Faeries Oracle

Card 54 - Epona's Wild Daughter

Inner shadows. Nightmare. Depression. Madness. Growth.

In the bleakest part of the night, Dorcha comes, wearing her crown of faery stars. She kneels on the ancient owl, bearer of the hidden wisdom of the night, and, facing into the past with a clear, unflinching gaze, she holds us. We are held immobile, inwardly focused, by her comforting yet implacable light-filled hands. She asks riddles that often seem impossible to answer at first - and yet she will not let us go until we find the solutions within ourselves. She is one of the great teachers of Faery, but her method of teaching makes Socrates' questions look like child's play. We must expect this of Dorcha because her lessons are about the shadow side of ourselves - the things we fear, our insecurities, self-doubts, and denials. She is a practitioner of "tough love" therapy.

Dorcha is the Wild Daughter of Epona, Lady of the Horse and the Moon, and she takes us through the dark, hidden side of ourselves and into healing and fulfillment. From the temporary madness of rage, premenstrual tension, or great stress to the deeper and longer psychoses, she drives us on the journey though our internal hells. When we complete the journey, we are transfigured and transformed, transcending our old selves. We can never be frightened by that darkness again, whether our own or that of others. But until that journey is fully complete, we exist in a state of vulnerability - which is where most of us are most of the time.

Notice, please, that it is she and not her more gentle sister, Laiste, who wears the crown of stars - a mark of service, compassion, and great wisdom. Dorcha's element is moonlight, the fifth element, which tempers and tests the spirit. Through her teaching our inner conflicts and struggles become, as they are resolved, our greatest strengths.

Starter Reading

Epona's Wild Daughter, Dorcha, is the sphinx, whose riddles must be answered lest we otherwise be destroyed by our own internal conflicts. Dorcha reminds us that we cannot go forward until we have faced something buried within us that is holding us back. Her presence in a reading tells us that finding and working through this is a task of some urgency. We can expect help in this from other people, from the faeries, and from our dreams, but we must be open to these difficult questions and answers and be ready to face things about ourselves that are not as we would wish them to be. She urges us to heal the unresolved issues about who we really are and what we truly want to be. This is part of the required course in Self-Transformation 101 that we are all enrolled in here on Planet Earth.

The answers to her riddles often come in a sudden burst of enlightenment, like the "solution" to a Zen koan. We may watch a leaf fall or catch a glimpse of the tiny sliver of the new moon in the sky and suddenly be hit by the answer. Before that happens, we usually work long and hard upon the question, searching and digging for an answer. The realization, when we really have it, will be transformative; we will no longer be the people that we once were.

You don't like this interpretation? Well, I have been telling you all along that we (you and I and everyone else) will all receive varying messages from the faeries in the cards. Yours may well differ from mine. Ask Dorcha what message she has for you - and don't be surprised if her answer is another question or riddle. She and I both wish you well in solving it, with all our hearts.

Reversed

This meaning is much the same as above, but it may take longer and the resolution of the issue may be buried more deeply. At this point, the wise person prays for guidance and actively seeks it. I know, I know - that's why we're reading the cards. Yet the presence of Epona's Wild Daughter implies that the answers we truly need are to be found deeply within ourselves. What do our nightmares tell us?

The Faery Challengers