Tarot Card for the Day ~ August 1

Knight of Swords Gawain Fortune Cookie: Go after it. Go! Go! Go! But go after it smart, careful, clear and clean!  st saw this guy about three months ago.  It’s one of those cards I have a trouble integrating into my life.  Maybe I need a thyroid supplement.  Kelp.  A fire under my… Uh… Something. To see the card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com We la It’s a card that says, Okay, okay, okay!  You over there!  And you.  You, too!  Everybody! Hey!  Everyone! 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 (actually ruddy well frequently) been known to leap before he looks, to the ultimate dismay of himself − and pretty much everybody who is by some curious circumstance or mischance suddenly involved with cleansing him of the huge, deep pile of “country Frisbees” [bull puckey] he has launched himself into.  Quite an image, no? And, he has from time to time gone so far as to find 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 rosy red Orkney rump to smithereens in the process − taking a pile of other good folk down with him in the mess. If he thinks of them at all — the self centered twerp — he thinks of them as collateral damage. Other readers see the Knight of Swords as representing skill and bravery, or wrath and war. [A wee tad of distinction there, don’t you think, friends?  Eh?]  Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, sees him as a determined, intelligent young man [uh… person] – so keep an eye out – but also as someone who may be overeager to display heroics which can cause him to misjudge. [Thus, the country Frisbees.  Or meadow muffins.  Bullcrumpets.  Whatever.] SO:  Get moving!!!!  But take a few moments or go a few steps back to calmly, objectively check out the terrain really 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. (You might even wanna go so far as to further explore whether you are about to do something that IS in fact for the highest and best.  Always a useful test.  Imagine what the planet might be like today if we had all done that all along.)  As I’ve said before: 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.  Dipstick. Go after it, but go after it smart, careful, clear and clean!     Bright Blessings and a soft landing! Quote for the Day:  Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold — but so does a hard-boiled egg. ~ Anon. Today’s Weather: Upwelling downpours.  Launch a Burberry brolly.   On This Date: 1831 – A new London Bridge opens.     Happy Lughnasadh and Blessed Lammas Day!

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 31

Six of Cups In Ector’s Keeping Fortune Cookie: Easy, sweet, nostalgic in a positive way, calm and comforting ~ that’s the theme to get you through the day. To see the card and get the vibe:http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photos   This card last showed up almost exactly a month ago.  I wish it would come around more often. Like, daily! As I always say to my clients, “Remember when you were eight years old and summer lasted forever, and all you really had to was love your dog, go swimming with your friends and dream about how wonderful the world could be?”   Well, that’s the energy and essence of this card. The Six of Cups is a card that bespeaks the beauty and the joy and the innocence and the wisdom of an almost ideal childhood.  So in your connections and interactions today: Look for a quality like that in all those you meet.  If you can’t find it, you’re probably not with the right people, at least for today.  So, if it’s at all possible given the day, keep on moving till you’re with someone or someones whose energy is those wonderful things — even if the someones are, say, the masses of petunias in your back garden.  Let yourself share in that vibe and be happy and comfortable there — and assume that you deserve to be there! Try to find new ways for yourself to be a calm, still, comforting pool in the center of the manic muddle around you.  Especially give yourself permission to be that way to and for yourself.  Call to mind all that which is and has been beautiful, and hopeful, and healing in your world, and keep those things flowing through your mind.  (If you do Reiki, for example, start Reikiing yourself and everything in your vicinity the moment you read this, and keep going from there.)    Also, this is a card that suggests you may have old friends re-enter your life.  Be open to that as a possibility today.  Easy, sweet, nostalgic in a positive way, calm and comforting ~ that’s the theme to get you through the day. Brightest, happiest blessings!  Quote for the Day:  …American women expect to find in their husbands a perfection that English women only hope to find in their  butlers.  ~ W. Somerset Maugham, from The Razor’s Edge Today’s Weather:  Epigrams and titters.  Over Pim’s Number One Cup. 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.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 30

 

