Dear reader of signs,
Welcome to Sunday, the 11th of June’s observation from my daily ‘Reading the Signs’ June challenge, an exercise of paying attention with a focus in mind as the day unfolds.
I have not been feeling well for the past couple of days, so I arrived at sleep’s shores late, and was deported suddenly by an unexpected phone call from a friend I haven’t heard from in nearly twenty years.
It’s a shock to wake up to seeing a name on your phone of someone with whom you haven’t spoken in such a long time. For a time he, and a group of other friends, were deeply important to me.
Initially, our conversation was awkward until he confessed he’d intended to phone another Maura. I did not take that amiss, I merely observed that it’s interesting that today he clicked on my name. An attenuated connection sprang back into life.
We talked briefly, and we mentioned two mutual friends who have passed away. Both of them were meaningful to us. They are now on their follow-on journeys while we remain on a parallel track.
I decided to pick a deck I’ve owned for a long time, from that era of old friends, so I selected The Celtic Book of the Dead: A Guide for Your Voyage to the Celtic Otherworld by Caitlín Matthews, with art by Danuta Mayer. I drew card 33: Island of the Falcon.
I’ve always been fascinated with mythology and folklore. Throughout my life I have read and researched stories from Ireland, and other countries, via various sources. The subject of this oracle deck is heavily based on the story ‘The Voyage of Maelduin (Máel Dúin)’ one of the Irish immrama, or spiritual voyage to the Otherworld. The famous one is ‘The Voyage of Saint Brendan’, but Máel Dúin predates it. I’ve always been interested in these stories, and have thought a great deal about them.
This is a common epic across the world: heroes on a life quest must leave home in search for a trophy, have adventures and learn lessons, and return home transformed so they can take their rightful place in the world.
Máel Dúin sets out on such a quest by boat, and visits many strange and weird islands. In the sequence that Matthews synthesises for this deck, the Island of the Falcon is the last one before he returns home. The falcon (depicted here as a peregrine, long associated with magic and myth) guides him to the penultimate point where reconciliation and forgiveness takes place. After this, Máel Dúin will return home, integrated.
This year I’ve been on a new writing journey at Substack. I have departed my well-known territory and struck out for new waters, only guided by an instinct that I must do this, now. I have not enjoyed the uncertainty, but I have trusted my compass even when beset by fear about this direction.
Where is my final destination?1 I have hints. But even as I am anxious at times, I have enjoyed the stories that have emerged from wandering unexplored imaginative waters, especially during these daily June sessions.
If I was to interpret Sunday morning’s call — a wake up from dreaming, a reminder of old connections — with this card, it is that my voyage is heading towards a culmination of sorts.
Where I go next will be an integration of my many spheres of interest. It is a reminder of who I was and all I’ve learned since. I have more travels before me, but I will be embarking on them with experience as my ark and intuition as my navigator.
I must continue to trust, and sail.
There is no fixed, final destination, as once we attain one goal, another appears in the distance. But there is a directional signal, and my current meditations allow me to lock upon it.