Tarotbytes - Nine of Wands

Choose your battles. No need for an umbrella when the tempest in a teapot

www.ModernOracleTarot.com

The Way of the Peaceful Vampire

Reblogged from "The Vampire Diet" blog on amazon.com for Kindle (I gave myself permission)


Of all the modern vampires, I have a real soft spot for the Cullen family in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. Their "coven" reminds me of that quote from Richard Bach "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life."

My brother-in-law is family both ways. On the surface, he seems like a happy-go-lucky athlete. Every now and then, you catch a glimpse of the deeply thoughtful, loving intellect that lies beneath. During this summer's visit, he said something amazing.

He's quitting smoking. Thank goodness...cigarettes will kill you, and I'd like the dude to hang around for a while. This time he said he is "at peace" with the idea of quitting. There is no doubt in my mind that he will quit this time. There is an ocean of profound under that one statement. It's a deep idea that applies here too.

It is so easy to fall into the mainstream diet trap...to focus on food & exercise while forgetting about the mind and spirit. This blog has been taking that turn lately too. Time to throw some esoterica at you.

You can argue that being happy will bring a healthy weight from a purely physical standpoint. If you reduce stress, there is less adrenal gland interplay with insulin production, glucose metabolism, and fat deposition.

You can make the same case from a mental-emotional standpoint. Mind and body are utterly connected. A contented outlook, combined with good information and a sprinkle of self-awareness, can find the non-physical connections to what we choose to eat. If you figure out why comfort foods comfort you, or discover why you don't pay attention to what / how much you eat, then you can go a long way toward making a healthy change. That doesn't even touch the way mood, appetite, and brain biochemistry are connected.

But then there are the spiritual aspects that diet books, nutritionists and mainstream fitness 'gurus' seem to avoid. Being at peace with your decision to live a healthier lifestyle is truly important. In tarot, the 9 of Wands card is often associated with the idea of "acceptance". But not the way you might think. Like I tell my tarot clients, acceptance doesn't have to mean acquiescence. This isn't about giving up or giving in. It is about taking off the rose colored glasses and dealing with the reality of a situation - to accept it for what it is so you can deal with it...calmly, peacefully.

This card, and my brother-in-laws realization, is also very close to Dharma Drum Mountain's "Four Steps for Dealing With a Problem": face it, accept it, deal with it, let go of it. Being at peace with what is makes it easier to be at peace with what we need to do.

It is so easy to drop into a fearful, defensive stance when it comes to losing weight or quitting smoking. I told my brother (you can skip the in-law stuff as far as I'm concerned) that I was trying to cut out sugar. Later on he didn't offer me a sweet dessert when he offered it to everyone else. It's a small thing, but to me it was huge. It was quiet, peaceful acceptance of what I'm doing. I wish there was something more I could do to support and encourage him in his efforts. A little peaceful acceptance can go a long way.

That's where a family-of-heart, like the Cullens, give us a good role model. They have a accept what they are, and solve the problem through an ongoing lifestyle choice. Except for the occasional adventure with humans, hunters, werewolves and Volturi, they are pretty much at peace with themselves.

We welcome our heart-family into our lives, and the same spirit can help with our physical health. Instead of fighting obesity, we can welcome weight loss and fitness. Instead of fighting cigarettes, we can welcome smokeless health. It's a subtle attitude difference, but an important one. Marc helped me learn that.

Thanks man. I appreciate it.

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For a tarot reading with the author, please visit www.ModernOracleTarot.com. For Holistic Health and Stress Reduction tutorials with the author, please visit www.RondaSnow.com.

Tai Chi and The High Priestess

Roots are important too, but maybe not the kind you might think.

Yesterday's card, the page of wands talked about adaptability and survival. It is the classic analogy of the tree that bends in the wind so it does not break.

Today's card, the 9 of wands speaks to something similar. Think of that same tree in the storm. If the roots are too weak or too shallow, then the tree falls over in a storm, no matter how much it bends in the wind.

The same is true for people. We have to adapt and deal with change to get along in well in life because time passes and stuff changes...that's just the way reality is.

People need something to hold on to, something trustworthy to believe in and hold on to when challenges come along. We need belief-roots because time passes and stuff changes...that's just the way reality is.

We need something to help us hang on while we're bending and adapting.

Say "roots" in this context, and one of the first things to come to mind is the "family values" we learned as children. The reflex is to think of the beliefs of biological family. If that is true for you, well done. Count yourself lucky and hang on tight to that precious tradition.

But what about those people born into addicted, abusive, unhealthy, genuinely dysfunctional families? What about those less fortunate?

Your roots don't have to be the same as those of your biological family. Heck, they don't have to be the same as anybody else's at all. Being different, unique and individual isn't the same as being uprooted, indecisive, floundering or lost. In the words of Tolkien..."not all those who wander are lost".

Roots are the things that connect you to the cosmos...not the connections of those who came before. What worked for them, might not be right for you...that's where we go right back to adaptation. This is a different time, a different generation, and it is only natural to adapt to your own situation and mind-set. Here we draw in the High Priestess card from a few days ago...honoring your inner truth is a high spiritual discipline. It takes a good dose of courage and discipline to believe what you know is true instead of what you've been told is true.

