The monthly cards for October are Judgment and Thanatos, perfect cards for this month, and this time. These cards are also both often misunderstood, and I hope to shed some light on how these cards can be beneficial and beautiful.
Judgement, at its core, is about awakening your sacred service to your higher calling. It is about finding and channeling your freedom from the bondage of anything that holds you down. In the light, Judgement opens us to deeper levels of sensation, allowing interpretation and communication between the self, the spirit, the environment, and others to deepen and become more clear.
Judgement is not merely about rebirth. Rebirth is a beautiful thing, and it is needed on our Fool’s journey, however; Judgement is about recognizing that as we move through the last phases of this cycle we recognize that we cannot carry things that do not serve us. This means that Judgment can also bring about challenge or obstacle, because we are going to have to leave something behind. Judgement is the card that comes after the Sun, the Moon, and the Star. This indicates that as we move forward, we are moving forward with clarity and awakening from both consciousness raising, reflection, and stillness.
Thanatos is the God, or sometimes referred to as the Spirit, of Death. His presence is not about violence or pain. The space that Thanatos holds is simply the clock, or thread, of our lives. There is an end, and when that end comes Thanatos comes and gently takes our spirit to the Underworld. The legend states that he was born as a shard broken from the body of the Goddess of Night, Nyx. His brother, Hypnos is the God of Sleep.
The key message with Thanatos is that his presence is constant, even if, at times it is metaphorical. Death is the counterweight to life. It gives it meaning and purpose. Death motivates us to live, but it also brings intense grief, pain, and loss. Those who are marked by death are never the same. They have come close to the Underworld, to the last, and ultimate threshold.
There is a sweeping similarity with both of these cards, and that is loss. Judgement may not mean loss in the sense of Death, just like Thanatos may not represent a physical death. They both speak to losing and releasing something that has come a long way with us, and given us breadth, has elevated our journey to this moment. They also both speak to transcending and moving past this present moment, although their movement moves in opposite directions.
Judgement takes us closer to the divine, to higher awareness or knowledge, and into forgiveness, love, compassion, and clarity. Thanatos takes us to the Underworld, to the drastic, to the forced or willing release. Thanatos strips us bare. When his energy comes we relinquish power and choice and action. There is no other way. There is only an end that leaves the void for something new. Judgement clothes us in possibility, in new purpose, in a new cycle.
In working with these cards for this month, look to what you are being asked, or forced, to release. Look to what is within a death cycle around you. Tend to your physical body during this process, because your body is the container for all this moving and releasing. It is bound to feel it in some way. For October, see where you are being called to rise in your presence, and also where you are being asked to relinquish presence.
For me, Thanatos and Judgement have greatly shaped some decisions that I have needed to make in terms of presence. They were asking me to be honest, and accept the death cycles where they were stirring in me. Because of that, I have decided to stop doing the monthly zines. I will still be pulling monthly cards, but the zines were starting to take more out of me than they were giving. It was time to release space so that I could more fully focus on the podcast, and courses that I want to create as part of my spiritual council sessions.
I hope that as you embody this card, you find new or reclaimed purpose. I hope your emotions move like a river towards an endless ocean. I hope you have ease and comfort where needed. These cards are quite heavy, so again, take special care to nourish the body with whole foods, medicinal herbs (if you use them), sleep, and support. I was surprised at first how fitting these cards where for the times and month that we are in, but now, I believe and know there is a purpose for their messages. Much love! XOXO