From left to right, Apothecary Spirits Oracle, Lilith Tarot, Ink Witch Tarot, Transformation Tarot, Cosma Visions Oracle

March, despite it feeling still plenty wintry here in the north, is the month we see the Spring Equinox and there is a significant increase of sun and daylight hours. It’s also the month when garden work starts, which inspired this month’s theme of sow, as in, ‘sow seeds.’ In the past I’ve done strictly botanical themes for spring, but this march I thought about what I want to sow in the world, what did I want to see come to fruition in the future, and I picked decks to represent these ideas!

I went ahead and added a rune coin to this month as well for fun.

The Ink Witch is one of my favorite Tarot decks, and to me it is a deck that tells truths with well known stories. So this is typically a deck I reach for when addressing universal truths, or when I need to see things as the actually are. The Transformation Tarot is a new deck from Kickstarter I backed because while I was very much a tom boy growing up I LOVED vintage fairy tale books and the images in this deck really bring me back to being a little girl. This deck to me represents making space for children to exist safely in the world, and for giving my inner child space to live and dream as well. The Cosma Visions Oracle is such a beautiful deck that after I wrote it’s review I really remembered how wonderfully artistic and dreamy it is. This month, this deck is reminding me to make space for creativity and romanticism. Apothocary Spirits Oracle not only is on theme with plants and spring right around the corner, but it also speaks to science, ancestral wisdom and diversity, everything I think we need a whole lot more of in the world right now. And then, the sharp Lilith Tarot. This green, blockprint-esque deck speaks very blatantly of the wrongs done to women, and demands justice for them.

Oftda! Well, the Ink Witch does not pull punches, that’s why I think of it as my “Truth Teller” deck! We open with “The Devil” and it could not be more on-point. When you lust for something because of the desire to possess it or dominate it, it is no longer love but something perverse that twists the soul. I know I can see examples of this all over, and especially in the news. What things are my “devil”? In what ways do I participate in negative reinforcing behavior? (Maybe I have a Tarot deck buying problem…)

The sweet Transformation Tarot gives us the Seven of Cups. This deck is very close to the traditional RWS so it’s an easy deck to pick up and run with, but the imagery is just delightful, if lacking diversity. It really makes me think of paper dolls. There’s many things to choose from in this image, some are more realistic than others, but there are choices to be had and need to be made! This makes me think what choices can I make to not participate in this Devil card? What are options I have on the table today?

The Cosma Visions Oracle is very similar to a Tarot deck except the majors are re-imagined from the point of death until rebirth. VII is usually the Chariot, but in this deck is The Spirit Plane, a liminal space of calm and peace for the spirit before it takes the big leap towards rebirth, is the opposite of what I think of as momentum forward. It’s a space of reflection, a pause, a moment to think and collect oneself.

Lily of the Valley speaks to Obsession (hello Devil reference!), and smelling the strong sweet smell of the Lily of the Valley to ground yourself in reality. Both of these cards are demanding pause.

From Lilith we draw the delightful Knight of Wands, a woman riding a lion off into the wilderness! The Lilith Tarot on its face is a RWS deck, but once you start delving into the details of the image and the guidebook it becomes apparent that this deck deviates quite a bit from what we consider the traditional meanings. We can see this wild Knight simply as reclaiming one’s “wildness” or ones’ natural courage. In conjunction with the devil I maybe would say harnessing one’s inner animal and using it to help propel yourself forward. Or perhaps riding on your honor???

And the rune I drew this month is Eihwaz, a rather esoteric rune related to the Yggdrasil tree of life, host of the various worlds (human’s world and the spiritual realm), and wisdom of knowing your place in the universe, and the cycles of life and death. The Yew, which is what Yggdrasil was imagined to be, is a long lived tree and we can see idea of endurance and resilience being reflected in this rune. It feels connected with the Cosma’s VII Spirit Plane.

It’s funny, sometimes when I do a draw I see cards I’m familiar with and I think “I know where this is going” and in reality it becomes very deep and complex. Other times, like this monthly draw I look at the cards together and think “How in the world am I going to make any sense of this?” and it turns out it all fits together nicely and concisely. I’m faced with a challenge of the Devil this month (whether my own personal vice, or someone else’s). I have many choices at hand to face this challenge, but first I need to ground myself and ask what is it that I’m desiring? How can I assure I move forward with honesty and integrity for myself? This is a “follow your heart/inner wisdom” act, and once I do it will be easy to stay true to my actual self!

What do the cards say you have in store for March, dear readers?