the lady of the lake

This card is associated with the story of King Arthur so it's important to understand a little bit of the background behind this card: Who is the lady of the lake? Why is she carrying this sword? Why is she walking out of the lake?

I don't fully know the story of King Arthur so I did a little bit of research and I learned that the lady of the lake was the goddess or fae who lives in the otherworld underneath the surface of the lake and she was the one who, upon the request of Merlin, presented King Arthur with his famous sword, his unbreakable sword, the sword of truth, Excalibur. And that's what she's doing on the card. She is bringing forth from the lake, Excalibur.

Whenever I read that I was a little bit confused because, like I said, I don't fully know the story of King Arthur in its detail. I had thought King Arthur pulled Excalibur from a stone. But let's just clear that up quickly. That's a different story and that was a different sword. So we're not even going to refer to that in this card because it's completely irrelevant.

We now know about the lady of the lake bringing Excalibur to King Arthur. What is this meaning? What message are we receiving for ourselves through this card?

The first thing that caught my eye, apart form the lady of the lake and Excalibur, was that it's quite a dark card. It's a heavy-coloured card. It's all greys and dark colours. Now, whenever I say it's a dark card, I don't mean that from any sinister point of view. How it came across to me was that it's dark as in it's solemn, it's serious. This action from the lady of the lake, passing Excalibur to King Arthur was a very solemn act, a very serious act because what it was basically saying was, "here you go, King Arthur, you now are the protector of Britain". The sword carried with it a very important task.

And the angels, through this card, are saying, we want you to carry your sword, the sword of truth, the sword of integrity. This is something serious we're asking you to do. We want you to carry your sword with pride, with courage. In other words, we want you to be true to who you are, to be true to your very essence, to be full and live your life with integrity. And that is something that very many people cannot say they do. It's nothing wrong but whenever you don't live your life with integrity, whenever you aren't living your life true to who you are, it just means you're not shining your light as brightly as you can.

And the reason a lot of people won't be living their life true to who they are or living in full integrity, is because they're listening to what society tells them they should and could, and should not and could not do, and they're perhaps following familial beliefs which aren't their own. We're all encouraged to fit in, we don't want to stand out. We're encouraged to fit in, to fit in with the crowd, to live an accepted life, to live a normal life. But that's not why we're here.

Whenever you live true to yourself, an integral life, you're not being swayed by anybody else's beliefs, what anybody else is telling you to do, and whatever. And that's not easy.

So, today, it's a serious message because we are being encouraged to shine our light, to be true to who we are, true to our very essence and to shine our light brightly. But we're being advised, this isn't going to be an easy task. Taking on this personal sword of Excalibur, your own Excalibur, it's not going to be something that's going to be handled easily. You can't simply carry this sword easily. It's a heavy and big sword, it's unbreakable.

Whenever you shine your light, whenever you are living an integral life and being truly true to yourself, you become unbreakable because you know who you are, you know what you believe in, and whatever anybody else says or does, it's either right or it's wrong for you. You won't be swayed. You won't do anything that doesn't feel right for you. You become an incredibly strong person just like this sword is unbreakable.

The lady of the lake, herself, she's a fae or a goddess that lives under the surface of the lake in the otherworld. And what that was saying to me was, water is about emotion. But the surface of the water is also our conscious mind. She's below that conscious mind. So it feels like she's coming from the subconscious; it feels like it's your subconscious, your higher self, your higher knowing, your connection with the Divine, and your intuition - that's what's stepping forward and saying to you, "carry your sword, carry your Excalibur, be true to yourself". Maybe you haven't, recently, been fully true to yourself. Maybe you've been doing things to please other people, to fit in and be accepted. And it's going against your grain. It's your subconscious stepping up and saying, "you need to stop doing that, you're here to be who you are and only you can be you. Nobody else can be you. Only you can be you."

You're being invited by your very soul to be who you are, to shine your light brightly.

