View Full Version : The Happy Squirrel card
The time for the study of the Happy Squirrel card has arrived! No longer a Chat category, it is, after all, a TAROT-related issue. So, I thought I'd bring the topic up here.
Umbrae writes:
The Story behind the Happy Squirrel:
The Simpson's
Episode 2F15
"Lisa's Wedding"
Written by Greg Daniels
Directed by Jim Reardon
Woman: I've been waiting for you, Lisa.
Lisa: [gasps] How did you know my name?
Woman: Your nametag. ["Hi, I'm Lady Lisa"] Would you like to know your future?
Lisa: Heh, sorry, I don't believe in fortune telling. I should go.
Woman: What's your hurry? Bart and Maggie and Marge are at the joust, and Homer is heckling the puppet show.
Lisa: [gasps] Wow, you can see into the...present.
Woman: Now we'll see what the future holds. [turns over a card from what looks like a Tarot deck]
Lisa: [gulps] The "Death" card?
Woman: No, that's good: it means transition, change.
Lisa: [relieved] Oh.
[the woman turns over another card]
Lisa: Oh, that's cute.
Woman: [gasps] "The Happy Squirrel"!
Lisa: [timid] That's bad?
Woman: Possibly. The cards are vague and mysterious. I thought I'd start a discussion on the very real existence of the Happy Squirrel card. More and more, it is being included in decks. Is it necessary? Is it just novelty? Or is it helpful?
What does the Happy Squirrel card really mean? :D
("The cards are vague and mysterious...")
I remembered this episode differently, with the Tarot reader running screaming from the room, but the transcript shows me corrected. She only gasped. It's been a while since I've seen this one, but it must have been a very dramatic gasp for me to remember the Tarot reader's reaction as "running screaming from the room."
Is this is the card of pure evil? Is this the card that foretells what no other Tarot card is willing to admit...?
And if so... What's That??
What do YOU think the Happy Squirrel card means? Or would you prefer to keep the Squirrels away from your deck?
(And, what number Major Arcana card is the Happy Squirrel anyhow?)
firemaiden
06-04-2004, 16:13
It's number 23!!! And that says a lot... (to people have an obsession with the number 23!) (I'm reading Cosmic Trigger...)
[I]Originally quoted by the Cast of The Simpson’s, episode 2F15[I] Lisa: [gasps] Wow, you can see into the...present.
Woman: Now we'll see what the future holds. [turns over a card from what looks like a Tarot deck]
Lisa: [gulps] The "Death" card?
Woman: No, that's good: it means transition, change.
Lisa: [relieved] Oh.
[the woman turns over another card]
Lisa: Oh, that's cute.
Woman: [gasps] "The Happy Squirrel"!
Lisa: [timid] That's bad?
Woman: Possibly. The cards are vague and mysterious.
The writers clearly intended the card to be either (A) bad, or (B) vague and mysterious.
Squirrels, even rabid disease carrying ones, always look happy. Elephants on the other hand, by their construction, always look sad. Which animal does your Zoo show when they are trying to raise money?
Assuming a squirrel is happy before feeding the blood hungry rabid rodent a nut, would not be prudent; it would be wise to observe their behavior for any idiosyncrasies.
Nothing is viler on a backpacking trip than a Happy Squirrel who has just gnawed a hole into your pack.
However does that mean a rodent will attack you? Certainly not. The rodent is of course an archetypal image accepted by most to represent small losses adding up to large ones – issues that appear only when it’s a real problem.
Hence – vague and mysterious. Ominous tidings of an unspecified nature.
As of this writing, only one deck contains the unnumbered (as it should be) card (The International Icon Tarot), and one deck has an image for a card in the same design style as the deck available on the internet, and you are invited to download and past onto a spare card in the deck. My deck did not come with a spare card – and further that card would be thinker and not as pliable as the rest of the cards in the deck. Unacceptable option.
As for numbering it 23…hmmmmm
Le_Corsair
06-04-2004, 16:47
My interpretations:
Upright:
1. The querent is nuts - - Reader, RUN!
2. The querent is squirrely - - ditto.
Reversed:
1. The Reader is nuts - - Querent, RUN!
2. The reader is squirrely - - ditto.
Alternative Interpretations:
1. If you're a man and cheating on your partner - - stay away from you partner when she has a knife or you'll lose your _______ (see above).
2. If you're a woman and cheating on your partner - - be happy that the Goddess made you a woman and that you have nothing to lose. :D
3. Time to squirrel away funds for a rainy day.
4. Good day for Brunswick Stew.
5. Leave all squirrels mooching from your bird feeder alone - - the Happy Squirrel will be unhappy if you don't.
6. If your dog or cat brings home a dead squirrel, take them to the vet for a rabies check. Take the dead squirrel, too. Handle it with rubber gloves.
7. It is a good day for eating walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or any other nuts you might imagine. Leave the acorns alone unless soaked in three changes of water.
8. Since the Fool is the unnumbered Major trump, how about making the Happy Squirrel the unnumbered Minor Trump?
That's all I can think of for the moment.
Bob :THERM
Originally posted by Umbrae
As for numbering it 23…hmmmmm
I guess they've read the Illuminatus! trilogy...... ;)
Tarot Sparrow
06-04-2004, 18:10
Originally posted by Le_Corsair
My interpretations:
Upright:
1. The querent is nuts - - Reader, RUN!
2. The querent is squirrely - - ditto.
Reversed:
1. The Reader is nuts - - Querent, RUN!
2. The reader is squirrely - - ditto.
Alternative Interpretations:
1. If you're a man and cheating on your partner - - stay away from you partner when she has a knife or you'll lose your _______ (see above).
2. If you're a woman and cheating on your partner - - be happy that the Goddess made you a woman and that you have nothing to lose. :D
3. Time to squirrel away funds for a rainy day.
4. Good day for Brunswick Stew.
5. Leave all squirrels mooching from your bird feeder alone - - the Happy Squirrel will be unhappy if you don't.
6. If your dog or cat brings home a dead squirrel, take them to the vet for a rabies check. Take the dead squirrel, too. Handle it with rubber gloves.
7. It is a good day for eating walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts or any other nuts you might imagine. Leave the acorns alone unless soaked in three changes of water.
8. Since the Fool is the unnumbered Major trump, how about making the Happy Squirrel the unnumbered Minor Trump?
That's all I can think of for the moment.
Bob :THERM
Well I guess we've settled that! :laugh:
Originally posted by Alissa
I remembered this episode differently, with the Tarot reader running screaming from the room, but the transcript shows me corrected. She only gasped. It's been a while since I've seen this one, but it must have been a very dramatic gasp for me to remember the Tarot reader's reaction as "running screaming from the room." She probably departed from the script. You know how actors are, always hamming it up. Especially the animated ones! Maybe she heard it refered to as a Tarotist's Squirrel, and heard ... the other word.
