Today’s Tarot: Restraint Outside of the Box

 

Eight of Swords: Restraint Outside of the Box

On my side of the table…today was a good insight into why we Tarot readers (pro and not) tend to collect decks like magpies collect shiny stones. There are subtle differences in messaging that can come through the different styles and artwork. Through quirks of language and the inner workings of intuition, it is very easy to anthropomorphize these things, and give them personalities and moods. Sure, I know. It’s all just projection, but thinking in those terms is sort of freeing. By parking that inspiration aspect of the cards externally, it clears bandwidth for the ‘psychic’ part of this. By letting the cards function as a muse, we can turn our attention inward, to the purely intuitive aspects of a reading.

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about inspiration and the Muses. I find it helpful to think of the cards as the muse in a reading. Blame the whatever-it-is on the cards as muse / source of the inspiration, then you and I can both focus on solutions and creative, outside the box thinking without judgement, without any sort of performance anxiety on either side of the table. If you do any sort of creative work or have any creative hobbies, it is well worth a watch:

 

That in itself is a bit of today’s 8 of swords message. Creative problem solving and outside the box thinking are the usual messages with this card. But today wanted to be outside of outside of the box.

Which gets back to that projected personality and mood thing. Sometimes, when we work with one deck extensively, it can get stale and sort of wrung-out feeling. It seems crazy to describe an ebb in creativity or intuitive inspiration as “the deck is tired” or “it doesn’t want to talk about this” but that sort of expression captures the subjective experience of it. The Witches Tarot that I usually use just wasn’t having it today. Sure it was projection. The feeling was pure “don’t talk to me, I haven’t had coffee yet” first thing in the morning vibe. On the other hand, the Heart of Stars box was close at hand and all “pffft…easy. I got this”

So here you see it…Eight of Swords from Thom Pham’s excellent Heart of Stars Tarot. I’m always grateful for his permission to use the deck here in the blog and on the YouTube channel.

This card is inspired by Love, and Other Drugs. I’ve never seen the movie, and probably never will (in spite of it being filmed in Pittsburgh.) From what I’ve heard, it has a fatal flaw as a movie: an utter lack of spaceships, marvel superheroes or action scenes.

The Heart of Stars deck not only has today’s guidance idea well in hand, it turns it on its head from the usual. Usually card advises to stand in power despite outside restraints, to find a creative, out of the box way forward BUT exercise care in doing so. Even more traditionally it is about restraint or constraints in general. Today, rather than overcoming external restraints, it is about imposing internal ones.

To paraphrase an old proverb…even an idiot can seem intelligent if they keep their mouth shut and their hot takes off of Twitter.

I gotta work on that one….

In any case, the advice here is to hold up. Stop yourself for half a tick. This isn’t the day / energy for instant gratification. Know for sure before you talk. Have your facts straight before you act. Measure twice and cut once. If you have to ask you can’t afford it, and for the love of all that’s holy wash your hands and wear a mask in public.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 7/5 to 7/11 : Jumble of Change

Pick a card, any card.

It helps to stop long enough to take a deep breath. You don’t have to stop thinking about everything or anything fancy. Just stop everything for half a tick and look at the three stacks of cards. Choose the one you think is right for you. If you want to stop and think about it for a bit, that’s ok. Pause the video, make your choice, then restart to see the reveal. Once you have your card, scroll down to see your reading for this week. As always, it isn’t a prediction, just a little guidance, a heads up about which way energies are flowing for you right now. Think of it like a gps traffic report for the small section of your commute. It won’t tell you exactly what cars are beside you in traffic, it won’t tell you exactly what you might see by the road on the way, but it can give you a good idea how to navigate through it all, and which way to turn next. That’s the basic intention behind all of my readings – how to navigate the next little bit of life’s path to help you steer toward where you would like to go and hopefully find some cool stuff along the way.

