Ciderwell's Autumn Equinox

[Ciderwell]

Sacred Days of Autumnal Equinox 2020

Day 1: 18.9. Ludi Romani Games - Roman games in honour of the god Jupiter, celebrated with circus performances. This card reflects the spirit of celebration in your life, and how you can bring more joy and playfulness to yourself and others.

The Door spread represents having to go outside.
Some of my neighbours have barricaded themselves in stockpiling food and ammo for the long haul. I asked the cards what attitude I must adopt to survive outdoors.
The only designated cards are the three middle ones, Hierophant, Temperance, and King of Swords.
The King of Swords is the door handle and exit, my attitude is the Hierophant if I wish to make it back alive, with Temperance the entrance and home again.

My kneejerk reaction was disgust at the thought of injecting Zombie blood to give me some immunity. But the Cups and Wands tell me there is a high probability the zombies will win. Finding an idyllic tropical island far from the burning cities is just burying one's head in the sand. Zombie's can't drown and will get you in the end, (see George Lundi Romero's, Land of the Dead).

So welcome to Channel 78, I'm off out to get inoculated.

[Ciderwell]

Day 2: 19.9. Day of Our Lady of La Salette - an apparition of the Christian Mother of God/Holy Virgin. She brings message of hope to humanity. Where is your personal source of hope and spirituality?

The Window spread is to find hope and spirituality from what I can see through my window.
However I kinda messed it up also asking for an overview of September - week 1 to week 4, top to bottom, left to right. The answer seems to me as conflicting as the question(s). Even the instruction booklet (as with the Coins and Wands) gave
a X crisscross message.

So, thinking outside the box I'd say the cards are somewhat jumbled: the King of Coins is week 2, not week 4.
Our Lady of La Salette (seen in the insert of the 3 of Wands) is giving Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat a secret message each. And remember to be careful, like making a wish blowing out candles do keep it to yourself.

I'll be keeping a close eye on the King.
I suspect he'll have more to say in the days ahead.

Where are they getting those humungous bones from?

[Ciderwell]

The Window (Fixed)

[Ciderwell]

Day 3: 20.9. Sedna, Inuit Goddess of the Sea - This card asks you to address your fears and shadows before the winter comes, like the Inuit did in their Sedna festival.


The Fruit Cellar card is what lies beneath and is scary.
The 10 of Coins is an applicable card because this morning I went to the post office to send a letter.
When I asked the zombie teller how much the stamp would cost she said £10. Ugh, I thought, for a stamp!
Then I noticed she had her head resting on the scales. So of course I refused to pay and when she got obstreperous I had to call for the manager. He wasn't much better but he did give me a £10 note and the whole book of stamps.

While typing this the postman knocked on my door and delivered
two Zombie remake DVD's: Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead,
and Pet Sematary. They've arrived much sooner than expected

[Ciderwell]

While watching Pet Sematary last night I had to smile when bad kitty is seen next to
the Hazardous Area sign. As Zombie Tarot uses Hazards instead of Pentacles.
Of course when thinking of the cat's name, Church, in relation to the Sedna myth, makes this picture
much more creepy. Like the 10 of Hazards, all packed together in the same place.

Any resemblance to names or persons or pets living or dead with this photo is purely coincidental.

[Ciderwell]

Day 5: 22.9. Autumn Equinox - Libra - Mabon - the day of perfect equilibrium. A day for two cards. What is growing in your life, what is decreasing? This two-card reading reflects the balance of your energies and, if there is imbalance, what you need to address.

The instruction manual describes the 7 of Guns as the double-cross card. Giving
the man-eater the only AK-47 in the room and asking her to lead the group is a huge
mistake. Fools and their bullets are soon parted.
The Ace of Bones shows a hand holding a human femur. Do we suppose the femme-fatale
gets her just desserts? I like the Escher staircase - a balance of creativity and escapism.

[Ciderwell]

Day 7: 24.9. Greek holiday Pyanopsia - Thanksgiving for the fruits of the sun. Wind white or purple wool around a laurel or olive branch, and hang or arrange fruit around it. These don't have to be actual fruit - you can write on a paper things that you are grateful for. What is the fruit of your past action, ripening now?

Before I switched on my computer this morning I was sort of scrying on the subject of lost or hidden memories. I've had this idea for a very long time that evolution may have caused the human skull and brain to bulge at the back for a way to retain and keep hidden knowledge and experiences from the past, maybe even the memories of reincarnated lives.
On this basis I imagined a Chakra in the back of the brain to try and visualize memory and dormant experience. This was of course difficult because the mind is more comfortable forming pictures in the Ajna, or third eye.
One way around this was to imagine the bulgy bone at the base of nape as like a crystal ball that images might flow from there, if a constant stream of energy was diverted away from the Ajna into the new imaginary Chakra in the back of the head.

This led me to think about the Greek Titan, Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. So I did some reading on the Greek myths and one story that certainly caught my interest was the mythology surrounding the Garden of Hesperides and the Tree of Golden Apples. The story of Atalanta and Hippomenes was also very interesting and could hold a mythological origin of pomes, though I would need to read more to find out if this is true.
Anyway, next time I meditate on hidden memory I might try thinking about those golden apples and how they could help free the mind so as to make further explorations possible.

Today's card is the Wheel of Fortune and as Chakra means 'wheel'
this card then is very appropriate. As both Zombies and fruit can rot quite quickly
the message here seems to be, place your bets before the wheel stops spinning
or forever hold your piece.

[Ciderwell]

Day 11: 28.9. Eleusinia - an ancient Greek holiday, commemorating Demeter and Persephone. She has to leave the world of growth and abundance and descend to the realm of death. This card reflects grief, sadness and the traces of tears in your life. Acknowledge and honour them.

The Gravestone spread is taken from the Zombie Tarot instruction manual:

Question - How much of the Hereafter is personal choice?

The World being the central question of your life.
The High Priestess is the unforeseen forces acting upon that question.
The Hermit is how other people affect you.
Death is the circumstances effecting your life.
Judgement is who or what is available to help.
Nine of Cups is the outcome of the question.

Demeter and Persephone do inspire the heavy questions.

The card layout tells a short story version, that any life after
death is actually a contradiction in terms, and where zombification may have it's merits.
Christians believe there will be a Heavenly division bell, a parting of the ways
of Good and Evil, where only Good enters the Kingdom of Heaven ...
outside there shall be the grinding and gnashing of teeth!

The cards hint at a different version.
The 9 of Cups, being the outcome of the question is paradise found, where
peace and happiness reign. Though I recall a tropical island back in Day 1. that
says otherwise.

So if all ends in fire regardless maybe Birth, Life, and Death, are all
one and the same. And next time around it might not be oxygen you take
as your fist and last breath, it just might be ...
nitrogen?