OctoberReflections

By Melanie Harris

From her fiery blue eyes to her creativity and magical prowess, Lucy Cavendish is beautiful inside and out. She’s a witch, a mom, an author, a teacher, an animal lover, a gardener, a designer, and an artist. Creator of Magical Spell Cards, Oracle Tarot, As Above, So Below, and White Magic, Lucy has most recently brought us the Oracle of the Dragonfae, a mystical fairy deck with an enchanting touch of dark mystique. Released in May by Blue Angel Gallery, the Oracle of the Dragonfae continues to make its mark in the world of oracle decks, so we wanted to talk to Lucy about the magic and the mission behind this latest creation.

Tarot Reflections: What inspired you to create the Oracle of the Dragonfae?

Lucy Cavendish: I have long been absolutely captivated by the power of the elementals, and their/our world and bloodlines. Now, the beings that started to come through to me were quite adamant that they don't divide their realm up, and that many elementals were hesitant to return because we humans tend to be so dualistic: you know, you're either a fae, or an angel, or a dragon...a little like in our culture, you're labeled, and to an extent boxed in. The Dragonfae are about infinite potential, deep and ancient wisdom and the truth that we have within us these ancient fae and dragon and angelic bloodlines, much of which we've been taught to be very afraid of. They are coming back to assist us, so we can reclaim our ancient knowledge and work with it harmoniously – to love the diversity and differences within ourselves, and in others too. They assist us in going into our shadow, in particular, and finding the buried gold that we've often repressed and stored there. So, it's taking our power back, and they are very strong beings, very truthful, and very honest. Very beautiful, too.

TR: You talk about the fae. Have you ever actually seen a fairy? What are they like?

LC: Yes. More times sensing, and oftentimes as light, and light and sound and electric energy, particularly when I am in natural environments where pesticides have not been used. I have seen full-form fae, and they are beautiful. One being in particular was neon azure blue in color, a water-fae, but her energy was electric, if I can describe her that way. It was a little like watching time-lapse photography with a frame or two of film taken out, as they move so fast, at least, this being did, that she would seem to have moved without any actual motion taking place... it was incredible. In different places where I travel, I see many different nature spirits. In Thailand, where I have just returned from, the fae and the dragonfae too of that land were hard at work restoring natural energies in areas hit hard by the tsunami of Boxing Day 2006. They were blue light and rainbow colored.

I have a substantial organic herb garden, from which I make my own smudge sticks to give away at workshops and in the midst of her I see and feel many, many fairies and beings. They particularly love the thyme and the marjoram. But thyme is like a signal for them to come on in…

TR: Tell me more about these dragonfae creatures.

LC: Okay, they're incredibly diverse, and are hybrid beings, some more fae than dragon, some more dragon than angel, but they are a blending...as we are going into a completely intense period in earth history, they're coming back to show us the truth about our own origins - that we're human and more than human, and to teach the skills with which we can unlock the rejected and neglected places and spaces within ourselves. When we do that, our DNA starts awakening, our psychic gifts and talents come back in, stronger than even when we were children, and our sense of connection and wonder at being alive and in this form, this time ‘round, is increased. So we feel at peace and excited and inspired to be here...rather than fearful and somewhat discontent. They point out to us what is truly important, and speak to us, heart to heart, solar plexus to solar plexus, and help us push us through our own resistance to change.

TR: I know there were a lot of different artists involved in the actual creation of the Oracle of the Dragonfae. Tell me more about this. Did you plan the designs and have the artists carry out your ideas? Did you do any of the art yourself?

LC: I worked with some artists individually, by sending through the descriptions and then working together - and yet other cards were created when I discovered an artist who had already created the beings...for example, when I saw the green lady artwork, I knew who she was as I had already seen her, spoken with her, and knew her very well. To see her independently created affirmed to me her existence and power. I love artists and wished to work with them closely - it is my underground, otherself, to have been an artist. I do paint and draw, but my confidence is not such that I can share those as yet, though one is featured in my book White Magic - my drawing of a fae being.

TR: What is your favorite card in the Oracle of the Dragonfae? What do you love most about this deck?

LC: Impossible to say. Honestly, there is no favorite, and my connection changes all the time. However, at present, the cards that are really speaking to me are The Elder - I love her strictness and her crone-energy and her abrasive quality - I actually love how she's impatient and such a character, and the card known as Andelle, because she is so much about feeling your emotions and the wisdom within them, and the aforementioned The Green Lady of Y Draig Goch, her fierce strength and that gentle giant of a dragon, and The Lady Grian, for her warmth and sensuality and her serpent-wisdom...but perhaps the beings who are most in my heart at present, with whom I'm most connecting, are Gwynne and Elluish...which is interesting, as that message is about connecting and attuning and being right in there, in sync with life and all of her manifestations - with animals, for example. And we have three new animal beings in our home as of this week!

TR: Oh? What new animals have you got?

LC: I have a beautiful pet white rat, called Flower, two new mice, called Mimi and Jasmine, and a new puppy, called Toby. We (my daughter and I) have a little menagerie! I would have more, but we live in a very small witch’s cottage in the heart of an inner city village in Sydney! 

TR: Do you get to do much gardening, living in the city? 