Originally posted by Le_Corsair
4. Good day for Brunswick Stew. I'm afraid to ask what that is.
I love squirrels. I've spent many happy hours watching them play. There used to be a whole family of them living right outside my schoolyard when I was in sixth grade, and we would congregate by the fence during recess to watch them, until the school decided they were vermin and eradicated them. :(
They were always nearby when we would go camping. :)
Uh-oh. :eek:
Maybe it means Plague. If you want to take your dog with you to a campground in my state, it's a good idea to call ahead and ask if any squirrels have died of plague recently. If so, then you're not allowed to bring a pet (nor would you want to!).
Maybe it's only bad press that blamed the rat for the spread of Plague through Europe centuries ago. Maybe it was really this innocent-looking squirrel!
Nevada runs screaming from the room.
Edited to correct typo.
Alissa, I saw that episode and I also recall the tarot reader jumping out and running off. The script doesn't look right to me.
Macavity
06-04-2004, 18:56
I guess there had to be a reason (http://janetlee.org/images/squirrel.jpg) behind all this happiness? Another classic of the internet... :D
Macavity
HudsonGray
06-04-2004, 23:16
Them's some nuts Macavity!
I saw the episode twice but can't remember if she did run out of the room. Didn't the Victoria Regina deck include a happy squirrel card too? I think it's fun, and you can always take it out, of course. Though the meanings associated with it on this thread do seem to work nicely.
The Happy Squirrel in the Victoria Regina looks like it's a flying squirrel ... with rather scary sharp claws!
http://www.thefool.com/vr/index.asp?viewcard=22t
Nevada
TemperanceAngel
07-04-2004, 02:02
I keep thinking:
*Now where else have I seen that happy squirrel, I can see the image in my mind but just can't place it....*
*Squirrel....animation....yellow....green....aahhhh got it!!!! It's HOLMES avatar!!!!!!!!*
XTAX
Tarot Sparrow
07-04-2004, 02:14
Just wanted to mention, I'm a Simpsons junkie (meaning, I've watched them about 2-6 times a day since I was a kid. It's bad). Anyway, I've seen that episode with the fortune teller several times and I'm sure she doesn't jump up and run off. She gasps when she first sees the card, as if it's something very bad, and then when Lisa asks her if it's bad, she says quite calmly and slyly, "Possibly. The cards are vague and mysterious." And then she proceeds to read Lisa's future, where she fortells her marrying the English lad she meets in university... perhaps you two are recalling a different episode? Ie. the one where they all visit the gypsy and Homer catches on fire and ruins her shop, and she starts screaming at him and wonders, "why didn't I see this coming!" with her tarot cards reading "the Flaming Jerk" and "the Ruined Gypsy" :D Just a possibility.
But ANYWAY :D Back to the Happy Squirrel. I'm a little curious about this, because that is where the idea stemmed from isn't it? Why, for example, make a tarot card out of it? I know the Victoria Regina was only a downloadable version (or so I understand?) but then there is the International Icon. I'd like to see what Rota has to say about this. Was it a joke, or meant to be used in reading? Or both? :) Perhaps it just influences the cards around it in some way?
TemperanceAngel
07-04-2004, 03:26
Dead Star I love the episode where Homer goes to the gypsy, esp. the way the lepricorn talks at the end....gives me giggles every time!!
XTAX
Originally posted by Dead Star
... but then there is the International Icon. I'd like to see what Rota has to say about this. Was it a joke, or meant to be used in reading? Or both? :) Perhaps it just influences the cards around it in some way?
On another website which I will not mention (because it might be misconstrued) there is an interview with Rota, who very briefly mentions the Happy Squirrel.
I for one am convinced that it was supposed to be included with the TdM, but there was confusion about L'écureuil heureux, L'Escargot Lent, and the subsequent numbering issue.
Had we been discussing the Tarot de Deutsch (the TdD), perhaps the difference would have been between das glückliche eichhörnchen and schreckliche französische schnecken. See? No problems.
So one must go to the source.
As for the fortune teller running away, that was started by a poster long ago who did little to no research on the thorny problem.
hahaha, well put umbrae.
Since I have zero connection with tarotgarden I'll say that's where the interview is. Link at the very tip top of the page. He mentions the HS briefly. No mention of it in the LWB that comes with the deck though.
Perhaps La Ardilla Feliz simply reminds us to remember where we buried our nuts, for warming on the soon to be lit bonfire of the LWB’s.
Originally posted by Nevada
Maybe it means Plague. If you want to take your dog with you to a campground in my state, it's a good idea to call ahead and ask if any squirrels have died of plague recently. If so, then you're not allowed to bring a pet (nor would you want to!).
Maybe it's only bad press that blamed the rat for the spread of Plague through Europe centuries ago. Maybe it was really this innocent-looking squirrel!
Nevada runs screaming from the room.
Well, rodents have always had this bad reputation (rats for plague, mice turn up in all kind of fortuneteller's oracles (Lenormand, Russian Gipsy, for example) to indicate someone/thing is gnawing on your money or stealing.
But there's a fact: rodents have fleas and lice (as have other animals, too), and it's them, and not the rodents, that are responsible for plague and other epidemies. The fact that the rodents live so close to humans (and are often easy to make hand-tame) makes that they can transmit their (un)happy gift quite easily. (this vermin needs warm bodies to survive, and as soon as their host dies, they go looking for a new warm body to live on.
So, a squirrel, even a happy one, could it be seen as the messenger of all kind of vampirism and plagues - in every respect? If you get this card, beware of either (i) being the one bringing in the doom and disturbence, the one bringing in the negative vibes and contaminating atmospheres with it, or (ii) of others like that?
There are other things that make out a squirrel though: they bury their nuts - which can ce seen as positive as well as negative. Positive: they know how to preview hard times and prepare for it; negative: they might be very egotistic, hiding their treasures from everybody else - not wanting to share.
They have a funny way of protecting their territory: if a stranger (me, on a walk) gets in, they sit high above ground on tree branches, looking down, swishing their tails, and nag! (made me laugh). Nagging squirrels, you should hear them :D
So this card might also indicate a person that uses inadequate methods of defending his territory, thus being scared to be had, he hides all he has behind an army of vermin to protect himself...
Just a few thoughts on squirrels...
Love and laughter and be happy ever after :joke:
Simone
Tarot Sparrow
07-04-2004, 18:54
I love this thread :D I love these ideas.
Remember all those bad things that happened to Bullwinkle? And who was Bullwinkle's best friend? Nuff said.
The evil of the Happy Squirrel card can only be countered by the Boris and Natasha cards.
Kim
HudsonGray
08-04-2004, 01:07
But aren't they, in turn, countered by 'Fearless Leader?'
Boy, are we dating ourselves!
OakDragon
08-04-2004, 01:15
At least the evil only lasts a week!
;)
Snidely Whiplash…my boyhood hero. The dweeb mountie always got the girl (what was her name?), ya had to feel sorry for Snidely.
Wait a minute…if Boris and Natasha are the Emperor and Empress, Bullwinkle would be the Le Bateleur (juggling during opening sequence), would Rocky be the Sun?
