Family

Upon completing The Hermit I decided he needed an honoured spot upon my wall. Wall space is limited so I've had to start storing some of my completed works at the end of my bed. Choosing which card to add to those no longer on display wasn't too difficult. As much as I love what I created with The Devil, it has been up for ages. I took The Devil down, shifted the Love card to that spot and placed The Hermit where Love had been above my bed. Stepping back to admire my handy-work I suddenly noticed something about the four cards I have chosen to keep up on my walls.
Tarot cards are intertwined with astrology and you may have noticed they all have symbols next to their titles. Each symbol is somehow representative of the cards meaning and usually one or both of them will be a star-sign.

The Moon is Pisces, The Hermit is Virgo, Love is Gemini and The Hierophant is Taurus. To put it another way, my mum was born in early March, my dad in early September, my brother in late May and myself in early May.

Family has always been very important to me and I don't believe that this display was accidental. I find it fascinating that my four most favourite cards at the moment represent four important people in my life (And yes, I am the most important person in my life, as you should be in yours.) and that each card is actually a pretty good representation of the role they play in it.

The Moon is about dreams, potential, magic and inspiration. It often represents a writer or storyteller. My mum has always encouraged my creativity and admired my writing and I have always loved her ability to tell a story.

The Hermit is about self reflection and introspection. Through my dad I have learned that it is better to listen than to speak without thinking.

Love is about loving yourself, loving what you do and loving those around you. I don't think I have a better example of unconditional love than the feeling of respect, admiration and pride I get when I think about my brother.

And finally, The Hierophant. This card is about wisdom. When someone says I'm wise because I share a thought or idea I read or heard that just seems to make sense, I feel a bit funny. I didn't say it or write it or teach it, I just processed it and decided it made sense. It might not one day and something else might make sense. I don't think this is the measure of wisdom. I was musing on this one day last week and I consider the teachings of Aristotle, Buddha or Maslow to be no different than Newton 'discovering' gravity. Gravity was always there, he just paid attention. Self actualisation isn't a new concept and nothing I say hasn't been said before and won't be said again. For me, I like to think wisdom is about knowing yourself and being aware.

I'm happy to say that I have no idea who I am most days and I sometimes think that I only get more confused and less certain with time and experience. I'm happy to say it because I know I'm not the only one and I know I have a really good team backing me up, even if they are 4,000 miles away.