy Tale Tarot we see the chaos of emotions that we sometimes get caught up in though the connection of the card’s traditional meanings of self-absorption and apathy through the Brazilian children’s tale “Why The Sea Moans“.
To story goes somewhat like this:
Once there was a lonely princess named Dionysia who spent her time sitting by the edge of the sea listening to the waves roll in and out. One day she heard her name called throug the crashing of the waves and she was surprised to see a searpant rise from the water to the surface to greet her.
The serpant’s name was Labismena, and she and Dionysia spent the coming years playing together on the beach and in the sea, keeping each other from the pangs of lonlieness. When Dionysia turned sixteen Labismena said it was time for her to leave and return to the sea, but should Dionysia ever need her again, she only needs to come to the sea and call the serpant’s name and she will return.
Meanwhile in a kingdom nearby a wife lay on her deathbed and she gave a ring to her husband, the king, and told him to marry whomever’s finger fit the ring. The king travled far and wide looking for his new wife and one day he came upon the castle where Dionysia lived. He placed the ring upon her finger and it fit perfectly. Dionysia was upset becuse she didn’t want to marry the old king, so in desperation she went to the spot by the sea and called for her serpant friend.
Labismena came and heard of Dionysia’s troubles and told her to ask the king to get for her a dress that has all the colors of the flowers in the fields and until she has this dress she would not marry him. Dionysia does this and after some time the king comes back with the dress. Worried again, the princess goes to the sea and calls for the serpant. Labismena again gives her advice and tells Dionysia to ask the king for a dress made with all the colors of the fish in the sea. Annoyed the king begins his quest but eventually returns with the dress. Again Dionysia seeks Labismena’s help and again the serpant tells the princess to ask for a dress, this time the color of the sky and stars. Again the king searches and again the king returns with the dress.
Finally the princess finds she is out of options and must marry the king, but again she returns to the sea hoping her friend can help once again. Labismena tells Dionysia that she must take the dresses and climb into a boat that she has made for her and that she must sail far away and find a new life. Dionysia does this and as she prepares to leave she askes her friend if there is anything she can do to repay her kindness. The serpant tells her that she is actually a princess who was turned into a serpant. Once Dionysia finds the ultimate happiness in her new life, she must come to the sea and call her name three times and the princess’s happiness will break the curse.
The princess takes up with a palace as a hen maid and begins her new life. A festival begins in the palance and Dionysia wears her dress made of the color of flowers on the first day of the festival to try and catch the eye of the prince. The prince sees her and finds her beautiful but Dionysia needs to slip away and put on her regular clothes before anyone notices she has been gone. She goes back on the second day, this time in her dress made in the color of the fish in the sea and again the prince sees her and can’t keep his eyes off her. But again she must leave before he can speak to her. On the third day she arrives in the dress made in the colors of the sky and stars and this time the prince manages to declare his love for her and gives her a jewel and asks her to marry him. But again she must leave and she sneaks away.
The prince is lovesick and cannot eat as he pines for his lost love. No one could make the prince eat but one day the hen maid made a broth for the prince and when nobody was watching she sliped the jewel in the bowl. When the prince began to eat the broth he found the jewel and asked to have whomever made the food brought to him at once. The hen maid was brought to him and he instantly recognized her as the girl from the festival. He quickly recovered once they were united and they married at once.
In the great joy of her new love and marriage, Dionysia forgot about the promise she made to her friend Labismena. As the serpant began to come to terms with her fate she slipped deeper into the dark depths of the sea and accepted her loneily destiny. The serpant would spend her days deep in the sea, crying and moaning from her loneliness and if you listen closely to sounds of the waves there is a deep moan that can be heard. It is the cry of the lonely serpant princess of the sea.
This story shows some of the classic aspects of the 4 of Cups. In this card some of the traditional aspects that we see are:
- Self-Absorption: being focused on your own needs and feelings, being unaware of what is going on with people around you, takingbut not giving, ignoring the help and blessings that you may be receiving from those around you.
- Apathy: loss of interest, not making an effort to thank or repay others, lack of motivation and desire.
