The Lovers: What Do You Stand For?

(I am sharing this from my Instagram account because I feel it merits being cross-posted)

I have been deeply upset by the gassing of towns in Syria 🇸🇾 and the images of the toll this has taken particularly on the most innocent of creatures: the children. It's a devastation (yet another, piled on top of all that the Syrian people have had to endure) that moves far beyond any hope of expression.

This morning I wished forcefully that a divine hand would descend and wash from the earth all of the perpetrators of these horrible acts; and that the same hand would provide safe haven and healing to all of these disastrously affected, innocent people. But that's not going to happen. The divine hand, in the end, must be our own. We wait and wait for something to change, but it doesn't. And at times, when we thought it unlikely to worsen in scope and impact, it does just that.

Syria is not too far away, it is not full of unknown people, and the horrors happening there are not disconnected from any of us. These energetic ties that permeate the universe touch us all, and each act of violence is a breach in the web.

Pagan Otherworlds Tarot - Uusi

I asked the cards: What can we do? The Lovers was the response.

We can demonstrate our love for one another. We can be a beacon. We can support our fellow humans when they are in pain. We can decide what we truly believe in, and if we are willing to act on those beliefs. I keep hearing DMX in my head: "It's about gettin down for what you stand for."

What do you stand for? What can you do about it?

• Donate to humanitarian efforts like NuDay Syria, Islamic Relief, and many others who are working to aid victims of these most recent gas attacks, and refugee resettlement
• Talk about what's happening
• Stay on top of the news
• Pray
• Be willing to learn more about the conflict and its impact on civilians
• Urge (through calls and letters) your government representatives and senators to oppose any ban on acceptance of Syrian refugees

What do you care about? What do you believe in? How will you show it?

Every person can make an impact. 🔥

The Lovers: Be Impeccable With Your Word

Thanks to Victoria, from Eternal Athena, I have come to know the Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA (by Julia Turk), and have fallen totally in love with it, such that I acquired it in this past week! If I didn't know any better, I'd say that I didn't know it was possible to fall even more in love with a deck upon holding it, but hey, that's just what has happened. This deck is amazing, and if I hadn't already compiled my 3x3x3 Favorite Divination Tools post, this surely would have landed there! (Or maybe I would have just made it the 4x3x3 Divination Tools post) ;-).

I don't usually post regularly with the same deck - I like to switch things up according to my mood. However this deck is so detailed, so intriguing, I just might give it special focus for a while! So for today, I shuffled asking for a focus card for the day, and the Lovers flew out, calling for my attention. And here it is:

Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA
Julia Turk/U.S. Games Systems

Each card in the Navigators Tarot has a keyword. I'm not a huge fan of keywords, but I don't mind them so much here, and find that they give a very interesting take on various aspects of card meanings. Here we have the keyword "discrimination" which goes very well with the "choice" element of the Lovers card. In general this is a card of important relationships and of critical decisions - and sometimes of both, intertwined.

In the image on this card we see an orange male figure looking downward toward a pale female figure that looks upward, and their hands touch through the surface of the sea. He is connected to the sun, light, day. She is connected to the moon, dark, night. They represent balance, and the harmony possible when opposing forces meet.

One thing that stood out to me was the fact that the woman is perched in a crescent moon, in what looks like a pool of blood. This reminds me of the monthly menstrual cycle and its impact on my mood. Usually I'm very calm, peaceful, and relaxed, but in the few days surrounding the start of my "time" I can get pretty touchy and irritable. I don't always filter myself as I normally would, nor am I always as thoughtful as I should be. To one side swims a turtle, and to the other side a jellyfish that shows a theatrical sad/happy face. This suggests that when under the influence of hormonal fluctuations it's important to move more slowly so that I'm less likely to say something I don't mean. After all, despite the time of the month, we are always in control of what we choose to say - sometimes we just have to try a bit harder than others!

