Haindl Study Group - Daughter of Wands in the East

If you recall, the Mother of Wands is the terrifying Kali, so it surprises me somewhat to see the gentle, sweet Radha as the Daughter of Wands. I think of her poor husband, what he’s in for with his mother in law! And have you heard the saying that a man should see his bride’s mother as a glimpse into his own future? I think most men would look at Kali and run for their lives.

But we don’t pick our parents, do we? And anyway, I suspect we are to take Kali as the metaphoric parent of Radha. Rachel Pollack writes that the Mothers and Fathers in the four suits signify the tradition itself, while the Daughters and Sons bring the spiritual truths to the human level. They represent the personal expression of the cultural values. Ah! The “family” is a metaphor only.

From “The Haindl Tarot: Minor Arcana”:

Radha is the wife of Krishna, the most revered figure of Indian religion. They are the perfect couple, delighting in love, each othre’s bodies and minds. Haindl was delighted, in visiting India, to see them depicted in a sensual way, balancing male and female. They did not occupy distant poles but mixed together, moving in and out of each other. Both are strong, both gentle. Each is active, each is passive. They even change clothes and sexes in play. Sadly, Haindl noticed that this delightful equality did not reach down to the actual behavior of the people he met. The actual society placed women lower than men, despite their ideals.

While Radha and Krishna are divine incarnations of Lakshmi and Vishnu, they are also humans. To show this distinction from the “parent” wands, the image of Radha is taken from nineteenth century art, in contrast to the ancient source of Kali’s image. Radha wears a red dot on her forehead and a green ring, red and green stones above her forehead. They symbolize life: red, animal and green, vegetable.

Divinatory Meanings

This is one of the happiest cards in the deck. Her jewelry and cosmetics show the abundance of a highly developed culture. The stories of her playful love with Krishna show humor and humanity. She is gentle but not passive, calm but not weak. She is devoted to her partner without losing her sense of self.

I didn't want to mix my own thoughts in with Rachel's, so I am posting the continuation of my own musings on the card here. After typing up that description, even more than before I am stunned by the idea of Radha as Kali's daughter. What does it say of family dynamics, that a mother so active and powerful should have a daughter so sweet and preoccupied with play and pleasure? Seems like she's reacting pretty powerfully to her childhood!

Indulging myself in that train of thought leads me to a question for you, fellow readers. How do we think about the court cards? Some of us have been working through Rhiannon's Court Card Study Group, and there are exercises that ask us to treat the four as a family. I'm keen on this idea, obviously. But, assuming you find it interesting, what then? Do you lay out spreads large enough to get a few members of the same family? Do you assign specific cards to your own family? (I myself must plead guilty to calling mom the Queen of Swords.)

I suppose I am proposing that if I received Radha in a reading, I might wonder about a person's relationship to her mother. Whether someone was being extra-nice, or extra-materialistic, or clinging excessively to her husband, as an escape from a powerful force of nature of a mom. I don't think Haindl intended this line of thought, but it appeals to me. Anyone?

a daughter so sweet and preoccupied with play and pleasure

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if I received Radha in a reading, I might wonder about a person's relationship to her mother. Whether someone was being extra-nice, or extra-materialistic, or clinging excessively to her husband

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The extreme of the first statement might imply Radha is sugary and ditsy, and the second, that she's superficial in behavior and her approach to life, and weak. But Pollack says:

She is gentle but not passive, calm but not weak. She is devoted to her partner without losing her sense of self.

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Sounds to me like she has Kali's strong core but without her cruelty and rage. Radha has looked at her mother and said "I choose to express my grounded spiritual strength in other ways--in love that's got some humor, kindness, and no need for noise to be heard."

Daughters who are aware of their mothers' flaws are not condemned to follow the same path. I see Radha as the daughter who has looked at her mother's example and manifested that power in a way that creates instead of destroys.

First thoughts, more later.

Imagemaker said:

Sounds to me like she has Kali's strong core but without her cruelty and rage. Radha has looked at her mother and said "I choose to express my grounded spiritual strength in other ways--in love that's got some humor, kindness, and no need for noise to be heard."

Daughters who are aware of their mothers' flaws are not condemned to follow the same path. I see Radha as the daughter who has looked at her mother's example and manifested that power in a way that creates instead of destroys.

Click to expand...

Radha is also the eternally young woman in love.

I talked with a woman once who said she didn't understand Kali until she was giving birth, when that primal energy came up for her, the strength needed to bring life into the world. So Raha has Kali's strength, to create and destroy, within her. She can call upon it if she needs to.

I like the idea of her being so grounded in that strength that she can express it in different ways.

Also, the way Haindl is doing these cards -- with the Mother as the huge, primal mythic force, the Great Mother Goddess, and the Daughter card as a more human manifestation, Radha makes sense. Kali is just not human, and is therefore terrifying, and even more so when we see her reflection in our own human mothers. Radha is oh, so human. Yet she has the strength of her mother should she need it.

I've always thought of my first encounter with Kali as being in the nursery rhyme:

There was a little girl
who had a little curl
right in the middle of her forehead
And when she was good
she was very very good
and when she was bad
she was horrid.

Delicious, transgressive, and slightly terrifying to have all that power!