This would mean by association that the De Gelukkige Eekhoorn would be a reflection of Rocky – the dark side of Rocky. Similar in many ways with Le Lune, except where the moon implies unconscious (hence no guilt), O Esquilo Feliz would imply intent.
I knew Rocky would save the day.
Ravenswing
08-04-2004, 07:07
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Umbrae
[B]Snidely Whiplash…my boyhood hero. The dweeb mountie always got the girl (what was her name?), ya had to feel sorry for Snidely.
The girl was Nell. And Dudley was more interested in his horse than in her...
Originally posted by HudsonGray
Boy, are we dating ourselves!
Luckily, I'm a cheap date, else I'd never take myself out. ;)
The Happy Squirrel card is a portent of evil for all housecats. My little Brigid sits on the windowseats in my house, staring out at the squirrels who run up and down the trees, and when she gets really frustrated, emits these tiny little cat-barks. For cats, the Happy Squirrel is the squirrel they can't get.
Thus, it is a symbol of unfulfilled hunger and desire, of frustration; the querent may be powerless or lack opposable thumbs.
Kim
These analyses are brilliant, and beyond anything I would have come up with myself.
I really love this card, but have yet to own a deck with one (that wont last forever, I assure you!) But, I thought getting other people's thoughts would be interesting, and boy howdy! :D
You folks got lots of good stuff to say about Squirrels!
And, I'm lovin it!
HudsonGray
08-04-2004, 19:10
Frustration is right--the damn beasts got around the $10 squirrel baffle I bought for the top of the bird feeder last week. Had to give one a heart attack by pounding on the window to get him off the woodpecker food. They stripped that in 2 days last time I put one of those suet cakes up.
I see that nobody's in agreement that the Happy Squirrel is a GOOD card! Hmm.
Originally posted by HudsonGray
Frustration is right--the damn beasts got around the $10 squirrel baffle I bought for the top of the bird feeder last week. Had to give one a heart attack by pounding on the window to get him off the woodpecker food. They stripped that in 2 days last time I put one of those suet cakes up.
I see that nobody's in agreement that the Happy Squirrel is a GOOD card! Hmm.
Well, they are learning fast,aren't they??? Like monkeys, the more challenging it is the better they get...
You want a good thing said about squirrels? they seem to be quite intelligent... :D
Love
Simone
And they're cuter than moles. Not gophers, though. Gophers dance. When are we going to get a Dancing Gopher card to go with the Happy Squirrel?
Kim
firemaiden
09-04-2004, 03:09
You know I've always thought squirrels were cute, adorable, fun, etc., but my little jack russel terrier, Amish, taught me otherwise. I have never heard fouler words come out of an animal's mouth than that day we met the squirrel standing in our neighbor's garden.
He stood upright, exposing his nuts (like the squirrel in the photo) in clear provocation, and made obscene insinuations to Amish. Then Amish saw red, and just lost it, I mean, he wanted blood! The squirrel teased Amish by standing still, and pretending to be "catchable" then disappeared at the last possible moment up a tree.
Then he stood over us and let loose the most inflamatory series of invectives either of us had ever heard, and which can't be repeated here. Amish tried and tried to run up the tree after him, giving himself a running start over and over again.
Needless to say, he did not succeed. And we both walked home in a very foul mood indeed.
When I was about 8 years old a friend and I decided to catch ourselves a squirrel. They are so cute! (we thought).
So we took a cardboard box, cut a hole in two sides, tied a nut to a string (I'm not kidding we really did this) and slipped it through both holes.
We had been calling this particular squirrel with little chittling noises and he seemed to be approaching us in a friendly fashion.
So, we wait on one side of the box.
The string with the nut is way out in front of the first hole. As the squirrel approached we s...l...o...w...l...y pulled the string into the first hole.
Voila! the squirrel followed the nut right into the box.
We quickly closed the flaps.
We had our cute happy little squirrel.
Immediately, however, the squirrel became frantic throwing itself at all sides, scratching wildly inside the box. We became terrified and wanted to let it go but were afraid it would attack.
Finally, we ran away from the box as fast as we could toward one of our homes. As we did we heard the scratching stop. The squirrel had pushed open a flap and was running like crazy away from us and up a tree.
I can't see or think of squirrels without remembering the great squirrel capturing event. I don't know what we thought would happen if we really did catch the squirrel. We were shocked it was tricked and then scared to death it was going to come flying out of the flap and attach itself to one of our faces, clawing and gnawing and biting like a rat.
What this means for the card? I don't know.
Beware of creatures that look innocuous and cute. They have the potential to scare the living daylights out of you even if they are just as frightened of you?
terri
HudsonGray
17-09-2004, 21:02
tmgrl2 do you know that college students go squirrel fishing now? Same sort of tactic, tie a nut to the end of a string & see how far you can reel them in. Extra points if you can get them off the ground. There's stuff online about it.
They're not the cute fluffy things you'd think they are, I agree! Lots of people call them tree rats.
Originally posted by HudsonGray
tmgrl2 do you know that college students go squirrel fishing now? Same sort of tactic, tie a nut to the end of a string & see how far you can reel them in. Extra points if you can get them off the ground. There's stuff online about it.
They're not the cute fluffy things you'd think they are, I agree! Lots of people call them tree rats.
ROFLMAO...You mean we were ahead of the times??!
We were so embarrassed afterwards. First that we did it at all. Second, that the poor squirrel was more frightened than we were. I do think though, that, if trapped, one could prove quite dangerous to humans. Well, then, humans, if trapped can prove quite dangerous to animals and even each other.
So, alas, the Happy Squirrel dilemma moves forward for further discussion.
terri
Originally posted by tmgrl2
What this means for the card? I don't know.
Beware of creatures that look innocuous and cute. They have the potential to scare the living daylights out of you even if they are just as frightened of you? I Love This~! :D :D
Long live the Happy Squirrel, and its debate. :smoker:
HudsonGray
18-09-2004, 00:11
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~yaz/en/squirrel_fishing.html
Not as frightening as a squirrel in a box, but then the squirrel gets the nut in this case.
Originally posted by Ravenswing
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Umbrae
[B]The girl was Nell. And Dudley was more interested in his horse than in her...
No, NELL was more interested in his horse than in Dudley (watch the opening credits carefully...)
I love this thread - I haven't laughed this hard in a long time.
As to Nell and Dudly - and the horse - Ace is right. Nell was clearly smitten with the horse - a plot point that as a Canadian, always made me somewhat suspicious - was this a snide comment about the manliness of our beloved RCMP? If Bullwinkle was a Moose, a good Canadian symbol ( yes it's an Elk on the Quarter, but work with me here) why is Rocky not a beaver? Why a squirrel and a flying squirrel at that - but note, as the lone intellect in the show, Rocky was most often a frustrated, long suffering squirrel - not a happy squirrel at all.
Perhaps we are taking the happy squirrel too literally, as in "blessed are the cheesemakers" perhaps the card is meant to be the archetype of all happy rodents, regardless of nationality, colour, or general cuteness and bushiness of tail.
