Welcome And Moon Phase

Speaker 1 0:09

Hello friends, and welcome to episode five of Darkness and Light. I'm your host, Wendy Rule, and this is a podcast about myth, Magic, and nature. So as this episode lands, our Lady Moon is waxing - a beautiful crescent in the western twilight sky, and our Sun has just now moved out of the earthy, sensual sign of Taurus and into airy, dynamic Gemini. We'll be doing a deeper dive into the energy of Gemini in the next episode. But for this episode, we're going to be focusing on the energy of that lovely new crescent Moon. And we're going to explore how this phase of the moon aligns with the Greek goddess Artemis, who is just one of my absolute most beloved goddesses. That New Moon is a visual reminder of rebirth after darkness, of a fresh new start. All the potential that was held within the cauldron of the Dark Moon now emerges like a young plant pushing its way to the surface, emerging out of the darkness of the below. Determined, powerful, directed. So different to the Waning Moon energy of last episode that called us inward. This New Moon energy says, go out into the world, share your light, direct your energy, activate.

Goddess as Maiden, Mother and Crone

Speaker 1 2:12

In episode two, I spoke about my connection with the Moon as our Lady Moon as Goddess, and that's my way of connecting with her. Modern paganism, of which I'm a part, is polytheistic. We honor God and Goddess and everything in between and beyond as expressions of the natural world, of the Cosmos. Particular deities will represent an aspect of nature and therefore provide an inroad, a gateway into connecting with that particular aspect of the natural world. And in this way, these different gods become maps to the enormity of the universe. So when I see that Crescent Moon as Artemis, that reminds me to connect with that energy that she represents. The wild, the untamed, the autonomous, the brave. We can think of the lunar cycle as representing three different phases of the goddess. The Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. So the Maiden is that energy of the New Moon. The Mother is the energy of the Full Moon. And the Crone is the energy of the Dark Moon. But the divisions between those phases are blurred, and in fact, there's an infinite amount of phases over one lunar cycle, one lunation, because the Moon is changing all the time. So it's important to remember that this is symbolism. This is a way of approaching an energy that's limitless. And when we talk about the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, we can take that beyond gender. This doesn't just apply to women. The Maiden is the energy of new beginning. The Mother is the energy of completion. And the Crone is the energy of dissolution, of death. And these aren't locked to our life phases either. Regardless of our age or gender, we can find that Maiden energy within us at certain times when there is that sense of renewal and excitement and determination. We can find that Mother energy within us, whenever we're connected to nurturing others, and when we're in our fierce, powerful creativity, when we're manifesting, bringing something to life. And we can find that Crone energy when we tap into our deepest inner wisdom, when we remember those cycles of life and death, and when we gift ourselves time for solitude and rest, for turning inward into our deepest selves. So we can access these energies at any point in our lives. And the Moon is there to remind us that all of these energies are part of us. We all go through phases of Maiden, of Mother, of Crone.

Selene, Artemis, and Hekate as Phases

Speaker 1 6:19

The Titan of the Moon is Selene. Like all titans, Selene is an actual embodiment of the thing that she represents. So Selene is the Moon, in the same way, Helios is the sun, Gaia is the earth, and the Titans are the older generation of pre-Olympic gods. They're the beginning of all things. So they are primal cosmic energies. And Selene is the Moon. And because she is the Moon, she represents all phases, but she's come to be associated primarily with the Full Moon. And then Artemis is the energy of that new crescent, the phase we're in right now. And Hekate is the goddess of the waning Moon, and especially the Old Crescent and the Dark Moon. So Selene, Hekate, and Artemis, and it's Artemis that we're focusing on for this episode.