What I noticed on the card, although it's quite a solemn card, the water on the lake is incredibly calm. It's also saying to me that although this is something very serious and not to be taken lightly, "we want you to do it, we also want you to stay calm about this. We don't want you to go into a tailspin, we don't want you to panic because it is serious."

Quite often in life, it's easier to run away from the serious things than to stand up and accept them and face them. It is something serious, but it's really important because life and the world are going through darker phases at the moment, it's really important for as many of us as possible to be true and integral to ourselves so our light can shine brightly. But, at the same time, although that's quite a serious invitation and quite a solemn and heavy invitation, you're not to panic over it. Start small. If somebody asks you to do something, not too big, nothing too serious, and it doesn't quite feel right,  stand up and say, "it doesn't feel right to me. I'm not going to do that".

 You can start small and practise and practise and practise and build on it until you are shining your light brightly.

The other thing about such goddesses and faes is that they are considered to control the very essence of life where water is the essence of life. You can live so much longer without food than you ever could without water. Water is incredibly important. Being who you are, being true to yourself, shining your light brightly, being authentic, being integral - that's the very essence of your life.

When you are not being authentic, when you are doing things that you know go against your grain, your light is dimming. It's almost like that little spark is being blown out. It's almost like the essence of life is getting duller and duller. That's not what we want. We want your light to shine so incredibly brightly.

Being true to who you are is a strong message, it's a solemn message. But you're not to panic over it. It's coming from your subconscious, from your higher self, from your intuition, from your angels and your guardians around you; they're encouraging you because at the moment, possibly, you are not being true to yourself. They're encouraging you, you need to put your foot down and be true to yourself because it is the very essence of life.

What else stood out for me on the card, was the bright light that is coming from the end of Excalibur and the bright light from the moon. And I felt they were connected. I imagined holding the sword in front of me. Where I lined up the bright light of the sword (it may be different for you), but where I felt it lined up was with my 3rd eye. I felt there was a connection with the brightness of my 3rd eye and the moon. The full moon, in particular, relates to releasing. And the moon, itself, in general is also related to illumination and enlightenment, which the 3rd eye and the crown chakra are all about.

So I felt that whenever you do become true to yourself, whenever you do live your integral life, you become more enlightened, you get closer to your soul because you are connecting with your very essence and you're becoming more enlightened and your whole life becomes more illuminated as a result.

The final thing that stood out for me was the little fish. Such a serious and such a solemn card and this little fish is jumping out of the water. And there's a real joy and lightness to the fish. So it's like, "I know this is a serious message for you today, I know we are asking a lot of you today, but enjoy it. Enjoy the experience." Whenever you know something isn't right for you, say 'no' and enjoy the feeling of having released (going back to the full moon again) the burden and the discomfort of doing something that's going against your grain; enjoy the feeling of feeling released, of feeling joy, of feeling happiness again because when you follow your true self, when you are enlightened, when you fulfil your light, you will feel a lot lighter.

Although this is a darker card because of the solemn message that's coming through, it will bring light and joy with it as well.

So. Through this card, we are being invited to be true to who we are, at our very soul essence. Be honest. Be unwavering. Be unbreakable.

When you shine your light, you will find an enlightenment, you'll find a state that is higher, full of joy, full of enlightenment, full of happiness.

This message comes to you from your subconscious, from your intuition, from your higher self, from your inner knowing, from the Divine, the angels and your spirit team.

It is a solemn message, it is a serious message, because very few people do have that opportunity to live fully themselves. It's not something to be taken lightly. It can initially feel quite heavy and quite a heavy burden to carry. But when you've realised that it's making your life better, it's protecting you (Excalibur protected King Arthur from a mortal wound), whenever you're being true to yourself it's protecting you, it's keeping you safe, it's keeping you true, it's keeping you full of light, you'll find that whenever you choose that path, although it may be a bit more challenging at the start because you're changing your ways and you're changing your whole way of life, it is the better choice, it is the more fulfilling enlightening choice.

Reference: This beautiful card is from Mists of Avalon Oracle Deck by Rose Inserra, illustrated by Nadia Turner