Tarot Card ~ February 28

Ten of Shields

Camelot

Fortune Cookie:  Look for the right GROUP energy to become part of so you will receive the right kind of support as you move onward and upward in your life.

 

 Very interesting card.  Always a very interesting card − at least when I have seen it.   It last showed up for us on the first day of November.  Truly a different time in the world. 

For those of you who are regulars to these posts, you know I’m about to say something like

Tens in any Tarot deck betoken the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, or even the end of one way of life and the beginning of another.  So, if I were reading for you today and this card came up, I’d ask [like I did Tuesday]:

How do the things you have been experiencing – and more importantly, how do the things you have begun to long for in life just now – represent a strong message to you that you must allow yourself to acknowledge the end of a cycle and the powerful potential for you to move into something wonderful and new, even miraculous? 

How can you keep that in front of you,

and not just for today? 

How can you let today be part of something new that you BEGIN TODAY but may continue to pursue for some time to come?

Some readers see the Ten of Shields as gain, riches, or having to do with family abode.  Okey-dokey.  Us likes riches an’ gains, us do!

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, indicates this card is about  affluence, riches, inheritance, and possibly clan gatherings.  As my grandmother often used to say about clan gatherings, “Always glad to see you all come.  Even happier to see you all go!”  If you had seen my family, you’d be right with her on that.

   

See?

I see the Ten of Shields as saying:

Time for a change. 

Possibly time for a BIG change. 

In pursuing that change, don’t look for the right person to help bring it about. 

Look for the right groups and circles and organizations – possibly new ones to you – to become part of.

Be very careful to evaluate the GROUP energy or the GROUP dynamics of where you are and where you need to be. 

If you were interviewing for a new job (or exploring a new spiritual circle, or new club), it wouldn’t be anywhere NEAR enough to evaluate whether it felt like your prospective new boss (or leader, or pastor, or teacher, whatever) would be good to work with.  

You’d really want to explore and be sure that the energy of the greater team, group, circle or organization felt positive, clean, imbued with integrity, excitement, spirit – whatever you need a boost of right now.

So:

Be open to the possibility that some element of your life is grinding its way to an end. 

Understand that it may simply be TIME for that to happen – no judgment or negative feeling attached to that reality.  Just a necessity in your evolution.

Then look for the right GROUP energy to become part of so that it will be supportive of you as you move onward and upward in your life.

Bright blessings and REALLY GOOD group connections!

Quote for the Day:  Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress.  But I repeat myself.  ~ Mark Twain 
 

Today’s Weather:  Tweedlepop storms and roaring torbies. Carry a SuperSoaker full of Schweppes bitter wampeter.    

On This Date: 1883 – The first vaudeville theater opens in Boston, Mass.

Tarot Card ~ February 27

The Lovers

Gareth & Lyones

Fortune Cookie: When you have choices to make today, look for PERFECT partnership.  You deserve it, and you should not settle for less. 

Haven’t seen this card since early April. So here it is, not a moment too soon.

I always get the biggest kick out of clients who come to me and ask, “How can I find THE lover who is MY soul mate ?” And I always take more than my fair share of grinchly delight in asking,

“You do realize what you are asking… what that REALLY means, right?  You do realize that your soul mate is the ONE PERSON who can ‘help you’ learn the most lessons the fastest.  Right?  As in, the ONE PERSON who can hit every single one of your hot buttons all at one time without even trying at all. RIGHT?  THAT’S what you’re looking for, IZZZIT?”

The expressions I get in response are priceless. 

Think about it, [even though it is a Sunday].

Anyway, as I have said before when this card turned up, if you REALLY need to know what The Lovers portends as a daily card, you more ’n likely need greater, deeper and more intensive help than I can provide.  Nevertheless…  

Some readers see this card as a harbinger of attraction, love, beauty, and trials overcome.  Others believe it speaks of fidelity.

      

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds lots of wonderful things in this card, among them the blossoming of a valuable and balanced relationship or a connection on a higher level. 

So yes, The Lovers is at the very least the card of a good, solid, balanced, loving relationship − one that is comfortable, open and committed, if not necessarily intimate.  Platonic will, in fact, do very nicely.  [Don’t throw things at the monitor.  I’m just the messenger.] 

When I work with clients and this card comes up, I tell them they are being guided to look for perfect partnerships in whatever areas of life they may be asking about. 

