10th June 2020 ... Power and structure

Today's storytelling.
Power and structure.
And a very big piece of music to accompany our cards today from the universal comms team, from Gustav Holst's The Planets ...
"Mars".
https://youtu.be/Jmk5frp6-3Q
Wow, some power in this music, no surprise really when we consider Mars is named after the Roman god of war, owing perhaps to the planet's reddish hue, which gives it the colour of blood.
For this reason, the symbol associated with Mars represents the god of wars' shield and spear.He is a natural ruler of the military.
Mars is also associated with fiery passion. Mars will control energy and passion, motivation and perseverance.
Interestingly, originally, Mars was a god of vegetation and the protector of cattle and fields, who only later became associated with warfare.
So lets see how these themes play out in today's cards.
First card today is the Ace of Swords (swords representative of the air element and of thought and intellect)
We see a woman deep in thought and contemplation.The Sacred Spiral is depicted in the card.
Representing our spiraling journey from the center to ascension,
The spiral is the age-old intuitive symbol of spiritual development and our identity with the universe.
Spirals are believed to represent movement through experiences in life.
The Celts in particular viewed this symbol as one of progressive development, growth and expansion as we make our journey towards the centre and towards the light.
As ‘re-volution’ or ‘re-evolution’, the spiral progression is symbolic of the transpersonal route to that higher level of consciousness.
Our second card today is 4 The Emperor.
We see him sitting upon the red planet (see intro) on his forearm he has a tattoo of The Ankh.
In mythology, the Ankh was held in the hands of the gods as a symbol of their power to give life or take it away.
The symbol of the ankh meant “life” and was often used as an amulet, as a symbolic representation of both physical and eternal life.
The Ankh symbolises life, immortality and reincarnation.
We see he is holding a chess piece in his right hand, it's the king.
In the game of chess, the king is the most important piece of the set and must be protected.
The aim of the game is to threaten the king of the opposing player.
The most important person in a monarchy, even today, is the king.
The game is based on this premise that a monarchy will be destroyed when a king is destroyed.
The king in chess is a piece that can only move one step at a time, which makes him vulnerable.
Strategy in chess must revolve around not only attacking your opponent’s king but also protecting your own king.
Make of this what you will.... to me it signifies a power struggle.
Is it perhaps mirroring current struggles we are witnessing in the news?
I wonder is this perhaps symbolic of leaders in the world?
Or a power struggle between man and nature ?
Or all three ?
Our final card today is 5 The Hierophant.
He appears to be laughing almost hysterically. Perhaps he knows something we don't?
We can see enlightenment ahead, yet its a steep climb to get there. Our figure here in the card is a much evolved version of the traditional patriarchal 'High priest'.
He doesn't ask us to bow down at his feet to seek wisdom and connection to higher powers. Instead he invites us to sit with him in meditation. The connection to the enlightenment we seek is within us and all around us.... as it ever was .... if we can just slow down enough to be at one with our spiritual heart.
#makingadifference #lifeisbeautiful