Five Things to Love

I have been participating in an Instagram challenge hosted by @violetauraphoto for the month of February. Each day participants receive a prompt for which cards can be pulled in whatever manner suits each individual. For the fifth day of February the prompt was: “Five Things to Love About Me.”

Honestly my first reaction went something like: “Ugh. Do I actually have to list things that others would love about me? I can’t do that. That’s weird. It’s a little self-centered. Can Jorge do this one for me?” Ultimately I decided that I would just have my cards and runes help me to identify five areas of value in who and how I am as a person. I chose to use: the Goddess Knowledge Cards (Susan Seddon-Boulet), the Earthbound Oracle (Andy Swartz), the Ancestral Path Tarot (Julie Cuccia-Watts and Tracey Hoover), the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot (Sallie Ann Glassman and Louis Martinié) and my homemade rune set.

In the end this turned out to be an exercise in self-love and understanding more than anything else, and I would recommend that all card readers take a moment to do this for themselves:

1. Changing Woman. I embrace constant evolution of my being; I meet people wherever they're at, no matter their gender, background, culture, or walk of life. I see the youth in the elder and the wisdom in the child.

2. Home. (A turtle carries its home on its back. In this image its slow-moving shell provides a perfect nesting area for birds to fly in and out, without ever losing track of their place in the world.) No matter where we are, I am home for my family.

3. 8 of Swords. (The imagery stood out to me here – a woman wrapped in beautiful but impractical clothes, in shoes not meant for travel. She looks longingly out toward the rising sun, as if wishing she could choose some other path.) I challenge the status quo, and outdated socio-cultural mores that limit self-determination and self-discovery.

4. Hagal. (The 9th rune, the deep, sighing breath). I look for the grace in difficult and unexpected circumstances; I don't hide from the dark.

5. Ace of Air, Damballah. I seek clarity and justice, the seed of truth in all things, the wisdom of Damballah Wedo.

Thetis: Finding My Peace

I love the little confirmations that the cards give us from time to time – like when you ask about the cause of waking up in the middle night full of anxiety and you pull the 9 of Swords. Or you wonder about a dream you had, and the 7 of Cups is the anchor card.

This morning I pulled out my Goddess Knowledge cards and simply asked: 

“What can I do to help embrace peace today?”

I pulled: Thetis

Goddess Knowledge Cards/S. Seddon-Boulet

Thetis is a youthful, song-and-dance loving Greek sea goddess, also known as a shape-shifter who was able to transform into various elements and animals in order to avoid Peleus’ unwelcome advances. The card image reminds me strongly of Fancy Shawl dancers, whose lively, colorful movements imitate the joyful reemergence following transformation and healing. As I read about her, I was struck by this section of the description offered in the deck:

“As the personification of calm waters, Thetis is responsible for providing a peaceful sea. She is that center of peace and calm that is always available, even in the midst of changing forms.”

Fancy Shawl dancer/Fr. Lawrence Lew

I love that she is a sea goddess, because water is the ultimate wellspring of our emotions. And she is the goddess specifically of the peaceful waters which is the most perfect symbolism I could have asked for, considering my original question. She brings peace even in the midst of shifts and change. I believe that the key to embracing the experience of tranquility today is to allow myself to be light-hearted, to laugh, to remember not to take things so seriously. That is a special gift, and it also brings to mind the joyful river otters from yesterday morning’s draw. So I’ve decided to create a short haiku poem to celebrate Thetis’ welcome influence over my day:

Thetis of the sea

Song and dance are your release

In peace, waters calm.

Peace and joy to you all!

Rebirth with Arianrhod

I felt "off" last night. I mean, I am getting over a nasty cold so feeling a bit strange would be understandable. But this felt peculiar...like having one toe on the Other Side, the sense that the strong grip that I tend to have on my consciousness was slightly loosened. As I was pondering all of this, I suddenly thought: It must be the New Moon. I whipped out my phone and pulled up my moon phase app, and sure enough, it was the New Moon.

Now, the truth is that I have no idea if the New Moon impacts the "clairs." It's not accurate to say that I always feel more in touch with spirits on these nights. Or at least, I don't tend to notice it. But *something* was afoot last night. I'll simply embrace the mystery.

However having realized that it was indeed the New Moon I decided to pull cards for it, in the typical What to Release/What to Embrace layout. Instead of using Tarot, I chose cards from the Goddess Knowledge Cards deck by Susan Seddon Boulet:

What to Release: Kuan Yin

Kuan Yin, compassionate mother, full of loving radiance, sits enveloped in heavy fabrics. In the darkness her pale face shines like the moon, and a lotus flower blooms over her heart. She is calm, patient, and nurturing. When I see this card I am reminded somewhat of the 4 of Swords, or the Hermit. There is a sense of taking time away from the world to breath, to think, to consider. The lotus over the heart chakra speaks of "sitting with" one's true desires. Of coming to explore and acknowledge our ability to be compassionate both with others and with the Self. And perhaps most importantly of determining our boundaries both in relationships and in terms of the wider world that we interact with. Many of these things have been true for me of late - I've been doing a lot of thoughtful considering, to be sure. I've also been identifying areas of my life where I've become too comfortable, and what needs to be changed. So the next card I pulled was quite fitting:

What to Embrace: Arianrhod

Arianrhod as a goddess and deity has a complex history, but she's known as "the Goddess of the Silver Wheel" and is deeply connected to cycles of life, growth, change, and rebirth. It's interesting to note that on Kuan Yin's card there is a waning moon, while this card features a full moon. There is an affirming correlation there with the card positions. I like this image: the greens and blues, and the composition itself (the left side represents past thoughts, experiences, circumstances, wishes, fears, hopes, realities, whereas on the right side we see a face deep in contemplation - a woman filling herself with everything that has come before and preparing herself to move into a new phase of being). There are many layers of change and growth unfolding in my life. Some of it is uncomfortable, some is simply exciting, but all of it is essentially good. The Wheel pushes us forward on our earthly journeys. We gather experience, we struggle, we flourish, we love and we hurt, and we keep on moving. I like the vision of Arianrohod standing by my side, offering ancient and loving support as my Wheel carries me forth into newness.

