Lapis Philosophorum

Day of Nymphs – Dec 29th. This card encourages us to connect to our playful side, our inner child and how best to cultivate this aspect of ourselves.

Five of Pentacles
I’m a bit confused here. How can this be about connecting to my playful side? I see a wolf chasing a rabbit. Is this abbout letting go and giving away to instincts. Am I then the rabbit or the wolf?

The book tells about dissolution in an alchemical sense. Is there an attitude of “grown up-ness” that needs to be dissolved for me to be playful.  Do I simply worry too much?

Feast of Alcyone: – Dec 28th. This card gives us a personal inner message – one that speaks directly to our heart and spirit.

Queen of Cups
Now, the Moon is full. The Queen is standing at a pool with one foot in the water. She seems, like the High Priestess – to be performing some kind of ritual, not just that wild, but more mildly.

She is holding her cup under the moon as to catch it’s light therein.

She is in contact with the Great Feminine – it is interesting how the feminine plays a great part in this whole reading – it is really about connecting with the Goddess, about love, healing, nurturing, creativity, dreaming – all that the Goddess stands for – is.

I think that this Queen is telling me that I already have it all within, I just have to introspectively nurture that part of me. Then I’ll be able to catch the moonlight too.

Full Moon

Birth of Freyja: – Dec 27th. This card points to issues of love, luck, artistic and creative expression and female wisdom.

Ace of Cups
I do feel lucky, drawing this card.

The is a lot of abundance happening here – if I may put it that way. And again the Moon Sickle hangs high in the night sky – or the morning sky – because it seems like the Sun is rising in the east. The Goddess is in the form of water pouring herself out in five streams. I think I’ve learned that five is the number of Venus (and in the norse mythology Freya) – the goddess of love and luxury.

This card is about dreaming, inspiration, creativity and love, according to the book. Well, I do not need the book to see that. And so it seems to accentuate and second the meaning of the position. This is the gifts of the Godess. This is available to everybody – including me – if they understand how to connect with her spirit as does the High Priestess.

Yuletide, Kwanzaa: – Dec 26th. This card shows us how to express nurturance, to attend to our families and to express the protective energy within us towards others.

King of Pentacles
King of the Castle. This man is expressing protective power and security, he takes care of what lies within his domain and protects it from being trespassed from what does not belong there. He is satisfied with his life, his home and his family, valuing the gifts of nature. He is generous and mild, but can be strict, if the situation demands it. He is responsible and trustworthy, reliable and steadfast.

Festival of Life, Christmas: – Dec 25th. This card shows us how to connect directly with Spirit.

The High Priestess
Again the Sickle of the Moon play its part in the scenary. This woman is connected to the wildness of spirit, to feminine powers, to the Great Goddess – in fact as a Priestess or female Shaman she is embodying the Goddess as she performs the sacred rituals. She is the Goddess.

The High Priestess

What does this mean? I’m reminded of the book Women who run with wolves, about the feminine powers within modern women. Is it these I shall connect with? And how – by connecting with feminine spirit, with the Goddess in her three phases – as Virgin, Mother, and Crone. Or maybe as in different aspects of the Feminine – here I’m both thinking of Mary and Mary Magdalene, or of the gnostic Sophia.

I’m just not sure how to actually and practically do this.

Feast of Mothers, Christmas Eve: – Dec 24th. This card shows how we can connect with the spirits of our ancestors for communion and to ask for wisdom and guidance. It is also a time for Christians to reflect on the birth of Christ.

Princess of Swords
I guess this is about being calm, distanced and objective, and that that would be the advice of wisdom and guidance I would get from my ancestors, especially here I am thinking about my immidiate ancestors, my mother and my father, who are not with us anymore.

Actually there are som simililarities between this and the prevoius card, the colours of blue, for example, the birds and of course the swords. Both Justice and this Princess belong to the element of Air.

I guess both cards advice me to use reason and rationality more – since I do have a tendency to get carried away by emotions.

Hopi Time of Renewal – Dec 23rd. This card indicates the best way for us to seek purification and renewal, and to build tolerance for others.

Justice
What first came to mind was that something has to be cut. Old patterns of behaviour and thought. That is what the renewal and purification is about, and that is the decision that I wrote about yesterday, I guess. To be able to take a decision, to take action, to let go of the old and take a step forward. The Justice is able to do that. Clear and conscious. Know what I want, decide what to do, then go in that direction.
As for tolerance –  be just, be wise (like the owl), judge fairly and balanced, and keep this in mind.

The Time of Beth: – Dec 22nd. This card points to the inner blocks and resistance that is holding us back from following our dreams.

Rebirth
A call is heard and a process of change has already begun, but still a decision has to be made. I ‘guess that what’s holding me back: The need to make a decision and take the responsibility for my change. I’m somehow afraid to do actually do this. To take the first steps in following my dream all though I know exactly what my dream is.

Yule – Winter Solstice: – Dec 21st. This card shows us how best to connect to the Light within and without – it symbolizes the Birth of the Sun.

The World
The end of one cyclus – the start of a new. I think that this is about accepting the flow of time, light, and energy, of beginnings and endings of events and epoques. Actually this woman is embraced by light – it is a question of letting it in, letting it shine from within and without.

Actually there is a lot to learn here. In fact it is hard to allow oneself to be enlighted – to allow ones own light to shine freely, and others as well.

Mother Night of Dreams: – Dec 20th. This card reminds us to look for a particular message in our dreams tonight. The ancients believed that our dreams on this night foretold some of the important events in the coming year.

Prince of Cups
The sickle of the Moon is hanging in the light night sky, this young man is a true knight in the service of feminine powers. The Prince, and his horse, both seem to be a bit sad or melancholic.

Prince of Cups

I’m reminded to look for male figures in my dreams tonight. What messages from within will my Animus bring me and how will he reveal himself to me?

Cups are about feelings, intuition or perhaps creativity. Is this young man telling me that creativity comes with a choice, maybe even a sacrifice? Is there some kind of bitterness in his toast? Maybe in the form of loneliness or shyness?