Tarot Card for the Day ~ August 1

The Hermit

Lancelot in Exile

 Happy August to ya!

Interesting card to come up for a busy Saturday [mine, anyway].  As I’ve said before when this card came up (at the end of last March, in fact):

This would be a good time to remember that

~ each Tarot card has many facets to its meaning and

~ it can be important to tease out as many of the meanings

   as you can for yourself

~ including meanings that seems to contradict themselves

~ to get a sense of what you might need to be aware of on any given day

Is that sufficiently unclear?

Okay, let’s try it from another perspective.

There are lots of different Yous going on during even a single morning, let alone a whole day, a whole career, etc. 

Although you perceive yourself to be pretty much the same from morning till night, and day in and day out,

~ You’re likely a very different person with the paper boy who leaves your paper perfectly where you want it [you remember what a newspaper is, don’t you?]

~ than you are with the cats who keep lovingly flopping on the movie reviews as you try to read them. 

~ And you’re a different person with them than you are with the partner who always manages to be ogling the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue just as you walk into the room. 

~ And you’re different with her/him than you are with that whiney but important client who demands that you see her half an hour earlier than anybody else ever does (and always shows up 40 minutes late)

~ or the lovely but dotty neighbor who always drives a bit over the edge of your lawn but gives you potted plants and flowers once a quarter in apology

~ and the other neighbor who is wonderful but keeps throwing peanuts out for the squirrels, who grab them and eat them on (and leave squirrel doodies and peanut shells all over) your porch.  

See?  LOTS of different Yous.

And that’s not even on a day fraught with emotional charge, elevated hopes, escalated fears, fat, sugar and alcohol.  Oh, wait.  St. Patrick’s day has been and gone.  

So what does that have to do with The Hermit? 

Wait. 

Wait.

Jah’s Mercy be upon ya as the gifts of seeing do come!

Wait.

 It’ll come to me.  Oyeah.

Here.. 

As I’ve said before, you’d assume a card with a name like The Hermit would be pretty self-evident in its meaning, right?

Well, sort of.  For once.   In this case, anyway.  I mean, if you’ve been aching for some alone time away from the madding crowd to recuperate, get grounded and centered, this is definitely your card of permission in that regard.  [So, yeah, you can tell your boss it was all Neal’s fault you didn’t show for mandatory fun with your coworkers at the company picnic and auto-da-fe today.]  But be sure to create and take advantage of favorable energies if you let yourself have the time and space this way.  It will be valuable and helpful.

But the more specific applicability of The Hermit on any given day is that, when this card shows up in a reading, I’m most likely to say to a client,

Ah.  Yes.  Hermit.

“It’s time to go really deep within yourself and do some much needed soul-searching. 

“The intent will be to find the pure and beautiful light within you, acknowledge it, engage it, and begin bringing it out as a gift to and a healing for the world.” 

Please see whether you don’t really resonate to that aspect of the card today.  In fact, go out of your way to try to resonate with it.  It’ll help you get through the day.  And your vibe will probably help everyone else in the process.

By the way, this card can also indicate a meeting with a wise person.  So don’t let that slip by if you perceive a likely opportunity.   [Maybe you’ll hire me for a reading?]

Find your light.  Shine it in the world. 

Bright BRIGHT Blessings!

Quote for the day:  So this is America.  They must be out of their minds. ~ Ringo Starr

Today’s Weather:  Halibut loaf.  Feverfew counterpanes.

On This Date: 30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. [Or so they think.  Ha!]

And: 1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the Buggles.

And: Rastafari movement – Celebration of the liberation of Haile Selassie from slavery.  [I KNEW there was some reason for that pop-in up there!]

Tarot card for the Day ~ July 31

The Sun

Lleu

This card last turned up for the Summer Solstice.  [I know.  I found it hard to belive myself.]  In any case, it’s GREAT card for a  deep summer Friday.

Attend.

There is so much hope in this card!  And that’s something we can all use lately.

