Continuing the series of working through each card in the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit deck, we are now at number nine. Nines are a precious energy, and it makes sense that the nine in the earth element (habits, actions, fears, manifestations, etc.) is given to the Lamb.
Before going further, I just want to remind you that you can find my previous blog posts of the first eight cards. I recommend reading about the other cards as well to see how each one builds in some way onto the next card.
For example, we had the Buffalo (Bison) at card eight. The Buffalo speaks to moving in alignment with the greater life cycles. The Buffalo invites you to lean into grace, faither in yourself, and strength with an understanding that life’s many turns will ask you to dig deep, but that is how you rise.
Now, at number nine we have energies of spiritual fruition, attainment, fulfillment, gestation, and deep evolution within the self.
Let’s see what the Lamb has to say in working with these energies…
Finding inner peace with the Lamb
Once you go through the transformational rooting and trust into Earth and the Divine with the Buffalo, you now arrive at the Lamb.
Lambs are primordial in their symbolism- speaking to the innocence and sacrifice of Jesus, to the lambing season being a key symbol of rebirth for Pagans who celebrate Imbolc, which just passed on February 1st, to the need of sacrifice and rebirth.
Childlike, vulnerable, and the embodiment of peace, the Lamb asks you to consider where you can come home to wonder, peace, joy, and tenderness.
This life chews us up and spits us out, and it would be easy to gain the hard, leathery skin of experience and contempt, but the Lamb naturally pulls out the gentle compassion and untouched essence in each of us.
I think this choice of the Lamb at number nine was a deliberate message of spiritual attainment aligning with a return to the softness and gentleness in each person.
This level of gestation and higher self means a return to the simple, but Divine nature within. Here, in this space of vulnerable gentleness and tender embodiment, we let the World in. Where others shun and scorn, we turn to the peaceful and prophetic understanding that the Lamb brings us back home and helps us find renewal.
One of the main invitations that I think is important to use when working with the Lamb (either in this card, or in general) is the connection of the Lamb to the Land.
This is where I think much of the magick with this animal lies.
First, going back to what I mentioned above, the Lamb as a tiny babe is vulnerable, and there is a world of predators out there. How can something so small and fragile make it in this hostile world? The Lamb speaks to renewal because when we see something so small and unable to defend or protect itself make it to a new season, or to a new sunrise it gives us hope for ourselves.
We see our best and most dear attributes when we see the Lamb, and want to know that rebirth is possible for us too. We are the children of the Earth, birthed and nourished in an unforgiving world where our necks are constantly exposed. Unlike the Lamb, we all have wounds and scars- things that we have done in our lives that took us away from the purity and innocence within, but the Lamb says that we still carry it in our spirit. But do we have the courage to let our actions reflect the lamb within?
Sheep are one of the oldest animals to be domesticated. This means that Sheep are a tether we carry to lineage, ancestor, and the land, which is another way to find your inner peace. The Lamb speaks to the magickal cycles of Earth, weather, season, time, energy, and pace. When living so closely to these cycles, you begin to see that slow and steady is where you let the inner peace come through. Gone are the days of the rat race. When working with the Lamb, you are being invited to go out into nature, to listen, to receive, to sit, to find stillness.
This is where the magick lies.
Guidance from the guidebook
Some key references from the guidebook
Keywords / phrases: Peaceful, Prophetic, Patient
When in balance: Knowingness, Inner peace
When out of balance: Quiet, Timid, Concerned
To bring into balance: Meditation, Listening
Following the guidance from the guidebook, working with the Lamb means to start creating that softness by finding stillness. The Lamb card says that you can only find the wisdom of peace and patience, when you have created the space for it to speak to you. Think of it this way, if you and I are at a heavy metal concert (hello fellow comrade), I am not going to be having a deep heart to heart conversation with you. The thrash and bang of those beautiful instruments inhibits that type of conversation.
Now, if you and I were sitting by a riverbank or by a fire and I wanted to go deeper into an intimate conversation, I could do it in that setting. The Lamb says that finding inner wisdom, compassion, and peace means creating space by the metaphorical (or physical) riverbank or fireside to promote that needed quiet.
The energies of the Lamb invite a return to quiet, stillness, softness, and receptivity. When we are jaded or bitter, it is a much harder ride to get us to wisdom and guidance within. To be clear, neither the Lamb, nor I, are saying that those feelings are detestable, or shouldn’t be felt. Those feelings are valid, and can provide clarity in their own way.
What me and the Lamb are saying is that: to find the knowingness within, you need to have a rooted approach of patience and gentleness with yourself. You are being invited with this card to consider where softness could pave the way towards understanding, compassion, connection, and inner peace. Stillness, reverence, and receptivity are things require vulnerability. Where can you be vulnerable right now? Where can you listen? These are the teachings of the Lamb, and ones that we all return to more often than we do.
Ashlie McDiarmid
Hello there! I hope you liked this blog post. As a tarot and oracle reader, my goal with my blogs is to offer you content, resources, and access to the tools that have transformed my life.
I believe that your own intuition is the deepest form of knowing, but here in my little corner of the internet, I share insights based in intuition and instinct. I share my love for nature, witchcraft, and the wild spirit.
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