"Owl-collecting (grand)mothers, octopuses, and Hermit Portals" (June 27) once again revisited the above Hermit card, this time in connection with a painting by Laura Bruno. This sent WanderingGondola to Laura's blog, where she clicked on the "Tarot Readings" page and read where Laura says, "I most often use Robin Wood’s deck."
I had looked at that page of Laura's as well, but I was already aware of the Robin Wood deck, which is fairly popular. It's broadly based on the Rider-Waite but has been "paganized," with most of the explicitly Christian symbolism removed.
(Just now, thinking about Laura Bruno and Robin Wood, I accidentally typed Laura Wood, which is the name of the lady who runs the Thinking Housewife blog. Thinking the error might be synchronistically relevant, I visited that blog and found a post called "The Federal Octopus," dated yesterday. No obvious relevance beyond the name.)
WG, though, wasn't familiar with the Robin Wood deck and looked it up. She found a review of the deck on Aeclectic Tarot. Deck reviews on that site will show a few sample cards: four of the Major Arcana, plus one card from each suit. Here are the first three cards it shows for Robin Wood:
The first card is the Magician, who is wearing a headdress made from a deerskin, complete with antlers. Right after that is the Hermit, so we have the hart-hermit pair again. The third card is Death. In Robin Wood's version, the figure of Death is (like the Hermit in the Tarot of the Divine) completely concealed in a hooded cloak. Conceptually, though, it is the Grim Reaper, a skeleton.
I was aware that Aeclectic reivews always show four Majors and four Minors. Are they always the same ones, though? Does it always begin with the Magician and the Hermit, or is that something unique to their Robin Wood review? To check this, I went to the main page for Tarot reviews and clicked on two of the four featured decks there: first the Modern Witch Tarot and then the Forest of Enchantment Tarot. I know nothing about either of those decks and chose them (rather than either of the two other featured decks) for no particular reason. The Modern Witch review showed a completely different selection of cards from the Robin Wood Review. Then I clicked Forest of Enchantment and saw this:
That's right. This is a less traditional Tarot deck, and the first card it shows -- the zero card, corresponding to the Fool -- is actually called The White Hart. One of the other cards featured in the review -- I guess it's the Ace of Wands, or maybe Swords -- features a white crow. (See my June 20 post "October 3 and 4, and white crows.")
The review also shows what the backs of the cards look like. Owls.
14 comments:
William,
Part 1 of 2
Lo and Behold ! I found a synchronicity connection
and although I wrote this comment for your previous
Granny Cardinal post, I think it absolutely
has connections to this new post too.
It's interesting to me that all of the deer illustrations
the deer are in the portal between two trees
and recall my many comments about my 3 deer
experience and the two sycamore trees in
the portal.
Here's what I wrote to originally post
on your Granny post.
Backstory:
Today July 1st I was taking a nap.
I had a very strange dream that I think may have significance
to your granny in the dark post especially
what you wrote here:
"He described a day with a ****tightly knit*** web ..."
In my previous comment I wrote that I didn't think
my capelet connection ( albeit odd ) was a meaningful sync
to your Granny Cardinal post, but I've changed my mind because of
this new dream which I didn't have before I wrote my
comment.
After the dream I re-read your post and the reference
to 'tightly knit' caught my eye. The granny capelet
is crocheted.
Crocheting uses a single hook to create sturdy,
textured fabric, while knitting uses two needles.
I hook instead of 2.
Here's the dream I titled: Bus Stop
I was in a city. it was daytime.
I recall trying to talk
to several people ( whom I didn’t know )
about my paranormal experiences and
what I believe them to mean including the big picture of
the end of an age.
The people were ignoring me, shooing me away.
At one point as it began to get late
I became afraid because I found myself
in what appeared to be the bad side of town.
I didn’t have a car so I asked several people
if they knew where a bus stop was.
There were two young women walking and I asked them.
One of the women said that there was a bus stop
on Neil St.
At that very instance a young Black boy
(around 7 years old or so) ran out into the city street
and was hit by a car which of course shocked
all of us.
I woke up.
~~~~~~
I don't know anyone IRL named Neil. I googled Neil
in etymology and found this:
Copy and paste:
"Neil
surname and masc. proper name, from Gaelic/Old Irish Niall
"champion." Picked up by the Vikings in Ireland
(as Njall), brought by them to Iceland and Norway,
thence to France, from which place it was introduced
in England at the Conquest.
Incorrectly Latinized as Nigellus on mistaken
association with niger ****"black," hence Nigel.
~~~~~~~
Incorrect or not in the dream(and because
the young boy who ran out in the street and was hit
by a car happened to be Black ) makes me think
that Nigel meaning black, is the message in this dream.
