Daily Tarot ~ March 29

The Emperor

Arthur

No! No!   No!

Not. Arthur. Weasley! 

Fer tha luvva…

Fortune Cookie:  Use your wonderful intellect very well today, you silly bugger. That’s why you have it.  And accept a leadership position that is unexpectedly thrust upon you.

Really, Neal… Again with the silly Arthur schtick.  Really?   I don’t  believe it.  Jeeeezu…

Ahem. 

Hmmm….

Las’ saw this guy in early February.  Which is really important… if YOU think it is. He is worth a good read, even on a Thor’s day.  So, then:   

This is a powerful, positive card [and I know bunches of folk who can use one at the moment], that encourages us to see the goodness flowing to us and our world.  Even more, it asks that we believe in that and really be open to it.

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, writes that this card betokens

wisdom and power,

conquest and conviction,

courage and ambition

balanced with

reason and fair play.

That would be nice, for a change.

It can also herald a caring person with many responsibilities, so have an eye out for someone like that.  [If it looks like me in your mind’s eye, you’re surely daft, or need more coffee, or some wretchful thing.]

I perceive The Emperor to be a card of intellect well used and accomplishment attained.

For some clients, I find that it indicates they may be thrust into a new position of power or leadership, even if they have not sought it. Sometimes especially if they have not sought it. When that is the case, I ask that they accept the new responsibilities (and the attendant opportunities) graciously.  I say something like:

“If the Universe didn’t think you were ready for this, IT wouldn’t have put you in a position to receive it.  So go for it and be brilliant about it! You can be, so don’t get in your own way!!!!!”

Be open to the helpful counsel of others [especially me], so that a greater wisdom can be attained and acted on [maybe it’s not me after all].

This is a card of

progress and security. 

So believe in that – own that − as a true, evident and inevitable thing.

Use your wonderful intellect very well today; that’s why you have it.  Seek wisdom through the counsel of others who truly have something helpful to offer.  Know that, through such actions, progress and security can be yours.

Bright blissings!

Quote for the Day: Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference. ~ Jim Butcher

Today’s Weather: Beware the wheatbreath original zamboni. Note clustered  mandalas rapidly dialating through the dells. Borage seed.

On This Date: 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.

 

Text from Last Night: The bar has bullet holes in the ceiling, and the country singer had been doing drunken Moody Blues covers.  A guy just bought me a beer on the grounds that I ‘have his back’ in a fist fight with a stranger Texan. And, yes, the bartender is wearing a sheriff’s badge.

Hi, all… Sorry I didn’t post for 3/28. For whatever reason, my phone line, and thus my Internet access, was down, and I couldn’t make it to a wifi location.  Bless!

Daily Tarot ~ March 27

The Magician

Merlin

 

Fortune Cookie: Honor the Magician in you! And live a life in balance, moment by moment so you can access and use all of your wonderful, magical  skills and gifts.

Poor you.  Those of you who have been here before will remember that this is a really long Nealian post.  Well, this card is worth a long read, and some extra contemplation.  Especially today.

I consider The Magician to be the Ace of the Major Arcana in the Tarot deck.  (The Major Arcana are the twenty-two cards that are all archetypal, allegorical figures – The Magician, The Tower, The Priestess, etc. − that have no complement in a regular deck of playing cards.)

So, as you’ve heard me say before, Aces in any Tarot deck are cards of a new beginning.

Therefore:

~ How can you (how do you need to) begin your life anew, today, right now?  Or at least open yourself to the possibilities that can help bring it?

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

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

Here’s an excerpt from an article on my web site (www.shamanspath.org) that will give you a bit more Nealio’s uniquay perspectivo info about The Magician:

“When I look at The Magician, no matter what deck I hold, I consistently see (and sometimes sense through intuitive awareness) some specific elements or aspects:

There’s the element of deep scholarship and functional learning, often represented by books, scrolls or papers.

