The Unspeaking Center

Birth ~ Oracle of the Radiant Sun

Venus has appeared for a second day in a row, this time in Cancer manifesting as Birth. Here we see the angel of birth hovering above a newly born infant. The rocky cave that is sheltering the baby is suggestive of the hard carapace that Cancer wears to protect itself. Above it all the Sun and the Moon act as guardians over the birth that is occurring. To the left and right of the birth angel are two sacred sigils, one representing the Seal of Venus and the other representing the Spirit of Venus. The moment here is replete with blessing and potential.

This astrological combination highlights the home and the nurturing and loving atmosphere that can unfold within it. Children figure prominently in this partnership and there is, in this planetary placement, a great desire to nourish and create an environment in which a family can flourish through love and attention to detail. The LWB suggests that when this card is drawn there might be a birth upcoming (!) or the need to connect with one's mother or with general family roots and lineage.

My mother has been gone now for several years but of course our relationship continues. I go stretches without thinking of her and then stretches where she's quite prominent in my thoughts and heart. Seeing this card she comes to mind but more specifically I'm drawn to the little baby within the cave. How brave we are to make that journey out of the womb. Recalling my son's birth this was driven home in that tangible, visceral, painful, love-soaked, widening way of all births. Today I'm feeling moved to tend to my own birth pangs and this is precisely what I asked of the cards, what areas of my life need midwifing, what areas of today are there birth pangs to attend to?

Justice ~ The Magician ~ Cosmic Tarot

What a captivating couple these two Majors make. My immediate response is to see them as the parents of Venus in Cancer depicted in the oracle card, Birth. Balance and Truth coupled with Mastery and Initiating Energy, what a dynamic and fruitful marriage.

The first obvious similarity is the light issuing from both their eyes as long, luminous and penetrating beams that glow and flow off the page suggesting their effect and skill is far-reaching. Both of them look at us directly yet, like the High Priestess of yesterday, there is also something oblique about their gaze, a veiling of something intrinsic.

Justice ~ Cosmic Tarot

Justice, here, is depicted with many references to the theme of balance and equilbrium. The sun and moon, night and day skies, yin and yang symbol with its purple tones, a nod to authority, in her heart and throat center, the scales at the bottom. Her cloak spreads over the star-filled sky. A tower rises behind her and a falcon sits at her left shoulder.

In this deck Justice occupies Key 8 and Strength occupies Key 11. This references the earlier Marseille system which uses these positions as opposed to the Rider-Waite-Smith system which switches them. The astrological association for Justice is Libra and interestingly there is also a sigil on this card seen at the base of the scale.

She doesn't wear the traditional blindfold but her eyes are radiantly piercing through the darkness of preference, ego and ignorance nor does she have a sword though the falcon behind her intimates that realm of air and discriminating wisdom.

Her scale arises out of a rose suggesting grace and care form part of her inner world and the tower behind her inspires thoughts of stricture and constraint, a 'container' for qualities and actions that don't serve her higher and noble purpose. The scales contain two red triangles pointing upwards with two black triangles within them pointing downwards. Presumably this is a nod to the human embodiment of both spirit and matter and the reconciliation this seeming-polarity requires.

All in all this is a fascinating depiction of Justice, more sensual than other depictions and in some ways more accessible yet still maintaining the themes of equilibrium, radiant unbiased view and discriminating wisdom. Her presence today feels more earthy, more immediate. And personally right now I feel I'm in a place of balance in many areas of my life. I can feel it in my body and my daily rhythms, my aspirations and my interactions with others. And yet I'm also aware of how much fine-tuning needs to be done to maintain this. It's not a place of static arrival, not an either/or but rather an ongoing dance with continual need for reflection and adjustment day by day.

The Magician ~ Cosmic Tarot

Master of the Elements, bringer of practical Wisdom, potential and experience...such are some of the qualities that speak to me of The Magician, a card that doesn't often show up for me.

This Magician has both masculine and feminine features leaving me with the impression of a gender-neutral figure. It's not often we see a female magician so, despite the delicate goatee and refined mustache I'm going with a female interpretation for novelty's sake and also to see how it feels to relate to this figure as a woman.

The gaze is penetrating and radiant reaching far beyond the edges of the card, the four elements are on the table in the form of a Cup, a Sword, a Pentacle and a Wand. There are roses and lilies lying at the front of the table symbolizing passionate dedication and pure, single-minded devotion respectively. The table itself glows with an otherworldly light imbuing the ritual implements with sacredness and power. The starry night sky spills across her hair and her third eye radiates a glowing lemniscate and triangle.

She who reconciles ill-matched threads
of her life, and weaves them gratefully
into a single cloth--
it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
and clears it for a different celebration

where the one guest is you.
In the softness of evening
it's you she receives.

The Magician appearing as the first numbered card in the Major Arcana sets forth the theme of the quest and as such represents this initiating energy. Hers is the suggestion of embarking on an inner journey with a hint as to some of the tools we'll need and thus the kinds of challenges we might encounter along the way. She's a charismatic figure with a magnetic personality and creativity and initiative are indicated when this card is drawn. Hers is the promise of knowledge of the unknown, the invisible. She is linked astrologically to Mercury, messenger and fast-moving planet. With this in mind one can conjecture that the Magician has a message to convey, a transmission to share.

Looking at these three cards together I feel a sense of spiritual parentage within, of something nascent coming into form that might need the balance and clear sight of Justice and the mastery and innovation of the Magician. What could that be? I've got a week-long class upcoming to co-teach with my dh. Certainly there are qualities in these cards which I could draw on.

But more than that I feel a kind of dialogue between these two figures in relation to their 'child', a sense of co-creation unfolding that has yet to take form, as if I'm hearing a half-whispered conversation between partners. It involves love and an acknowledgment of innocence or inexperience. It draws from a place of equilibrium and initiating energy. It has authority but not self-assertion. There is something important to be transmitted in the practical sphere. All of these are aspects I can draw on in relation to the upcoming workshop. I've not taught in this kind of configuration to this many people before so I shall be listening to what these two embodiments might have to tell me about how to proceed skilfully. Having both cards as women makes their presence resonate all the more. 

...where the one guest is you.
In the softness of evening
it's you she receives.

You are the partner of her loneliness,
the unspeaking center of her monologues.
With each enclosure you encompass more
and she stretches beyond what limits her,
to hold you.

Rilke ~ The Book of Hours I, 17