A month late – Playing at Beltane

I completed this exercise & wrote this post over a month ago. I hummed and hawed about posting it. Then I forgot my humming and hawing. 😁 I found it again in drafts and am posting it now, for no other reason that I believe it is arrogant to assume no one is interested in or can learn from what we have to say. Always let the reader decide.
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I have a process I go through when learning a new deck. I’m a book person. Two degrees and enough random credits for a 3rd, I like the certainly of the printed word and work my way through a deck with references at first.

Of course, The longer I play this game, the shorter the time before I remove this crutch.

It’s still there with the Wildwood. This is my first multi-card reading with the deck. I thought I’d share, books and all.

The morning of Beltane, I ‘lit my fire’ (burned my incense), opened my blinds to welcome the God as he entered the sky and say ‘so long’ to the Goddess (she being full and in my ‘wheelhouse’ in Scorpio) and shuffled my deck.

I am using Christine Jette’s “May Queen Beltane Spread” from her fabulous book ‘Tarot for all Seasons’. This five-card spread is laid out in a semi-circle, the cards placed from left to right in the rough shape of the floral crown of the May Queen.

The Wildwood Tarot includes a one word descriptor on each of its pip cards and a totem on each of its courts. I’ve included a picture them above.

Here is a brief summary of my Tarot journal work. Thought I’d share.

1. Safety – Ten of Vessels (Happiness) – I seem to need to share, to provide emotional support to others to feel safe within myself. This card is a reminder of both the importance of giving emotionally but also of the possibility of overdoing it, a common theme in the tens of the Tarot. Upon reflection, it is also a reminder that I need my own emotional safety before I can offer support freely. There is such a think as being too giving.

2. Abundance – Queen of Arrows (Swan) – This is a card of transformation. For abundance to flow, a change needs to occur and truths, not perception, need to come to the forefront. The Queen of Arrows can vicious… and accurate.

3. Regeneration – Knight of Stones (Horse) – A focus on physical activity & strength is a path to regeneration. But be weary, the knight is impulsive and the Horse is quick.  Starting is often easy but there is sometimes a struggle to know when enough is enough.

4. Love – Two of Stones (Challenge) – Material competition or rivalry may be present here. It is important to keep an eye on reality over perception (I detect a theme). 😉 I’m also noting the suit of stones, one that is about materialism & sensuality as opposed to the emotion or intellect. Sounds like challenges will show up in the tactile and tangible.

5. The Future – Note… I’m using the word because it is the one the author uses to hold this space in the spread but, I’ll let my bias show and say I am not a fan of ‘the future’ in Tarot-related contexts. Personally, I prefer “possible outcome”. I don’t see the Tarot (or anything else for that matter) as a tool to predict the future. I see it instead as a tool to reflect on one of an infinite number of possible outcomes. I respect others who see things differently.

Three of Bows (Fulfilment) – This card has the image of both a bow and an archer. It reminds me that the road to fulfilment is in the hands of the archer, provided (s)he can harness the potential of the bow to direct the arrow to its target.

This spread has provided one possible direction for the arrow to travel. Through the Beltane themes of safety, abundance, regeneration and love, one story has revealed itself.

Blessed Beltane to all.