Stirring the Pot

Halloween Tarot ~ Halloween Oracle

As I was casting about for a deck to use with my daily draw I spied the happy pumpkins of The Halloween Tarot by Wes Kipling and felt drawn to their levity...apparently I was mistaken in my estimation of this deck. If this draw is any indication it pulls no punches. And to top it off the shadow card was the Eight of Swords. Sigh...and yet I journeyed with these cards, traveled into deserts I'd not anticipated and came away feeling renewed and lighter.

As I was looking at the cards came the line...loosen the ties that bind us. As with my draw earlier in the week I knew I'd heard the line before and as with the earlier draw it turned out to be a line from the Aramaic Lord's Prayer. I've worked with the Aramaic interpretation of this prayer off and on for almost two decades and while I'm intrigued as to why it's suddenly so determined to announce itself into my consciousness I'm not going to refuse its wisdom...

Cauldron ~ Synergy and Healing ~ Halloween Oracle

The sixth line of the KJV version talks of forgiveness, debts and the people we feel beholden to. Feeling one's lack, coming up short, blame and shame, and reciprocity's absence are all themes that we're invited to offer up into the cauldron of forgiveness such that we ourselves may be stirred and blended into the awareness that we are all one body. Neil Douglas-Klotz, author of Prayers of the Cosmos, describes it this way...

Loose the cords of mistakes binding us
as we release the strands we hold
of others' guilt.

Forgive our hidden past, the secret shames,
as we consistently forgive
what others hide.

Absorb our frustrated hopes and dreams,
as we embrace those of others
with emptiness.



This line of the prayer asks us to invoke a deeply embodied forgiveness. When sung and danced in Aramaic it is hauntingly beautiful, sober and yet invites a depth of connection with all beings as well as with the emptiness that allows us to experience each other's suffering.

Ten of Imps ~ Halloween Tarot

This figure in the Ten of Imps aka Wands looks like he is in need of this kind of compassionate embrace. The theme of forgiveness, of release continues....

Lighten our load of secret debts as
we consistently forgive
what others hide.

How often do I feel this way? How often are my loads self-imposed rather than external? These are questions to journey with when this card comes up for me. It's a mix as day-to-day duties naturally come with responsibilities that sometimes pile up but the loads that are heaviest to bear are those I place upon myself, those I keep to myself, those I close my heart around, a cross between this card and the Eight of Swords in many ways.

Untangle the knots within
so that we can mend our hearts'
simple ties to others.


The little stone heart pictured with the Ten of Imps is unakite. It derives its name from the Greek for 'growing together'. I reached for it intuitively on this day wanting its gentle beauty on my altar so I could see it often through the day. And how relevant it is to my draw as I look to the areas, the burdens that are asking for integration.

King of Bats ~ Halloween Tarot

And in comes The King of Bats traditionally the King of Swords...appearing in his role of arbiter, discriminating wisdom, Manjusri-like in his ability to discern wheat from chaff, the one who will guide us.

One of the words in the Aramaic version of the prayer is the word aykanna which translates to 'just as' in English...just as we forgive our debtors. It brings with it the quality of effort and intention, the desire for consistency and stability and reminds us that release is an ongoing practice, one that must be done regularly if our tangled relationships are to become whole and balanced again.

The King of Bats is a good role model for this kind of rigorous and stabilizing force to draw from. We need that kind of strength and confidence. We need his sword to untangle the inner knots.




The cauldron of God holds it all. She is the emptiness that gives shape to our longing for wholeness, for renewal and She is the very form of our suffering leading us back to Her. The happy little pumpkins, ghosts, bats and imps have taken me on travels I didn't anticipate. May each of us journey into the heart of our own unique and perfect longing.

The Dazzling Deep

Halloween Oracle ~ Raven's Prophecy Tarot

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." Marianne Williamson

Graveyard ~ Unnecessary Fears

A perfect quote for this pairing of Graveyard ~ Unnecessary Fears and the Six of Wands with its themes of victory, success and accomplishment. And yet...something doesn't sit right with me about it. At first I thought it was because I intuitively sense that our darkness is as luminous as our light, our light as comingled with the pigment and texture of the manifest as our darkness. They are one sacred body.

But the Ravens wanted more of me than that. And conspiring with the Halloween oracle to take me into the cloud of unknowing...once again...they forced the question upon me, does the above quote hold true for me, does it have wings and heart within me...

does it feather my soul 
with the dark, rainbow 
sheen of Mystery? Does it 
breathe outside the sky 
it arose from?

Later on the ridge, the place where I most frequently see the ravens, I was walking along the top blown about by an incredible wind, watching my little pup's whiskers and fur being pulled backwards until she was all honed with a wild joy. And it suddenly came to me on one of those whirling gusts...

Six of Wands ~ Raven's Prophecy Tarot

It's a fine quote, a great quote but it's only half the story, a partial truth. What it leaves out is integral, what it omits is an awareness that exists beyond ideas of light and darkness, one that moves away from the comforting shore of duality and plunges into the horizonless fact of God. Now that reality is cause for a response so disorienting it might have me running back to grasp the shawl of light and coverlet of darkness like a small child, one who takes delight in the names and forms of her world.

Marianne's lovely words will have to suffice for now because I'm not ready for that kind of ineffability...yet. But know this...each of us has touched the ineffable at some point in our ragged, grace-filled lives whether we know it or not...

we've touched it 

because we're made of it. 
Awakening is cellular.

