Lapis Philosophorum

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

I shuffle and draw Death. The Goddess in the shape of the Crone. There is really not much to say. I order for something new to be born and grow to ripeness and maturity the old must die. The Goddess knows this, and as the Crone she is helping life to die to be reborn again.

It is not that we should not feel sorrow and mourn when things die – like relationships – but things die all the time. That is the cycle of life and death and that of the year.

It is no shame to be hurt or sorry, but it is a shame to be reluctant to let go.

Interwoven with death is sex or passion or love. The great goddesses like Aphrodite, or Inanna, or Isis or Astarte – or of course – Freya – also know that. Therefore they love passionately and grief when their son-lover dies like Osiris or Dumuzi or Adonis. But it is also in their (Her) power to save him, like Isis saves Osiris.

So it is in the power of the Goddess to let things die – and live (again). She is the ruler of death, love and life. And those three things can not be separated.

For me this cards means that I – in order to love, to be creative and to be wise – must accept things to die, and to let go of them with passion and compassion.

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.

I drew the King of Cups.

This King has his roots in artistic expression – being a barde – and creativity. But as a King his duty is to serve others. He has channelled his creativity into the service of others and thereby has mastered his need for self-expression and his own feelings. He is tolerant, compassionate, sensitive and jovial, and makes an excellent therapist, teacher or doctor.

So to be caring for and protective of others means to be mature enough to know one’s own desires, needs and wishes, but to let this self-knowledge and insight into the human nature be beneficial for those that it is one’s responsibility to care for. That be children, family, spouse, clients, patiens, pupils or disciples – and simply anyone else who happens to be crossing one’s way.

A challenge for him is to maintain and nurture his own creativity and connection with feelings, dreams and the unconscious, symbolised by the water and the animals surrounding him.

Be kind, wise, tolerant, and mature is what he is telling me.