There’s the element of magical tools, including wands, crystals, and icons from various traditions.  [What are YOUR magical tools, by the way? Piano?  Pen?  Computer?  Healing hands? Trowel?  Paintbrush? Clay and cloth?  Voice?  Smile? Attitude? A killer cuppa coffee at just the right moment?  Or a killer cuppa somethin’?]

There’s an element of ceremony or ritual, often depicted in the motions of The Magician.

There’s a connection to the realms of Spirit, often represented through the presence of spirit helpers like angels or totem animals being present, and possibly assisting.

And there’s an aspect of connection to Power – of focusing will, energy, mind and soul to bring positive things into being in the world.

When I read for a client, I may find that each or any of those elements seen in the card should be selected and emphasized for a particular person, and then included in recommended “homework” I may suggest as a result of our session.

[For example: softly sing to yourself your favorite rock song from when you were sixteen years old. Sing it three times a day until the snow flies next December to help you reconnect with the magic that has always been in you but has been allowed to go fallow.]

[Or: remember and reread the three novels that have been most influential in your life to help remind you what you really care about, and why.]

[Or: write a quick toss-off (no judgement) haiku a day for thirty-six days to help re-find and heal the writer in your soul.]

Importantly, each of the elements I “see” in The Magician card is a thing that many of us have had learned out of us as we have “grown up.”

So we give those things, which are central to many traditional cultures and most spiritualities, extremely short shrift as we attend to our cultural paradigms for living a fulfilling life in the here and now as we have been taught.

As one client ruefully said, ‘I have ritual in my life.  I DO.  Every day except Sunday, I get up at seven.  I stop at the ’Buck’s at 7:45 for a grande cappuccino.  At noon, I eat rabbit food from a black plastic bowl.  I worship the Goddess of spinning at the gym ’most every evening, and I’m prostrate under goose down with TIVO by 10:00 at night.  I might as well be a nun.’

Well………… Okay.

But that’s not quite what I have in mind by ritual.  Although, over the course of working with any client, I may help them find that such events and actions, which most of us would consider meaningless from a perspective of personal ceremony, can in fact take on deeper meaning and become a connection to our higher aspects for our own magical good — if we consciously determine that they will.

But back to The Magician.

There’s an additional aspect of the card that I came to understand one afternoon when I was reading for someone on the cusp of a beneficial but stressful personal − let’s call it − evolution.

I stressed that The Magician, or in our case, Merlin the Wizard, brings together 1. learning + 2. tools + 3. ritual or ceremony + 4. spiritual connection + 5. guidance/embracing of power for the benefit of self and others.

BUT, I realized as I was speaking to this particular client:

in order to be able to do so – to be ready to blend, focus and use each of those elements at the right moment, perhaps in an instant – The Magician must attend to living a truly balanced and positive life, moment by moment.  And that’s something our culture hasn’t really helped us with much over the last century or two (or fifty, come to that).”

So given all that:

How do you need to honor the Magician in you? 

And how do you need to live a life in balance so you can access and use all of your wonderful skills and gifts IN THE MOMENT when they can be most helpful to you and to us all?

Work with that today, and see what magic you can claim − and work − for the highest and best of all of us!

Bright blessings and YOUR OWN Magic!!!

Quote for the Day:  That’s the thing with magic. You’ve got to know it’s still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.  ~ Charles de Lint

Today’s Weather:  Minor armadillos.  Quantum pentacles.  Keep!  Dancing!  

On This Date: 1881 – Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of rigid Temperance by the Salvation Army.

Text from Last Night:I woke up this morning in her house… I didn’t realize it was physically possible to duct tape a person to the wall.

 

Daily Tarot ~ March 26

Three of Spears

The Horse Fair

Fortun Cookie: Own your most amazing and idealistic dreams.  Exert the power YOU possess to pursue them — through very practical means.

As I have said other times in this blog, I’m not utterly above spooking clients when this card comes up.  I glance at it darkly, lean forward to scan it more carefully, and whisper,

“Oh Bugger!!” under my breath.

Or I say: Ahhhhhh… This is a card of very special inspiration.

[Then I count to fifteen while thinking:  Let ’em chew on THAT for a while!  Nyah—Nyah! Nyah—Nyah! Nyah!]

Ahem.

Blogging really does allow occasional over-indulgence here, dunnit? 

Oh well.

Saw this card in early January. So here’s our spring helping, I guess.

Once again, please remember that threes in any Tarot deck are power cards, or rather, that the issue the card is addressing is one of power, even if it doesn’t seem so on the surface.  Typically, a three would counsel things like

~ beware 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 againstdisempowerment

   in any area of life, whether by the action

   of others, or by your own action

   or inaction

~ empower yourself

~ empower those you love and believe in

~ accept the challenge of owning ALL of

   what you are and who you can be

Simple, really.  [I keep telling myself that.  Over and over.  And over. And it IS getting better.  A bit.  Sort of.  If you kinda squint, y’know?]

The Three of Spears as I see it is a mentoring-kinda card; it gives very specific direction, albeit in a big, global sense.   It says:

Be ruthlessly practical

in pursuit of

a MUCH higher ideal.    

Bummer.

As most of you know, the Tarot deck I use is Legend, the Arthurian Tarot.

In my story of the card, which depicts The Horse Fair, I see a young King Arthur having the brilliant insight that, to finally hold the throne, and then to more effectively secure his entire kingdom, he must resurrect a strong cavalry wing (from the old Roman days) and make that the centerpiece of his armed forces.

Having decided so, he would then have to go to Britain’s great horse fair and be ruthlessly objective in his examination of each animal, knowing that the future of Camelot might well rest on that very creature’s shoulders.  

So?  So:

Envision your most exalted possibilities,

your highest potential achievement

your most deeply and dearly held hopes

for the Highest and Best. 

Set your goal. 

Then literally, practically, ruthlessly,

holding your nose to the necessary grindstone(s),

do the things required to achieve your will  − IF you are truly clear that your will is for the Highest and Best!  

Own your most amazing and idealistic dreams.  Exert the power YOU possess to pursue them through practical means.  (One horse at a time, if necessary.)

Bright blessings and amazing achievements!

Quote for the Day: Don’t put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That’s why they’re called revolutions. People die, and nothing changes. ~ Terry Pratchett [Great Britain’s most shoplifted author!]

Today’s Weather:  Tweedlebumble moonbeams and rory storms. Wield a faux-gator pack of Little Debbie timeshift crullers to repel goblins. 

On This Date: 1484 – William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop’s Fables.

Text from Last Night:I just learned a new drink. Sloppy Ninja. Half Saki Half Nyquil. // Oops. Ipulled some girls weeve trying to pull the stop cord on the bus.

Daily Tarot ~ March 25

The Chariot

Battle of Mount Badon

Fortune Cookie: Go after what you really want – aggressively.  But don’t let yourself get pulled out of balance (physically, emotionally, spiritually or in any other way), or lose your cool at a critical moment.

Wowie-Zowie, boys and girls!  We last saw this card around eraly January!   So list ye noo with troolie attent ear an’ sh… shtuff. 

This is a great card for enny time o’ year, because the insights it offers are strong, clear and very important. Even when I’m not.

And, I might add, it’s a superb card for incorporating into an early spring booster, no matter what spiritual path you walk.

Traditional readings for this card include things like succor, providence and triumph.  Or something along the lines ofmake a choice, stand by it and carry it through. Or maybe even willpower, and recognizing that you have the ability to focus your will to accomplish amazing things.

[Yes.  YOU!]

Anna-Marie Ferguson’s Legend Tarot deck has The Chariot indicating victory, leadership and controlling a situation of conflicting sentiments, among other things.

I tend to interpret this card based on the counsel that has seemed most helpful to my clients when it has shown up.

When The Chariot appears, I say:

Okay.  Regarding what you’re asking about, what you want, or whatever the case may be:

Go after it.  Go after it aggressively.  Not even assertively.  Aggressively! Full tilt, run ’em over if they won’t cooperate, surrender or get out of your way kinda aggressively. 

