OC Tarot Meetup: Vernal Equinox
The Vernal (Spring) Equinox is Monday. And so at the OC Tarot Meetup today we each did an Equinox inspired reading.
Planting Our Gardens
The spread was named Planting Our Gardens and it consisted of 7 cards:
- What’s in your garden that you want to keep?
- What’s in your garden that you want to get rid of?
- How are you going to get rid of what you don’t want?
- What would you like to have in your garden that you don’t already have?
- How are you going to get this into your garden?
- What do you need to protect your garden from in the upcoming year?
- How is your garden going to support you in the upcoming year?
When the spread was read out to us I really wondered what I might get from it. When I started turning over the cards from my new Tarot Remix Deck they seemed to have a loud, clear, and consistent message for me.
1. Keep?
What’s in your garden that you want to keep?
I’m always railing about the anti-intellectual chauvinism many tarot decks manifest in the suit of Swords, so it’s fitting that the core of my garden turns out to be the chaos of the 7 of Swords (air). Of course, it’s not so chaotic in Ravynne Phelan’s Dreams of Gaia tarot. Among many other things, she’s completely rehabilitated the suit of Swords (Air). As a core aspect of my garden, this 7 of Air invites me to embrace creative chaos and tension. To go deeper into a personal journey of belief and identity.
2. Weed Out?
What’s in your garden that you want to get rid of?
Judgement! OK! No guilt. No regrets. No imposter complex. Believe in yourself. Your vision. Your convictions. Stand up for yourself, worm!
3. How?
How are you going to get rid of what you don’t want?
Pure Charisma! Look at that Traveler of Wands! (in my remix deck the “Page” cards are called “Traveler” cards) He listens to little birds; he boldly embarks on a big journey. He does it all with a smile on his face and joy in his heart.
The way you grapple with guilt, doubt, and lack of faith is with belief, confidence, and an awareness of your worth. In my remix deck, Major Arcana IX is The Hobo (The Hermit) and card X is Doubt (Wheel of Fortune). Spectrums like Confidence & Doubt are indeed spectrums. The need a bit of temperance. I believe that doubt is good and that it is a strength for me. But also a weakness. This Traveler of Wands seems to encourage me to have more faith and confidence.
4. New Growth?
What would you like to have in your garden that you don’t already have?
This Chrysalis of Knives (Page / Daughter of Swords)* card from Ian Daniels’ Tarot of Vampyres is consistent with the core 7 of Air card. It encourages new ideas; new thinking; new forms. Again, rather than doubt, it encourages going deeper. What new ideas, connections, creative partnerships are possible?
5. Facilitating Growth
How are you going to get this into your garden?
First, no judgement, and now, the 8 of Cups, the walk away card. If it isn’t helping, don’t waste your time there. Find your heading and pursue it. In a time of abundance we must make choices. To try to have it all is to have nothing. Have the courage to walk away from comfort and safety in pursuit of larger accomplishments.
People have always left the comfort and security of home for the chaos and squalor of life in the slums at the outskirts of the world’s great cities. They do this not because they love the hardships but because cities like London, or San Francisco, or Hong Kong, have always represented new possibilities.
6. Protect Me
What do you need to protect your garden from in the upcoming year?
Abundance! It’s been our goal for as long as our kind have walked this earth. Perhaps it is the goal of every species. Now that some of us in the Global North are beginning to enjoy it, we realize that we were designed, physiologically, and cognitively, for scarcity. We are woefully equipped to grapple with the problem of abundance.
No Judgement. Walk Away. And avoid being sidetracked by abundance. Keep your eye on the ball.
7. Fruits?
How is your garden going to support you in the upcoming year?
4 of Wands. And if you can do all that, then you’ll find completion, connection, new partnerships, new relationships.
Who’s excited about the Vernal Equinox (Spring Equinox) now!
