Shall I have to travel by sea, and is the voyage safe?

What this is

The question of one facing a sea-voyage and weighing not only whether to go but whether the crossing is safe. It is the seafarer's question, eyes on the water and the weather. It carries the old dread and hope of those who trust themselves to the deep.

What it governs

Opens the domain of the sea-voyage and its safety. It governs travel by water, the crossing, and whether the passage will be prosperous or perilous.

Its properties

Its answers turn on both the going and the safety of it, and it suits the querent for whom a sea-journey is in view, literally or as any risky crossing. Its honest use is to read the prospect and provision accordingly. Its shadow is reading a fair word as licence to set out unprepared, trusting the omen instead of the seamanship.

Where else it appears

The same note is the omen taken before every sailing, the rite worked for fair winds, the figure cast on whether the ship comes home. Across seafaring traditions those who would cross the water have asked the pattern whether the deep would spare them.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

Choosing this question routes your Sign of 32 to a verbatim answer about a sea-voyage and its safety. It binds to the Ship for the crossing, the Anchor for safe harbour, and the Comet when sudden weather threatens. Read its folio as a forecast of whether your passage is fair.

Why it matters

It stands fourteenth because the crossing has always carried real peril, and the oracle must speak to both the going and the danger. It asks you to read the omen and to ready the ship, trusting neither alone.

Correspondences

number

14