Faeries Oracle

Card 32 - Iris of the Rainbows

Hope. Promise for the future.

Blue skies and rain are the realm of Iris, the Rainbow Faery. She dwells at the meeting of air (the element of mind) and water (the element of emotion). She sits, rainbow-hued wings outspread, suspended in midair, partially wrapped in her deep-sky draperies and crowned with iris blossoms. The faery archers tip their arrows in her potent handful of iridescent light.

Firing their arrows, they send polychromatic rays into the storm, bringing light to dismal skies and hope to darkened hearts.

Beneath the Rainbow Faery, the amphibious creatures of a wet earth crouch. The faery frog maiden and the frog (anyone care to kiss him and see what happens?) peer out from their shelter at the storm-wracked world, while the shadowed sun is dimly seen above Iris's head. Sturdy, potbellied gnomes, their toes rooted in the earth, sport sweeping whiskers to prove their entitlement to their single iris crowns, while the helpful faery amphibians hold transparent, rainbow-filled globes for the Rainbow Faery. Everyone, especially Iris herself, is fully absorbed in the task of reclaiming the bright sky from the dark of the storm.

In her hand, the light of heaven's bow looks a fragile thing, yet it is the light of hope, the promise of healing and joy to come, and that is one of the most powerful things there is.

Starter Reading

Iris tells us that light is breaking through our present darkness, and that hope is a powerful factor in speeding up this process. She does not promise us that the storm is over, nor does she say that it will never storm again, but she does say that there is brightness and beauty here. She also tells us that there is something to be gained by this passage through the storm. And the sooner we learn what it is, the sooner the storm will end.

Always, a passage through the storm is a time of potential growth, a time to allow the dead wood of our past to be blown away to make room for the green shoots of new growth. At this point, it is useful to ask ourselves what we still need to release, and to look after protecting and nurturing the seeds we have planted. Iris suggests that the cultivation of patience may also be helpful at this time.

The storm is breaking up. Are we ready for the change? If we are presently frogs, the faeries say, the time of our transformation, foretold by the rainbow, may be at hand. Then we shall be kissed by the puissant light of the sun - and discover if we are still frogs or if we have become something much more.

Reversed

It is true that there is hope and there is promise for the future, but it is at present obscured or delayed. There may well be more trials to be met before we come to the end of this storm. Iris reminds us that hope, prayer, and faith may be needed, that help is there if we ask for it, though it may not come in the form we request. She reminds us, in these difficult times, to remember our aspirations, to consider who it is that we are trying to become, and to hold those images surrounded by her prismatic light in our minds as we pass through this time of darkness. All times of hardship offer us the same challenge: to grow or to diminish. The choice is ours, but she is ready to lighten our path if we will accept her offering into our hearts. No storm, no darkness, lasts forever.

"Winged female faeries are the soul's messengers, representing the spirit freed from the mundane. They are creatures of aspiration and transcendence flying between the worlds, between heaven and earth, between the body and the soul."
--Brian

Faery Guides and Guardians