Animals Divine - XXI THE WORLD - GAIA

divinegoddess

Image of the card

First Impression: Such a vibrant and beautiful presence in this card.

Gender: Feminine

Symbols*: Recognizing and embracing all living things as an important part of universal balance is a reflection of truly becoming in tune with one’s being. The snake represents rebirth, renewal, and intuition. The spirals are symbolic of the creative life force. Its eternal rotation echoes the eternal cycle of the seasons, life, death, and rebirth. Leaves are indicative of the universal life pattern: we rejoice in the budding and mourn their fall from the cosmic tree. The ivy creeping up the tree is symbolic of immortality, as is the butterfly, whose metamorphosis shows us how life is ever-evolving. The tree is feminine and acts as a connection between the underworld and the aboveworld. Ferns represent solitude. Flowers are graceful and beautiful. The menagerie of animals represents many kinds of attributes, personalities, and states of being. By appreciating all the incarnations of our being – the dark, the light, the beautiful, and the ugly – we have arrived at a place of great inner peace and wisdom.

Description*: The great primordial deity of the ancient Greeks was the earth mother, Gaia. Before the creation of the universe as we know it, Gaia, “the deep-breasted one”, existed as energy in a limitless pool of unidentifiable chaos. As she drew her initial breath, the chaos around her began to coalesce into mountains, ocean and sky. The sky, called Uranus, became her lover. The two clung to one another with unmitigated passion. So intense was their love affair that nothing could flourish between earth and sky. Their union impregnated Gaia with all manner of life, including the Titans but her children were unable to be born. The teeming life could not emerge from a womb cloaked by the smothering darkness of their father.

Gaia grew impatient and angry at her husband’s possessive nature and wanted her children to be born. In frustration, she fashioned a sickle and gave it to her youngest son, Cronus. With this instrument he castrated his father, thus enabling earth to separate from sky. The blood from Uranus’s wound flowed down and fertilized the earth with hideous creatures and monstrous forms. With the birth of their children – the Titans, monsters, and all living things – time commenced and the life and death cycle were set into motion. Gaia’s children are many and comprise the beginnings of the Greek pantheon.

Elemental Reference: Earth, Air, Fire

Numerology Reference: (2+1=3) 3 - Time, Creativity, Versatility, Development, Abundance, Triad, Initial Achievement of Goals, Growth

Keywords: A State of Wholeness, Self-Awareness, Oneness With All Living Things

Possible Meanings: This is the archetype of the fully realized slef. Wholeness, integration, and individuation are completed. It represents the end of a cycle of endless journeys. Now we are free to dig deeper into our psyches and traverse new waters of self-discovery. Like Gaia, who represents the anima mundi or the center of the world, we can now experience a oneness with our own beings and with the universe.

Senses: Everything that I have experienced throughout my journey, everyone that I have come across, every sense I have used – she flashes it all right before my eyes. She has seen it all. Without me knowing it, she has constantly been there with me, observing me. She is very loving. She represents the more modern version of Mother Earth. This cycle has now come to an end, and I must continue with something new. The three white birds I see, are guiding me to my next crossroads. Only I know where to go next, the decision is mine.

Thoughts/Points to Ponder: She is the circle of life, she sees and knows it all. She is there for anyone who asks for her help, otherwise she will stay in the background. She can be in many places at once. She is a gentle reminder of the lessons we have learned throughout our paths. Always keep them with you, and think of them with love – never regretting anything.