I love Bullwinkle, Canada, and squirrels.
OakDragon
20-09-2004, 17:37
This thread is really interesting. Did the Simpson episode come first or the card in someone's deck? How many decks have a Happy Squirrel card? I especially like the one in the Victoria Regina deck... I'm even more interested in that deck now!
OakDragon
02-10-2004, 19:36
I just bought a VR deck and it didn't come with a Happy Squirrel card! From the artist's website it looks like it's supposed to. I did get two different versions of the title card (or whatever you want to call it. The one with the about the deck info on it.). One has the Magician and one has the Queen of Coins (VR herself).
<pout>
I am pretty sure that the Happy Squirrel is just available for downloading and printing for the VR. I bought the VR near when it first came out and it didn't have a Happy Squirrel card. I think the Simpson's episode came first.
OakDragon
03-10-2004, 07:57
I figured that might be the case, but the way it's presented on the author's website is as if it's any other Major Arcana card. There's no note to say that it's not included in the deck, at least from what I can tell. You simply click on "view cards" or whatever and it's in the Major Arcana section at the end, after the World.
Ah. I haven't looked at the site for a while. When I downloaded it (I have it somewhere) it was clearly a joke add-on. I'll go back and look.
If any ATF'ers actually got it as a full laminated card, I would be interested to know.. I would write and ask for a copy!
Well, I had to think of the happy squirrel card this morning as I read in our ( Canadian) National paper about the government trying to deport a flying sqirrel back to the US - apparently we have a fairly new and obscure law prohibitting the importation of rodents, and, althogh flying squirrels are native to canada, there are laws against catching them, so the offending owner - a naturalist - paid the money and imported Sabrina Ratkateers in Indiana, declared her at the border - the whole responsible pet owner thing. Now, the government is spending large sums in a legal battle to deport her. Canada's top legal eagle, Clay Ruby, who ususally takes high profile criminal and huan rights cases , is taking on the case on Sabrina's behalf. He has won the first round in the Federal Court. First round goes to the Squirrel.
No less esteemed a publication than Canada's national paper: The Globe and Mail sports the headline " Squirrel 1, Canada 0: Lawyers, politicians and bureaucrats squabble over Sabrina the refugee rodent"
I realized, with a shock, at how Tarot moves onto the world stage, and that this may well be the archetypical "Happy Squirrel" Innocent of itself, yet causing havoc across the country, nay even across the border with our American neighbours - or neighbors!!
Like the Tower, but with no promise of a new beginning once the destruction is through, the Happy Squirrel proves to be truly the most frightening card in the deck!!
xviiirkna
06-10-2004, 23:53
Originally posted by OakDragon
I figured that might be the case, but the way it's presented on the author's website is as if it's any other Major Arcana card. There's no note to say that it's not included in the deck, at least from what I can tell.
Hi OakDragon,
I did a search in Sarah's blog for "happy squirrel", here's an explanation of why it's not included in her deck:
http://www.ovenall.com/diary/archives/000074.php
I laminated my copy of the VR Happy Squirrel card and it now leads a charmed life as bookmark for the companion book.
Blessings,
Sally Anne
Originally posted by Maelin
Like the Tower, but with no promise of a new beginning once the destruction is through, the Happy Squirrel proves to be truly the most frightening card in the deck!! I think this definition most fits both the squirrel's innate tendencies for mischief making, as well as the idea of a terrifying subcurrent that runs parallel to this card's intended meaning.
This is just brilliant. If there were a book on the Happy Squirrel card, I'd want this sentence in the definition!
One fact remains:
There is only ONE deck that has this truly frightening 79th card…The International Icon Tarot.
Which incidentally has become on of my fav reading decks…check out the review over in Tarot Passages to find out why…
hahaha, right I forgot, I have International Icon and noticed this card, which is totally ignored in the LWB.
*hangs head* um, er, I like the card but removed it from my deck. (it's safe) I also removed the Hermes card from BBCats, the Master card from Osho Zen, and the second Death card and the Prudence card from Tarot of Prague (1st and 2nd editions). Call me irrational, I can't read tarot when there is even a possibility that a non-tarot card could turn up. But, I can read oracles, go figure. :)
Originally posted by Marion
Call me irrational, I ***'* read tarot when there is even a possibility that a non-tarot card could turn up. But, I can read oracles, go figure. :) On my trip to St. Louis last weekend, I did a reading where…the Happy Squirrel stepped into the outcome position.
And in context with the reading, and with the sitters situation…it was scarily perfect.
Marion…ya gotta read with it!
Okay…perhaps not…but…
Sillanza
08-10-2004, 02:31
I'm late to this thread, but it was worth the read!
First, I love both the Simpson's episodes mentioned (I have the gypsy one on DVD ... sad, I know). And, YES, I have some thoughts on what the Happy Squirrel may mean:
Happy Squirrel (upright): Negative energy veiled in a fuzzy suit. Bad juju where you least expect it. That which should seem tamable, but isn't. You can try to outsmart it, but it confronts you unafraid with bold consternation. All it really needs is a tiny pitchfork.
Happy Squirrel (reversed): Quit posturing -- you're not all that. Knock it off before your chattering gets you caught in an inescapable trap. That terrier you think you've got outsmarted? His day is coming my friend. Might be best to hibernate a while.
And speaking of squirrels and divination, I happened to run across this quote in my reading. Just thought I'd pass this on, for whatever it's worth. Harold Bayley, in his book 'The Lost Language of Symbolism', vol. II, writes:
"The Scandinavians conceived the Tree of Life as Iggdrasil, the World-Ash, the Oracle and Judgment-Place of the Gods, the Dwelling of the Fates, and the Source and Spring of Knowledge. Up and down the trunk of this mighty Ash a squirrel is said to have perpetually run, a squirrel which, according to Rhine legend, was "animated by the Voice of God," and whispered tidings into the ear of Wotan of everything that transpired below.
Also, a little further on:
"...when the Squirrel is hunted she cannot be driven to the ground, unlesse extremitie or faintnesse cause her to do so through an unwilling compulsion, for such is the stately mind of this little beast that while her limbs and strength lasteth she tarrieth and saveth herself in the tops of tall trees, disdaining to come down for every harm or hurt which she feeleth; knowing, indeed, her greatest danger to rest below amongst the dogs and busie hunters. From whence may be gathered a perfect pattern for us, to be secured from all the wiles and hungrie chasings of the treacherous devil; namely, that we keep above in the loftie palaces of heavenlie meditations, for there is small securitie in things on earth; the greatest ought to be our fear of danger, when we leave to look and think of heaven."
There's some more stuff in there about squirrels cracking nuts to find kernels of truth...
Oh isn't that a wonderful image, I love this rota! :D The Happy Squirrel scampering up and down and all around the World Tree, careless as can be, and full of himself to boot. What a show off.... look how easy he makes spiritual travel seem!!!
OK, Umbrae. I'll bite. Why was the Happy Squirrel scarey???
terri
umbrae, I put the Happy Squirrel card back in the deck. :) Now, I just have remember what it means when it pops up in a reading.
