At the Hinge of Change
Not an accident, I think, that The Hanged Man is Arcanum 12 . . .
First, a warm welcome to new readers. This post is part of an informal series that began on Winter Solstice, and now wanders toward Twelfth Night.
Today’s episode begins with a short essay on our seasonal observations—followed by two serendipitous (as usual) Tarot discoveries.
Twelveness
“Christmas Day” now dominates our seasonal calendar, having morphed a religious observance into a day of general celebration, and condensed an array of symbolic associations into one all-purpose occasion.
So it’s easy to forget that December 25 is not only related to several traditions, but also serves as an anchor for longer transformational cycles.
After a bit of back and forth with OpenAI GPT-3.5 Turbo, I’ve decided there’s no actual proof for the idea that the Yule celebration in Norse Paganism lasted for twelve days—but it’s such a popular notion that it’s either true, or ought to be.
There’s general agreement that Germanic and Anglo-Saxon traditions were the basis of Christmastide, a twelve-day Christian festival.
It seems likely that Yuletide commenced in most traditions around the Solstice and lasted twelve days after that. However the Christian festival commences on a fixed date (December 25) rather than a movable date like the Solstice. And it’s designed to last from the Nativity, or birthday of Christ, until the Epiphany, or revelation of the Christ child to the Magi.
There are also some other traditions that are organized around the transition of the seasons on the Winter Solstice. Here’s a charming account from the Royal Botanical Gardens of Canada:
The ancient peoples of Europe had a far greater connection with nature than most people in modern times. They held reverence for the sun and held an annual celebration to mark the winter solstice on December 21. It was believed that the sun stood still for twelve days so a log was lit to vanquish darkness, banish evil spirits, and bring luck for the coming year. This was known as Yuletide. During the celebration, houses were decorated with holly, ivy, mistletoe, and other plants. Many of these plants were thought to hold special powers but they were also used as a reminder of rebirth, a return to longer days, the planting of crops, and the world becoming verdant again. Yuletide became Christmastide and many pagan beliefs and rituals were absorbed by the church into Christmas celebrations. December 25 was chosen as the date for Christmas due to its proximity to the solstice.
Winter solstice celebrated the rebirth of the sun, a return to life, and the changing of the seasons. Symbolizing the changing seasons, the legend of the Oak King and Holly King represented personifications of summer and winter. They were locked in a never-ending battle for seasonal supremacy. Both Kings represented solar lightness, darkness, crop renewal, and growth. During the warm days of summer and when in full leaf, the Oak King is at the height of his strength. On the approach of winter and with the loss of the Oak King’s leaves, the Holly King regains power which peaks at the winter solstice. At this point the Oak King is reborn. As his new leaves open, the cycle perpetuates. Both are portrayed in familiar ways with the Holly King as a woodsy version of Father Christmas dressed in red with sprigs of holly in his hair. The Oak King is portrayed as a fertility god-like figure appearing as a green man or similar forest character.
As I was reading all this, associations with the Tarot’s Hanged Man—Arcanum 12!—seemed irresistible. Always on the cusp, poised between one reality and another . . .
Two Serendipities (sort of . . . )
The first of today’s discoveries is a “sort-of” serendipity because the phrase color-wheel Tarot just came into my mind, out of nowhere. Which is a little different than noticing a clue or following an association.
But for whatever reason—and not to sound overly woo-woo—I heard the phrase in my mind, almost like someone else was saying it. And of course Google took me straight to this blog post, by artist Jamie Sawyer:
I won’t try to summarize, but the post sets out a way of thinking about color and Tarot that’s very different from the usual expositions of color symbolism in the Waite-Smith deck, color associations with Kabbalah, and so on.
Instead, Sawyer asks:
What would happen if you were to take the primary colors of Red, Yellow, Blue and make a keyword list from your own personal associations? These may be the focal points of an unfolding story, the things that are the most important.
Alternately or rather continuing with the theory, we can add the secondary colors of Orange, Green and Violet. Adding keywords to those to help expand on the dialog.
Read her post for more detail. And while there, discover her intriguing approach to “decks”—which she has created as hexagonal tokens—and “spreads”—re-envisioned as vinyl stickers on which you can lay either the tokens, or ordinary cards.
There are various stickers, and they can be used individually, or gathered in a book that allows you to flip through them. Each sticker page has a brief video, with inviting ideas for creating a divination book.
Sawyer’s handmade envelope journals offer another approach to divination journaling:
I really enjoyed the inventiveness of Sawyer’s ideas!
One caveat, if you visit: The site pages may default to Swedish, in which case you have to scroll all the way down (every time) to request English.
The second serendipity is a “sort of” because I can’t remember how it happened. Which is interesting in itself . . .
All I can tell you is, go spend three minutes on YouTube watching a tiny film titled Tarot Mechanic. It really is about an auto mechanic who uses Tarot to diagnose car problems.
I’m still trying to imagine how they came up with this idea—and whether it’s meant to satirize mechanics or Tarot. Or both. But you really should watch it!
As always, thanks for reading. More soon, C
That mechanic. ♥️
Great post, Cynthia!