Tarot Blog Hop Lammas 2016: Opposites

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Maureen Aisling Duffy-Boose is the hostess for this tarot blog hop, the first one this year in which I have felt drawn to participate:

This Hop celebrates the festival of Lughnassadh, Lammas, Loaf-Mass, and many other names. It has historical lore connected to a tale of Lugh Lámhfhada (Lugh of the Long Arm) or his alternate title, Lugh Samhildánach (Lugh of the Many Skills), who is a primary harvest Deity in Celtic lore. In the oldest Irish lore, the festival is celebrated in honor of the funeral games of Tailtiu, the foster-mother of Lugh, who had died of exhaustion after clearing a huge tract of forestland by hand in order that the crops which were being overrun by the armies of the Tuatha de Danaan and the Fir Bolg might be re-planted, so that the people might not starve. Lugh is a primary God of the Harvest in Ireland, and in Christian times, the first-fruits of the grain, harvested in the month of August, were baked into the sacred bread of which the Holy Communion was made in the churches, giving rise to the name "Loaf-Mass" for the festival celebration. In any case, this feast in all the Celtic lands has a particular relevance to the way we interpret the Tarot, for the reason that it is focused on a "union of opposites", celebrating both the bounty of the land which is yielding the Harvest, and honoring the memory of a beloved Elder who dies in the process of making this Harvest possible. 

 So, for this "Hop", let's do some exploring of the "union of opposites" and take a look at the cards with this in mind.

 I feel like a bit of a cheat - when I sat down to write this post, about 2 cards that represent opposing but necessary parts of a cycle, I realized I had already spoken about this idea, here. 

Here is the soundtrack to go with the cards:

 



So this time, winging it, let's discuss the symbolism in XIII Death that indicates the new growth that comes after ... one of my favorite versions is from the Hudes deck:

The Hudes is a sparse deck, not overloaded with color or images; but it's very starkness means that the symbols that are depicted have more impact - and here the butterfly symbolizing transformation and new life is in addition located in the pelvic region (sex and new life) of Death's skeleton.

All these versions contain the signs of new life to follow:

 Darkana Tarot Halloween Tarot Crystal Visions Tarot

 Shadowscapes Tarot                                New Palladini Tarot                              Tarot for Cats






















 Animism Tarot Crystal Tarot 

It is more of a challenge to find Marseilles-type decks with imagery of transformation, but it can be done:

Tarot Noir BOTA Tarot Daniloff Tarot

Of course, if you consider those decks which retitle Death to 'Transition' or some such bowdlerized name, there are several 'fluffy bunny' versions to be ignored; in this category instead we seek cards which retain the darkness, and my (not exhaustive) search found only one:

Wildwood Tarot

If you know of any renamed 'Death' cards that are not Happy Squirrel-type cards, please let me know in the comments section. 

I imagine it would be an interesting if time-consuming exercise to see how many other tarot cards contain opposites in their imagery - if you have found any, please let me know in the comments section.

Now you may fall back to Joanne's blog, or trip forward to Boglarka's blog ...


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Sad Lammas

 

Hanson-Roberts Tarot

So today it's Lammas, one of the old cross-quarter days, that marks the first harvest of the year. And in some ways my sister's funeral service was an opportunity to see the harvest that her life brought her: the many, many friends and family that attended - some having travelled great distances - to pay their respects to her, share their memories of her, mourn her loss and show support for her family.

Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery

Mythic Tarot

For me, III The Empress with her prolific bounty is linked in perpetuity with XIII Death, for without one there cannot be the other: without Death, there can be no growth; without growth there can be no Death - and harvest always means death: a scythe cuts down wheat as well as souls.

The star in this card reminds us that in death there is also new life .... which will end in time with another harvest. And that is what makes the Circle.

I wanted to thank each and every one of you who took the time to send me kind words at this time - you do not know how much they are appreciated: thank you very much.

Tarot Blog Hop: Lammas 2013

HousewivesTarot

    
   Tarot Blog Hop: Lammas 2013



      
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You may have come from Joanna's blog, or fallen backwards from Chloe's - or even alighted here by random fate, how lucky for you. The theme chosen this time by Arwen, is:

''Lammas is a special time for me. It's the first harvest (generally fruits and grains) in many cultures. It's associated with baking bread among other things. I won't go into all that it is. Grin, you all have the ability to research for yourselves.

The first blog hop topic was "How can I be a better candle?" It was meant to spark the idea of how we can each light up ourselves and our community as a whole. Going off that theme, the question I have for us for the Lammas 2013 Tarot Blog Hop is:

"What can I share from my table to enrich my community?"

 Regular readers will already know that my table never looks like the one above, since I am not a cooker. I like to eat, of course, but I really dislike cooking - too many years doing it as part of my job, I think, has jaded me. In other words, if you want to get fat, it won't be in my house !

So, what I can I share to enrich my tarot community ?

This kind of reminds me of the Litha 2013 Tarot Blog Hop, when we had to tell people about how stupendously amazing we are. Of course, as a regular reader, you already knew how totes amazeballs I am, but it never hurts to remind of one's fabulousness, does it ? I feel I share with my tarot community as I am a teacher and mentor, as well as a founder member of TABI. But all that's kind of established and old hat and boring - which as you also know, is so not me.

Tarot of Durer

So I think I will add to my general overwhelming awesomeness by peaking with a plain and simple giveaway: all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Next Wednesday I will use one of those random number generator thingies and a winner will be picked.

What's that ?

Winner of what, did you say ?

Oh yes, I forgot the really important bit - as it's a tarot blog hop, I think I shall give away a tarot deck. After a quick shuffle over to the bookshelves, I think the most appropriate deck on this occasion is the out of print I Tarocchi Del Buongustaio from Lo Scarabeo.

 Good to know I can still impress myself too.





Don't forget to check out all the other tarot Lammas offerings by clicking on the links below: