Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 22

Page of Spears

The Hare

 

Focus for the Day: Love and honor your inner mad artist.  Embrace and empower him or her today.  And begin that wonderful new… WHATEVER!

As I’ve said about this little guy before, his energy is ALWAYS welcome around here.  And we haven’t seen him since September.  Good card for the holiday season, and for our soon-to-come yearend ruminations.

Some readers would find this card to signal a dark young man (person?), an envoy or postman, and therefore, news.  So keep an eye out for all of those, if you like.

Others would see him as representing a strange message or a desire to learn new things or expand current knowledge.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds the Page of Spears to betoken stimulating communications, arrival of good things, [Maybe Santa come early?  Quiet, Mongo!] and a trustworthy, enthusiastic assistant, among other possibilities.

 As a totem animal, Hare betokens joyfulness, enthusiasm, wonderful loopy abandon (Mad as a March Hare) and creativity, creation or procreation.  So this card asks that you release your inner wildandcrazyjoyfulartist, especially today.   

Let yourself connect or reconnect with those elements of yourself and your life that encourage freedom, playfulness, creativity and JOY!

And as far as the procreation part is concerned, if you’ve been thinking about making a baby − or opening a new business or giving birth to a major new project or direction in life − Do It!  Do It!  Begin today!

Love and honor your inner mad artist.  Embrace and empower him or her today.  And begin that wonderful new… WHATEVER!

Bright, joyful, creative blessings!

Quote for the Day:   A child of five would understand this.  Send someone to fetch a child of five. ~ Groucho Marx [Truly an embodiment of this card!]

Today’s Weather:  Porridge-butt snowflakes swoopin’ down like vultures [or like new divorcees on the free mini-reubens at a Marriott Monday happy hour].  Carry an ash or aspen stake and a small sledgehammer. 

On This Date: 

1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress.

1809 – The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, is passed by the U.S. Congress.

[So you see, they HAVE always been {  insert your adverb & noun here  !}]

  

And: 1964 – Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity.

Talk about an inner mad artist!

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 21

Queen of Spears

Dindrane

Focus for the Day:  What is your unique personal sacred quest?  How can you recommit to it, know it more fully, and take a concrete step toward it today? How can you open to that in you which is compassionate, kind, healing, artistic, gentle, honorable – and let those qualities become the pillars of your strength?

Well. We haven’t seen this card since December 11 of 2008.  And it’s such a valuable card. 

Certainly a suitable card for Yule –the Winter Solstice — a day which so many spiritual paths consider sacred, characterized by the deepening of spirituality and a thinning of the veils between worlds, realms and dimensions.

Some readers find the Queen of Spears to be a dark, kind, friendly and honorable woman, or any person whose energy reflects those qualities.  Others see her as a person of deep spiritual strength, one who encourages the higher aspirations of others.  I like that.  Still others find her to be the archetypal shepherdess, or a woman known for mysticism and visionary experiences. 

I perceive the Queen of Spears to be the card of the feminine sacred quest.  Although most people don’t know it or remember it – even the ones who have read Arthurian legends since childhood – there was one single woman who was among those who quested for the Holy Grail. 

She was Dindrane, Percivale’s sister.  A princess and an anchoress − in Christianity, a woman who chooses to withdraw from the world to live a solitary life of prayer − she was a most helpful director, motivator and advisor to the only three knights who did in fact ultimately achieve the Grail.  

In our culture, as in most cultures over the past 5,000 years, it is generally the guys who go off questing, pursuing the sacred, etc., etc., etc.  Or at least it’s the fellas whose stories get told.  Time for that to change, and also time for us, umm… penile Americans to aspire to, embrace and foster the divine feminine.

So, on this Yule, and therefore throughout the entire season of winter:

Ladies: each of you, what is your unique personal sacred quest?  How can you recommit to it, know it more fully, and take a concrete step toward it today?

Gentlemen: how can you open to that in you which is congruent with the energy of the Divine Feminine — compassionate, kind, healing, artistic, gentle, honourable – and let those qualities become the pillars of your strength?

Bright blessings and the touch of the sacred!

Quote for the Day: We are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we are so deeply interconnected with one another.   ~ Ram Dass
 

Today’s Weather:  Traces of faeriefire across all quarters.  Carry a butterfly net and some macaroons.  Avoid toadstool remnants near you path.  Tread gently. 

 On This Date: 69 – The end of the Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian becomes the fourth Emperor of Rome within a year.  [Coincidentally, the Roman Senate ends its practice of choosing as emperor whosoever can pee farthest in freezing weather.]

And: In England, during the 18th century, there was a revival of interest in Druids. Today, amongst Neo-druids, Alban Arthan (Welsh tr. light of winter but derived from Welsh poem, Light of Arthur) is celebrated on the winter solstice with a ritualistic festival, and gift giving to the needy. 

Blessed Yule!

A Solstice Litany:

 For the return of the sun ~~ blessing and praise!

 For all gift-givers ~~ blessing and praise!

 For the Children of Wonder ~~ blessing and praise!

 For children everywhere ~~ blessing and praise!

 For sunsets and starlight ~~ blessing and praise!

 For fabulous feast days ~~ blessing and praise!

 For those who cook them ~~ blessing and praise!

 For the tree in the corner ~~ blessing and praise!

 For the candles in the window ~~ blessing and praise!

 For the icicles on the trees ~~ blessing and praise!

 For light on the snowfields ~~ blessing and praise!

 For charity and peace ~~ blessing and praise!

 For the robin and wren ~~ blessing and praise!

 For animals everywhere ~~ blessing and praise!

                                                                   ~ John Matthews,

                                                                    from The Winter Solstice,

                                                the Sacred Traditions of Christmas 

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 20

Ace of Cups

The Holy Grail

  

Focus for the Day: What is your Holy Grail?  What is the highest, most perfect ideal you can strive for?  What is the purest, most positive thing you can aspire to do?  Who or what is the best, most brilliant, most caring version of yourself you can seek to become? Starting today, this minute, how can you honor THAT knowing, THAT aspect, THAT vision of yourself and your life?

We last saw this card less than two weeks ago.  And it’s a wonderful, beautifully spiritual card, so it’s perfect that it has come back around in this season, and particularly today, winter solstice eve.

Many spiritual traditions consider today the time when the veils between the realm of ordinary reality and the realms of spirit are at their absolute thinnest. Some Celtic  spiritual paths believe that winter solstice eve is the time when the spirits of all those who have died since the last winter solstice will be taken from this realm into the lands of eternal rest. So PLEASE take advantage of the energies and openings today in a sacred, loving and healing way.

[The 2009 Winter Solstice will occur at 12:47 p.m. on Monday, December 21, 2009. That will be the local time on the eastern coast of the continental United States.]

Aces in any Tarot deck are cards of a new beginning.  So, that being the case, how can you (how would you like to or how do you need to) begin your life anew, today, right now?  What changes can you begin, even in small ways?  What potentials can you believe in, hope for, reach for and remember?  (And you can expect The Universe will keep asking that question until you all remember to ask it alla tyme by yourself!)

In any Tarot deck, the Ace of Cups is interpreted as a card of abundance, joy and even divine inspiration. [Ahem!] Some readers speak of this as a card of tremendously uplifting energy. [Ahem!  Ahem!]

My own intuitive interpretation is based on the beautiful illustration of the Ace of Cups/Holy Grail in the Legend deck created by Anna Marie Ferguson.  

  

There have been many visions of what the Grail may really be. 

~ Some have seen it as the vessel from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. 

~ Some perceive it as one of the Great Magical Cauldrons of Celtic spirituality. 

~ Others have thought it a huge jewel broken from the crown of Lucifer when he was cast out of heaven.  [Me, I’ve always thought Lucifer got a bad rap.  What if he really WAS a light-bringer, and religious bigotry and opposition simply worked to dog him down?] 

~ It has even been written that the Grail is a great crystal at the juncture between the Shamanic upper, lower and middle worlds, and that our ordinary reality world balances upon its tip. 

I see this card as being about regeneration − which makes sense, as so many of the objects mentioned here are mystical, magical, regenerative tools. 

The Ace of Cups asks that we be open to rebirth, perhaps a spiritual rebirth, and that we begin to seek it today. 

Most importantly for me, our culture has come to see the Grail as a symbol of purity and perfection.  So when I work with clients and this card comes up, I say,

What is your Holy Grail?  What is the highest, most perfect ideal you can strive for? What is the purest, most positive thing you can aspire to do?  Who or what is the best, most brilliant, most caring version of yourself you can seek to become? 

Now, starting today, this minute, how can you honor THAT knowing, THAT aspect, THAT vision of yourself and your life?

Well? 

It may take a little work, sure, but you’re certainly worth it!

Bright blessings, and a beautiful Solstice Eve!

Quote for the Day:  The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Today’s Waethyr:   Soaring grindylows  debating diurnal gandayaks about the possibility of the existence of humans. Hone your hoopoes. All of them. 

On This Date: 1192 – Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third crusade. 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 19

Knight of Shields

Bors

  

Focus for the Day:  Know your goal, believe in yourself and your ability to attain it. Don’t jump through hoops for anyone; move at your own pace.  But be sure to move and keep moving.

This card last showed up at the beginning of November.  I’m glad he’s back on a weekend, and at the beginning of final holiday-season crush, when we will perhaps need to pay a tad more attention than normal to the advice he offers.

Right?

I thought so.

Typical readers would find in this card such things as rectitude [which one of my spirit-guides calls “retch-itude,”] , utility, responsibility.  So see how that might fit into your day. 

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck I use, writes of an honest hard-working man, a supporter of tradition and order, and solid, steadfast progress.  If any of those describe what you need for the day or the times to come, keep an eye out for them or, better yet, embody them:  BE THEM.  Don’t get caught up in any whirlwinds blowing through, and fergawdsake, don’t create ’em ! 

I used to call this “The Card of the Young Republican.”  But 8 years of Cheney took all the amusement out of even thinking about those folks.   

In this card I see [and you should take as a role model]

one who considers himself just about the most powerful knight in the forest,

with NO doubt whatsoever that he will meet his goal,

no doubt he will achieve his quest,

no doubt he will do whatever he has set out to do. 

None!

Therefore, he is calm. 

He is in no hurry. 

He feels no need to impress anyone for any reason,

no need− ever − to leap over a tall building in a single bound just because somebody else might like it. 

He goes slowly, perhaps almost plodding at times, just putting one foot in front of the other to get where he needs to go. 

HOWEVER, he is always conscious of his goal,

aware of what will be necessary to get there,

and always in motion toward his target, until his mission is accomplished.    

So, once again:

Know your goal,

believe in yourself

and your ability to attain it,

don’t jump through hoops for anyone,

and move at your own pace. 

But be sure to move and keep moving.

Bright blessings, slowly, surely, constantly!

Quote for the Day: To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.  ~ Shakespeare, from Henry VIII        

Today’s Weather:   Twas brillig and the slithe…  Hmmm?  What?  Oh.  Really?  Okay. 

Sorry, it’s been done. 

Today’s Weather: Mildly tenacious pseudopods angling for snow sharks.  Best ye be totin’ ‘nanners.  

On This Date:  1835 – The first issue of The Blade newspaper is published in Toledo, Ohio.  [Yes, that really IS about the best I can do, thank you very much.  Don’t shoot the messenger.]

But, fortunately: 1915 – Édith Piaf, French singer and actress is born.

And sadly: 1075 – Edith of Wessex, wife of Edward the Confessor, goes to be with Elvis.  [Yeah, I dunno either.] 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 18

Three of Swords

Palomides

Focus for the Day: 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.

This is another one of those cards (in almost any deck) 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.  And note that, 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 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:  Petulant hedgehogs wielding bad translations of Proust.  Be prepared to ninja-fling Boxcar Willie CDs.   

On This Date: 1620 – The Mayflower lands in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts with 102 Pilgrims on board.  [All together now:  There goes the neighborhood!] [And, as Chief Massasoit said, “Dag!  Those white people multiply like rabbits!”] 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 17

Four of Cups

The Fading Fellowship

Focus for the Day: Be honest with yourself about elements of disillusionment or burnout in life.  Be even more honest about any places where either your ego or your fears may be overriding your truer, better nature.  

Look toward YOUR Holy Grail, whatever that means to you.  Then begin to do what you need to stay grounded and true to your higher ideals.  And move toward them today.

We last saw this card on Samhain (Hallowe’en). It’s one of those burnout ~ vs. ~ idealism kinda attention-getters.  And please note: this IS one of those BE CAREFUL cards.    

When this card turns up for a client, I usually say something like: 

Look.  There are a couple of possibilities you need to watch out for here.” 

One is that you’re nearing a point of disillusionment in your life

[so maybe go to my blog and look at the Card for January 1, 2009!

https://shamanspath.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/tarot-card-for-the-day-january-1/],

or real burnout, or both. 

So you really need to look hard at how you’re living so you will start taking much better care of yourself on that score. 

“The second possibility is that words like

imaginary vexations (watch out for THAT one!),

drunk,

sloppy,

disorderly,

foolish,

blind,

ego-driven blowhard

may apply with real impact somewhere in your life − although they may not necessarily be about you personally.” 

So what do you do in response to a card like this? 

In the Legend deck I use, the image on this card gives a suggestion.  It shows the Knights of the Round Table during the period when they had conquered their initial passels of bad guys and had nothing much to do but sit around drinking, thumping their chests and generally being swine. 

But…

In the picture, there is one upright and stalwart fellow looking out a palace window.  What he is seeing is The Holy Grail, floating in over the castle walls. 

He sounds the call, the knights all run down to the great hall, The Grail casts its holy and magical spell over all present, and the lot of them clean up their act, pull themselves together and go on one of the great spiritual quests of all time. 

[And, I’ll tell ya: The world could really use a great spiritual quest right now.  We might even be able to have it, if we didn’t automatically start by spending most of our time and energy hacking each other to bits about who knows God/Goddess by the right name {Meryl Streep? Mithra? Lounge Kitty?} in the right color {Black leather? Blue pinstripe?  Khaki cargo shorts?} with the right kind of feet {One eagle claw? One old Nike Air Huarache? One Electric blue Manolo Blahnik? One ballet slipper?}.] 

What this card implies is that, for your benefit and happiness,YOU CAN –and would do well to — be that one knight  looking out onto a greater vista and being open to great miracles. 

Stay grounded.  Hold to your ideals.  Refuse to demean yourself or anyone else by succumbing to a get-along by going-along philosophy.  Don’t even agree with me if you don’t feel like it.  [But have another cuppa and think it over at least, willya?]

If you perceive that this card talks about the quality of your personal life:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Spend at least a little time taking stock of what is really important.  REALLY important.  Figure out how you can pursue that!!! 

If this is a card about your workplace or a relationship − and you find it’s a situation worth working on − let yourself say:

“Hold on.  IS this the right direction?  I think we need to look at changing.  What are the ways we can do so and move together, toward the highest and best?”

So, I repeat:  Be honest with yourself about elements of disillusionment or burnout in life.  Be even more honest about any places where either your ego or your fears may be overriding your truer, better nature. 

Look toward YOUR Holy Grail, whatever that means to you.  Then begin to do what you need to stay grounded and true to your higher ideals.  And move toward them today.

Bright Blessings, joy, renewal and a spiritual quest!

Quote for the Day: We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.  ~ Oscar Wilde

Today’s Weather: Moist, inflamed, slightly painful and….  Oooopsie!  Silly me.  Ahem….  Intermittent gorgonzola with afternoon avocado wedges.  Pack an astrologer.  Hold a sous-chef hostage against possible capers or peppercorns.

On This Date: 1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England. Henry belches, grabs a wench or two and breaks wind in the general direction of Rome.

A note: 

You may have noticed a slightly different format to the card today.  It comes from a conversation with a friend, who said, “I love the Daily Card.  I love all the colors.  But listen ya wordy b**@#, gimme a summary first.  Then, if I ain’t got buggerall to do that morning, I’ll read the rest; otherwise I’ll save it till later.” 

So from now on, the summary will come first, and will be repeated later for those of us (like I)  who need to see the important stuff at least twice.  who need to see the important stuff at least twice.  who need to see the important stuff at least twice.

   

 

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 16

Queen of Cups

Britannia

We last saw this card toward the end of October.  And, as ever, it’s one of those, “Yo!  Will you PLEASE just TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF FOR A CHANGE?” kinda cards.  Makes sense for most of us as we strive like mad to grind a year’s worth of good wishes into the ferment of the next few days. 

Most readers respond to this card by predicting things like happiness, pleasure, or a good, fair, honest and devoted woman who will serve the querent − the person having the reading.  So if those things fit in with your needs, reach out for and receive them.  And if you encounter such a person, by all means engage her on your behalf. 

One reader finds this card embodies the nature of St. Clare − the founder of the Poor Clares –  the feminine counterpart of St. Francis who embraced poverty, simplicity and service with great love and compassion for all.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, sees the Queen of Cups as many beautiful and wonderful things, including an Otherworldly woman with a wealth of artistic ability who trusts her psychic abilities.  Also a poetic person of vision and intelligence.  So, by all means, EMBODY THOSE THINGS in yourself and your life. 

 

Britannia is the Spirit of the Land of Great Britain, and (in my interpretation of this card) reminds us that we bear an obligation of loyalty to our land, i.e.,  to our environment and all the creatures who continue to live among us, as well as to those we have displaced in our creation of “civilization.”

In working with clients over the years, I have also come to know the Queen of Cups as a card of compassion – especially compassion for the self. 

One of the most persistent pop psychology tenets of the 70s went something like, “You can’t reeeeelly love anyone else unless you love yourself first.” 

Well, I’ve found that this card cautions something like that. 

When it turns up for a client, I remind them that, whatever may be going on in their life, it would be well if the whole magilla were seen and understood through the perspective of compassionate contemplation. 

And, just as important, it is necessary to be compassionate toward the self during times of stress or turmoil.  That way, we’ll be more likely to take care of ourselves well enough to be an appropriately compassionate helper to others if/when we are called to.

 So:

Keep an eye out for a wise, fair, caring woman who may be able to give you a hand.  Own your artistic and intuitive nature.  Honor and care for The Land, its creatures and its Spirit.  And have compassion – for others, yes, but especially for yourself.

Bright blessings and a beautiful, gentle day!

Quote for the day: Help me love myself.  Help me love my life.  Help me treat life lovingly. ~ NS [A prayer & power chant.]                                                   

And:  We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.  ~ Viktor Frankl

Today’s Weather:  Wee tiny archetypally-altered mud puppies.  Wear a gyros sandwich behind either knee.

 

On This Date:  1811 – The first two in a series of severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri. These three so-called Mega-quakes are believed to be an ongoing cataclysmic danger that could reprise the 1811-12 series of 2,000 quakes that affected the lands of what would be eight of today’s heartland states of the United States.  [Charming, that.]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 15

Six of Shields

Castle of Maidens

Listen, people.  Really.  I keep trying very hard to tell you this isn’t about the scene with Zoot, Dingo and Sir Galahad in  “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” 

The one with the dialogue that goes

Dingo: You must spank her well, and after you are done with her, you may deal with her as you like… and then… spank me.
All the Maidens: And me. And me too. And me.
Dingo: Yes. Yes, you must give us all a good spanking.  And after the spanking, sex.
Galahad: Well, I could stay a bit longer…

Lancelot dashes in, knocks the maidens away and pulls Galahad from the castle.

Sir Lancelot: We’re in the nick of time. You were in great peril.
Sir Galahad: I don’t think I was.
Sir Lancelot: Yes, you were. You were in terrible peril.
Sir Galahad: Look, let me go back in there and face the peril.
Sir Lancelot: No, it’s too perilous.
Sir Galahad: Look, it’s my duty as a knight to sample as much peril as I can.
Sir Lancelot: No, we’ve got to find the Holy Grail. Come on.
Sir Galahad: Oh, let me have just a little bit of peril?
Sir Lancelot: No. It’s unhealthy.

But it’s not THAT scene. 

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!)

In my readings, I’m often intuitively prompted to take the interpretation a bit farther and in a slightly different direction.  [Which of you spoilsports said, “What else is new?”] 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 [and really is very timely during the holidays, when things aren’t always as happy and bright as we might hope]:

~ 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.  And if it’s there, for God’s sake, accept it!

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:  A political victory, a rise in rents, the recovery of your sick, or return of your absent friend, or some other quite external event, raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.   ~ Emerson

Today’s Weather:  Pesky harmonidogs yarfing carols a capella.  Whisk with turmeric. 

On This Date: 1939 – Gone with the Wind received its première at Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 14

Two of Spears

Bedivere and Kay

This card last turned for us in mid-September.  It’s a really good card to work with all throughout a season when… how to say… familial connections may not be all one might hope.  You’ll see what I mean when we get to my personal intuitive interpretation of the card. 

The Two of Spears is, in fact, one of those cards where my intuitive guidance has me going off in a different direction than the standard interpretation.  [Yeah. Again. Thenkyew.  Shaddup and lissen to my kindly and gentle guidance already.]

Many readers say this card bespeaks things like riches, fortune, magnificence. Others might suggest you spend some time alone considering the advice of others in order 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 this:

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

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

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

They cannot envision EVER being closer to someone than to their blood family.  All their blood family.  However bizarre, weird, twisted, hurtful, etc. the family, 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’ Fussin’ Burrito Krazees God decided to lay upon you for some of your initial life lessons. 

So at least 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 the world.

Bright blessings and joyful meetings!

Quote for the Day: All empty souls tend toward extreme opinions.  ~  Yeats

And:   There are some doubters even in the western villages. One woman told me last Christmas that she did not believe either in hell or in ghosts. Hell she thought was merely an invention got up by the priest to keep people good; and ghosts would not be permitted, she held, to go ‘trapsin about the earth’ at their own free will; ‘but there are faeries,’ she added, ‘and little leprechauns, and water-horses, and fallen angels.’ I have met also a man with a mohawk Indian tattooed upon his arm, who held exactly similar beliefs and unbeliefs. No matter what one doubts one never doubts the faeries, for, as the man with the mohawk Indian on his arm said to me, ‘they stand to reason.’  ~ Yeats, from The Celtic Twilight

Today’s Weather:  Scrying circuses.  Master classes in wussymagmuffery.  A sure protection?  Toenails painted electric lime green.  

On This Date: 1999 – Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the United Nations. [Really.  That was the best I could do.  A generally cruddy day in history.]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ December 13

Nine of Spears

Wind Harps of War

A card we haven’t seen since early June.  Which means nothing in particular, but I’ll try to make at least SOMETHING of it anyway.

Traditional readings for this card run along the lines of strength in preparedness for battle or strength in the opposition you will be able to mount if you choose to,  delays, things like that.

In Legend, the Arthurian Tarot, Anna-Marie Ferguson finds such meanings as anticipating hostility, preparing for upheaval, outwitting an adversary, and foresight – the last two of course being my favorites.

 

For those of you of an historical bent, the objects depicted in this card were giant wind harps erected on the cliffs above Britain’s shores in anticipation of invasion.  These great instruments, “played” by the sea winds would give forth the shrieks and howling of the guardian spirits of the land.  They would break the courage and disrupt the magic of invading forces.

The Nine of Spears as I perceive it has two principal meanings to guide you. 

First, this card indicates

You have a very capable, solid intuitive “early warning system.”    

It gives you good, actionable information in advance that there might be, for example, problems somewhere over the horizon on a particular project, or that a person is other than what he is presenting himself to be in a way that ain’t good. 

BUT, this card also says,

you’re most likely to second-guess yourself out of

honoring and thus using the very fine and helpful guidance you have received. 

Stop that!  Right now.  Right.  NOW.

If you’re going to take the trouble to read a Tarot posting, I’d guess it’s because you find intuition to be a valid tool that can help in your daily affairs.  Well, if MY intuition is good enough, so is yours ~ or it can be, once you stop second-guessing yourself out of what you’ve been given and start trusting and working with your inner guidance.

Second, this card says

“Don’t get too comfortable where you are ‘living;’ you may choose to move.” 

I put living in quotation marks because Nine of Spears doesn’t just mean that you may sell your cottage in Chagrin Falls and move to a condo overlooking Erie in Lakewood − although you might. 

This card can also indicate a big change in your personal philosophy, your spirituality, or your understanding about what physical health means to you and what you must do to maintain or enhance it. 

So, based on the two meanings of this card,  keep an intuitive eye peeled for glimmerings of those kinds of changes that come your way beginning today.

Own and honor your intuition.  It’s one of the finest gifts Spirit offers humans. 

And let yourself explore whether there isn’t someplace better for you to reside ~ physically or philosophically.

Bright blessings and blissings and all good things!

Quote for the Day:   The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.   ~ Albert Einstein

Today’s Weather:  Chop wood.  Scoop cat litter.

On This Date: 1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.

 

Thank you to everyone who came out to Liberation United Church of Christ Saturday afternoon. to support the church and hear me read a couple of winter holiday stories.  I’m really  grateful.  And special thanks to Pastor Kurt, Jim, Ralph, Virginia, Mike and Peggy for helping.

Blessings!