Cerulean
09-10-2004, 15:54
I've managed to pull a thread from Umbrae's erstwhile cloak and it inspired to toss all my website links and LWB animal divination bits and pieces into the would-chuck recycle pile....so armed only with my two beady eyes, synchronicity, a cell-phone call that urged me to the backyard and bare-footed tiptoes, I saw....
A very happy squirrel on my husband's upturned bicycle staring at my husband--my husband's waist-to-torso was covered in the walnut tree. He was standing on a ladder. I believe the squirrel from the nearby tree would have verily claimed the bicycle if my husband took any nuts hostage. The same clan of gray squirrels in this coolish autumn time have bombed me with parts of persimmons while I cut bits of overgrown ivy or boxwood hedges.
Divinatory Meaning: Squirreling away when the weather turns cold; squirrelly behavior if harvesting are interrupted; chitter-chattering to warn others in the native community of possible intrusion; an attitude of 'Nuts to YOU' with appropriate walnut shell bombing as needed.
Reversed: Squirrels never regret, nor reverse if in their right mind. Nuts to YOU.
With advanced apologies to all squirrel diviners,
Cerulean
Thanks, Cerulean.
I still think of squirrels as cute, but a bit creepy and rat-like. Also, I still have that strong image of the time we captured one and ran like H....when we let it go.
terri
Originally posted by Cerulean
Divinatory Meaning: Squirreling away when the weather turns cold; squirrelly behavior if harvesting are interrupted; chitter-chattering to warn others in the native community of possible intrusion; an attitude of 'Nuts to YOU' with appropriate walnut shell bombing as needed.
Reversed: Squirrels never regret, nor reverse if in their right mind. Nuts to YOU.
Oh yesssss…
One more thing…corner a Happy Squirrel. reach out and and pick it up…it’s happy right?..and cute and cuddley…just pick it up…and…pet it…show it some of that love that fills your heart...
I once saved a squirrel - honest to goodness, right in downtown Toronto, The fool thing was crossing Bay street during the morning rush hour and got "stunned " by a taxi. I watched, horrified, cringed as the taxi zoomed over it, and then opened my eyes to see it standing there, completely fine but too terrified to move while all the traffic was now waiting at a red light - doom impending - as they waited for the light to turn - I rushed to the middle of the street, and amidst honking, laughing and swearing of cab drivers, actually herded the thing, while half crouching,( me not it)across the street. It walked ahead of me - very rat like, no scampering - everything was fine, and as we got to the curb, the cute and cuddly, white tummied North American common grey squirrel turned around, bit me right through my brand new leather gloves and ran up a tree.
My first week at a new job, and I had to explain to my new boss - who never stopped laughing at me after that, that I had to take the morning off to go to the Emergency Room and have a tetenus shot! I still have the scar
Don't tell me it's not the scariest card in the deck!!!
Originally posted by Umbrae
Oh yesssss…
One more thing…corner a Happy Squirrel. reach out and and pick it up…it’s happy right?..and cute and cuddley…just pick it up…and…pet it…show it some of that love that fills your heart...
NO...NO!!! It will bite and attack....It's only happy UNTIL we capture it and try to domesticate it.
t
Please check out this link about helping an orphaned baby squirrel and after you get through the cute stuff, read the BOTTOM about squirrels being "vicious" adults:
http://www.squirreltales.org/
It's a scarey card! It's wolf in Squirrel's clothing.
terri
Cerulean
10-10-2004, 21:29
...we never feed them; they eat persimmons and walnuts and
bomb us and scold if they think we are staring at them. That is the way it should be; we are visitors in their territory.
I admire their cuteness from a distance.
Regards,
Cerulean
Originally posted by Cerulean
...we never feed them; they eat persimmons and walnuts and
bomb us and scold if they think we are staring at them. ....
I admire their cuteness from a distance.
I think you have given us the true divinatory meaning of the Happy Squirrel Card " Admire cuteness from a distance" Think how many worthwhile circumstances in which it might prove the best advice!
How about: "All that is fuzzy and cute is NOT cuddly."
An "All that glitters..." message but with more ominous overtones.
HudsonGray
01-11-2005, 19:31
*BUMP*
Cause someone was asking about the Happy Squirrel card!
It happened many years ago.
The wind was howling and a knock came upon the door.
RAP-rap-RAP.
My neighbor, a pretty young thing, stood there worried because two squirrels were laying beneath her great tall pine tree.
Might they bite her, she wondered.
So I, with my rubber cleaning gloves and a box, accompanied her home to see why squirrels would lay beneath her great tall pine tree.
They were babies, mere infants.
I boxed them up and left her to her fantasies of being bitten by infant squirrels.
From there I took them to a wildlife specialist.
Her tale of what had happened was amazing.
She just might be a squirrel diviner, but that is another tale.
One of the babies had a crust on her nose. A bloody crust.
Apparently if you find very small squirrels out of the nest you should look for the mother's dead body somewhere nearby...perhaps on the road.
Baby squirrels will throw themselves out of the nest after a while of not being fed by the mother.
They just throw themselves out of the nest due to sheer hunger and dehydration.
And they hope they land near some kind of food.
These babies were covered in fleas a sign the mother had been missing a while.
So the Happy Squirrel is perhaps the mother squirrel, happy with her nut, and planning a return to the nest where her babies lay waiting and hoping that they don't have to throw themselves out of the nest too soon...
It's number 23!!! And that says a lot... (to people have an obsession with the number 23!) (I'm reading Cosmic Trigger...)
Have you seen the fnords?
Chronata
01-11-2005, 20:25
Glad this was bumped...
that damn Happy Squirrel keeps haunting me.
It showed up in a recent reading...and that card has been giving me troubles in my own deck making process, too.
I really love all the meanings here.
hmmmmmm...It's leaves a lot to think about.
Especially in this harvest, nut gathering time.
I'm glad the thread is still being used myself! :D There are so many great ideas here, and yet room for more....
The Happy Squirrel reminds us that sometimes it’s the rodents, stealing our tulip bulbs (ruining our spring garden colors), knocking apples from the trees…
And sometimes we’re besieged by nuts….
But always it reminds us that even with the best laid plans and good intentions...one dang rat with a fuzzy tail can screw up the works.
:smoker:
The Happy Squirrel reminds us that sometimes it’s the rodents, stealing our tulip bulbs (ruining our spring garden colors), knocking apples from the trees…
You very much remind me of my husband and mother-in-law.
They have it in for a dear little woodchuck.
We have a large garden. About 3/4 of an acre.
Our woodchuck friend has his front door across the way from the patty pan squash row. His delicate teeth marks marred the white perfection of almost half our crop this year. Our customers don't like teeth marks.
But the woodchuck is just doing what woodchucks do.
And squirrels, well, squirrels are just doing what they do when they find a scrumptious tulip bulb. They celebrate thinking it must be some kind of gift from the squirrel gods....
