Epona‘s Wild Daughter. (Photo credit: Brian Froud_
While a lot of the Faeries’ that we have been meeting have had fun and uplifting meanings, there are the darker ones that force us to face ourselves in ways that might make us uncomfortable. Today, one of these challenging Faeries’ has made herself known. Epona’s Wild Daughter is Dorcha, the Faery that helps us to grow from our shadow selves and nightmares.
I believe that we all struggle with dark aspects of who we are. Not in some sinister way, but the dark nagging in the back of our heads telling us that we’ll never be good enough, that we’ll never get anywhere in life. Some people deal with worse than that. Some have deeper problems that keep them from moving in life, whether it’s from an external pain like death of loved ones or internal pains like depression. These dark aspects threaten to kill our motivation in life and steal our hope of a better tomorrow. It throws us into a deep pit that seems impossible to climb out.
If you look at the card, you will immediately notice the warm light of Dorcha and her glowing crown as she leans over her owl companion. What we might not notice is that her arms aren’t resting on some servant, but another Faery wallowing in misery. She’s there to comfort and offer wisdom. The owl companion represents the knowledge and insight that she brings to help us from our low state of mind. Her arms resting on our back comforts us and lets us know that everything will be all right.
Dorcha’s caveat to helping us is that we must do the heavy lifting. She’s there for us, but we have to be there for ourselves as well. She requires us to face this inner darkness rather than cower before it. It’s difficult and often painful, but once we bring Dorcha’s light and wisdom to cast off the shadows, we’ll see that the solution to our despair is inner strength. Our efforts would be best put into opening our hearts and minds to the bigger questions of why we allow these dark aspects to control us. Hand-in-hand, our effort should be put into realistically answering those questions. Through this process, we can turn our fears into a source of strength.
Dorcha’s work is completed when we resolve who we really are and reconcile it with who we want to be. Aligning these two aspects and moving forward with a plan will reveal an entirely new person. Once we have taken steps to embrace this new person, we’ll have transformed into the strong person that Dorcha sees in all of us.