Tag: two of coins

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Energy Equinox

Thank you to everyone for your saint-like patience the past week, including today. Made a trip out of state for family reasons, and have been playing a little catch up the laundry today. Sorry to YouTube folks for the delay posting the written part of this.

Not a lot going on as far as announcements go. The 2nd anniversary Tarot reading giveaway is still going on (use the contact form on the special offers page to get yours)

It’s going to be a big financial hit, but I won’t be doing parties or in-person readings this Halloween season because our local test positive rates are still around 5% and outside of stores, mask wearing is spotty at best. It just isn’t worth the risk. I hope you will get one of the free digital handwritten one card reading. It might be a nice way to cheer ourselves a bit as we head toward flu season and a possible covid resurgence.

That being said –

Left: Knight of Wands. Knight are usually the action heroes, all about doing something. In this case the action part of the knight card is taking a little bit of a back seat. This card was featured in the book / mini-series “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel” as a sign of the second magician appearing who would bring magic back to England. Rather than physical action, this card is a symbol of action, a place holder for action when we look at all three of this week’s cards together (more on that later.) This knight for this week isn’t about physical doing…it is all about spiritual doing. Call it magic(k) if you like. In subtle energy work, intention is everything. Astrology isn’t my specialty, but the full moon coming soon seems significant. If you feel drawn to astrology, please do research and find out what a full moon in Pisces means for you. This is a good week to stop being caught up in the physical day to day activity, and focus on your intentions, pay attention to your energies. You get what you give. Deliberately and actively set your mental and spiritual intentions, think of it as activity and quiet thought in exquisite balance

Center: Four of Swords. When we exercise rest is a thing. Muscles need a little rest every now and then in order to repair and become stronger. Rest is a necessary opposite to action in order for things to work as they should. While swords cards, like knight cards, often denote action the four in particular denotes rest and repose. Proper sleep is necessary for healthy minds and bodies. To move forward in battle, warriors will stop and look and see what must be done, what is the most effective way to proceed. If you chose this card, it might be a more active and busy week than for other people, but don’t just charge ahead in order to get through it all at any cost. Look before you leap. Think of it as observation and analysis in exquisite balance with swift action.

Right: Two of Pentacles. This is the classic card about balance. Only Temperance gives a stronger message about keeping everything in check and not getting too extreme with anything just now. Moderation is your friend. This card is about dynamic balance, moving parts, constantly adjusting, a little like the constant adjustments a unicycle rider makes. Balance is a key idea this week. Watch for anything that is getting to be too much, try not to get ‘out over your skis” as they say about anything, but given this is coins card, you might want to pay particular attention to work-life balance. Think of it as exquisite balance in, well, everything.

Taken together, these three cards are all about an exquisite balance. We just had the autumnal equinox, day and night in perfect balance. Think of the old myth of balancing an egg on its end on the equinoxes. This is the most fleeting tiny pause, the breath holding, one-footed moment on a tightrope, that can only last the barest second before the tightrope walker must tilt to one side, or the other, or take a step forward or take a step backward. Nature abhors a vacuum and gives precious little time to any sort of static balance. This week feels to be the tiniest pause, a balance that can’t last, a held breath before the exhale must happen, an equinox of energies. Gather in the magic of this fleeting golden moment before that balance born of change and motion must begin again.

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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NEW: more phone reading choices! 7 card (same as the in-person individual session) 5 card (great all-purpose layout, particularly nice for first readings) and 3 card yes-or-no (10 minute quick look at any ONE yes-or-no question) are now available. Same process applies. Schedule your reading, choose your layout when you buy the reading, call at your scheduled time and enjoy!

You Choose Tarot (29 Nov 19)

Left: Ace of Pentacles. Imagine, just just for a day or just an afternoon, imagine that you are lucky. Then watch how things unfold for a day or two. Who knows? Maybe you are.

Middle: Knight of Wands. Something magick this way comes. Indulge the mystical if ghat is how you feel. Feeling more black than Friday? Honor those feelings, but best not to take them out on unsuspecting retail workers or random happy people. Play that metal music. Watch that horror film. Binge Jonatan Strange and Mr. Norrel. Honest emotion honored well fits any time of year.

