Apr 21 2009
Tarot Tuesday #7 - Spiderwoman - Daughters of the Moon
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| Credit: Daughters of the Moon |
Spiderwoman - Daughters of the Moon Tarot
I love different and unusual decks. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot qualifies on both counts, as well as being colorful and lively and intuitive. The Daughters of the Moon Tarot was first published back in 1983 - and I bought the deck at a lovely little New Age shop not too long after that. Like the Motherpeace Tarot, the cards are round, comfortable to hold and handle. The original deck was uncolored - just black and white line drawings meant to be colored in by the owner and user of the deck. The colored deck was released later - and in the past few years, the black and white deck has been re-released. Both decks are available on the Daughters of the Moon web site.
At least one professional reviewer of the Daughters of the Moon Tarot has stated the opinion that there are so many differences between the traditional Tarot and this feminist, Goddess-inspired Tarot that it almost should not be called a Tarot deck at all. I personally disagree - there are far more similarities than differences, and many of them make sense.
This card is one of those differences. The Spiderwoman replaces The Wheel of Fortune, which is one of those cards that has two almost diametrically opposed meanings. My own deck uses tumbling dice as a representation of The Wheel of Fortune, and I title it Chance - but that’s only part of the meaning. In fact, when reading, I tend to put more emphasis on on the Wheel as a Cycle of Life. Spiderwoman leans more to that interpretation, with the Wheel being represented by a Spinning Wheel and shuttle. The background of the card is a collage of spider webs, emphasizing the way that patterns work in our lives.
I’ve always been entranced with spider webs - the intricate, interconnected patterns are an apt metaphor for life, for the way that we are all interconnected along these thin, strong lines. I believe that my life is affected by things that I can not control, that something YOU do in your life has the potential to affect my life in unexpected ways, in ways that neither you nor I will ever know. This is true on a universal level, in that the choices that you make affect the world at large. The car you drive, the amount of energy that you use, the way you dispose of your garbage - all of those affect the world in which I live, and the cumulative effect of all those choices makes our world what it is.
But I believe it is also true on a very personal level. Our world is so interconnected that we never know when an action or choice that we make may affect another person in a profound way, even if we never have any contact with that person. I’ll never know what effect I may have on your life - and there’s a very good chance that you will never know if or how I affected your life.
Knowing that, doesn’t it make sense to live in a way that our effect on the world is a net positive?
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I’m finally up for Tarot Tuesday hon! Better late than never! Hee hee! I like the spider webs a lot! I suppose I could only widh that the imagery of the 3 fates were carried through in the design. Wouldn’t that be cool? Hmmm (digging through brain, too lazy to look up) lachesis, arachnia and clothos?? Is that right?? Too late… need to sleep soon….
@thorne Let’s see - Clotho, the spinner, Lachesis, the measurer and Athropos, who cuts the yarn. Dropping by your site next!
@Ash - I’m glad you’re enjoying it. And don’t feel like you can only link up if you post on a Tuesday - write when you get a chance and add your link!
p.s. - I love Captcha.. right now, it’s telling me “sinful uncertain” — now there’s a great two-word phrase!