Meditation on the Page of Cups

My meditation card for today is from The Fairytale Tarot by Karen Mahony and Alex Ukolov.



As I enter the scene on this card, a cool breeze lifts my hair and blows it back from my face. Both the sky and the water are a pale, soothing shade of blue. Fluffy white clouds blossom overhead. I gaze at three swifts as they glide by, swooping low over the water.

A dark-haired young man in a vivid blue tunic watches me, an amused expression on his face. He has a stringed instrument of some sort slung over one shoulder. I realize that he has left his sailboat tied to the shore – a boat with a dragon-headed prow. I also notice that he is holding a golden cup or goblet in his left hand. To my surprise, a golden fish is peeking out of the cup.

Before I can ask him about the fish, the young man hands the cup to me. He sits down on the grass and begins to play his dulcimer-like instrument. He sings the story of the poor Russian musician Sadko, who was taken deep under the sea to Tsar Morskoy’s palace. He was only able to escape when his own elfin sister helped him return home.

I am touched by the song and the magic of the music. As I gaze at the fish in the cup, I begin to feel that perhaps I am like that fish, confined to an unnaturally small space instead of free to swim in the wide expanse of a lake or river. Yet the minute I imagine that sort of freedom, I also realize that the risks would be far greater in that environment. Which do I want? To be protected and cared for but confined, or to be free and vulnerable to all manner of mishaps?

“Is there nothing in between?” I ask the young man. “Must I choose between risking everything and experiencing nothing? Can boundaries serve a purpose or do they only hinder imagination?”

The young man gestures toward the sailboat but says nothing. I understand that even if I am not ready to immerse myself in deep waters, I can sail across them into uncharted territory. There is still some risk involved, of course. But the confines of the boat offer a certain amount of security and protection.

The young man takes the goblet from my hand and gestures once again toward the sailboat. The journey begins.

A Brief Meditation on The Moon

In traditional Tarot decks, the scene on The Moon card often includes a wolf, which I consider one of my totem animals. In the Fantastical Creatures deck (by Lisa Hunt and D.J. Conway), there is no wolf. The card shows a unicorn standing before a large tree with bare branches. A barn owl sits in the tree (I consider the owl to be another of my totems).

In my meditation I enter the card. Both the owl and the unicorn gaze at me, watching and waiting. They are not afraid of me. I hold out my hand, palm up, and the unicorn brushes it with a velvety soft nose. They say that only a virgin can tame a unicorn. It occurs to me that my rising sign is Virgo, and that makes me smile. I raise my other arm, and the owl glides toward me, landing on my forearm. His talons do not cause me any discomfort. The moon grows even larger. A breeze stirs the owl's feathers and my hair. I feel that this is my home.

Meditation on The Hermit

This is a meditation I wrote a number of months ago on The Hermit card from the Fantastical Creatures Tarot. I hope to become more skilled at this sort of thing!


As I meditated, I imagined myself entering the card, stepping into a forest, surrounded by tall slender tree trunks. Bare branches criss-crossed overhead, and I felt a sense of things being tangled or complicated. Some of the trees and bushes were full of green leaves. It seemed to me that I was entering a world of both the dead and the living. I felt very peaceful and relaxed. The Old Lady of the Elder peered at me from behind a small, bushy elder tree. Its white flowers seemed to form shapes, but I could not quite determine what they were. I did not feel the need to speak to the Old Lady. We both simply waited and contemplated each other. I was filled with a sense of recognition, as if meeting a kindred spirit. It occurred to me that I might have seen her in a dream a long time ago. I decided that I would try to summon her into future dreams, in hopes that I can learn what she wants to teach me.





Fantastical Creatures Tarot, illustrated by Lisa Hunt, written by D.J. Conway