It has always been a mystery to me why these lovely little edible flowers that nurture the soil and turn into such fun little seed heads begging to be wished upon should be considered weeds. Who could be so crotchety as to consider these happy little wishing-flowers weeds? And yet, on lawns across America (and perhaps elsewhere, I would not know), the war against the wishing-weeds goes on.
XIX La Détente
Keywords: relaxation, success, good omen, clarity, truth, peace, collaboration
Astrological: Sun
Rune: Sowilo
Element: Fire
Plant: Dandelion
Traditionally called “The Sun,” this card represents the peace and relaxation of tension brought about by seeing things clearly as they are. It represents success not from exerting power over others and proving oneself stronger, but from finding common ground, common goals, and discovering how to grow together in harmony.
Usually, I don’t think much of my dreams. Sure, they can be interesting insights into my own psyche, but I think that I generally either know my own psyche well enough that a dream can’t show me anything I don’t already know, or my blind spots are so opaque that I can’t see anything new a dream might try to tell me (assuming a dream has the agency to try to do anything).
However, sometimes I wake up from a dream that feels like something more. Something somehow more real than just a funny little avant-garde movie directed and produced by my subconscious mind.
Most recently, I had an oddly compelling dream about something rather mundane: a T-shirt.
The Dream
The dream itself was rather odd and nonsensical. I remember examining the shirt in my hands, admiring its warm golden yellow color and the image of Cicely Mary Barker’s dandelion fairy (or an alternate version generated by my subconscious, as I found out when I looked it up in the morning). Above the image were the Roman numerals for nineteen, and below it was the text “je suis detante.” (I would later find out that the French was completely incorrect in both grammar and spelling, but we’ll get to that in a bit.) Ultimately, I decided not to buy the shirt because it was a polyester blend, so I set it down and walked away.
But as I stood a little ways away, I heard the tshirt vendor describe it to someone else who was looking at it – someone whose opinion I rather respect in real life. The vendor said that the French text meant “I am nothing” (which is completely untrue) and that the number 19 was the number of a loading bar that never finishes loading. Even more than the polyester fiber content, I was put off by the vendor’s philosophy, as he seemed rather nihilistic and proud of it. But then I heard the customer say that 19 was the number of their favorite tarot card and that they loved the dandelion design and symbolism, and I remember thinking that the vendor was talking out of his ass and had no idea what this shirt was supposed to be about. This is when I woke up.
Tarot Card Nineteen: The Sun
When I woke up, my first thought was “what is card 19?” This was odd, because I’m intimately familiar with the Tarot and have been reading the cards for more than 20 years now, but upon first waking, my groggy mind had to mentally flip through a good chunk of the major arcana before landing on The Sun. The coloring and imagery and floral symbolism of the yellow shirt and the dandelion and everything is all completely appropriate for the sun card, and my dream somehow connected that without saying it explicitly (and without me realizing it consciously), using the Roman numerals to make the connection instead.
Détente: Relaxation of Tension
The second thing I did when I woke up was plug “detante” into Google Translate. Detante is not a word, but détente is. You may have heard it before, especially if you are into politics or war history, but I am not, and was therefore not familiar with the term.
Literally, détente means “relaxation,” and as far as I can tell, the literal use is perfectly normal and correct. However, détente has also become a loan word in English, referring specifically to the relaxation of political and military tensions between nations following negotiations for peace.
The literal origin of the word specifically derives from the relaxation of tension in a mechanism, such as the tension held by the trigger of a gun.
The more I learned about the word and the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed to me for a version of the Sun tarot card, and the more I felt compelled to make a real life version of the T-shirt from my dream.
Reimagining The Sun Card Through the Lens of Dandelions and Détente
Relaxation is not typically one of the first keywords I think of for the Sun card, but it is the natural consequence of much of what the card represents. Usually I would associate The Sun with clarity, success, good omens, truth revealed. But in the light of such a good omen, in the sunlight of success, what more natural action to take than to relax, to release the tension of worrying about the future?
And the specific meaning of relaxation after tension feels especially appropriate. Card 18, The Moon, clouds and disguises the truth, romanticizing reality for good or for ill. The Sun of card 19 burns away the fog of illusion, revealing the truth in perfect clarity. It burns away the tension of the mystery, making space to relax into the truth.
What does this have to do with dandelions? So much.
Of course, there is the obvious. Dandelions look like little suns popping up in the grass, often before any other flowers dare to show their faces. Thus they are sacred to Brigid and associated with the festival of Imbolc (aka Candlemas), celebrated at or around February 1st in the northern hemisphere.
But I think Dandelions are an especially good symbol of détente as well as of the sun. It has always been a mystery to me why these lovely little edible flowers that nurture the soil and turn into such fun little seed heads begging to be wished upon should be considered weeds. Who could be so crotchety as to consider these happy little wishing-flowers weeds? And yet, on lawns across America (and perhaps elsewhere, I would not know), the war against the wishing-weeds goes on.
And so it seems to me that lawns where dandelions bloom in abundance are happier and more peaceful lawns. Lawns where humans and nature have come to some sort of arrangement. Where people and dandelions have reached a state of détente, if you will.
And despite my unwillingness to follow any sort of news myself, I am not completely cut off from the world and it is not lost on me that this message of détente is rather timely—that is, I hope it is not too late.
I do not intentionally follow the news because I know that while I am within its sphere of influence, it is not within my sphere of influence, and I choose not to allow that which is so far out of my control to decenter me and destabilize my energy when there is so much within my control that needs me centered and stable. However, I do ardently believe in the power of individuals to affect the individuals around them, and I do believe in the power of collective energy and will, and I do believe in the power of positive symbols, and I do believe that the people are (for lack of a better phrase) fed up and tired of this shit. And so I do believe that maybe – just maybe – something as small and simple as a tshirt inspired by a dream of dandelions and détente can actually help.
I hope it will inspire you to seek out opportunities to practice détente in your own life, whether that’s letting the “weeds” flower on your lawn or letting your friends and family disagree with you politically and still be treated like friends and family.
And—tying this back into card XIX The Sun’s traditional meanings of clarity and success—isn’t the truest success peace, relaxation of tensions, détente? And isn’t so much of the world’s conflict (both on the international and the interpersonal scale, and perhaps even on the intrapersonal scale) dependent on the fog of illusion clouding that which we all have in common? Is it possible to go to war with a clean conscience with a nation whose people you truly see as being just as human as you? Is it possible to hate your neighbors or your relatives or your coworkers or your enemies if you truly understand their motives for believing and behaving the way they do—that is, if you truly see them as human, too? Perhaps it is even harder to humanize the next door neighbor or coworker who has wronged or disagreed with you in some small specific way than it is to humanize an entire nation of people you’ve never met. If we had clarity, true sight, into each other’s hearts… would it be possible to hate? To go to war?
I think it is only possible to be at inner peace with killing people (or canceling them) if you see them as mere weeds to be eradicated, spoiling an otherwise lovely lawn. But what if a perfectly homogenous field of green was seen not as “victory” over “weeds” (in truth, wildflowers), but rather as “death” (its true cost)? And what if the dandelion can guide us to see more clearly, to honor diversity (in the grass as well as in the neighborhood and in the ballot box), and to be at peace within ourselves and with each other?
Anyhow… I’m not crying, you’re crying. Buy my shirt. Wear it out and about. Tell people what it makes you think about. And for heaven’s sake, let the dandelions grow and go to seed, and then make wishes on them—for peace, for détente, and for more dandelions.
Until we meet again – be well, seek beauty, and leave a little magic wherever you go.
Blessings,
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