It’s Day #2 of our Birthday Celebration!
Today I’m releasing our teleseminar on the Death card from our private Gaian Tarot Circle archives. Talking about the Death card might seem strange for a celebration. But it was one of our most powerful calls.
In it, I tell the story of how I came across a dead heron in a decaying boat on one of my rambles around the island, and how I “recognized” it as my Death card. Then we moved into an intense and lovely discussion on grief, death and dying.
From the GTC Forum, after the call:
[James Wells]: After listening to this beautiful conversation, I’m struck by how many of us need music, ceremony, and respectful holding/witnessing in times of death, whether that of a person or that of a situation or idea.
What emerges for me from this card and the conversation around it is that it’s not death itself that people are afraid of or uncertain about, it’s dying. Questions such as, “Will I feel it?”, “Will it be painful?”, “If it’s painful, will I be aware of that pain and begin to panic about it?”, “If it’s violent, will I feel everything?” and more such questions come to mind. So it’s very good to know about Nora’s (and others’) sacred work as a midwife of the dying. To be held, washed, and sung to is a reassuring alternative to entering a mindspin about what might happen.
As tarot practitioners, perhaps we’re also called, in a sense, to be midwives of death/dying. Relationships falter, jobs end, friends betray trust, people give up a familiar home to move somewhere else. There is, I believe, a piece of the unconscious that experiences all change as death. How might we tarot folks find the courage to shepherd, companion, and midwife those who come to us with their concerns about life’s changes, transitions, and endings? How might we carry out that shepherding, companioning, and midwifing with grace? Going back to my first sentence, perhaps we could remember that a tarot consultation is a ceremonial holding of the situation and we can do our best to shape an experience that honours what is happening for people. How might YOU do so? I’d love to hear about that.
At the end of the call . . .
We each turned up a card to answer this question:
How do I honor that which has ended in my life?
Listen (streaming):
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Or:
Download file (control-click or right-click on the link to download)
You can download the audio file for your own private use, but the link will be live only through Sunday, June 10th.
GTC Members: Continue the discussion in the Forum.
And remember . . .
If you join the Gaian Tarot Circle this week — through Sunday June 10th — you’ll pay only $1 for the first week, then $10/monthly or $100 annually. The regular price is $13/monthly or $127 annually. (Never fear, if you are already a member and are paying the higher rate, your rate will go down.) You can try us out for a month, and if you decide we’re not a good fit, you can unsubscribe. No problem!
And . . . (this week only) I am offering a 20% discount coupon for a Gaian Tarot reading with me for all new and current GTC members (you’ll have to book the reading by the end of the year.) Check out my reading page here.
Happy 2nd Birthday, GTC!