Taking a breath and focusing on which card feels right helps you find the message that best fits what you need for this week. From my side of the table, I look at all three cards together to get a sense of the big picture, everyone-together, regional or national energies. That helps me do a better job with these blog post kind of general audience readigs. It’s interesting to watch how the cards relate to each other over time. Which is an even bigger, longer term look, kind of like looking at trend lines on a data chart. Over the first half of 2020 there have been several waves of energy. At the beginning of January there was a scattershot sense of warning that was wreaking havok with people’s sensitivities, even clients who had not thought of themselves as empathic before. That mental image of a U.S. map with a bunch of little tornados all over it still comes to mind at times. Then came the outright anxiety of the pandemic, the lockdown for those who had it, and the strong message to focus on the physical and not worry about big decisions or spiritual things. June was a bit of a respite. Even conservative re-opening like those seen in New York City seemed to ease a lot of tension. The weekly interactive Tarot seems cohesive during those waves. The three cards tied together those heads-up, know your boundaries, take care of yourself kinds of general messages.

This week is more disconnected and a jumple of messages between the three cards. Then general energy that seems to come through here is transition, a fluid, almost slow motion change in direction. The mental image here is a running puppy on a tile floor that skids around a corner more than turning… or drift racing cars…or that part of The Breakfast Club where they are running in the hallways. It’s a skidding, maybe not well controlled turn, but a turn just the same. Agressive mitigation may come back, but we know what to expect and what to do. Now is the time we can turn more inward since the outward is more known. It is like we are driving full Mad Max toward a spiritual cliff. We are in for enlightenment and spiritual deepening or we are in for a emotional crush. “A splintering of the heard” comes to mind here. That choice, that change of direction is individual. Some make the turn, live, love and triumph. Others are in for either a rude awakening or for a beeline back to a comfortable regression (think going back into a cave) I know that is harsh. I know that partisan tribal thinking will define who each person thinks is turning and who is crashing. Just be aware that a turn is coming up. Watch out for a jumble of changes. Take care to adjust your inner world as needed and try not to slide over any cliffs.

Left: Ten of Swords. It’s a dire looking card, but a fitting one. It’s been a rough week out there for some folks. Or a rough month, year, or who-knows-how-long. Getting stabbed in the back by life can really get you down. Sure, one thread of this card is all rosey glasses pep talk. You know, “when you fall down seven times get up eight” or “when life hands you lemons make lemonade” type stuff. Truth is, sometimes things just suck with no end in sight. The funny thing is the solution is charging right down the middle. If things are bad, admit it, face it, deal with it. The answer doesn’t necessarily lie with either extreme. Denial, pretending rainbows and unicorns doesn’t help. Being paralysed by hopelessness doesn’t help either. Dropping an f-bomb or two can’t hurt. Ultimately, it may come down to staying down for a little bit. Admit the suckitude of it all, asses the situation realistically (yeah, dude, you really do have a bunch of swords sticking out of your back) THEN do what you need to do to get up and fight again. Most of all, don’t be afraid to ask for someone to lend a hand. It’s hard to pull the blades out of your own back. Once you are healed, you can return the favor next battle.

Center: Two of Coins. This card is about balance in motion. Constant, eternal, adapting balance. Compare those seeminly impossible stacks of “Zen” rocks to riding a unicyle. Both need balance. Rocks on one hand are steady, stable things, inorganic, some might even say dead from an ordinary point of view. Life is trickier. Life is always in motion. Even if you feel stuck, you are travelling through time. If you are bored out of your skull with staying home, look at the big picture. What is a few months balanced against the whole of a year? What is a few moments of extra effort to put on a mask balanced against a human life? Small balancing gestures are butterfly wing-flaps that can build into a hurricane. Look for the small easy things to do now that can have a bigger balancing impact later.

Right: Emperor. You got this. The Emperor card symbolizes profound competance. The Emperor is the protector, the leader, a father figure in a very archetypal sense. But not in any sort of violent or domineering sense…this is a card of true strength. Real power is over ones self. For this week, build your skill set, focus on practice, training, repeating more than breaking new ground. Emperors are not alway imperial. Get really good at what you already do before expanding for a little while.

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The Times in a Tarot Card

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I don’t claim to have prescient vision, but I have been reading a lot of Dune lately (the whole enchilada, actually, including the Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson prequels, in chronological order) This card draw reminds me a little of that scene in the original Dune novel where Paul first sees the future in the desert after the large intake of spice, and describes it at waves. Some parts clear, some parts hidden, like the peaks and valleys of the sand dunes. 