Remember, when we are outside we must share the earth with our wild brethren, it is after all their home. Inside the house is another story...but out there where the animals live, we are in a way, visiting.
And sometimes we’re besieged by nuts….
Well said.
Squirrels are indeed rodents.
But they also are the master planters of oak trees.
Accidental gardeners I like to call them. Because they do indeed destroy much of what they plant....
So are these the messages?
Be careful what you sow.
Don't dig it up if it isn't yours to dig.
Mindless scurrying might be fun but what about the results?
Some things are better left buried.
I must add that there are now two decks featuring The Happy Squirrel.
The was of course the International Icon Tarot by Robin Ator.
But in 2005, artist Lynyrd Narciso, released his “Les Adorables Tarot”. It is a Majors only deck containing 23 cards.
And yes…the 23rd card is…The Happy Squirrel.
Be warned. This Happy Squirrel is not so light and fluffy....
:smoker:
Isn't the phrase
Happy Squirrel
an oxymoron?
If a squirrel were to appear "happy" would it not look a bit like the Mona Lisa with the enigmatic smile that can hide all kinds of
....scarey intent, wicked past deeds?
Happy, indeed!!
Beware....there is much to learn from this creature that travels both above and below, who can be fearless, hide in a flash, and, yes, even
Fly at times.
Smart enough to prepare for the long dark winter, brave enough to slowly hop into your sight and then,
Freeze and stare at you...as if
Challenging you to pass or
Chase.
Cute??
I don't think so.
When she sees a squirrel scampering about the property, even my dog knows to bark loudly when she is on window duty in the living room guarding our house from trespassers.
There is much to learn from the behavior of the squirrel. Step inside the animal and learn.
Remember, when we are outside we must share the earth with our wild brethren, it is after all their home. Inside the house is another story...but out there where the animals live, we are in a way, visiting.
Yes, elf!!
A key point, indeed! Another metaphor for anytime we enter into
the domain of the "other."
Then...
The rules change.
Emeraldgirl
07-11-2005, 00:24
Well in Australia we don't have squirrels so for all the Aussies out there beware the Happy Koala :) Not all of them are as sweet as Caramello.
They are so cute looking, so stoned all the time from the gum leaves they eat and such nasty turns of temper and claws when enraged. So for all Aussie themed decks beware the Happy Koala.
and in mating season they scream like the soundtrack to a bad horro movie
that simpsons episode is one... right now! woo!
the gypsy says "the cards are vague and mysterious, but it seems they are trying to tell of your first love, shall I continue?" or something along the lines. a lot of bad stuff happens in her first love :(
truely an evil card
Is it even possible to download the Victoria Regina happy squirrel? I was so disappointed to learn that it wasn't actually included. I have a feeling that it would come up quite a bit if I used it in actual readings with my friends. :)
http://www.thefool.com/vr/index.asp?viewcard=22t
Jewel-ry
01-12-2005, 16:24
I havn't read the thread but isn' that a flying squirrel? Will that make a difference to the meaning I wonder?
P.S. Marion I love the avatar...I am gonna have to go find myself a festive one now!
:)
There that's better
HudsonGray
01-12-2005, 18:34
It's got the head and body proportions of a gray squirrel and the flaps/folds of skin of a flying squirrel, so it could be either I suppose. Usually those old engravings/drawings are a lot more accurate. I don't think the artist had an actual model to draw from and winged it. (no pun intended) He even stuck on dragon claws, so it's anybody's guess.
Last winter a squirrel came to the door every day and I gave him a piece of bread spread with Nutella. He would sit there and lick all the Nutella off the bread and then he would eat the bread. He was grey and on the top of his head he had a little red tuft ! He surely was a Happy Squirrel every day and he made all of us here happy too !
Any wild animal will attack if it is cornered so why think the squirrel is any worse ? Try a porcupine or even a skunk ! They don't fool around even trying to be friendly.
It's not over folks...it's not safe to get back into the water...
In fact, just when you thought you understood the Happy Squirrel (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061101/ap_on_fe_st/attacked_by_squirrel) you learn something new...
ROFLMAO!!!! Umbrae! My husband sent the story to me in an email today at work (he always seems to have the time to find cool things like this! :D I immediately thought of The Happy Squirrel card!
The funniest part to me was the last line in which it is mention that they "haven't issued a squirrel alert yet, but everyone is aware of the incident." Can you imagine?
Danger - Beware of Squirrels
valeria
Isaacrpgr
03-11-2006, 16:06
I don't think anyone asked WHAT THE SQUIRREL IS HAPPY ABOUT" a bit of a mischeif maker in my opinon,
"someone else is controlling your life/or you" the defintion shoukld be someting like that i think
RaeBelle
03-11-2006, 19:15
Have you met squirrels in PA? Some of them are downright mean. I do try to give them a wide berth.
That happy squirrel is hiding something....
Here is a site with some squirrel attack stories:
http://www.chainreactionbicycles.com/squirrels.htm
Also, there is a video somewhere of a squirrel actually running at a busy highway, jumping up and touching a tractor trailer, and then running away unscathed. These animals are not to be trifled with.
Me and my cat had a serious scolding from one once in our front yard as well. Ritchit-chit-chit-eeeee-it-chit-chee-it!
And we mustn't forget Foamy the Squirrel on Neurotically Yours!
http://www.illwillpress.com/vault.html
thinbuddha
13-12-2006, 19:01
Me and my cat had a serious scolding from one once in our front yard as well. Ritchit-chit-chit-eeeee-it-chit-chee-it!
I just saved a squirrel from the clutches of my cat a couple months ago. Came home to find the cat trying to run off with a squirrel. Not on my watch!
Even in the "wild," not all squirrels are happy. A friend of mine saw a squirrel commit suicide. Seriously. It jumped, as if it were going another tree. But there was no other tree. Splat.
She thinks he had a fight with the Mrs.
Or maybe he was the embarassed victim of Squirrel-fishing. :P
the 23rd trump.
21 Majors, plus the Fool, makes 22 in all, until the Happy Squirrel showed up in the well-known Simpsons episode, making 23.
23, as a number, has a number of interesting associations. I ran across this short bit on www.boingboing.net, and thought I would copy it over here for the benefit of anyone else who was following the peculiarities of the Happy Squirrel.
(although, there's nothing *exactly* to do with squirrels in the following, it's still kinda interesting...)
further material here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_(numerology
and here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_objectid=13136269%26method=full%26siteid=94762-name_page.html
+++++++
"Robert Anton Wilson on the 23 engima
Fortean Times has republished a 1977 article by bOING bOING patron saint and contributor Robert Anton Wilson about the magickal, mystical number 23. Wilson, who died earlier this year, was fascinated with the number 23 and real or imagined synchronicities related to the digits. It was William S. Burroughs who turned Wilson on to the 23 engima that he went on to explore in both his fiction and non-fiction writings. From the Fortean Times article which appeared, of course, in the 23rd issue of the magazine:
Articles 221 23-RawI first heard of the 23 enigma from William S Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, Nova Express, etc. According to Burroughs, he had known a certain Captain Clark, around 1960 in Tangier, who once bragged that he had been sailing 23 years without an accident. That very day, Clark’s ship had an accident that killed him and everybody else aboard. Furthermore, while Burroughs was thinking about this crude example of the irony of the gods that evening, a bulletin on the radio announced the crash of an airliner in Florida, USA. The pilot was another captain Clark and the flight was Flight 23.
