KEYWORDS: Inspiration, renewal, soul retrieval.
The Awakening represents the stage in our evolution when we begin to remember a pre-existent higher level of consciousness. We remember our own divine essence.
For this Plutonic card of Awakening, I use the Anatolian (Turkish) image of Hecate, and the Greek image of Pandora. Hecate is known as the protector of women, a Goddess of witches and of the dark side of the moon. She is also the Queen of the Dead and the guardian of the gates and crossroads. The threefold crossroads are especially sacred to Hecate. It is here that on a moonless night, bearing a torch and accompanied by her hounds, she walked. “A queen of death, she ruled the magical powers of regeneration; in addition, she could hold back her spectral hordes from the living if she chose.”
Pluto, the ruling planet of this card is mainly concerned with the concept of regeneration and the purging of the soul, thus awakening a higher consciousness. The intense subterranean nature of Plutonic energy is evoked in trump XV – Judgment in traditional decks,. Sometimes one needs to crawl through the flaming caverns of hell in order to find the route to heaven.
Pandora is a figure who got a bad reputation from patriarchal mythographers. Originally her name meant “rich in gifts, the all-giver, and the earth, in female forms.” Her “box” contained not the evils of the world, but the secrets of women’s knowledge and mysteries; these were never meant for “man” to see, but were wholly appropriate to be discovered by women.
Pandora is shown kneeling at the center of a threefold crossroad with a glowing key in her left hand with which to unlock a giant treasure chest. “The key, an attribute of Hecate, is related to the goddess as opener of the treasure chest of the door to the world. Finding a key signifies the stage – after great difficulties – just prior to discovery of treasure.”
Beside Pandora is a sacred black stone, one found in many of Hecate’s shrines. In front of her, a fiery tear in the earth’s crust exposes her to the potentially dangerous flames of the underworld, as she moves toward her “box.” The chest is decorated with moons and labyrises, both symbols of female power.
Hecate’s tree, the willow, flanks Pandora on either side. Above her, Hecate’s spectral figure, surrounded by her hounds, calls out. Seven rays emanate from her lips, reaching Pandora’s seven chakras, thus awakening her spirit.
On Hecate’s breast she wears her circle, “a gold sphere with a sapphire in its center, hung on a thong of oxhide, used for divination.” In her left hand, a torch blazes, lighting the turbulent night skies. Hecate was also revered as a storm goddess.
A butterfly flutters through the sky, a symbol of the goddess as transformer. “In the 2nd millennium B.C., because of their increasing importance, axes were made in imitation of a butterfly (therefore doublebladed). When finally the butterfly became a double-axe, the image of the goddess as a butterfly continued to be engraved on double axes.”
When we connect with the awakening energy of this Plutonic card, we feel compelled to cut away all that does not resonate with the innermost core of our being. Sometimes this awakening requires that we undergo major life changes. We view and explore the darker, hidden side of our natures in order to become more whole. This journey is not always pleasant, and it is very intense. Often our “Awakening” takes us back to people, places and things from our past for review and reassessment. In this way, we deepen our understanding, enabling us to let go of old feelings, resentments, and habits. Past life information may come forward as well, to help us realize our current life’s destiny. As we awaken our hidden resources, we have the opportunity to become all we can be.