The big, cultural, gestalt, zeitgeist energy in 2020 has been like that too. It is so strong, that I see that general energy (what I look to see when I write these general audience blog posts) echoed in individual energies more than ever before. 

I associate the Justice card with the second wave of the 2020 zeitgeist. I’m really starting to like that word zeitgeist. It has a nice ring for this ghastly year in American public life. Happy 4th of July btw. Although in my mind, this year it feels more like the U-day episode of Firefly, but that is another unrelated story. 

First, it was the unease, worry, physical realm focus and hatch-battening energy of stay at home orders and the early days of the pandemic. The Justice card turned up before and again now in the context of the second wave, the black lives matter, George Floyd, anti-racism, anti-brutality protests. The justice card is just as obvious and face-value as it seems in this context. It is the right energy time for speech and action for justice, as if there was a a collective intuition that outdoor, spread-out, majority mask wearing protests were relatively safe, especially when compared to crowded, unmasked indoor political rallies.

Justice is giving both a validation and advice message. There is that sense of validation that the energies are right, this is the time for these protests. The advice is don’t stop. I can attest that the so-called maga movement has been simmering for 50 years under various names – tea party, silent majority, moral majority and a disturbingly large number of others. They won’t give up…they haven’t stopped, ever. The injustice, racism and hatreds were always there, the only thing that has changed is how well camouflaged or how open and overt those sentiments have been. They haven’t stopped so neither can we. Whether it is actively marching or simply taking a moment to spare a compassionate thought for your fellow man, don’t give up and never stop. Injustice never sleeps, so justice can not slumber. People of compassion and decency can’t slow up or give up. The racists and facists won’t. Over two hundred years of American history has proven that.

Reason with heart, impassioned wisdom, and fierce compassion must lead the way.

 

Today’s Tarot: Gestalt and Context

Today’s card picks up and continues the theme from this week’s YouChoose Interactive Tarot, finding the unity behind the duality. The advice here again is to look for the big picture. Look to the background context to understand whatever your top of mind concern might be. The old adage “don’t lose the forest in the trees” is another way to say it. You know how photos of something to buy online often has a person’s hand or a coin or a pen or other common object to give you an idea of the actual size of the object being sold. That is the kind of relative perspective the Tower card will sometimes point out to us. The World calls for a bigger big picture. Look at the thing, the other thing shown, the relative size AND the background AND the lighting in the photo. See the difference?

Another example is one of those crazy hard jigsaw puzzels that have a lot o little pieces but big areas of the same color. If there is just one piece missing, it is easy to focus on the hole and make the piece fit. But early on, you have to look at the big picture….the shape of the puzzle, the piece relative to all of the others plus the picture on the box.

Sometimes there isn’t any one big AH-HA moment. Sometimes you have to piece together the big picture from all of the clues around you.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: The Unity Behind the Duality

Clear your mind just for a moment. No one is asking you to stop thinking about things, or worrying about whatever – you can get back to that in a minute. But for now, just for a few seconds, set all of that aside. Take a deep breath, watch the first few seconds of the video and pick a card, left, center or right. Pause the video if you need more time, then restart to see the reveal. No need to over-think it. Just pick whatever card seems like the right one for you after that deep breath. Here we go.

Left: Six of Wands. A wreath is one of the most common symbols on this card, at least in RWS based decks. That circle shape reminds me of oneness, wholeness, a certain universality to everything. The six of wands is a harbinger of a peaceful time following some sort of conflict or challenge. Peace and war are, by definition, mutually exclusive. The reasons behind them are not necessarily so. What is the reason? Why? Why do you seek peace? Why do you act against your enemy? Love can, in some circumstances be the impetus for both. This reminds me of a favorite quote, attributed to G.K. Chesterson “A true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” When hate is in front of you, a warriors stance is an act of love. Remember that the next time you see protesters chanting ‘no justice, no peace’ It isn’t a threat. It is prerequisite. Wands have to do with the inner world. The six of wands and the world today leave us with much to ponder.

