Exploring the Faeries' Oracle: Power Cards

Above: the Singer of Healing and the Dark Lady, two cards from Brian Froud's "The Faeries' Oracle" deck.

Merry meet, friends! Today I'm going to do a little something different. I have started playing around with my tarot and oracle cards a bit more, so I thought I'd share some of my findings here. After all, that's what this blog was originally intended for! (Exploration of the pagan path and all that comes with it, I mean. Instead it's sort of become a stream-of-consciousness thought-dump.)

One of the first exercises the Faeries' Oracle guide book recommends is to find your current Power Cards. On my last day off, Monday, I laid out all the cards face-up on my bed and sorted them into groups that I thought made sense. There was one group for the sort of abstract light-pattern ones (like the Singer you see above), one group for little creatures standing on other creatures' heads (this is a very playful deck of cards), one for images packed with many figures, one for cheeky or silly faeries, one for lone glowing figures, and one for dark or serious or dark images.

The book instructed to choose the card that appealed to me the most, and the one that appealed to me the least or made me uncomfortable. I haven't got to the part where they provide standard meanings for each card; instead, the book strongly suggested that I figure out my own meanings first by simply looking at the cards and spending time pondering them.

I chose the Singer of Healing (left card in the photo) for the card that appealed the most. After staring at it for a while, I answered some questions the book laid out...

1. Emotional atmosphere: embracing; open; reaching out; peacefulness; growth; concentration; contentment; thoughtfulness.
2. Physical manifestations: inner focus; meditation; rumination; finding/embracing purpose; glowing from the inside out; quietude; a slower pace.
3. Mental characteristics: complex but focused; deeply layered; requiring a focus/concentration; calm; intelligence; multi-dimensional.
4. Spiritual characteristics: awareness; guiding; healing; nurturing; planting a seed; understanding; strength of mind.
5. Most appealing aspect: upwards motion; stretching out; focus points of light.
6. Anything uncomfortable/unappealing: Monochrome tones; no warmth.
7. Other impressions: In this image I see a figure looking downwards in concentration, hands cupping a ball of light or energy and focusing it in order to direct it upwards and outwards in the shape of wings.

And a very similar questionnaire for the second card, the Dark Lady...

1. Emotional atmosphere: dark; powerful; dangerous; bitterness; unafraid; malintent.
2. Physical manifestations: lashing out; bragging; grudges held; someone dangerous; using power for evil; turning against you; bad or misguided intention.
3. Mental characteristics: one-minded; stewing; brooding; direct; misunderstood; confused.
4. Spiritual characteristics: challenging; daring; forcing; revealing; piercing; demanding.
5. Most uncomfortable aspect: threatening glare; bloodshot eyes; unstable emotional attitude; haughtiness (of winged figure).
6. Anything appealing/attractive: directness; no-nonsense attitude; unashamed; powerful.
7. Other impressions: The top figure seems like she is on the verge of insanity, and is posing a threat, challenge, or conflict. She is very single-minded and focused on a particular task, possibly one with malintent or one meant to harm. The winged figure is more ambiguous, but seems to be another version of the top figure. It almost looks like the threat display of an animal; either aggressive or defensive.

The book went on to tell me (after I did these exercises) that the first card, the Singer of Healing, represents the things I am trying to create in my life, or the thing I want most in life (the following is my interpretation of how the card related to this topic)...

• To find my purpose and focus on it as a source of inner strength.
• To be open to growth and change.
• To be able to quietly focus.
• To find peace and contentment (don't we all!).

And on the flip side, the Dark Lady represents the things in my life I am currently having trouble dealing with:

• Trouble not brooding over grudges, negative emotions, bitterness, or jealousy.
• Trouble with being direct, straightforward, and unashamed.
• Trouble with focusing on the bigger picture.
• Trouble with facing challenges head-on.
• Trouble with confidence.
• Trouble with focusing on my own purpose, but instead focusing on others.

(Sorry for the weird grammar... my brain is tired.)

So! There you go! A simple homemade reading of two cards. Not bad for a first try!

I like these cards because they are so unique. They're not a tarot deck, but they are comprised of many various characters, images, and archetypes. It sort of leaves you to find your own interpretation.

It's possible that I am totally reading my own current thoughts and experiences into the cards. In fact, I think that's very likely! But I think that's one of the most important things you can do with tarot or oracle cards. They are simply a way to take a different view on things, or to use your subconscious to examine your current mental and emotional state. I know my brain responds much better to visual images (and music, but I've never heard of a musical tarot!) than anything else, so that might have something to do with it. If a psychiatrist asked me how I was feeling, I would probably just shrug and say I'm fine. But having to look at different images and characters with different atmospheres and personalities really gets me into the figuring-stuff-out zone.

Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this little reading! I'd like to do more of these. I'm thinking of starting another blog just for tarot/oracle readings and other pagan-related topics... what do you think? I would feel better sharing posts on such a blog, just because this blog has become so personal and more like my journal than anything else, and I don't really want to share my posts because then everyone can see everything I've written in it...

Maybe two blogs; this one for journalling, and another for the other stuff.

I'll have to think about it!

That's all for now, friends... hail and farewell!