Songs for the Journey Home
I moved my tarot reading “nook” to the back of the veranda, as it looks out onto a more wild landscape (ignore the mowed lawn…). After an early morning start pottering around the house, I indulged in a coffee and drew a trio from Songs for the Journey Home deck:
I paused a while after drawing the Tenth Wind Song (10 of Swords), the Fifth Earth Song (5 of Pentacles) and Earth Innocence (Page of Pentacles). The first two are rather dire, yet I liked what the accompanying book had to say:
“The Tenth Wind Song represents the revisiting of a situation or relationship which has previously lured and entangled you. It is an image of incompatibility, not of evil intent… Sometimes when you have recovered from a crisis point, you may feel the need to return and face the person or the addiction to prove to yourself you can now handle the experience to your advantage… The opportunity is here to illuminate and transform a previously damaging experience.”
Without going into detail due to personal/privacy issues, this card was spot on. Instead of the dreaded 10 of Swords energy, reading the authors’ interpretation bought a huge sigh of relief.
Next, the card of “poverty and hardship” but with a timely twist in its interpretation.
“Time is speeding up to the degree whereby you feel you are under intense pressure….The Fifth Earth Song is an image of imbalance. Ancient timekeeping flowed with the movements of the stars, moon and sun and thus continued to connect people with elemental, diurnal, tidal and seasonal patterns. This connection is now, for the most part, severed…”
I see this card as a warning to not take too much on, and rather just be and enjoy the incredible gift of what we have: the sounds of birds to wake up to, a sky full of stars at night, a soothing fire at night. The last couple of months have been full on for us, and now we need to take the time to rest and just enjoy it all.
Finally, Earth Innocence. A child happily climbing and exploring a tree. I loved doing that, as a child. I see this card as reconnecting with my inner child and maybe even “going bush” out and about our patch of land. It’s about un-shackling from the earlier experiences shown by the Tenth Wind and Fifth Earth cards – good riddance too.
“Earth Innocence is a purposeful child who is independent from an early age. She may experience herself as being quite different from other children around her and she knows she thinks and sees differently from most adults she meets… When the child is not told what should make her happy, but discovers this for herself, she is free of the need to squeeze herself into an ill-fitting mould.”
All quotes taken from Songs for the Journey Home by Catherine Cook and Dwariko von Sommaruga.
