Heart's Desire

Heart's Desire

You shall receive whatever gift you may name, as far as wind
dries, rain wets, sun revolves; as far as sea encircles and earth
extends.    __ Culhwch and Olwen, from The Mabinogian (trans CM)


   How many times since childhood have we pondered our heart's desire? When we were young, we grasped the notion of bountiful giving and the granting of wishes very easily from the folk and faery stories that we read. In our growing up, we began to struggle against the denial of heart's desire. As adults, most of us have given over even contemplating it.

  The heart's desire is not an illusory or unachievable ambition if we can suspend our adult disbelief.  The true heart's desire is an integral potentiality, a germinated seed waiting to manifest. So what prevents us from achieving it? Our lives may be littered with unresolved and undeveloped wishes, all of which block the way to our true heart's desire. If we are to achieve the core of our wish, we must first rescind and cancel our immature wishes - unless, of course, we still wish to grow a monkey's tail, obtain a rocking horse, drive a steam engine, or marry Elvis Presely!  We must cancel our old and immature wishes by calling them back and revoking them, along with any other idle wishes we may have uttered and since forgotten. Then the way stands clear.

  If we can commune deeply upon our true heart's desire, rather than upon our fantasies, if we can envision it with every cell of our body and call to it, then we send a true song to make the pathway between ourselves and heart's desire.

"What is your heart's desire? Which former wishes are preventing you from attaining it? Cancel
them, as suggested above."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]


 I noticed in the margins of my Celtic Spirit book this morning that I had written in Revelation of Art by this essay.  This is the name of a tarot card in the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck by Caitlin Matthews. So I looked it up and posted the image of it here with this essay this morning.  In the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck the Minor Arcana suits are listed as:  Swords suit is called Battle suit; Wands suit is called Skill suit; Pentacles suit is calle Knowledge suit; and Cups suit is called Art suit.  So this card is the Nine of Cups in traditional tarot decks.

  For those not familiar with tarot cards the Nine of Cups card represents wish fulfillment, achieving what you desire.  Looking in the handbook for the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck and reading the Soul-Wisdom for this card - "Wishes come true for those who keep the longing alive. Ensure that you really want what you wis for, Rescind any wishes that are no longer appropriate. What is your heart's true desire?"  

  The Background story of this card's image is this:  Conn of a Hundred Battles asked how many kings of his line would reign after him. No sooner had he asked, than he and his poet, Cesarn, found themselves in the Otherworld. They entered a great hall where the Goddess of Sovereignty sat in a crystal chair, crowned with a golden diadem. There was a silver vat with golden edges before her and a golden cup beside her. Also at her side sat the spiritual form of the God Lugh. The Goddess of Sovereignty gave Conn food and asked Lugh to whom the cup of red lordship (ale) should be poured. Lugh named every successor of Conn's in order, while Cesarn recorded these in ogam on staves of Yew. The Goddess of Sovereignty's duty is to defend the land and ensure that worthy candidates become rulers. By their unique relationship with her, kings like Conn are married to the land and maintain that contract by faithful husbandry.

  Found this rather interesting to read about....
S.