An Unbodied Joy

Halloween Oracle

I drew from the Halloween Oracle this morning with the intention of drawing only one card but I pulled two stuck together and went with this pair with its suggestion of holding light aloft in the darkness. The Buddha speaks directly to this in his farewell speech to his disciples wherein he encourages them to "Be a lamp unto yourself. Work out your own salvation with diligence..." There are many translations of this famous teaching but I like this one for its pith.

Skull of Darkness ~ Blindspots ~ Halloween Oracle

A perfect card for this time of the year and the little verse that accompanies it resonates...

We may not wish to delve there
The shadows, the darkness,
the unknown.
Yet when we search we reveal
And our power thus has grown.

This season with its themes of shadow work and liminal realms is reflected naturally here. Says the LWB, "The beautiful and mysterious skull of darkness encourages us to look to the parts of ourselves that normally remain hidden or as unseen as possible." I love the description of the skull, the sacred container for the work, as being beautiful and mysterious and that it encourages us rather than forces. There is much to be learned from this gentle approach with its intimations of secrets gleaned.

Blind spots are literally that, mind states we continue with because we cannot see the conditioning behind them. The pattern is the symptom, the red flag that tells us blind spots are arising. This is where friends and wise counsel are so helpful. And it's also where the soft animal of the body can act as our familiar, a subtle guide. Am I holding my breath, is my jaw clenched, what are my hands doing? How soft is my hara? And my feet, are they in communication with the sacred drum of the earth? All these are lights that point away from the sleep of ignorance towards the birth of self-awareness. Like the candle on the crown center of the skull I'm reminded that these brief moments of illuminated consciousness, no matter how fleeting, are sacred.

Nightsong ~ Hidden Talents ~ Halloween Oracle

Looking at this card I'm reminded of Emily Dickinson's line, "Hope is the thing with feathers." That ruby-throated song that takes wing and blooms in the ink-dark night. A perfect guide for times when the shadows within loom.

'Should this beautiful but shy bird sing to you by appearing during your divination, know that you must unwrap the present of yourself.' This tells us much about the journey. The song needs coaxing and encouraging through the dark corridors of constriction towards the luminous gift of the self which awaits our receiving, our unwrapping, unveiling...'like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun' says Shelley in his beautiful Ode to a Skylark.

This pair feel like gentle guides on a day when that is needed. The possibility that blind spots are brought to light on the lyrical wings of our listening.

Lady de los Muertos

Lady de los Muertos ~ Halloween Oracle

I find it fascinating to see a female figure portraying Death. So often in the Tarot the majority of depictions are of a male figure clad in a long, body-covering cloak, his curves made by the shape of his bony frame, his look gaunt and empty. Here Death is feminine, sensual, beautiful and graceful. What an intimate feeling her energy offers us. She brings a visceral pulse to the passage that only a few breaths separates us from. The LWB talks of the Underworld as being the great equalizer which is seen in the keywords for this card of equality and acceptance. In the immediacy of the moment what might I let go of today?

It feels fairly obvious to me. I woke late to a house bustling with energy, activity and noise and right alongside a certain measure of resistance to that. My dh returned home late last night from a trip and as delighted as I am to see him and have him back it always takes some readjustment on my part from a quieter, slower more internal rhythm to one that is centered around others' pace and schedules. When I finally had a few moments to sit down with the cards this morning I could feel my scattered energy drawing inwards to rest in the sanctuary of silence that these few moments offered me. I wanted some guidance on how to wend my way through the day given the dramatic shift in atmosphere. I'm using the Halloween Oracle by Stacey Demarco and Jimmy Manton and as I was shuffling through the deck this card above was one I was thinking of. I had a jumper after this thought and sure enough, it was She gracing me with her presence and her beauty, the latter always a soothing balm and refuge to my soul. Lady de los Muertos, with her invitation of acceptance and release feels just right today.

Tales of the Pomegranate

The Underworld ~ Halloween Oracle

Seeing this card, The Underworld, come up for today's Oracle draw felt in alignment with the work I'm preparing for and will post about soon. It also intimately echoed a New Moon reading I did just last night in a starkly accurate way. And while Descent dictates its own timetable and rhythm this is a time of year that lends itself naturally to the kind of shadow work associated with the themes of the Underworld, with reclaiming and retrieving the parts of our soul that have been stolen by the gods of our fear, shame and self-doubt. I have often caught myself worshipping at their altars, exchanging my own authenticity for one of their shadow bodies.

The key phrase for this card is, where all things pause and begin again. Today as I move through my various tasks and errands I'll be keeping in my focus the invitation this card is offering with its themes of sacrifice, transformation, and night-vision. As the days shorten I can feel this invitation pressing itself into the creased palm of my awareness with urgency and bidding.

Discriminating Awareness

Vampire ~ Halloween Oracle

Today I decided to do a single oracle draw using The Halloween Oracle by Stacy Demarco and Jimmy Manton. I find the guidebook to be pretty lightweight, a little bit of history about each image and a few sentences of meaning for the card. But I really like a lot of the imagery and this card is no exception. I pulled this, Vampire, asking for the theme of the day and the keywords are Emotional Intelligence. The LWB talks about boundaries and being careful about who you choose to let into your emotional space.

Since I've got pretty solid boundaries and am very choosy about who I allow into my atmosphere I'm taking this card more on an internal level. I've been plagued the last few days with doubt, self-criticism and various other life-sucking energies and thought forms of the kind that cycle around and diminish our vitality and will. Awareness is being asked of me in regards to what thoughts and conversations I allow myself to have with myself. Raising my cup to emotional intelligence today!