Tarot Card ~ May 31

Eight of Swords

Guenevere at the Stake

Fortune Cookie: Reach out. Ask for help. Let yourself receive help − help of all kinds from all appropriate levels. Especially seek assistance from those who are extremely capable of helping you understand, take on and overcome the difficulties [or go after the new goals] that may be trying to creep up [or that are emerging].

Okay. For those of you who weren’t paying attention when this card showed up way back just after the last Summer Solstice:

Yo! Yo! Ovah Heeeyah! Yeah. Heeeyah! I’m tawking to you!

PAY ATTENTION!

[And by the way, what DIDN’T you ask for help with back then that you might have. Eh?]

As I said the last couple of times this card showed up, this is really one of those cards that a client only has to see for about a second before they start whining and puling. Can’t say I blame them, based on how the Eight of Swords is usually depicted.

Even in my Legend deck, the largest elements are Guenevere tied to the stake, wood piled about her, the executioner (looking very much like Lurch from the original Adams family) ready to set the pyre alight. Charmin’ all ’round, ’tis.

So when intuitive consultants (Tarot types) typically offer interpretations along the lines of bad news, conflict, slander, crisis, regret and being held at a disadvantage − I suppose I can see why a client might whimper some.

However − as most of you have already begun to say under your breath – ol’ Nealio, he don’t see it THAT way.

Let’s think about something for a second. [Yes, you have to. Have another coffee or a strawberry cough pancake for pity’s sake.]

Why do people come to guys like me for a reading? [Be nice. Remember, I STILL know your email address.] [And besides, I need the answer to that question for a summer marketing blitz.]

People should NOT NOT NOT come to a Tarot reader just to hear what’s gonna happen. They SHOULD work with people of my ilk to learn what THEY need to know that will help THEM maximize success and optimize outcomes! BIIIIIIIG difference!

I like a phrase my wife shared with me. “Some American Indians think of prophecy as that which can be changed.”

So, you come to me for a reading. The Eight of Swords turns up. You start looking for a place to hide. You find you don’t fit under the table and you can’t leap from the window because we’re in a basement.

So I say,

Wait a minute! Wait! Wait! Wait!

[Wait!] Don’t leap (or claw your way up) to conclusions!

The first thing this card is telling you is that, if you’ve been feeling bound, trapped, concerned that there’s some negativity trying to bring you down, you’ve been right. You’re not just being a wuss.

But! BUT!!!!! Look carefully at the card, Watson.

 

The Queen is tied to the stake and about to become an order of crispy-crunchy, dipping sauce upon request, no vegans please. However, peer more closely [I’m exerting peer pressure] and you’ll see there are knights coming over the hill, riding to her rescue. And, if you remember your old Richard Harris movies, they will succeed.

This card is a gift to you, warning you in advance of possible crisis and other down-side realities. And sure, if you freeze like a deer in the headlights, you will become Highway Delight.

How should you deal with this card? Do what Guenevere did.

Reach out.

Ask for help.

Let yourself receive help − help of all kinds from all appropriate levels.

Especially seek assistance from those who are extremely capable of helping you understand, take on and overcome the difficulties [or go after the new goals] that may be trying to creep up [or that may be emerging].

That will lead you to the most positive outcome possible, and even to a successful turnaround of the situation.

This card offers an end to adversity and a new beginning.

Let me repeat that for greater effect:

This card offers

an end to adversity

and a new beginning.

But you have to reach out for it and grab the help when it’s there. (After all, don’t you owe it to all the rest of us to make your life, and thus the greater vibration, better?)

Feeling tied down or tied in knots? DON’T try to handle it alone. Reach out. Get general support from all those who care about you. Engage those who have the strength, skill and wisdom to help you free yourself and move on to new, bright possibilities. And make it a habit not to go solo any more. Reach out. Ask for help − of the highest and best kind.

Bright blessings, hope, peace and joy!

Quote for the Day: I get by with a little help from my friends. ~ Those British Guys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGPqJ5hcEHY&feature=related

Today’s Weather: Enter a crowded theatre, preferably one doing Shakespeare. Yell, “Green Eggs and Hamlet.” Amuse your friends.

On This Date: 1279 BC – Rameses II (The Great) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

 

Tarot Card ~ May 30

 

Two of Spears

Bedivere and Kay

Fortune Cookie: Know what YOUR family of spirit would be like. Seek them. Find them. Let them help you change the world.