Bast and the 8 of Cups

I normally keep pretty close track of the moon cycles, but the past month has been pretty busy between vacation, driving across the country, and getting back up to speed at work. Yesterday I kept feeling antsy each time I would walk past my bóveda (altar), antsy with the drive to give it a thorough cleaning. I normally do this kind of thing perhaps once a month, and usually on a Friday. But I finally couldn't take it any more, and decided to make it happen on a Wednesday night. I dusted, changed the cloths, rearranged things, lit some candles, burned some herbs. When all was said and done I leaned back on my bed and decided to have a look at my moon cycle app - lo and behold, it was the night of the New Moon! And then it all made sense: the New Moon is a time of releasing the old, and embracing the new - even in mundane ways. I was feeling the lunar nudge to clean my space up, and it was too keen a call to resist.

It was also time to pull a card for the week ahead, so I decided to combine my weekly draw with a New Moon draw. Again, I've used the Morgan Greer deck in combination with the Goddess Knowledge cards, and pulled:

8 of Cups - Bast

It's interesting that the 8 of Cups has come up....yet again! This is turning into one of my cards of the season, and is entirely appropriate considering all of the inner and outer fluctuations that have been occurring over the past several months. It's a welcome card, because it speaks of going on a soul journey, of a willingness to release the hold on "what is" in order to open up to "what could be."

Bast, also called Bastet, is an Egyptian goddess with quite a long history. While she originally was associated with the sun, later Greek influence aligned her energies to some degree with Artemis, so she also came to develop a connection with the moon. No matter what, she is the cat- or lion-faced goddess of strength and wisdom, of independence and fertility, of protection and joy. All of these qualities seem deeply appropriate for a soul journey. In fact I love how in the relationship between the cards, we see the red-hooded figure walking off toward the mountains, while Bast stands like a sentinel of the night, calling the walker forth, keeping watch over the unfolding voyage.

The card duo invites me to ponder the joy possible in being brave enough to follow my own path, to be uniquely "me," and to take the road less traveled.

Questions to consider:

What satisfies you? 
What do you, or could you, do to embrace authenticity in your life? 
How do you know when it's time to break a routine and explore something new?

Creativity and Wisdom

Today I am officially back from vacation. I had two weeks full of travel and spending time with family and old friends. My two littlest children are back with us at home, and our oldest will come back in a few weeks. All I really need today is a cup of good coffee and a quite place to relax....

Yesterday evening, about a mile past the Florida-Georgia line, and 3 hours from home, I drew two cards for the week ahead (being very careful that they wouldn't fly out the window).

The 3 of Pentacles fell from the deck (hey, I just pulled this card last week!). It's perfectly fitting as today I headed back to work! And in reality, the rest of July in terms of my job will be pretty packed, but as I've been on vacation for nearly two weeks, there are a lot of details I need to iron out in regard to my schedule and overall workload. I will be relying on others to help make things flow as smoothly as possible, so I expect a lot of discussions and arrangements to be organized over the next week. Fortunately I received some positive news this morning about a course I'm teaching which will lighten my responsibilities, and it wouldn't be possible without a little help from my friends. So that's all well and good.

Morgan Greer Tarot; Goddess Knowledge Cards

As a follow-up I decided to draw a card from my new Goddess Knowledge deck with art by Susan Seddon-Boulet. The backstory is that my mother bought me a shaman poster by this wonderful artist when I was 12 or 13 years old, and it hung on my door for ages, until the corners were entirely ripped to pieces from the thumb tacks holding it up. I always thought it was my spirit guide - I adored that image! While I was in the north last week, I was in a shop and saw this deck and immediately purchased it. It's not meant to be used for divination, per se - rather its main purpose is to display and teach about many different goddesses across a variety of world cultures. However I've found that it's wonderful for meditation and guidance, and have been using it quite a lot lately!

I drew: Athena.

Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war, and battles are won with clear thinking and good strategy. These are elements that will be important for me this week as I jump back into the work circus. I don't want to feel overwhelmed, and Athena's creative depths, her rational mind, her confidence and skill will help me to navigate my path ahead. One other aspect of this card speaks to me not so much from Athena herself, but from this rather unusual depiction of the goddess. Here she appears rather child-like, surrounded by delicate phases of the moon, and framed by a serpent. She looks to be clothed in autumn leaves. What strikes me most powerfully about this image is the connection to nature. One of the things that I was very aware of over the past couple of vacation weeks is just how much nature calms and nourishes me. So in another sense, I hear Athena telling me to draw on nature's healing and revitalizing energy any time that I might start to feel stressed - to sit outside, to go for a walk, to watch the stars in the night sky.

I like that there is a creative element to both of these cards. We often think of creativity in terms of forming something new and original, but sometimes it's not about being unique in the product we create, rather in the way we approach our work. Success through creative strategizing will be my motto for the week ahead!