Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 15

King of Spears

King Pellinore

Haven’t seen this extraordinary fellow since early August.

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 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 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 would you go after?  Which one first?  How can you start TODAY?

Brightest blessings, joy and wonder!

Quote for the Day:    One researcher thinks that, for some sufferers, nightmares are a “learned behavior.”  He says, “Dreams naturally want to change.  People who have nightmares don’t realize that.” ~ Margaret Talbot, form the article “Nightmare Scenario” in The New Yorker, November 16, 2009  [Link at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_talbot  ]

Today’s Weather:  Rhythm guitar and mouth organ.  With ivory moonbeams.

 On This Date: 1969 – In Columbus, Ohio, Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy’s restaurant.  

 And: Roman Festival in honor of Feronia, a marginal rural goddess in Roman religion, to whom woods and springs were sacred, and a more important goddess among the Latins. Some Latins believed Feronia to be a harvest goddess, and honored her with the harvest firstfruits in order to secure a good harvest the following year. Feronia also served as a goddess of travellers, fire, and waters. Slaves regarded Feronia as a goddess of freedom, and believed that sitting on a holy stone in one of her sanctuaries would set them free. ~ Wikipedia

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 14

The Judgement

Avalon

Now here’s a card that last showed up on US Independence Day.  It’s always a good card to work with and one we would do well to allow to guide us. I certainly need to pay more attention to it!

So.  Then.   If there’s any inkling in your mind that you might be being

just a tad

judgemental,

it’s tremendously important that you STOP THAT RIGHT NOW ~ don’t be judgemental of anyone else.  And especially don’t be judgemental toward yourself. It’s not useful or even valid to be that way.  Today, anyway.

That doesn’t mean you should let yourself – or anyone else − run hog wild, going off half-cocked and half baked in every goofy direction that occurs. 

Nor should you beat yourself up if you really want to just get quiet and do what it takes to stay grounded – or want to just hide and say, “To hell with ALL these Bozos!” for today.  Oh. Wait.  That would be kinda judgemental.  So you can do it (hide away), just don’t say it (these Bozos).

It does mean

~ don’t repress your own tendency to wish for what you wish for

~ don’t berate yourself for wanting to be able to upgrade 

   WELL beyond what ordinary reality might provide

   this week in some area of your life, but 

~ stay grounded for the moment regarding what you actually grab

 or grab for 

And send kind energy and blessings of Light to those who do get sucked into any craziness that’s around today. 

Also [and I’m finding this one to be unusually important with my clients lately],

be sure you are pursuing what really is for the highest and best of all. 

Don’t just do what you’ve always been told you should do in order to be successful, popular, spiritual, thinner, blah, blah, blah…

Anyway.

Different decks portray ~ and different readers interpret ~ The Judgement in exceptionally different ways.  Some say it indicates a change of position, a renewal or reawakening, an ultimate outcome.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds it to portend passing through a gateway to a new existence, an understanding of how one’s actions influence others, good health or a positive legal outcome.

Me? [Thought you'd never ask.]  I tend to see this card as requiring some action.  When this card appears, I’m likely to say:

“Look.  Really.  There are powerful, helpful people who would be happy to work with you, work on your behalf, who might actually be out there looking for you right now.  But they can’t find you where you usually are. 

“There are wonderful, transformational experiences waiting for you.  But they can’t happen where you are, in the rhythm of your life as you currently live it. 

“You’ve got to go new places, meet new people, do new things!  And push yourself a bit to keep doing that for the foreseeable future.”

So, while staying grounded and aware of what your wishes are − or could be if you really owned what you wish for − entice yourself out of your rut. 

Shop at different stores, from grocers to clothiers to where you buy your lottery tickets or get your dry cleaning done. 

Go to different movies at different theaters. 

Eat at different restaurants.

Write at different coffee bars. 

Don’t let yourself stagnate where you are and have been. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of this card is that it indicates your destiny is trying to reach out to you and for you.  Will you be there?   If you are, bear in mind the insight of the card as it reminds us to understand the impact of our actions upon others.

Know what you want. 

Don’t be crazy, but be willing to try something unusual or out of character to get it. 

Reach out for your destiny.

Bright blessings (without even the least little hint of  judgemental)! [I mean it!]   

Quote for the Day:  Humans, eh? Think they’re lords of creation. Not like us cats. We know we are. Ever see a cat feed a human? Case proven. ~ Terry Pratchett, from The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Today’s Weather:  Aesculapian do-overs.  Tarahumaran winds empowering the ‘Tauds in the fields.        