Also the male cardinal's face mask is black.
Symbolic big picture meaning I believe is this:
As I've commented many many times the symbolism
of a bus means there is going to be movement that
will affect the collective , as a bus carries many people
to a shared destination not just the dreamer.
And because the dreamer isn't driving the bus,
the dreamer has no control of the event that is coming
and it will happen.
I shared my May 2002 dream about
my father (who died in 1974 ) was on a bus with my
brother, mother and I. There were no other passengers on the
bus.
I rarely dream about my father.
After that dream my mother passed over 3 months later.
The 'collective people' in this case was my mother having
many friends and of course her family.
I also had a very odd dream
last month ( I think I shared it as well) . In that dream
my best friend Pam ( who is Black )was driving a bus.
Pam was not nor her husband ( who was also Black)
bus drivers IRL.
When I emailed Pam about the dream she told me that her
husband of 56 years had died suddenly the day before.
I had the dream about a week before.
I was shocked.
William,
Part 2
I also had a very odd dream July 14, 2014
which I titled: Moon River.I've shared my Moon River
dream many times on your blog. In Moon River
recall there was chaos in the small town of Yellow Springs
beause the moon had disappeard.
In my Moon River dream I was on a bus, also the bus driver
was Black. There was another passenger on the bus ( who
was also a young Black man) whom the bus driver asked me if he
(the passenger ) was ' bothering' me. I said no.
The bus driver than said: "well I thought
he was bothering you because he had a 50,"
which I thought was some type of gun.
Lo and behold guess what has a 50 (5) connection that
I just found today on the Season of Return blog's latest post!?
copy and paste:
2. AMERICA’S FIFTH JUBILEE
America’s 250th anniversary marks the nation’s fifth Jubilee year.
This is significant because:
• America is uniquely associated with the Jubilee:
It is founded on the Jubilee principle of “liberty”
(Lev. 25:10) as reflected by its iconic symbols,
the “Liberty Bell” and “Statue of Liberty”; it is
comprised of 50 states, and has a name (America)
with a numerical value of 50—the Jubilee
number.
• The number five signifies divine favor or grace in Scripture.
Since America is associated with the Jubilee,
and the number five signifies grace, the fifth jubilee could
mark the end of its period of grace. "
~~~~~~~~
I also watched a 2018 Netflix movie titled: How It Ends.
I saw the movie in 2018 and thought it very intriguing .
For some reason a couple of nights ago, I wanted to see it again.
There were so many of my puzzle pieces in that movie
that I didn't see in 2018!
One of which there is scene during the chaos ( see trailer)
where one of the characters ( Meg) tells Will Younger ( the protagonist)
about how odd the recent weather events were.
She mentioned, the storms, the heat and the earthquakes.
That REALLY got my attention because those exact three
weather events have been unfolding on the world stage,
also including wildfires, which is also in this movie.
There is also a Rebis connection as Will's fiancé
is mixed race. Her father Tom ( played by Forest Whitaker)
is a Nigredo.
Keep in mind William that the Nigredo is always used as the first
step in all alchemical transformations including
America. The Conquerors of the 77th Merdian
West ( pole to pole )
were all bloodline Alchemist Navigators.
Connect all the dots in my bus dreams including
today's ( July 1st ) Bus Stop dream.
The Nigredo is in all of them.
Although my mother was Biracial, my father was
very dark although his mother was Biracial as well.
My family is very very diverse;-))
Also very briefly in the movie
there is a deer connection as well.
Also ' coincidently' How it Ends was released
on July 13 2018.
My Moon River dream was on July 14 2014.
Note in the trailer of the movie, the birds gathering
is a sign of the upcoming chaos.
Maybe that's why all of your recent ' bird ' posts ?
Birds are harbingers.
Unfortunately I think my big picture perspective
is coming into view.
Sync fairies really tricked me with this granny capelet sync.
I didn't see it coming.
click on the recent post ( America's 250 )
https://www.theseasonofreturn.com/
How It Ends | Official Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJyyJ7lexnM&t=1s
I was driving thinking about something else, and I randomly remembered where I had encountered a man dressed up as a skeleton with antlers before: The Horned King from The Chronicles of Prydain books (The Book of Three). He was described as wearing a red cloak, with bare arms that were also dyed red, and a skeleton mask/ helmet with antlers. Basically dressed up as a humanoid-deer creature.
