Artist: Rudolph Pointner

I said, “Tell me something about song,” shuffled this deck thoroughly and drew the Five of Cups— previously pulled from this exact deck on December 7th.   The five of cups is disappointment or loss. I will interpret it this way: I am shy of my voice. I love to sing, but am afraid to do so in the presence of others. I wish I could remember all the words and melodies that move me, but this is rarely the case. The five of cups is a sad song, still beautiful, perhaps even more so for its loss.

*    *    *

For something new, I shuffled again and said, “Tell me something about sacred song.” I pulled the Six of Wands, upside-down.

About wands in general, this little booklet says:

“…[the significance of an object depends] on the way it is viewed. Who is wise sees an object in its entirety, for his is the capacity to recognize the oneness in the multiplicity.”

And about this card in particular:

positive meaning— encouraging news; negative meaning— depressing information.

The act of god singing the world into being is the most sacred song conceivable.

Swami Tripurari writes:

Those that vibrate the names of God in order to achieve liberation, thinking that any name of the divine is equal to any other, may encounter transcendence as a vague experience… // This understanding of transcendence is considered to be elementary by those who maintain that the divine name is a “supramental” sound representation of Godhead. // For those engaged in pure devotion, vibrating the supramental name is both the means and the end of their culture of divinity.

In other words:

Some say the personality of the divine is contained within the Name. Through the medium of sound, the world comes into being; through divine sound it can be properly understood. Those who chant the names of God knowing the sound of the Name itself is divinity beyond conception— devotion beyond knowledge— those thus purely engaged in sacred song become a spiritual self-manifestation of the universe— become the spirit of the the universe itself.

In conclusion, the Six of Wands, interpreted as pulled upside-down:

Song has the most powerful significance for a person depending on the way it is viewed. Who is wise hears the sacred Name in its entirety, for theirs is the capacity to recognize the oneness in the multiplicity

—depressing information for those of us afraid of the power of our own voice.