- Withdrawal: going within and being introspective, reflection, dreaming, not paying attention to what is going on around you, being lost in your own world.
We see these things in the story through Dionysia’s lack of attention to her friend’s needs. She becomes so lost in her own gains and her own happiness that she forgets about the promise that she made to her friend to help her with her troubles. While she may have verbally shown appreciation for what the serpant does for her, she doesn’t follow through with actions and seems to forget about where she could have been had Labismena helped her. Visually we can see this as well in the way that the serpant holds the fourth cup, offering it to the princess on the beach, but she looks disinterested. Meanwhile the other three cups sit on the beach, unnoticed and empty showing how the princess doesn’t see what she has and yet she seems to still have a feeling of needing more. Lisa Hunt also comments on the rocky and shell-strewn beach representing the endless emotional conflict (i.e. the rocky emoitonal road around you), the serpant represents the unconscious being unable to reserface to the conscious and the sun set showing a sense of deminished hope around the sitaution.
Thing about this…
Are you finding that you’re dealing with a situation right now that is hard to see clearly? Is there something happening around you right now where you have been going to others for help but maybe you haven’t offered to recipricate what has been given to you? Is someone trying to help you but you aren’t seeing it for what it is? Let the 4 of Cups be a reminder to you to keep yourself aware of those people and events happening around you even when you find yousrelf embroiled in your own emotional turmoil. Take a moment to step back, go within and serach your unconscious and higher self for the answers to guide you through your difficulties. Be sure to show your thanks and gratefulness to both the people that help and to the Divine in times of trouble.
Three of Swords – The Little Match Girl
Nov 10th
“The Little Match Girl” is one of those fairy tales that sticks with you from when you’re a kid, not because of anything cute, sweet or sentimental, but because of the tragic ending. When I drew this card and saw the story attached to it I first felt a bit sad, since while it’s a story that has always stuck with me, it’s one that has always left me feeling a big depressed. I also suddenly found myself seeing the Three of Swords in a whole new light.
“The Little Match Girl” is a short story that was first published in 1845 in Danish and written by Hans Christian Andersen. Since then the story has been referenced and adapted through music, stories, film and plays. There are some variation of the story; in the original story the events take place on “the last evening of the year”, which would lead one to assume that this is New Year’s Eve, however many other re-tellings clearly place the events of the night on Christmas Eve. It’s possible that this clarification has been made over the years because of Andersen’s references to a Christmas tree and unopened presents in the story. It’s a beloved story that carries the vibration of sadness, fear and heartbreak from beginning to end.
On one of the darkest and coldest nights of the year, one of the last nights of the year, a young girl is out on the snow-covered streets among the hustle and bustle of holiday festivities. The girl, a poor urchin with no shoes and ragged clothing, attempts to get the attention of the passing folks as she tries to sell matchsticks to gain some money to bring home for her family. The girl, hungry and cold, finds herself at the end of the night in an alleyway, not one match sold, and with no money to bring home to her father. Knowing that her father will beat her if she came back with nothing, and too numb and frozen to walk home, the little girl wraps her thin, torn cloak around herself and settles into the snow in the alley to rest.
Tired and growing colder by the minute the girl looks at the matches and wonders what warmth they would bring if she were to light just one. As she does the warmth around her begins to grow, and in the glow of the matchlight, she sees a stove burning brightly and beginning to warm her. As the match goes out the little girl realizes her hands are less numb, so she lights another. This time, peering into the glow of the match, she sees a table full of warm holiday foods, so real she could smell it. Behind the table a Christmas tree, bright with lights made of stars, reflecting off the brightly wrapped packages underneath. Again the match goes out but the girl is mesmerized by the visions and decides that she must light all the matches at once to fully see the images before her. As she does her Grandmother appears in the image of the table, the store, the tree and presents.
