In the summer of 2002 I attended Tarot Week at Diana’s Grove. Early in the week each person drew a major arcana card to embody for the week. I drew the Hanged One. I was a tarot novice, (still mostly am actually) and the prospect was pretty daunting but I was working towards earning my way to a Rites of Passage year so it was time to step up. During the week we made paper mache masks in preparation for the final night’s ritual. Mine consisted of two masks of my face, where I put one face completely over the other in the opposite direction. That week change my life, I was asked to be on the next year’s Rites team, and the mask has been in my bedroom ever since. It reminds me there is always another perspective and it serves me well to see as many perspectives as possible.
ever had at work. I was leaving work angry and off balance. I walked out the doors and was immediately struck by the beauty of the sky. It was so vivid. White fluffy clouds in bright deep blue sky. It was stunning. I looked down and there was a crow just looking at me. It was so strange. I had never seen a crow here. It’s still difficult for me to explain, but the two things we so potent, were in such stark contrast to the rest of my day that I couldn’t let go of the experience. I thought about crows on my drive home. I had no idea what they meant, I just knew until that day they meant little if anything to me.
I got home and turned to my friend google to see what I could learn about the meaning of crow. The first couple of searches didn’t really resonate with me until I read about crow in an excerpt from “Medicine Cards: The Discovery of Power Through the Ways of Animals” by Jamie Sams and David Carson, illustrated by Angela C. Werneke. (Side note, I am conflicted that with everything I read, which was a lot, this is the one that resonated the strongest. I have strong concerns with cultural appropriation. I am not Native. Yet I cannot deny how strongly the words resonated) “Crow sees simultaneously the three fates – past, present, and future. Crow merges light and darkness, seeing both inner and outer reality.” And “signifies a firsthand knowledge of a higher order of right and wrong than indicated by the laws created in human culture”.
Sixteen years ago I stepped into leadership with a new awareness of the importance of seeing as many perspectives as possible. This crow energy seems like a deepening of that awareness. It feels like a natural progression. I have a birthday coming up and I will be entering a Justice year. I have no idea what that means, but I am sure am curious.
Hi Elizabeth. I so remember that. I was the Chariot. That was a lot fe changing week. Thanks for your share.