The Maiden Archetype

Speaker 1 7:36

The Maiden archetype that's represented by this new bright crescent, this fresh new crescent is youthful, has a kind of raw, untethered energy, and is self-directed. But this youthful energy is not necessarily naive or even innocent. There's a wisdom held within this, this pure life force. And the word maiden or virgin in the ancient Greek pantheon doesn't necessarily mean non-sexual. It's applied to those goddesses who choose not to marry, who remain autonomous, in control of their own lives. So there's Artemis, there's Athena, there's Hestia. And all of these in their own way step away from the prescribed role of women in ancient Greek culture and say, No, I'm going to do things my own way. I'm going to be in charge of my own choices. And there's a wisdom to this. We see this energy turn up in fairy tales of the inexperienced but still wise young maiden like Red Riding Hood or Vasilisa of stepping out bravely into the unknown and using their wits to survive. So when we see this New Moon in the sky, we can tap into its energy. It's like a coiled spring. It's full of potential. We can harness that enthusiastic energy. It's kind of like the Page in the tarot. It's this inquisitive, determined energy, the energy of growth. And the Moon reminds us that we can find that again and again and again. Just when we think things are so dark and we have no energy left for anything, we might feel lost and undirected, unmotivated. Suddenly, this New Crescent moon appears and says, Hey, here's a chance for a new start. Gather your energy, your courage. Take yourself out into the world. Step from the unseen to the scene. Share what you have. Shine your light.

The Goddess Artemis

Speaker 1 10:37

So let's get to know this beautiful Artemis goddess and her expression of this Maiden, New Moon energy. Artemis is primarily a goddess of the wilderness. She's a goddess of raw nature, away from the cultural limits of polite society. She rules over forests and mountains. She's the sister of the god Apollo, and although originally she wasn't considered a Moon goddess, she was the Goddess of Wilderness, she came later to be associated with the Moon just as Apollo, her brother, is associated with the Sun. So when she was born, she went up to Olympus and she requested of Zeus, her father, a list of very particular things. She wanted eternal virginity. And what that meant was to never have to marry. Because in some of her stories she does actually have lovers. She asked for a short tunic to wear so that she could run in the forest, rather than the traditional long gowns of that era. She asked for all mountains as her domain, all mountains, which is interesting because it really shows how far-reaching her worship was in the ancient world. She asked for a pack of hunting dogs, a bow and arrow, and a group of female companions who were nymphs. And she asked that she would be known by many names, which again points to her widespread appeal. So she's already putting herself out there as something other than what was expected of women in ancient Greece and of goddesses too. She says, I want to do my own thing. I want to be in charge of my own life. I'm going to move out of the city and into the wild. I'm going to be there living at the edge of things, outside of the rules of Olympus. Find me on the mountaintops and in the forests. As a goddess of wilderness, Artemis is deeply tied to the cycles of nature, to life and death. So she is a hunter. She asked for her hunting dogs and her bow and arrow. She's a very skilled hunter. That's portrayed in many stories about her, her perfect aim, her focus. But she's also a protector of animals and especially young animals. So she is a representation of nature's laws, that life and death are inseparable. Both a hunter and a protector. She accepts that life and death are intertwined, that death is necessary for life to continue. There's no cruelty in her hunting. It simply is nature.

Wild Nature As Order

Speaker 1 14:14

And these natural laws are not chaotic. There is order and pattern to the rules of nature, to these rhythms of life and death. When we think of the word wild, we might think out of control. But in fact, to be wild is to be very much in control, in sync with nature. In order to survive, a wild animal can't be out of control. It needs to know exactly how it relates to its environment. It needs to be hyper-aware in a state of symbiosis with its environment. There's a big difference between wild and feral. That feral energy is wild energy that's misplaced, that's out of sync with the laws of nature. Wilderness is pure. It's when we lose access to our true wild nature that that feral energy, which is imbalance, overtakes it. So when we connect with Artemis, she can help us to access that true, pure, wild within us that is very wholesome and very healthy. She can help us to stand strongly in our own wild, innate power, to remember that we are part of nature and to access the truth of what we need in our lives to maintain that connection. For Artemis, it was her hunting dogs and her bow and arrow. What do we need to be in true connection with the Cosmos? Or connecting with Artemis will help us to discover that because it peels away the layers of all that stuff of polite society, of what we're meant to do, and says, yes, but what are you really?

