Pele : Trusting Your Core

Dark Goddess Tarot ~ Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Yesterday I drew the Ten of Fire, Thyone, Greek Goddess of Divine Frenzy and today more Fire for us. Pele is the Dark Goddess wanting a voice. Hawaiian Goddess of the Volcano she is Amazon of Fire in this deck.

We lived in Hawaii for awhile on the island of Maui. We spent some time on the Big Island and it was there that I was introduced to Pele's presence in a visceral way while at Mauna Kea. Apart from watching the lava flowing into the ocean and having to be mindful of the effects of her potent gases on the lungs I also met her through the soles of my feet. Walking over her in the form of a'a and pahoehoe, the two different types of hardened lava that form much of the surface land in that area.

Pahoehoe Lava ~ image by Leigh Hilbert

I had the experience of the earth itself being in continual motion from the inside out. That though the surface felt static it was in fact constantly dancing, spiraling, twisting, turning, rolling, folding in on itself and unfolding. It was seeing the lava, pahoehoe in particular, that did it, seeing how it cooled and then hardened even as it flowed.




Looking at this card reminds me of this experience, reminds me that like Pele, I too, have an inner core that is constantly in motion. And that there are times it's necessary, vital even to respond from that place of simmer and bubble. It also encourages me to know that, like my meeting of that new landscape on Mauna Kea for the first time, I, too have new and undiscovered territory within, ancient, sacred, wild. It is land to trust, a fire to grow into, to make pilgrimage to breath by breath, sensation by sensation.

As I write this the rain is coming down buckets. Quite a contrast to the elemental energy of this card. But the elements call to all the different wildernesses of our being. The rain says flow, yield, find your level, just as Pele says rise, don't hold back, want what you want with your whole body. See what flame she leads you to be.