The five women gathered under the pearly radiance of the full harvest moon. They represented air, water, earth, fire, and spirit. Hands clasped together, they formed a circle, their upturned faces raised toward the orbs’ soft glow. This was how they would pay homage to the passing of another cycle—another ending, and another beginning. Change was the only constant in life.
Welcome to Fairy Tarot Friday. Each Friday I’ll share a card from the Fairy Tarot deck by Doreen Virtue & Radleigh Valentine, featuring an uplifting message from the fey. I’ll also include a bit of syllabic poetry inspired by the card reading.
The Major Arcana contains 22 cards that describe major events and turning points in our lives (marriage, pregnancy, relationship and career changes, and overcoming personal challenges). The Major Arcana cards also represent the different phases from childhood to old age.
Doreen Virtue numbered the Minor Arcana cards to comprise four suits representing different aspects of human life. They number the Minor Arcana cards 1 (Ace) through 10, plus the four court cards (Princess, Prince, Queen, and King). The Minor Arcana reflects the day-to-day aspects of our lives and the people in them. Court cards represent either a situation or a person during a reading.
The Minor Arcana comprises four suits. In traditional Tarot they are; wands, cups, swords, and coins. In Fairy Tarot, the four suits reflect the seasons: Spring for wands, Summer for cups, Winter for swords, and Autumn for coins. In Angel Tarot, the seasons represent the four elements: fire = spring, water = summer, air = winter, and earth = autumn. Consider these elements in relation to the Fairy Tarot, as well.
The divinatory meanings are given for upright cards only—this tarot is not intended for reversed readings.
Once you get to know the fairies, you’ll see they are strong-willed environmentalists. They get perturbed at people who mistrust animals or the earth. Never lie to a fairy. Instead, help them take care of the planet and other living beings. Do your part. Your actions will richly reward you, and the fairies will encourage you in amazing ways.
Today’s Card
Our theme for this week’s Tanka Tuesday challenge was to write on the theme of discovery. The first thing that came to mind was the purity of thought involving self-discovery. My fairy tarot card for the day was the Ten of Autumn (Pentacles or Coins in other tarot decks), which inspired this chōka:
Kerfe shared a breathtaking piece of art she created for our Tanka Tuesday challenge this week. I saw so much magic in this piece. The Summer Solstice is right around the corner! Can you feel it?
A note about the chōka form. The nine-line chōka (5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7-7) should be unrhymed… but for whatever reason, the muse demanded words that rhyme. I suspect faery intervention as the good neighbors love to rhyme. That’s why I called it “chōka-like,” or inspired by the chōka syllabic form.
Celebrate the Summer Solstice with Fairies, Myths, & Magic: A Summer Celebration
Step into a world where fairies, dragons, and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by the celebration of Litha, the Summer Solstice. Meet Drac, a dragon cursed by his own poisonous deeds, and two pixies who help an old man remember a lost love. You’ll meet a pair of fairies with a sense of humor, and a young girl who fulfills her destiny after being struck by lightning. Learn what happens when a modern witch’s spell goes terribly wrong. Meet the Sisters of the Fey, a group of Slavic Witches who sign a pact with the Rusalki Fey to preserve their magic for the good of all. Atmospheric and haunting, the prose and poetry, will rewrite the mythologies of the past bringing them into the future.
Merry Christmas! This week for my Tanka Tuesday poetry challenge, I asked everyone to contribute a cinquain so I could create a huge garland of cinquain to wrap around our “poet-tree.”
I wrote this cinquain for the Winter Solstice, but totally forgot to post it! Better late than never!
The Tanka Tuesday #PhotoPrompt challenge for this week explores Ekphrasticwriting inspired by visual art (photographs). Diana Peach from last month’s challenge has provided the photo for this month’s challenge, seen above.
Twirl your wands and cast your spells, for power exerted over others leads them to behave in ways they would not otherwise behave. The veil is thinning as the energy shifts. Be careful what you wish for…
“The Illusion of Power Spell”
On this Samhain eve of the full blue moon, I wait until midnight darkens the shadowy edges of the glen. I dip the tip of my right index finger into moon oil as I trace the shape of the orb on the flat surface of a nearby stump. Within the circle, I place four white candles around the edge, adding the fifth one in the middle. With a snap of my fingers, the candles are lit.
Marsha picked the theme for this week’s Tanka Tuesday challenge. I broke my own poetry rules this week… and it was so fun! I started out with a bit of tanka prose, including the accompanying tanka. Next, I added the haiku at the end to round out this poem.
Join me every Tuesday on wordcraftpoetry.com for the Tanka Tuesday Syllabic Poetry Challenge.
Welcome to Fairy Tarot Friday. Each Friday I’ll share a card I’ve drawn from the Fairy Tarot deck by Doreen Virtue & Radleigh Valentine, featuring an uplifting message from the fey. I’ll also include a bit of syllabic poetry inspired by the card reading.
