past}present}future: Black Walnut & Death
The hardest nut to crack has the most beautiful ink within
The two cards, without fail, that people hate seeing in a tarot spread are Death and The Tower. And I find myself consistently saying the same thing when they appear in a reading which is that they represent an ending that one already knows about, literally, the querent will have just told me that they are in the process of going through a divorce or moving to a new city, and then they shudder when they see the Death card and I am just like you already know this is coming.
When this card (or The Tower, for that matter) appears, it is really offering some insight about how the process is going to go. Since this month’s focus is on Death, I will just focus on that one and in that, the message is the time is done and its all part of life. Relationships end, they change and evolve. Jobs are temporary holds on our time and focus. Some of us are meant to call multiple places home. And eventually the big D will come for us in one way or another.
In that, is where the real message comes and why I think Black Walnut as a plant ally this season feels compatible. Mostly because it is notoriously the hardest nut to crack. This fact alone is enough to prove daunting in our approach but really the task of cracking this nut is one that offers a transformative possibility to imagine a new future.
We die many times in a single existence. And the longer we resist, hold on to what once was, the further we move ourselves into a land of illusion which is more painful to leave than reality.
What often gets ignored about Black Walnut is its healing properties, especially for the nails and the skin. It also can be diluted into the most gorgeous ink and I feel this is the iteration most worth focusing on in this moment: not resisting the struggle to break open so we can release the ink within to write the next chapter of our lives.
The next Tarot Club is on Thursday, Nov 12 from 6-8pm EST in Hudson at the GOODWITCH studio or online. Register here.