Tiwaz Day 2 - The Devil and Me: A Tarot Reading

 

Oh my, the Tarot is very literal this morning. In the image above, you see the reading I did for day two of my three-day journey with Tiwaz. I'm using the Tiwaz Rune Tarot Spread I created on Angelorum seven years ago, and I'm reading with the Crow Tarot (Pocket Edition). 

1. What is out of balance in my life now? The Devil

The funny thing is that the question at the back of my mind when I pulled these cards was, 'Who is the devil, really?' I've wrestled with this question a lot recently, to the point of ordering the book, The Witches' Devil by Roger J. Horne, yesterday. This much I do know: the god of the Bible is not the source of all creation. Delving deep into religious studies, I learned that Yahwe is an old Semitic storm god. He was originally part of a pantheon and even had a wife, Asherah. 

In recent years, I have come across traditional witchcraft practitioners who work with the devil. I'm curious to learn more about this. If "God" isn't who I thought he was, perhaps the devil isn't either...

This ties in with the Tiwaz rune, how? The Devil is the shadow of the divine masculine, so a great fit--especially in the Uthark rune row.

Interestingly, I came close to going down the devil's path 15 years ago. I had stumbled upon the Feri Tradition and the captivating Melek Taus, who is viewed by some muslims as the devil. But though I had let go of enough Christian dogma to suspect that the devil wasn't who the church said he was, I was still too full of fear programming to pursue this.

2. What am I doing that is causing this imbalance? 7 of Pentacles

I'm waiting around for signs. I think there is nothing more I can do right now, other than read yet another book. Meanwhile, tension is building as the old programming begins to crack. It's funny, isn't it? You think you're done with peeling back the layers of religious trauma, and then you find yet another layer. I'm sitting put when I should cross the hedge to find out for myself.

3. An important outside influence/cause of the imbalance. 9 of Cups

Looking around, I see plenty of witches who happily work with the devil. It's crazy. I've been intrigued by this for a while, but I've been afraid to admit it to myself... That fear, of course, is part of the religious programming. It's a fear that robs life of ecstasy and joy. I can almost taste that feeling of unbridled joy and ecstatic witchcraft when I see it in others. The question is, do I have the courage to claim it for myself?

4. Avoid this to bring balance back. 6 of Swords.

It seems I should avoid being too much in the head, or seek to bypass the heart by satisfying my intellectual curiosity about this topic. Reading another book won't settle the matter for me. I need real gnosis, and that only comes from an encounter.

5. Do (more of) this to bring balance/fairness back. The Empress

The divine feminine steps in with a message about how to meet this energy: Be more natural. Do what you love. Trust what you love. You love freedom, and you love to change and grow. Christianity told you this was wrong. It told you that the only way you were allowed to grow was to conform to a very specific ideal/image. 

Yes, this is the freedom I long for. I'm not necessarily going to work with the witches' devil myself, but I'm not going to chastise myself for my curiosity about him either.

Day two's lesson is about sovereignty and releasing more of the fear programming. It's about honouring Tiwaz by walking bravely straight toward the truth.

Love,
Lisa

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