And So the Sirens May Call

I felt funny about my last post.

But I don’t regret it.

A byproduct of being open about a struggle with mental illness is the recognition that over the years the shame has dissipated, and I’ve become more well.

What always gets me out of a dark descent, too, is to decide again that magic is a thing, that I can connect with the people who love me. A shard of faith begets an inch of forward momentum, and it sparks something else, and then something else, and I begin to see and feel the goodness again.

Don’t worry, friends, especially if my last post caused you concern. Long-term goals at which I took aim decades ago are ripening all over the place and (most days) it’s making me feel splendid, and a little jittery (good things can also be scary, of course).

But the reading reminds us to take a lighthearted approach to tasks and put together a gentle but firm strategy for the weeks ahead. Whatever that looks like in your neck of the woods, even if your only concern is about the approaching winter closing in. It’s good to have a plan.

Where Are We?

There’s something now that is prodding at our noggins and the steely logic of the rational mind. From Nick Bantock’s The River Oracle, the first card out has an unexpected dual meaning.

This card is The Engineer, with an odd flipside that Bantock calls … Doubt.

Oracle cards often have a ‘light’ and a ‘dark’ meaning, and we pull a card and sense where we are on that spectrum at the time, or take both meanings simultaneously.

So we’re very analytical right now.

Or we’re feeling doubtful.

Or both :)

True to Bantock’s unique mix of text and image (he’s the author of the well-known Griffin and Sabine series of picture books), the message in the guidebook for The Engineer/Doubt card seems more like a riddle:

“Shells fill the streets. The screws are unwinding and the floorboards seeping light. Pipes clank and mechanics whisper the sound of the sea while the sirens call from jagged rocks. […] Soon the engineer will come to readjust the spaces between the various parts.”

The Ace of Swords (from The Radiant Tarot) sits below The Engineer card, which suggests that we have been offered a new challenge in the realm of the intellect, thought, or communication. This Ace also tells us that in order to rise to that challenge we must in some way cut away our illusions about it.

We also have the Curiosity of Air here.

In a past post I told you that the energy of the Page of Swords (called Curiosity of Air, from the Rosebud Tarot) reminds me of my dominant attributes as a child.

Pages in tarot have a young energy (sometimes they mean ‘beginner’s mind’) and this one embodies precocious awareness and idealism. Like the kindred fox that appears on this particular version, Page of Swords is instinctive and a little cunning.

But these abilities can liberate or imprison us depending on how we use them, and the message hints that our amazingly curious brains could be in a bit of a silent frenzy.

We’ve got stuff we’re thinking through in our heads.

For me this is a large work project that must be developed in the coming weeks, with a clear and tangible outcome.

It’ll be something else for you, but something your mind is mullling over endlessly (possibly to your detriment).

What’s Coming In

Well, this is a lovely column of cards.

The Crown.

The Magician.

The 3 of Cups.

From Loteria Remedios Oracle, The Crown is about leadership and responsibility, but it’s also about taking care of yourself:

“It could be that you deserve a day of self-care to treat yourself like royalty. A little pampering can help heal stress and feelings of self-doubt. This card also asks you to survey your domain. Review all the things in your command, including your own thoughts.”

And don’t worry about the crap you have no control over—I added this :)

Heavy is the head that wears the crown and you may feel a bit burdened by extra responsibility, but you’ll also find creative ways to turn that feeling around.

Because next up is the charm of The Magician, followed by the 3 of Cups.

The Magician is the first card in the major arcana after the zero card (The Fool). It represents mastery, luck, and energy.

Good news—your creative self is at the apex of ability :)

The flame of creativity ignites on The Magician’s worktable, unifying all parts of ourselves: air, water, earth, and fire. This is the ethereal force The Magician channels through his or her upstretched hand to manifest fabulously successful things on Earth.

An audience knows a magic trick is a trick, but their pleasure comes from not knowing how the trick is done. Tricks seem like magic. Which means you can likely achieve what you want more easily than you think—as long as you show up for it.

Like catching a slipstream, there are currents we can jump into and just ride and we’ll meet our destination with less sweat and tears. Overthinking and anxiety are definite barriers to stumbling on slipstreams though. Take note.

A community of loving friends is lurking around to help too. The 3 of Cups, called the 3 of Water in this deck, is collaborative nourishment.

Deep emotional connections abound. They are all around you in support of this new brand of magic you’re making. Even if you aren’t used to it, the more the merrier!

People who love you want to shout it out loud.

The Advice

When our daughter was five we went to a park in Peterborough, Ontario, where you can go into an underground corridor and watch, as if in an aquarium, otters under the water.

I remember how entranced we were as they swam under and around one another, and it did look like play.

The way squirrels chase other squirrels, flinging themselves from branch to branch, running up and down tree trunks as if in a game of tag.

From The Animal Elders Oracle, we’re encouraged to try as best we can to call upon the part of ourselves who remembers how to play without fear of appearing silly.

For some of us, it’s not that easy to do that—my childhood involved a lot of rules. But this is also why I make collage art, scissoring stuff out of old books, arranging it at random on paper and gluing it down as I wish.

Sometimes I need to make something that doesn’t mean anything, just because it’s fun :)

The Page of Cups (a white bird with arms and legs in period costume) arrives squarely in our advice looking ridiculous and says, “Yes. Double-down on that sort of thing.”

Gentle and emotional, innocent and romantic, this rookie will see how far their imagination will range and they will follow all of their playful, intuitive impulses.

At least in the coming weeks, as best you can, be like this strange duck and approach challenges as if the stakes are low (because they likely are) and it’s okay to be a bit wacky (because it is).

The 9 of Earth (traditionally the 9 of Pentacles or Coins)—associated with refinement and the steady growth of the fruits of our precious life—is about planning and patience.

Like The Engineer, and its B-side, Doubt, you are the one who decides if you will strategize just enough so you can continue to build toward what you want.

It’s on you to keep doubt at bay and make moves that feel good.

From The Archeo deck by Nick Bantock, the last card only reinforces this.

“The Strategist is comfortable among abstraction and never blindsided by complacency. No narrow-minded thinker trying to make events fit to a formula, he sees possibilities and options that you or I might overlook.”

Be the kind of strategist in the weeks ahead who treats a challenge like a game, with wide interpretations.

As you do your best to ignore the sirens that call from their jagged rocks.

Resources

Bantock, Nick. The Archeo. Understanding & Developing Your Archetypes. Llewellyn Publications, 2021.

Bantock, Nick. The River. Sailing the Stream of Consciousness. Llewellyn Publishers, 2023.

Barnstone, Tony. Artwork by Alexandra Eldridge. The Radiant Tarot. Red Wheel/Weiser, 2021.

Frost, Asha. The Animal Elders Oracle. Hay House LLC, 2024.

Gonzalez, Xelena. Artwork by Jose Sotelo Yamasaki. Loteria Remedios Oracle. Soulful Remedies & Affirmations from Mexican Loteria. Hay House, Inc., 2024.

Harper, Diana Rose, and Amanda Lee Stillwell. The Rosebud Tarot. Wieser Books, 2023.