Here is one book cover version showing a depiction of the Horned King:
https://christianohnimus.com/the-book-of-three-chronicles-of-prydain-1-by-lloyd-alexander/
The connection to Welsh (Wales) mythology is interesting, as is the central object of the Horned King's pursuit: The Black Cauldron. The fictional cauldron is based on the Welsh myth of the Pair Dadeni, or Cauldron of Rebirth. The Pair Dadeni is often linked to the later legend of the Holy Grail, with both serving as bowls or cups which offered some form of renewal to the possessor. The Grail itself gets at some of your imagery of Red and White and Water and Wine, as the word it is based on was originally used to describe a bowl "especially for mixing wine with water". The legend of the cup catching the blood of Jesus also supports this Water and Wine mixture symbolism.
So the Cauldron, and its pursuit by the Horned King, strikes a few symbolic chords in our story, including the Horned King's motivation for why he was after it. In the books, it is in service of his master, the Death Lord, a character often compared with Sauron, with necromancy being one of those similarities. In Daymon's books, the link to necromancy is made more direct, with Sauron and Pharazon reanimating corpses to use in their assault on Eressea (much like the Cauldron-born in the Prydain stories).
Disney would create their own version of the Horned King loosely based on the book, in which the Horned King's primary motivation was to be a God among mortal men, which has Pharazonian undertones.
Of some interest, the book version of the Horned King can only be defeated if someone discovers and speaks their true name. Rumpelstiltskin-style. I have used Rumpelstiltskin before in comments on your blog, in which he was tied to Maglor and Pharazon:
https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2025/06/snip-scramble.html
Thinking more on this and the Hermit as you have been working through it... you may have already mentioned it, but I was unaware that the title to your blog is basically the definition of a Hermit.
Etymonline states that Hermit comes from Eremites, which means "person of the desert". Since a person "of the" can mean that they came from or "out of" the desert, your blog's name "Out of the Narrow Desert" can be viewed essentially as the definition of a hermit, with the Narrow added as an adjective to the desert to which the Hermit came from.
William,
Regarding a Hermit.
I believe that it is the Hermit who becomes the Prophet after
emerging from the cave of darkness and silence.
I thought it interesting that you mentioned silence
in your post : The Owl, the deer and the time warp.
I believe that Silence is Golden which reminds me of the song from
1967 of the same name by the UK band the Tremeloes.
Interesting the chorus: "silence is golden,
but my eyes still see."
Also interesting that the deer is such a gentle and graceful
and silent animal. I love having them on our property.
Silence Is Golden - The Tremeloes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2QgnkF2QuY
The Robin Wood Tarot looks great! (Although the style is more like the 1970s of my teens, than the 90s when it was published.) I have added it to my Christmas Present list.
1/2
Incredible syncs. Brilliant, really. I'm grateful to Gondola and William for chasin' 'em down. Coming on the heels of the day before yesterday's great sync, the museum visit-- and now this cornucopia... I'm thankful indeed to life's mysterium and its paradise of pomegranates.
I think a key here for me is the inclusion of the grim reaper (in the Robin Wood deck's Death card), and realizing its similarity with the hermit of the Tarot of the Divine's Hermit card (as William points out in the original post). Imagine if that hermit-- beneath his hooded cloak-- were, like the grim reaper, nothing but a skeleton, albeit a sentient one. Yes, his flesh has dropped off, like any eremite worth his salt (figuratively) desires-- call it "the eremitic eros," if you will. Whereas the grim reaper ultimately seeks the death of all living things, the hermit seeks the death of one living thing alone: his own flesh, understood in the negative biblical sense of the term. Previously, I believed not only the merger of deer skull and human skeleton to represent a new stage of the hermit's storyline-- I also thought that the hermit becoming skeletal at all required explanation. The explanation is in fact ready to hand-- it is the sign of "the eremitic eros"-- it's just that, from one image to the next, from The Hermit to the skeletal cervine humanoid, it isn't a new development but rather a continuity.
This post features eight images: our old friends, The Hermit and its sequel; three cards from the Robin Wood deck, and three from "Forest of Enchantment." It's my first exposure to the latter, and I find at least the images included here to be intriguing (obviously, the emergence of "the white hart" is extraordinary). Thus, I went to the Amazon page to find out more and came across the following ad, which shows four of that deck's cards, including The Hermit. The latter specifically is a little too cutesy for my taste, showing a paradoxically urbane and bookish racoon sitting in his underground den. The emphasis here is on a genteel hermitism; which, however amusing, is indeed a more plausible vocation than the vertiginous flesh-defying eremitism of Christian yore. We should keep in mind, all the same, that this humanoid racoon retains some trace of the fabled eremitic eros. On the other side of the room, directly across from the viewer is a lit hearth, which has a circular aspect and from whence firelight of course emanates. That "circle of light" links this Hermit card, for all its manifest difference, to the first two images included in the original post and their circles of light.
https://tinyurl.com/4jvtpa3u
2/2
Going back to the first image included in the original post, The Hermit: if one looks through the trees toward the horizon, one sees the fading light of sundown. That light, seen just above what appears to be a hill in the distance, is of course circular, as the eight other concentric rings that radiate out from it attest. I mentioned previously that the Tarot of the Divine is by and large suffused by the color teal. While The Hermit card is characterized by a certain darkness, coupled with the bright whiteness of the hart, if one attends to the concentric rings that articulate the starry sky, one sees the teal color that is the hallmark of this deck.