Center: Two of Cups. All of the cards this week hint at looking for unity. This is the obvious one. This is THE card for everyone on the lookout for that special someone, symbolizing unity of purpose, a long term stable relationship. If you are in one…rejoice. Appreciate them, thank them. Now is a good time to pamper and treat them. The cozy intimate feeling that will come with the kindness will be nice for both of you. Love is love. Celebrate it anytime. No need to wait for anniversaries or February ‘hallmark holidays.

If you are still looking and hoping, think of biggest of big pictures. Look at the growing moon. You and your special someone are under this same big sky. When you connect to the universe, you connect with your soulmate, too, because they are an intimate and inseparable part of the greater whole just as you are.

Right: Two of Swords. Like the Six of Wands, the Two of Swords has a fairly consistent interpretation across various decks. In this case the interpretation by Diane Morgan, author of one of my all time favorite Tarot books “Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao” jumps to mind because it is both atypical and in keeping with the thread of unity that touches the other cards. In fact, she describes it as “mystical unity.” Most resources view the card as symbolizing indecision, or choosing between equal “six of one, half dozen of the other” options. Ellen Dugan puts it as choosing between heart and mind, emotions and logic. “Convergence” comes to mind here. If you find the overlap, or if you find the common background and greater unity behind the apparent duality, the need for deciding goes away. If you feel stuck between two equal choices, look for “both” or “all of the above” options. Failing that, why are you holding on to either one? Maybe the answer is ‘neither one.’

Finding the underpinning is important for everyone this week it seems. Looking to the bigger unifying view celebrates our human bonds, clarifies our choices, and asks us which way we face when we take a warriors stance.

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Today’s Tarot: Now Is The Time

Writing a blog and doing a general audience Tarot reading is both challenging and interesting. I’m sure the process is different for everyone who takes on Tarot blogging and YouTubing. For me, it starts with a general intent that the card (or whatever topic) post is helpful to somebody, somewhere, sometime. Once a post is chucked out there into cyberspace to drift forever “today” or “the week of” can become any day or any week. You have to start someplace. Even though I do the reading looking at a particular day or week, there is a background energy that knows the ideas in the post can cross paths with anyone browsing around at any time. The algorithms work in mysterious ways. The best way I’ve found to work with that baseline, background energy is to let it be, and trust that people and ideas, internet readers and internet readings when the time is right. Trusting that the message will get where it needs to go whenever it needs to be there is at the core all genuine readings, regardless of format. Readings are a leap of faith in both your intuition and the message it relays.

2020 has been a challenging energy environment to say the least. It has required a whole new level of awareness when it comes to background energies, boundary lines and the general shape of things. This year has forced a greater awareness of that boundary line between internal emotions and external energies. It has forced a time and place awareness that has never really been needed before. It’s fascinating to be aware of where an energy is coming from and where it is directed, all against the backdrop of trusting the message to get where it needs to be in all of cyberspace and forward looking time.

For this card and this moment, here, now, with you reading this, the message is exactly that…”now is the time.”

That is the global anyone anytime message. If something has been on your mind, this is the “ready, steady” with “go” on the near horizon. This is the time to take your place on the starting line and take your stance. The race begins momentarily.

Layer one is the most vague general intent. The next layer is the sense of final preparation and a sense of urgency to watch and listen for an emminant signal to begin. Why not the Fool card you ask? This has an air of seriousness that the Fool card does not. Also this us an embedded beginning. This feels like a beginning of a new phase within a larger process.

As a final overlay, there is a regional variant. There is a sense of the card coming through that is specific to the pandemic, specific to the United States. That energy can be described as “hearts are laid bare”.

It reminds me of a scene from the book and movie Dune. “Our test is crisis and observation.” The past three months have been, to one extent or another, crisis. Now observe. Hearts are laid bare. We have shown who we truely are. All of us. Including you. Some are affible and adaptable, making jokes about pets and pajamas and zoom meetings. Others are heroic, doing both the extraordinary and the commonplace to keep the rest of us safe and alive.

Still others are angry, bile-spewing, self involved, arrogant and callous.

