Card 2 — Ekstasis


From the Faeries' Oracle...

Starter Reading

Ecstasy, the Òran Mór, the Great Song, is something people seek. It feels better than good — it feels, well... ecstatic. We experience it in tiny bursts and in bigger surges. It enables us to recognize the sacred nature of our own being as an experienced fact, not merely a theory or article of faith. Ecstasy is not something we can make within ourselves, but something that flows through us when we open ourselves to it. It fills us with power and with the motivation to grow, to become what we have the positive potential of being, and to fulfill our purpose in being here and now on this planet. When we are feeling these surges of joy, we are empowered and we know that we are on an appropriate track for us, the track that leads to greater meaning and fulfillment in our lives. This card in a reading says, among other things, go for it! It confirms that we are on course, moving in a good direction, and that we are in harmony with the Òran Mór. It says great joy and great accomplishment are within your reach. Its song also lights up and empowers the cards around it, healing the past, intensifying the moment, enlightening the future.

Faery Lore — the inside story

Ecstasy. Joy. Rapture. Motivation.

Ekstasis is the Òran Mór, the Great Song, the energy and power that fills Unity. There is nothing else but that song — no voice to sing, no ears to hear, just the infinite and eternal song, the energy of which completely fills eternity and infinity. This rhapsodic song of bliss is what powers the cosmos and what gives it order and harmony. It is the song that holds the atoms together, the stars in their places, the galaxies in theirs. It keeps our hearts beating, and it is the love and trust that flows through them.

In Unity, there is nothing but the Òran Mór, the Great Song, the outpouring of undifferentiated energy — the power felt in a mystical experience. The "void" so often spoken of in spiritual literature is not empty, but full — so full that there is no space between one singing and the next. There is nowhere to stand outside of Unity and look at it, marveling.

At the level of this world's reality (and Faery's as well), we have the sensory illusion that you and I are separate, that we are not directly connected, that what happens when a finger is lifted on a small planet circling the farthest star in the most distant galaxy does not affect us. We need this illusion because at this stage of our evolution we are not ready to be aware of the Òran Mór, the Great Song, in more than very short bursts, if even that. The Singers are capable of this — but we are not. At least we are not yet able to do this. It may take a while for us to get there, but that is where we are headed, knowingly or unknowingly.

Our ears are too small to hear this song — only our souls are big enough. The song rings through everything — the wind in the trees, the radiance of distant stars, the beat of a mouse's heart, the rumble of a digestive system, the quiet gurgle of a plant's capillaries, the deep, unheard hum of Earth. Scientists have recently discovered a hitherto unheard part of Earth's song, which.is very deep and very slow. Some of them think it may be caused by changing atmospheric pressure, like a gentle, slow patting on a drum. Of course, changes in the atmosphere come primarily from changes in the solar wind and radiation, so, in essence, we see that Earthmother is being gently patted, caressed by Father Sun, and she purrs and hums in response — as do we, her children. Everything is linked — everything is part of the Òran Mór, the Great Song, the Ekstasis.

Touch to draw another card


Beannachd!
Jessica Macbeth & Brian Froud


Text copyright ©2000 by Jessica Macbeth.
Art copyright ©2000 by Brian Froud. All rights reserved.