But…

Make very, very sure that in going after what you want, you do not let yourself become pulled off balance or pushed out of balance – or otherwise become out of balance – physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, romantically, or any-other-ly.

And keep a cool head.

Swear to heaven, I may weep!

Here’s the analogy:  When you’re driving a war chariot into battle, once you’re committed to the fight you’ve gotta push, drive, plunge.  But, if you lose your balance, you’ll get bounced out of the chariot and right onto the point of a spear, thus becoming instant dogmeat.

And when you’re going into battle, you must fight hard but remain cool and focused.  If you give over to wild emotion, you may lose sufficient awareness of what’s really going on around you, and thereby become raven kibble. 

So, today: Go after what you really want – aggressively.  But don’t let yourself get pulled out of balance, or lose your cool at a critical moment.

Bright Blessings, balance, focus and Charge!

Thought for the Day: When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn’t work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me. ~ Emo Phillips

 

Daily Tarot ~ March 24

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 focusing all so very swell when this card showed up way back toward at the end of February:

Yo! Yo!  Ovah Heeeyah!  Ye-yah.  Heee-yah!  I’m tawking to yuuu—-uuuuuu!

PAY ATTENTION! 

[And by the way, what DIDN’T you ask for help with back then that you might have.  Eh?] [And and, as it showedup for us on Feb. 29, Leap Day, may I strongly suggest again that we all look at the entire rest of the year through the lens this particular card offers? Pretty please? With caviar and party franks?  Or Frank’s party?]

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 spring 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’re 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 Sushi.     

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: Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by. ~ Carl Sandburg

Today’s Weather: Scruffedymuffelins and blessed silly whiskers. La vie en noses.  

On This Date: 1958 – Elvis is drafted into the U.S. Army.

Text from Last Night: He was the only guy who ever made me cry… //

Who, the park ranger who made you dump out your beer on the beach?

And: Pros and cons of selling your underwear to a guy on craigslist. Go. //

Come down off the roof.

 

 

Daily Tarot ~ March 23

The Sun

Lleu

Fortune Cookie: What are your wishes?  Stay conscious of those wishes as you go through your day.  Honor those wishes in positive ways.

This card last turned up around mid-February-ish. Too bad. It’s one of those cards I could see once a week and be delighted to work with again.  It’s a GREAT card for any day, any season of the year.

Attend.

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

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

Unh –UH!

NO!NO!NO!

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

This card is also appropriate for people who have been saying something like, “This isn’t working.  It really, really isn’t working.  What am I doing wrong?  In fact, what am I doing?  What? Really, WHAT??  ‘Cos this thing here juss don’ seem to be working no way!”

Well, let’s all pay attention.  Even me.  I.  Whatever.  [Nitwit.]

On this morning, the Universal Sun will be cruising just outside all our bedroom windows, saying,

“Hey! 

“HEY!!!!!!!!

“The hyacinths are blooming and the tress are so full of buds it’s almost Stephen King scary. The blue jays are competing for seed with everybody, especially the squirrels and the rats under the garage.  The cocker spaniel is cruising the back of the garden to help the jays with the squirrels.  The hawk is apparently miles away. 

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

Okay?

What?

Specifics?  Specifics??

Where’s your spirit of adventure?  Of exploration?  Of checking it out on Google?

Okay. 

Fine. 

Be that way. 

But only because I’m in a good mood.  Or was.  Till now.  Thanks.

This card is generally a big “Yes!” card, a confirmation that what you seek is on its way.

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

So OWN that!  !! !

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

I find it says,

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

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

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

AND you hold true to those wishes, moment by moment by moment throughout the day and throughout your life.”

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

Right?

[How many people said OUCH!?  Uh Hunh!]

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

[Okay, who said, “Oh, I am SO screwed!”  WRONG ATTITUDE, PRINCESS!]

Keep your attention on what you positively wish, for pity’s sake!

RIGHT!

MUCH Better!!  !

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

What is your wish? 

What are your wishes? 

How can you

stay conscious

of those wishes

as you go through your day? 

How can you honor those wishes in positive ways? 