Right: Two of Pentacles. Keeping work and fun in balance is a challenge any time of year. If you HAVE to do it, might as well make a game of it. Who says you can’t wear an elf hat to the office?

Eternal Balancing Act

2coins

Diane Morgan’s Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao is for all the obvious reasons, one of my all time favorite Tarot books.

I first read Magical Tarot, Mystical Tao early in the 2000s, at the beginning in my professional Tarot career, just as I began reading for online services like Advice Trader and Allexperts. I’d been reading Tarot and oracle cards (Medicine Cards by Carson and Samms mostly) for nearly 10 years by that point. I’d been interested in Taijiquan (Tai Chi) and Taoism even longer than that.

Of all the cards in the Tarot deck, the two of Pentacles / Coins is arguably the most emblematic of all that Tarot and Taoism share. We short hand the card as balance, but it is more of a juggling act than that. The balance here is large and moving and dynamic. Balance alone can be static, like a stack of zen stones, or a scales showing accurate weight.

balancing-stones

That is balance, but there is also what science calls dynamic equilibrium.  The classic example of dynamic equilibrium is a permeable membrane between two solutions. Think of fresh water and salt water divided by some sort of plastic wrap with tiny holes in it. The molecules on both sides are always vibrating and wiggling around (that is heat, so let’s imagine this is all happening at room temperature, not absolute zero.  Even a polar vortex isn’t that cold.) Over time the water and salt molecules wiggle through the holes in the membrane until there is the same concentration of salt and water on both sides. Once that happens, the molecules don’t stop jiggling and juggling around. It is still room temperature, there is still heat and molecule movement going on. If you follow individual specks of salt, they may be moving the whole time, one side to the other. Same for specks of water. In spite of the little specks dancing around, the total amounts of each stay in balance on both sides. The little buggers move…it’s dynamic. The whole system, the whole tank of water, keeps its balance of salt and water concentrations…it is in equilibrium. That kind of balance is very much a part of the 2 of coins. The artwork in the card on most RWS decks hint at movement, the man walking and juggling , a woman bicycling (Steampunk Tarot) a tightrope walker (Robin Wood Tarot) even someone standing on their head (Quantum Tarot) The two of coins reminds us as much of dynamic equilibrium as a static balance. The sideways figure 8, the infinity symbol, is often used as part of the cards image to indicate that balance. It also shows us just how big the water tank is. The system that is in dynamic equilibrium is nothing less than the whole darn universe. Sure things are going to get very out of balance, if not downright wonky in our individual part of the cosmos, but infinity wide, things unfold as they should, according to their nature.

Which is all a very Taoist like way of looking at it. The Taoist point of view values that kind of big picture dynamic equilibrium. It values balance in general…static and moving…and is more than willing to consider the Tao, the everything and then some, in finding that natural moving balance. Harmony of opposites is another, easier way to put it. The well known yin yang symbol that is emblematic  of the philosophy is actually intended to be in motion. The dots are the seeds that grow into their opposite. If you look just at the yin or yang, the black or white, each part is always growing, shrinking, turning. Yet, within the circle as a whole, even among all that movement, there ends up being balanced, equal amounts of black and white, yin and yang.

3daniyinyang

That is the energy flow the two of coins can help us to find. The two is always about balance. Is it static or dynamic? What kind of balance do we need? Are we looking at one little jiggly speck of salt in the water and feeling out of balance? Would it help to look for larger, moving systems when we look for balance in out lives or would it help to look for the little but very stable balance points like stacking Zen rocks? How do you know? The balance is of opposites, remember? The dots are the clue. In each lies the seed of its opposite. If you have been focusing on static stable balance, but it isn’t working, take a step back and look at the big picture, moving systemic balance. If the system seems chaos and everything is flying apart…look for anchors. Look for the solid, stable, static parts on which to build some balance.

Stones and yin yang images from the public domain. Jimmy Neutron property of Nickelodeon via youtube.com.