Burroughs began collecting odd 23s after this gruesome synchronicity, and after 1965 I also began collecting them...
In conception, Mom and Dad each contribute 23 chromosomes to the fœtus. DNA, the carrier of the genetic information, has bonding irregularities every 23rd Angstrom. Aleister Crowley, in his Cabalistic Dictionary, defines 23 as the number of “life” or “a thread”, hauntingly suggestive of the DNA life-script. On the other hand, 23 has many links with termination: in telegraphers’ code, 23 means “bust” or “break the line”, and Hexagram 23 in I Ching means “breaking apart”. Sidney Carton is the 23rd man guillotined in the old stage productions of A Tale of Two Cities. (A few lexicographers believe this is the origin of the mysterious slang expression “23 Skiddoo!”.)
Some people are clusters of bloody synchronicities in 23. Burroughs discovered that the bootlegger “Dutch Schultz” (real name: Arthur Flegenheimer) had Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll assassinated on 23rd Street in New York when Coll was 23 years old. Schultz himself was assassinated on 23 October. Looking further into the Dutch Schultz case, I found that Charlie Workman, the man convicted of shooting Schultz, served 23 years of a life sentence and was then paroled."
+++++++
blackstormhawk
10-05-2007, 21:58
The Happy Squirrel is happy because he has done happy and squirrelly things. He chewed a hole through your $50 squirrel proof bird feeder, and then gorged himself on $15 worth of high-end fruit and seed songbird mix. Then he went to your attic, and for dessert, chewed threw your cable line and impregnated three female squirrels who are busy working on chewing through your cable and electric lines as they await their litters.
That is why the happy squirrel (any squirrel) is happy and it is a card of ill omen.
How timely this thread pops up again - I was mentioning in another thread that I am doing a One Deck Wonder Study with the International Icon Tarot - which has a Happy Squirrel - and my husband keeps drawing it! It has happened several times in a row - he sees the deck and pulls a card and voila! Happy Squirrel!
My Man Keeps Getting the Happy Squirrel (http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=79322)
valeria
The Happy Squirrel is happy because he has done happy and squirrelly things. He chewed a hole through your $50 squirrel proof bird feeder, and then gorged himself on $15 worth of high-end fruit and seed songbird mix. Then he went to your attic, and for dessert, chewed threw your cable line and impregnated three female squirrels who are busy working on chewing through your cable and electric lines as they await their litters.
That is why the happy squirrel (any squirrel) is happy and it is a card of ill omen.No kidding! Squirrels are the enemy, and they are winning!!!
geministar
11-05-2007, 08:43
I have skipped most of this thread so pls forgive me if Ive missed it but what the heck is the happy squirrel card??? and what do the Simpsons have to do with it?
Please excuse my ignorance but Im really dumbfounded by all this :confused:
Edited: Ok Ive just realised about the Simpsons :rolleyes: (embarrassed)
geministar, you don't have to read the whole thread but do take a moment to read my opening post at the top of the thread.
It is self-explanatory and answers your questions, and much easier than re-explaining it again here. :D
geministar
11-05-2007, 21:44
Thanks Alissa, I did that after I posted above. Its making sense to me now. I feel like a spaz *LOL*
"...two interests came together in a New York Times article today about a squirrel running up and down the right field foul pole in Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. NYT sportswriter Teddy Kider writes that, according to Norse mythology, the squirrel was a bad omen for the New York Yankees. From the New York Times:
Believe it or not, the squirrel’s actions closely resembled those of Ratatosk, or “gnawing tooth,” a squirrel in Norse mythology that climbed up and down a tree that represented the world. Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic scholar and poet, recorded the story in his 13th-century work “Prose Edda.”
As the story goes, Ratatosk carried insults as it traveled to opposite ends of the tree, fueling a rivalry between the evil dragon residing at the bottom of the tree and the eagle perched at the top...
The Yankees said the squirrel came down about 20 minutes after Tuesday’s game and was allowed to go on its way. It joins a cast of baseball creatures that includes the black cat that crossed in front of the Chicago Cubs’ dugout during their ill-fated pennant-race battle with the Mets in 1969 and the bird that Dave Winfield killed with a throw in Toronto in 1983."
August 30, 2007
http://pop.thousandrobots.com/files/squirrel/squirrel1.jpg
http://pop.thousandrobots.com/files/squirrel/squirrel2.jpg
willowfox
31-08-2007, 03:45
Adding another card seems out of place to me, and anyway squirrels should be left out of tarot to do their own thing, up in the trees chewing on their nuts.
wytchwood
31-08-2007, 04:02
I agree that it's a bit 'wrong' to add the Sqiz to the mix. However, those who really don't want it can chuck it out, therefore it is a harmless bit of humour. I have left mine in the IIT deck though. It has come up a couple of times and I have read it to mean that there is an 'unknown factor' which at this time cannot be revealed. Or that there is a random element which cannot be controlled. That kind of thing.
What other decks have a Squirrel??
Zoe
There used to be a squirrel card you could download for the Victoria Regina - I think the idea was to print it off then glue it to one of the spare cards but I can't think of why any one would want to add a squirrel to a deck like the Victoria Regina. :)
There used to be a squirrel card you could download for the Victoria Regina - I think the idea was to print it off then glue it to one of the spare cards but I can't think of why any one would want to add a squirrel to a deck like the Victoria Regina. :)
It was on Sarah Ovenall's website. As to why? that was a GREAT happy squirrel. But then Ator came along and changed the world of Tarot as we know it...
It was on Sarah Ovenall's website. As to why? that was a GREAT happy squirrel. But then Ator came along and changed the world of Tarot as we know it...
I never downloaded it, maybe I should have. :)
Alaanya Crae
08-05-2008, 16:21
That is one of my favorite episodes. I always remembered an extremely over dramatic gasp and a look of pure fear and loathing (although not in Las Vegas, just Springfield lol, sorry bad humor) I would think the Happy Squirrel card should be a wild card, a representation of the unforseeable in any circumstance. Its neither good or bad, just an irony.
