Victorian Flower Oracle: Grapevine

.traveller.

Grapevine
Intoxication

Image: A visibly tipsy Grapevine stands in a wine vat. A sparrow to the left of the card, a broken bottle and broken wine flute to the front of Grapevine. She reaches out as if to steady herself.


Lowering inhibitions, not recognizing danger when it is right in front of you. Drunk on love, power, or other such emotion.
Infatuation feels like being drunk.
 

Barbaras Ahajusts

.traveller. said:
Grapevine
Intoxication
Image: A visibly tipsy Grapevine stands in a wine vat. A sparrow to the left of the card, a broken bottle and broken wine flute to the front of Grapevine. She reaches out as if to steady herself.
Lowering inhibitions, not recognizing danger when it is right in front of you. Drunk on love, power, or other such emotion.
Infatuation feels like being drunk.
The Sparrow seems very comfortable where he is at. As if he knows what could happen but appreciates the home he has within the grapevines. Food & shelter, for him, or her. Humm, looks to be a tiny bit of wine for little birdie too. I be he knows his limit! From his expression I would say he knows what Miss Grapevine can do to him/her! ;)

But she, Miss Grapevine who grows as she clings to herself, stakes & anything that doesn't move, knows her power. She knows she can feed & shelter the tiniest of creatures. She also knows her fruits can harm others if they abuse what they have taken from her.
Never meant to harm anyone, she watches, she sees and sets back in wonder & amusement.
Silly creatures! They try to recreate what was once pure. Perfection is in the eyes of the beholder. And she watches with amusement, too. ;)

Barbara
 

Sophie

I'm a wine drinker, and grew up in a place full of vines. September and October were grape picking season! And what fun it was. After the pickers have been, you are allowed to run wild in the rows and pick what they've left behind. Yes, Barbara - so many little creatures live in the vine!

And then there's the wine...We were given sips of it as children, and a glass with our meal as teens.

It makes you jolly if you have more than 2 glasses, tipsy if you have more than 3, but it's nice, not dangerous in that kind of dose.

It spreads joy and laughter and talk, good cheer! A votre bonne santé! We say here - "to your good health!" For letting go and smiling and mild intoxication is recognised as being good for the soul, even though...chit chat, no discretion around Miss Grapevine... better forget your secrets when you are spending time with her, or everyone will know them. :D

This card reminds me of that charming scene in the film Babette's Feast, when the tight-laced Lutherans in a village in Jutland, having eaten and drunk of Babette's wonderful food and wine, gradually open up, enjoy themselves and share merriment and tenderness with each other for the first time ever.

But careful! If too much is drunk - it spreads quarrels, hangovers and cyrrhosis!

And this reminds me - when the Roman God of Wine, Bacchus, was associated with the Greek God of Ecstasy and Tragedy, Dionysos - wine, ecstasy and drama were inherently seen as all linked. Intoxication (to love, to joy, to divine communion, to dancing) brings ecstasy, too much intoxication - tragedy!

Where is that fine line? For sure we won't ask Miss Grapevine, she wouldn't have a clue :D
 

moderndayruth

"Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the water they loved to drink. This good man, Noah, having seen that all his contemporaries had perished by this unpleasant drink, took a dislike to it; and G-d, to relieve his dryness, created the vine and revealed to him the art of making wine. By the aid of this liquid, he revealed more and more truth."
Attributed to Benjamin Franklin in Bottled Wisdom, compiled and edited by Mark Pollman, 1998
(Kabbalistically, words for wine, yayin, and secret, sod, have the same numerological value.) ;)
 

.traveller.

"Anacharsis said that the Vine produces three kinds of fruit, intoxication, debauchery, and repentance; and that he who is temperate in speech, in diet, and in amusement, must be an excellent man." page 290, Language of Flowers
 

Jewel

Fudugazi, I also like my wine ... I actually was enjoying a Pinot Noir last night :D

My first reaction to this card was "ohhhhhhh I really like this card." *LOL*

Emotioanally this card to me is about emotional confusion of cloudiness. She is too intoxicated to really know what she feels. What feels good today might not seem so real tomorrow.

Physically this card is about having lots of fun, but can also signify over-indulgence. A physical manifestation of this card, taken to an extreme, is that of a couple getting wasted, deciding to get married on the spot, then waking up the next morning in total shock and disbelief that they actaully did that (though it was real fun at the time).

Mentally I find this card about escapism, letting one's hair down. Throwing caution to the winds for just a little while.

I really find no spiritual aspects to the card, she is not aware or in tune with spirit. This is about fun and intoxication.

What I like most about this card is Ms. Grapevine herself. She is so easy to interpret, and like everything she represents she is tempting. Her sense of freedom and fun are attractive.

What I like least about the card ... well I just love this card, and there is nothing I dislike or find unappealing about it.

My renfest pirate persona is very much like Ms. Grapevine here *LOL*. As a result I can understand Ms. Grapevine, well my alter-ego can *LOL*, and relate to her quite well. She is simply deliciously decadent! *LOL*. Small doses of this type of indulgence is healthy and fun, but too much can ruin your life!
 

Guiding Cauldron

This reminds me to enjoy life more and dont always be so darn uptight xx
 

Sophie

Jewel said:
I really find no spiritual aspects to the card, she is not aware or in tune with spirit. This is about fun and intoxication.
Aha, I take it you don't really agree with the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, who used to say that the way to Spirit was often through spirits ;)

I do see the spiritual value of letting go and letting oneself be taken up by ecstasy...the great Mysteries were often accompanied by wine, and even Jesus turned water into wine. But ecstasy is one of my chosen expressions of spirit. And I've known people drunk on the gods.
 

Jewel

It is not that I disagree with them really, but the grapevine lady stumbling up the path in this card looks like she had a rough night of partying *LOL*. It reminds me of me stumbling around after a night of partying when I was younger, or around the Ren Fest when I have had way too much ale and spiritual anything is the furthest thing from my mind when I am in that condition *LOL*. But like you said, she could be celebrating Bacchus, in that case well ... there you have it she could be very spiritual *LOL*. I guess I just see the card more from a social drunk perspective I don't feel anything divine or spiritual when I look at the card image.

It would probably really help to get the card in a reading where there is a question and it can be put into context. That is one of the downsides I find to studying decks one card at a time, is that I get locked into a static visual image vs. the dynamics and context I can get of a card when it is part of a spread. Make sense?
 

Sophie

Jewel said:
It is not that I disagree with them really, but the grapevine lady stumbling up the path in this card looks like she had a rough night of partying *LOL*. It reminds me of me stumbling around after a night of partying when I was younger, or around the Ren Fest when I have had way too much ale and spiritual anything is the furthest thing from my mind when I am in that condition *LOL*. But like you said, she could be celebrating Bacchus, in that case well ... there you have it she could be very spiritual *LOL*. I guess I just see the card more from a social drunk perspective I don't feel anything divine or spiritual when I look at the card image.
You got me there. She does look like that :laugh:! I suppose Grandville didn't see much that was spiritual in spirit-soaked ladies either...

It would probably really help to get the card in a reading where there is a question and it can be put into context. That is one of the downsides I find to studying decks one card at a time, is that I get locked into a static visual image vs. the dynamics and context I can get of a card when it is part of a spread. Make sense?
Yes - that's true. It's the case with all those cards. I often disregard the keywords - and sometimes even the image itself! - and go with the actual plant energy.

Since all plants have a spirit (in my experience), it follows that the vine does too - and it is a very powerful spirit. Maybe too powerful for humans, sometimes.