lit clue: 3rd Oct,. 2004

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 03 Oct 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

kwaw	03 Oct 2004
From "The Source II" by James Michener:- QUOTE They camped that first night on the edge of the swamp that filled the middle areas between Ma Coeur and Nazareth, and in the morning the guards wakened the sleepers with the cry, "The storks are rising!" The pilgrims rushed to view one of the memorable sights of Galilee: five storks from a large flock that had been resting near the swamp during their migration North had found a current of hot air rising from the land, and these five had already entered it and were being carried speedily aloft without using their wings at all. Their huge black bodies were canted upward and their white wings were extended motionless to their fullest extent, so that the rising air swept them aloft in wide spirals. Their pink bills were thrust straight forward and their long reddish legs trailed after them like rudders. Those storks remaining on the ground understood from the manner in which their fellows soared into the air that an upward current had been found, and with awkward, lumbering jumps they loped across the meadows and projected themselves, wings outspread, into the column of rising air, allowing it to loft them far into the sky toward those highest currents along which they would migrate to Europe. When Volkmar and his son hurried into the morning sunlight they could see a mysterious pillar of more than a hundred storks, apparently motionless yet rising upward, one above the other, until the topmost ones were lost in the sky, and Volkmar quoted from Jeremiah, who had once watched these birds rising over Galilee: "Yea, the Stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times.'" END QUOTE Kwaw

OakDragon	03 Oct 2004
Interesting quote! Hmmmm.... this one is going out a limb: The High Priestess?

kryztyna	03 Oct 2004
The Magician - at one with the cycle of life?

blackroseivy	03 Oct 2004
The World - the cycle of life itself...?

kwaw	04 Oct 2004
Cards so far: High Priestess Magician World Each, upon reflection, I feel probably more apt than the card I have chosen! The 'World' incorporates many aspects and themes of the scene and is so apt I am almost tempted to pretend it was the card I had in mind all along [but i won't]: the unification of above and below, the cycle of nature itself, the tetramorph as symbols of the seasons ['appointed times'], the elements [swampy land, heat, air] and the four winds [upon which the birds migrate], the central figures scarf/serpent suggestive of a spiraling force [upon which the birds rise], her wand a symbol of the force of life, virility and fertility [as the stork is a symbol of the virility of life, fertility and birth]. This aspect of her symbolism is shared with The Magician and the idea of being one with the forces of life and nature, which is perhaps closest to the card I have chosen. Kwaw

telcontar	04 Oct 2004
Maybe the Empress, signifying nature itself?

kwaw	04 Oct 2004
Empress is one of the cards I considered, but not the one I chose. cards so far: High Priestess Magician World Empress Kwaw

telcontar	04 Oct 2004
As the turning of seasons seems a strong aspect of the quote to me, it might be the Wheel of Fortune, too!? :)

Eco74	04 Oct 2004
How about the Ace of Wands? Action, rising, beginning, taking advantage of a natural energetic force to start a long journey...

kwaw	04 Oct 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Eco74 How about the Ace of Wands? Action, rising, beginning, taking advantage of a natural energetic force to start a long journey... Ta da! For all the reasons you give plus the image of a pillar of a 100+ birds seemed to me to combine me both singularity and multiplicity and thus symbolic of generative, creative power [and storks too are symbolic of birth]. Wands also I associate with the lights [sun, moon] representing agriculture and husbandry, the cylcle of the year and thus 'appointed times'. Over to you Eco74.....well done. Kwaw

Eco74	04 Oct 2004
Woohoo! :D Off to the library I go. *dancing and skipping* :)

The lit clue: 3rd Oct,. 2004 thread was originally posted on 03 Oct 2004 in the Tarot Games & Fun board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Games & Fun, or read more archived threads.