This is the aspect of this card that is most relevant to me today as I sit here typing. That familiar discomfort is blossoming in my pelvis, my skinned knee is really sore, and on top of that I'm particularly sleepy as my little son is dealing with an asthma flare-up (for the first time ever - scary stuff when the babies can't breathe well!). Last night, under the influence of all of these things, I was uncharacteristically grumpy and a bit coarse with my dear husband. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to kiss him and apologize to him. No matter what, like the golden circle binding the arms of the man and woman in this image, he's my counterbalance, my partner, my love, and regardless of what's going on within or around us, I honor that sacred bond.

Discrimination is about having the ability to tell what is of value, and what is not, in a given situation or matter. This goes for knowing what we want versus what we need, what has the ability to provide the greatest return versus what gives us only fleeting benefits. We can apply discrimination to outside decisions, and to our inner selves. Are you fair to yourself? Can you recognize your own inner impulses and how they manifest in the world? How do those impulses influence the decisions that you make? To be impeccable with your word (one of the Four Agreements by Don Miguel) means that you work to understand your desires and motivations, that you take time to identify the source of your emotions and that you use that knowledge to guide your actions and speech. This is about being as honest as possible with yourself and with others.

So when I'm grumpy and crampy and I'm on the verge of being snippy with someone I care about, the turtle reminds me to slow down, to be aware that my snippiness stems from what's going on within me physically and is unrelated to the other person, and allows me the brief moment necessary to respond more calmly, compassionately, and honestly. Thus, instead of creating disharmony, I allow room for open communication and the opportunity to be understood in return.

On that note, I'm off to brew up some raspberry leaf tea!!!

Lovers and 2 of Cups: Valentine's Day

I've been busy this past week, and so sleepy, that I haven't felt up to making time for a blog post, and I'm well overdue. Ironically, the day I feel I have some time to set aside for this is Valentine's Day, where so many people are running around town frenetically trying to find last-minute gifts for loved ones. I should know. On my way to work this morning I stopped off at the local superstore (my least favorite place in the world to go) in order to pick up some chocolate for the kids for when they get home from school. As I was perusing the long aisles of heart-shaped boxes, a man rushed by me, his hands full of pink baskets, flowers, cards, and candy. He said to me "I've been working all week from 9am-Midnight and haven't had time to go shopping, so once again I'm here at the last minute!" He told me he worked at a restaurant and they'd been booked solid the entire week for Valentine's dinners. I reassured him that the fact that he'd made time to work this in to his busy schedule should count for something.  He asked if I'd seen the over-sized stuffed bears, and I said no, and he rushed away into the vacuous space of the commercial wonderland.

People harp on Valentine's Day for being "too fabricated," or structured to empty people's pockets of hard-earned cash. I don't feel that way, but then I tend to take from each holiday what works for me, and leave the rest….also happen to adore boxed chocolate, so it works out okay for me! In fact to be honest I don't mind buying up my goodies on the day after, when everything is marked down. Score!

So, love. Yesterday I had the fortune to meet with a local reader-friend for a 3-hour session of playing with Tarot and Lenormand, and two cards that kept popping up in our readings were the 2 of Cups and the Lovers - so fitting for the occasion, don't you think? These are two cards that have shown up a lot in my personal readings over the past year, a combination of redirecting my path towards something I love, something that feeds my soul, and which as a result is bringing my being back into alignment. But I want to put aside these meanings about "choice," "alignment," etc., because today is Love Day and I want to talk about how these cards represent our most sacred feeling. For this purpose I'm using two images from the Anna K Tarot, which I do NOT own, but which my reader friend does and used for me yesterday. (Very fitting, too, as my blogging friend Ellen used this deck for a post yesterday, and every time she does so, it makes me think I should add it to my collection!).

I was stuck by these two cards yesterday, in this particular deck, because of how the artist seems to have connected them:

Anna K Tarot - Llewellyn Publishing

The 2 of Cups shows a young couple in what could be the throes of early love, or a developing and exciting romance. They are demurely engaged, giving the impression that they're really trying to find some privacy so they can feel free to express their feelings for each other away from prying eyes. The flowers are in bloom behind them, a sign of happiness and perhaps the expansion of love they may soon experience.  Some people consider the 2 of Cups a "soul mates" card, and I don't necessarily see it that way. As a 2, this card is about new love, flirtation, mutual attraction, which may or may not become something deep and long-lasting.

