Ecology of Devotion: Dandelion
"Seek wisdom in weeds": Dandelion in the Herbcrafter’s & Gaian Tarots
Dear Ones,
Fields of yellow daffodils may take my breath away, but the lowly dandelion has my heart.
There’s something about the tenacity of the dandelion, its bright yellow flowers so welcome after a long gray winter, and its reputation as a trickster (weed or medicine?) that always puts a grin on my face.
Ecology of Devotion: Dandelion
My friend and tarot colleague Carolyn Cushing came up with the phrase “Ecology of Devotion” a few years back. Carolyn noticed that some plants turn up in both the Gaian and the Herbcrafter’s tarot decks, and she wondered how those cards might interact with each other.
She suggested that we choose a plant from the Herbcrafter’s Tarot and look to see if and where it appears in the Gaian. Carolyn was curious about how those cards might support and amplify each other. She suggested that we come up with questions to ask inspired by those cards. My first “Ecology of Devotion” post was about Hawthorn. Today we’re looking at Dandelion.
I pulled Dandelion, the Fool from the Herbcrafter’s Tarot and the Teacher (Hierophant) from the Gaian Tarot. I refreshed my memory of the essential meanings of those cards. Here’s what I came up with:
Herbcrafter’s Fool: “Follow your dream seeds. Be audacious in your adventures. Seek wisdom in weeds.” (Words by Latisha Guthrie.)
Gaian Teacher: A weed is a teacher to a holy fool.
I played around with creating questions:
Herbcrafter’s Fool: How might my longing for an audacious adventure …
Gaian Teacher: … lead me to an unexpected teacher?
How might my longing for an audacious adventure lead me to an unexpected teacher?
Then I turned it around and changed it into a pithy wisdom statement:
My longing for audacious adventure may lead to unexpected insights.
(An action is implicit here: Get out there on an audacious adventure with a heart wide open to the unexpected!)