And I remind them to bear in mind that partnerships are not just about people. 

A perfect partnership can be the right romantic partner at the right time, certainly.

 But it can also be

~ the right working relationship (boss or assistant) or

~ the right work,

~ the right opportunity,

~ the right client(s),

~ the right doctor,

~ the right book,

~ the right business location,

~ the right prayer,

~ the right meditative practice,

~ the right sacred space,

~ the right Springer spaniel puppy or even

~ the right Tarot reader  [This advertisement brought to you by the committee to keep Neal out of debtor’s prison. Ǔbest Hǘǜry Ubet, Secretary.]

So when you have choices to make today, AND in the foreseeable future, look for PERFECT partnership.  You deserve it, and you should not settle for less.

Bright and perfect blessings!

Quote for the Day:  See? This is why I’m not religious. I couldn’t possibly keep my mouth shut long enough to get along with everyone else. ~ Jim Butcher 
 

Today’s Weather:  Mild intergalactic whackdoodles as an early test for 12/21/12. Put a fried boomerang over your lintel for protection.

On This Date: 1812 – Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in defense of Luddite violence against Industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.

This is the 58th day of the year.

Tarot Card ~ February 26

King of Spears

King Pellinore

Fortune Cookie: Own the Renaissance Man or Woman in you. What interests, skills, and wisdom will you pursue, and pursue deeply?  Which one first?  How can you start TODAY? 

 

No, he is NOT wearing a mullet!

Haven’t seen this extraordinary fellow since late last September. Which is sad, because he’s always a wonderful role model to keep close by.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of Legend, the Arthurian Tarot, finds the King of Spears to be a mature man [I suppose these days, for this blog, we should say PERSON] of wisdom, someone with humor and theatrical flair.  [Anybody come to mind?  Al Franken, maybe?  Dr. Ruth?]  So keep an eye out for that kind of energy today. Better still, seek to embody it yourself.

I see the King of Spears as the card of the the Renaissance Man (or Renaissance Woman). 

Look for 

~ or better still, give yourself permission to have ~

a restless, joyful, driving curiosity that you allow to take you toward many different fascinations. 

Here’s my picture of a typical Renaissance Person as represented by this card:

He or she

~ does trigonometry problems for fun and

~ does passable table magic and

~ can conjugate verbs in Latin, French and Japanese or Russian and

~ is on Neil Gaiman’s Twitter follow list and

~ converted a car to biodiesel or hydrogen with no help and

~ understands permaculture and has a rain garden and

~ sang backup for Tom Petty late one night (in a bar, if nowhere else) and

~ rides a Harley and

~ wrote a published urban fantasy novel and

~ owns a Prius and

~ works with Habitat for Humanity

He or she wants to learn

~ French cooking and

~ Feng Shui and 

~ Shamanic Healing and

~ judo and

~ controlled remote viewing and

~ Vedic astrology and

~ Thai massage and

~ book making and

~ classical guitar and

~ how to REALLY make money day trading and

~ how to build a PC by hand and

~ wants to design a line of edgy greeting cards and

~ wants to write a play for Broadway

And so on. 

(And will BY GOD! do so, by the way.) 

But remember, a true Renaissance Person is not just a dibbler-dabbler in lots of things.  The characteristic that distinguishes the Renaissance person is a real commitment to explore deeply, to develop true expertise in the many areas − one at a time if necessary − that appeal.  Patience, deep learning and wisdom, not just faking it or cramming to get by, are required here.

So, if you were to really own up to the Renaissancer in you, what interests, skills, and wisdom will you go after?  Which one first?  How will you pursue it deeply? How can you start TODAY?

Brightest blessings, joy and wonder!

Quote for the Day: The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. ~ Anon.  [Thanks, Lorna!]

Today’s Weather: Porkpie salivation reechoing down the mojo rootforce.  Floss like there’s no tomorrow!

On This Date: 1971 – U.N. Secretary General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day. 

 

 

Tarot Card ~ February 25

Five of Shields

The Wasteland

Fortune Cookie:  Know that you can move from The Wasteland you may feel yourself to be in. Know the direction to the High Green Land for you.  Make the choices and take the steps, one by one, that will take you there.

  

 

 

 

 

 We last saw this card in mid-September.  Glad it came around again.  It would have been a particularly useful card during a reading I did today.  But better late than never!