On This Date: 1889 – Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) begins a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completes the trip in seventy-two days.

 

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 13

King of Shields

Uther

Last saw this card around this time in September.  As those of you who have been with the blog for a while know, the King of Shields is what I call the card of the Good King.

This is the king who knows what’s going on in his kingdom − how the crops in every county are doing (if not, in fact, how every farmer is doing), what his knights are up to (and what they should be up to), the state of repair of the entire kingdom’s major walls, bridges and roads, etc. − how the kingdom is doing.  Really. 

He’s perfectly comfortable in the limelight, although he does not seek it for himself and does not miss it when it isn’t on him. 

He is simply the good king who understands that his mission is to take care of his kingdom and take care of his subjects so that they generally can take care of themselves.  He considers himself the servant of all his people [even those he'd like to gangster-smack].

The hard lesson he has learned is that there will always be more things asked of him than he can possibly fulfill, more things in need of attention than he can possibly do or see to, even by delegating. 

He has, therefore, come to understand and be comfortable with the necessity of allocating his resources, caring and effort, in such a way as will provide the greatest return and benefit to himself and especially to his people. 

In his realm, it ISN’T the squeakiest wheel that gets the grease; it’s the wheel whose repair is most significant and valuable to him, his people and his land.

So, beginning today, how can you come to understand better the myriad workings of your kingdom? 

What, in fact, IS your kingdom?  And how do you need to give yourself − in a functional, practical way − permission to attend to that which is really MOST IMPORTANT rather than that which seems MOST URGENT (or most annoying) in order to keep your kingdom’s balance, harmony and prosperity at the forefront of your rule? 

What do you need to let go of, or let go fallow, or let go to hell, for that matter, in order for the stuff you truly care about − the stuff you truly came here to do − to get done and get done well?  

So ask yourself, “What the hell is all that noise?  But what is REALLY important?  Now how do I attend to THAT?”

Bright blessings!

Quote for the Day: There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats. ~ Albert Schweitzer

Today’s Weather: Slow sundowns with occasional transcendent glimpses.  Walk gently. 

Thought for the Day: WHO IS YOUR REAL FRIEND? Just try this experiment. Put your dog and your spouse in the trunk of the car for an hour. When you open the trunk, which one is really happy to see you?

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 12

Seven of Spears

Arch of Twelve Kings

Swear to God.  Two days in a row!  So one of us needs to really take a look at the card, don’tcha think?

As I’ve said again and again [and again], it is one of those cards we should work with rather regularly to help us keep track of who we are and who we hope to be.  [Who? Whom? Whim? Who cares?]

The Arch referred to here is a monument created by Merlin’s magic in celebration of the defeat of twelve lesser kings who rebelled against Arthur early in his reign. 

And as I’ve asked before: do the twelve kings sound at all like the chaotic, nagging, self-defeating things we get stuck thinking about ourselves, our talents and abilities, even our lives?   Isn’t it wearying to find ourselves so often in rebellion against our higher and better selves?  What a waste of energy, time, peace of mind, hormones, and, uh… energy!

So listen up, y’all! [Again!]  I consider this to be the card of utter, total complete victory.  It may be victory after a long, tedious and/or hard-fought series of challenges.  But it’s victory nonetheless.

Some readers indicate the Seven of Spears to be a card of bravery and success.  Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, says it speaks of promoting unity for the common good and gaining the confidence of others, among other things.  If any of those indicators fit what you’re trying to be about lately, assume you’ve been given a green light and MOVE!

As we look at what this card is prompting, let me ask:

If you were absolutely certain that you would

ultimately achieve the victory you want

− maybe after considerable time, maybe after considerable strategy and straining, heaving endeavor, maybe after having to release some things in order to ultimately gain what you want –

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

WHAT WOULD YOUR VICTORY BE?

~ How long are you willing to work toward it? 

~ How long are you willing to go after it again and again and again? 

~ How will you strategize for it? 

~ With whom, and what will they bring to the table? 

~ What endeavors will you put forth to achieve it? 

~ What help will you seek, from Spirit and from those around you?

~ What would you give up, release, put aside to have it? 

WHAT

DO YOU WANT?

What

would YOUR victory be?

Assume today is the magical day that

if you answer those questions honestly

if you answer those questions fully

and begin to put into play the elements

of your responses

you will move toward sure victory.

Bright blessings and victory!

P.S.  Just as a corollary:  what do you want to be remembered for one hundred years from now?