 

We last saw this card in mid February. So, is there anyone here — beside me — who didn’t really pay much attention to this card back then? Huh? [Tarot reader knocked over by hurricane-force wind of clients in reading audience shaking their heads and saying, “Nuh-unnnh. Not me! Nuh-unh!”]

So…

Given that we are now at the annual Unofficial Start of Summer here in the northern hemisphere, please remember that this is always a really good card to work with especially if — how to say — familial connections… or working group connections… or relationship 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. At least, I think you will. We’ll both see, then.

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. [Yep. Again. The Universe likes it that way. And that’s why I get the Big Bucks.]

Many readers say this card bespeaks things like riches, fortune, magnificence. Others might suggest you spend some time alone considering the advice of others [like your Tarot blogger, maybe?] 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 you are placing your energy in the right place at the right time. [And if you’re NOT up for riches and success, FortheLuvvaGod, Goddess, etc., CALL ME. Soon. 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 swamp water by the bucket. 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. It’s just time.

[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 even 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 early years’ life lessons.

So at least promise you’ll think about it. Okay?]

~ ~ You would do well 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!

So, as we leap into the Summer of 2011 (except for those of you in Rio and Adelaide):

Know what YOUR family of spirit would be like. Seek them. Find them. Let them help you change the world. and, given that this card is showing up for two pulls in a row, know that its energy and message is very important just now. For YOU!

Bright blessings and joyful meetings!

Quote for the Day: I don’t care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching–they are your family. ~ Jim Butcher Today’s Weather: Vengeance-mongering guppies yelling, Sushi don’t lie! Begin your morning with a superior attitude and Boolean algebra.

On This Date: 1859 – Westminster’s Big Ben rings for the first time in London.

And: 1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern “Memorial Day”) is observed in the United States for the first time.

Thank you.

May 30 is the 150th day of the year.

Tarot Card ~ May 29

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.

 

We last saw this card only twelve days ago. And only about five six weeks before that. Might Spirit be tryin’ to get our attention on these issues, d’ya think? ‘

The Moon is another one of those cards that has different meanings depending on who you studied with, where you 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 has turned up to guide them.

Some readers say The Moon warns of darkness, hidden dangers and instability. [Yummy.] Some warn to be careful of distractions ~ from finally working on those New Year’s resolutions, I suppose. Others stress the “Moony” aspects of fluctuating emotion, high levels of unconscious activity and intense dreams. I find I can accept that last one 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 that a client should 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 that a substantial change doesn’t just get handed to you half-baked on a sodden 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: It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things. ~ Terry Pratchett, from Jingo

Today’s Weather: Whack. Whack. Whack. Whack. Thunder. Whack! Espresso, please.

On This Date: 1913 – Igor Stravinsky‘s ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, provoking a riot.

Set for part 1 of The Rite of Spring, 1913

Tarot Card ~ May 28

Queen of Shields

Igraine

Fortune Cookie: Ask yourself, “What is really important? Now how do I attend to that? And how can I do it really, really well?”

 

This card last turned for us on the Ides of March. It’s always good for a bit of a reminder. So:

Attend:

Other readers find this card indicates opulence, generosity, liberty, security, and perhaps even greatness of soul. Certainly good stuff.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck I use, sees it betokening a sensible, considerate woman (or person), an effective advocate, one who uses her considerable influence and power to help those less fortunate. [Find me one such. And send her my way as ye marketinge manageress! NOW!!!!!]

So if that’s the kind of energy you’re hoping to find and/or embody today, JUMP IN!

In working with my clients, I’ve come to see the Queen of Shields as very strongly paralleling the King of Shields. [Like THAT insight took years of intensive training, right?]

This is, therefore what I call the card of the Good Queen. [For those of you old enough to get the reference, I’ve also occasionally called it “the Harriet Nelson card.”]

This is the Queen who understands that her mission is to care for the health of her kingdom – perhaps behind the scenes, perhaps boldly and with great fanfare − and to help take care of her subjects so that they generally can take care of themselves.

She knows how the crops are growing, how the children are faring, whether the creatures are well, if the King’s men are living up to their obligations and so on. She’s perfectly comfortable taking the limelight, and will be sweet or brash about it as will best serve the kingdom, but she does not seek it for herself and does not actually give a brass farthing for it except as a tool for doing good.

