DaisyDragonfly
...the power in fairytales lies in [their] self-determined acts of transformation. Terry Windling, Cinderella: Ashes, Blood and the Slipper of Glass.
Good old Fairy Godmother! In this card, she's standing proud amongst a patch of plump orange pumpkins and winding green vines, two small rats scuttling around her feet. She's dressed in orange and green, too, colours of joy and fertility. From her belt swings a star-studded bag; a ribbon of gold light flies free from it, swirling all around her. Behind the Fairy Godmother is Cinderella - an altogether more washed out sort of a female - and, in the distance is a fairytale castle. Bridging the space between the castle and the pumpkin patch are four white doves.
Forget starry-eyed dreams of princes and courtiers and fancy balls. Cinderella needs to readjust her focus and take a good look at the woman in front of her, 'cos right in front of her is the epitome of a certain kind of person. A fabulous kind of woman.
Those rats scampering around her feet aren't vermin: they're a symbol of all that is resourceful, cunning, crafty, productive and intelligent. They're little four-footed versions of the Fairy Godmother herself. This is the kind of woman who can do anything, make anything, solve anything. Need a new dress? Last year's curtains with an iron-burn on them will provide, and leave enough for a few shirts and tea towels beside. Good crop of blackberries? Then there'll be jam and pie and bottled fruit and cordial to enjoy for the foreseeable future; there'll be blackberry tea to brew besides, and you can bet this woman knows precisely which illnesses and hurts a hot cup of blackberry tea is best for.
Nothing wasted, nothing wanted. 'Make do and mend!' this woman would holler, marshaling her domestic army. Because this is the card of female resourcefulness. This is the card of those generations of women who have kept the household surviving whilst the menfolk went out. Not just surviving, thriving.
So far this isn't sounding very, well, magical. And shouldn't a card about Fairy Godmothers be that?
But what's more magic than the magic of domestic transformation? Forget all that hoity-toity alchemy stuff, with its weird symbols and instruments. If you want real magic, go see a baker. And nobody can keep themselves - and a family - alive on spells and sparkles, or ideas. You need something solid and concrete at the end of the day, for all that hard work, or you're a fool.
She doesn't mince words, this Fairy Godmother.
Yes, this is a magical card; it is a card of transformation. This speaks to our ability to bring change into our life. It also speaks to our ability to materialize - to take a project from idea to plan to production. This is a practical and earthy card - I have to admit, I can't help but think that if we could look close enough, we'd see the soil underneath the Godmother's nails. Stuff doesn't just appear, even if it can sometimes seem that way.
But this is all sounding very serious and solemn, and if there's one thing this card isn't, it's that! This is a jolly card, a jolly archetype, of laughter and friendship and sharing. The power of the Fairy Godmother isn't there for its own sake or to be hoarded. This is power gained to be shared, to be used for the good of the family and the community, not the individual. The Fairy Godmother isn't impressed by the trappings of earthly accomplishments.
Of course not. She's internalized the lessons of the Sorceress; she has no illusions. Life is for the living, says the Fairy Godmother; it'll bring it's own pains and griefs. Why go looking for them? Plant the seeds of the future by doing the work of today; but when the work is done, make sure you take a moment and enjoy the act of living itself. Breathe deep, smell the roses - you should, you tended them! Enjoy good food, good friends, good anything. Treat yourself to something you like. Just enjoy! Food tastes better when it's seasoned by contentment and you don't get that by just slaving away.
In fact, this card reeks of the spirit of Nanny Ogg. She's a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and she's a witch and an occasional fairy godmother. Wise, powerful and cunning to boot, but not overly burdened by any of it, she'd prefer an evening spent by the fire, bossing around her family and singing raucous songs, than wisping about with moons and crystals and whatnot. She knows where the real magic lies and any magic or power she has, she's earned. And, by goodness, she's going to enjoy it.
And quite right too.
Good old Fairy Godmother! In this card, she's standing proud amongst a patch of plump orange pumpkins and winding green vines, two small rats scuttling around her feet. She's dressed in orange and green, too, colours of joy and fertility. From her belt swings a star-studded bag; a ribbon of gold light flies free from it, swirling all around her. Behind the Fairy Godmother is Cinderella - an altogether more washed out sort of a female - and, in the distance is a fairytale castle. Bridging the space between the castle and the pumpkin patch are four white doves.
Forget starry-eyed dreams of princes and courtiers and fancy balls. Cinderella needs to readjust her focus and take a good look at the woman in front of her, 'cos right in front of her is the epitome of a certain kind of person. A fabulous kind of woman.
Those rats scampering around her feet aren't vermin: they're a symbol of all that is resourceful, cunning, crafty, productive and intelligent. They're little four-footed versions of the Fairy Godmother herself. This is the kind of woman who can do anything, make anything, solve anything. Need a new dress? Last year's curtains with an iron-burn on them will provide, and leave enough for a few shirts and tea towels beside. Good crop of blackberries? Then there'll be jam and pie and bottled fruit and cordial to enjoy for the foreseeable future; there'll be blackberry tea to brew besides, and you can bet this woman knows precisely which illnesses and hurts a hot cup of blackberry tea is best for.
Nothing wasted, nothing wanted. 'Make do and mend!' this woman would holler, marshaling her domestic army. Because this is the card of female resourcefulness. This is the card of those generations of women who have kept the household surviving whilst the menfolk went out. Not just surviving, thriving.
So far this isn't sounding very, well, magical. And shouldn't a card about Fairy Godmothers be that?
But what's more magic than the magic of domestic transformation? Forget all that hoity-toity alchemy stuff, with its weird symbols and instruments. If you want real magic, go see a baker. And nobody can keep themselves - and a family - alive on spells and sparkles, or ideas. You need something solid and concrete at the end of the day, for all that hard work, or you're a fool.
She doesn't mince words, this Fairy Godmother.
Yes, this is a magical card; it is a card of transformation. This speaks to our ability to bring change into our life. It also speaks to our ability to materialize - to take a project from idea to plan to production. This is a practical and earthy card - I have to admit, I can't help but think that if we could look close enough, we'd see the soil underneath the Godmother's nails. Stuff doesn't just appear, even if it can sometimes seem that way.
But this is all sounding very serious and solemn, and if there's one thing this card isn't, it's that! This is a jolly card, a jolly archetype, of laughter and friendship and sharing. The power of the Fairy Godmother isn't there for its own sake or to be hoarded. This is power gained to be shared, to be used for the good of the family and the community, not the individual. The Fairy Godmother isn't impressed by the trappings of earthly accomplishments.
Of course not. She's internalized the lessons of the Sorceress; she has no illusions. Life is for the living, says the Fairy Godmother; it'll bring it's own pains and griefs. Why go looking for them? Plant the seeds of the future by doing the work of today; but when the work is done, make sure you take a moment and enjoy the act of living itself. Breathe deep, smell the roses - you should, you tended them! Enjoy good food, good friends, good anything. Treat yourself to something you like. Just enjoy! Food tastes better when it's seasoned by contentment and you don't get that by just slaving away.
In fact, this card reeks of the spirit of Nanny Ogg. She's a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and she's a witch and an occasional fairy godmother. Wise, powerful and cunning to boot, but not overly burdened by any of it, she'd prefer an evening spent by the fire, bossing around her family and singing raucous songs, than wisping about with moons and crystals and whatnot. She knows where the real magic lies and any magic or power she has, she's earned. And, by goodness, she's going to enjoy it.
And quite right too.