The Moon  Morgan Le Fay Fortune Cookie:  Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it.  Today.  To see the card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com Jeee.  Zeee.  Peezy!  Hey!  Anybody out there NOT getting the idea that maybe it’s time for a change?  Anybody?  Hey?  [I’m just glad I’ve just scheduled a bunch o’ dreamwork workshops.  At least now I can feel like I’m payin’ attention to SOME of my own advice — even if no-one else is!] So.  Where were we?  [Rant!  Rant!  Rant!  Grumble.]  Oyeah. The Moon is another one of those cards that has different meanings depending on who you studied with, where ya come from, and  − if you’re a good reader and not just a good memorizer − the kinds of things you find your clients have gone through when The Moon turns up to guide them. Some readers say The Moon warns of darkness, hidden dangers and instability.  Others stress the “Moony” aspects of fluctuating emotion, high levels of unconscious activity and intense dreams.  I find I can accept that more easily. For me, The Moon is first of all a card that betokens change.  Perhaps the change can be rhythmical and constantly evolving, like the changing of the moon itself.    In some cases I’ve intuitively perceived it to be a warning for a client to change course, NOW! NOW!! At times I’ve found it indicative of the need to accept that change WILL come, so get to work on determining what would be the best, happiest, most fruitful and healing way to have it, and how to go after it – so a substantial change doesn’t just get handed to you half-baked on a paper plate. In this deck, because of the card’s embodiment as Morgan Le Fay, I find The Moon to have other important qualities and messages.  First, it is a card of feminine empowerment.  So − assuming you are of the feminine gender − own your power not just as a person, but as a woman.  And let yourself contemplate what that distinction might most fully mean to and for you.  Of course, if you’re masculine, this card directs that you more fully own your connection to the divine feminine, or to the artistic, intuitive, perhaps even Dionysian elements in your life. And whether you are male or female, masculine or feminine, The Moon is a card that commands you to own your magic – whatever you understand that to be – and use it fully and well for the highest and best of all.     Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it. Today. Bright blessings and… YOUR magic! Quote for the Day:  Real magic can never be made by offering someone else’s liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.  ~ Peter S. Beagle, from The Last Unicorn  Today’s Weather:  Mildly groovidelic!!!    Which can be annoying to some.  Tough nooggies!   On This Date:  1965 – US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 29

Queen of Spears Dindrane Fortune Cookie:  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, mystical – and let those qualities become the pillars of your strength? To see the card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com/ We last saw this card on Memorial Day.  And it’s such a valuable card for our world at this time, so I’m grateful to have it come ’round again.  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 one 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 lone 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. blah, blah, blah.  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 today, and throughout the remaining summer season at the very least: 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, honorable, mystical – and let those qualities become the pillars of your strength? Bright blessings and the touch of the beautifully and deeply sacred! Quote for the Day:  Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.  ~ Peter S. Beagle, from The Last Unicorn Today’s Weather:  Secret judo holds. Ponds full of immortals and dreams.  On This Date: 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music. [Yeah.  That WAS the best I could do.  Thank you.] If you have a few minutes, here’s one of the Light Programme’s greatest successes.  It’s a clip from The Goon Show.  Anybody recognize the young actor on the left microphone? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd0ONww0rrw

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 28

The Hanged Man  Castle Perilous Fortune Cookie: Stay much more aware ~ especially intuitively ~ than normal.  Know that positive energy and opportunities are near and can benefit you.  Reach out and take hold of them, one by one, to get where you intend.   To see the card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photos We last saw this fellow around the top of May. Let’s see if we learned anything ‘t all from the good advice he brought last time. Maybe? Here we go:  [Gonzo Tarot reader slowly and carefully sidles to far end of table, humming “Chestnut Mare” or some other pleasant but innocuous tune.] [As Sir Terry Pratchett put it in his book, The Light Fantastic, “He moved in a way that suggested he was attempting the world speed record for the nonchalant walk.”] This is one of those cards whose visual depiction can set a client whimpering and collapsing into themselves in a repetitive rocking fugue the moment it’s seen.  Pretty amazing, really. I suppose I can understand that. The name alone is enough to cause mewling in all of the hardiest guys I’ve read for − both of ’em. 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 deep dunk in a fast flowing river.  Even my deck, Legend by Anna-Marie Ferguson pictures a passle-o-knights left hanging in a grove, one leg and both arms tied behind their backs to show the world that they were rendered utterly powerless and had, one by one, failed in their quests.  So I get why some readers interpret the card as indicating restriction, sacrifice or − at best − feeling drained.  Sort of an  I need Prozac and B12 kinda energy, ya see. As the regular blog crew expects 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!  Not too much.  Don’t hyperventilate.  Have a little brandy or a shot o’ Jack Black, maybe a little Cuervo action. Try some flower essences.  Take a hit of this.  Good.  Hey!  Give it back! “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 a whining, puling little git.  And knowing that should actually make you feel better, Spunky! “‘Second, it’s time for you to move up and out of that stuck space.  And very soon, if not immediately!’” And this is How.  So pay attention. The Hanged Man asks that you be extra vigilant in keeping your intuitive antenna up 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 jackpot. [Sorry!  Remember, I’m just the messenger here.]  [Dammit!]  But the help will be there, maybe even is already here, and it will be there in the ways that can really, truly 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. As if that weren’t enough, I find that there is an additional directive from the Hanged Man.  The card basically says that, in those moments when the 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 It sucks to be me! I’m hopeless!  I’m helpless! whirlpool.  Rather, use the time for deep prayer, healing meditation, shamanic journeying, etc.  Go deep within; embrace your own spirituality, guidance, wisdom, and healing.  Use the “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. So: Stay aware.  Stay much more aware than normal, in fact, especially intuitively.  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 upward, out to freedom!     Quote for the Day:  You have taught me language, and my profit on’t  Is, I know how to curse  ~ Shakespeare, The Tempest  Today’s Weather:  Abominable snowgerbils scattered throughout the Ohio Valley.  Check for scent of cedar shavings.  BIG cedar shavings.   On this Date:  1609 – Bermuda is first settled by survivors of the English ship Sea Venture en route to Virginia. [It’s believed this event was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s The Tempest.]  [If you have a moment for something frivolous, here’s a wonderful, outrageous video of a young Richard Burton playing Caliban in The Tempest.  On American TV.  Go to about 4:15 in this clip.] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf66f–r4ZY

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 27

The Moon  Morgan Le Fay Fortune Cookie: Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it.  Today.  To see the Card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photos/ Okay,  Uh…  Was there anybody who wasn’t paying attention on Friday?   ‘Cos, uh, really, y’know… When a card comes back this quickly, uh…  I mean, I can’t imagine its wonderful insights and deep truths could be very easily passed over, so…  Oh, it was you?  There, with the computer?  Okay.  Well… Okay.  I guess let’s go through this again, then, shall we?  Everybody else, take the day off! The Moon is another one of those cards that has different meanings depending on who you studied with, where ya come from, and  − if you’re a good reader and not just a good memorizer − the kinds of things you find your clients have gone through when The Moon turns up to guide them. Some readers say The Moon warns of darkness, hidden dangers and instability.  Others stress the “Moony” aspects of fluctuating emotion, high levels of unconscious activity and intense dreams.  I find I can accept that more easily. For me, The Moon is first of all a card that betokens change.  Perhaps the change should be rhythmical and constantly evolving, like the changing of the moon itself.    In some cases I’ve intuitively perceived it to be a warning to change course, NOW!  At times I’ve found it indicative of the need to accept that change will come, so get to work on determining what would be the best, happiest, most fruitful and healing way to have it – so a substantial change doesn’t just get handed to you half-baked on a paper plate. In this deck, because of the card’s embodiment as Morgan Le Fay, I find The Moon to have other important qualities and messages.  First, it is a card of feminine empowerment.  So − assuming you are of the feminine gender − own your power not just as a person, but as a woman.  And let yourself contemplate what that distinction might most fully mean to and for you.  Of course, if you’re masculine, this card directs that you more fully own your connection to the divine feminine, or to the artistic, intuitive, perhaps even Dionysian elements in your life. And whether you are male or female, masculine or feminine, The Moon is a card that commands you to own your magic – whatever you understand that to be – and use it fully and well for the highest and best of all.     Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it. Today. Bright blessings and… YOUR magic! Quote for the Day:  Just because it’s not nice doesn’t mean it’s not miraculous.  ~ Sir Terry Pratchett, from Interesting Times Today’s Weather:  Widdershins!  Widdershins! [If you can’t do it right, do it left!]  On This Date:  1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria invades Scotland to support Malcolm Canmore against Macbeth of Scotland, who usurped the Scottish throne from Malcolm’s father, King Duncan. Macbeth is defeated at Dunsinane. [You mean that… stuff really happened?  Duuuuuude!]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 26

Nine of Spears Wind Harps of War Fortune Cookie: Own and honor your intuition.  It’s one of the finest gifts Spirit offers humans.  Let yourself explore whether there isn’t someplace better for you to reside ~ physically or philosophically. To see the card:http://strangerealms.   Hmmm… A card we haven’t seen since mid-December.  And since early June before that.  Which means nothing in particular, but I’ll should probably try to at least make SOMETHING of it, anyway.  But I won’t. 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 significant change or evolution 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:  Mythological symbols touch and exhilarate centers of life beyond the reach of vocabularies of reason and coercion. ~ Joseph Campbell  [Yyyyup.] Today’s Weather:  Chop wood.  Fill birdbaths. On This Date:  1745 – The first recorded women’s cricket match took place near Guildford, England.  [I KNEW you’d wanna know.]