Quote for the Day:  Treat everyone you meet like God in drag.  ~ Ram Dass 

Today’s Weather:  Pigwizzled entelechy-generated wheezle gorblers.  Carry, or if you prefer, wear a pork-pie hat.    

 

 

On This Date:  764 – Tibetan troops occupy Chang’an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days. [Ironic, no?]

And [Leftover from Yesterday]:  11/11 1634 – Following pressure from Anglican bishop John Atherton, the Irish House of Commons passes An Act for the Punishment for the Vice of Buggery.  [This really made Oscar Wilde.]

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 11

Seven of Spears

Arch of Twelve Kings

Ahhhh…  A GOODIE! And a card last in this neighborhood around early September. As I’ve said again and again, it is one of those cards we should work with rather regularly to help us keep track of who we are and who we hope to be.  [Who? Whom?  Who cares?]

The Arch referred to here is a monument created by Merlin’s magic in celebration of the defeat of twelve lesser kings who rebelled against Arthur early in his reign. 

And as I’ve asked before: do the twelve kings sound at all like the chaotic, nagging, self-defeating things we get stuck thinking about ourselves, our talents and abilities, even our lives?   Isn’t it wearying to find ourselves so often in rebellion against our higher and better selves?  What a waste of energy, time, peace of mind, hormones, and, uh… energy!

So listen up, y’all!  I consider this to be the card of utter, total complete victory.  It may be victory after a long, tedious and/or hard-fought series of challenges.  But it’s victory nonetheless.

Some readers indicate the Seven of Spears to be a card of bravery and success.  Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, says it speaks of promoting unity for the common good and gaining the confidence of others, among other things.  If any of those indicators fit what you’re trying to be about lately, assume you’ve been given a green light and MOVE!

As we look at what this card is prompting, let me ask:

If you were absolutely certain that you would

ultimately achieve the victory you want

− maybe after considerable time, maybe after considerable strategy and straining, heaving endeavor, maybe after having to release some things in order to ultimately gain what you want –

 

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

WHAT WOULD YOUR VICTORY BE?

~ How long are you willing to work toward it? 

~ How long are you willing to go after it again and again and again? 

~ How will you strategize for it? 

~ With whom, and what will they bring to the table? 

~ What endeavors will you put forth to achieve it? 

~ What help will you seek, from Spirit and from those around you?

~ What would you give up, release, put aside to have it? 

WHAT

DO YOU WANT?

What

would YOUR victory be?

Assume today is the magical day that

if you answer those questions honestly

if you answer those questions fully

and begin to put into play the elements

of your responses

you will move toward sure victory.

Bright blessings and victory!

P.S.  Just as a corollary:  what do you want to be remembered for one hundred years from now?

Quote for the Day:  If you think you can win, you can.  Faith is necessary to victory.  ~ William Hazlitt 

Today’s Weather:  Duff-snuffled pendergasts floating like bricks don’t.  Wear a lapel pin. Sometimes, oftenly not although.    

On This Date:  1918 – World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France. The war officially stops at 11:00 (The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) this is annually honoured with two-minutes of silence.

To All Those Who Have Served

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 10

Six of Swords

The Eachtra

 Lessee… Haven’t seen this once since the tenth of July.

As I’ve said other times this card has turned up, the Six of Swords as I work with it has several layers of meaning, and requires a bit of storytelling and explanation.  So, once again, bear with me. 

According to Anna Marie Ferguson − creator of Legend, the Arthurian Tarot  − The Eachtra is the Irish phrase for an Otherworld journey and adventure. 

Among the Arthurian legends, one such adventure involved a great quest in which Arthur and his knights ventured to the realm of Annwn − the Celtic Underworld − to meet Arawn, the Lord of the Underworld, and (depending on which version you harken to) form a brotherly alliance, king to king, {or do grievous battle, army to army} so as to win and bring back {or steal and bring back} magic and magical tools for the grace and hope of Camelot.   

Funny how variable those legends are.  [Sort of like health care politics these days.  I used to blame it on the monk mead.  Now I just think it’s because people are amazingly f... um... nemmind.]  Maybe it was just those wonderful little mushrooms they ate with the salads.  Ah, the goode olde dayes!

So, let’s see.  An otherworld journey and adventure… 

That’s a pretty perfect thing to have recommended to us right now − a time full of autumn magic, during which some of us may be sensitive to a thinning of the veils between ordinary reality and the realms of spirit. 

How will you let yourself explore the doorways to goodness, wisdom and healing that are available just now? Especially those which open by going deep within to find our own truer, better natures.  [I hope you’ll at least dream on it, anyway!]

