Tag: mindfulness

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: The Moment (that got away)

Whelp, that was unexpected.

Sorry for the delay. We were out of some staple basics, and silly me thought I could mask up, go grab a few things from the grocery store, heave something in the oven for supper and type this baby right up.

I forgot: It’s a Saturday, right before Christmas. So here I go right into one of our worst traffic areas in the worst traffic time of the year. One thing led to another including putting some cucumbers into start a dill pickle ferment and feeding George the Second, my latest sourdough starter, and here we are. *sips hot cuppa and sits it down* Now, *rubs hands together* where were we?

Left: Four of Swords. I love the Witches Tarot. It’s probably my favorite deck. The Four of Swords is the one and only card where the artwork is dissonant with the message. Energetically, I get the typical rest, respite, repose message that is more evident in other decks if they are based on the RWS originals. Take this public domain image of Pamela Smith’s artwork on a a circa 1910 deck for example.

See the difference? Sometimes a feeling of readiness or fierceness akin to the Mark Evans artwork will come through. My feeling today is more with the Smith artwork and the respite interpretations.

If you selected this card, this is a week to be in the moment with your thoughts and plans. Don’t exhaust yourself with worry or regret. It is the intellectual, emotional, stress management equivalent of a quick catnap. Your not being asked to shirk responsibility, be in denial, or put off urgent action. The energy this week, or at least today is taking a breath compared to how it has been during 2020 to date. Allow your mind and emotions to rest in the present moment, and set aside worry and regret just for a little while. The present moment is very restful to the part of our mind that worries.

Center: Ace of Pentacles. This is a very sunny, upbeat positive feeling card. I associate it more with inspiration and solutions that physical benefit or money luck, although if your inspiration helps your work, then it could daisy chain or chain-of-events into money luck. The mental image that came with the card was a baseball catcher behind the plate with their glove up and ready. The word hurtling seemed important and strong, as in something good is hurtling toward you so be ready to catch it. Be in the moment, ready to embrace it when a good thing comes. It may be unexpected, but it feels more like it is coming in fast. As I typed “embrace” the mental image was of a baseball glove with a fast pitch hitting hard and the glove snapping shut around it.

If you selected this card, be in the moment but be alert so you can grab stuff when it comes your way on short notice. Be alert, be quick.

Right: Three of Coins. This is very physical realm, very work and task related. I get a little bit of “stick to your knitting” plus a little bit of Luke Skywalker and the Death Star “stay on target”. I am also reminded of a lyric from an old Kate Bush song “press execute” If memory serves, at the time (maybe it is still this way) British computer keyboards used “execute” instead of “enter” I could be wrong. But “execute” is the feeling here. Maybe the Nike slogan. But DO-ing is front and center. “Task at hand” comes through as well. Planning is great. Revisiting and revising are helpful. This week is all about productivity in this moment.

If you selected this card, energies are wind at your back. This week is all about getting stuff done. It is a good week to go beast mode on your to-do list.

Today’s Tarot: Unplug the Adulting

Childlike mindfulness wrapped in the present moment.

The best way I can think to describe this card is child-like mindfulness. There is an emphasis on both clarity and acceptance. See things as they really are, accept them for what they really are, then find the good parts and let yourself sit and be with that situation. That resonates with the magnifying glass and flowers image the video mentions…find the good in the reality of the situation. Or at least find some aspect of the hear and now that you can abide by. Then abide WITH it. BE with the situation, absorbed and fascinated and disconnected from larger worries. Drawing, coloring, crafting any easy, distracting, amusing activity can be good opportunities to unplug from the adulting and be with something innocuous and neutral, neither joyous nor distressing…just wrapped in the moment.

Today’s Tarot: Stick to your knitting (metaphorically speaking – or not)

The Eight of Pentacles is about due diligence, effort, work, study, etc. Todays energy is very aligned with that. Even though the eight is silent on outcome in contrast to the ‘reap what you sow’ vibe that we have seen recently in the Seven of Petacles. Today’s card is short term planning, not long term planting.

Today is a day to put your head down, and stick to your knitting. WHAT that knitting IS can vary a great deal from person to person. Maybe your “knitting” today is protest and vocal activism. Maybe your “knitting” is disaster recovery. Maybe your knitting is rocking a baby to sleep for a nap. Maybe your knitting is just getting through your workday. Maybe your knitting is actual knitting.

Whatever your task may be, today’s energy is a reminder to let our mind rest where our physicality lies. It is exhausting to emotional or enthusiastic or passionate all of the time, even when things are good. More so when they are not. There is a certain deep, spiritual rest in doing simple tasks that don’t need a lot of thought and ask nothing of our emotions. Actual knitting is very meditative in that way. It is very much in the Zen frame of mind. In the words of Alan Watts “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is to simply peel the potatoes.” Or, in the words of the proverb “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”

In still other words: Today is a day for mindfulness and the simple comfort of simple routing tasks. Underneath the tedium and sometimes boredom is a resevoir of quiet mindfulness and comfort when you are of a mind to feel it that way.

More Kitten Whiskers

Time for some Friday fangirling over a few favorites.