As I’ve said before, some days I feel about as creative as kibbles.  Like just now.  Fortunately, a card that has some things to teach me about that feeling has once again leapt out to instruct me.  You.  Us.  Somebody.  Apparently, right?  So here we go. 

This is a card for which my reading is based more on my intuitive response to the Anna-Marie Ferguson illustration than on the traditional interpretation.

When I see the Five of Shields in a reading, I usually say something like, “Hey!  Good news!  If you feel like you’ve been wandering in the wasteland, YOU REALLY HAVE BEEN.  You’re not just whining!”  [Some of us need to hear that more than others.]

Even more important, this card indicates that it is now possible – and you are now ready – to move from the wasteland to the High Green Land.  But you must be conscious and make the choices,moment by moment, that will carry you there. 

Of course, that would imply you have a pretty good idea WHAT the High Green Land would be for you compared to what you might have now.

“Something at least a touch better, maybe, kinda, couldja?” isn’t really sufficient for the Universe to home in on.  It just isn’t.  And in my case, “something that would make Bill Gates’ place look like a trailer park hovel” while swell, is a bit more nebulous and maybe a tad too much of a jump for the Universe to help me with. 

After all, if I can’t believe in it, why should I expect the Universe to bring it as a nice liddla giftee, eh?

Know you can move from The Wasteland.  Know the direction to the High Green Land.  Make the choices and take the steps, one by one, that will get you there.

Okay, so maybe it’s important that I share some of the more traditional meanings that readers and scholars have given to this card. They are things like exhaustion of resources, temporary hardship, material difficulties, blah, blah, blah, blah, hooooooooey. 

That certainly is still in the news all over the place this month as we all breathlesly wait a new wave of foreclosures, protests, indictments and revolutions.  Or some such.  So, as metaphysicians [or at least as people who read a Daily Tarot Card]:

How do we not give in to such pandemic energy [Ooh! 25 cent word!] and get sucked down the tube with everybody else?

First of all, we remember that what may be typical, even what may seem absolutely inescapable for the majority, is not necessarily true for any single individual — especially us! 

After all, during the worst of the Great Depression there were folks calling, “Drive on, Rodolfo!” as they tooled around in limousines from mansion to club to ocean liner to Buckingham Palace and back.  And some of those who became the most famous were NEWLY MINTED gazillionaires.  And some of  them were very creative, compassionate, charitable people.  [Like you.] They simply refused to doubt themselves or give over their dreams to hopelessness and distress – or to the norm. 

Second, we affirm to ourselves exactly how much potential there is in us, and there is in life FOR us and for us to share with those we love.  Remember that in ultimate truth THERE IS NO LACK, and we have the capacity to experience that! 

Yes, that means you!

Third, we stay strongly enough connected to spiritual truth and to Light to remember that whatever may happen to the entire world, we are okay and we will be okay. 

[I know.  Even I have days where I say to myself, “Man!  What if the world goes completely to hell and we all go up in smoke and I have to incarnate on a planet where all humanoid beings have day glow yellow fur like a shag rug that Fluffy has baptized, smell like one of Mick Jagger’s 1969 jumpsuits after a concert, sound like W. on double Ativan and accept sniffing gasoline fumes as THE religion?”] 

See?  It could be worse.  Right? 

So, once again:

Know that you can move from The Wasteland.  Know the direction to the High Green Land.  Make the choices and take the steps, one by one, that will take you there.

Bright blessings and incredible, miraculous deliriously happy progress! 

Quote for the Day: That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder? ~ Sir Terry Pratchett, Hogfather  

Today’s Weather:  Jangling down the chimneys of time, occasionally whomping against seams of now. Seams?  Seems? Absinthe, anyone? 

On This Date:  1570 – Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England.  [She is apparently so distraught she asks for more Tater Tots with extra salt at dinner.] 

Tarot Card ~ February 24

The Fool

  Percivale

Fortune Cookie:   Follow your bliss!  Follow your bliss!  Know what your bliss is!!!  Follow your bliss! 

 

Isn’t that a GREAT picture?  

Okay, Y’all:  We last saw this card in mid-December.  Therefore, we’ve all had plenty of time to work with its good counsel and direction.  

So which one of you is still holding out on following your bliss?  Huh? 

 

Not!!  Good!!!!