Now is the time for all to see. There is no pretending. There is no hiding. There is no middle ground.

People wear their heart … or abject lack of it … literally on their face.

The past months of the pandemic were not a time for big decisions, not a time for spiritual deep dives. We needed to take care of the basics first. Energies have shifted. Something has changed.

Now is the time. Now is the time for introspection and spiritual deep diving. Now is the time for the path-defining choices. Now is when we must stare ourselves straight in our soul and decide who we are and who we are going to be from this time on.

Summer 2020 Half Minute of Zen

One of my favorite summer spots, in spite of the road construction noise near by.

If nothing else, just for these few seconds, be ok with who you are and where you are. Just for 30 short seconds, allow yourself to know everything is just as it needs to be in this time and place on your path. For these 30 seconds allow yourself to know that you are complete, you are all that is needed and exactly as you are needed to be in this moment.

Today’s Tarot: Own it

Your inner world is yours. You are the king of the world inside your own heart and mind. You can’t have absolute conrol over outside circumstances and certainly not over other people. But, no matter how traumatizing your past may gave been you can make new choices and do things differently this time around. You choose the lens through which you view the world now.

The energies have shifted. Many of us expected, or wanted, the early months of stay home orders and quarantine to be a time of introspection and spiritual growth. We wanted to make peaceful lemonade out of tge big pandemic lemon. The energy wasn’t in any way right gor that, however. Remember the avalanch of pentacle cards that kept pulling our attention to the physical realm and the urgent, practical (and dare I say scientific) issues at hand. It was a time for engaging life a real way, even when real meant wearing your pajamas for days at a time and staring into the refridgerator every 10 minutes. It was time for dealing with the actual circumstances , not esoterica.

Now, I’ve been seeing an avalanch of wands cards. Now we know the practicalities. We know what to do: wear a mask all the time every time you go out, keep your body a hockey stick distance away from every other human body, stay home as much as you can and wash your dang hands.

Now the energy has shifted to that spirituality we expected earlier. Now is time to look inside. Look inside, and whatever you find there, claim it. You don’t have to like it. You don’t have to judge you honest feelings as good or bad. They are what they are. If you learn what your inner landscape is like and then lay claim to it, then you can change whatever you don’t like – or turn up the volume on the things you like. In that way you can assume the throne of your inner world.

In this inner, spiritual way it is good to be the king. Own it.

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YouChoose Interactive Tarot June 22 – 27

Take a moment and pick a card. Out of a whole week, shouldn’t you do that much for yourself? Deep breath. Don’t over think it. These readings look at the general energies that touch us all, so there is no wrong answer, no wrong choice. The message you need will get to you one way or another if you just allow yourself to listen for it. If you want a minute to think, pause the video, then restart for the reveal, but following your impulse instinct to the card that most calls to you, the card that draws you in is usually the best thing to do.

Left: Empress. The energy around this card is simple and straightforward. Get the heck outside. Wear a mask, keep your body two arm lengths away from any other body, and go experience for yourself that the world hasn’t entirely ended yet. If the weather is bad, at least let yourself look at some cute animal pictures on the internet.

Center: King of Pentacles. Things are starting to turn a little bit of a corner IF you do it smart. Mind your budget, use some real, logical, pragmatic planning. It isn’t all sunshine and roses work or finance-wise but the pressure may just give you a little wiggle room to make repairs and get ready for the second side of the storm. Don’t delay. Take advantage of opportunities as they come. Make no assumptions.

Right: Six of Cups. Don’t think things to death this week. Expectations are the enemy of intuitions. Life has its cycles. Tides ebb and flow. Seasons change. We just had the solstice, where the sun seems to pause, and nature holds her breath for a moment before the progression begins again. If you chose this card it is both permission and advice to pause. See things as they are without judgement or preconception. This is a moment of silence for you collect your thoughts and enjoy the moment with all the wide eyed innocence of a child at play.

Thank you for reading. If you haven’t already, please consider following the blog so you get all new posts in your email inbox (sign up in the right hand column on laptop, scroll WAAYYYY down to the bottom of the page on mobile. Have a great week!