Tarot Card for the Day ~ February 1

The Tower

Vortigern’s Fortress

 

Sigh.  This is 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.  Don’t jump to conclusions.  Really significant opportunities for growth here.” 

 

Remember the teachers (from High School Math types to your skating coach to Ram Das to Sai Baba) who say or said that?  It always really means, “Get ready for some work.” 

 

Well, maybe that’s the case here.  Maybe.  But it’s also a matter of IMPORTANT work that will be worth your time and attention for sure.   Hard work, perhaps, but SO valuable.

 

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 depicted in the Legend deck − a huge red dragon fighting a huge white one, completely destroying a massive fortress – it sort of makes them go, “Eeep,” if not, “Holy sh…,”  suck in their breath and swallow.  Hard.

 

So what’s the card about?  I usually say something like:

 

“Okay, I know it looks scary, dragons fighting and blowing castles to bits.  But really, it’s positive. The card is asking you examine yourself and your being. 

 

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

 

“If you were to take your life down to its foundation, down to what’s REALLY important, what’s really necessary for you to be you, then WHAT ISTHAT TRUE FOUNDATION?  What is it that you really have to build upon, want to build upon, this time around?  And 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 your joy?

What is the true foundation of your spiritual connectedness?

What is the true foundation of your physical health?

What is the true foundation of your emotional health?

And so on, all through the entire list: everything that makes sense for you to look at. 

What IS the true foundation for YOU?

 

Once you know what your foundations are, then you can determine what you’d like to build upon them, and how you want to do it. 

 

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

 

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

 

Bright blessings and a deep, helpful knowing of yourself!

Tarot Card for the Day ~ January 31

The Judgement

 

Avalon

 

 

This card showed up as the Daily Card on this Blog just a couple weeks ago.  What might that portend?

 

Well, for starters, 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 not of yourself.  It’s not useful or even valid today.

 

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

 

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 it!” for today.  Oh. Wait.  That could be judgemental.

 

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 

~ 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.

 

Different decks portray ~ and different readers interpret ~ The Judgement in exceptionally different ways.

 

Me?  When this card appears, I’m likely to say:

 

“Look. Really. There are powerful, helpful people who would be happy to work with you, who perhaps are actually looking for you.  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’d like to 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?

 

Know what you want.  Don’t be crazy, but be willing to try something unusual or uncharacteristic to get it.  Reach out for your destiny.

 

Bright blessings (without even the least hint of  judgemental)!   

Tarot card for the Day ~ January 30

Seven of Spears

 

Arch of Twelve Kings

 

 

This card showed up early this month.  So this time let’s all try paying attention, shall we?  (I know this one’s a good card for me to attend to lately!)

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. 

[Do the twelve kings sound at all like the chaotic, nagging, self-defeating things we get stuck thinking about ourselves, our talents and abilities?  Isn’t it wearying to find ourselves so often in rebellion against our higher and better selves?  What a waste of 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 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 you to ask yourself: if you were absolutely certain that you would ultimately achieve the victory you wanted − 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? 

~ 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

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?

Tarot Card for the Day ~ January 29

Page of Swords

The Adder

 

The snake (in this case, Adder) is a universal symbol of at least five things (but remember – supposedly even Freud said “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…”):

 

transformation and rebirth (the snake sheds its skin to become a new creature and a creature renewed)

 

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

 

subconscious wisdom (knowledge of the Shamanic Lower World, a place of deep and beautiful healing as well as ancient and traditional wisdom)

 

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

 

clandestine affairs (sneaky sneaky snakey)

 

So when the Page of Swords shows up for a client, I ask them

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

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

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

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

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

 

Also, be open to help or guidance from someone of substantial masculine energy: a positive, powerful man or a strong and wise woman warrior, for example.

 

What is the deep and bright personal transformation you can own and begin TODAY?

 

Bright blessings and beautiful transformation!

Tarot Card for the Day ~ January 28

Nine of Shields

Ragnell

 

Always a good card to work with and learn from.

 

You may notice that this is the card I pulled when seeking information about how I should think of this blog, and what I should hope to offer through it.

 

The Nine of Shields asks that we be open to

magical transformation – of ourselves and our lives –

through love

by being given

(or giving ourselves)

permission to do what we really want to do 

and be who we really are. 

It is therefore useful to look at this card from this perspective:

If I could change myself and/or my life in any and all of the way(s) that I wish to in order to be true to myself −

What would I change? 

Who and what would I be? 

What would I ask of life this time around? 

What would I give to the planet at this time? 

How would I give it?

