Crystal Blue
I am curious, what did you make of that same card coming up over and over, besides it making you realize that it's not random? Do you think it was a specific message, or perhaps a specific entity making itself known to you?
The reason I ask is because this same thing happened to me when I got my Druid Animal Oracle about 4 years ago. I was new to reading and very skeptical as to whether it was just a bunch of nonsense. I kept drawing the same card over and over and it just about made me crazy, because it wasn't a very 'exciting' card to me, I didn't even care for the image, and I couldn't make a lot of sense of the meaning. Still wrongly trying to approach something intuitive from a scientific standpoint, I even made a spreadsheet for my daily draws and that Sow card was coming up 34% of the time at one point.
Once I realized there was no way this was random, I got a bit spooked, and then for a while was worried there was some urgent message I wasn't understanding. The card is all about 'generosity, nourishment, and discovery', abundance and fertility, and the reversed meaning in the book tells you to reconsider your self image, it seems to be directed at being shallow and vain which is so NOT me (I later came to think that for me this translates to not jumping to conclusions and judging situations without all the facts). For months it just about drove me insane trying to puzzle it out...
I started researching Sow/Pig meanings in Celtic and other mythology. I learned about Cerridwen and other associations. And eventually, I exhausted myself and stopped trying to bulldoze my way to an answer... and when I did, something happened.
I started welcoming the sow when I turned over the card and saw her yet again. She became a personality to me, and I guess all that research in my mind formed her into this Great Mother entity for me. She sort of became 'grandmother sow' who would pop up when I needed comfort or propping up, or reversed when I needed to be reminded not to be harshly judgmental. There was this strong feeling of motherly comfort that came to be associated with that card.
When I decided that I really wanted to learn Tarot, and put my Druid Animal Oracle deck on the back burner for a while, I kind of missed seeing her all the time, until I realized one day that she was The Empress in that deck. Then, the other day when I was working with my new Wildwood Tarot, I started specifically thinking of her as I was shuffling, wondering if she'd be able to come through the Green Woman on the new deck. I was disappointed when I pulled my three cards and she wasn't there, but I did get a really insightful answer to a problem in my life that I wasn't really asking about, but was weighing on my mind. As I was about to put the cards away, I cut the deck on impulse and turned the top card over. Green Woman.
Do you think that specific intelligences make themselves known and form relationships to you through cards? There's still the hardheaded scientific side of me that whispers this is all in my head, fighting my intuition every step of the way, but my intuition says there is 'someone' there and that's a wonderful, but kind of unnerving, thought.
Oh, I know exactly what you mean, Wolfspider. The Emperor shows up so much for me that I now say hello! When I shuffle, I tend to cut the deck and turn it so that I see the card on the bottom of the stack in my right hand. He's there so often when I shuffle - every day and every time - or he'll jump out, or make sure I see him. It used to flip me out a little - it was very obvious he was showing up MUCH more often than any other card, ever - but I'm now quite used to it and enjoy seeing him there.
He doesn't show up in readings overly often - although I did a spread about messages from your Spirit Guide, and boom - there he was. He definitely feels like a guide to me - and I relate to him that way. He reminds me to make real what I'm seeing or wanting to create - prods me almost. I use the Shadowscapes deck, and he's almost a bit of a Green man figure - not as old or as stern as the Emperor in my RWS deck - quite handsome actually! But when I got the Gilded deck, I went to look through the cards, and that Emperor looks like Caesar to me, and immediately I "felt" my "friend" the Emperor make a face - like he'd eaten something that tasted awful. Made me laugh. He definitely decided he wanted to be one of the Kings in that deck - they kept showing up over and over and over as I'd shuffle - it was really funny - I found myself talking to the cards and asking where the Emperor was - and he showed up next cut - as if to say, fine, fine - then went right back to the Kings. For me, it's very comforting that he's there - he keeps me very grounded and personally, I'm glad he sticks around!
I can imagine your rational mind would want to find a way to explain away the connection you feel to the guide/spirit/energy coming through in the cards - but you might want to ask yourself why you'd want to. Sounds like a lovely connection to me - one that comforts you and brings you a sense of peacefulness. Not such a bad thing to have around you, eh?