It’s especially aimed at those − like I am, without any question or possible hope of plausible deniability − who would be deliriously happy with a card that says, “Grab a double espresso or two.  Crawl into a linen-lined cave till that bright, shiny thing in the sky dims a bit.  Then check to see if it’s safe to come out.”

Unh –UH!  NO!NO!NO! 

[God, Neal will you PLEASE turn down the print?  You’re giving yourself a headache again.]  [Sorry.]

It’s also appropriate for people who have been saying things like, “This isn’t working.  It really, really isn’t working.  What am I doing wrong?  In fact, what am I doing?  This just doesn’t seem to be working.”

Well, let’s all pay attention.  On this Friday morning, the Universal Sun will be cruising just outside all our bedroom windows, saying,

“Hey!  HEY!!!!!!!! 

“The herbs are up in the garden.  Lavender is scenting the air!  A few of the roses are still in bloom.  Tony down the street is showing off his first tomatoes of the season.  The robins and sparrows are dive bombing each other for scraps of bread.   The hawks are soaring and seeking.  The cocker spaniel is yawning at the squirrels as they wait for the neighbor to toss them some peanuts (“slopping the squirrels”), and wondering why you don’t chase the little tree rats for her.

“It really is amazingly beautiful out here!!  And there is so much AMAZING potential if we just open to it and connect!  LOOOOOOVE Your World!  Love Your Self!  LOOOOOOOOVE Your LIFE!  Yesterday’s gone.  Go after you most beautiful and beloved wishes!  Nooooow!!!!!!!!!!”

Okay? 

What?

Specifics?  Aw, mayinnn!

Okay.  Fine.  Be that way.  But only because I’m in a good mood.  You should remember from last time.  [Why?  Like I do?]

It doesn’t take too much work to figure out that The Sun betokens joy, light, and clarity of vision.  Not to mention material happiness and general contentment.  A really lovely offering for any day, no?  So OWN that!

For me, The Sun is one of the two great wish cards of the deck. 

It says,

“You shall have happiness, health, wealth, peace and all good things

IF you are clear within yourself about what your wishes truly are

(now, not yesterday, not last year, not a decade ago)

AND you hold true to those wishes, moment by moment by moment.” 

After all, the Universe can only give back to you what you put out as vibration.

Right? 

And the Universe will judge that in part by that to which you GIVE YOUR ATTENTION, moment by moment by moment.  Right?  Right?  Right!

(By the way, in some interpretations, The Sun betokens an engagement. So if you’ve wanted to pop the question… just be sure it’s what you REALLY WISH!)

What is your wish? 

What are your wishes? 

How can you stay conscious of those wishes as you go through your day? 

How can you honor those wishes in positive ways? 

Hold your wishes as your focus − even as you go through all the activity, priorities and sheer STUFF you must attend to as you do what you must to deal with your day. 

How can you LOVE YOURSELF and LOVE YOUR LIFE? 

See the beauty. 

NOW!!!

Brightest, blessings and superb wishcraft!

Quote for the day:  I’ve read some of your modern free verse and wonder who set it free.   ~ John Barrymore

Today’s Weather:  Attic window shamans; low-end madrigals.

On This Date: 1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.

And: 1980 – By some calculations, Harry Potter is born.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 30

Two of Cups

Tristram & Isolt

Another card we haven’t seen on the blog before.  There have been a few of them lately.  And, as usual, my interpretation of the card varies some from the norm, which should no longer surprise anybody.

So, a typical reader would respond to this card by suggesting things like friendship, affinity, concord, union, even love.   Some might say it bespeaks a complementary match, or a solid relationship.

Even Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds things like the beginning of a trusted partnership, rapport and the forming of strong emotional bonds.

I won’t fight with that. So especially if any of those interpretations resonate with you – in terms of what you’re seeking lately or in terms of what the Universe seems to be offering today – honor it.  Seek it.  Go after it full tilt.  

But when this card has turned up for many clients, the intuitive information that almost always pops out of my mouth is,

“Look:

Some amazing (or beautiful or tremendously healing or whatever) NEW ENERGY(or opportunity or person or position or vision) is trying to come into your life.

