Blessed Samhain everyone. This is a holiday of connecting with our ancestors, the ones who have gone before us; of facing our fears and our darker sides; and of divination. It’s a misty, dark autumn morning as I type this. This blog hop is wrangled by Amethyst and I welcome those who have arrived here from the lovely RoseRed Robinson’s blog, one of my favorite tarot peeps.
For this blog hop Amethyst asked us to: “Explore your Shadow side. What aspects of yourself do you feel like you have to keep hidden? Sometimes this takes form of hiding our magical selves from the “normal” world. If Harry Potter taught us anything, it is that we must hide from the Muggles.” This is a pertinent topic for me as I feel like I am riding the waves in my Shadow side. Everyone has a shadow side, whether you recognize it or not. It’s those darker aspects of yourself… the things that make you worry, fear, and just want to hide from everything.
In perfect Samhain tradition, I’m using my Zombie Tarot deck for this post. It’s a great deck for exploring the shadow side without feeling like you’re drowning in it. And I love zombies. For this blog hop, I pulled a few cards that relate to the following questions.
What mask does my my Shadow side wear right now?
The Chariot. This card shows a 1950s style hearse that has been modified to have a double barrel machine gun. The driver shoots a pistol at an unknown shambler. While his companion fires the guns. A coffin hangs halfway out of the back. Dead zombies lay all around. This is a card of escape! Of running away from the things want to hurt me. The shadow side haunts me, cutting off all my escape routes. I fight back standing still, wasting ammo, and running around without at plan.
What message does my Shadow side have for me right now?
Six of Hazards (aka Pentacles). This card shows a human wearing a lab coat, dangling a human brain at the end of handmade fishing pole. A chained zombie pushes a lawnmower towards a plot of grass. This card warns of the price of rewards. My shadow side tells me that while giving myself pats on the back in the forms of gifts, those gifts may be doing more harm to me. They may add weight to my body, or make it so that any progress on my creative works may always require that proverbial carrot. In the end, I need to be a human, not the zombie.
What must be done to move out of the dark and into the light?
Eight of Swords. In this card, we see a ribcage prison holding a heart, lungs, an upside down brain, and a human man crouched at the chicken wire fence holding him in. A sword, his salvation, lies just outside the wire, stopping him from getting free. This is an offering. In order for me to move forward from feeling trapped to my Shadow side, I must first stop combating it. I should sit still, meditate. For only within the stillness can I see that I am not really trapped. That I can lift the wire boundary off the ground and crawl my way to freedom and safety from the zombies.
What are you doing to face the Shadow side of yourself for Samhain? Please let me know in the comments below. Thank you for visiting my house on this dark Samhain eve. To continue on with the Tarot Blog Hpp, please visit Mary’s Harmonic Spirit blog.