Anyway, back to the card, more or less. 

In the teachings of modern core shamanism, journeying is the term given to the deep, powerful meditation used by shamanic practitioners to travel to alternate realities. Often, the first teaching journeys are to the lower world, into beautiful, fruitful, healing darkness entered through an opening into the Earth.   

So, in my work with clients, and based on my shamanic work, I’ve come to refer to the Six of Swords as The Journeywork Card. 

This card directs us to go deep – deep within the self, into the core of our hopes and dreams, to the very essence of our being. It tells us to believe in, seek and find the beautiful, powerful, enlightening, inspiring treasure within us. And it asks us to then embrace it fully and bring it up and out into the world to share with and benefit all.

Isn’t that why you agreed to come into this lifetime, after all?  Eh?

Explore the realms of the sacred and the healing.  Go deep within and find the treasure there, then bring it out to lovingly share with the world.  Be part of the beautiful and powerful magics of the season.

Bright blessings and miraculous journeys!

[For more information on journeying, please see my article at 

http://shamanspath.org/index_ShamanicJourneyIntro.htm ]    

Quote for the Day:   We Do Swedes ~ Sign in a dry cleaner’s window.  [Intended meaning: We Clean Suede.]

Today’s Weather:  Badgerly tunapops.  Be prepared to dodge snap peas and driving wasabes. 

On This Date: 1871 – Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, allegedly greeting him with the words, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

And: 1960 – Neil Gaiman, English writer is born.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 9

Six of Shields

Castle of Maidens

listen, people.  Really.  I keep telling you, this isn’t about the scene with Zoot, Dingo and Sir Galahad in  “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”  Sadly.

And although the Arthurian Castle of Maidens story may have led to about the kind of scenes you’d have expected from the Pythons (see above), the real legend − and the meaning of the card − is actually very good, very kind, very positive.   [And completely without spandex, not even of any kind.]  [Sadly.]

Pretty much any reader will tell you that the Six of Shields betokens generosity, charitable acts and material gain.  Some might also indicate that it’s a sign that you will soon reach a position where you feel you can help others.  (Always good things.)

In my readings, I’m often intuitively prompted to take the interpretation a bit farther and in a slightly different direction.  I’m likely to say something like:

Okay. Yo!  Focus for a minute!

Let your inner vision move back and forth in time across your life. 

Something that is yours by right

that was lost or taken from you

will be restored to you in full. 

So today, right now, this moment let yourself attend to what that might be and how it can most happily be brought into being.   

This card can apply to many different aspects of life:

~ the artist who (thinks he) has lost his Muse

~ the investor who (fears she) has lost her basis

~ the manager who (believes he) has lost connection to his artistry

~ the writer who (worries she) has lost her hope of prosperity

It can even imply a return of misappropriated property, a renewal of a sundered relationship, or the reopening of a realm of hopefulness that seemed long gone.

So the important thing to do is − without bludgeoning yourself − scan your life and acknowledge what it is you fear has been lost to you, or what you have in fact lost. Then let yourself understand that TODAY is the day you can renew that connection, revivify that dream, and reconnect with that hope. 

By the way, some readers feel that this card tells us to be attentive to the possibility of helpful intervention by/through positive masculine energy.  So keep an eye out for that.

Know what you would bring back to your life.  Know that this moment is the time when that renewal, that reconnection, that return, can begin.  Go from there!

Bright blessings, joy and light! 

Thought for the Day:  People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.  ~ Audrey Hepburn 

Today’s Weather:  Wiffling banjoboinging meta-analtyics. Carry grains of salt. 

On This Date: 1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  [The cost of a summer rental goes up fivefold overnight.]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 8

Four of Swords

Isolt of the White Hands

Goodness.  This is the fourth time this card has shown up since October 7.  Which one of y’all isn’t getting enough rest, enough recuperation, enough time far from the madding crowd? 

[Headline:

Tarot Blogger Blown Out of Window by Draft as Readers Raise Hands Simultaneously.]   

Look into this, then, will ya?  But don’t just make it another item on an overly long to-do list.  Make DIFFERENT choices.

The Four of Swords, then,  is a card of respite and recovery.  It speaks of moving from a stressful environment to a place of safety, calm and comfort.

Some readers find that this card speaks of solitude or hermit’s repose.  Others see it as predicting renewal.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds such things as healing, gentle soul searching, convalescing and regaining strength and direction in this card.  [And I've been finding a lot of clients the past couple weeks are expressing a feeling of lack of direction.  So Looky Here you guys!]

