Dear reader of signs,
Welcome to the Tuesday, the 20th 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.
Solstice Eve, a day of rain and thunderstorms, and a lot of introspection and writing.
This day I picked The Mushroom Tarot by Chris Adams, and I drew The Hermit along with the Three of Wands.
This was another crowdfunded Tarot deck that I was happy to support. Adams has a passion for fungi, and I love this deck of cards even though I don’t use it often. It has a fun vibe, but it’s very well considered. I love photographing fungi in the autumn, so I’m always looking for them when I’m in the woods at that time of the year. I’ve also read up on them, as they are truly fascinating organisms.
For those following along, I drew The Hermit yesterday, so the theme of introspection carried through to this day. Yet, it’s always fascinating to consider the different tenor of each Tarot deck and how it shifts the aspect of the card. In this case, The Hermit is represented by the Armillaria mushroom, one that is common to the woods here, and I’ve photographed it often. The fruiting body of mushrooms is only the visible part of what can be an enormous mycelium spread underground. So in this regard, the Hermit is alone, but also part of the connected system. Being on your own does not mean being unsupported. There’s a greater sphere you can communicate with — it is a case of knowing when you need your period of isolation and when you need to interact with others.
For the wands suit, Adams used imagery based on Coroyceps mushrooms, which are a parasitic fungi that erupt from hosts. In this card the three wands of mushrooms have siphoned all the sustenance from their beetle and are at maximum growth — thus they are releasing their spoors into the world to spread their potential. The three of wands is traditionally a card of assessment: much has been achieved but now new pastures are being regarded.
The two cards work very well together, because they indicate a need for a period of analysis about the journey so far, in order to set a direction for subsequent travels.
I knew exactly what these cards were indicating as I’d been planning to write my regular Splinister newsletter on the subject of my time on Substack so far, and how it has affected my writing. I dug deep deep into the subject and a knotty issue I’ve been dealing with in my writing.
You can read the result here:
It was a cathartic writing session. As my fingers typed I came to a better understanding of my drive behind starting this newsletter and why I’ve committed so much energy to it.
You need good mulch to grow mushrooms!