Sabbats, Seasons, and Tarot Spreads

Welcome to a new week, and welcome to a new “Weekly Reading”. This week’s reading will feature cards from Hattie Thorn’s beautiful “Vintage Tarot” deck. Each day I’ll draw a card as part of a “collective reading” — designed to give us all a bit of helpful spiritual guidance throughout the week.

To begin this holiday week — we celebrated the Winter Solstice yesterday and Christmas is coming up — we’ll use tarot to provide us with a “focal point”. What needs our attention? What’s the main message for this week about?

Oh, what a perfect card we’ve drawn! It’s the 10 of Pentacles. What card could possibly be more perfect as an expression of the holiday season?

Isn’t this what we all want for Christmas — or whatever holiday we choose to celebrate? The 10 of Pentacles is all about home and family, about the goodness of life itself. While it’s often referred to as a card of “wealth”, that wealth is the richness that comes from home and family. No matter what the numbers in our bank accounts say, we can be rich in love.

But while this is the “perfect” image, how many of us actually feel this perfection in our lives? The sad truth is that not everyone has a family, and even among those who do, well, not every family is happy. Maybe we gather together on the holidays, dressed in our finest garb, and maybe we put our arms around one another and smile for the cameras. Maybe we pose as in the card above, showing the world our happy faces, telling one and all that our life is quite perfect, indeed. The reality, however, may be much different from what we show the world.

So, let’s focus on this idea of family happiness, harmony in the home, and especially let’s think about the legacy we’re creating. Are there old traditions we’re carrying on? Or have we just set them aside? Maybe it’s time to bring them back out, dust them off, and make the holidays truly special.

Family is important. The 10 of Pentacles tells us to appreciate our family members. We should put aside our differences; we can offer apologies for misunderstandings; we can — and should — do all we can to create a sense of unity among our family members this year.

And what of those without a family? What of those who have lost beloved family members and for whom the hoidays will never be quite the same? How do we create that sense of family around us?

Family isn’t just about “blood relatives”, and as we focus on the importance of family ties, we should expand our thinking a bit and reach outward. There can be many “families” in our lives. We can even create our own “family” of close friends and people we love. Tarot is saying “If you don’t have a family of your own, go find one or make one.”

And for those who have lost loved ones? Never forget that those who are gone are still part of the family. Their place at the table may be empty, but their spirit is still present. Cherish them through memories, through stories, through celebrations of who they were and the light and joy they brought to the family.

Wherever your family is and whoever you include as family, this is where your focus should be right now. Honor your family’s traditions from the past and create your own traditions for the future. Forgive past wrongs, forget past troubles. Right now, nothing means more than family.