🗝 December forecast
Contemplation and ascetic practices will lead to new truths. Balance is advised.
The fields are covered with a thin fragile coating of frost in the early morning of December. I am in a small village, my task is simply that of waiting for something I can no longer control. So I observe fat doves perched on tops of the naked trees, dog-walkers looking far less happy than their dogs, and an occasional rabbit timidly flashing his bright white bottom.
December is governed by Judgement (XX) and The Hanged Man (XII), with a layer of Temperance (XIV) influence as a Sagittarius’s card. Together they suggest less action and more contemplation. This is the month of important realisations arriving during periods of withdrawal and letting go. One of the lessons to learn is to balance the extremes, such as work and rest, action and contemplation, dwelling on the past and planning the future. One without another leads to a dull and unexamined life.
Judgement is a seemingly sinister card with its straight-forward reference to the Biblical event. The judgement seat (bema) was a bench in the Roman and Greek courtrooms, where the judge sat or where the opponents could present their cases from. Outside of law, bema was used by orators or governors to convey important information to the citizens. Judgement in the context of Tarot rarely points to an external event, instead it’s the internal personal court that passes the judgement and announces a new course of life. Often we stand vulnerable and naked to the truth, that is presented to us. But we welcome it nonetheless.
But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do— determined to save the only life you could save. Mary Oliver
Recognise your own voice, your own volition in the charting of a new course of your life. The new you is neither shiny nor exciting, but maybe for the first time it’s honest and true.
Important step before we even get there is to let go, to withdraw from life and seek new perspective in the Hanged Man fashion. Sometimes, it literally takes us to look at the situation under different light, different angle or through someone else’s eyes to recognise that we might have never seen it wholly for what it is. Self-sacrifice for the sake of wisdom might be expected from us. Think of doing a Vipassana meditation, a pilgrimage (like Camino de Santiago), silent retreats, fasting, sensory deprivation tanks, forest bathing.
Tarot Deck of the Month
The Mary-el Tarot. Marie White, a Californian artist, has created this stunning, even if somewhat eerie Tarot deck. It’s not cute and comforting, nor does it follow any Tarot traditions precisely, but its oil paintings are exquisite. Recommended for intermediate and advanced tarot readers. See a full review by Benebell Wen.
December Affirmation
True change demands my willingness to look deeply within, to accept, to let go, and to begin again.
Jung(ian) Quote of the Month
To become a person does not necessarily mean to be well adjusted, well adapted, approved of by others. It means to become who you are. We are meant to become more eccentric, more peculiar, more odd. We are not meant just to fit in. We are here to be different. We are here to be the individual.
James Hollis
Herb of the Month
Lovely juniper berry is used not only in gins, but also in teas and marinades. It has anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties. They are full in anti-oxidants and may promote heart health. Its essential oil is wonderful, and spiritually used to ward off evil and offer protection.
Treat it with caution though, for it’s a diuretic, and is not recommended during pregnancy.
Wishing soft landings from your realisations this month, dear one. Let’s emerge stronger together.
Deer at Nara, Kasamatsu Shiro, 1930s-1940s
Woman Holding a Balance, Johannes Vermeer, 1664