Like the King, the hard lesson she has learned is that there will always be more things asked of her than she can possibly fulfill, more things in need of attention than she can possibly do. She has, therefore, come to understand and be comfortable with the necessity of allocating resources, caring and effort in such a way as will provide the greatest return and benefit to her King and the kingdom.

In her world, it IS NOT the squeakiest wheel that gets the grease; it’s the wheel whose repair is most significant and valuable to the well being of the King, the people and the land.

So, beginning today, how should you come to understand better the myriad workings of your kingdom? (What, in fact, IS your kingdom?) And how do you need to give yourself — in a functional, practical way — permission to attend to that which is really MOST IMPORTANT rather than that which seems MOST URGENT (or most annoying) in order to keep your kingdom’s balance, harmony and prosperity at the forefront of your rule? What do you need to let go of, or let go fallow, or let go to hell, for that matter, in order for the stuff you truly came here to do to get done and get done well?

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

Bright blessings as you rule all you survey! [Particularly the important stuff!]

Quote for the Day: To my way of thinking, an omnipotent being who sets up a universe in which thinking beings proliferate, grow old and die (usually in agony, alone and in fear) is a cosmic sadist. ~ Charles Stross, from The Fuller Memorandum

Today’s Waethyr: Mugwort scones. Sunny in a mildly psychotropic kinda way. Giggle. Yum.

 

 

On This Date: 1892 – In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.

 

 

 

And: 1503 – James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married according to a Papal Bull by Pope Alexander VI. A Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England signed on that occasion results in a peace that lasts ten years.

Tarot Card ~ May 27

Ace of Spears

The Grail Lance

Fortune Cookie: Be clear in what you want. Be clear about the why of it. Go after it evenly, directly, the way anyone with a strong, positive masculine energy would.

 

 

 

We last saw this back in the first few days of February. I suppose that helps explain my general lack of focus since then [he said, grasping at straws].

As those of you who have read this blog for even a short while will likely remember, Aces in any Tarot deck are cards of a new beginning. So, let’s ask again (and again and again, from time to time as the Universe prompts it):

~ How can you − how do you need to − begin your life anew, today, this moment?

~ What changes can you begin, even in small ways?

~ What potentials can you believe in, hope for, reach for and remember?

Expect The Universe will keep asking that question until you (yes, you! Don’t try to weenie out of it this time!) truly remember to ask those same, powerful questions over and over again as a part of who you are!

Some readers feel the Ace of Spears has to do with invention or creation, and perhaps with an inheritance. Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds mental activity, revelation and beginning anew to be elements of the card’s meaning.

[So ’scuse me while I have a revelation.

Humteedum Deedum. Humtedee Deedum. Humtedeedeeedeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Deeedum. Ahummmmmmmmmmm.]

[Thank you.]

I believe the Ace of Spears asks two things of you when it appears.

~ First, it reminds you to become very clear within yourself about something you want or some goal you would achieve. It is, therefore, important that you know specifically what you want to go after – perhaps some major wish in life, or perhaps just a current, interim, in-the-moment thing that will be helpful or fulfilling for a short time, or serve as a useful next step.

It is equally important that you be clear about why you want it. What are your true motivations, and are they really for the highest and best? So this card is also about being conscious of what you would do and have, and of your impact on the world. I think we could all spend a little more time on this one. Or a lot more, if we were smart. Sez I.

~ Then, once that first, more internal step is completed, the Ace of Spears directs you to use strong, clean, clear, non-repressive and non-repressed masculine energy as your model − think Dalai Lama, maybe? – and simply go after your wish or goal confidently, firmly and directly. (So it’s assertive rather than aggressive.)

Know what you want for that new beginning. Pursue it. Yourself. Today!

What is your new beginning? Be clear in what you want. Be clear about the why of it. Go after it directly, the way anyone with a strong, positive masculine drive would. Do something concrete about it today.

Bright blessings and blissings and beautiful, knowing beginnings!

Quote for the Day: When the ancients wrote of gods and demons, they might well have been recording their real-life experiences. Or they may have drunk too much mushroom tea.~ Charles Stross, from The Fuller Memorandum

Today’s Weather: Here there be dragons! Assume they’re family and offer a corn dog on a stick!