It will, if you let it, sweep you off in a wonderful, beautiful, incredibly positive NEW DIRECTION. 

Let it!” 

So:

Be there! Be open!  Reach out for the NEW coming into your life!  Let yourself be available to receive and pursue it.  NOW!!!! 

Bright blessings and beautiful new directions!

Quote for the Day: I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.  ~ Douglas Adams

Today’s Weather: Wild flying tofutti; byrds.

On This Date: 762 – Baghdad is founded.  

And: 1729 – Baltimore, Maryland is founded. [Coincidence?  That’s what they’d LIKE you to believe.]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 29

The Horned One

Cernunnos

Wow!  Haven’t seen this card since the first day of Spring, and Christmas Eve before that.  [I just had a Spirit Guide lean in and whisper, “Good.  Now… remember that EVERY day is a day of power, a day of connection, and a day of celebration.  Live THAT, why don’t you?”]

Like I can follow THAT with anything?

Following a Shamanic spirituality as I do, I simply consider this the most powerful card in the deck.  Let me describe it a bit as it’s portrayed by Anna-Marie Ferguson in her Legend deck.

There’s a beautifully muscled fellow sitting cross legged out in the woods under a bright full moon.  His legs are shaggy and end in hooves.  He has stag’s antlers protruding from his head.  In his right hand he holds a golden torc ~ the old Celtic symbol of kingship ~ in his left a live serpent.  He is surrounded by folk of the wood ~ fox, otter, boar, stag, frog. 

It’s a beautiful, mystical, magical card.

The painting on the card is depicts images from the famous Gundestrup cauldron, a first century BC ritual silver vessel found deep in a Danish bog.  Sacred, beautiful objects like this were ritually cast into bogs ~ which were considered places of mystery, power and great magic ~ as sacrificial gifts.

You can read more about the cauldron at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundestrup_cauldron .

Cernunnos is the Celtic incarnation of the Horned God, considered to be the Lord of the Animals.

[In the spirit of full disclosure, in other decks, this card is often depicted by the devil, sometimes with some attendant negative interpretations.  Even Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, alludes to the fact that the card bespeaks primordial power, and emphasizes the need to channel this power positively and for good.]

But here is what I see in the card, based on many years of working with clients.  This is a truly shamanic card in that it says, “You have the capacity to connect with the realm of Spirit.  You have an ability to bring Spirit through into ordinary reality in a way that can functionally, positively bring about change. 

“Because you have that capacity ~ from the Shaman’s perspective ~ you have the OBLIGATION to develop it and use it for the highest and best of all.”

So, in this very sacred season [whatever season or day of the year it may be]

~ explore your connection to Spirit (your guardian angels, the Universal Life Force, God, Goddess or however you perceive it)

~ believe in — in fact ASSUME — a functional connectedness

~ open yourself to the goodness and healing and wisdom that Spirit offers

~ use your connection to understand how to bring about positive change through your very being and through your prayerwork in your day to day life.

Brightest blessings, joy, hope and healing! 

Quote for the day:  Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art. ~ Leonardo

And:  Before our white brothers came to civilize us we had no jails. Therefore we had no criminals. You can’t have criminals without a jail. We had no locks or keys, and so we had no thieves. If a man was so poor that he had no horse, tipi or blanket, someone gave him these things. We were too uncivilized to set much value on personal belongings. We wanted to have things only in order to give them away. We had no money, and therefore a man’s worth couldn’t be measured by it. We had no written law, no attorneys or politicians, therefore we couldn’t cheat. We really were in a bad way before the white men came, and I don’t know how we managed to get along without these basic things which, we are told, are absolutely necessary to make a civilized society. ~  John Lame Deer, from Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions

Today’s Weather: Toronto dowsers; implicated endive.

On This Date: 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of Eris, the largest dwarf planet in our solar system (it’s 27% more massive than Pluto).

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 28

Seven of Swords

The Sword in the Stone

This card last came by just a month ago.   I’m always glad to have it show up right regular, because I think the information and direction in this card is SO tremendously important.  The clients that turn this card in a reading, and really honor what it gives, benefit tremendously.