 

Then ask what baby steps will get you moving in that direction.  And love yourself enough to let yourself begin and take them.  

 

While you’re at it, it might also be a good thing to take a look ’round at the people you care most about. 

 

Ask for guidance about what you might offer (without negating who you are or what your hopes are) to help them seek and attain their magical transformation through love by giving them permission to do what they really want and be who they really are.

 

Honor and integrity are important elements in the revelations of this card as well. 

It might be worthwhile to go through the story of  The Lady Ragnell to get a sense of what this card can be about.  That will require a Nealio’s fracturized faerystory version of the legend behind the card.

The story begins when King Arthur is challenged, at peril of the loss of his kingdom, to discover the answer to an ancient riddle. 

Sir Gawain, Arthur’s nephew, sets out to answer the riddle for his leige, and eventually he encounters the hag Ragnell.  She offers the solution if the knight will take her to give it to the King personally. 

Gawain takes her to Camelot and presents her to Arthur, who asks for the answer.  She replies that she will whisper the answer into the King’s ear − if Gawain will promise to marry her.  Arthur says, “Good God, woman, you must be freaking kidding me,” or Medieval words to that effect.  Gawain selflessly consents to the marriage to help his uncle, Ragnell reveals the secret to the King, and Camelot is saved.

The wedding of Gawain and Ragnell goes ahead as planned, and the new pair retires to the bedroom. Ragnell asks, “Won’t you give me a little kiss?” and Gawain dutifully does so, then turns away, contemplating how truly wretched the rest of the night, not mention his life, will be. 

When he turns back to her, he is astonished to find the most beautiful woman he has ever seen standing before him.  She explains she had been under a spell to look like a hag until a good knight married her and kissed her with kindness, if not affection.  He is, of course, delighted.

“But wait, fair knight” she says, more or less.   “Wait. You must understand that my true appearance will be restored for only half the day.”  She gives him the choice to have her beautiful at night, when they are alone together, or during the day, when they are with all his friends in Camelot.

Without hesitation, Gawain tells her that she must have the choice for herself. This generous, unforced, unrequested answer lifts the curse for good, and Ragnell’s true appearance and nature return forever.  And Gawain does the Macarena around the room, being such class act.

So, what magical transformation of yourself and your life would you have through love by being given permission (giving yourself permission) to do what you really want and be who and what you really are.

By the way, you might like to know the riddle and its answer.

The question was, “What is it a woman desires most?”

The answer (two versions):

Her own way. 

~ OR ~

The right (sovereynté) to decide for herself.

Bright Blessings!

Tarot Card for the Day ~ January 27

Ten of Swords

Camlann

 

This card tends to be a toughie in pretty much any deck, for pretty much any reader.  So of course I have my own divergent take on it.

Camlann, the image within this card, is the place and thus name of the final battle fought by Arthur and his knights.  It’s the battle at which Arthur took his fatal wounds − or at least the wounds that caused him to be spirited away to Avalon. 

In any case, it’s the battle that saw the demise of the Round Table, the end of the Pendragon kings and the fall of Camelot.

Most readers see the Ten of Swords as a card of sadness, pain, affliction and desolation.

Even Anna-Marie Ferguson, writing of her Legend deck, sees it as betokening troubles, conflict, a showdown, or perhaps the climax and end of a chapter.

When this card turns up for a client, I begin by reminding them of what tens mean to me:

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:

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 own the great potential for you to

move into something wonderful and powerful and new? 

How can you keep that in front of you not only today, but for some time to come?

Then I’d say:

Beyond that general information about cycles, I believe the Ten of Swords says in no uncertain terms, “You!  You!  You!  Yes.  You. 

“At this moment, I require of you some courage.

“It is time to allow the old world − the world as you know it, your typical, day to day world− to die, in order that a beautiful new world may be born from it.” 

Yeah, it requires some courage, all right. 

But remember the promise: “a beautiful new world.”  This is in fact a hopeful card.

In following up with clients for whom this card is prominent in a reading, my sense has become that the changes they will need to make usually begin with a kind of ego death: a realization that the direction they have been firmly, even fanatically committed to really no longer serves them. 

That doesn’t mean they are required to throw everything up in the air and rush off in a direction wholly opposite to that which they have known, or in no intelligible direction at all. 

It does mean that they must begin by asking themselves – “What if?”  

What if this path HAS taken me as far as it was meant to go?  And what if that’s a good thing?  What if it’s a perfectly natural evolution?

What if I stand at the birthing place of beautiful new opportunities, beautiful new worlds?  What if I let myself fantasize about what I would wish them to be?