Mistress Of Animals Across Cultures

Speaker 1 16:51

Artemis is known as a Mistress of Animals. She's deeply connected to the animal kingdom and specifically to wild animals. She's the mistress of wild animals, called Potnia Theiron in Greek. And there's been many representations of female figures, maybe goddesses, seated with animals on either side of them. In ancient Neolithic Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, 9,000 years ago, there was a settlement called Catalhoyuk and we find some of the earliest images of these powerful female figures associated with animals. Often they have a lioness on either side of a throne. And a little later we see this same symbolism, the seated Goddess flanked by lionesses, in the goddess Cybele, who came out of an area called Phrygia, which is an ancient region of central Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. And Cybele was known as the Great Mountain Mother, and also a Mistress of Animals. So you can see there's a crossover there with Artemis, who asked to have all mountains as her domain. So this earthy energy of the great mountain mother connected with these wild, untamed animals. So the images of Artemis that we might be familiar with are this beautiful, slender, fleet-footed goddess. Statues and imagery of her often depict her running, and she'll have her hounds and her short tunic, and she feels quite Amazonian. But there's an alternate version of Artemis. She's known as Artemis of Ephesus, and again comes out of that Anatolian coast of what's now Turkey. She's this goddess who is covered in dozens of breasts, and she's surrounded by animals and bees. So this ancient goddess of clearly connected to fertility and also animals. Well, when the Greeks came over to this area, you know, around about a thousand BCE, they saw similarities between their goddess Artemis, and they syncretized these two goddesses and said, Oh wow, that's actually quite a lot like our goddess Artemis. So we're going to call this goddess Artemis as well. And so she's known as Artemis of Ephesus. And there is this connection of nature, of animal, but they're two quite distinct expressions of the goddess. And when I'm talking about Artemis for my personal practice, I'm visualizing this long-legged goddess running with her hounds through the forest, the wilderness. Artemis is connected with a wide range of animals. She has a strong connection to the deer and also the bear, which we'll talk about in another episode when we're talking about stars, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, the Great and Little Bear. They're connected to the myths of Artemis.

Cats As Artemis Energy

Speaker 1 20:54

But interestingly, she's also connected to the cat. We just spoke about those ancient statues of the Mistress of Animals, like Cybele being flanked by lions. And there's also some interesting connections that link Artemis to Bast or Bastet in the Egyptian pantheon, who is a cat goddess. To me, it makes a lot of sense that Artemis would be connected to the cat and the lion. Both are supreme hunters. In the Iliad, Artemis is described as a lion among women. And the lion, particularly the lioness, who is the great hunter, has that energy of both hunting and protecting, just as the bear does, too. The mother bear, this energy of fierceness and yet also tenderness. I get to witness firsthand, the great hunting prowess of the cat because we have this lovely black cat, fluffy black cat called Shadow. And when we bought our house here in New Mexico about five years ago, Shadow was living under the house. Poor little thing. And he really, really was completely wild. Of course, I was putting food and water out, and we made a shelter under the house, under the steps where he liked to live. And there's predators here. There's coyotes here. So you have to be absolutely clever. Use all your wits and all your instincts to survive out here. He was full grown, small but full grown when we moved in, so he must have been at least a year or so old. And using his wits, he had survived by hunting. So with great patience and great tenderness, we managed to entice him inside into the warmth. And over a period, I guess about the next six months, we were able to get him to fully trust us. And now he's the most smuggly, darling little thing who sleeps cuddled up next to us and is just adorable. But he's still really wild. And he's still a really amazing hunter. And I don't want to take that away from him because that's what he survived on. That's his instinct. That's his Artemis. So, you know, cats are native to North America. There's mountain lions nearby and there's bobcats. So I know this is a domestic cat, but even so, it's not like in Australia where cats hunting is always bad. It's not the case here. There's a lot of rabbits on our property and moles and mice and all those things. And it's good to have a cat around. But yeah, it's completely revolting watching his process. I've had to really kind of harden up and toughen up because he doesn't do that thing where cats come and leave an offering for you and say, here's a little gift because I love you. No, he goes and catches a rabbit or whatever and he drags it inside and he will kind of growl if you know I've learnt this, if I want to take that away, because it's disgusting watching him devour this. He brings it inside and then he eats the whole freaking thing and leaves a just a tiny bit of gizzard or spleen or whatever it is, and that's it. And he'll eat the whole thing, and there's this resourcefulness in there, and also just this reality of yep, that is nature. And it's not red in tooth and claw. Sure, that little bunny or mouse or whatever had to die, but it's part of a bigger cycle, it's part of nature as a whole. It's not cruel, he's not setting out to be mean when he goes hunting. He's quick and precise and successful, like Artemis. It's about survival, it's about death being part of life. And witnessing that, I've really had to move into a much greater level of acceptance of the reality of death in a very visceral way than I ever did when I lived in the city. That this is part of nature. So to me, that cat energy, yeah, is very much aligned with Artemis. And I don't think it's our role to take that wild out of this creature that happened to be here before we moved in and survived on his wits, poor little darling. Even though there's always food around for him, his instinct is to hunt, and he has every right to do that in this environment. I think that's Artemis, too. It's unsettling and it's confronting to see that death energy so real and to feel empathy for those little creatures. But that's how nature made things. There are rabbits here because there's coyotes and bobcats and mountain lions who eat them, you know? That's how it goes.

