Fire into Water into Fire

Shadows capes Tarot ~ Stephanie Mun-Pui Law

In many ways this pair of archetypal energies is a study in elemental contrasts, Fire and Water. Where the two meet is the realm of transformation, it's where the dialogue leaves off and a subtler alchemy begins, more lasting than words.

I drew these cards a few days ago and found I had nothing to say about them. Nothing. They fit together within me so intrinsically that anything I thought about them felt extraneous. And yet clearly they had wisdom to impart, something to choreograph me with. Why was nothing coming through from such resonant archetypal energy? 

Shadowscapes Tarot ~ Strength

So I waited. Photographed them a bunch of times. Deleted all the photos because no one was speaking. Worked with some stones. Some plants. And then all of a sudden there they were--a relationship unfolding, a story. Their presence to be experienced inclusively, interdependently.

The goddess in Strength finding her oracular wings, her intuitive voice in the High Priestess, as she dares to give way to dream, to subtlety. Her Lion familiar shapeshifting into the Wisdom-Owl. The fiery sun energy slipping beneath the horizon, taking form as the subtle, crepuscular moon. Yellow into blue. And what will come of that color alchemy?!!! The green of manifestation. Such bodhisattvic potential there is here. 

They are two rays of the same divine feminine body. Sekhmet, Durga, Freya slipping off the voluptuous red robes of noon, of soma and drawing around her the sylph-body gown of the liminal, the Delphic night, Selene, Wadjet, Isis, Persephone...hidden, cached in the betwixt and between world. She who resists interpretation.

Shadowscapes Tarot ~ The High Priestess

They are sisters who communicate obliquely. Secrets whispered back and forth across mysteries. The threshold of the self is their byway. 

I carry both of these sovereign energies within me. Both these majesties have claim on my own betwixt and between body, the one who roams the night skies and knows how to navigate the Moon's fluctuating attentions and the one who pads through the sun drenched fields of the robust world of name and form, appetite and limit. 

I bow to both of them. Simultaneously. For that is the point, that simultaneity is their wisdom, their truth. 

Beauty as Magic, as Refuge

Shadowscapes Tarot ~ Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

Tired after a sleep-short night. Eager to see what the cards had to say. Second day in a row with two Majors. Second consecutive day that Death shows up. My experience with this card is that it comes in waves. Today it's in the same position with another masculine Major following it. Pulled a foundation card from the bottom of the deck for a little more clarity.

Death • The Magician • Ace of Pentacles

The Magician ~ Shadowscapes Tarot

This Magician has a shamanic quality to him with his wings and dragon crown, his tattoos and mask. He is master of all the elements. They hang at the edge of his wings in the form of a shining crystal, shells, raven feathers, and a leafing branch.

He so feels very magical to me, in active and visceral relationship with the elemental energies. I don't always get that feeling from other Magician cards. The lovely jonquils and roses, the gorgeously shaped rock supporting him with its curves and stories, the mudras of the birds and gradations of sky. Even the lemniscate above his head, which I like to think of as the fifth element, ether, glows with subtle grace, not calling attention but simply affirming his relationship with Spirit

Here Beauty is pronounced. Here it feels that Beauty is also a form of Magic. Has its place amidst other skills this Magician might call upon. And when I consider Beauty's role and place in my own life I feel its power, its alchemical ability to transform my state. Sometimes it's all that gets me through the day.

Shadowscapes Tarot ~ Stephanie Pui-Mun Law

'Power forces surrender, Beauty inspires it', said a great Sufi Saint. That has been my experience. The heart naturally, joyfully softens and opens when kneeling at Beauty's altar. And the 'beautiful' thing about this is how personal it is. As though Spirit recognizes just what will be the healing agent for each of us.

Today seeing these three cards I feel I'm being encouraged to continue to trust the deep process of transformation that I'm in, trust the greening abundance beneath me. With extra emphasis on Beauty as refuge.