What would I wish them to be?  How would I wish to pursue them?  What would I do to begin? What are the baby steps I can take to begin that today?

What is the cycle that is completed?  What is the world that should be allowed to fall away?  What is the beautiful new world to be born from it?  How do I begin to create that world, for myself and those I love − for the highest and best of all − today?

Bright blessings, courage, hope and beautiful dreams!  

  

 

 

Tarot Card for Today ~ January 26

Nine of Cups

The Healing

of the Maimed King

 

 

For those of you who are regular visitors to this blog, you’ll remember that this is the card that came up for Inauguration Day.

 

So its return this soon is a good reminder that we have to actually remember what needs to be done, and get to work on doing it, even in the best of cases.

 

Which brings up a situation I sometimes experience with clients and certainly within myself − I expect almost all of us do it, to one extent or another: 

 

It’s a wonderful thing to get a reading

~ that validates your most positive beliefs about yourself,

~ that indicates your dearest hopes and dreams are worthy of pursuing

~ and are in fact achievable by you,

~ and maybe even gives you some direction to follow to help make it happen.

 

But what then?  

 

So often, I see clients

~ receive that kind of validation, hope and direction

~ walk out of our session on a cloud

~ and then dive back into their lives

~ in exactly the same way with exactly the same focus

~ as though the reading had never occurred.

 

Then in a few months or a year, they come back for another reading, wondering what happened.

 

So, you see, the point is to

~ get the information and then

~ to connect with it CONSCIOUSLY  

~ to attend to it regularly

~ because it is trying to offer you

~ a path to begin to change your life FOR THE BETTER

~ which you probably won’t do

~ if you start out by saying

~ “Great stuff.  Great stuff!  I’ll get to it later!”

 

So, as you read the information about the card, please take a moment to remember that you actually DO need to begin to do something with it now.  Or VERY soon. 

 

Just like we, as a country, need to be doing something with the information this card offers.  NOW.   And what a more hopeful world this will become if we do.

 

Okay.  Okay. 

  

I’ve blogged about this card before, and what I said then is − it’s an absolutely positive card in every way. 

 

For me, the nines in any Tarot deck indicate a very near completion of a cycle and/or the first stirrings of moving into a new cycle, a new great opportunity, a new realm.

 

When I turn the Nine of Cups for a client, I find that it promises a clear and profound opportunity for the full and final healing of old, poisonous wounds, provided the person will believe in it, reach out for and be open to it. 

 

The card betokens kindness, generosity, hope and wisdom.  It is a card of achievement, success, emotional well-being.  And it is important to remember that your achievement, success and emotional well-being will derive from your kindness, generosity, hope and wisdom.  Always.

 

This card portends the dawn of beautiful dreams.  And so make them dreams worthy of sharing with those you love, and with those who are in need of the light of a better dream to guide them.

 

Because the Arthurian story of the Healing of the Maimed King involves a sacred healing and ceremony performed by Galahad, Percivale and Bors, three of the greatest, purest knights, this card can also speak of an effective team working well toward a common and perhaps even sacred goal. 

 

Seek that.  Find it.  If necessary, create it.

 

So GO FOR IT!  Even better, LET YOURSELF RECEIVE IT!

 

One last thing.  I have written this about the Nine of Cups:

 

I’m reminded of a wonderful recorded talk I heard by the spiritual teacher Bo Lozoff.  At one point he said something like, “There are two things that are true.  We’re all going to die.  And we’re all saved.” 

 

It’s the “We’re all saved” part of the Nine of Cups that I’d like you to focus on right now – especially at the beginning of what could be a magnificently hopeful and healing time, if we all will it so, every day.

 

In our true, ultimate spiritual reality, everything is forgiven.  Everything is healed.  Everything is blessed.  Everything is perfect.  Already. 

 

So if that’s the case, why not give yourself permission to know yourself as the beloved, complete, perfect vessel of Light you are? Then operate from the goodness inherent in the nature of THAT being. 

 

Can you imagine what our world would be if YOU did?  Try it for a while.  I think you’ll really like it.  I think you’ll see it’s who you REALLY are!

 

Let the old wounds heal.  Open to a beautiful new beginning.  Believe in generosity and kindness as your just desert.  Give likewise to others in their hope and healing.  And know yourself and give of and from yourself as the beautiful being of LIGHT you have always been.

 

Yes, we can!

 

Bright blessings, light, hope and healing!! 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ January 25

Knight of Swords

Gawain

 

Okay, okay, okay!  You over there!  And you.  Everybody!  Up’nat’em!!! 