On This Date: 1962 – The Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire starts. [It is still burning, and has caused the abandonment of the entire town.]

Tarot Card ~ May 26

Seven of Spears

Arch of Twelve Kings

 

Fortune Cookie: What do you want? What would your victory be? Assume today is the day that you begin to move toward sure victory.

 

This card last turned for us on the 3rd of May. As I said then, it’s of those cards we should work with regularly to help us keep track of who we are and who we hope to be. [Who? Whom? Who cares?] It really is very helpful. And so it’s back already.

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

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

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

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

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

If you were absolutely certain that you would

ultimately achieve the victory you want

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

WHAT

DO YOU WANT?

WHAT

WOULD YOUR VICTORY BE?

~ How long are you willing to work toward it?

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

~ How will you strategize for it?

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

~ What endeavors will you put forth to achieve it?

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

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

WHAT

DO YOU WANT?

What

would YOUR victory be?

Assume today is the magical day that

if you answer those questions honestly

if you answer those questions fully

and begin to put into play the elements

of your responses

you will move toward sure victory.

Bright blessings and victory!

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

Quote for the Day: There can be only one true religion. Are ya feelin’ lucky, believer? ~ Charles Stross, from The Fuller Memorandum

Today’s Weather: Post-new wave yurt design frenzies. Teepee redux? Mild meteoric interludes.

On This Date: 1897 –Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published. [And a new industry is created.]

Tarot Card ~ May 19

Nine of Spears

Wind Harps of War

Fortune Cookie: 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.

 

 

Hmmm… A card we last saw in mid-February. Which means nothing in particular, but I should probably try to at least make SOMETHING of it, anyway. I won’t, though, this time. Really. Keep reading, then…

Traditional interpretations of 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, when “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. I’m thinking of setting a few up around the outskirts of the liberal suburb in which I reside. Or maybe just some old Vox SuperBeatle amps playing George Carlin at full volume.

 

Yesssssss!

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 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. So there!

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, your career path 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 insights and possible changes as they come your way beginning today. And they will.

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: All power is the same. Magic. Physical strength. Economic strength. Political strength. It all serves a single purpose – it gives its possessor a broader spectrum of choices. It creates alternative courses of action. ~ Jim Butcher

Today’s Weather: Chop wood. Eat butter.

On This Date: 1780 – New England’s Dark Day: A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M.

Daily Tarot is taking a few days off. Prob’ly back on the 25th. Have fun till then!

 

Tarot Card ~ May 18

King of Swords

Mordred

Fortune Cookie: What are your highest ideals? What are your deepest passions? Where do they intersect and support each other? What are the specific, definable, practical steps that will carry you to living them? How can you begin those steps TODAY? And how can you keep to them EVERY day?

 

No, he STILL does NOT look like Johnny Depp. Not a bit. Not even a little. Hardly. At all. Really. Not ever.

Oh.

As those of you who are regular readers of the blog, AND have a fairly good number of still-functioning brain cells […which leaves me out {What does?} Never mind! {Okay!}] may remember, this was the daily card almost exactly two months ago. Which, I suppose, is of no real significance whatsoever. [{What is? Or isn’t?} Never mind! {Okay!}]

As I said then:

The King of Swords is one of those cards where each Tarot deck, each author writing about Tarot, and each reader has his or her own unique spin on what meanings are most truly representative and therefore accurate.

And then, to assign Mordred (more about him toward the end) to the card. [Gravelly voice]: Lotta heavy weight on this card here, friends!!

So here are some of the interpretations I’ve gotten from others:

~ the bloody bastard who never knows when to stop fighting

~ a ruthless and daring person(likely male)

~ one (usually a man or someone of strong masculine energy) who sits in judgement

~ the innovative but probably unpredictable leader

~ a revolutionary

~ a sign that now is the time to make a clean break with what you have been doing up until now and go off in your own unique direction.

So if any of those interpretations mesh with how it seems you need to be in your life just now and for the rest of this season (or mayhaps it represents the energy that’s intersecting and/or interfering with your life), then pay attention and act accordingly – i.e., if the interpretation accurately describes what you see in someone else, accept that your perceptions about the person are TRUE!, then figure out what to do from there.

I did a shamanic journey to determine how I should generally interpret this card for my clients. A spirit guide in the form of a great black and silver dragon came by. It said,

This is what you need to know about the King of Swords.

