Leap into Spring with Wild Hare & the Unfurling One
Plus: a tarot spread sneak peek from the new edition of the Gaian Tarot
Dear Ones,
I’m writing this after returning home from our local “Hands Off” demonstration. What a scene! It was heartening to stand up and be counted with thousands of friends and neighbors. I love my town and today’s gathering made me love it even more.
I hold my community work in one hand and my creative work in the other. I’m worried about the fate of our nation and world, and at the same time, I’m looking forward to the release of the new edition of the Gaian Tarot at the end of April. (I share an excerpt from the book below.)
This is the kind of leaping, dizzying dance we’re all doing these days, juggling the joys and challenges of our personal lives with the ongoing collective experience of trauma.
Leap into Spring with Wild Hare & the Unfurling One
If you’re new to my work, you may not know that I’m working on a new project, the Sacred Wheel Oracle, which compares the seasonal Wheel to the lunar cycle and the stages of life. There are eight suits in the deck and each suit has six cards, including a Numinous Being and an Animal Companion.
I just finished the Wild Hare, the Animal Companion for Spring, and wanted to share it with you. You can see the finished card at the top of this post. The hare, larger than a rabbit with longer ears, is a quintessential sign of spring, given the symbolism of fertility and frenetic “madness” of its mating dance. The hare shows up in folklore around the world in many paradoxical guises. They might be a messenger or guide to and from the Otherworld; a companion to the moon goddess; an omen of good or ill; or a clown or trickster.
A leaping hare design appears on the shirt of the Unfurling One, the Numinous Being who presides over the season of Spring in my oracle system. I wrote about the Unfurling One last Spring in this post. Here’s a snippet of the blessing they offer you. I invite you to receive it, to take it in, and allow it to light you up … you might even find yourself leaping (metaphorically or literally)!
May you open your heart to the green fire of growth.
May you know the tenacity of a thistle and the tenderness of a cherry blossom.
May you sting like nettles and soothe like chamomile.
I bless you with the courage to take a stand for a righteous cause.
I bless you with bitter herbs and sweet honey.
I bless you with spring fever, feistiness, and fearlessness.
And so it is.
Theme, Task, Prayer ~ a Tarot Spread by Morgan Glover
My prayer for the Gaian Tarot, since its inception in 2000, has always been that it will act as a trusted guide for each person to uncover their own inner wisdom. I’m so grateful that it continues to be a trusted companion for so many folks.
I wrote about the new edition of the Gaian here and here. I’m still kind of gobsmacked to realize that an idea that I had 25 years ago, which took nine years to bring to completion, is now going into a fifth published version. Who knew it would go through so many cycles of rebirth and renewal?
I asked a few of my tarot friends and colleagues to contribute spreads and practices to the new version of the Gaian Tarot book. One of my favorites is the following simple, powerful spread by Morgan Glover. I’ve been pulling three cards around the first day of each calendar month for several years now, using this spread. The following is an excerpt from the book. Thank you, Morgan! (Check out Morgan’s Substack, Via Ecosophia. She writes about Christian Hermeticism and “the way of ecological wisdom.”
This three-card spread is well suited as a “look ahead” reading for the coming week or month. It recognizes the importance both of individual initiative and support from our “holy helpers.”
Theme: What opportunity, challenge, or dynamic am I being invited to pay attention to?
Task: What practical action(s) can I take to best meet what I will encounter?
Prayer: What message or assistance is being offered by my holy helpers, spirit guides, ancestors, etc.? What form might my prayer or ceremony take to communicate with them or express the guidance I’ve received?
— From the new edition of the Gaian Tarot, written by Morgan Glover.
I pulled three cards for myself for the month of April and noted the “pithy wisdom statements” for each card from the book. (These were affirmations in previous editions.)
Theme: 7 of Air.
I’m being invited to pay attention to the opportunity, challenge, or dynamic of strategizing and planning, but leaving room for serendipity.
Task: 10 of Air.
The practical action I can take to best meet what I will encounter is releasing the plans, ideas, or strategies that no longer work for me.
Prayer: 8 of Earth.
The message I’m being offered by my holy helpers is to remember that my devotion to my craft is a boon to those who learn from me.
The prayer or ceremony I might take to express the guidance I received from my holy helpers is to listen to trusted mentors and pass on my knowledge to others.
My thoughts on this spread:
Theme: Making plans and strategizing is not new to me. As a good Capricorn, I’m not sure I know how to function without my outline and to-do list. So perhaps I’m being asked to be flexible, which is more of a challenge. To know when to throw a plan out the window and go on instinct is harder for me. The strategizing is probably showing up both in my creative work and in my resistance work, which is taking up more of my time than it has in the past.
Task: The idea of letting go continues with the 10 of Air. I see this as similar to the editing process. I begin with a long list of things I want to do and accomplish, then whittle them down to just a few. Then I can give my full attention and whole heart to those and not fret over the rest. I’m getting better at this, the older I get!
Prayer: I love the framing of “learning, listening, teaching, and sharing” as prayer or ceremony.
I’ll return to these three cards as April unfolds, to contemplate where and how I might be more flexible in my plans; what strategies I need to release; and remember that learning and sharing are forms of prayer.
Your turn! If you try this spread, please share in the comments.
If you’re one of the folks who have pre-ordered the deck, thank you so much! Pre-orders are extremely important to authors and publishers. If you haven’t ordered yet but know you want the deck, please consider pre-ordering. I advocate ordering online from Bookshop.org or your friendly neighborhood independent bookstore. Thank you.
This Week’s Song: “Sisters of Winter” by MILCK
I love sharing songs that have moved me in some way. And I’m always excited to discover artists who are new to me. This song by MILCK and friends blew me away last week. Thank you to Jennifer Lucero-Earle for passing on the link to this reel. I immediately loved the sound of the song, the lyrics, and the passion of the singers. Then I read the explanation of how the song was inspired by the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer, one of my personal heras. That makes it even more moving.
MILCK wrote this on her Instagram feed:
“As many of you are experiencing, I am bottled up with rage, worry, and care. Words are falling short so I want to share a battlecry I wrote 13 days ago with @rayezaragoza and @annabschulze. This is our battlecry in response to the political overwhelm — so that we can tap into our inner power and rise above the reign of control.
We write about grief and rest as well … Let’s take a deep breath, pound our chests, and sing out the pain. Clear the channels. Let’s remember we’re alive, we’re one, and we’re powerful.”
The song is not yet available on YouTube or Spotify but you can listen to it by clicking on the image below, which will open Instagram. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Thank you, always, for being part of my circle and community.
Leap like a Wild Hare,
Some of the links in this post are affiliate links to Bookshop.org or my website shop.
About me: I’m Joanna Powell Colbert, creator of the Gaian Tarot and the Pentimento Tarot, and co-creator of the Herbcrafter’s Tarot. I write and teach about tarot, earth-centered spirituality, seasonal & lunar lore, and creativity as a spiritual practice. You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, or BlueSky.
OOhhhh, I love this phrase: "May you sting like nettles and soothe like chamomile." I grow both of these and use them ceremonially. Can't wait for your Sacred Wheel to come out! And I pre-ordered your new Gaian quite awhile back. Love the green borders on these. Still shaking my head that it's been 25 years. . . wow, what an impact you and your wondrous creations have had on my life! <3
I think it must be characteristic of Earth-sign Suns (I'm a Virgo) that we whittle away the nonsense and get down to the good core and the strong structure as we get up in age!