I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

27 September 2011

In the Gilded Tarot, the Moon

In the Gilded Tarot, the Moon
has a soft face, sweet lady
gazing up at the light she reflects.

The crayfish, mysterious symbol,
is not crawling up on land
but jumping half out of the water.

The towering gates
are like massive candles
or Olympic torches.

Central is a gold disc
like an artist’s palette,
and like intersecting cogwheels.

The sun is about to rise.
Low down over the water,
the sky is pinky-purple.

The dog and the wolf 
bark in unison to greet
rising sun and risen moon.

This is a variant image
from the one in Rider-Waite.
Could I do magic with this?

I could, except that
no-one’s deceiving me,
they’re all asleep.

And I too need my sleep.
No need to find a secret name
for my hidden enemy —

the one who deprives me of rest
is myself, while the real moon
climbs the sky oblivious.

Note: This is not a reading of the Moon card in the Tarot, but 
a personal take on the images in this particular Moon card.

Journalling my relationship with the moon: 28

8 comments:

  1. Oh my I could tell exactly what this poem was. And you have given those images to us vividly! This is great!

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  2. Oh I love this! You have done a superlative job of imaging the scene - I can envision it clearly. Where the words took you in concluding stanzas was both a surprise and a delight:

    no-one’s deceiving me,
    they’re all asleep.
    ...
    No need to find a secret name
    for my hidden enemy


    I journal a lot, but I haven't thought of keeping journals in the specific way of your relationship with the moon one - what a great idea!

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  3. You took me on this beautiful, amazing tour of the Tarot, (I presume because I'm not really familiar with it) and then you brought me back to earth, landed me softly at the foot of your bed and let me watch you gaze at the beautiful moon.... What an incredible image that just washed over me! absolutely lovely.....!

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  4. oh i like the olympic torches image and the artist’s palette like intersecting cogwheels....beautiful rosemary..

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  5. May thanks to you all. I'm delighted this one spoke to you so well. It really was written late at night when I was getting tired.

    turtlememoir, the journal wasn't my idea. It was that of a lady called Maggie Strongheart, who then created a facebook site for people to share their journalling if desired. A friend of mine, poet Helen Patrice, suggested to the mob at Free Verse Weekends on fb that we might do it in poetry, and some of us took her up on it. It's a one (lunar) month exercise, about to end. It has been -er - illuminating!

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  6. Very nicely done, love your take here, very interesting to read, great how you weaved your interpretation of the symbolism with your own world and events within. Thanks for the read

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