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

How can you LOVE YOURSELF and LOVE YOUR LIFE? 

See the beauty. 

NOW!!!

Brightest blessings and superb wishcraft!

Quote for the Day: I respect those who oppose contraception and thus embrace the alternatives, overpopulation and starvation. ~ Andy Borowitz

Today’s Weather:  Canticles of light.  Spaniels of sparkle.  Spaaaarkle!

On This Date:1962 – NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Eisenhower‘s Atoms for Peace initiative. [Bimbos.  Didn’t like my nuclear-powered squirt gun idea.]

Daily Tarot ~ March 22

 

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 early-ish… yesterday. [We just do ’em, folks. We don’t ‘splain ‘en.] So, is there anyone  here — beside me — who didn’t really pay much attention to this card back then?  Huh?  [Tarot reader knocked over two days in a row by hurricane-force wind of clients in reading audience shaking their heads and saying, “Nuh-unh.  Not me! Nuh-unnnnh!”]   

Right.

So… 

Given that we are now well into the dash to be DONE with winter and really embrace the springtime,  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… or community 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.  Probably.

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.]

Good.  Grief.  [Somebody take away my pass to Google Images.  Please!]

So, then…

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, et al, 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 Kreme Krazees God decided to lay upon you for some of your early 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!

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:  All well-regulated families set apart an hour every morning for tea and bread and butter. ~ Joseph Addison

Today’s Weather: Tea.  Bread.  Butter.  Accompanied by an electric ocarina.

On This Date:1784 – The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.

That’s either the Emerald Buddha or Evergreen Elvis.

 

Text from Last Night: Remember when we used to share painkillers at parties? Now we’re dealing in blood pressure pills. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Daily Tarot ~ March 21

 

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 early-ish January. 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-unh.  Not me! Nuh-unnnnh!”]   

Right.

So… 

Given that we are now well into the dash to be DONE with winter and really embrace the springtime,  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… or community 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.  Probably.

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.]

Good.  Grief.  [Somebody take away my pass to Google Images.  Please!]

So, then…

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, et al, 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 Kreme Krazees God decided to lay upon you for some of your early 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!

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:  Life is messy. Would that every puzzle piece fell into place, every word was kind, every accident happy, but such is not the case. Life is messy. ~ Christopher Moore, from The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror

Today’s Weather: Occasional tendencies toward rumballs.  Stay ensconced within a circle of garlic pita chips till the dew burns off. 

On This Date:1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Text from Last Night: Yeah dude. Pulled out the couch and a bird flew at me. Please tell me who put a bird in my house. 

Daily Tarot ~ First Day of Spring!

The Horned One

Cernunnos

Fortune Cookie: Believe in and use your connection to Spirit to understand how you can bring about positive change through your very being and through your prayerwork in your day-to-day life.

This card last came around in early February.  And what a GREAT card for the First Day of Spring [and therefore, the card to guide us through the entire spring season]!

When this fellow showed up for an earlier blog posting, I was given the following Spirit-based insight:

 

“Now… remember that EVERY!!! day is a day of power, a day of connection,  a day of hope and magic and a day of celebration. 

Live THAT,

why don’t you??”

As I said then, I should probably just end the posting with that insight and walk away, y’know?  It’s plenty good information, and would save you a few minutes of additional reading to boot.

But NO-OOOO-OH.  [Oh well.  You’re a grown up.  You can stop reading whenever you want to.  Or just look at the daily horoscope in the paper or something on Twitter or whatever.]

Anyway…

Following a Shamanic spirituality as I do, I simply consider this just about the most powerful card in the deck.  Let me describe it a bit for you

as it’s portrayed by Anna-Marie Ferguson in her Legend deck (see above).

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

It’s a beautiful, mystical, magical card. Wish I had it as a huge poster.

The painting on the card depicts images from the famous Gundestrup cauldron, a first century BC ritual silver vessel found deep in a Danish bog. 