Anna K Tarot - Llewellyn Publishing

Then we have the Lovers, and this would indeed be a card I'd consider to be more indicative of a deep connection that moves past flirtation and fleeting passion and onto something more meaningful and significant. In this image we see what appears to be the same couple from the 2 of Cups, yet now they've aged quite a bit. They're no longer the young lovers trying to hide behind a curtain for privacy. They sit closely together holding hands, enjoying each other's company, content and secure in the loving friendship that has developed after many long years of being together, learning about and from each other, forging the slow and profound bond of loving coupledom. The flowers have expanded and filled out along with their relationship.

Now back to the definitions I wanted to avoid….. most relationships start with the 2 of Cups, and it takes the careful cultivation, flexibility, open mind, dedication, and above all the right pairing of two people to reach and then maintain the Lovers relationship. It ain't easy! Not all Lovers relationships work out, and their demise can be deeply painful. Those that do last require an even flow of those attributes, an alignment of core values, a sprinkling of grace…. and above all, a choice. A choice to stick it out, work through the problems, grow from the pain, and as a result come to care more deeply for each other than either partner might have imagined was possible.

So here is to love in all its messy glory - all love: 2 of Cups and Lovers, 10 of Cups and 6 of Cups, the Sun, Ace of Cups, and even the 3 of Cups of joyful friendships. Finally, a special shout out to the 3 of Swords, the bittersweet agony that is at times a consequence of having had the courage to be open to the blessing of giving and receiving love.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Visit First Earth Tarot's website!

The Good and the Bad

My weekly draw for the first week of December was the Tower reversed (Paulina Tarot/US Games). It wasn't the most encouraging card to see. And I really wanted to draw another one on the off-chance that I'd get something different and perhaps more....positive.  But I didn't. When I drew cards for Sunday's Taroscopes, which also cover the first week of December, my sun sign draw was the Lovers, and had a good feel about it. So, which is it??? Would I have a lovely, loving week or one where I'd experience a minor disaster??

Well I can report that both in fact have been major energies this week! 

Last Sunday Jorge and I finally made time for a daytime date, which was really nice; we haven't had one in probably almost two months, so it was definitely overdue!  In the evening we even drank tea and watched a series premier on TV together, with no distractions from kids or technology, which was blissful. We managed to repeat that last night - we stayed home but it still felt very date-like….Lovers card in full effect!

Monday morning Jorge left to take Lourdes to school, and suddenly the doorbell was ringing. I heard him ask Isa for the other car keys, and figured maybe Lourdes had wanted to ride in the other car for some reason, and Jorge was relenting.  When he got back he came in the house and notified me that our main car wouldn't start. It's not too old, so that was concerning.  We jumped the battery and it started but an electrical light was on and blinking and the car was making a strange noise. While Jorge was investigating, he leaned over and his brand new smart phone slipped out of his shirt pocket, hit the cement, and the screen shattered.  So when all was said and done, the car had a major battery issue which we were fortunately able to take care of for a price, and Jorge will be able to replace his phone...for a hefty sum. Needless to say he'll be making calls with a cracked screen for a while yet. So the Tower reversed made its appearance in the form of very unexpected mini-distasters. Nothing we couldn't handle, but something that definitely throws a wrench in the normal flow of the day and week.

So what is the benefit of all of this? One benefit, I think, is the understanding that the Tower rx and the Lovers can coexist, and despite the drama, I'm still giving baths to rowdy kiddos, still thinking about what to make for dinner, still taking evening strolls around the neighborhood (read: life goes on, and it ain't all bad).

While I enjoy using Tarot for guidance and advice, I do sometimes look into aspects of the future, and what happens when the future doesn't look very bright? I think the key is in understanding that you can handle it, and come out on top in the end.  Things will be alright.  No, it's not nice to see a bleak-looking outcome, but anticipation is far worse than reality. You actually can roll with the punches, and there's a good chance that not all aspects of your life will be painful.  Joy is never entirely absent, even when it seems harder to find at the time. If you focus on the good in your life, it really provides very healing energy that helps weather the challenges.

