Monday, 2 February 2015

Tarot Blog Hop Imbolc 2015: Oracular Anomalies






Welcome to this year's Imbolc Tarot Blog Hop, whether you have hopped forward from Giuliana's blog, or back from Morgan's.

And you, my poor darlings who are used to reading for my crafting content, are also more than welcome - in fact, you get a chocolate cookie for getting this far without your eyes glazing over.

This Hop's organizer, Karen, chose the topic of Oracular Anomalies: ''I say Oracular anomalies though obviously I mean that in an all cards etc inclusive kind of way. I use the phrase because I like the tongue twister effect and I'd like you to tell a tale of any experience that you've had where a card has prompted a brain twister effect on you...
 I'm interested in hearing about encounters with cards that for some reason or another stuck out like a sore thumb, deviated from expectations or challenged your usual way of thinking. Cards that have twisted your brain in a similar way to the phrase 'Oracular anomalies' twists the tongue. ''


For me, the card I think of first in answer to this prompt is not any of the big or scary cards, but the relatively ordinary-looking the 7 of Wands from the classic RWS deck.






 Something from this card that is not copied or repeated in most of the RWS clones is this beleaguered man's footwear: look carefully and you can see that he wears odd shoes. This anomaly shows us that he is not prepared for the battle he is engaged in, he has been caught on the hop. You may feel that this is reinforced by his beltless tunic. This leads us to advise our querents that they ought to pay attention, to inform themselves and be prepared for some kind of attack, or at least to defend something they are doing.

In spite of his  unpreparedness, the man seems successful - he holds the high ground, he is unwounded, he appears to have plenty of energy, all things that will help him against those below who assail him and attempt to drive him from his position. This is shown in the enterprising and thought-provoking deck, Tarot of the New Vision, which shows scenes from the cards as if viewed after a 180 degree turn:


Or do they ?

Once a student of mine described this card as a man trying to hammer in sticks to make a defensive fence.

I particularly love to find these eye-opening ideas as they make me sit up and think - I have learned so much from my students over the years, for which I am very grateful.

So sometimes the anomaly is not presented by the card, but by the interpretation.

You can read stories of other people's oracular anomalies by clicking on the links below:


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12 comments:

  1. Giuliana2 February 2015 at 22:26

    He truly does appear to be hammering himself behind a fence. It's quite fascinating. I know you must be a wonderful teacher. Love this piece! Thank you so much. :)

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  2. Anonymous2 February 2015 at 23:27

    I don't use the RWS that often so I'd never really noticed the way he's dressed... but now you mention it, he does look as though he's just jumped out of bed... and then seeing all those other 6 chasing him... I'm wondering whose bed he's jumped out of and if either of those shoes belong to him... :D
    Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

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  3. sadodosah3 February 2015 at 00:10

    One thing that struck me is that the wands still have on little springs of leaves which also indicates that they were hastily grabbed for battle and not meticulously sanded and prepared.

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  4. Ethony*3 February 2015 at 01:41

    Interesting I love that point of view and the whole idea of the Tarot of the New Visions :)

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  5. Ania3 February 2015 at 08:24

    I'd never noticed the mismatched shoes. I suppose it's like the wallpaper when you move into a new house - you stop noticing it after a while :D

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  6. Alison3 February 2015 at 10:20

    I'd forgotten about the mismatched shoes - thank you for the reminder :-)

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  7. Ellen3 February 2015 at 12:18

    Those shoes has slipped my mind too :)

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  8. Unknown4 February 2015 at 17:17

    "No unpaired shoes"...by 9 West mommy dearest...lol I never noticed The Shoes.....makes me think of the wizard of Oz....ummmm Great blog!!!!

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  9. Bridgett Marie5 February 2015 at 16:52

    Interesting look at that particular card. :)

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  10. Joy Vernon6 February 2015 at 00:09

    Good take on the anomalies! There are a lot of fun little quirks like that in the RWS artwork.

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  11. Inner Whispers8 February 2015 at 16:42

    The question of whether or not there are people on the other side of those wands is one I often ponder. Is this a real attack, the lay of the land, or just paranoia? :)

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  12. Anonymous11 February 2015 at 03:55

    Fascinating! I'd never heard of the New Vision version. What a novel idea! And I, too, had not paid attention to these fine details (wondering if Colman-Smith just accidentally left two different versions of the shoes when she meant to change both feet to one type). But I like the idea of enriching the interpretation with that "just jumped out of bed" feel.

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Thanks ! I love comments :-)

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