Ace of Blood

Description

The Ace of Blood is the visible silhouette of a man with short cropped hair, a strong nose, slitted eyes and two lines of paint running from his cheekbones over the bridge of his nose. HIs hair and ears are decorated with bone or ivory jewelry. Below him is the representation of a cave painting, showing a grazing animal of some kind riddled with arrows. In the distance a flat topped mesa is visible.

Interpretation

This is nothing if not a card of anticipation. Contained within all of the Aces are the full potential of the suits. The Ace of Blood, then contains the fullness of what the Blood suit represents. It's hard to say what that is, exactly, but my understanding of Blood is survival through conflict. The blood suit is about facing what we have to face in order to survive. My feeling about blood is that it's often the "chickens coming home to roost" suit; that we are forced to face these things because we have avoided them for so long. The Ace of Blood doesn't specifically contain those conflicts, but it is a representation of them, both in the man and the drawing. The man, with the paint on his face, seems ready to engage in the conflict that lies ahead, represented in the grazing animal full of arrows. There is ambiguity here as well. We do not know the outcome of the event which is depicted on the cave wall. We don't know if the animal lies dead, and the hunters have triumphed or if it is still alive and kicking, a danger to those who wish to eat it and make clothes from its hide.

Application

I think that this card is an excellent answer to the question I asked this morning, which was "Please give me more insight into the meaning of the message I received this weekend." While I was on my Feri retreat I received a visualization of the word "priest" during an exercise, but that was all. Wanting to know more I consulted my oracles. I believe that the meaning applied to my question is that being a priest means being aware of the necessity of conflict, in all its potential. I see it as watching over others and holding space for them as they push through the conflicts in their lives. I think it also means reflecting that for them, and reminding them of the value and necessity of conflict in our lives, as well as when to protect themselves from useless or wasteful conflict. Personally, I think it means I've achieved an awareness of my own conflicts and my reactions to those conflicts; that I've come to contain a fullness of understanding that informs my awareness around conflict in my own life. This is not a mastery, in the way that a Major Arcana card would be, but it is a powerful fullness that I can carry with me.

Traditional Meanings

Aeclectic Tarot

ATA Tarot