So −

As I now ask whenever this card turns for us: we all remember the story of the Sword In the Stone, right? 

Well, sort of.  Maybe.  A bit.  You think.

What’s important for our understanding of the Seven of Swords is to know that Arthurian legends contain two sword-in-the-stone stories.

This one takes place long after Arthur has become king, and involves the introduction of Galahad to the court of Camelot.  It’s a story that has been known in and told with a number of variations.

Here’s the essence of the story as it has come to me in my own Shamanic journeying.

The Camelottish folk were all gathered for the Christian feast of Pentecost (or Whitsun  ~ the 49^th/50^th day after Easter) when they saw a huge red marble boulder come floating serenely down the river and right up to Camelot dock, as it were.  Gleaming and protruding from said big red stone was an ornate sword so beautiful it had an aura of its own.

In some versions of the tale the rock is engraved with the words,

“This sword shall only be pulled out by the best of all knights.” 

Of course, pretty much every knight lined up to have a heave at it, jostling, grunting, bragging, swearing, betting, whooping, loudly discussing potency inducers, quietly discussing prostate remedies ~ about what you’d expect of boys in groups.

They all had a go.  And failed.

Then a new, unknown young fellow quietly walked up to the stone.  Without a word, a hesitation or a glance in any direction, he took hold of the sword and pulled it from the stone like light piercing shallow water, walked back up to the castle and took a seat at the Round Table.  

Thus was Galahad’s presence and stature made known to all, and thus did he rightfully sit in the Siege Perilous, a seat at the Round Table so strictly reserved that it was fatal to anyone else who sat in it.

Which brings us to the interpretation of the Seven of Swords.  [You knew I’d get around to it eventually, huh?] 

Traditional readings of this card are pretty down, with words like “dishonor,” “futility,” and “lone wolf” tossed about.  Some readers talk about a person who is intelligent but unorthodox, or suggest that it recommends vigilance against unexpected danger.

Me, I see wonderful and positive things in this card, especially as it is portrayed in the Legend deck.  Anna- Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, by the way, sees it as betokening inspiration, enthusiasm, and the instilling of hope, faith and strength.

[Anybody out there NOT up for that?  If so… GET HELP.  Now.  And possibly a side order of exorcism!] 

When I work with a client and we turn this one up (and it’s amazing how often it shows up in the career section of a reading), I say,

“Own your power. 

Own.

Your. 

Power. 

Own it WITHOUT EGO

but also WITHOUT APOLOGY to anyone.  

Be yourself.  

All of yourself.

Be who you really are. 

And get going at it.”

The Seven of Swords indicates that it’s truly time for you to own your skills, abilities, gifts, potentials, intentions ~ your POWER ~ and let yourself begin to move in a new direction with new purpose.

Now that we are in deep summer with all its magic, it is good to remember that we honor our Creator and the Earth by becoming more and more who we truly are for the highest and best of all.

Own your power.  No ego.  No apology.

Bright Blessings!

Quote for the Day:   If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?  ~ Harry Shearer

          Today’s Weather :  Steampunk.  Postulant prunewhip choux.

On This Date:  1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day. [Henry opts to go the good taste route and not have the execution as the reception entertainment.]

On the Plus Side: 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is passed, establishing African-American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 27

Two of Spears

Bedivere and Kay

Another card we find circling back from last April.  Lots of them the past ten days or so.  So always remember, “… the wheel’s still in spin,” as Mr. Dylan put it. Try to become conscious of your own cycles, within the spinning of the seasons.  It’s an important way to get to know yourself.

The Two of Spears is one of those cards where my intuitive guidance has me going off in a different direction than the standard interpretation which is offered.  [Yeah. Again. Thenkyew.]

Many readers say this card bespeaks things like, riches, fortune, magnificence.  Others might suggest you spend some time alone considering the advice of others to help make up your own mind about an important decision that NEEDS to be made.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, writes of proving one’s capability to manage a large project; planning for the future; exerting authority; riches and success , using all one’s talents to achieve a communal vision.