Anyway, I’m always grateful whenever this card comes around again, for prolly more reasons than I can count.  Sometimes I think this may be the most important card in the deck, for us and for the world in this time.  It is in fact the FIRST card in the deck, which should give you some idea of the weight it carries.

Just as significant, it’s the antithesis to that state I see much more often: folks lassoing their own private storm clouds, knotting them in place just above their heads and walking around beating themselves with a stick [or a riding crop, electroshock device, or small laser, if budget permits] while chanting that ever-so-helpful mantra, “Life sucks.  The world is doomed.  Life sucks.  The world is doomed.  Life sucks. The world is doomed, and I’ll probably be first in line to get whacked.” 

If these are in fact transformational times [and they are], then that is ZACKLY the wrong thing to immerse yourself in!  No?  Yes!

So, back to the card. 

Da Ful: this card does not mean that you are a fool or are inevitably going to be foolish today ~ at least not in the normal way our culture perceives foolishness. 

I call this The Joseph Campbell card.  It’s the card that says, “You.  You.  Yeah, you.  FOLLOW YOUR BLISS.  NOW!  With joy, hope, excitement and expectation.  NOW!  ”

It’s therefore the card that offers you permission to go off on your own great and profound personal quest, just like Percivale did. (And he became one of the three greatest knights of all, y’all!)

The important aspect (and for some of us, the hard work) is:

to actually KNOW what our bliss is (or would be/could be). 

Because you see, when we get kinda down or times are tough, THAT is often the first knowing or believing that goes RIGHT out the window.

So, as I have written before, this is the somewhat rambling response I’ve given to a few clients when they’ve asked,

Follow my bliss?

What the hell does that mean?

  

You start by knowing what your heart’s true desire is [provided it’s moral, of course.  At least mostly.  And pretty close to legal.] If necessary, take some time to hone your understanding of what that means to you, for today, anyway.  Do it over an extra cuppa if that’s all the time you have.  But do it.

Do!! It!!!!

Then, no matter how impossible or illogical it may seem, like −

I’m gonna write a children’s story about an orphan boy who goes to a school for wizards, and it’s going to be so beautifully done it’s going to earn me enough to support myself and my family for the rest of my life.  In fact, it’s going to make me the first person to ever earn a billion dollars from writing fiction!  [Like THAT could ever happen!]

 − take your first single SMALL step on the path that follows your bliss. 

And see what that leads to. 

Then take the next step. 

And see what that leads to.  And so on.

The difference between The Fool and some other Tarot cards that offer permission to follow your own unique path is that The Fool in particular says,

 “Stay connected to your heart, moment by moment. 

Know that your heart may change, and so your direction may change, moment by moment.  But DO NOT allow yourself to think less of yourself, your efforts or your path because of that.  Go where your heart tells you and you will achieve more than most will ever even hope for.”

This is the card of the Sacred Fool, the Holy Fool;  the one who is open to divine inspiration and honors it by following his or her bliss, harm to none and love for all, always.

Let me remind you [troooooo-leeee for the umpteenth time] of how The Fool’s gift once applied to me. 

I was watching one of the shows in the second season of “Torchwood” [if you still haven’t picked up on that BBC series, I think you’re missing something. Especially now that season 3 is out on DVD. But start with the first season.]  One of the characters made the point, in a way that hit me harder than I remember any TV show ever doing, that humans on Earth are almost always at war. And we tell ourselves that we are fighting “the war to end war for all time.”  Over and over and over.  

And I was really shaken.  Because, for just a moment, I had a glimpse of humans, with our nearly angelic powers and potentials, side by side with the reality of how we ignore them, or maybe even worse, use them in ways that are just plain selfish, demeaning, destructive and stupid, moment by moment.

And I got the very clear message that a big chunk of the problem is that we are following old habits, old programming. NOT following our bliss. Not honoring that which is angelic in us.  Not reaching for that which is for our Highest and Best. 

But we can.

And then I came into the office and drew The Fool card and found great blessing in the message that that there is ALWAYS the possibility of doing it all differently

IF we know our hearts truly truly;

IF we honor that which truly resonates for the Highest and Best,

 which is always one with OUR Highest and Best;  

 IF   we

 follow

 our

 bliss.

 Wishing you a day of magic, and the sacred, and your true path.

 Brightest Blissings!

Quote for the Day: Imagine….  ~ John Lenon

Today’s Weather:   All the people sharing all the world.  In motley.  Motley.    