Alaanya Crae
08-05-2008, 16:42
Perhaps we are taking the happy squirrel too literally, as in "blessed are the cheesemakers"
LMAO.......shouldn't we be blessing the mink now? Happy squirrel offset by the Sad Mink......or Naked Mink.
stefficus
26-05-2008, 19:47
i, too, remember her response as being far more dire than a gasp and a coy remark. maybe some of us shifted into an alternate reality while watching that ep... um, several years ago. *grin*
as for squirrels, i can't believe nobody has posted this story yet: http://lifeisaroad.com/stories/2004/10/29/neighborhoodHazardorWhyTheCopsWontPatrolBriceStreet.html
retrokat
28-08-2008, 07:06
Just a quick note to mention for anyone researching the Happy Squirrel that there's one in my new deck Touchstone Tarot. Yay for Simpsons :)
WolfSpirit
28-08-2008, 08:43
When I think of the happy squirrel I think of Ratatosk from Norse mythology. Ratatosk lives in Yggdrasil, the tree of life, and he has fun running up and down the tree, He delivers messages from the eagle at the top of the tree to the serpent at the base of the tree. But he deliberately misinterprets the messages to cause confusion and strife between them. He reminds of the Intriguer (don't know what you call him in English) in the Asterix comics, the little Roman guy who can cause fights everywhere to his own benefit.
When I use an animal oracle deck I think of the squirrel in much more positive ways. I actually love the little critters :heart:
Sphinxmoth
28-08-2008, 11:17
Just a quick note to mention for anyone researching the Happy Squirrel that there's one in my new deck Touchstone Tarot. Yay for Simpsons :)
It's the deciding factor card in whether I will get the Touchstone or not (no decision about it, yet). How *much* do I want/need a Happy Squirrel card? Pretty much. Just an historically-missing Major. If it hasn't been in the tarot, it probably should have been. It must have some relationship to the Fool.
ArwenNightstar
29-08-2008, 14:15
Ok, y'all made me laugh so hard soda came out of my nose! HAHAHAHA.
I now know WHY Kat put a Happy Squirrel in this deck. I just unwrapped the cards and was flipping through them.
There I saw it. The Happy Squirrel card...:|
ArwenNightstar
23-09-2008, 13:18
The Happy Squirrel came up in a reading I did for myself today. I used a spread Peridot designed and Kat's Touchstone tarot. I will post the reading later today on my blog so I can include some scans of cards. :)
Chronata
23-09-2008, 13:35
That is so cool! I love when decks have a Happy Squirrel! The Touchstone may have to become my next purchase!
My Masquerade has one and so does the Complete All Hallows....
and man, that little bugger comes up a LOT!
It's still...oddly enough...a card connected to Real Estate in readings that I do...or for planning for a financial future.(which I am not so good at doing!)
Sphinxmoth
23-09-2008, 16:57
That is so cool! I love when decks have a Happy Squirrel! The Touchstone may have to become my next purchase!
My Masquerade has one and so does the Complete All Hallows....
and man, that little bugger comes up a LOT!
It's still...oddly enough...a card connected to Real Estate in readings that I do...or for planning for a financial future.(which I am not so good at doing!)
That's funny- an' sort of natural, I guess, squirrels squirrelling away things in their little caches the way they do. cool
ArwenNightstar
23-09-2008, 17:19
Ok posted that spread/reading on my blog. I really like where the Happy Squirrel showed up! You can access it by clicking on my website below. :)
M-Tarot-M
23-09-2008, 17:22
I admit I have not had the time to read through these posts but The Happy Squirrel card was intended as ironic humor. The idea is that the scary-at-first-sight Death card was nothing then when the apparent lightweight Happy Squirrel card appears it is too serious to go into. This is the typical commentary found throughout The Simpsons.
All this means is that none of the cards are what is made of them in film. There is no melodrama. There is a practical application behind every card.
Feretian
23-09-2008, 17:34
and man, that little bugger comes up a LOT!
It's still...oddly enough...a card connected to Real Estate in readings that I do...or for planning for a financial future.(which I am not so good at doing!)
blackstormhawk's interpretation explains both the real estate issue (destruction of property) and the financial devastation (the high-end fruit 'n seed mix at $30 a pound).....
The Happy Squirrel is happy because he has done happy and squirrelly things. He chewed a hole through your $50 squirrel proof bird feeder, and then gorged himself on $15 worth of high-end fruit and seed songbird mix. Then he went to your attic, and for dessert, chewed threw your cable line and impregnated three female squirrels who are busy working on chewing through your cable and electric lines as they await their litters.
That is why the happy squirrel (any squirrel) is happy and it is a card of ill omen.
retrokat
23-10-2008, 03:49
I've put up screenshots and a transcript of the Happy Squirrel scene at http://touchstonetarot.com
andraaaaa
04-11-2008, 06:24
I hope it's okay for me to bring this topic back up again haha :)
I don't think 'the happy squirrel' card is 'wrong'
The simpsons is a BIG part of pop culture and had affected many lives...therefore I believe that Matt Groening's creativity has some magic in it
I believe that great forms of modern art is filled with a spirituality that cannot be explained...making them magical and attracts everyone by their charm...for example: toons by walt disney, music of The Beatles (which can lead you to the other side if ur on acid I heard hahaha), etc
Even stuff today or recently have visionary powers...take a look at the harry potter books and the TV show HEROES...they tell us stories of special people among us, an evolution...2012 anyone? :) I can list dozens of video games and mangas that also 'felt' this turning of the world
So I do believe when the card was shown in that simpsons episode....'the happy squirrel' card had truly SPRUNG out from the void and into the world and came into being :D
and when I tried to make the card using my 'mandala semesta' method ...it all came out too naturally....but I haven't coloured it haha...just wait til it's uploaded here: card:http://andraaaaa.deviantart.com/gallery/#MANDALA-SEMESTA-tarot-deck
and here's what I learned from the card:
Upright:
-Freedom of expression
-random
-creativity
-random events coming your way
-confusion
-fun
-why so serious? :P
Reversed:
-confusion of a larger scale
-randomness of a larger scale
-No idea whatsoever
so everyone, I suggest you put in the happy squirrel in your decks and turn on the beatles as we watch the world turn...:)
well it's my opinion haha
zachlost
20-05-2009, 05:39
Online/Downloadable version of the Happy Squirrel for the Revelations Tarot available!
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1855736
Enjoy :)
retrokat
20-05-2009, 05:56
Love it Zach! Hopefully all decks will come with a Happy Squirrel in future :P
zachlost
20-05-2009, 08:06
Love it Zach! Hopefully all decks will come with a Happy Squirrel in future :P
Viva la revolution!
I'm curious whether anyone knows which decks come with the Happy Squirrel card... I know of two, International Icon and All Hallows.
I'm talking here about decks that come with this card out of the box, printed just like the other cards rather than a home pasteup version.
BTW I have been really digging my II - the Squirrel has come up a few times, always in a fitting way!
zan_chan
12-11-2009, 23:04
Hi Theora :-)
AT's Decks section actually has a Happy Squirrel subcategory with a few decks listed. It's here:
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/decks-with-a-happy-squirrel.shtml
Happy Squirreling!
!!!
thank you! I can't believe I didn't realize that!
ETA: (or, to quote the other fortune teller in the Simpsons Tree House of Horror XII) "why didn't I see this coming?!" (heh.)
Queen of Disks
13-11-2009, 01:50
The Happy Squirrel could also be a distraction (as well as confusion).
An example of this here (clip from the movie Up):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxoWHeoYU3g