So if any of those issues are on your mind today, accept this info as an indication that you’re IN TUNE and placing your energy in the right place at the right time.  [And if you’re not up for riches and success, FortheLuvvaGod, Goddess, The Universe, Anybody, CALL ME.  We gotta talk!  216-371-3433.]

However…

When this card turns up for a client, I find myself telling them,

I don’t know what your family life is like.  It could be great.  It could suck pond ice in winter.  Regardless, the Two of Spears is saying

~ It’s time for you to create a family of spirit that is even closer to you than family of blood. 

[That is something some clients have a LOT of trouble with. 

They cannot envision EVER possibly being closer to someone than to their blood family.  All their blood family.  However bizarre they, or some of them, might be. 

All I can say is, it’s not impossible, and it’s often healthy to have others in your life who are closer to you than the Amazin’ Flyin’ Burrito Krazees God decides to share with you for some of your initial life lessons. 

Just promise you’ll think about it.  Okay?] 

~ You need to begin seeking and finding, perhaps one by one, a group of people who − because of the commonality of intentions, goals, hopes, spiritual path, etc. − will be as close to you as anyone could possibly be. As you, too will be to them.

So spend some time thinking about what it would be like to have a circle of people in your life who

~ would always have your back,

~ would always be able to hear your darkest secrets

    and continue to see the Light in you,

    as you would do for them

~ would seek to remind you of the highest and

    best in yourself, lovingly and always

Then go about creating that circle.  Slowly.  Intentionally.  With discretion.  But get going.

Know what YOUR family of spirit would be like.  Seek them.  Find them.  Let them help you change your world.

Bright blessings and joyful meetings!

Quote for the Day:  I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?  ~ John Lennon  [I like this quote so much I decided to use it again.]

Today’s Weather:  Moody belugas; unrequited cat fur.

On This Date: 1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

And: 1768 – Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat, is born. [@@@]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 26

Ten of Cups

Corbenic 

I bet you’d like to come to this site once in a while and just have me get right to the card, huh?

Okay.

First of all, 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, when this card comes up in a reading for a client, I ask them to consider how the things they are experiencing – and more importantly, what they have begun to seek in life just now – represent the potential end of a cycle and moving into something wonderful, new, even miraculous.

How can you acknowledge the end of a cycle?

How can you recognize that the end of this cycle is a positive thing, and is “just in time/just at the right time?”

How can you own the potential to move into something wonderful and powerful and new?

Ah, but there’s more to it.

I consider the Ten of Cups to be one of the two great WISH cards of the deck.  

So, when this card turns  – after I stop beaming at the client and stop wondering why it hasn’t come up in a reading for me lately − I usually say something like:

“Ohboy!  Ohboy!   Ohboy!  [Sometimes I’m subject to bursts of enthusiasm.]  You shall have comfort, joy, healing and delight − perhaps through what may seem almost miraculous intervention –

IF you are clear within yourself about what your wishes truly are,

IF you truly believe in the goodness and the justness of your wishes,

IF you allow yourself to truly believe in miracles,

AND IF you hold true to your miraculous quest, moment by moment by moment, no matter how farfetched or hopeless it may seem, no matter how misunderstood you and your quest may be by everyone else.”

[Corbenic is one of the names given to the castle in which the Holy Grail resided until the Grail knights achieved their sacred quest.  The Grail Kings, guardians of the Grail, held to their family’s sacred mission for hundreds of years on faith and belief in the miracles to come.]

The Universe smiles on those who stretch the fabric of our reality by thoroughly embracing the miraculous in their existence.  Remember though: it can’t be a half-assed embrace.  You have to really reach out and take hold.  You have to let yourself KNOW that the miraculous operates in your life NOW.   

So, it might be very useful to go through today repeating at least a thousand times,

“I create miracles. My life IS miracles. Our world is miracles.”

Because you do, and it is.  With every breath, every thought, every hope, every smile, there are millions of miracles being born within and through you.

Let the Universe see that you believe it, and watch what unfolds.

Bright blessings!  And miracles!

