Mi-Shell
I like to think that this card depicts the last of 4 parts of an initiation sequence, that began with the Hermit,
http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=2992307&postcount=2
continued with the Hanged Man, the begin of the ritual of initiation,
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=2992203#post2992203
then goes on to the Star
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=2992284#post2992284
and is now culminating in the Death card = re-birth after having encountered the Goddess sand completed her initiation.
The scene we encounter here is a re-birth in the truest sens of the word!
After being bound and blindfolded and led through the Path of death to the ego, darkness of the Soul and victory over fear our seeker now has reached her re-birth as a full fledged initiate into the coven.
Her bindings - attachment to the old have already been cut of, now her blindfold is lifted and from her hand flutters the Monarch Butterfly as a symbol of transformation as she enters the circle of light formed by her coven members.
Now she will be given her coven name.
May there be a celebration.
May there be a feast!
May there be song and dance and the telling of the old stories of the God and the Goddess!
For those of you wanting to learn more, here are the words of Wicca High Priestess lady Shyra Spencer:
Initiation is filled with both obvious and subtle symbolism, each according to the degree being initiated. Death and rebirth is the theme of all initiations, and the movements within the initiation reflect this. To those not of this path, an Initiation ritual can look like an exercise in theater at best, and sheer bondage and domination at worst. But each element of the ritual reflects a specific symbol that is recognize as an imperative.
For example, some covens do Initiations skyclad. Other groups are robed, but all jewelry, makeup, and anything extraneous to the individual is forbidden to the Initiate. This symbolizes the Initiate has come to an inner understanding of the phrase "perfect love and perfect trust," for at this point, he is open, vulnerable, and completely at the mercy of those within the Circle. He has looked within and faced the shadow self, recognizing both its merit and demerit, and now trusts those with him now to see and appreciate him for both what he is and what he is not.
Binding an initiate is symbolic of our spiritual and physical state prior to Initiation. It represents the limitations and restrictions the individual placed upon himself prior to this moment, and is a graphic representation to the Initiate that he has, to now, been bound to this mundane world of materialism and egocentricity.
In accepting the blindfold, the Initiate recognizes that he has lived his life to now in darkness; never seeing the true self, the vital integration of shadow and light; never fully recognizing the Lady's light that surrounds and is within everything. It is an acknowledgement of the danger of seeking in the Mundane world; the peril coming in the guise of artifices to which the Seeker may have been blind.
And thus, standing at the outer edge of the Circle both blindfolded and bound, the Initiate is suspended between two worlds, a part of neither and yet, of both; awaiting freedom, yet fearing release from his bonds. He is challenged and, if successful, is granted entrance into the Circle.
The elements of the ritual which occur within the Circle are symbolic of our belief in birth, death, and rebirth. Being giving admittance to the Circle, the initiate is as a newly born child. He sees, but it is his own self he sees through the darkness; he hears, but in muffled and sometimes unintelligible tones. As the ritual progresses, he sees deeper within himself, and hears more strongly the voice of the Lady through Her Representative. Eventually, he symbolically dies and is then reborn; the cords and darkness that once bound him now cast off.
Thus, the Initiation ceremony is a window on our view of life; reflective of our strong belief in the influence of the Wheel of the Year upon our lives, and a catalyst to the re-linking with the Divine in all things. It is a rite of passage that transforms each person in different ways, and forces them to grow beyond their current karma. It is the Initiate's pledge of a deep and personal commitment to the Lady and Her Lord, and is a gift of love and power from Them. Words pale, for it is an experience which must be felt; verbal language alone can never convey the regenerative depths to which the Initiate has traveled, the warmth and love with which the Lady has wrapped him, nor the intense joy he feels upon being accepted into the "family" by his coven-mates. He has accepted the challenge that life will never be exactly the same after taking this most important step.
Lady Shyra, 1999
http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=2992307&postcount=2
continued with the Hanged Man, the begin of the ritual of initiation,
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=2992203#post2992203
then goes on to the Star
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=2992284#post2992284
and is now culminating in the Death card = re-birth after having encountered the Goddess sand completed her initiation.
The scene we encounter here is a re-birth in the truest sens of the word!
After being bound and blindfolded and led through the Path of death to the ego, darkness of the Soul and victory over fear our seeker now has reached her re-birth as a full fledged initiate into the coven.
Her bindings - attachment to the old have already been cut of, now her blindfold is lifted and from her hand flutters the Monarch Butterfly as a symbol of transformation as she enters the circle of light formed by her coven members.
Now she will be given her coven name.
May there be a celebration.
May there be a feast!
May there be song and dance and the telling of the old stories of the God and the Goddess!
For those of you wanting to learn more, here are the words of Wicca High Priestess lady Shyra Spencer:
Initiation is filled with both obvious and subtle symbolism, each according to the degree being initiated. Death and rebirth is the theme of all initiations, and the movements within the initiation reflect this. To those not of this path, an Initiation ritual can look like an exercise in theater at best, and sheer bondage and domination at worst. But each element of the ritual reflects a specific symbol that is recognize as an imperative.
For example, some covens do Initiations skyclad. Other groups are robed, but all jewelry, makeup, and anything extraneous to the individual is forbidden to the Initiate. This symbolizes the Initiate has come to an inner understanding of the phrase "perfect love and perfect trust," for at this point, he is open, vulnerable, and completely at the mercy of those within the Circle. He has looked within and faced the shadow self, recognizing both its merit and demerit, and now trusts those with him now to see and appreciate him for both what he is and what he is not.
Binding an initiate is symbolic of our spiritual and physical state prior to Initiation. It represents the limitations and restrictions the individual placed upon himself prior to this moment, and is a graphic representation to the Initiate that he has, to now, been bound to this mundane world of materialism and egocentricity.
In accepting the blindfold, the Initiate recognizes that he has lived his life to now in darkness; never seeing the true self, the vital integration of shadow and light; never fully recognizing the Lady's light that surrounds and is within everything. It is an acknowledgement of the danger of seeking in the Mundane world; the peril coming in the guise of artifices to which the Seeker may have been blind.
And thus, standing at the outer edge of the Circle both blindfolded and bound, the Initiate is suspended between two worlds, a part of neither and yet, of both; awaiting freedom, yet fearing release from his bonds. He is challenged and, if successful, is granted entrance into the Circle.
The elements of the ritual which occur within the Circle are symbolic of our belief in birth, death, and rebirth. Being giving admittance to the Circle, the initiate is as a newly born child. He sees, but it is his own self he sees through the darkness; he hears, but in muffled and sometimes unintelligible tones. As the ritual progresses, he sees deeper within himself, and hears more strongly the voice of the Lady through Her Representative. Eventually, he symbolically dies and is then reborn; the cords and darkness that once bound him now cast off.
Thus, the Initiation ceremony is a window on our view of life; reflective of our strong belief in the influence of the Wheel of the Year upon our lives, and a catalyst to the re-linking with the Divine in all things. It is a rite of passage that transforms each person in different ways, and forces them to grow beyond their current karma. It is the Initiate's pledge of a deep and personal commitment to the Lady and Her Lord, and is a gift of love and power from Them. Words pale, for it is an experience which must be felt; verbal language alone can never convey the regenerative depths to which the Initiate has traveled, the warmth and love with which the Lady has wrapped him, nor the intense joy he feels upon being accepted into the "family" by his coven-mates. He has accepted the challenge that life will never be exactly the same after taking this most important step.
Lady Shyra, 1999
