Mabon Tarot Blog Hop: The Power of Transformation

Greetings and blessed Mabon! You are likely coming from Carla Tate's blog, but if you're not, please stop in and visit it!

Today’s topic is near and dear to my heart as a sun sign Scorpio: Transformation.

To me, there is one tarot card that more than any other speaks of transformation, and that is Death.

Morbid? Perhaps. But totally true. Death is about transformation. Many other tarot cards talk about “change”, but to me there is a difference between “change” and “transformation”.

To me, “change” is less specific and can be nearly immediate, or at least short-term. You can go home after work and change clothes, and it just takes a few minutes. If you want to change your mind or your attitude, you can do that in an instant. 

“Transformation”, however, is more long-term. Much to my chagrin, you don’t just wake up one morning and transform yourself into someone who is in better shape, for example. You spend many mornings transforming yourself into a person who is more healthy by eating better—or actually eating breakfast—going to the gym, or going out for a walk. These steps make the thousands of small changes happen in you so that weeks, months, and years later, you're healthier and more confident. 

Another term I like to use as a synonym for “transformation” is evolution. Now, let’s be honest…not all 

transformations are good ones, so some are likely “devolutions”. But we’re going to go positive here and say evolution.

As human beings, we choose many transformations. We make choices in our life that cause us to transform over time. I know for me one of my biggest transformations was my conversion to Witchcraft, a spiritual transformation that took many years. I went through a period of being content doing nothing spiritually, which lasted from my departure from home to go to college and lasted probably until I got married six years later. I started to dabble in the Craft a little, but the final piece of the puzzle didn’t happen until 2005, when I chose to pursue the path and wore the pentacle for the first time. 

My attitude toward the Craft transformed over time so eventually, I chose to begin my studies. If that hadn’t happened, who knows where I would be? Likely I wouldn’t be writing this blog.

My spiritual transformation continues. I have another year or so of study to go before my training is completed, but my spiritual life has evolved nicely and I have so much knowledge to share with others in my community that I didn’t have when I started.  And spirituality has become a part of my life that I never would have imagined in 1989. It's true that my “transformation” did take a while, but it was worth it.

So many things in our lives “die” so others can replace them: relationships and friendships; our beliefs; and our tastes in everything (music, food, art, books, beliefs, etc.)--they all evolve.  What would you say to an adult who never lost his taste for chicken nuggets and now, as an adult, wanted to eat nothing but chicken nuggets? Likely, it would be something along the lines of “grow up!”.

Some adults have never evolved, and this is something you may have experienced in your own life. I see so many people, for example, who refuse to settle down because they are avoiding commitment. Guess what? Eventually the relationship is going to change whether you want it to or not, and not necessarily for the better.

Refusing to change only means one thing: You are avoiding it for now, but eventually it will catch up with you. If you’ve had an unpleasant conversation with your doctor, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

The idea of transformation in the tarot is best embodied for me in the Death card. It’s not the abrupt change of the Fool, the “new leaf” change of Judgment, or the “sudden shock and awe” change of the Tower. No…Death is gradual and inevitable for all of us. And so is transformation, which rarely happens overnight unless you’re talking about one of those restaurant rescue shows. But even then, the changes don’t always stick, do they? You can change a restaurant overnight, but you can’t make the people “transform”, can you?

Mabon is the time of the first harvest, and is considered “Thanksgiving” for Wiccans. Personally, I give thanks for my wife, a woman who has been my best friend for more than 20 years, and who has witnessed and encouraged my transformations. I would not be the man I am today without her.

This Mabon, I hope that you will take this time to look back at your transformations in a healthy, positive way, acknowledge how far you have come, and give thanks in your own way for the things and people in your life that have “transformed” you and witnessed your progress.  

May the blessings of transformation be with you throughout the year!

Please head over to Sandie Worthy's blog to continue with the blog hop! You can also find a master list of all the blogs in the hop HERE.