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The Blasted Oak is placed at Lammas, on 1 August, and beside the Woodward on the inner circle of the Wheel. This card is associated with the full moon, the elements of Fire and Water and the concept of sacrifice.
A figure falls from a severed branch of the lightning-struck oak. Flames dance around the falling figure, turning the hair to flame and burning the bonds that appear to have tied the person to the branch. As the figure falls, attached to neither tree nor earth, the powerful lightning energy charges the very air with dancing fingers of light and seeks to earth itself by passing through the figure and shooting from the outstretched fingers that seem to be reaching for the ground.
Just as the universe has the power to create, so it also has the power to destroy. The sudden catabolic power of natural catastrophe and disaster is almost unimaginable. With a sideways flick of its tail the hurricane can uproot a bridge, just as a shudder on the Earth’s crust can reduce whole cities to rubble and send tidal shock waves around the world. On the human level we build our seemingly indestructible edifices of theory, technical endeavour, and civilisation, believing they are immortal and immovable. We wrap ourselves in the trappings of power and position, but in the end we own nothing; we only borrow for the time we are here. All we truly have is what we have learned.
This image combines two if the traditional Tarot cards: the Hanged Man and the Tower. Here the great forest oak is shattered by the power of the storm. For those who have climbed the tree and lashed themselves to a branch, the fall may be long. So too arrogance and pretension of material life may be torn apart by a single act of nature or fate. But the fire that blasts the limb also burns the bonds that have held us in a position of false security. Just as the Hanged Man is caught in a state of divine sacrifice and linked to the threefold death, here in the Blasted Oak, the tree itself is shaken and scarred. Likewise, the tower is shattered by the storm and believing in the illusion of material power can only end in spiritual isolation, stagnation, and collapse.
But even as we fall, the power that floods our senses with pain also cleanses and burns away the illusions and falsehoods. As our hands reach for the stable Earth, the power grounds itself through us. Our sense are alive with the heat of life. Our emotions are ablaze with passion. Perhaps we had forgotten the intensity of desire, the need to keep struggling for understanding. The essence of true strength and enduring spirit cannot be bought with gold or position or grandiose esoteric theory. It is found in the ashes and flames of nature’s own “wild” card.
What appears to be a random dissolution or destruction of your beliefs and relationships is timely and natural. The sea swallows what was built on shifting sand and you are liberated from being a powerless victim. Now you have a base on which your inner strength can adapt and evolve. This may happen suddenly, with shocking speed. The trauma may leave you stunned and confused, but the fiery blast that sent you falling to Earth has also jolted you from a state of trance that allowed you to avoid dealing with profound and fundamental issues. Don’t be angry or bitter at this passing, for whatever has gone never really belonged to you. Be patient, wait and learn from the process of loss.
Primal force • Curative destruction • The bolt from the blue • The flash of spiritual illumination • Clean break • The fire of creation • Breaking the mould • Rising from the ashes of destruction
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January 13, 2025 7:40 AM (EST)
Dear Allison & the Onyx Savant,
How are you two? I have been thinking of you, as I go through my days, even though I have been quiet. And always, my Masters of All-That-Is-Dignified are ever in the forefront of my mind. I hope you made it through the blizzard of ‘25 safe and warm. :-P I made vegetarian chili and cheesy cornbread. Ms. B has been going wild in the cold, while I hate everything that exists at this time of year (except super cute and totally innocent stuff). I swear, in term of attitude and demeanor, I turn into a hibernating bear at this time of year. I don’t know about y’all, but I could use a day on a very warm beach right about now, one that comes with a nice young lad to bring me drinks and not interrupt me otherwise. Anyway. That probably makes me some kind of groomin’, boomin’ Karen. I could give two squats.
I think my current problem is I can’t communicate what I feel away. Or I don’t know how to. I am trying to be more creative in a lot of different ways in order to move this sadness and fear through me. But it keeps coming, I guess, or I’m not saying it right. I’m scared every day for what January 21 will bring. That’s not helping me, I know, but I don’t know how to stop feeling it. No, I’m not following moment by moment, but I know a little. “Greenland ho!” and so forth. I love politics. I love watching the votes and the hearings. I remember watching the Ollie North hearing on TV in the 1980s. It sucks that now every bit of news out of the Capitol is a trauma. Y’all assholes ruined my thing.
That’s what I would like to learn. How to look in their faces and keep my cool. How to not let their lack of kindness get to me so much. That whole “justice sensitivity” thing. I need it to be less sensitive, at least in the moment. Less reactive. I have a desire to put myself through some training, like this is the part in the movie about Idlewild where there’s a montage of archery classes, meditation, martial arts, and study that culminates in Super Idlewild. Lol. You know what I mean. I’m trying to approach it. I looked up archery lessons in the area. There’s only a few places in the state where you can get them, it seems. I was surprised. One place is in Charlotte, but they are undergoing renovations and will re-open on February 1. Falconry would also be fun, but I am lacking a falcon. :-( I think it would make me less anxious and more confident to do something like that. We’ll see.
Ally-san, I am supposed to see you today, and thank the good Lord. I don’t mind saying “Lord” anymore because I either say it facetiously or simply mean the “masculine” aspect of the Universe. We are supposed to go see my parents this weekend, and I desperately don’t want to. I know it will make everybody’s consciences feel better, I guess. Why should I go there if they have all but said they’re not coming here? Anyway. And we don’t get along unless I just say nothing about my thoughts. Whee. I am still trying to work through how I feel. I fucked up my painting, but maybe I can make it a “happy accident.” Sigh. I am also working on writing, although I admit I have avoided the keyboard the past couple of days. I’ve been considering writing stories. I’ve had a lot of “vignettes” in my mind. For instance, when I see someone at a store or on the street, I make up a little paragraph about them, a scenario of who they are and why they’re doing what they’re doing. Usually they’re funny in some way. Of course I can’t think of one now because you’re staring at me, but maybe later. I worry that I am no good at making a plot that makes sense or is entertaining. I always wrote poetry, but I amn’t feeling poetic.
It’s Monday, and I am sympathetic to all my fellow homo sapiens who have to run off to start a new work week. I, personally, like Mondays now. I think I’ve said so before, but Mr. H goes to work after being in the house all weekend, and I feel like I can finally get down to business. All is quiet on the western NC front this AM: the cat is fed, the dog is abed, and I have completed my daily almanack. The day, the week—it’s all a fresh start and a clean checklist. Such a rudimentary piece of technology, but I got a clipboard at PopShelf this weekend (so you know it’s adorable) that is going to help me a ton, I think. I have a laminated checklist that I’m going to affix to it to carry around and do all my tasks. It also has a pocket and legal pad inside, so I can write down things I need to buy or what-have-you.
I don’t suppose you want to be here for all that because you probably have your own list to organise. I hope, despite its reputation, that Monday treats you very well. It’s supposed to warm up quite a bit, so I hope that gives you new vigor and resilience to carry through. I hope there may be a delightful surprise in store for you today from an unexpected corner and that your day is filled with serendipity.
Love ya like a sistah—
Case Study #69