Raven

by JunoMagic
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives-ShareAlike license

Raven

Raven drew her cloak of shadows closer around her.

She exhaled deeply, letting go of all the angular thoughts and square needs of her worldly existence. She inhaled slowly, drawing the energy of the world into herself, from the core of the earth through the soles of her feet, through the veins of her body into the chakra points of her magic. Still, very still she stood, and for a while she listened to the soft wheeze of her breath and only felt the slow pulse of her heart and blood, and the subtle ebb and flow of her magic beneath the reality of her body.

At last she entered the room. She went straight to the table, the palms of her hand caressing swiftly the silky, age-darkened wood, before she reached for the cards.

The cards greeted her, smooth and responsive to her touch. She shuffled them thoroughly, fingers and palms tingling with their whispering voices. At last they grew quiescent in her hands, expectant, tense. Ready for the spark of synchronicity – or serendipity.

They flowed onto the table with a silvery sigh.

Only then Raven looked up at the querent. A young woman, with the empty expression of working too much and worrying more.

‘The spread I will lay out for you is called “The Way”. But where it will lead you, I cannot say. Concentrate on your situation while I draw the cards. Think of nothing else but why you are here.’

Raven’s left hand strained towards the cards, aching for their touch. The cards were swiftly picked. Right, middle. Left, left, left, and left again.

Smiling, she laid out the first card.

‘This is your situation, the chances and risks you face at this time of your life.’

The card was the queen of discs.

‘Long ago you have turned away from your calling. Now you look into your heart and all you see are empty fields. But there is a path.’ Raven gestured with her right hand, and in the curling wisp of incense, a misty image appeared. The smoke outlined endless, desolate plains. But between Raven’s thumb and index-finger, a path began and meandered through the plains until it disappeared at the horizon and in the shadows of the room. ‘It is time to remember who you were meant to be and to use the gifts that were bestowed upon you. The road is long and it is hard. Don’t imagine for a minute that it is not. But if you choose to walk it, eventually you will pass beyond these empty deserts that surround you now.’

The next card. XVII – the Star – one of the major arcana.

‘This is what you already know.’ Raven smiled. ‘You have realised that you have reached a point in your life where your rational mind will not aid you anymore. And in spite of your fear, you already have faith.’ When the woman frowned, Raven smirked. ‘You’re here after all, aren’t you?’

The third card: the princess of cups.

Ah… Raven sighed. A woman locked behind the iron bars of a man’s career. A tough job. A lawyer. Or an engineer. A life, where any weakness, real or imagined, would be derided. But how can you find true strength if you are never weak? How can you know victory if you have never been defeated?

‘Here are your hopes. You dream of a world so far removed from the one you currently inhabit that it seems to you that it cannot possibly exist. But you already carry it within you. You can feel it!’

Raven fluttered her fingers at the young woman, at the Svaisthana. The woman gasped. Raven smiled slightly. Parlour tricks. But very effective all the same.

The fourth card. Ace of cups.

Oh, the poor girl. Raven’s heart went wide for the querent’s plight. Starving, thirsting. Needy. Eager like a little puppy-dog, all wagging tail and clumsy paws.

‘This is how you come to me. You are ready. You’re willing to give and to receive.’

Raven inhaled. Now for the difficult part. For a moment, she closed her eyes, feeling for the feather touch of her totem-bird, allowing the energy of the cards, of the desperate girl to swirl around her, to lift her up.

The fifth card: The IX – the Hermit, another card of the major arcana.

‘This is what you have to do. It is time to turn away. Leave your world behind. You need time and space for yourself. To discover the path you are looking for.’

The sixth card. Knight of swords.

‘This is your heart, what you must learn to understand in order to achieve a solution for your situation.’ Raven smiled once more. ‘Understanding is the key, my dear. Contradictions and obstacles often exist solely in your imagination. Use your mind to build the bridge to wisdom.’

Finally, the seventh card. Seven of discs. Failure. Or, to be precise, in this context: fear of failure.

Raven sighed. She was well-acquainted with the dark feathers and purple shadows of this card herself.

‘This is your mind, what you must rationally confront in order to find the path your are looking for. It is your fear of failure. Even worse,’ Raven whispered sadly. ‘It is your fear of shining like a star, your fear of who you could be. You must confront your fears.’

Raven exhaled soft and slow. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘Darkness, death, defeat. The black-feathered raven lives within me. Without shadow, there can be no light.’

Swiftly, Raven gathered the cards together and shuffled the pack once more, before putting it back into the little wooden chest where she kept them safe, wrapped into midnight blue velvet perfumed with sandalwood and ambergris.

The woman sat motionless, stunned. Several times she swallowed dryly before she could speak. ‘No card … to show me my future?’

Raven laughed, a deep sound, accompanied by an echo that sounded almost like cawing, but only almost. ‘No, my dear. Only tricksters and thimbleriggers try that. The future is what it always was and always will be: what you make of it.’

She rose from her seat and drew her cloak closer around her once more, feathers rustled, stroked her skin. ‘And I wish you the best of luck and Raven’s blessings for it.’

Song of the day:

Link(s) of the day:

Raven in Mythology | Trees for Life: Mythology and Folklore of the Raven | A story: Raven and the First Men

…and my wish for you today is:

May you find the path that leads through the barren deserts of your fears to the green fields of your dreams.

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