Tarot Shadow Work: Support Lounge

Hi all, I thought I'd start a thread for support- get yourself a mug of tea or cocoa, grab a spot on one of the couches, and I'll start up a fire in the fireplace.

Come here whenever you need some support. Shadow work can bring up things in dreams, or in relationships, or in insights that bring us to our knees. This is where you can come to get a hug and support, and maybe some advice too.

Thank you for starting the thread, autumnsdaughter
I think most of us will need it at some point of time
I had AHA! moment the other day with RWS...
I was reading the wikipedia entry on RWS and enlarged the Hermit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RWS-09-Hermit.jpg

Call me ignorant, but i haven't noticed before that in the Hermit's lamp is Star of David... I looked at the RWS deck i have later on - it's not so obvious as there are rays of light emanating from the lamp... but it could be seen.
I know that it probably sounds straightaway ridiculous, but i really haven't noticed it before and i've been readind with the deck for ten years
The things is that the Hermit is my Soul Card, i am drawn to Judaism, i live by Jewish calendar. Well, trust me, as silly as it may sound to some, to me the other day's discovery was a real revelation

edited for typos

moderndayruth said:

Thank you for starting the thread, autumnsdaughter
I think most of us will need it at some point of time
I had AHA! moment the other day with RWS...
I was reading the wikipedia entry on RWS and enlarged the Hermit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:RWS-09-Hermit.jpg

Call me ignorant, but i haven't noticed before that in the Hermit's lamp is Star of David... I looked at the RWS deck i have later on - it's not so obvious as there are rays of light emanating from the lamp... but it could be seen.
I know that it probably sounds straightaway ridiculous, but i really haven't noticed it before and i've been readind with the deck for ten years
The things is that the Hermit is my Soul Card and i am drawn to Judaism ... live by Jewish calendar and celebrate the holidays... for some four years now. Well, trust me, as silly as it may sound to some, to me the other day's discovery was a real revelation

edited for typos

Click to expand...

Don't feel bad I've had the RWS for 30yrs and still find new things... Pixie was good at putting easter eggs in her cards...

mac22

mac22 said:

Don't feel bad I've had the RWS for 30yrs and still find new things... Pixie was good at putting easter eggs in her cards...

mac22

Click to expand...

Thank you mac22 There was a thread a while ago something like 'things i haven't noticed after readng with RWS for... (insert long period of time)' - there was quite big list of amazing details people discovered, Pixie indeed hid a lot of easter eggs
Love&Light
mdr

moderndayruth said:

Thank you mac22 There was a thread a while ago something like 'things i haven't noticed after readng with RWS for... (insert long period of time)' - there was quite big list of amazing details people discovered, Pixie indeed hid a lot of easter eggs
Love&Light
mdr

Click to expand...

...And Easter is almost here again.....

Mac22

I can perfectly see why the star in the Hermit's lantern speaks to you, moderndayruth, but it is not really a Star of David. The Star of David is a Hexagram; in the lantern is a six pointed star.
This can be a Star of David to those who feel it is one; to me, eg. it is the soul of the Hermit, and a merging of Fire, Water, Earth and Air.

Not to claim you're wrong, which you are not; just to point out that symbols in the cards have many layers and shades.

I just wanted to put up my emotional experience of the shadow work after a month or so of working with it.

Firstly, it took me about 2 weeks from doing the first reading of the star of discovery to actually not feel like i'm 'drowned' in the shadow. I did my star of discovery and later that night I went out. And every time i spoke or did something I just felt like I was living my shadow, that everything I was doing was part of it... so I was down for a week just from that experience of realising how much our shadow and our light come out to play all the time.

But then 3 weeks after that I felt the need to move on and do the star of recovery with my Anxiety card (the Chariot) and I felt sooo much better. I wasn't stuck in the shadow but I was starting to make small movements forward. Fear is something that really cripples me and i'm learning to be aware of that.

So yeah, I guess I had what is called a 'healing crisis' for a couple of weeks, where you feel like rubbish before you get better. Now I feel much more positive and observing and working with the shadow, rather than the first OMG i'm so useless and evil that i got after the first spread.

Just wanted to share

Vetch said:

I can perfectly see why the star in the Hermit's lantern speaks to you, moderndayruth, but it is not really a Star of David.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is!
lol, on a more serious note, i see the Hexagram as the symbol of unity between the spirit and the matter, of activ and passive, their dynamics as well as symbol of evolution and involution. And the symbol of Judaism as well
In the deck i have, it's not clear is it Star of David or not, but at the wikipedia's Hermit it pretty much looked as one to me... Again, it's not so important for me whether it's really there or not - just the thought, the possible connection and the fact that i haven't noticed it before...

Vetch said:

The Star of David is a Hexagram; in the lantern is a six pointed star.
This can be a Star of David to those who feel it is one; to me, eg. it is the soul of the Hermit, and a merging of Fire, Water, Earth and Air.

Not to claim you're wrong, which you are not; just to point out that symbols in the cards have many layers and shades.

Click to expand...

I can't agree more with you on that one RWS symbology is amazing, isn't it? I think that the most extraordinary quality of this deck, which is of Pixie's artwork, is that a seeker can find, as you say, 'many layers and shades', it is multilayered to the point beyond my comprehension...

I've also noticed that doing the Star of Discovery can be really brutal... for me, it has felt like being super sensitive, and really vulnerable. Like, if I go out grocery shopping, I feel strange- like everyone is looking at me, or like I don't know how to behave in public.

Yesterday (first day after doing the Star of Discovery) I was talking with my dad, and he got all mad- about something totally unrelated to me- but when he gets mad, he has temper tantrums, great big blow ups, and I felt so "injured" - like I was too sensitive to be around that kind of anger. Normally I can sort of turn off and tune out, but I couldn't this time.

Also, I've been having a lot of weird dreams... not exactly scary, but really disconcerting. I can't really remember them clearly, just that the feeling I have in them is this out of place, bizarre, sinister atmosphere.

I guess I don't really feel like I've hit bottom yet. I feel like I'm still in the shallows, but I am a little nervous to go deeper. Does anyone have any ideas of how to go deeper?

What a nice idea to have a support lounge!

I'm partway through the book but now I'm stuck in the chapter asking me to make a dream log. I'm having a hard time remembering my dreams.

Maybe I need to keep a notebook by my bed.

M_M~