 

On This Date: 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar. [He WANTED to call it the XIIIian calendar.]

 

 

 

Traot Card ~ February 23

The Chariot

Battle of Mount Badon

Fortune Cookie: Go after what you really want – aggressively.  But don’t let yourself get pulled out of balance (physically, emotionally or spiritually or in any other way), or lose your cool at a critical moment.

Wowie-Zowie, boys and girls!  We last saw this card EXACTLY one year ago today!   I assume that means something.  So list ye with an attent ear and sh… stuff.  

This is a great card for enny time o’ year, because the insights it offers are strong, clear and very important. 

And, I might add, it’s a superb card for incorporating into a dead-of-winter review, no matter what path you walk.

Traditional readings for this card include things like succor, providence and triumph.  Or something along the lines of make a choice, stand by it and carry it through. Or maybe even willpower, and recognizing that you have the ability to focus your will to accomplish amazing things.

Anna-Marie Ferguson’s Legend Tarot deck has The Chariot indicating victory, leadership and controlling a situation of conflicting sentiments, among other things.

I tend to interpret this card based on the counsel that has seemed most positive for and helpful to my clients when it has shown up.

When The Chariot appears, I say:

Okay.  Regarding what you’re asking about, what you want, or whatever the case may be:

Go after it.  Go after it aggressively.  Not even assertively.  Aggressively!  Full tilt, run ’em over if they won’t surrender or get out of your way kinda aggressively.  But…

Make very, very sure that in going after what you want, you do not let yourself become pulled off balance or pushed out of balance – or otherwise become out of balance – physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, or any-other-ly. 

And keep a cool head.

Here’s the analogy:  When you’re driving a war chariot into battle, once you’re committed to the fight you’ve gotta push, drive, plunge.  But, if you lose your balance, you’ll get bounced out of the chariot and right onto the point of a spear.

And when you go into battle, you must fight hard but remain cool and focused.  If you give over to wild emotion, you may lose sufficient awareness of what’s really going on around you, and become raven kibble.  

So, today: Go after what you really want – aggressively.  But don’t let yourself get pulled out of balance, or lose your cool at a critical moment.

Bright Blessings, balance, focus and Charge!

Thought for the Day: When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realised, the Lord doesn’t work that way. So I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me. … and I got it! ~ Emo Philips

Today’s Weather: Szechuan bratwurst.  Tenor kabobs and short, drooly  newbies. Dandelion wine.  

 On This Date: 1455 – Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.

Tarot Card ~ February 22

Seven of Cups

The Questing Beast

Fortune Cookie: Go after the joy. Seek it, quest after it, demand it!  And for pity’s sake, at least be sure you can actually define what it is − or what it would be, if you had your druthers − for you.

 So are we ready to pay attention? Huh?  Huh?  Eh?

That’s good, because it’s an important card with a very solid reminder.  A reminder of what?  

A reminder that we [most of us who are over five years old, ennyway] really need to work on joyfulness in our lives.  I know.  Sounds couter-intuitive.  Right?  Well, toobad payattention.

So.  Joyfulness. My advice would be to stop reading this, have a Guiness or a Mimosa or a tequila sunrise or an Irish coffee or some God Bud pancakes or strawberry cough brownies, or a…

Oh, wait.  Wrong blog.  Right audience, maybe, but wrong blog.

 

  

Anyway, we really need to work on joyfulness in our lives.

This is another card where my interpretation may diverge a tidly, tadly [or rather substantial] bit from that of other readers.  And I’m pretty joyful about it.

Some see the Seven of Cups as recommending opening to visions through contemplation. [My astrologer Mary Ellen tells me this is a big year for me in that realm. Guess I better clean out the meditation room.]

Mustn’t argue with that, ever, unless you’re ready to have the Storm Troopers of Light come kick yer butt all across the floor, not to mention several dimensions, with at least one of them being Texas.  And gold lamé spacesuits with emerald wings and ruby go-go boots first thing in the morning is more than I can handle.   

  

Ahem. 

Some readers find the card dictates that the querent (questioner) has a choice to make, and must decide upon one of various options. [Like where to put the old canoe, kayac, Yuletide tree and life-size statues of Grover Cleveland and Teddy Roosevelt now that I’m clearing out the meditation room?]

