Welcome to the Winter Solstice tarot blog hop wrangled by our hostess with the mostess Joanne Sprott who proposed going back to the Dark Side, the Hidden Realm beneath the autumn leaves and the snow.
Well… well… well… let’s see where this goes… My initial thoughts were along – ah! Darkness… it’s the new black! but that looked like it would end up in a ramble that would take more hours to write than daylight available for this shortest day of the year and luckily or unluckily for you… a couple of days ago I went to visit a friend in her new house who invited me to talk to her while she decorated so I pretty much vented my system of snark-filled rants that had been brewing… It was a pretty joyful day filled with laugher…which is not bad going for two Grinch-minded humbuggers! But hey ho! Such is the power of emulsion, copious amounts of cups of tea and satisfying slabs of chocolate… yes yes dark… dark like my soul!
So… as it happens… today I discovered a new word, which was quite a novelty as I have slipped into a habit of just making words up… Some of you may have come across the word before, but it’s a new to me word…
Hygge
It’s a Danish word and I think it’s one of those words that doesn’t quite translate literally as it sums up a feelsense and wellbeing and snugglenessness of things that make you feel cozy… And this kind of lifestlye attitude is embraced in the dark winter months and Hygge is found in comfort foods and simple pleasures that break up the general brrrrrrrrrrr of having to scrape ice off of everything and other such freezy winter delights…
So, Joanne suggested – pick a card or cards or develop a spread that you think reveals a useful message from the Dark or Hidden realm of life. What can we learn from those messages as we wait for the return of the Light, and how do you find uses for the dark times in your own life?
So here we have it…
Conveniently, the nearest deck I had to hand was the Starlight Dragon Tarot by Nora Huszka and Steph Engert.
Ok, you have me busted! It’s not so much a spread as a mandala…
In the centre there’s The Devil, which seem to be the perfect fire to sit and warm my butt to as we go into Capricorn, then I just shuffled an open invitation to see who else wanted to drop in for a chat…
So we have from top to bottom…
Death
4 of Swords The Hanged Man
10 of Cups The Devil 4 of Wands
Dragon Eye The Wheel
9 of Pentacles
Now the thing is, as much as I’d love to talk you through this, I’m losing the battle to focus and I’m giving in to looking at
*f*a*i*r*y* *l*i*g*h*t*s*
🙂
So… I’ll leave you to either work out your own musings or to just sit and enjoy the pretty colours… whichever floats your boat…
I’ve got a big fleecy blanket, a mug of hot chocolate with my name on it, and a cat purring on the back of my chair, so that’s me sorted 😉
The pure and blessed way 
Always love your writing. I want some hot chocolate. Damn diet gots me all twisted! I shall enjoy the pretty lights my friend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or… you could always have some hot chocolate and then find a fun way to work it off! Have a Cool Yule 😀
LikeLike
Hygge shall now be a goal of mine. Love it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll drink to that! Cheers! 😀
LikeLike
Hygge, sort of like an overall hugg-y from life to warm you up against the cold, eh? As always, Karen, great stuff in your ramblings. I’ll give your star-dragon mandala a shot. Seems to be saying from top to bottom: “Take the losses and give them a rest and reflection. Pause. Detach from your devils of wanting everyone to get along and winning the lottery–you can’t keep things anyway. Instead, develop a laser-clear understanding of the constantly turning wheel of change, and rest in your garden of de-lights with some alone time.
Blessings of the dark season, Karen. Have another chocolate in my honor, please. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes the word is very close to hug. I like your thoughts on the cards, yes I can see those things too. Btw i’ve just been to your post and for some reason my comment got zapped as invalid token… I loved your chaos clarifier and how it takes the cards from North star to Ninja star 😀
I will absolutely have chocolate in your honour!
Blessings Joanne 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Karen. I will go see if I can figure out why a comment would not be processed. Got a new theme going, so, might be a glitch of some sort.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fascinating deck. Thanks for introducing me to that. And I think enjoying pretty colors is a wonderful thing to do in the dark!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a lovely deck to work with. The size fits nicely into the hand and the square shape gives a nice twist to reversals… also interesting is the colour rings that are made where the corners touch. 🙂
LikeLike
I’ll have a hot chockolate and sit back to enjoy the pretty colours…. 🙂
LikeLike
Good call! 😀
LikeLike
Love that deck! Hope you had a cosy and Hygge-y Christmas 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I did indeed 🙂 Happy New Year Ania! 🙂
LikeLike