The girl looks on the face of her Grandmother with great sadness. Since her Grandmother had died she had known nothing but pain and disappointment. Her Grandmother was the only one who had ever loved and cared for her. Back then the little girl was happy, her Grandmother kept her fed and loved, but since she died the little girl had known nothing but misery. As she gazed at her Grandmother her voice called out to her, beckoning and calling to her to come with her and join her in this perfect vision. The little girl cried out saying how much she loved and missed her Grandmother and how badly she wanted to be with her again. The little girl reached out for her Grandmother and as she did, her Grandmother scooped her up in her arms and the little girl pulled in close and fell asleep in her Grandmother’s loving arms. And as the little girl drifted to sleep, the last flames of the matches went out and the little girl sighed her last breath. Her body slumped in the snow and her hands fell with a thud to her side.
In the morning people were once again on the streets and some of them saw the little girl slumped against the stone wall in the snow. They looked at her with pity since she’d been left out in the cold all night, but they saw that she had a smile on her face and her cheeks held a glow. Then they noticed she was smiling. They knew that whatever splendor she saw before she died had brought her the warmth and peace she was seeking.
This is a story that is perfect for the Three of Swords. Often I think many of us turn instantly to the idea of this card speaking of the deception and heartbreak we experience when two’s company suddenly becomes a crowd of three; we often find this is the card that shows us lovers who cheat, people sneaking around our backs and things that bring disappointment and heartbreak often at the hands of another. But this card with the story of “The Little Match Girl” shows us the other side of the Three of Swords, the internal struggle and the desire to seek out whatever we can that will warm our hearts once again.
So in the Three of Swords we see the following themes:
Heartbreak: dealing with hurt feelings, getting upsetting or hurtful news, disappointment
Loneliness: separation, being away from home and family, feelings of being lost, confused and/or rejected
Betrayal: being lied to, let down, stabbed in the back, people working against you
In the Fairy Tale Tarot Three of Swords we see all of these themes. The little girl is suffering with the pain of heartbreak because of the lost of her Grandmother and the situation that she has now been put in. She is let alone, feeling separated from those she once loved while also feeling rejected and scorned by her father. She also shows the clear signs of feeling lost and helpless. And on some level we can see signs of her feeling betrayed. She’s let down by the lack of love she is experiencing and to some degree exhibits the worries that she is being “worked against” since she feels that if she goes home without any money her father will beat her.
The thing with particular Three of Swords with this deck we see more of the internal and personal aspects of the Three of Swords rather than the external effects of the card. In a full reading other surrounding cards could certainly explain the sources of the pain and betrayal and what its root may be.
Think about this…
How do you deal with pain and heartbreak? If something happens suddenly that brings emotional pain or the feelings of betrayal into your life, how do you react? Do you act out or do you internalize your hurt? Spend a little time thinking about your ways of dealing with these types of situations. Much like in a natural disaster or other emergency, it helps to have a “plan of action” in place. Do you know who you can go to if you need immediate help?
Keep your eyes open for the first signs of any trouble that may be coming your way. Be sure that you are able to find a way to deal with the problems, either on your own or with help of others, from the onset so that things do not become so complicated and confused that you can’t find a way out.
King of Swords – How the Raven Brought Light to the World
Nov 9th
Today’s card that was pulled is the King of Swords. Working with The Fairy Tale Tarot makes pulling these cards very interesting. For those that might have missed the last post about the daily readings coming back, you can check that out here but in short, I’m using Lisa Hunt’s Fairy Tale Tarot and will be looking at the story she presents for each card, the symbolism represented in this card and how it connects to our more traditional views of the tarot. Then we’ll end it all off with a little something to think about and reflect on, something that I would also suggest for those looking for inspiration for journaling and such on a daily basis. 
So today, the King of Swords comes through and with this card we hear the story of “How the Raven Brought Light to the World”.