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 25

Seven of Shields Castle Of Wonders Fortune Cookie: Find a goal that is worthy of your efforts.  Know what it is, and why you have chosen it.  Keep pushing once, twice, AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES till the opposition is eliminated or finally just gives up and goes away.  And know that your most beautiful dreams can come true. 2 C D Card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photos/album Okay, let’s cut to the chase on this one.  It’s a card that says (in my perception) Try, TRY, TRY AGAIN! And it’s a good card right now, I’m thinking, when people may be experiencing some I-thought-I’d-feel-better-once-it-was-summer-but-I-don’t type depression and maybe some fatigue ~ compassion fatigue, gardening fatigue, Gulf fatigue, trying to send energy & light to the Gulf fatigue, recession fatigue, Ohcrap!I’vegotthefluagain fatigue, my boss is a twit fatigue, life sucks fatigue, Neal drones on and on like a little old wart fatigue ~ whatever.  Well, too bad.  Because, you see, the potential for you to experience goodness and goodies far beyond your brightest hopes is right there in front of you IF you screw up your courage and connect with your dreams and   Try, TRY, TRY AGAIN! [Do I need to do that craziness one more time, or have I made my point?] The Seven of Shields in my deck is a card that requires a Nealio’s sprained-bashed-and-mangled faerystory version of the legend behind the card.  As usual, my version of the story may be a bit different than what you will find in some Arthurian mythologies.  And my interpretation of the card veers a bit from the norm as well.  So, depending on what you can best handle at the moment, grab a mug of hot something, a bottle of whatever, a hookah or a few of those cute little mushrooms the seven dwarves used to sell on market day, and away we go. Sir Gawain found himself in hot pursuit of an outlaw knight.  He chased the cur over hill and dale [sorry again, Dale] until at length the outlaw rode into the courtyard of a great castle, and then right into the great hall of the castle itself.  Gawain galloped on in, hisownseff.  As Gawain entered the hall, he began being pelted by a huge indoor storm of sleet,  iceballs and stones.  Being a prudent man, Gawain reined in his worthy steed, thinking, “Hmm….  There’s more here than meets the eye, as Ringo once said. Or will have once said. Maybe I better just go back and tell the lads I lost track of the outlaw, and I’ll hunt him down another day.” But being a brave soul and one of the leading lights of the flower of chivalry that was Camelot, he pulled himself together and said, “Nay then. ’Tis my quest, and meet it is that I pursue it come what may.”  Or something a bit more zesty. And he began pushing his way through the storm. At which point the storm simply stopped.  And he found himself confronted by an entire army, blocking the path of pursuit.  Again he took pause, thinking, “This here is some weirdness here, y’all kin bet ready money on that!  Maybe it’d be better to jist come back another day and see wossup then.”  But again, he screwed up his courage [see verbiage above], pulled out his trusty sword and launched himself against the foes. At which point they disappeared.  Ha! Haha!! Only to be replaced by a huge lion and griffin who – um, which?  Nah, who − blocked his way.  This time Gawain really took a step back, thinking, “Okay.  Look, magic is one thing, but this is getting ridiculous.  I could end up a hot steaming lunch here.  And, they’re protected species, aren’t they?  I’m just not gonna.…   I’m not….  Aw, bugrit!”  And again he remembered his quest and his solemn vow to his droogies from the Round Table, so he pushed forward, hard.  The lion and griffin disappeared. And as Gawain moved forward into the center of the immense hall, A GREAT MAGICKE occurred.  There was a shimmer, and a shine, and a wrinkle in reality.  It became a doorway into a realm of wonders, goodness and healing.  It was a place which offered many amazing, magical things, along with major cash and gems, which the goodlye Knighte gathered up and took back for the benefit of Camelot.      So, what has that got to do with the card? I thought you’d never ask.  [Just like you thought I’d never finish the damn story.] Okay, some readers see the Seven of Shields as betokening money, business and barter.  Anna Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, writes of treasures, bounty, persistence and the steady, methodical removal of obstacles [some of which may be in-laws, coworkers or bonehead politicians]. When this card shows up for a client, I’m likely to say, Okay.  What it comes down to now is ~ knowing what you’re really going after, and ~ refusing to give up.  You may feel overmatched, overwhelmed, afraid and even a tad hopeless.  But if your goal is REALLY important to you, remember what it is, screw up your courage, dig in your heels and push back or push on.  Hard!  And if you really have chosen a goal that is worthy of you, and important to you, have faith in yourself.  You will succeed beyond your brightest dreams. Find a goal that is worthy of your efforts.  Know what it is, and why you have chosen it.  Keep pushing once, twice, AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES till the opposition is eliminated or finally just gives up and goes away.  And know that your most beautiful dreams can come true. Bright blissings and great wonders!  Quote for the Day:  Children see magic because they look for it.  ~ Christopher Moore, from Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal   Today’s Weather: Razzle dazzlers on a razor’s edge. Time it JUST right.   On This Date: 1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric as he plugs in at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.    A bit of an idea here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1TKUk9nXjk

