Ironwing: Ore of Blades

Mi-Shell

Ore of Blades
Ok; I admit it : I have trouble with this one!
Some of the things on this card puzzle me.
Some of them somehow loooook like antique light fixtures....
I think, I just can not see the dimensions Loreena had in mind here.
HEEEEEELP!!!!!


And so I fall back onto the Hawk skull.
Poor Shetan Lutha! what happened to you??
To me Shetan Lutha, the Red Tailed Hawk will always be associated with the East - and also the mental realm. Discernment is on of Hawk’s Powers.
But why a Hawk’s skull and not the magnificent bird itself = alive and well??
And earthstar puffballs !???
When poked, they explode and smell sort of .... musty... And when you get the spores into your eyes, it stings .....
Not a nice experience.....
Limonite and Yellow Ochre I love.
We mix these earth-pigments, as well as Burnt Siena, Raw Siena and many others in resin and then pour the mixture into cloisonné in our handmade jewellery.
To many indigenous peoples Yellow Ochre is just as sacred as Red Ochre....
Used as body paint in rituals of initiation and mixed with animal fats used as paint for pictographs all over the world.

All in all, when I look at this card I am reminded of a “Black Hand” teaching, a hard lesson learned in not very nice circumstances....
A harsh truth that flew into your/ my face and stings....
A sad lesson, exposed of beauty = skull..
Where are Hawk’s magnificent feathers, that make my mind fly?
On the card the strange blade literally chops the bain in two.
But the ecstasy of a peak experience, a blessed insight, can only happen when both brain-halves synchronize their rhythm into ONE! Then you are befallen by sudden profound insights that lighten up your understanding....
That would be more like the feeling when your/ my head is “split open wide “ by an incoming truth or insight.

?? :( ??
What do you guys see???
 

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Satori

Geastrum fimbriatum

myriostoma coliforme

Astraeus hygrometricus

Well these are the species that the deck creator references in the text. I thought I'd put them up before I turn in for the night. Very interesting species. Because the spores are released into the air I can see why she chose the fungi as swords. I'm also reminded of Chinese Medicine tho, because it is said that the ancient Chinese masters were able to actually "see" into the body. They were able to see "mists" rising off of the organs, so that when certain things were ingested into the body these mists would rise from some organs and be absorbed into others. Not sure if this works here in this discussion, but it sprang to mind.
 

Satori

Stream of conscious ramblings....or...I'm tired, but here is an idea!

I think that the thing that speaks to me most about this one right now is the mist spurting out of the top of the figure. The base almost looks like some brain tissue, the very bottom that holds the "chopper". There seems to be a very active, thrusting principal that is occuring in the image. Almost male, but the deck is touted as being female, but this seems to be more of the outward pushing principle.

I'm sort of put in mind of inhaling the mist and having some kind of mind altering experience. Such that this almost hinting at some kind of hallucinogen? Remembering that there is a shamanic bent at play here, could there be some kind of spore that when inhaled causes a mental reaction?

Also, as this is a cutting tool, that offers the gift of the heart of a split stone...we have the stone or ore making some kind of conscious decision to be sacrificed into the smelting pot. I am reaching here...

So that, as the different spores are opened, the stone is opened, the thrusting principle of destruction and creation become somehow linked and the insight is created. So, creative thought and awareness being birthed due to the destruction or semi-conscious act of sacrifice...
 

Mi-Shell

Wow!!!
Satori!
That gives me something to think about!!!
Thanks!
In Siberia - and elswhere - shamans used a decoction of Fly Agaric to induce halucinations / visions. I will ruminate in my old Russian texts, and look for other fungi, that may have been used and what they look like......
 

Debra

Well, last night I spent about five hours reading the whole book and looking at all the cards. I don't know the proper place to say this, but...I think that only the majors really "make sense" as tarot. The minors and the spirit guide cards seem too personal and ideosyncratic to me. Yes they are mystical and wonderful, nature and magic and science and craft all together--but they are so much HERS. Without the LWB I am lost and that's a bad sign I'm afraid. Is this the right place to post this, in the "Ore of Blades"--the big cutting blade?
 

