View from the Mountaintop

  From the Llewellyn Tarot, the Universe (World):

Ferguson based this image on Cadair Idris (roughly translated "chair of Idris"), a mountain in Wales.  In Welsh mythology, Idris was a giant skilled in astronomy, poetry and philosophy who used the mountain as an armchair to gaze at the stars.  Looking down below and up above from that height would be inspirational indeed.  It reminds me of hiking trips where we used a topographical map, with all its squiggly lines, that showed the elevations of natural and man-made features.  But to look at such a map and to be on top of such a mountain would be two very different experiences.  The map might give me intellectual knowledge, but the mountaintop would connect all the dots mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

     From the Beasts of Albion, the "Crane:"

At the pond I frequently visit, there are no cranes, but there are small blue and great blue herons.  I've almost overlooked them before, as they can stand still as a statue waiting for a fish or a frog to wander by.  It's no wonder these birds are associated with calm, poise, and patience.  In Gray's rendering, the bird holds a crane bag in one foot - a pouch modern-day druids use to store and carry their spiritual objects.  This symbol implies that the spiritual resides in me, and if I want to make that connection (or ascend the mountain above), I'm going to have to learn to be still, quiet and composed no matter what's going on around me.