It also brings to mind the very important point that if you inquire about potential future courses of events, you must be willing to accept the news you receive. I was really depressed to see the Tower as my weekly draw.  If I had pulled that card for a client, I probably would have felt really bad about passing that message along, and some people hope desperately for wonderful news, and are down-trodden when a potentially "negative" card arises in their future. So if you want to see where the future is going, be prepared for anything, or else don't ask. (I myself struggle with that - do I really want to see what my month ahead holds in store??).

Don't forget there are many positives to all readings. What are the positives of my Tower week? Well, the car has a new battery, and it didn't cost nearly as much as it might have. Thankfully it was only the battery and not something more serious. What if the car died when we were on vacation, far from home? Thankfully it happened when we were right here and could easily take care of things.

And the truth is that despite those incidents I had a pretty good week with a lot of laughs, and plenty of positive energy flowing through it all.

Paulina Tarot/US Games

                                                

More Adventures with Yes and No

I still don't think that yes/no questions are a totally appropriate, or most effective, use for Tarot, but I've been experimenting with different ways of approaching these sorts of questions, trying to determine if there is a method that is dependable.

In my last yes/no post I mentioned that since I work with reversals, I'd decided that I'd take reversals as "no" and uprights as '"yes," and then consider the card's message for additional insights. In my first experiment I asked a question that I was expecting a "no" for, received a strong "yes" (Magician, plus some), and in the end the event did in fact occur. There were some questions about psychic influence potentially contributing to the outcome, so of course, more testing must be done.

Deviant Moon Tarot
Patrick Valenza - US Games 2008

Since then I've conducted two yes/no experiments.  For the first of the two, I asked a question about an issue based entirely on outside chance (think of things like the lottery, or winning a contest with thousands of entrants). I pulled the 5 of Cups upright. Now this card seems like a "no" and yet it was upright, so I wondered if it did somehow mean "yes." I decided to do a spread of three cards to give me some major energies surrounding the answer, and I pulled the 5 of Cups (again!), the Ace of Wands, and the Tower.  All upright. So by nature of being upright I'd say that it seemed promising. And yet there is no doubt that the 5 of Cups and the Tower seem like pretty strong negatives. The Ace looked nice, but it also felt like it may simply have been representing the opportunity that had presented itself - not necessarily that anything exciting would come from it. So I decided to stick with my upright=yes method, and…… yeah, it manifested in real life as a "no." So then I thought, okay, perhaps the cards do mean more than the upright/reversed presentation.

I tried again. I asked a different question, also based on outside chance, and I pulled the Lovers reversed. Hm.  The Lovers would be a strong positive, but reversed I decided to take it as a "no." Underneath I found a reversed 9 of Wands, and an upright Ace of Pentacles. So my entire take was that I would not see results in the time I had inquired about, but perhaps later in the month something would change for the positive.  Well, two days later the situation manifested in the positive!  So this left me thinking that, again, the card itself is more important than its position.

Tarot Elements has a list of cards that she considers "yes," "no," and "maybe." In my own experience thus far, my cards have matched up appropriately with the list, based on the ultimate outcome. So I will keep testing things out, and will now be ignoring reversals, and going with card meaning instead. Let the journey continue! :-)

Uniting Poles: Dragon, Cat and Sow

This year has been one of many changes, some of which I mentioned in my Samhain spread blog post. I sense the transition happening subtly (although sometimes it is very apparent, and gives me little surprises), under the surface, like an underground river flowing. In recent readings, the Lovers, Chariot and 2 of Cups have come up quite a bit for me.  What these cards all have in common is a sense of union between two aspects, or elements.  The Lovers and 2 of Cups relate to harmonizing those contrasting elements, while the Chariot is about harnessing that energy and bringing it forth into the world to achieve goals, and make things happen.  I've been sitting with those cards, pondering what those meanings might signify for me, and the truth is that that meaning has felt somewhat veiled, a little hazy and hard to put my finger on.

Last night I decided to forgo the Tarot and pull out my Druid Animal Oracle deck which I haven't worked with in a while.  I felt the desire to access the energy and wisdom of animals.  So I shuffled and cut, and laid out three cards: Air Dragon, Cat, and Sow.