This story is one that is seen in a number of different Native American traditions as well as other cultures around the world. In the book that accompanies the tarot deck Lisa Hunt attributes the story to the Inuit people, those indigenous people living in the Arctic areas of the United States, Canada, Greenland and Russia (some would call these people “Eskimos” however many of the Inuit cultures find the term offensive). In short, the story goes like this:
A terrible darkness befell the world. The sun, moon and stars were nowhere to be found. The Raven worried for the people who would never be able to last with the light and nourishment of the sun to grow their crops or the moon to fish by. The Raven discovered a greedy Chief who lived in his lodge atop a mountain, paying no mind to the people outside who were suffering. As it came to pass the Chief didn’t worry because he had stolen away the sun, moon and stars for himself and kept them in his home. One day Raven saw the Chief’s daughter by a stream were she was stopping to take a drink and Raven turned himself into a seed and fell into the water which the daughter then drank. She became pregnant from the seed and soon gave birth to a little raven haired boy.
The boy would cry and cry and nothing appeased him. The Chief, proud Grandfather that he now was, would give anything to make the boy happy. The boy found several bags hanging from the wall and begged Grandfather Chief to give him a bag to play with. Giving in to the cries of the child Grandfather Chief took down the bag of stars, telling the boy to play carefully. The boy bounced and tossed around the bag until the bag flew out of the smokehole in the roof of the lodge, flew up and the stars exploded like fireworks back into the night sky. The boy again cried and cried looking for a thing to play with and he had his eye on the other bag that hung from the way. Grandfather Chief gave in and handed the boy the bag instructing him to be very careful this time and not to let the bag bounce around. Again the boy rolled and played with the bag and again the bag bounced and made it ways out of the smokehole and up to the sky where the moon came sliding out of the bag and again took her place in the sky.
Grandfather Chief was unhappy with what happened but loved his grandson very much and soon he all but forgot about what had happened. One day the boy again was up to his tricks and pointed out a box that sat in the corner of the room. The box was elaborately decorated and was a prized item of Grandfather Chief. But, loving his grandson and wanting to make him happy, he took out the box and took off the top to show the boy its contents. Inside the box was the glorious, bright and shining sun. The boy looked at it with wide eyes and he reached out to touch it. Grandfather Chief stopped the boy and told him he could only look. But the boy cried and cried and finally Grandfather Chief gave in. The boy touched the sun and let out a gleeful squeal. Grandfather Chief put the lid back on the box and prepared to put it away but as he did the boy changed form into his true form, that of Raven. Raven grabbed the box with his claws and quickly flew off, out through the smokehole in the roof of the lodge and soared to the sky. When Raven was high above the lodge he took the lid off the box and the sun once again took its place among the moon and stars in the sky and once again the people of the world were given the gifts of light.
There are some other versions of the story where it is the daughter who gives the items to Raven in the guise of a child. But no matter who is the one that gives Raven the sun, moon and stars unknowingly, the Raven shows us his true colors here; Raven is the ultimate and eternal trickster. And while that might be, it doesn’t always mean he is tricking those he comes in contact with in a negative way. In this case, the greed of the Chief was robbing the people of the land of their most critical resources and means of life. Raven knows that his tricks are for the better of the whole.
When we think of the King of Swords in the tarot we see a man that fills roles of warrior, diplomat and scholar. Swords being the suit ruled by air, intelligence and wisdom always play roles in the actions of this King. However the King is one of experienced wisdom. He knows how to apply that wisdom to bring right justice where it is needed. While the King can sometimes be stern and withholding of that wisdom, it is usually because he know that someone who may be seeking it may not be seeking it for the right reasons. We know that some of the key aspects of the King of Swords is that he is intellectual and just and when we look at these qualities in relation to the Raven as the King of Swords in this story, we see this King’s essence fully.
Raven uses his keen senses and intellect to outsmart the greedy Chief and to restore what was just and right to the greater whole. Raven knows that what the Chief is doing, the act of withholding wisdom in his own way, is not the right path to take and he uses a sort of warrior like position and strength while implementing a well thought out plan to set the wrongs right again.
To think about…
So think on the King of Swords and this story of Raven. Look at your own life and think if there is something that you see going on around you that you know instinctual isn’t right. Is there a wrong that needs to be put right? Is it something that you can ethically fix or help to fix? If it is, what has held you back from doing it? Is there a way for you to bring in an impartial and objective position to the situation and take action to restore balance?