 

Quote for the Day:  Take, if you must, this little bag of dreams/Unloose the cord, and they will wrap you round.  ~ Yeats

Today’s Weather: Tabby reflections and melting skeins.

On This Date: 1745 – The first recorded women’s cricket match took place near Guildford, England.                You GO!! girls!

And: 1875 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist is born.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 25

 

Three of Swords

Palomides

This is another one of those cards where clients see the illustration, gasp, blanch and look at me as if to implore, “Say it ain’t so.”  Okay.  Right outta the box. IT AIN’T SO.  Now pay attention here.

As often occurs, this is a card where my interpretation veers a tad from what may be typical. 

In any case, dealing with some power issues are we, my pretty?   

As I’ve noted here before, a lot, I believe that a three in any Tarot deck indicates that the question being explored has to do with issues of power:

 ~ beware of power games,

~ be prepared for power struggles,

~ watch out for failure to own your power  −

   or, better,

   OWN

   YOUR

   POWER

  FULLY

  NOW

~ have a care against disempowerment

   in any area of life, whether by the action

   of others,  or by your own action

   or inaction  [This is the fourth element.]

~ refuse to submit to ploys that would

   deny power you have earned

~ empower yourself

~ empower those you love and believe in

~ accept the challenge of owning all of

   what you are and who you can be

It’s the fourth element of that list that I perceive to be most important in the Three of Swords.  When this card comes up for a client, regardless of the subject matter we are exploring, I usually say something like:

“Look, it’s tremendously important that you not get stuck in old emotions about this situation.  Let go of the old stuff.  Get grounded.  Stay in the moment, stay in the now. Get focused, hold your head up, and move into your future without whatever wet, heavy, ancient baggage is trying to sink you at the moment.” 

That’s not always an easy thing to hear, let alone to do.  For most of us, the current choices we would like to make as we move forward seem most likely seem absolutely valid and maybe even perfectly right. 

But each of those transformations can be torpedoed by old emotional clottage like, “Oh, everyone will think I’m a complete flake,” or, “It’s crummy all right but at least it’s secure,” or “He was crummy all right but at least he was there,” or just plain, “I’m miserable. I’m miserable.  I’m miserable.  By the way, did I tell you I’m miserable?  Oh.  Well did I tell you how miserable I am?”

The Three of Swords says, don’t get stuck in the disappointment, don’t get caught in the heartbreak!  Release the old stuff as you would cleanse the poison from a wound, and move on to beauty, hope, joy, creativity and healing.  MOVE ON TO LIFE!

Know that there are beautiful things to come, and that releasing − really releasing the emotions of the past and moving on − will bring the wonderfulness to you more quickly.

Bright blessings, peace, hope and release!

Quote for the Day:  The trick is in what one emphasizes.  We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy.  The amount of work is the same. ~ Carlos Castaneda

Today’s Weather:  Wylie perusals with possible tousled cetaceans.  

On This Date: 1593 −Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.  [He is known for two famous sayings.  One, about his conversion, is “Paris is well worth a mass.”  The other, which reflects his awareness of the importance of the common economy, is “If God spares me, I will ensure that there is no working man in my kingdom who does not have the means to have a chicken in the pot every Sunday!”]

And: The Furinalia were Roman festivals instituted in honor of Furrina, the goddess of robbers among the Romans; they took place on July 25. This goddess had a temple at Rome, and was served by a particular priest, who was one of the fifteen Flamens, a name given to a priest assigned to a state-supported god or goddess in Roman religion.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 24

Wheel of Fortune

Arthur’s Dream

In pretty much any reading, Wheel of Fortune augurs well, especially for the immediate future.  It usually betokens a happy change of fortune and the beginning of a positive cycle.  Some readers would say, hop on!  Make the most of your life, NOW!!!!

I agree with those interpretations, but my work with clients has prompted me to put a particular spin on that energy.  When the Wheel turns up – no pun intended − I usually say something like,

Look.  Take a moment.  Pay attention here. 

You’re finally in a position to really be on top of the world, in the way you have wanted to be. 