 To me, the Four of Swords says:

“Now!  Today! [Especially because it's a Sunday!] Make a mini-retreat!  Give yourself time and space to rest, recharge, recuperate.  As Anna-Marie Ferguson also says, this card recommends you leave a stressful, chaotic situation in order to clear the mind and reevaluate plans ~  so you can refine your sense of where you actually want to go!

Please be sure to carve out at least an hour, if not most of the day, to just be at peace, take it easy, do what’s comfortable and healing as you let the river (and pretty much everything else) flow by.  [Me?  Naps.  And avoiding rakes and lawnmowers -- in a good cause!]

Bright blessings, peace, calm and healing!

Quote for the Day:  We experience moments absolutely free from worry. These brief respites are called panic. ~ Cullen Hightower

Today’s Weather: Cloudbursts of asparagus lemon matzoh crumble. Unrest in the cauliflower zone. 

On This Date:  1793 – In Paris, the French Revolutionary government opens the Louvre to the public as a museum.   

 

Tarot Card for the Day, November 7

The Tower

Vortigern’s Fortress

Okay, dears. 

Can I assume we were a little busy yesterday and sorta just let this card slide by? 

Or maybe we thought, “Aw, it’s Friday.  What can I possibly have to worry my brain about on a Friday?”

Or maybe this card is just a bigger deal than even I normally give it credit for, at leats at the moment, and so it came to tweak our karma two days in a row!

‘Cos as I wrote about 24 hours ago, it’s such a valuable card.

So here we go again.  I hope.  Please.

Even so, this is definitely another one of those OhBugger! kinda cards, at least from its appearance. 

It’s one of those cards for which − by my interpretation, which veers a good piece from the norm − I’m supposed to tell you, “Ah, yes, yes, yes.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  Don’t leap before you look.  Really significant opportunities for growth here.” 

Remember the teachers (from High School Math types to your skating coach to Ram Dass to Sai Baba to Miss Laura on Romper Room to even Captain Kangeroo) who have said that?  It always really means, “Get ready for some work!”  Even I admit that. 

Well, so, maybe that’s the case here.  Maybe.  But with this card, it’s also a matter of IMPORTANT work that will be worth your time and attention for sure.   Hard work, maybe, but SO VERY meaningful.

Now, The Tower isn’t a dire card, at least not as I’ve been given to understand it – intuitively and through my experience with clients. 

But when my clients see it as it’s depicted in the Legend deck − a huge red dragon fighting a ginormous white one, completely destroying a massive royal fortress in the process – it sort of makes them go, “Eeep,” if not  “Holy St. Swithin,” suck in their breath,  swallow hard and say, “WTF!”  [That's Wisconsin Travel Federation.]

So what’s different about my understanding of the card and what it offers?  I usually say something like:

“Okay, I know it looks scary, dragons fighting, castles blown to bits.  But really, it’s positive.

“No, REALLY!

“The card is asking you examine yourself, your dreams and your being. 

“It’s saying, ‘Hey.  Stop for a minute.  Look at your life.  Think about it for a minute.  

“If you take your life down to its foundation, down to what’s REALLY important, what’s really essential to the you that is really you, then WHAT IS THAT TRUE FOUNDATION?  Who are you?  What are you?  What is it that you really have to build upon, and wish to build upon, this time around?  And, by the way, what will you build upon it?’”

This evaluation should be applied to every area of significance in your life, particularly those in which you’re experiencing some transition.  (Or wobble.  Or outright caving in.)

What is the true foundation – for YOU:

What is the true foundation of career?

What is the true foundation of family?

What is the true foundation of relationships – of each and every kind, from the most intimate and powerful to minor friendships to the bagger at the grocery store?

What is the true foundation of joy?

What is the true foundation of spiritual connectedness?

What is the true foundation of physical health?

What is the true foundation of emotional health?

What is the true foundation of creativity?

What is the true foundation of home?

What is the true foundation of beauty?

And so on, all through the entire list: everything on your own personal list of areas of your life that are important to you. 

What IS the true foundation for YOU?

Once you know what your various true foundations are, then you can determine what you’d like to build upon them, how you want to do it, and what the best way is to go about it. 

And it’s perfectly okay if what you wish to build changes.  It can be a villa one week, a pagoda the next, a log cabin sometime next month and a fairy castle sometime after that.  So long as you know what your foundations are, and honor them, then what you are about building is and will be perfect.