Boundaries And The Actaeon Myth

Speaker 1 26:41

There are a number of stories about Artemis, where she is also very bloody and vicious. We can romanticize her prancing through the forests, but she is that raw power of nature, just like our Shadow is. But when Artemis is vicious, it's always as a consequence of some action that has crossed a boundary. So it's cause and effect, it's nature as consequence, and there's always a logic and a reason to this. It's corrective and protective, it's about maintaining boundaries. One myth has a mortal man called Actaeon, and he's a hunter, a young man, and he's out in the forest with his hunting dogs, and he happens to chance upon Artemis bathing in a beautiful pool, a glade, with her lovely nymphs, her female companions around her, and he sees her naked. It's accidental. He doesn't set out to do this, but he's so entranced by her beauty that he doesn't look away. And when Artemis realizes this, she feels violated. So she punishes him. She turns him into a stag, into a deer, which is terrifying in its own right. But then his hunting dogs attack him, as they're trained to do, and they kill him. So again, cause and effect. And it wasn't like he was setting out to do anything wrong, but he still crossed a boundary, and she is a maintainer of boundaries. She maintains that and says, No, you've done something wrong, and now there is a consequence to that. So don't kid yourself that Artemis is just loveliness and the beautiful wild and the beautiful green forests and mountains. She's also that raw energy of nature that has consequences that will protect and respond to any violations.

