Time for Reflection
This time of year, from Samhain to Yule, it is natural to turn inward. In quiet darkness there is enough space and solitude for reflection…at least this is true metaphorically. With our culture’s obsession with “the holidays,” it is easy to ignore the important soul work that is so natural to attend to during the short days and long nights of winter. This is, indeed, natural, and essential to the health of our souls.
May this card, from the lovely Green Witch Tarot by Ann Moura and Kiri Østergaard Leonard inspire you to make time for yourself during the upcoming weeks.
XIII — THE LORD OF SHADOWS
This is a card of change, moving from shadow into light. Some things that have hampered this change are put aside to make the transition possible. The God of Nature in his aspect of Lord of Shadows, ruler of underworld, pauses in the shadows of the forest to watch an elderly man with his grandson walk away from a well with a full bucket of water. In early times the well was a metaphor of life-force energy, the magical waters of life that sustained one’s creative spirit and joy of being. The man and child show the generations that flow from the water of life, the satisfaction of a life well lived under the bright light of the Sun.
The Lord of Shadows, his demeanor being one of patience and kindness, holds in his hand a twig of yew. His presence suggests a life in transition with the obstacles to transformation being cleared away. There needs to be clean sweep for the right changes to come into fruition, for only in this way is there progress and improvement. Sometimes this comes as a matter of course in one’s life. Refusal to accept a new outlook may engender a loss of hope, stagnation, or a lack of growth. It is from the cleansing that new optimism arises, removing negative influences and allowing positive ones to enter. Old situations give way to new ones, and the past is left behind as a person moves on, released from prior commitments.
As with Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is thinnest and all worlds are linked in hallows, there is a quiet knowing with this card, that cleansing is taking place in one’s life, and there is an opportunity to commune with the inner self. From this comes the insight needed to release negativity and take the steps to a positive change and new direction.
The yew tree, with its red berries, represents for underworld, change, rebirth, and renewal. A graceful luna moth, for transitions and moving toward the light, flies gracefully from the shadows to the sunlit countryside.
Meaning: Change, moving from shadow into light, finding new meaning in life, a
turning point in life, optimism, removal of obstructions, creating positive changes, new outlook and actions replace the outmoded,
Reverse: Stagnation, immobility, resistance to change, self-evaluation needed.
Prompt Words: Change, transformation, turning point for improvement.