So first of all, let yourself believe in that.  Let yourself KNOW it.  Do what you need to do to move beyond doubt.  Doubt kills more dreams than anything anyone else could possibly do.

A special tweak to this, though.  The card says that over the years, and perhaps particularly in the recent past, you have learned tough lessons in hard ways. 

One positive result of that is that you’ve developed a refined ability to pick up on and read the subtle vibrations of a situation – of situations in general – to a much greater extent than most people have. 

This is a very effective tool for you right now. 

Honoring it, using it will be to your advantage.  Get it?

In fact, giving yourself permission to read and trust and use what you perceive about those subtle vibes (in an intelligent, I’m not gonna overload my mouth and blow my own ass up kinda way) is key to keeping yourself on top of the world. 

It will help you if pay attention to the fact that the Wheel of Fortune is always in spin, and rememeber you can move along with it at the right moments and in the right rhythm. By doing so you can keep yourself from losing your footing and being dumped into the moat.

[One of these days I’ll have to do an article listing some of the excuses I’ve heard, and… used, for not going with what we KNOW from reading the vibrations of a situation.  They’re all right up there with, “My dog ate my homework.”] 

There’s an old shamanic saying: “You know what you know.  Do what you know.”  With the Wheel of Fortune, I’d tweak that a touch to say,

“You know what you know.  Believe in what you know. 

Act − in a skillful, savvy way − on what you know.”

Make sense?  Top o’ the world to ya!  Permanently!!

Bright blessings, joy, success and light!

Quote for the Day:    I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought vibrating the ether everywhere and that any who can feel these vibrations is inspired. ~ Richard Wagner

Today’s  Weather:  Borscht.

On This Date: 1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, “the Lost City of the Incas“. [Natives remain unimpressed; say, “Yeah? We knew it was there.  So?”]

And: 2005 – Lance Armstrong wins his seventh consecutive Tour de France.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 23

Page of Shields

The Badger

A card we’ve never seen before on the blog!  Which means I actually have to get off my duff [or sit on my duff, really] and write something.

Okay.  No puns about badgering the reader, please.

A typical reader might say something along the line that this card implies focused application, study or reflection.  They’d say something like, if you really concentrate on what’s important to you, right about now you’re in a position to achieve extraordinary results.  The implication is that you MUST put something extra in if you wish to get out what you really want.  

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds the card betokens such things as a tenacious, reliable person, and a hunger for knowledge, among other things.

In working with my clients, [and having encountered a badger just once in a meadow] this is what I usually say when this card turns up:

I truly love badger. Badger really gets down to it and digs in to get things done.  Badger prefers to be peaceable, a homebody of sorts who attends to the things that are necessary, the things that are important within the bounds of his or her own little kingdom.

And if you ever cross into badger’s territory without his or her express permission, there is no anger, no fuss.  Badger will simply tear off your leg, leave you in a heap and go on about business, easy-comfy-cozy.

So I suggest that my clients understand badger as a pretty useful role model where defining and holding boundaries is concerned, especially in our culture.  I haven’t ever had anyone NOT understand that, or comment that boundaries really weren’t an issue, thanks.

So, for today, focus and study well, if you perceive that’s what’s in order.  Get down to what’s REALLY important, and dig in to push that effort along.  Pay very close attention to defining healthy boundaries as YOU perceive and need them; then maintain and defend those boundaries fully for the highest and best of all.

Bright blessings!

Quote for the Day:  Only one creature could have duplicated the expressions on their faces, and that would be a pigeon who has heard not only that Lord Nelson has got down off his column but has also been seen buying a 12-bore repeater and a box of cartridges. ~ Terry Pratchett, from Mort

Today’s Weather: Oscillating; knockoff minotauric episodes.

On This Date: Except for the creation of the United Province of Canada in 1840, lots of depressing stuff.  [No wonder it’s a card about setting boundaries.  On several levels.]

Like: 1992 – A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger [Yes. Him.], establishes that it is necessary to limit rights of homosexual people and non-married couples.  

Ach, Joey!