Nudity Warning: thar’ be buns of steel on the horizon! Also some graphic violence.

After some wild months, and a particularly colorful and, dare I say, *spicy* month of May in my card readings, my Tarot partner Val and I decided we needed a cool down. This month, we wanted to reach for healing water decks and grounding earth decks. While I’ve used The Flow Tarot extensively, the other four are relatively new to me so I have lots of work getting to know these decks this month!

Clockwise, left to right: Folkloric Forest Tarot, the Flow Tarot, Sirena (Tarot), Coastal Curiosities (Pocket Edition), The Dreaming Waves Oracle

Sometimes I really pre-plan my draws, how I want it to look, if there’s a particular shape I’m going for, do I want a “theme” card, do I have a particular question or worry, etc. This month, I think the laid-back June really got to me (either that or I’m just completely mentally and emotionally exhausted) and I just picked up my familiar Flow Tarot and started mindlessly shuffling. It sent out two cards, so I started here and realized that, like usual, it’s gonna be a heavier draw.

I typically dislike key words on tarot decks, AND I’m not a huge fan of photo decks, but the Flow Tarot I think does a really excellent job in that their keywords partner perfectly with the traditional RWS and the watery image that has been chosen for the cards. The Nine of Waves (Wands) shows a rocky shore being beaten by wave after wave. Who will win? The rocks will wear down into fine silty sand, but there they are still at the shore, while the waves break and reform over and over for eternity. It makes me wonder who is persevering? Who wins? The rocks will stand like, well, a rock, while the waves, ever mutating and changing, still persist.

And, I don’t think of the Flow Tarot as mean deck at all seeing as its all about going with the flow, but if it has one challenging card, its Judgement. The sun is setting, and darkness looms. You cannot see what is in the water, how deep it is, or how far out to sea you are. What will happen in the coming night? No one knows. You now get to decide how to proceed, but proceed you must.

Last month had a theme of community that was streaked though nearly all my readings and it seems like it is here to stay! I love all of Junhasiri’s work, but I do think I adore her Dreaming Waves Oracle the most! Which should tell you something seeing as I much prefer Tarot over Oracle cards. From Dreaming Waves I drew the interesting Sailor’s Knot. This card’s keyword is interconnectedness. All the ropes on the ship are needed to steer it through the sea, but it’s not always clear how they interact with one another. It’s difficult to control something as wild as a ship on the wild waves, but by using many ropes together, and tying them strategically you can harness the violent power of the wind and water. One rope on it’s own can do only so much, but with many ropes, connected by many binding knots, the world’s at your fingers!

I love seeing the same knot-like twists the snake makes in the Compassion card from Coastal Curiosities. I’m not sure why it took me so long to warm up to this rather contrary feeling deck seeing as it’s right up my “weird” alley, but I’m glad I backed the Folkloric Forest so I had to think about CC again. The cards in this deck are quite intriguing because the keywords are paired with images that seem, at first blush, not at all be related to the word, but it leads you down an interesting thought path. A snake in the western Christian world is typically seen as a negative image, but snakes long before then had relations with healing, magic, and dreams. Snakes are widely misunderstood and hated for their bite and in a few limited species their venom. How can we extend compassion to a snake? By understanding it, and seeing that it is actually not dangerous at all. In fact, we see this snake is passively holding the arrow in place. Compassion, it would seem, tempers pain and violence. We have an interesting additional pairing of roses and ladybugs, who are easy to love but are part of the same, interconnected ecosystem. I am also reminded by the infamous “don’t tread on me” flag, but in this take, it feels like “don’t tread on me, I’m holding back the real danger.” Hmm.

My left flanking card…

My right flanking card…

I love the old time-y, straight out of the movie Babe art chosen for the Folkloric Forest Tarot. I’d been looking for that exact sort of deck for a very long time. It’s a little disheartening that the first card I draw from it to share on the blog is the Three of Air (Swords)! But it is a very, very interesting take on the Three of Swords. In this image, we see a Woodcock (no, I’m not making a random dirty joke, its a woodland snipe) being shot from the air. For the bird this is a huge loss, but for the hunter it is a gain. For the majority of human history we’ve relied on hunting to survive, so the idea of facing a saddening loss for a gain is integral to our species (an honestly most species). Perhaps this month I’ll suffer a saddening/blowing loss for a greater gain?

Then on the other side from the Sirena Tarot I drew the Ten of Cups. This deck, while not being a nice deck at all, like the Folkloric Forest has a very different take on the RWS and it’s interesting to see this Ten of Cups. Here we see the impossible made possible. A man has wed a mermaid! They succeeded in overcoming their differences and challenges and now they have it all, Earth, Sea, a big fricken castle on the sea, a sport ship and ten flaming flying cups in the sky!

I read this as though you face hardships and challenges, and fear in this journey, keep going (you have no choice)! Stand strong with others and offer them understanding when it seems impossible to think of such a thing. Each person can offer strength to others. Realize that not all losses mean the end, sometimes you have to give up something for the greater goal. You’re going to realize your impossible dreams, in the strangest sort of way!

Alright June, here we come. How about the rest of you? What do your cards say June has in store for you? Have you ever done a water/earth theme draw before?