The Knight of Swords is a card of action.  Fiery, passionate action.  So if there’s something you’ve been putting off, or something you have wanted to do but always delay, today is the day to get started.  With!  Gusto!

However, I will also share that this Knight has occasionally been known to leap before he looks, to his later dismay. 

And, he has from time to time found himself moving with such great passion that, all unknowing, he oversteps appropriate bounds, doesn’t check out the situation and its implications thoroughly, and blows his ass up in the process − occasionally taking a few other good folk along with him.  If he thinks at all, he thinks of them as collateral damage.

Other readers see the Knight of Swords as representing skill and bravery, or wrath and war.  Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, sees him as a determined, intelligent young man – so keep an eye out – but also as someone who may be overeager to display heroics which causes him to misjudge.  

SO: 

Get moving.

But check out the terrain pretty thoroughly first. 

And double-check that you are acting with integrity, and doing something that is in fact desired by all parties who have a vote. 

(That way you won’t paint your foyer in record time, but paint it the lavender shade that was discussed while tippling on New Year’s Eve rather than a pale ice gray − you know, the color that matches the paint chip that was left under your wallet before you headed to the hardware store, doofus.)

Go after it hard, but go after it very smart, very clear and very clean!     

Bright Blessings!

Tarot Card for Today January 24

The Hanged Man

 

Castle Perilous

 

Okey-dokey artichokey!!  Or, as Foul Ole Ron would say, “Bugrit!”  This is one of those cards whose name and visual depiction can set a client whimpering as soon as it’s encountered. 

 

I suppose I can understand that.  The title alone is off-putting. 

 

Some decks picture a fellow hanging by a rope upside down by one leg from a tree, possibly with his head about to take a major dunk in a river. 

 

Even my deck, Legend by Anna-Marie Ferguson pictures a bunch o’ knights left hanging in a grove, one leg and both arms tied behind them to show they were powerless and had failed in a quest. 

 

So I get why some readers interpret the card as indicating restriction, sacrifice or − at best − feeling drained.

 

As you’d expect by now, I see the card differently.  When it turns up for a client, whatever area of his or her life we’re examining, I usually say something like, “Okay.  Right away now.  Keep breathing.  Nice deep breaths.  Good!

 

“Now, there are several levels of meaning to this card.

 

“First, what the card is saying to you is. ‘If you’ve been feeling stuck in place or like you’re so deep in a rut you can’t see over the edge, guess what?  Good news! You really have been.  You aren’t just whining!  [That should actually make you feel better.]

 

“‘Second, it’s time for you to move up and out of that stuck space.  And very soon, if not right now!’”

 

This is how.  The Hanged Man asks that you be extra vigilant in keeping your intuitive antenna up − by the way, do we all still remember what an antenna is, and that you used to have to raise them manually? – for strong, wise, functional, interested and caring energy that can and will help pull you out of your rut. 

 

The help may come in small chunks, like a better-paying job that can move you forward − as opposed to winning the Mega Millions lottery. Sorry.  But the help will be there, and be there in the ways that can really benefit you.

 

Your mission then is to stay tuned in, be aware, notice the positive energy or helpful opportunity, reach out for it and grab onto it when it shows up, and use it to move you along to where you really want to be.

 

There is an additional directive from the Hanged Man. 

 

The card basically says that, in those moments when new, positive, helpful energy and opportunities aren’t readily apparent – and those moments happen to all of us − your mission is to refuse to get sucked into the old hopelessness/helplessness whirlpool. 

 

Rather, use that time for prayer, meditation, shamanic journeying, etc.  Go deep within, embrace your own spirituality, guidance, wisdom, and healing.  Use that “fallow time” in practices that will help you become more fully connected to your truer, deeper, self, and to the channels of spiritual power and assistance around you.

 

Stay aware.  Stay much more aware than normal, in fact.  Know that positive energy and opportunities are there and will benefit you.  Reach out and take hold of them, one by one, to get you where you intend.   If nothin’s shakin’, use the time for prayer, meditation, magical studies and spiritual practice to increase those elements that are of and for your highest and best.

 

Bright blessings and beautiful positive flow!    

 

 

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ January 23

King of Shields

 

Uther

 

 Yesterday’s card depicted Uther’s brother, Ambrosius.  Interesting that the Universe should keep that family thing going today.  

 

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 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. 

 

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.

 

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, 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 came here to do to get done and get done well?   

 

So ask yourself, “What is really important?  Now how do I attend to that?”

 

Bright blessings!