By Michelle Nollsch Inspired by Stacey DeMarco‘s deck
Apple- Risk and Reward
Sweetest icon. Risky red desire. Poison and freedom. Tempting hearts afire.
Apples have been a symbol of Samhain for a very long time. Apples, when cut in half, have a seed pattern that looks like a pentagram and so the Celts held the fruit to be sacred. Bobbing for apples, a game traditionally played at Halloween, has it’s origins in the Samhain festival and is one of the oldest associated with this celebration.
The traditional way to play is to place 3 or 13 apples into a barrel of water and the game is to try and bite an apple while it floats and bobs in the water. Hands must not be used and people often compete with each other, bobbing at the same time. It is believed that the Romans brought the custom to Britain and there are quite a few images recorded through art of this activity in both cultures. It was said that unmarried women who placed the apple they had bobbed under their pillow, would dream of their future husband. In Newfoundland and some parts of Ireland even today, Halloween is called ‘Snap Apple Night.’
Candy apples (apples on a stick covered in toffee), although not quite as popular now as they once were as Halloween fare, are now making a comeback as a fun and simple treat to prepare on this night.
Conclusion
Apples have an iconic part of mythos from ancient times to modern- the story of the poison apple in Snow White, to the Roman Goddess Pomona’s magical apple tree, to the Christians’ tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden. This card suggests its time to look how risks play out in your life. Are you hedging your bets and not trying anything new? Do you want change but are not willing to change anything? Are you willing to risk to get a greater reward? Or alternatively, are you risking too much, too often?