The Cards of Spring

Feel free to look back at my March 14, 2009 blog entitled “Spring and the Empress” http://whitesagetarot.com/2009/03/14/spring-and-the-empress/ . It is one of my favourite!

In a little over a week, the wheel turns once again and those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere shake our snowy coverings and look forward to the emergence of spring.  In the spirit of the “Back In Time” Tarot method (Thank you, Janet Boyer, for a refreshing look at the Tarot. I’d grown tired of revisiting some of my older tomes.), I have selected several cards from a variety of decks that, in my opinion, represent the appearance of spring.

The ‘transformation’ of winter into spring – The Wheel – The Gaian Tarot  www.gaiantarot.com  Spring and Aries rest at the top of this card but they do not do so alone. They are linked as part of a greater whole. Aries is surrounded by Pisces and Taurus. Each of the four seasons is rooted to the centre, joining spring to all other points on the wheel.  Spring can’t happen without the other three seasons. It is only through the death of winter that the spring of life re-emerges. The butterfly, Nature’s ‘transformer’, symbolizes the life-death-life cycle for me here.  In my opinion, this card is a beautiful depiction of the four seasons and a wonderful starting point for this exercise.

The Fire emerging from within – The Ace of Wands – DruidCraft Tarot http://druidcraft-tarot.druidry.org/   The Fire that appears to be emanating from the point of the wand is indicative of the burning desire for life to emerge at this time of year. The moss on the rocks, the buck looking for love J, the blue sky and the tree’s delicate blanket of budding leaves  are all spring-like images.   I look at this card and I can almost smell the cool, dampness I associate with this time of the year. It reminds me of April in the Muskokas.

Here Comes the Sun (do, do ,do ,do) – The Sun – Robin-Wood Tarot www.robinwood.com  – You can’t help but notice the large, bright Sun that dominates the top third of this card. There’s a ‘giggly’ youthfulness to the rider that’s contagious. The sunflowers (also prominent in this deck’s Ace of Wands) are about to turn to the Sun and bask in its growing warmth.

Fertility and renewal – The Empress – Gilded Tarot. http://www.ciromarchetti.com/tarotzodiac_gt.htm  OK, faithful readers will know why I chose this particular Empress J. The Empress herself has traditional links to Demeter, Gaia and Venus, goddesses associated with fertility, sensuality and abundance. I also like to think of the Empress as a card of renewal. And spring is nothing if not a time for sensuality and renewal.

Rebirth – Queen of Rainbows – Osho Zen Tarot www.osho.com – Flowering is the growth of the seed into new life. Spring wakes us up and tells us that we are not meant to remain inside.  And ‘going outside’ for each of us can represent either that reconnection with nature or a more symbolic shedding of our own cocoon and subsequent metamorphosis into something completely different. Both of these transformations represent the true power of springtime.  

From cars with their tops down (the Chariot, maybe) to the return flight of birds (perhaps the Eight of Wands), feel free to select your own and share via the comments section.