Tarot for the Yew Staff 2013

The mighty Llangernyw Yew suggested that I do a tarot reading if I wanted to find out more about the powers of my new yew staff which I had just initiated at Dinas Bran a few days prior to this second Welsh outing in a week.

I created several questions, then dowsed for the number of tarot cards I should draw to obtain a meaningful answer to those questions. My first dowsing test was to discern whether the questions COULD be answered at all – a humble step which I had not taken before, but which for some reason I thought I should introduce this time.

My initial dowsing questions were:-

1. Does the staff have a spirit associated with it other than my own? YES
2. Is it Herne? Is it Bran? Is it someone else? HERNE
3. Has the staff acquired powers courtesy of Bran’s intervention? YES
4. Has the staff inherited all the powers that were contained in the previous ash staff? YES
5. Does the staff have any new powers that I have not used before? YES

My tarot questions based on this dowsing were:-

1. What are the properties of the spirit associated with this staff?
2. What is the primary purpose to which this staff can be used?
3. What the other purposes to which this can be put?
4. What are the characteristics of Herne which come through into this staff?

All questions could be answered, so that extra check probably wasn’t needed. The tarot draw consisted of:-

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Question 1: What are the properties of the spirit associated with this staff?

Number of cards: 2

Cards drawn: Six of Stones (Exploitation) / Eight of Stones (Skill)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interpretation:

• Exploitation – overusing resources. Is that a property of Herne? Is this indicating that Herne will draw a great deal of energy from me when I use the staff? That’s what I feel is being indicated here. I already feel like the staff is not an “everyday” kind of object. I feel it is only for powerful situations. When this feeling is applied to this card then I take it as a warning that the use of the yew staff will require a strong energy source to work with. I’ll need to be on top of my game!
• An alternate interpretation might be that Herne has the power to create ruination – to break the tools, destroy that which has been built up. Again – care in the use of this power which could bring about wholesale destruction. Six is even, balanced. It’s a balancing act, the point between use and abuse.
• Skill – this is the passing down or teaching of new skills. I have had this before when working with archetypal figures such as Herne, and it always means that I am going to be challenged to learn new skills by the entity.

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Question 2: What is the primary purpose to which this staff can be used?

Number of cards: 1

Cards drawn: Ancestor (Horned woman)

Interpretation:

• Ancient pathways.
• Elen of The Ways and the reindeer and stag/hart motif.
• Travelling along one’s spiritual path, being true to oneself.
• Linking with the ancients.

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Question 3: What the other purposes to which this can be put?

Number of cards: 2

Cards drawn: Ten of Stones (Home) / Seven of Arrows (Insecurity)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interpretation:

• Insecurity arrived upside down. I think this is Security, not Insecurity. In combination with the Home card this is supported as such. I think this is a form of protection.
• The Home card tell me that this staff offers Sanctuary, a protected space, a fixed point to get back to in times need. I think I should experiment with the staff being used within my new Nemeton space. Remember Dinas Bran when Bran tapped the four sacred sites with the base of the staff to affirm ownership of the places? I think this is represented in this aspect of the staff – ownership, belonging, assuredness within a space, the right to be there.

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Question 4: What are the characteristics of Herne which come through into this staff?

Number of cards: 1

Cards drawn: Three of Bows (Fulfilment)

Interpretation:

• Not Herne’s fulfilment alone, but our mutual fulfilment through our work together.
• In the card’s picture we see the druid’s robe shows the union of the red and white energies.

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The primary questions that emerged from this draw was – to whom do these characteristics apply – the Herne or to me? The answer is that the powers and characteristics apply to me, not Herne. The fulfilment is mine, the insecurity is mine, The only place where the properties are Herne’s is when I asked specifically which properties he exhibited through the staff – Skill and Exploitation.