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, sees this card as betokening – among other things − fantasy, whims or perhaps a bizarre turn of events.  Right up my alley.  [My office cat refers to my desk as the Bizar Bazar.] 

I see the Seven of Cups as the card of utter, total complete joy and joyful abandon. 

There may be some need to stay at least a bit grounded, so you DON’T go completely off into the realm of fantasy in a    

“ ҉     ҉     ҉   Wow, look at all the pretty colors!   ҉    ҉    I’ll betcha I can too live on air and rainbows and weird pancakes    ҉     ҉     ҉  !”  kinda scenario.

But [but! but! but! but! but!] this is also the card of Fairy Favors, creativity and clear vision around attaining true desires. [Legally.] (And, as I said to a client in a recent reading, it really does imply that you’re going to do some meaningful work on defining and owning what your TRUE desires in this life actually are!)

And this can be a great, great time to do some wishcraft around becoming reacquainted with the Green Fey Friends down the garden way now that Winter is icumen in, and work to re-earn the Fairy Favors they offer.

So go after the joy. Seek it, quest after it, demand it!  And for pity’s sake, at least be sure you can actually define what it is − or what it would be, if you had your druthers − for you.

Let yourself renew your belief in and commitment to your happiness, and be open to the myriad magical ways the universe may offer to bring it to you.  Let yourself be open to surprises and miracles in that regard.  And open to a little Fairy Magic today! 

Joy!  Joy!  Joy!

And JOY!!!

Bright blessings! 

And don’t forget joy!

Quote for the Day: There are any number of magical creatures, mostly female, whose singing can bring about horror and death. Sirens, undines, banshees, Bananarama tribute bands… ~  Simon R. Green from Nightingale’s Lament

Today’s Weather:  Kinkajous ice skating down at the puddle. Charming little blighters. Warms the cockles o’ me heart, does.  No, COCKLES. 

On This Date: 1797 – The Last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.

Well.  A card that actually makes perfect sense for a deep winter day [in Ohio, anyway]!  But it’s a GREAT and also actually useful card for consideration any day at all.  At all.  Any.

 

Tarot Card ~ February 21

Page of Swords

The Adder

  

Fortune Cookie: Identify, own and begin a positive, deep and bright personal transformation.  TODAY!

 

This guy last, uh, popped up for us in mid December, shortly before the Solstice.  He’s baaa-aack.  He’s potent.  He’s wise.  He’s transformational.  Check him out! Take advantage of his wisdom. [Or else why are you even reading this?  Hmmmmmmmmm?]  

A typical reader might say the Page of Swords betokens something along the lines of authority, secret service, vigilance, maybe even spying.

 

Enough!

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, includes insight, receiving info first-hand about an important matter, and overseeing confidential affairs, among other insights this card brings.

So if any of those phrases pop out for you — like if you’re still waiting for notice about your parole hearing or whatever — keep your intuitive antenna up about the matter that resonates a bunch.

As I look at this card in the Legend deck, I’m reminded that The Snake (in this case, Adder) is a universal symbol of at least five things [although even I must occasionally remember that the Great Sigmund is reported to have said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…”].  

Yeah, okay, fine. So watch out for snakes if you live in Australia and mow the lawn today.

Where were we.  Oyeh.  Snake is a universal symbol of at least five things.

Snake symbolizes:

1. transformation and rebirth (the snake sheds its skin, and in that process experiences rebirth;  it has become a new creature and a creature renewed)

2. healing (the Rod of Asklepios, Greek God of Healing and Medicine, was entwined by a snake, and snakes were sacred totem animals, guardians and helpers at the temples of dream healing dedicated to him)

3. subconscious wisdom (knowledge of the Shamanic Lower World, which is almost universally understood to be a place of deep and beautiful healing as well as  a place of ancient and traditional wisdom)

4. masculine energy (any questions on this one?  Go back to our friend Freud)

5. clandestine affairs (the sneaky sneaky sneaky snakey)

Aw, fer tha luvva…

 So when the Page of Swords shows up for a client, I’m likely to ask him or her

~ what kind of deep personal transformation have you been longing for?

~ how can you be open to a rebirth − for personal and/or planetary healing?

~ how can you connect with deeper and perhaps archaic or ancestral wisdom, (Shamanic journeying, deep meditation, magic, prayerwork ) and to what purposes?

~ how can you go after these things in a direct, vigorous, perhaps even forceful way?