 

Sacred, beautiful objects like this were ritually cast into bogs ~ which were considered places of mystery, power and great magic ~ as sacrificial gifts. [Better than tossing in the odd Ukrainian, I say.  And much better received by the Spirit of the place, as well.]

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

Cernunnos, the fellow depicted in the card is the Celtic incarnation of the Horned God.  He is considered to be the Lord of the Animals.

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

Here is what I see in the card, based on many years of working with clients. 

This is a truly shamanic card in that it says,

You [yes, YOU!] have the capacity to connect with the realm of Spirit.  You have an ability to bring Spirit through into ordinary reality in a way that can functionally, positively bring about change.

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

So, in this beautiful, hopeful season [whatever season or day of the year it may be, as we have been informed above]

~ explore your connection to Spirit (your guardian angels, the Universal Life Force, God, Goddess, The Infinite or however you perceive Him/Her/It)

~ believe in — in fact ASSUME — a functional connectedness to Spirit

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

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

Brightest blessings, joy, hope, deep spiritual connection and healing!

Quote for the Day:  Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity. ~ Christopher Morley

And: [And do it that way ALL SPRING LONG!] ~ NS

Today’s Weather:  Morning ragas and standing stones. Breathe!!!!!  

On This Date: 1948 – The first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.

Texts from Last Night: You kept challenging people to a cartwheel contest…when someone finally agreed, you cartwheeled into some chick’s face, then tried to propose to her as an apology. FYI, she said no.

 

Daily Tarot ~ St. Patrick’s Day

Eight of Cups

Chapel Perilous

Fortune Cookie: Refuse to be confined, repressed, dimmed by anything or anyone – especially yourself!

This card last popped up for the blog in mid-August. It’s one that has a lot of helpful direction to it.  It is, however, another one of those cards that sets clients awhimperin’ just from the visuals.  [Except for those who are superGoth.  They just ask for directions so they can find the place.  And whether there is an app for the thing. And where they can buy ‘shrooms.  And GOOD eyeliner.]

The card, you see, (at least in the deck I use) portrays a wayfaring knight who has ridden into a lonely chapel to protect himself and his steed from a furious storm. He notices that the altar is without any adornment, save for a large, brightly flaming   candle. As he waits, and drips, he sees a giant, clawed, monstrous hand reach in through the window high above the altar and make to extinguish the light.

What a swell and encouraging image.  Yes?

Anyway, some readers believe the Eight of Cups conveys either turning away from felicity and celebration, or the exact opposite [I guess it depends which side of bed the reader fell out of that morning].  Others believe this is a card that calls for the querent (questioner) to look for a deeper meaning in life; it betokens a time for soul searching. [Preferably without the distraction of a giant, clawed, monstrous hand, would be my guess.]

Anna-Marie Ferguson, creator of the Legend deck, finds this card to be about abandoning a path, a change of plans, and escaping an unhealthy situation, among other things.  I can work with those meanings, and if you feel that applies to your life in any way at the moment, please take the insight to heart.

Of course, I have my own particular take on the card.  When it turns up for a client,  once I have gotten them to calm back down from the impact of the visual, I usually say things like

~ Do not let anyone or anything – especially yourself − put a bushel basket over your light.

~ Do not allow anyone or anything – especially yourself or your perception of your self − hold you under its thumb.

If necessary:

Leave.

Move.

Go elsewhere. Hastily.

Try something else.

Reach out for other options.

Rework your priorities and take life from there.

SET YOURSELF FREE!!!

So:

Today, refuse to be confined, repressed, dimmed by anyone or anything – especially yourself!

Bright blessings and an open path to your true self!

Thought for the Day: If it’s the Psychic Network, why do they need a phone number? ~  Robin Williams

And why do you need to call them? ~ Neal

Today’s Waethyr: Milder. [{Milder than what?} What? {What?} What? {Where?} What? {Okey dokey!!}] Uhhh… Right!

On This Date: 1780 – American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence“.

A little blessing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bzCZdB3dT4

One with a little more kick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En1r2GLEhSU&feature=fvwrel

Slainte!

Daily Tarot is taking a couple days off.