Releasing Winter

Welcome to March’s New Moon in Pisces. On March 20th we will welcome Spring at the Vernal Equinox. We shift from Pisces and The Moon, into Aries and The Emperor.

The work we do in Winter is to rest and digest. The soil of our spiritual gardens requires this time to compost. What appears dormant is actually in preparation for the explosion of creativity and growth that begins in Spring.

When asked, “what are we releasing?” in this final week of Winter and in preparation for the Equinox, the cards that came forward are the 5 of Pentacles and The Hermit.

The fives of the Tarot are always in support of our contraction times. In preparation for and in reaction to great expansion, we honor contraction.

In this card, we see two characters that have been afflicted with both poverty and physical pain. Their clothes are inadequate for the snow, one carries a crutch and the other is bandaged.

They have each other, but their hardship has been their bond. These pilgrims have become so accustomed to struggle and strife, they have forgotten how to receive.

Above them, five pentacles shine light from a stained-glass window of a church; however, the figures do not see the light or the church. Without a door, the figures appear to be locked out.

At its most painfully acute, this card can reflect the feeling that we have been abandoned by God.

The five of the Major Arcana is The Hierophant. It is also the numerological card of 2021.

A hierophant is defined as, “A person who interprets sacred mysteries.” It is the first card in the Major Arcana to depict more than one figure.

In it, two figures make themselves supplicant to a purported leader, a keeper of sacred orthodox knowledge. Alister Crowley saw this card as our initiation to unity with the universe.

The five points in The Hierophant are the head, the fingers, the staff, and the two figures’ heads. These points are arranged in the same way as the five pentacles in the church window.

The original message of The Hierophant suggests that through structure and study, we can become inducted into Spirit.

Releasing the 5 of Pentacle this week is a microcosm of the work we as a collective are called to do in 2021 – reforming how we conceive of our initiation to unity with the universe.

This COVID winter has been legitimately difficult for so many of us. The physical poverty and ill health that characterize the 5 of Pentacles are recognizable to so many millions. Isolation born of necessity has left so many individuals feeling locked out of our old sanctuaries.

For those who have been living with family or a pod, it may feel that only this hardship now characterizes those bonds. We can feel where our avenues to Spirit are contracted. Our guide to releasing this contraction is The Hermit.

The Hermit is the card of Virgo. We witness a wise individual who withdraws from the outside world in order to explore the unconscious mind. This is very much in keeping with these final days of Pisces and The Moon.

In contrast to The Hierophant, who offers a guide to Spirit through the orthodoxy of the church, The Hermit presents an alternative guide to spirit through personal experience.

Unlike the light from the church that goes unseen, The Hermit holds his own lantern which emits just enough light to see a few steps forward in the snow. This is the light of our inner divinity. The Hermit leans upon a wizard’s staff, trusting his inner knowledge as teachings of the divine.

We have all worked on ourselves so much these past 12 months, willingly or not, knowingly or not. We have collectively been forced to transfer our focus from acquiring and spending, from going and doing to simply being and becoming.

The struggles of the 5 of Pentacles are real, but in those struggles, I have also seen a wealth of self-discovery for myself, for my community, and for my clients.

No one will forget this last year. With vaccinations already being rolled out, a new administration that has committed to acknowledging facts and truth, and the first days of spring ahead of us. We are ready to release any attachments we’ve made to identifying as outsiders from grace.

What’s more, we have put in the work to identify our inner strengths and we have become our own best teachers. We have matured beyond the need to fill our days with meaningless activity and hopefully found some fulfillment in stillness and personal growth.

Without the applause or scorn of others, The Hermit seeks self-approval.

As we release the 5 of Pentacles with the guidance of The Hermit, we also develop in our charge to evolve the card of 2021, The Hierophant. We see that it is not some outside figure or teacher who holds the keys to our induction to spirit. We are both teachers and students.

In the dark nights between this New Moon and our 1st Quarter Moon, when we will begin a new Zodiac calendar with Aries and The Emperor on the Spring Equinox, I invite you to notice if there are areas in which you feel contraction or disconnection from Spirit.

You can release those constraints with the gentle light of your own spirit’s lantern. The light from the church window is for you, the unity with the universe is within you. The circumstances don’t make the situation – you are transcendent.