~ how will you test for integrity – in yourself, no less than in those around you?

Also, this card indicates that it may be a good idea to be more than normally open to help or guidance from someone of substantial masculine energy: a positive, powerful man or a strong and wise woman-warrior type, for example.

So, given all that:

What is the deep, positive and bright personal transformation you can own and begin TODAY?  DO IT!

Bright blessings and beautiful, healing transformation!

Quote for the Day: The only good hero is the kind who survives to talk about merchandising.  ~ Simon R. Green

Today’s Weather:  Drip. Drip.  Drip.  WHOMP!  Touch not the nibelungengerbil, nor his Hobbittrail.  

On This Date:  1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue.  [How DARE you call me effete!] 

In honor of Presidents’ Day, may I highly recommend

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER  

Yes.  Really.

Tarot Card ~ February 20

Strength

Percivale’s Vision

Fortune Cookie: Trust in your strength and draw on it.  Manage it well when you must, but draw on it.  Believe in your success.  And let your vision of WHAT CAN BE guide you higher and higher beyond the norm of what has been.

 

We last saw this card on the last day of August.  It’s always a fortunate card to turn up —  and it usually shows up not a moment too soon! 

 

Obviously, this card betokens its own name: Strength, as well as courage and vitality.  Plus magnanimity − both toward you and emanating from you – [so feel free to send your favorite Tarot reader a beautiful and rare European antique-anything-expensive. Thank you.] [This smarmy message brought to you by the committee to help Neal look and live more like a grownup.] The card can also indicate perhaps the most perfect light touch of luck.  Yesssss!

Really pretty good stuff, then.   So TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT!  ALL!! OF!! IT!!!!  [Otherwise what are you reading this for?]

Where was I? 

[Come to that, Who was I?]

Dear, Sweet Apollo on a go kart…

Sigh…

The Strength card is one of the most utterly positive cards in the deck.  And it does offer a few useful, specific recommendations.

It is very important that you do not underestimate your physical and emotional strength at this time, or doubt the power and durability of your connection to Universal Life Force – God, Spirit, The Big G, Mr. Dylan, Lady GG, Peter O’Toole, der Cheney-Fuhrer or Whatever-You-Name-It. 

In other words, don’t down yourself out or assume less of yourself than you may actually be able to handle.  If opportunities come, REACH!  If challenges come, PUSH BACK!  Don’t just crawl under the bed and hide.

Believe in your ability to succeed and to attain that which you most desire, particularly in areas of physical healing and achievement and/or emotional connection and healing. 

Draw on your inner strength, which is truly far greater than you give yourself credit for.  So haul that butt up from under the bed. 

Right now!

I mean it.

We’re all waiting. 

Come on…

Now!

Much better.

Like many of us, you may need to begin investing some ongoing effort toward actually identifying and functionalizing your connection to your inner strength.  Our culture ain’t so good about that, unless you have forced yourself to march to the same “inner drummer” as everybody else.  Get to know your OWN connection to Source, and work with it.  

We have in us the brilliant, beautiful and eternal power of stars.  It’s up to us to find and focus it.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, feels this card indicates having the strength and vitality to realize one’s goals, and also ambition tempered with serenity – a gentle yet full strength. 

When I work with clients, I advise them about an additional level of meaning to this card in this particular deck.  I find this to be the card of the visionary – the individual who can see higher, farther, and deeper than others can. 

Sometimes, even more important, this is the person who can see (distinguish clearly) the trees for the forest and the forest for the trees.  So give yourself credit for being able to see things more clearly, and define things more accurately and truly, than the madding crowd around you. 

Own your ability to be the visionary who can, as Robert F. Kennedy so beautifully put it, “…dream things as they never were, and say why not?”  Or see things as they really are, and say, “Nuh-unh sucker!  We don’t play that way NO MORE!”

Trust in your strength and draw on it.  Manage it well when you must, but draw on it.  Believe in your success.  And let your vision of WHAT CAN BE guide you higher and higher beyond the norm of what has been.

Bright blessings, light, clarity and joy!

Quote for The Day:  Some words have a power that has nothing to do with supernatural forces. They resound in the heart and mind, they live long after the sounds of them have died away, they echo in the heart and the soul. They have power, and that power is very real. ~ Jim Butcher

Today’s Whether:  Gobsmack Sallys running great dizzy circles all over every ole where.  Use the Entenmann’s defense.