Now, the second image-- that of the skeletal cervine humanoid. If you take a close look at it, you'll see that a circular something is visible over and beyond his shoulder on our left. In a previous comment, I likened it to a stained-glass window. From that circular window one sees clearly two color beams: one blue, proceeding in an upward direction; and one green, going left. Blue and green, fused in the right measure, constitute teal. I said before that these color beams should be contrasted with the color beams of the divine mercy image of Jesus. The cervine humanoid skeleton, which gives every indication of being alive-- or at least "undead"-- could be construed to be underground; or, better yet, inside a structure, perhaps a cathedral with stained-glass windows.
The Tarot of the Divine, permeated by the color teal, which somehow ostensibly correlates with "the divine," divinity, meets its counterpoint in the image of the skeletal cervine humanoid, who's plausibly inside a cathedral, whereby a stained-glass window separates out the colors that together comprise teal: namely, blue and green. One might reasonably surmise that they represent water and earth respectively, the "heavier" of the classical elements; and that, by the division of its formerly blended light, divinity in its teal coloration and earthward connotation is effectively deactivated. Thus, the idea of divinity from within the cathedral is lighter, heavenward, consisting of air and fire and dwelling in ever-greater degrees of atmospheric rarefaction. And we see as well the hermit disrobed, his skeletal character revealed for what it always was, an attempt to rarefy himself in imitation of Christ, only now his human skull has been switched for one cervine. Is this the proverbial pilgrim's progress, or regress?
And finally, at-- is it Bag's End or history's end?-- the racoonoid hermit's underground den somewhere in a (possibly perilous) enchanted forest, we see what is perhaps the third act of our hermitical story arc. The hermit has gone to ground, returned to earth, even the gnomish underearth; and lives cozy, deep underground, any transcendence of flesh only notional, his circle of light a hearth that gives off light in its normal white/yellow coloration-- neither the teal of the old divinity, nor the fuchsia and white of the new, but a cozy little light to read books by. (Ecclesiastes 12:12b-- "...and much study is a weariness of the flesh.")
That's not a raccoon, Wade. It's a European badger. Somewhat different from its American counterpart.
https://narrowdesert.blogspot.com/2020/05/each-continent-and-region-has-its-own.html
The red-robed Reaper, presumably bone-white under the robe, is another instance of the white-under-red pattern.
It's occurred to me that I've become increasingly hermit-like since 2023, at first gradually shifting from doing my cybersecurity course in-person to completely online from home, then dropping out Q4 last year with my eye primarily on higher priorities. I've generally told people I burnt out and need to "work on myself", but that's only a partial truth... Don't expect many to understand the full extent.
Blue and green together came up for a good while last year. I don't recall whether their representing water and earth came up before, so Wade may've added a new angle to that sync chain. Funnily enough, last night I was reviewing an astrology reading I'd had done in May, and one thing I mused on was whether many astrologers would consider grand trines that include lesser points and asteroids. My natal chart is heavy on water and earth, and going by Astroseek I have the two versions of Black Moon Lilith as points in two separate water GTs (one of them with Chiron and the Sun, no less), while Vertex is part of an earth GT. Hum, now I'm wondering what your chart is like, William.
WG, I was born at 12:26 pm in Durham, North Carolina, if you want to look up my chart.
Interesting, very interesting. Your dominant element is water (earth just beats out water in my case), and from what I understand, a comparison of certain placements is rather telling.
When I checked my Gmail today, the most recent mail was an automated message from the Guild Wars 2 wiki, telling me about a change to the discussion page of an article I edited several years ago. The article itself is a guide for a difficult venture involving five gems -- four of them reflecting the basic elements -- with its lore justification adding a loose thematic tie to Death: "Ahead of burial, a Dynastic ruler's ornate jewelry was collected, restored to glory, and placed in their ceremonial armor." The discussion page's new addition simply notes a connection between the gems and the djinns that stole them. Besides that, heart is one letter off hart, and the page title reminded me of those "heart of gold" syncs from a while ago.
wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glorify_the_Golden_Heart
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