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 24

Seven of Cups

The Questing Beast

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

 To see the card:  http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photos/album

Well.  A card that actually made perfect sense for a recent time we saw it — St. Patrick’s Day.  But it’s a GREAT and also actually useful card for consideration any day at all.  At all.

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

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

A reminder that we really need to work on joyfulness in our lives.  [I know.  Sounds couter-intuitive.  Right?  Well, toobad.]

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

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

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

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

Some see the Seven of Cups as recommending opening to visions through contemplation. [Or, today, funny pancakes?]

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

 

Some readers find the card dictates that the querent (questioner) has a choice to make, and must decide upon one of various options.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joy!  Joy!  Joy!

And JOY!!!

Bright blessings! 

And don’t forget joy!

Quote for the Day: Too often, people think that solving the world’s problems is based on conquering the earth, rather than touching the earth, touching ground.  ~ Chogyam Trungpa, RinpocheToday’s Weather:  Undercast and overanalyzed.  Highs and Löwenbräu.   

On This Date:  1935 – The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in Chicago and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Tarot Card for the Day ~ July 23

The Moon  Morgan Le Fay Fortune Cookie: Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it.  Today.  To see the Card: http://strangerealms.multiply.com/photos/ This card last came around on the last day ofApril.  The Moon is another one of those cards that has different meanings depending on who you studied with, where ya come from, and  − if you’re a good reader and not just a good memorizer − the kinds of things you find your clients have gone through when The Moon turns up to guide them. Some readers say The Moon warns of darkness, hidden dangers and instability.  Others stress the “Moony” aspects of fluctuating emotion, high levels of unconscious activity and intense dreams.  I find I can accept that more easily. For me, The Moon is first of all a card that betokens change.  Perhaps the change should be rhythmical and constantly evolving, like the changing of the moon itself.    In some cases I’ve intuitively perceived it to be a warning to change course, NOW!  At times I’ve found it indicative of the need to accept that change will come, so get to work on determining what would be the best, happiest, most fruitful and healing way to have it – so a substantial change doesn’t just get handed to you half-baked on a paper plate. In this deck, because of the card’s embodiment as Morgan Le Fay, I find The Moon to have other important qualities and messages.  First, it is a card of feminine empowerment.  So − assuming you are of the feminine gender − own your power not just as a person, but as a woman.  And let yourself contemplate what that distinction might most fully mean to and for you.  Of course, if you’re masculine, this card directs that you more fully own your connection to the divine feminine, or to the artistic, intuitive, perhaps even Dionysian elements in your life. And whether you are male or female, masculine or feminine, The Moon is a card that commands you to own your magic – whatever you understand that to be – and use it fully and well for the highest and best of all.     Work with your dreams.  Seek the change that is desirable now.  Honor and empower the feminine aspects in you.  Own your magic and use it. Today. Bright blessings and YOUR magic! Quote for the Day:  “Ladies of Light, and Ladies of Darkness, and Ladies of… Never-you-mind,  This is a prayer for a Blueberry Girl:  First, may you ladies be kind.”                                                 ~ Neil Gaiman, from Blueberry Girl* [Worth a repeat, sez I!] Today’s Weather:  Oingo-Boingo.  Bazeeeohwoweeee!  Protein at breakfast.   On This Date:  1929 – The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.  [Les poires vaginales!] *For a moment’s real delight, please go to http://www.mousecircus.com/extras.aspx  You can hear Neil Gaiman’s wonderful reading of his Blueberry Girl [which should be given to every parent, grandparent or parent-to-be of a kidlet] [and also his brilliant, wonderful Instructions] [both of which are wonderfully animated using the extraordinary art of Charles Vess].  And save it to see/hear again.