I drew this card on Thursday, for Friday as Freyja had an early morning vet appointment.
The Major Arcana contains 22 cards that describe major events and turning points in our lives (marriage, pregnancy, relationship and career changes, and overcoming personal challenges). The Major Arcana cards also represent the different phases from childhood to old age.
Doreen Virtue numbered the Minor Arcana cards to comprise four suits representing different aspects of human life. They number the Minor Arcana cards 1 (Ace) through 10, plus the four court cards (Princess, Prince, Queen, and King). The Minor Arcana reflects the day-to-day aspects of our lives and the people in them. Court cards represent either a situation or a person during a reading.
The Minor Arcana comprises four suits. In traditional Tarot they are; wands, cups, swords, and coins. In Fairy Tarot, the four suits reflect the seasons: Spring for wands, Summer for cups, Winter for swords, and Autumn for coins. In Angel Tarot, the seasons represent the four elements: fire = spring, water = summer, air = winter, and earth = autumn. Consider these elements in relation to the Fairy Tarot, as well.
The divinatory meanings are given for upright cards only—this tarot is not intended for reversed readings.
Once you get to know the fairies, you’ll see they are strong-willed environmentalists. They get perturbed at people who mistrust animals or the earth. Never lie to a fairy. Instead, help them take care of the planet and other living beings. Do your part. Your actions will richly reward you, and the fairies will encourage you in amazing ways.
Today’s Card: The Princess of Spring – Optimistic, Enthusiastic, Creative, Energetic
It’s time to go after your dreams! Do something that expands your horizons. Let your creativity take flight.
How exciting to select the Princess of Spring! This little princess wants to do it all. There’s no experience she doesn’t want to have; no creative endeavor she won’t experiment with. Painting, singing, dancing, acting, tarot card reading… she wants to try it all!
It’s Friday! Did you wake up feeling this positive energy? Don’t you want to get up and do something? Guess what? The best thing about the Princess of Spring card is the optimism she brings to your life. It’s contagious and if you spend some time with her, you’ll find your metaphorical glass going from “half-full” to my cup runneth over!
The energy from the princess is enthusiastic and creative. If you’ve felt uninspired lately, the childlike exuberance for life that you’ve been missing will now return. Take advantage of this time and create a masterpiece.
Focus your attention on the natural synergies as they pertain to achieving results and gaining abundance. Stay focused!
Be like the princess… she’s an eager volunteer and anyone would be lucky to have her on the team. Just remember, with all this energy swirling around you, it’s difficult to concentrate and stay focused. This princess energy distracts us with each new opportunity we find. It’s possible that we will want to wander off before we finish the task at hand.
Additional Meanings of this Card: Doing something that expands your horizons. Taking a lighthearted approach. Exploring what fascinates you. Being fearless. Staying focused.
I’ve also written this Gogyohka for my poetry challenge, where we had to find synonyms for the words circled and squared. I used “sphere” for circled, and “balance” for squared. I would say it was a lucky draw of the cards! ❤
I like to create haiku sequences dedicated to a theme, or to share a narrative of some sort, or to reinforce a central idea. Haiku are perfect for longer form stanza poetry.
skeleton bare trees
ebony sky silhouettes
winter's artistry
a lace of new leaves
encircles a sparrow's nest
rosy blossoms fall
silk-soft leaves of green
touch the cerulean sky
summer melodies
Autumn leaves foretell
dryad secrets faint whisper
only death brings truth
This week’s poetry challenge was a photo prompt that I assumed would give us all much food for thought.
Never mind all the song references we couldn’t get rid of (Jim Croce: Time in a Bottle) (Sting: Message in a Bottle), etc.
Then, there was the obvious… a bottle on the beach means trash washed up from the ocean. One man’s trash, another man’s treasure!
I must admit… I didn’t think that photo through, or maybe I over thought it!
For me, the bottle in the sand spoke of forbidden love. Empathically, I felt there was a couple somewhere who communicated through clandestine meetings – writing love letters in their blood, left inside the bottle for their partner to find. I sensed one left the other…
First, let me wish you all a Happy New Year, a happy new challenge, and a happy new week. It’s the first of the month, so we get to choose our own words to write a poem. The first of the month challenge is the only one where we don’t have to use synonyms, but feel free to do so if that works for you.
Also, after you’ve published your own poem, don’t forget to cut and paste it into the submission form on the challenge post HERE. Remember, I won’t pick up your poem from the pingbacks any longer.
The Shadorma syllabic form is different from all the other forms. The six lines and the 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllable count may seem restrictive to some. I like the brevity and the fact that you must make every word count! Pick a subject and concentrate only on that aspect. Choose your words carefully.
Creativity
A rebirth of new ideas coalesce around hope vision, and innate talent - thus born to create.
