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XVII - THE STAR The Three Star Spread is based on this picture. One woman stands on iron ore and watches a basket star swimming in the sea. Another woman stands on fossil crinoids (relatives of the sea star) and watches a falling iron meteor. Each woman tries to attract the other's attention, though they do not look at each other. A single glowing eye unites the women, their visions, and the ground they stand on. This layout is used to clarify a relationship between two people. Odd numbers represent one person, even numbers represent the other. Card 9 unites the two. Try reading both sides for each person. The spread can also be read for one person: Odd numbers represent what you think and do in the world and how others see you. Even numbers represent the subconscious, the imagination, and how you see yourself. Card 9 balances the two.
Cards 1&2: The ground that each person stands on: home and work, responsibilities, and
the past as it affects the current situation. |
| XVI - The Tower: The three fuels of blacksmithing burn in a wildfire, creating toxic smoke: charcoal crumbles in a torching fir tree, coal outcrops explode in a creek, and oil burns in a calcite geode. The smith's work loses meaning and she is powerless. Falling without wings brings release. A door opens in the air, and something new and strange may appear in the ashes. |
| Four of Spikes: Interlocked tent stakes hold pebbles carved with watching eyes, guarding a Roman-style labyrinth that forms the center of a home, temple, or shrine. Two diamond crystals and a swirl of incense form the gate to this sacred sanctuary. |
| IV - The Anvil (The Emperor): The blacksmith's tool, world axis, sacred symbol, workbench, altar, source of authority, and deity. It holds the solidity of the earth's core and the tension of growing tree roots, and imposes sacred order, stability, and focus. |
| Madrone of Spikes: Water of Fire. Her lightning rod forms a fulgurite, a tube of lighting-sintered sand. Her body is a madrone tree that shelters a spadefoot toad. She drops toad eggs and tadpoles into desert rain pools. She is the shower of sparks that inspires a new project or relationship, and the soothing reassurance that allows it to grow. |
| Eight of Blades: A woman with shorn hair covers her eyes from the sight of braids hung like trophies on a throwing star, and does see the garden tool that will cut through the roots of obstructions. |
| Six of Bells: Three bells with the vessel-like Wild Ginger Flowers (Asarum) that inspire their shapes. The scent of the flowers mingles with the sound of the bells, a mutual gift under heart-shaped leaves. |
| Eight of Spikes: When the timing is right, iron feathers on a shaman's costume transform into real feathers, heated in magical flight. A bird bone flute summons a caracara spirit, Garuda of the desert grasslands. The shaman's stories inspire people and remind them who they are. |
| VI - Connection (The Lovers): Two women draw with charcoal on a turtle shell, and combine their visions at the center. The iron ring shows six ways to join two pieces of iron, each progressively hotter, more permanent, and less reversible - a reminder to be aware but not fearful of one's level of commitment to a person, place, or idea. |
| Ten of Bells: White and black shaman's rattles, inspired by Siberian "horse sticks". They are used for narrated Upper and Lower world journeys in public rituals. The shaman must earn these symbols of authority. Once they are given, the rattles and the shaman herself belong to the entire community. |
All artwork, electronic images, and text are copyright ©2001-2004 by Lorena Babcock Moore. Script copyright ©2004 by Daniel Moore.