Druid Animal Oracle
P. and S. Carr-Gomm/Will Worthington
Touchstone 1995

When I saw the Air Dragon I thought that was interesting, because I've never pulled that before, and lately I've been getting a lot of Swords (particularly the King and Queen) which are air cards.  While the Tarot swords are about intellect and decision-making, the Air Dragon is about spiritual journeying and spirit communication and, very interestingly, visitation.  It's interesting because this Dragon is also about flashes of insight, those lightening bolts that change the way you understand the world and the possibilities before you.  This reminds me of the Blasted Oak (from Wildwood Tarot) which has also been a significant card for me lately, because it also incorporates the idea of the sudden flash of insight that sparks significant change.  And the Blasted Oak/Tower has been meaningful for me in terms of my spiritual journey, so there were some synchronicities there.  

The Sow is a nurturing card.  The Sow is about connecting to the abundance of nature, the physical aspects of our nature as living beings.  The image shows a sow herding her group of piglets (is that what baby wild pigs are called??). The ground is strewn with morsels of food, and the background is lush with ripe wheat and vegetation.  As it relates to sensuality and fertility as well, this is like the Empress card in animal form. Very earthy and loving.

Finally, the center card was Cat.  Cat is considered to be an animal that connects to the spirit realm, and can see and communicate with both sides of the veil that separates the worlds. So it has one foot in this world, and one in the other. Another interesting element of the cat is its observation skills - it will sit and listen and watch quietly, only making its move when it's sure everything has come together in the right way. This also reminds me of the Wildwood Tarot Page of Stones (Lynx, which is also a wild cat). All of these meanings hold significance for me, and in fact the Page of Stones/Pentacles has also come up a lot lately in my personal readings.  I do feel I'm exploring a new wave of life, taking time to observe and learn about the best way to move forward in the material world with spiritual matters.

So after spending some time pondering this series of cards, I suddenly realized that it makes perfect sense! On the left the Air Dragon represents new insights and spiritual journeys, while on the right side the Sow represents our physical connection to nature and sensuality. The Cat is the bridge, the unifier, of both of these opposites.  And when I realized that, suddenly the Lovers and 2 of Cups and even the Chariot, made sense.  

When I was young I was very involved in spirituality and had a lot of meaningful experiences that have impacted me indelibly.  But as a child, spiritual experiences are ungrounded - in many ways you can't really live your spirituality in a balanced way until you learn how to live in the world.  And that's precisely what I did.  I had my first child, finished my college degree, got married, spent many years involved in developing a career, had two more kids (and few things are more grounding than having and raising babies!), completed my graduate degree. I distanced myself from more intentional spiritual practices, and really immersed myself in Life.  Six or seven years later (ending with this current year) I experienced a series of events that have led me back to spiritual practice and a renewal of my path, which has been wonderful and very much like "coming home." So I've gone through two major phases of life - one very airy/watery, and one very earthy - and now this year I'm learning how to integrate them so that both are equally important and balanced parts of my life, and who I am.  And that newly established and building inner-balance is impacting how I move forward in the world, and where my path is leading me.  

Those Perfect Little Readings

My oldest child is starting high school next fall, and in our county the school system is organized "magnet-style," allowing any student in the county to attend any school that has a program or focus that they're interested in.  Each school has their own emphasis, whether it's engineering, computer science, health care, or even culinary arts.  So she has been going back and forth between two options that she's attracted to, and keeps coming home with more and more paperwork and handouts and literature about each school.  Last night I told her we could do a little spread to see if the cards encourage one over the other.  I first decided that one school would be represented by Air, and the other by Fire (I used the Vision Quest Tarot by Gayan Silvie Winter and Joe Dose - U.S. Games).  I thought I'd just see if there was a majority of one or the other in a three-card draw.  This is what I pulled:

If you can't see well, that's the 4 of Fire (Completion), the Lovers, and the 2 of Air (Inner Peace).  Sigh.  One school sits on either side of the big decision.  4 + 2 = 6 = the Lovers.  It's like a perfect circle, a rounded out message saying "the choice is yours!"  When these perfect little readings manifest, sometimes I just want to laugh at the magic of it all.