I will be returning to active duty ASAP, I have been away for a week having a bit of relaxing Me time while MPs continue having their own Us time. I took a trip up to Wales, Cardiff, up through the valleys by bus via Merthyr Tydfil to Abergavenny, then by train to Hereford and back down to Reading via Newport. Photographs are available here on Facebook.
The other thing I need to post about is our new Speaker, John Bercow. Owlperson tells me he is a grey horse spirit, which for him flags up some interesting pointers regarding his own prophecies. He also said that although he himself did not back him - for various personal reasons - he is relieved that we now have a Tory speaker again, our first since Bernard Weatherill was appointed in 1983.
I think I better read for Bercow. Over the last week I've got back into Magic: The Gathering (mostly as something to read rather than something to buy as although I am now in the black for the first time since 2006, I am loathe to go back into the red again without good cause. I have in the past used the trading cards as a freeform card oracle set; the graphic fantasy images lend themselves well to epic and interpersonal readings, and Owlperson can be kept happy with the various "Strix" cards released in the latest block, Shards of Alara.
All links point here to the Magic: The Gathering site card database, The Gatherer.
On we go. The passage in italics for certain cards (but not all) are the included flavour text for the cards. This always assists with a reading as it is a small vignette associated with the card in question.
JOHN BERCOW - the Speaker at the End of the Universe
Situation on assuming office:
Runed Stalactite: Artifact - Equipment
When a changeling adapts a form no other changeling has taken, a rune appears in the caverns of Velis Vel to mark the event.
The situation for Bercow - and for all of Parliament - is one which is mutating into new and unseen directions. The situation was exceptional, and the timing of Michael Martin's departure was exceptional and the government's interference was also exceptional. It also creates a precedent, and the aura surrounding the card is the intensification and complication of a developing pattern, rather than a situation which is settling down into a comfortable modus operandi.
Outward Aspects of his Election:
Goldmeadow Harrier: Creature - Kithkin Soldier
"It's a proven fact that sling-stones from the dawn side of the riverbank sail the farthest and truest" - Deagan, cenn of Burrenton
This card suggests to me that Bercow is the insurgent candidate and sailed through the impasse Labour had come to in the decision whom to "stitch in" to the important post. He was a natural choice, and had little difficulty in the end because of the machinations of those who wanted to exercise political patronage (Labour) or their own vanity campaign (Widdecombe's idiocy). This just confirms Bercow was a natural candidate because he came without baggage - despite his past equivocation in the Conservative Party counting against him in Owlperson's eyes when it came to the actual election - and an obvious-but-not-obvious accession also holds pointers to the future of the situation as well as his own rule as Speaker.
Inward Aspects of his Election:
Deeptread Merrow: Creature - Merfolk Rogue
"My success at navigating the Dark Meanders irritates the Inkfathom school. They consider themselves peerless divers, but I try to remind them that they cannot own commodities like bravery and cunning."
Bercow did also draw on his own ability to machinate and assumed power, rather than office. This is a darker card, because it suggests that Bercow used the system to his advantage as much as Labour or Widdecombe might have done, and in him Labour have a false friend because they remember his past enthusiasm for their policies while underestimating his loyalties to the Tories. However this is not the sort of thing that is likely to balance out the overpowerful partisan streak in Parliament and restore a centre of gravity - it is all about partisan advantage. Both Labour and the Tories will be disappointed in this - but so ultinmately will Bercow if he had to manipulate things as much as this card suggests to me.
Roots of his Election:
Herbal Poultice: Artifact
"Apply orange leaf to a wound at dawn to clean it, at dusk to prevent the same injury from happening again." - Kithkin superstition.
Simples - the desire for healing and the belief that the system will sort itself out. Whether or not this is possible or not will follow in other cards.
Seeds sown by his Election:
Wanderer's Twig: Artifact
For every tree who falls, there are countless sprouts waiting to rise.
There is the look of the dowsing rod about this card, and the mechanic brings forth a new "land" card to power the spells which the game casts. New ground is broken, but with this text here, it looks as if more will have to be cleared to facilitate this regrowth and renewal.
Labour reaction to Election:
Changeling Berserker: Creature - Shapeshifter
There is quite a direct reference to a renewed sense of fight within a Labour party who cannot control things directly any more and may feel that they are at the mercy of even a tame Tory speaker. Although the speakership rotates, it seems that Labour have had control since 1992 - since, in other words, the Tories started to dip in control over their government. The mechanic text suggests however that "Champion"ing their factions to balance Bercow out might be on their mind. If so, expect berserk reactions to this and a renewed struggle for control.
Conservative reaction to Election:
Primal Forcemage: Creature - Elf Shaman
Their calls unheeded by the withered forests, nature shamans channeled the life force of their brethren.
Expect the Tories too to believe that they are in some sort of control. Although the Speaker becomes a functional independent, the Tories are obviously quite happy to have one of their own in the Chair, albeit one who in Owlperson's view ought to have done the honourable thing as Quentin Davies did and crossed the floor some time ago. The card doesn't lie, and perhaps Cameron now can believe he is the power behind the throne, even if he is not yet on the throne itself. A dangerous idea, but one which comes from the deepening of party interests without corresponding dignity in government and opposition, which has reduced politics to this shabby state in the first place.
Direction for Bercow over the summer:
Freyalise's Radiance: Enchantment
Bercow here maintains a snowy, chilly calm over Parliament while calling for reinforcements to assist stem the growing tide of difficulties. With things not settled yet, some firm hand is needed to keep the opposing forces here in balance and see whether it is possible to reform and regenerate without having to force a wholesale breakdown in parliamentary systems. However it merely holds the situation in stalemate, and the cumulative upkeep mechanic here - the card gets progressively and even exponentially harder to maintain - gives the impression that it will not hold for very long.
Direction for Bercow after the summer:
Giant Harbinger: Creature - Giant Shaman
The danger here lurking is not held in abeyance for long and the costly balance of the summer leads to further difficulties later on. My own expectations have pinpointed September and October as potential flashpoints, and the giant, looking at the small gains he has made over the period of balance, is once again on the warpath - and as the card dictates, he is bringing several larger, buffer friends along. No card with the word Harbinger is going to predict the situation being put to bed.
Solution to this year's situation for Bercow:
Makeshift Mannequin: Instant
"This vulgar mimicry will end now." - Desmera, perfect of Wren's Run
In more ways than one, this isn't the card I'd like to see for a newly appointed anything. The card props up a dead creature and makes it brittle - the player has to sacrifice it if someone targets a spell at it specfically. Frail, vulnerable, and undead. Not really a great solution for our new speaker, but as I've been expecting this situation in general to lead to something greater and more powerfully cataclysmic, I can't say I'm surprised.
Outcome for Bercow this year:
Crush Underfoot: Tribal Instant - Giant
Using MTG cards as oracles are always blunt and direct (they told me last year that the Russians were going to beat us in the Olympics by showing me the card Ashcoat Bear - symbolic of course of the Slavic Titan) but none so much for this. Loathe as I am to prophesy that Bercow is only going to be temporary, the way things are going this year I would be surprised if there wasn't a sad and rather dangerous end to this tale, especially with Pluto having entered our British star sign Capricorn and letting off its firework laden load.
That's all for now. Chilling, but thrilling to use the cards again to read fortunes with.
