Faeries Oracle

Card 40 - Honesty

Honesty. Compassion. Tact. Self-deceit.

Just look at him! Could you doubt for a moment that he sees you just as you are? And loves you anyway?

In plant form, which is how we may see him most often, Honesty makes lovely purple flowers in the spring and later on produces those silvery-white circular seed pods, like small images of the full moon. These little earth-moon seed pods remind us to reflect upon our reactions and feelings, to throw light into our darknesses, and to deal honestly with ourselves and others.

Honesty's other botanical names are Moonwort, Satin Flower, Silver Dollar, Moneywort, Dollar Plant Penny Flower, Bolbonac, and, on Monday, the moon's day, he is Lunaria annua. Honesty is said to repel monsters. I don't have any monsters handy to check this out on, but I can certainly see the metaphorical truth in it. He is also known as Unshoe-the-Horse because of his habit of unshoeing horses who tread upon him - a very faery thing to do, and who can blame him? He is said to have collected thirty horseshoes from the horses of the Earl of Essex on the White Downs in Devonshire, near Tiverton. Let that be a lesson to you not to tread Honesty underfoot.

Starter Reading

Honesty in a reading speaks, unsurprisingly, of the need for straight dealing and truth in representation. We need to be scrupulously honest here, making certain that there is no room for confusion or misunderstanding, no fuzzy edges. Both written and verbal agreements need to be completely clear. Assumptions may not be as well understood by all parties as we are assuming and they need to be tested for comprehension.

On a personal level, Honesty reminds us not only to be clear in what we say and do, but also to act and speak with compassion and tact. Brutal honesty is not usually true honesty at all, but somehow slanted toward the worst. Dishonesty, even in the name of tact, is not helpful either. Balancing on that fine line of loving honesty may take some effort, but will provide rich rewards. Honest humility, idealism, and clarity of mind are some of the advantages of honesty.

Reverse

Honesty asks us, are we being truly honest with ourselves? We may think we are, but finding Honesty standing on his head in a reading indicates that we may well be deceiving ourselves in some way. The human psychological mechanisms (repression, denial, projection, displacement, et cetera) may be in play. We need to look carefully at our attitudes and beliefs, especially where our emotions are strongly involved. We may even need objective, clear-sighted assistance from others in looking at this. Selfdeceit leads to anxiety, confusion, a complicated life, and behaving with unfairness or injustice toward oneself and others.

The Help-Line Troupe