This week’s cards come from the inimitable “Gummy Tarot” and we get two cards this week: the first of which gives us a mighty message about the New Year:
What a great symbol as we head into the new year. In the traditional sense, this card (here depicting gummy cubs/children in a safe, warm, sheltered village square, sharing cups of star-flowers) represents child-like innocence when life was play and sharing. The pure and simple star flowers represent love and being “present” that we are innately able to share much more easily when we’re in a place of innocence. Nearly every version of this card represents children at play. It connects to the past and also towards our ability to use nostalgia (or those qualities of play and innocence) to benefit our PRESENT instead of living in the past or living out the negative side of nostalgia. In the Gummiverse, though, this card has addition meaning:
in the LWB for this deck it states,
“Acknowledging others is smart, acknowledging one’s self is wise”
and the card is related here to love, devotion, harmony, clarity and the ability to learn from mentors. — And it asks, via a task for this card, to think about what we’re giving,
“declare yourself openly” –
after all isn’t that cup o’ child-like simplicity, joy and love being SHARED in the image? And while it’s not visible in the gummy version of this card, in the traditional deck an adult figure is heading up those grey steps and out of the picture… that over-thinking, goal-oriented, stick-in-the-mud adult mind can get out of the way long enough so that you can be who you are, declare yourself, and find innocence, play, creativity and refreshment in seeing (and being) who you really are!
Another card comes up with sage gummy advice for this week specifically :
Some people are spooked by the tarot’s iconography but nothing can be too scary with such a cute little candy bear! Besides, the Eight of Swords has an important message! If, like this bear, you’re feeling trapped, blinded and uncertain of the way forward, keep in mind the central message of this card: being free of entrapment. The figure is blind folded and trapped in a prison of swords… but in reality the swords are not arranged in a very prison-like structure, there’s a HUGE gap and way out right in front! The ties are not very tight and path ahead shows that there ARE options for a clear way out if only the bear would take off that blindfold! The longer we sit there being daunted by what we think or slipping into victim mode (waiting to be rescued, for example) or avoiding life by preferring the “prison” to the creativity of release, the more we’re going to feel damned by the ties that bind and the swords that stand near the path. This is time to let go of playing the victim, of listening to directions but not actually taking them, or or even of feeling alive ONLY if we’re suffering. (preferring the excitement of the prison and the ties that bind over the truth, being able to whip off that blind fold and get busy!) This little gummy says it’s time— that you have inner freedom and patience and that you’re going to find a way out of this and that you have the ability to find the right timing, at just the right moment to drop the loose ties and take the blind-fold off. It’s time to rip off your own hobbles.
HAPPY New Year, everybody. Party safely, have fun and may all your bandages and ties come off with ease and may your five-pointed innocence and play flowers bloom more readily than ever! Tip? Don’t focus so much on the New Year’s Resolutions (which you may have entirely forgotten by the time February rolls around) or on what you can do to “go for goals” but instead focus a little bit of energy on who you are NOW. If you don’t enjoy that, then no “plan for success” is going to mean much. I know, you want to “Get there” — but there is now! Be who you are, do your thing, and you will be able to live and breathe those elements of successful planning all the more readily instead of giving up because you’re overwhelmed by stress and tension.
About this deck: The card for this week hails from the irresistible, cheerful pocket-sized (yet readable and serious) “The Gummy Tarot” deck by Dietmar Bittrich from US GAMES. Have you ever had gummy bears? In case you live under a rock and you’ve missed out on these little Gummibärchen (Gummy Bear) candies; they’re roughly bear-shaped little bits of “gummi” (a gelatinous confection) which are gorgeous, like fragments of stained glass yet rubbery and of indeterminate fruit identities. They’re peculiar, but addictive (especially in a movie-theater) . Alas, I don’t eat animal gelatin, but luckily for me I can enjoy gummy bears in this cute tarot deck. This deck is truly awesome and comes in its own colourful tin. It follows the basic Rider Waite illustration template but with simple drawings of Gummy bears. Cards that have serious or frightening traditional iconography like “The Tower” are more digestible and less threatening in adorable gummy-form but the messages are just as powerful. This deck is much beloved with young and old for good reason.
GREAT cards! I loved them both and they bode well for the week and the new year. I also really appreciated the message at the end. I’m not setting any resolutions this year….just picking one word to focus on (Forgiveness) here in the now. The only place life exists!