Daily Angel Oracle Card: Pomona, from the Goddesses And Sirens Oracle Card deck, by Stacey Demarco, Illustrations by Jimmy Manton

Pomona: “Plenty”

“Trust that you have enough. Ask and you will receive. It is time to prune back the dead wood in order to grow. Nourish yourself and the earth.”

“According to ancient Roman myth, the beautiful nymph Pomona cherished her garden above everything else. From the first rays of pale dawn to the rich gold of the setting sun, the exquisite Pomona nurtured every plant within her domain. Her fair hand always seemed to be holding a silver pruning knife, which she used to gently tend to her plants. She cut back one tree to allow sunlight to filter through to another; she reduced one branch to energize the whole plant, to send its precious energy in a better, more fruitful direction. She prepared the soil diligently, so that the seeds she planted would grow with ease and the resulting fruits would be full of goodness.

Pomona lavished her love upon each and every plant in her garden. She watched for signs of rot or drought and tried to remedy the imbalance in natural ways. No plant ever became stifled, and none grew too large;  all flourished. Pomona lived and worked alone. So engrossed was she in her garden of delights that she did not feel the need for romantic company. Tall fences surrounded her gardens, lest the people of the village wander in, and no one of the masculine persuasion was welcome. This did not discourage some from trying to win her love, though.

Gods, fawns, and satyrs all tried to gain Pomona’s attention but failed miserably. The goddess Venus may have been able to influence others, but she couldn’t influence Pomona. A god called Vertumus was one of the many who watched the nymph from outside her gate and fell deeply in love with her. No matter how he tried, winning her seemed impossible, and so he decided he would disguise himself in various forms he thought would appeal to her, to learn more about her and seriously woo her. Through this shape-shifting, he learned that Pomona feared being in a couple mainly because she thought she would need to leave her garden. Happily, Vertumus revealed himself and promised his love – and when they worked together, they created an even more plentiful garden.

Pomona reminds us that we have unlimited plenty in our lives and in the natural world, and that we need to cultivate and care for it. In both a literal and figurative sense, we can stifle growth if we do not choose to prune back the unnecessary things in our lives. For most of us, there are always some aspects of our lives that we would like to change. These things may take the form of an outmoded belief, a bad habit, a damaging pattern, or a plain and simple fear. Pomona was certain her garden would suffer should she have a partner, but once she was able to let go of that idea, she made room for a partner and a more fruitful garden. Often, with these unnecessary things, we need to make a decision to finally leave them behind or cut them out of our lives once and for all. Just as Pomona holds her pruning knife ready, we too need to be ready to use our true wisdom and courage to free up our natural capacity for growth – whether it be cutting free a person who no longer fits well into our lives or cutting out an old, limiting belief that makes room for something new.”

Shadow Side: “Pomona carries the pruning knife in one hand and the horn of plenty in the other. While we take stock and remove what we no longer need, it is sometimes the easier path to think negatively rather than positively. When we struggle to let go, we may feel stagnant for a time. When circumstances seem grim, we can catastrophize what is going wrong and easily overlook the things in our lives that are doing well. We forget that sometimes one thing needs to clear out to make room for another.

Sometimes we need to make tough decisions. If we are brave enough to leave what no longer serves us behind, we can grow unfettered, naturally, freely and in hte direction that we really want to go. The pomum (fruit) of our labors is wildly  born.”

Symbols: “Tomato, Tomato on the vine, horn of plenty, pruning shears”*

~ By Stacey Demarco

There is something that you are still holding on to, and I think you know exactly what it is. Yes, that. Time to cut it loose. A limiting belief system? A lack of self-worthiness? A crutch? A fear? Self Doubt? You know exactly what I am talking about. You have gotten too far here to let that hold you back any longer. Let it go. Release it once and for all. It’s not doing you any good and you know that. And it’s not protecting you from pain either. The truth? It’s causing you pain. By holding you back from where you need to be. What is masquerading as a protective shield is actually a big thorn in your foot. Remove it. Toss it aside.

There is more than enough to go around and you are more than capable of taking this challenge on.

Move forward fearlessly into the new.

Unfurl your wings.

Fly

Namaste

Dee

~Archangel Oracle

*Goddesses And Sirens Oracle Card deck, by Stacey Demarco, Illustrations by Jimmy Manton