Liminal Twilight And Childbirth

Speaker 1 29:04

Artemis is connected to the liminal, to the betwixt and the between. And we see that with her New Moon energy, that beautiful new crescent. So that's a liminal energy. The New Moon is always going to be appearing first at twilight. And I find it interesting that a lot of animals hunt at twilight and dawn, and there's a particular word to describe this. It's crepuscular of twilight and dawn, crepuscular. And Artemis is definitely crepuscular, like a cat, like a fox, at that crossover of night and day. So she's there on the liminal, on the edge, the edge of the wilderness. One of these thresholds, these boundaries that Artemis protects is the threshold of birth. Even though she's a Maiden Goddess, she's still connected with childbirth in the role of a protector, of one who helps across that threshold. There's an ancient temple not too far from Athens airport I visited a number of times. It's called Brauron in English or Vravrona in Greek. And at this particular temple location, it was focused on Artemis's role as a midwife, as a protector of women in childbirth. Childbirth is very messy and primal and animal. It's beyond politeness. It takes us to our deep animal selves. Childbirth is life-threatening. It is on that threshold of life and death. So Artemis isn't only the wilderness outside of the body, she's the wilderness within the body. And the reason that she is associated with that mythologically is her birth story. So Artemis' mother is a goddess called Leto. And Zeus does what Zeus does so often in mythology, and he has an illicit affair outside of his marriage with this beautiful goddess. But Hera, his wife and queen of the gods, when she finds out about this, and she finds out that Leto is pregnant, she makes it really hard for her to give birth to those children. First of all, she punishes Leto by sending the giant Python to torment her, this kind of monstrous python snake, to torment her, chase her across the world. But she also decrees that Leto cannot give birth on any firm land under the Sun. So wherever she arrives, that land is like, oh, not here, or the people of that land are like, nope, don't want to upset Hera. So it's Leto's sister, who is called Asteria, who becomes, transforms into a floating island. So it's not any firm land under the Sun. It's this floating island, it's not really of the Earth. And that island becomes known as Delos. And it's there that Leto initially births Artemis easily and quickly. But when Hera realizes this has happened, she now forbids the goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia, to attend Leto for the next baby in her womb, who is Apollo. So Leto labors for nine days. Oh, the idea of that is just so horrible. And finally, with the help of Artemis, she's able to give birth to the god Apollo. So from then on, Artemis is considered a help with childbirth. So it makes sense then that there's this particular temple, Vravrona, associated with Artemis and childbirth and thresholds. And at this particular sacred site, there was also a tradition where young girls in polite Athenian society would go and spend a period of time at this temple, and they would be guided into that threshold of womanhood. They'd be preparing for the next stage of their lives, and they would be referred to as little bears, little bears of Artemis. So there's Artemis as this point of the betwixt and the between. She's on the edges of the civilized world. So she creates this gateway between the civilized and the wild. She can help us access that. You know, in this world that we live in, where the civilized is so dominant, Artemis reminds us go outside. Look at that Moon. Go and lean your back against a tree. Put your feet on some grass. Connect with nature wherever you can find it.

Artemis In Modern Culture

Speaker 1 34:58

We see the Artemis archytype turn up often in modern culture. I think one of the strongest is in the series The Hunger Games, and we have Katniss Everdeen. She is a supreme hunter. She's also a protector of her sister, because that sister energy is really strong in Artemis. She hangs out with her band of nymphs. She enjoys the company of women, and there's a sense of strong sisterhood and protection. So anytime we are seeing someone in our culture stand up for women's rights, for women's choices, they're embodying in some way that Artemis energy. And it's not limited, of course, just to females. We can find this energy across all genders. We can witness this wildness in men, in women, in transgender folk, in non-binary folk, because it is nature. It's in all of us. To the Romans, the goddess who is most like Artemis is the goddess Diana, especially once the Romans became entwined in Greek culture. Their goddess of wilderness became entwined with the Greek goddess of wilderness, so they're often thought of as the same these days. And Diana, we see her turn up in popular culture as Wonder Woman, as that Amazonian, strong and yet protective energy. We see Artemis in Xena and Buffy and Arya Stark in the Game of Thrones universe. I've always felt a very strong connection to Artemis. As a kid, I would often be called a tomboy. I would be climbing trees and hanging out barefoot, running through fields in suburban Melbourne, and I'd find these bits of urban wilderness down by the train tracks, these liminal spaces, and find the wild within the contained. And I realize now I wasn't a tom boy. I was an Artemis Girl. And when I see young girls having that same energy, the love of the wild, and the love of the liminal as well, of finding those secret places that are beyond the rules and the boundaries of society. I think of them as Artemis girls, not tomboys. I wrote a song many years ago. It's on my second album, came out in 98. And the song is called Artemis of the Eucalypts. And I remember when I wrote this song, I was camping in a beautiful part of Victoria called Garraward. It's a mountain range. Its colonizer name is the Grampians, but its original name is Gariwerd. And I was walking in the forest, and it's that beautiful, crunchy, dry eucalyptus forest, fragrant and lovely. And I saw a kangaroo. And this sounds really corny. I know that. Really cliched. But I saw this kangaroo and it was bounding through the forest, and I felt compelled to run after it. Not for any reason, other than just to be in connection with this wild animal bounding through the forest. And so I began running and just instinctively leaping over logs and dodging bushes and all that kind of thing. Of course, the kangaroo got way ahead of me, but I felt this surge within me and realized this is Artemis. This is Artemis within me now. This is Artemis on the other side of the world from where she was first worshipped. Thousands of years later, that she transcends time and distance like all the gods do. That I could connect with her honestly in a very pure way. Because I was in wilderness. So I wrote this song, Artemis of the Eucalypts.

