Sunday, December 9, 2012

12/10/12—Breaking Out of Your Shell

Today's Draw: #17 from the Golden Moth Illumination Deck by Aijung Kim. What do you see in this card? Does your interpretation relate to something in your own life right now? What message does it hold for you?


The Golden Moth Illumination Deck is an oracle deck with 75 cards, a handful of which are blank so you can draw your own images. All the images are simple, like this one. And all the cards are done in just blue and yellow. 

I held off on getting this deck for a while, because I'm not huge on oracle decks (outside of the Lenormand) and it's not a cheap deck. But let me tell you, I'm so glad I finally got it. Everything about this deck is pure class. The stock is beautiful. The printing is beautiful. Even the design of the tuck box is beautiful. Really. You've never tucked a box like this. Aijung must have the soul of a graphic designer, because she has the impeccable taste and attention to detail of one. 

The deck also comes with a 30-page handbook. And you'd expect that, somewhere on the 30 pages, there would be a key as to the meanings of the cards. But there is none. She leaves it to you to figure it out. 

Now, you guys have seen me around. I'm pretty confident and intuitive with my tarot cards. And there was even a time years ago that I worked only with oracle cards that had no guidebook, just to exercise my intuitive muscle. But it wasn't until this deck came along that I realized how comfortable I had gotten with the set meanings of my tarot cards over the years. 

Now, before anyone objects, you can interpret a tarot card any way you want. I teach my students to learn the "book" meanings, but to always note their intuitive hits first...what jumps out at you in each card as you turn it over? To do that, you need hold back the dude in your head that says, "three of swords, that means heartbreak" for a second so you can get those hits. Then you marry your hits with your interpretation of the card within the context of the reading. So you're being intuitive. But it's a "safe" kind of intuitive, because you know what the card really means. And because you know what it means, you always have that meaning to lean on if you don't get any intuitive hits. 

But with a deck like this, you really just have to trust that what you're getting and go with it. It takes that extra bit of juju...and balls...to wield a deck like this around. Which means it's perfect for a beginner who's just trying to get their chops. And it's also perfect for an old bird like me who needs to push outside of her comfort zone a little to exercise certain neurons that have become couch potatoes of late. 

So look at the card and can you see how lightning bolts of realization about my comfort zone have come down to crack my creative shell? That's what I saw. But someone else will see the bolts coming out of the shell. And still others won't even see a shell at all. They'll see a rock. Or they'll think about an earthquake. Or something else entirely. 

Many times what we see in these cards is colored by where we are and where we've been in our lives. We apply our personal experience to the interpretation of the cards. So I can see a few places in my life where I'm being cracked open and have to come out of my shell...or where I should come out of my shell. 

I also see a warning about how it's better to crack your own eggshell than to have the universe do it for you....because waiting for the universe to do it often comes with a consequence for having waited so long. So I can read this card as saying "you may as well be self motivated, because change is going to come whether you like it or not. And you may not like the way it comes if you wait too long."

What do you see in this card?

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tierney!

    Thanks for posting this and thanks for your kind words! it was really interesting to hear your thoughts. and - ha! - thanks for the compliments on the tuck box. I copied a design from a pack of Lenormand cards that I bought a few years ago.

    I agree that it sometimes "takes balls" to read the cards! the funny thing is that, because I created the deck myself, I did have ideas of what each card should mean. And when I gave readings, I often used those meanings that I had in my head as the interpretations. Since I've done so many more readings since publishing the deck, a funny thing happened - I am now a lot more flexible with my interpretations than I was in the beginning! This often happened because a card would come up in a position where it didn't seem to make sense. I would panic a little inside, but I started asking the Querent what they thought the card meant for them. And that helped immensely! By asking people for their own insight, I have learned so much more about the possibilities in each symbol. Everyone has a different take on what the image means for them. and you're right, some people don't even physically see the same thing. it's pretty amazing. As for this card, when I was creating it I was actually very inspired by "The Tower" card in tarot. But I think this card appears less foreboding than the Tower one, and it can definitely be interpreted in different ways. In my past readings, this often comes up when there is a sudden change, or someone is forced to break out of their shell.

    Thanks for including me in your daily draw! can't wait to read more of your thoughts!

    xo aijung

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  2. Hi, thanks for stopping by! I don't know if you'll be back to read this, but I post all these on my Facebook, too. And that's where all the commenting happens. Anyway, you can friend me if you like, but there were maybe 8 different interpretations of this. Someone said "Tower". Someone said if you turn it upside down, it's the moon rising over a mountain (this person lived in the mountains). Someone said it's three people dancing on a grassy mound. Some saw the bolts coming in, some saw them coming out. So it's really interesting.

    And, yeah, no matter how long I do this, I get nervous when I'm pushed outside of what I know or am comfortable with, like you were saying. But I think to be good readers we need to stay close to that edge. So I appreciate that they can even make you a little nervous. And, really, that tuck box rocks. I've seen that design before, but really your choice of stock was spot on. I just love the feel of your deck.

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