On This Date:  1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France’s claim to Texas. [Do you suppose we could still get them to take it?]

Tarot Card ~ February 19

Queen of Swords

Morgause 

Fortune Cookie: Be very strategic. Be clear about what you want, why you want it, the impact it will have on you and your world, and what it will take to attain your goal.  Then follow the plan that comes naturally from this knowing.  

Hmm….  We last saw this important lady toward the beginning of December. 

It’s always good to bear in mind the insights she offers. [I say that even though I’m an Aquarius, and the idea of doing anything logical and  plan-oriented makes me look like I’m about to cough up a gerbil. Two gerbils.]

This card certainly betokens being strategic in our lives and in our world – as I’ll talk about in a bit.  That could, if you let it, lead to the question, “What is the difference between strategy and tactics?” 

[God knows, I confuse the two about every chance I get.  Which helps explain why I drive an old Toyota instead of a new BMW, I guess.]

Strategy is the big picture look at a problem, situation or goal. 

It focuses on the sea-change-sized thing that needs to be achieved.  Defeating an enemy, preserving the ecology, earning a living as a Tarot reader − those are strategies.  Concepts like objective, maneuver and security are among the principles of strategy.  Sun Tzu’s The Art of War teaches strategy.

Tactics vary with circumstances, time and technology. 

As I’ve written before when this card has appeared, if I were to guide you in marketing yourself as a Tarot reader for the eighteenth century, I’d suggest you get a beautiful snug little cart, paint it in wild and wonderful colors, and travel the roads from town to town to town in order to find new clients. And stay ahead of the sheriff. 

If I were advising you to be a Tarot reader this year, I’d talk about blogs, web sites, apps, podcasting opportunities, corporations having you on retainer and maybe even securing sponsorships to help find new clients.  And stay ahead of the sheriff. 

[As you can probably suspect from this blog in general, I still think that snug little cart thing sounds pretty good.] 

So, tactics present a small picture perspective where individual trees are in focus, and dealing with them one by one is the action. Strategy focuses on the big picture of the entire forest, and whether to preserve it, napalm it, or something in between.

Got it? 

Goodie!

Me, I’m as lost as ever.

Where was I?

Oh.  Yeah.  Believe it or not, this all has to do with what the Queen of Swords would tell us about our day, and possibly our future.

As I always say to my clients,

I love the Queen of Swords.  If anyone ever crosses her, disappoints her or gets in her way, she doesn’t get mad.  She just has them beheaded.  ‘Nothing personal,’ she’ll say.  

(That is a tactic to eliminate an obstacle.  The strategy behind the tactic is to ensure that her reputation will precede her and scare absolute hell out of those who might think to oppose her, or mess her about in any way.)

The Queen is a master of BOTH strategy and tactics. And your ability to work –consciously — with strategy and tactics is what you are being asked to explore within yourself and your situation today.  The Queen is intelligent, and may in fact be a scholar or have a strong scholarly bent, especially when circumstances dictate she must.  She will do what is necessary to learn what may be essential for her to succeed.  

So, if you need to learn something new beginning today, don’t resist.  Get started!  It will be worth your while.

Most importantly [at least as I have experienced this card in working with clients], if the Queen wants to get from point A to point B, she will take the time to clearly and accurately understand WHY she should do that (strategy), and determine every baby step necessary to move her from where she is to her goal (tactics).  Just as important, she will exert the will to hold herself to every single step.  She’ll take unexpected breaks if they come her way, but she’ll muster the grit to grind it out every inch of the way if she must.

So be clear about

  ~ what you want,

~ why you want it,

~ the impact it will have on you and your world,

~ and what it will take to attain your goal. 

~ Learn what may be necessary to help you succeed.

~ Then put yourself on the path to your goal. 

~ And if anyone gets in your way, don’t take it personal. 

   Just have ’im beheaded! 

[Ummm… I mean, just find a way to cut him out of the situation.  And keep on moving on.]

Bright blessings!

Quote for the Day: Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do…. Explore. Dream. Discover.  ~ Mark Twain

Today’s Weather:  Crummy-buttons.  I would once again suggest propitiating any minor weather deities in your neighborhood. Now.

On This Date: 197 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.  [Hmmm… Those names sound familiar.  Wonder why…]

 

This is the 50th day of the year.  Already.