The King of Swords has three major characteristics:

First, he is so idealistic he often lets his head drift away into the clouds and he becomes a hopeless flake – which will often cause him to fail.

Second, he is so passionate he often loses track of what’s sensible, appropriate, or even legal and he blows his own ass up by getting crazy-emotional about what he wants or hopes for – which will often cause him to fail.

Third, as a result of the first and second characteristics above, he has actually learned from the example of the Queen of Swords and he has FORCED himself to develop the will to become strategic about what he wants.

He asks himself what he would need to do in order to be true to his highest ideals AND his deepest passions. He determines where and when and how they could best blend together. He refines his goals, and then develops a specific, detailed plan that incorporates every major step [and most of the baby steps] necessary to take him from where he is to where his highest ideals and deepest passions would lead him.

And then he exerts the will to hold himself to that plan, day by day, until changes in his higher ideals or deeper passions cause him to rethink his goals − and start the whole process over again.

Hard work, but worth the effort.

How would your life be different if you had done that, and held yourself to it, twenty years ago?

It’s never too late to start.

[About Mordred: pretty much everyone knows him as the ‘illegitimate’ son and only child of Arthur. According to most legends, Mordred, out of evil or just out of spite, plotted and schemed to displace The King and, in the process, brought down Camelot. Maybe that is how it was. There are a number of variations on that theme throughout the tales. But in one version of the legends, Arthur and Mordred were reconciled in the end; they died fighting side by side against foreign invaders. Maybe so.]

So: What are your highest ideals? What are your deepest passions? Where do they intersect and support each other? What are the specific, definable, practical steps that will carry you to living them? How can you begin those steps TODAY? And how can you keep to them EVERY day?

Bright blessings, high ideals, passion and success!

 

Quote for the Day: I went to a house that was not a house. I opened a door that was not a door. And what I saw, I saw. ~ Simon R. Green, from Something from the Nightside

 

 

Today’s Waethyr: Damp, if not moist. Primordial. Gluey.

 

On This Date: 1652 – Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.

 

May 18 is the 138th day of the year.

Tarot Card ~ May 17

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.

We last saw this card five or six weeks ago.

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 has turned up to guide them.

Some readers say The Moon warns of darkness, hidden dangers and instability. [Yummy.] Some warn to be careful of distractions ~ from finally working on those New Year’s resolutions, I suppose. 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 that a client should 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 that a substantial change doesn’t just get handed to you half-baked on a sodden 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: Would you believe it’s harder to find a virgin than a unicorn in New York? ~ Naomi Novik, from Zombies vs. Unicorns

Today’s Weather: A mercurial but still impressive confirmation of that which is truly whacked. More juice, please.

On This Date: 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. Its time of construction is now estimated between 150 and 100BC. The degree of mechanical sophistication is comparable to a 19th century Swiss clock.

Tarot Card ~ May 16

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?

 

 

 

We last saw this card on Samhain (Hallowe’en), and then in early January. What a great card for a soggy springtime on an earth in transition.

This is in fact such a valuable card for our world at this time, and congruent with what I’m seeing as a big need for many, many clients — it even turned up for a guy I read for today. 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.

Nope.

 

Others see her [HER — get it?] 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.

Okay. This one I can work with.

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 great seekers who traveled and quested for the Holy Grail.

She was Dindrane, Sir 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 spiritual director, motivator and advisor to the only knights who did in fact ultimately achieve the Grail quest.

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 penile Americans to aspire to, embrace and foster the divine feminine.

I may weep.

Sigh.

Although, now that I think about it…

THEREFORE today, and throughout the remaining month of spring 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 [and I use the term loosely]: 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?

Today, mind!

Bright blessings and the touch of the beautifully and deeply sacred!

Quote for the Day: The fey wonders of the world only exist while there are those with the sight to see them. ~ Charles de Lint

Today’s Weather: Mephistoes. Twazzles. Fiddlehead ferns.

On This Date: 1866 – Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.

Another Quote: There is great need for a sarcasm font. [Thanks, Lorna!]

‘Kayso:

This is one o’ those intuitive hit kinda things. I’m to send this song out to someone. Dunno why. Dunno who. [Whom? Dunno.] But, for whomever it’s meant… hope this is helpful! Blessings and light to ya!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zktGIElNbNg