All Wilderness is Artemis

Speaker 1 39:12

But now I live here in New Mexico, and I could be just as much Artemis of the Junipers or of the Ponderosa. Anywhere where there's wild, you will find Artemis. You don't have to go to Greece to find her. She is the wild. I know it's not always easy for us to access wilderness, but I do think it's very important, even if you have to plan a couple of years in advance, to make a trip to somewhere in nature, outside of civilization, not a park, not manicured nature, but actual wilderness. Sometimes you can find that quite close to cities. Might only be an hour or two outside. Sometimes you have to make a bit more effort. But I really do encourage you. Sometimes easier said than done if you've got kids or families or work or financial concerns, but see if you can find a way to build a visit to true wilderness into your life. Plan ahead if necessary. But it is important to connect purely with Earth, with nature, and remember that we are part of that. This is the gift of Artemis. She can be Artemis of the Eucalypts. She can be Artemis of the Oak, she can be Artemis of the Cactus, of the grasslands, of the prairies, of the deserts, of the mountains. Wherever there is wilderness, there is Artemis, and we can gain so much by spending time in wilderness, even a short amount of time.

Finding Wilderness In Real Life

Speaker 1 40:58

I really hope that you can find a way to gift that to yourself sooner rather than later. And in those times where we can't get ourselves out to the wilderness and drop everything, we can find ways to connect with that Artemis energy. In our everyday life, we can connect with animals. Spending time with animals will remind us and align us with deep nature. We can put some energy into protecting nature, eco-awareness, activism. And in between those visits to wilderness, we can still connect with nature, your closest favorite tree, your parkland, well, even nature documentaries.

Arrow of Intention Meditation

Speaker 1 41:56

Okay, before we do our tarot reading for this episode, let's just do a little gentle meditation. And in this meditation, I want us to connect with the energy of Artemis, and we're going to think about where we want our arrows of intention to fly. The Waxing Moon is always going to be about calling in more of something, just as the Waning Moon is less. The Waxing Moon says, What do I want more of in my life? And we can imagine ourselves sending our arrows flying in the direction of our goals, our dreams, our intentions. And as the Moon continues to wax, as her light grows, we can feel the strength of our intention, that arrow flying to its target to send our intention out into the world, ready for it to land. Alright, let's take ourselves into the zone. First of all, connecting with our breath into our bodies, feeling that animal self. And in your mind's eye, picture that Crescent Moon. Even if you're listening to this at a different phase, picture that twilight crescent curving away from the Sun. And can you feel the energy of Artemis within you? Imagine, or maybe even move your body now as you're listening to this and imagine that you're pulling back above, placing your arrow within that bow, and imagine. Pulling back the strength, taught and loaded with energy. Feel within your body what it is that you are calling into your life at this point. This waxing energy that says increase, growth, action. Where do you want your arrow to fly to? What are you wanting to manifest in your world? More creativity, more health, more joy, more love. What is it that you are wanting to grow? Now feel that energy of that taut string and release it and witness, imagine flying through the air that arrow of intention, of your clarity, of your precision, of your pure wild expression of self. And now I am gonna shuffle the tarot cards and how about we ask the Universe, what is it that can help us to connect with the wild within us? How can we connect with this brave, wild, free, autonomous, artemis energy? Alright. Let's see what's at the top. Oh, this is a cool one.