What are your foundations in each area of your being?  How can you be mindful of them?  How can you stay mindful of them?  What do you wish to build upon them?  How can you begin today?  

Bright blessings and a deep, happy, helpful knowing of yourself!

Quote for the Day:

“I’ve got to think that that was unethical,” Joshua said.
“Josh, faking demonic possession is like a mustard seed.”
“How is it like a mustard seed?”
“You don’t know, do you? Doesn’t seem at all like a mustard seed, does it? Now you see how we all feel when you liken things unto a mustard seed? Huh?“ 
~ Christopher Moore from Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal

 

Today’s Weather:  Frequent watercress guacamole followed by intermittent schumpeters.  I warned ya.   On This Date: 1967 – Carl B. Stokes is elected as Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city.

And: 1989 – Douglas Wilder wins the governor’s seat in Virginia, becoming the first elected African American governor in the United States.

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ November 6

The Tower

Vortigern’s Fortress

Gracing our presence once again since its last flyby in early September.  And it’s such a valuable card.

Even so, this is definitely another one of those OhBugger! kinda cards, at least from its appearance. 

It’s one of those cards for which − by my interpretation, which veers a good piece from the norm − I’m supposed to tell you, “Ah, yes, yes, yes.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  Don’t leap off bridges.  Really significant opportunities for growth here.” 

Remember the teachers (from High School Math types to your skating coach to Ram Dass to Sai Baba to Prez Obama to even Mickey Mouse) who have said that?  It always really means, “Get ready for some work!”  Even I admit that. 

Well, so, maybe that’s the case here.  Maybe.  But with this card, it’s also a matter of IMPORTANT work that will be worth your time and attention for sure.   Hard work, maybe, but SO VERY meaningful.

Now, The Tower isn’t a dire card, at least not as I’ve been given to understand it – intuitively and through my experience with clients. 

But when my clients see it as it’s depicted in the Legend deck − a huge red dragon fighting a ginormous white one, completely destroying a massive royal fortress in the process – it sort of makes them go, “Eeep,” if not  “Holy [St. Swithin],” suck in their breath,  swallow hard and say, “I give up.”

So what’s different about my understanding of the card and what it offers?  I usually say something like:

“Okay, I know it looks scary, dragons fighting, castles blown to bits.  But really, it’s positive.

“No, REALLY!

“The card is asking you examine yourself, your dreams and your being. 

“It’s saying, ‘Hey.  Stop for a minute.  Look at your life.  Think about it for a minute.  

“If you take your life down to its foundation, down to what’s REALLY important, what’s really essential to the you that is really you, then WHAT ISTHAT TRUE FOUNDATION?  Who are you?  What are you?  What is it that you really have to build upon, and wish to build upon, this time around?  And, by the way, what will you build upon it?’”

This evaluation should be applied to every area of significance in your life, particularly those in which you’re experiencing some transition.  (Or wobble.  Or outright caving in.)

What is the true foundation – for YOU:

What is the true foundation of career?

What is the true foundation of family?

What is the true foundation of relationships – of each and every kind, from the most intimate and powerful to minor friendships to the bagger at the grocery store?

What is the true foundation of joy?

What is the true foundation of spiritual connectedness?

What is the true foundation of physical health?

What is the true foundation of emotional health?

What is the true foundation of creativity?

What is the true foundation of home?

What is the true foundation of beauty?

And so on, all through the entire list: everything on your own personal list of areas of your life that are important to you. 

What IS the true foundation for YOU?

Once you know what your various true foundations are, then you can determine what you’d like to build upon them, how you want to do it, and what the best way is to go about it. 

And it’s perfectly okay if what you wish to build changes.  It can be a villa one week, a pagoda the next, a log cabin sometime next month and a fairy castle sometime after that.  So long as you know what your foundations are, and honor them, then what you are about building is and will be perfect.

What are your foundations in each area of your being?  How can you be mindful of them?  How can you stay mindful of them?  What do you wish to build upon them?  How can you begin today?  

Bright blessings and a deep, happy, helpful knowing of yourself!

Quote for the Day: Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. ~ St. Augustine

 

Today’s Weather:  Exemplary skyborne bubblenosed Sasquatchi. Wear a tux.  Or flipflops.  On This Date: 1928 – Sweden begin a tradition of eating Gustavus Adolphus pastries to commemorate the king.  [I am SO gonna be good!]

Gustavus Adolphus Day is celebrated in Sweden each year on 6 November. On this day only, a special pastry with a chocolate or marzipan medallion of the king, is sold.