LC: Here we're heading towards Beltane - whee! Summer approaches! My boyfriend (now my betrothed!) lives in the countryside by the beach, and we have a huge garden we're planting (the spinach and lettuce went down yesterday), a healthy herb garden (smudge stick heaven!), and I'm building a labyrinth over summer and planning on a stone circle! We also have a lot of chickens and wild birds and animals, like wallabies and kangaroos...I like the idea of being as self-sustaining as possible, and it is still very possible. Even in the city, I have avocados and lemons and rosemary growing, and I do small food swaps with neighbors. It nurtures independence and freedom!

TR: How did you first get started on the magical path, anyway, and how did you first start writing about it?

LC: Well, I started a magazine in the early 90’s, called Witchcraft magazine, and it really came out of my yearning for magick and for wisdom, and to find a safe place where both of these paths could be explored and celebrated. And I created Witchcraft because I had had so many experiences over the years, and still could not find my "home" so to speak. I had done my year and a day in circle (exploring each of the eight sacred festivals and 13 moons, full and new) in London in the late 80’s, which is where I really discovered Tarot, too, and fell deeply and passionately in love with divination and working with oracles.  

TR: What advantage, if any, do you feel oracle cards have over the traditional Tarot?

LC: At times, they are wonderful - not all, but many, are substantial and powerful. I feel they can be like having deep and direct connections to magical beings. Sometimes, though, I feel they can be very general and somewhat without substance, and that is why Tarot is so brilliant - you can be so specific with the Minor Arcana, for example, and its relationship to those sacred but everyday aspects of our lives. ‘Tis in those moments we're living, much of the time, so bringing the sacred into those times is essential. Tarot is more structured, and for some people, that can be confronting - people might feel daunted by the idea of learning about the suits and so forth. It's something I've observed, and I feel it's an interesting thing, this reluctance to build structure into readings, and I see it in a way as spiritual people sometimes being turned off by structure and discipline -which I think are musts for spirit, and well-being.

But I believe the patience and discipline it takes to learn the Tarot trains our psyche and our intuitive intelligence to work well, in many facets of our lives. Oracles, when they are direct pathways to beings, and are created in reverence and service, are very powerful and very worthwhile.

TR: Do you use Tarot or Oracle cards very often in your magick workings?

LC: Well, I certainly do in my readings. They act as portals, doorways that open me deep into my own psychic vision, they gently stimulate my intuition at the point that it needs to be awakened, and the images and text are definitely points of inspiration. For magical working, I work with the elements and with the energies of the beings themselves. I work verbally, speaking what comes through me, or to me, as I channel but I don't always do so. I love working outdoors, with nature, and with tools such as cauldron, bell, wand, and sword.

TR: What is your favorite type of magic to work? 

LC: There isn't a favorite - it's all in the timing and in the place I'm in at that time. So, for example, moon magick - love it. Delicious, empowering, heady, ecstatic, reconnective! But oceanic connection, working with the ocean herself - incredible. Cleansing, inspiring, allows me to change without resistance...Seasonal cycles, a great joy. Then I connect to this beautiful planet, and to the cosmos.

They are all necessary. I adore travel, and creating, and perhaps they are forms of deep magick too. I love being alive, and feeling the combination and blending of form and spirit that we are...and magick, for me, is feeling spirit in my physicality, and bringing meaning to my life. It is meaning we are all looking for, the sense that we are here, that this is our place, and that we are a part of it all.

I truly believe magick is in the putting on of a favorite talisman...be that a skirt or dress, a piece of jewelry.... dabbing an essential oil at a chakra point, being aware and alive and noticing the signs all about us...we are so powerful, it's the intent with which we dress and bathe, it’s in those everyday rituals that so much of our power lies dormant. Do those things with intent and magick and joy, and you'll be reconnected to your magickal self.

TR: So tell me what the future holds for miss Lucy Cavendish. What are you working on right now?

LC: I am working on a book called The Lost Lands, a project exploring Lemuria, Atlantis, and Avalon predominantly, from a magickal perspective, and keeping it very grounded and personal, with suggested magickal workings to connect us to the beings and the places and the wisdom of each of those lands. My publisher is being very patient with me, as I am a passionate researcher and investigator, and I am still writing long after he wishes I was finished! But she'll be complete soon, and from that, I will create a deck, with artist Selina Fenech, which will deliver some of the really incredible messages I've been receiving from the beings of those lands. I'm also working on a fae-energy deck. All of these will be out sometime over 2009, depending on how slow or fast the work comes through! I am actually quite a slow worker in some respects - I really take my time to personally get to know the beings I work with, and of course, there's the great joy and potential procrastination device of research!

TR: Alright. No more procrastinating, now. One more question. What in the world are you most passionate about? What drives you?

LC: I drive myself...as we all do. I think it is a sense of being so fortunate and blessed - to have proved to myself that you can create the life you wish to live and be well, and happy, and creative, and that the need for compromise and being derelict to our dreams is so prevalent, but in fact we could be choosing to live quite differently. Hope drives me. Creativity is my purpose and passion, a sense of creating opportunities within the hearts of others to live their life authentically and joyfully. To not give up on ourselves - but to create anew who we are. What an incredible time we live in! We can do it - and those of us who think we cannot are believing a lie we were told long ago.