Tarot Reading

Speaker 1 45:52

It's the chariot, and this is the first of the Major Arcana cards that we have drawn. So in episode one, I give a little outline of my take on the tarot of not so much being divination, but rather windows through which we can connect with the energy of the cosmos. So you might want to go back if you're not familiar with tarot and have a listen to that. And I explain that the tarot deck of 78 cards is made up of two parts, the Minor Arcana and the Major Arcana. And the Minor Arcana are kind of like a set of cards, like playing cards, they have four suits, and they really apply to our everyday lives in a very practical way. While the Major Arcana, a set of 22 cards, are related more to big archetypal energies. It's like our soul journey through life. These are the cards that have names on them, like the Magician, the High Priestess, or in this case, the Chariot. So I am reading from the Smith Rider Waite deck, and the image on this card has a man standing within kind of a chariot. It looks more like a kind of concrete box, to be honest. And at the base of this chariot are two sphinxes. One that is primarily black with white highlights, and one that is primarily white with black highlights. Those kind of mythological Egyptian-looking sphinxes. And this striking, handsome man is standing in this chariot, and he's adorned with crescent moons on his shoulders. Kind of like an armor sort of looking thing. He's got a breastplate that looks sort of shiny and silvery. He has a crown with stars on it, and the canopy of the chariot is all adorned like pale blue with white stars on it. And he's wearing a kind of like a skirt, military style, that is adorned with symbols of the cosmos and the zodiac and a belt of zodiac symbols. So there's something that is cosmic about this energy: the lunar phases, the waxing and waning oon, that canopy of stars, the zodiac belt. So it's something about cosmic direction because the chariot moves us forward. Again, this card just aligns so nicely with what we've just been talking about, because the city is behind him and he's moved outside of the boundaries of the city, just like Artemis does. There's a kind of like a river or maybe a moat or something in front of this city. He's on the close side of this, and there's a sense of readiness to move forward. He's carrying a wand that's kind of reminiscent of the magician. So, what this card really speaks to is aligning with our true cosmic soul cells, our deepest expression of self and how we move forward with that. There's a sense of great success, forward motion, excitement around this card. There's also this energy of the two sphinxes that are slightly kind of, they're not pointing straight ahead, they're slightly both looking off to the side. So there's a sense of having to control two contrary forces in order to move this chariot forward. So we could think of that as the wild and the tamed, the within and the without. There's kind of like a tension in that. We can't just drop everything and hope that things move forward without our conscious control of that. I think it's a really fascinating card for this moment, actually. Yeah, there's also this other symbol on the front of the chariot. It's got these little pair of blue wings with a golden kind of solar disc between, again, to me, denoting movement. And below that is a little symbol that is called a lingam and yoni, and it is essentially like a disc with a little pole going through it. So the masculine and feminine coming together. And this symbol, again, is this union of opposites. There needs to be this balancing and in a way, kind of manipulating of disparate forces within ourselves in order for that forward motion to take place. I think this card might be giving us a message in relation to what we've just been talking about with connecting with our wild selves, that our goals need to be aligned with the deepest self, that cosmic self. There's a sense of ambition to this card, of success, of getting to where you want to go. But this card reminds us that that needs to be a journey of deep integrity and connection to our deepest selves. That's that cosmic energy. He's wearing the belt of the zodiac, of the everything around his waist. It's not just about our singular, self-serving desires. It's about connecting with something deeper, our place within the cosmos, not separate from it. Where are we under this canopy of stars? Where do we want to go that aligns with our deepest selves? So I think it speaks very nicely to our Artemis episode, to our arrows flying in the direction of our dreams.

Patreon Thanks And Closing

Speaker 1 52:20

Well, as always, I am going to be talking about this card in the upcoming episode of Magic Monday on my Patreon page. So if you're not already a patron, maybe you might like to head over to patreon.com forward slash Wendy Rule and join up for about the cost of a cup of coffee each month. Then you'll be able to tune in to my video that I do every week on Patreon, and we can talk more about this card. You know, I'm always just shuffling and reading and thinking on the spot for these podcasts, and I like it in that I see something new every time I see a card. I haven't pre-prepared, I'm thinking on my feet, and it's also nice to have an opportunity to then go away and do some further thought and research and ritual around this card and share that experience in my Magic Monday video. As always, an absolutely huge shout out and thank you to my wonderful Patreon community who have put their money where their hearts are. Thanks so much for supporting this venture, this podcast, and I will see you back here in a couple of weeks. Until then, Blessed Be.