  • Get yourself an uncontrollable jaunt – you’ll be glad you did. Actually, get yourself to yourself to Spotify, iTunes, google play or Stitcher and follow Ninth World Journal written, directed, and produced by David S. Dear who also voices Januae. Based on the role playing game Numenera and set in the far future, Januae invents a teleporter which, for reasons, causes him to randomly & spontaneously teleport or “jaunt” and sci fi adventures ensue. I won’t spoil it, but if you like sci fi or fantasy an eentsy bit, please give it a listen. I’m more of a reader than a listener, but I’m transfixed. If an audio drama holds my gnat sized attention that is saying something. I am eternally honored to have been invited by David to be a co-host on his previous podcast Menage A Tarot, which was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done (it’s still available on TuneIn if you want to give it a listen) I can tell you first hand that David is one of the wisest, kindest people you’d ever want to meet plus has an enchanting fm radio voice that you could listen to for hours. That, plus the perfect length of the Ninth World Journal episodes and David’s sense of humor make it one of the most binge-able podcasts around. Please support Ninth World Journal on Patreon and ko-fi.
  • Speaking of wisdom and podcasts! If non-fiction is more to your taste, the please visit CoachJoseJohnson.com, home of you guessed it….Coach Jose Johnson, mindfulness coach, martial arts master and musician (Side Streets of Dreams is one of my all time favorite songs) I’ve had the privilege of taking clinics taught by him, and chatting with him as friend and colleague in the mindfulness & spirituality field. I know and respect his work. My husband studied with both he and Justin so of course if you have any interest in martial arts whatsoever, please give The Kung Fu Equation podcast a listen. Lately he has been posting I Ching (the “Book of Changes”) inspired thoughts on instagram. While I don’t use I Ching in my professional work, I’ve used it personally almost as long as I’ve worked with Tarot…since the 90s. He is absolutely spot on. Take it from someone with “Tao” in their website name…listen to him about the I Ching and mindfulness. His book Mindfulness Secrets is available now.
  • From audio art, to nonfiction and music … now back to art. Ry Summers is one of the most multi-talented artists I’ve ever cyber-met. I first met him on the poetry site “We Drink Because We Are Poets.” His writing is gritty, raw, real, powerful and alive. For his poetry, I recommend an older work of his written under the pen name Sahm Atain King, Laria Onyx. At the same time, he is a brilliant artist and photographer. Check out his work (including my favorite of his paintings that he’s posted so far, “Mephistopheles”) on www.instagram.com/ry_summers.  Rumor has it that he has a new project in the works. Please visit his instagram profile to learn how to support his work.

 

 

 

Today’s Tarot: A Well Stocked Cookie Jar

With all the pentacle cards that have been showing up lately, I’ve taken to re-reading old reference books to see if there is some obscure meaning, or some facet of the cards I’m missing. Call it due dilignce, although it is probably closer to trolling for inspiration.

Today was browsing the book that came with the deck in the video. It is my far and away favorite deck right now, the Witches Tarot. The book is by Ellen Dugan and the georgous artwork is by Mark Evans.

The keyword “homemaker” jumped out from the description for today’s Queen of Pentacles. My first knee jerk response was drudgery, housework, negative connotations of leaving the workforce that still get foisted on stay-at-home moms who are seen as somehow lesser, or giving in to old strictures of patriarchy.

Ok, let’s let that go, let the cultural programming wash a way for a second. Deep breath.

Now let’s connect the word homemaker to the more common, more resonant, overarching meaning of nurturing and self care that typically comes through with this card. Now lets connect that further to the pandmic that was such a huge wave of energy coming through the pentacle cards lately.

Rather than the HGTV Martha Stewert version of homemaking, think “nesting.”

Think comfortable. Think of making a soft cozy little nest of pillows and blankets and watching TV in bed or from your favorite seat. Think pillow forts and cookies and comfort foods. It is sourdough season.

There is the potential for good things to come out of this experience. Those out and working have found strengths they may not have known before. May they also discover a vast pool of support they have never had before as well. Delivery trucks, supply trucks, and grocery stores have my eternal gratitude to go right with the healthcare and first responders.

We’ve been given the chance to face up to…and befriend who we are right here and right now. What better way to make a friend than sharing a cookie or two? We’ve been handed the chance to rediscover childhood pleasure, and create new ones. We don’t need mass consumerism and a constant drive to heal, to grow, to progress or to succeed. To bake a loaf of bread, put on our jammies, to become OK with a being on earth…even on who likes the occasional sweet treat or second (or fourth) cup of coffee, or letting yourself sit and finish listening to that song, a stretch, a yawn … any of a million tiny sensual physical realm pleasures that are close at hand with minimal effort.

We can get back to obsessing over appearances and diets and progress and consuming and doing and achieving later. For now, stock the cookie jar and deeply, mindfully enjoy the simplest, smallest pleasures at hand. Little things mean a lot, even when you are the Queen.

May we always have well stocked cookie jars and appreciate the simple pleasures close at hand.

Taking the Advice the Cards Keep Giving

Now is not the time to press, to strive, to make big decisions – or try to learn to make good youtube content. Now is the time to be mindful. Pay attention to the here and now, even if it is isolated or terrible. But that’s easy for me to say, because right now I’m ok. I forget who said it, but mental and emotional suffering lies between how things are and how we wish them to be.  Now is a time to gather in our energies and make friends with where we are and who we are, no judgements, no goals, no expectations.

12 Second Tarot: The Chariot (2020-02-17)

Spirit speaks to everyone, but it whispers. The only way to hear over the crash and clatter of daily living is to pay attention and to be fully here in this present moment. That is the kind of attention the Chariot asks of us. Life moves fast. It takes deliberate mindfulness to connect with what you need to hear otherwise subtle guidance is whispers in the wind.

You Choose Tarot (4 Dec 19)

Left: The Chariot. Pay attention to this moment, here, now. Like a heroic gladiator, that little bit of mindfulness can swoop in and rescue you from worry about the future or regrets about the past.

Middle: The Lovers. If you aren’t getting what you want, are you wanting the right thing?

Right: Knight of Wands. Something magic this way comes. Action with genuine feeling and compassion behind it is a powerful thing.

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