Satori

I think you are right Debra. It is personal. I mean, what do I know about smithing??? I have seen a forge at a historical village, but I'm not a smith. The deck feels very foreign to me, but it does have appeal.
 

Debra

The other thing is this: she's a naturalist and scientific illustrator. I suspect that many of the creatures and plants she's integrating into the deck are images she's been working on or studying for other purposes--perhaps as part of her job--and become taken with the beauty and strangeness of those things. Well who can blame her. But it adds to the oddness of it all--the blacksmithing, the bits and pieces (but only that) of references to shamanic experiences from other cultures, then bunches of stuff on particular crystals and plants. She doesn't really have a "number" theory going there and she's not really all that consistent with the four elements/four aspects of existence stuff, either. I need some time to think about this more, but I think to untangle this deck it won't really work to read what she says and look at the cards and think "what do I see" and then do a little outside reading. Obviously Mi-Shell is relating to some of the images based on her own trance experiences...but I don't want to go into a trance to read the cards! Or maybe they're not for reading....
 

fairybugg

Ore of Blades

I love this card. I don't really feel that confused by it.
As a child I loved and collect Geodes. While this is not that it is similar. This to me says there is something hidden in this card some truth that we are not aware of until will use the wisdom of the blade to cut it open.
The Hawk skull is very powerful for me. I have some pictures that I took a few years ago of bird skulls. They creep out many people but I find them beautiful. For me, I guess I can't really live life to the fullest and trust my own wisdom until I have become comfortable with death.
Personally, I find the skull just as beautiful as the live bird. Same bird just different form.
 

Surja76

Astraeus hygrometricus - it is mention to Greek Goddess Astreya.
Astreya was a daughter of Zeus and Femida and was sent to earth by the gods to the people to help them to live in peace and harmony.
Her mother gave her a scale in order Astraea was able to make decisions, always carefully weighed all the circumstances.

If to look at this picture we can see scale and two cutted spheres looks like bouls of this scale. It is Vigro, astrological sign belongd to the Element of Air.

Two spheres remined me two pieces of our Earth from one side, sharply cutted through magma.
This is one of the goals element of air, bright and instantly thought process that allows you to get into, delve into the essence of the problem, or an important issue, to "spread out everything on shelves", the card says about human insight. This card symbolizes the possibility that human can open in himself and develop.

This is logical and acute insight of our mind.
Two spheres just remind me of two halves of the brain. Left and right hemisphere of the brain, we can see the winding line of the cortex of the brain. This card shows the intellectual and spiritual progress.
Ace of Swords corresponds to the Higher Mind, the strength of knowledge, which leads to clarity, consistency and ability to make decisions.
In contrast to the next card Two Swords, symbolizing the destructive force of a doubt, this work of the mind is carried out in the most pure, bright and liberating form. It is sharpness of our mind.
All the wit, which we have, it is necessary to extend insight into the problem, without losing sight of the overall picture, not burying the problem in a dispute and not waving from it hidding behind of insignificancy.

Also these parts of sphere are look like shell of the Greek nut. In order to reach its tasty core, we need to place some force. It is difficult to break the nut. The same to Ace of swords, the card of difficult victory. It means that human, through force of will decisively overcome the obstacles in his path and he is entering a new period in life, which would bring him well-deserved reward.

Skull of bird with sharp deak means its ability to enter deep coners of the wood in order to find flies. Or hunting for smaller animals and crash their bonds.
Their skulls are made the way in order to protect their brans and brain bonds when they strike solid surfaces. The have amortization bonds that prevent their brain from hurtting.
It means that we can finght with our mind not to be afraid to hurt it.

The only thing is not clear for me that this bird skull is look like Goat shape.
May be it is mention of mascular agressive position of mind or just a moment of the sacrafice of something for better purposes.