This time around I am a little retrospective, I think it's because I have been doing a lot of self work. Really since the start of this year, I have been reconciling where I have been, to where I am now.

The decks featured in this Beltane hop are; Circle of Life Tarot with art work by Maria Distefano, The Moon and Stars Tarot by Jayne Wallace, and Tarot of Dreams by Ciaro Marchetti.

The interesting thing about this deck choice, is that the Moon is active at the moment, moving through into Taurus, we have a few astromonical and astrological events happening around this Beltane as well.

The fact I chose Tarot of Dreams to compliment the others was not planned, but as I collected the decks to do everything they just seemed right. Which you can read as I was talking to the decks, to find out who was stepping up to work this time around.

I always find Blog hops a bit of an odyssey, in that I plan to keep the posts to a certain length, and instead they become an opus. Each of the 43 entries, that I have done over the years have taken on a life of their own.

Now there is a vast percentage of the back catalogue sitting as draft on the site, its just time and memory that keep them that way, as I don't have all the images uploaded, and in some instances I actually need to rewrite them to a degree.

The reason being when the old sites were closing down, I salvaged most of the content, as html, so now I actually need to unscramble the code and turn it into text and figure out what the deck was at that time.

Sadly the way back when machine, doesn't handle empty spaces, I have tried that but to no real avail. Thank goodness for text files, and 4 years all in worth of computing.

Anyway let's get started with this hop :-)

As I said earlier this time around I am a bit on the retrospective side; it's why the Tree of Life from Tarot of Dreams is first up. The mythos around this card even before I start is immense; Jewish mythology, Christianity, Norse, Celtic, Babylonian, and that just covers the first few branches.

Just look at Norse and Celtic mythology, The tree is at the centre of them. Instead of the Tree of Life it is given the name Yggdrasil, it is a mighty tree holding together the nine worlds of Norse mythology. Connecting the Vikings living in the world with the fantastic worlds of the gods and giants.

The Tree of Life within Jewish mysticism and texts is a major work of Rabbi Hayim Vital, and the well-known diagram illustrating the ten divine emanations comes from Jewish mystical tradition. In Hebrew, the term etz chaim (literally “tree of life”) is often used to refer to the Torah. Tree of life within Jewish texts and mysticism can be traced to Genesis 2:9, which relates to the biblical story of the Garden of Eden. Where God planted both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and also filled the garden with beautiful and tasty trees. Within the texts God forbade Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Konwledge of Good and Evil, however; if you know your mysticism well you know what happens next...

The texts such as the Torah, also points to The Tree of Life as a metaphor, which can be found in Book of Proverbs. It is used three times, and is perhaps one of the most famous is Proverbs 3:18: Etz chaim hee l’machazikim bah; which translates to 'She is a tree of life to those who grasp her'. Proverbs has likened the phrases such as Proverbs 11:30 “fruit of the righteous” and “healing tongue” from Proverbs 15:4, to The Tree of Life. 

All of this I identify with whole heartedly, as I find myself travelling to  Yggdrasil and being confronted by both aspects, the Tree of Life, as a metaphor for a version of the Akashic Records, but also as a place of understanding the deeper undertones of human life, in other words the good/evil of it all.

Circle of Life Tarot cast up the 2 of Swords, which instantly makes me think of locked swords, and in some of my decks that is exactly how this appears, mind you in this circular deck its actually a bit kinder, but I get the message none the less.

Basically at the moment there is an impasse, where past and future are battling it out in the present. Past ideals of what my plans were going to be, meeting in the present where I am at the impasse for obvious personal reasons, and then future goals and plans that are not moving forward.

So this 2 of Swords, is really and firmly dealing with my retrospection, and shadow work. Forcing my hand at this time to look at what and where I want to be, while making me face the reality of exactly where I am.

The options open to me are limited, but doable if I look carefully and plan properly.

First card from one of the newer additions to the collection, Seven of Wands from The Moon and Stars Tarot. Its odd I usually am not a fan of key words at the bottom of the cards, but in this deck it works.

It's also apt, Resilience is a word that I would most definitely use to describe this situation, as you need to be able to look at everything from the 'right now' point of view.

This is the launching point for a great many things so to speak. I have to look at what I am able to do and balance that with what needs to be done. Trouble is that events on the daily scale change so quickly, that sometimes it is hard to keep up.

Which is why Resilience is such an apt word for this card and at this time. 

Let's move along a little, and look at the second offering from Tarot of Dreams by Ciro Marchetti, the first card was Tree of Life, and following on from this we have Faith, which can also be known as The Heirophant.

This time around, I am not entering into the association it has with The Heirophant title, but rather look at it as Faith. In many respects and ways, that is exactly what is required of this situation, Faith.

Faith that it will work out; Faith that it can be done; Faith in oneself, and Faith in one's ability to do the jobs required.