Like the parts of a tree, these three cards together give us a hint how to weather the storms that come along in life... the page teaches adaptability, the wisdom of bending in the wind. The 9 of wands shows us we also need to find our root...to learn our truth and hold tight to it. The Priestess reminds us to be brave. Unless you are a Tai Chi person, the courageousness of rooting and bending is not as obvious as charging full tilt at a problem, like the knight of swords might. The 9 of wands shows us the power of roots, the page of wands shows us the wisdom of bending, and the Priestess shows us the subtle courage it takes to weave the two together and survive the storm.





www.ModernOracleTarot.com

Tarot "Predictions" 2012

Remember those 'fortune tellers' that kids fold out of paper? That's about the level this is at...just tongue in cheek fun...on one hand. On the other, if we collectively stop and think, if we collectively choose more wisely, then together we can create a better future, no matter what psychics "predict" here at the new year. Yet it is a fun game we all play at this time of year.

As you know from the lack of posts lately, I've been on blogcation from cyberspace. I haven't read any of my favorite blogs or other yearly predictions. I did see a tweet from one of my favorite mediums and astrologers....Joy Star....that she has posted her predictions with a particular eye toward numerology and astrology. Numerology and astrology are not my strong points, so if you are any smidge interested in those things please feel free to check out  www.psychicjoystar.wordpress.com

For me, its all tarot. What I'll do is what I call my "four seasons" reading. Each of 4 cards represents each of the upcoming four seasons to give a look ahead at the coming year. It can start at any time of year...it doesn't have to be at New Years.

Shameless self promotion: If you want a four seasons reading personalized just for you, send your name, age, questions and "four seasons 2012" in an e-mail to ereadings@modern-oracle-tarot.com. No appointment needed...available by e-mail only. You'll be invoiced a low total $20 for the reading via PayPal for your privacy and security. I never see your private information other than your email....and you have the reassurance of using a nationally known, secure way to pay. I'm an "identity verified" vendor with them, so you can order with confidence.

Now that the business is done, back to the fun. This reading with be done with the idea that it will apply globally, but keep in mind I'm an east coast American, so I probably will be a bit more dialed into the path and energy here in the U.S.A. But keeping as wide of a focus as possible, as I shuffled the cards, the question in mind was "show me truth for 2012".

Being at the beginning of winter, the first card will relate to winter...now through roughly mid-March or early April. The winter card is the 9 of wands. This has to do with acceptance. I always remind everyone when this card turns up, that there is a difference between "acceptance" and "acquiescence". It is the difference between taking a pragmatic, realistic approach to what is happening and giving up, giving in, blaming others and hiding from the truth.

Wands have to do with our inner, individual journey and personal growth.

When I apply the 9 of wands to a general, collective look...my mind is drawn immediately to American politics...to politics of any democracy.  Wands is internal, individual...the nine is accepting the reality of things-as-they-are. The message here is for each individual to trust their own evaluation of reality, of things as they are here and now...DISREGARDING THE PROPAGANDA AND "MAINSTREAM PARTY LINE".  Trust your own evaluation of the situation, accept it is what it is, not necessarily what you want it to be...and then act and vote accordingly.

Here is where my personal bias shines bright...Republicans have been lying through their teeth and out their backside...look at the facts, look at the data, accept the reality of things as they actually have happened over the past 10-12 years. See and accept reality...not the story and spin. Whether it matches your hoped-for reality or not. In spite of any get-Obama sentiment you might have, look at the historical facts and numbers.

This card is encouraging all of us to ACCEPT THE FACTS of our situation and deal with it pragmatically in a realistic, practical sort of way over the next several months, at least.

SPRING, March through May basically has drawn the "Wheel" card. The sense I have of this card is twofold...first that things will change because of the pragmatism of the winter season....we collectively take that cold, hard look at the way things are, and begin to act, feel and believe differently because of that.  The other is the momentum caused because of that...first we 'hike up our skirts' and MAKE things better, then further change is brought about because of that initial action causing a chain-reaction of optimism. Things finally start to change for the better and we get a collective glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel...the tunnel being both the economic concerns that have been going on since 2008...and in general spirit, spiritual growth, a sort of brightening of the collective spiritual consciousness as we shake ourselves free of the propaganda and mental shackles . The phrase "THE AGE OF THE FREETHINKERS BEGINS" comes to mind. I deeply hope this is true. It is my wish that all people be free from suffering, both physical problems and mental / emotional oppression.

Summer is the Tower card. It generally means chaos, but the feeling with this card continues in the mental - internal- philosophical - perception tone set by the first wands card. I don't see it as any sort of uprising or physical chaos. My sense of it is more an upset of the old guard of thinking, rather than outright war and conflict. The idea of the occupation of Iraq finally ending, and the potential for drawdowns inAfghanistan begin to take root in the world psyche, and peace again becomes at least a viable IDEA. This throws the old-school 'war hawks' off their guard. The shift toward peaceful freethinking make those with the fundamentalist mindset feel like the world is in chaos, or even coming to an end. 2012 isn't the end of the world...it is the beginning of the end of certain ways of looking at the world.  "NEW AGE" comes to mind...not so much the 'woo woo' spirituality we know from the 70s and 80s, but a true new age, another renaissance that to some is the beginning of something wonderful...to others, it seems chaos, mayhem, disaster.

Either way, spring and summer are dynamic, energetic, full of change. The tower card reminds us that when things seem chaotic, and when we feel like we have lost our bearings in an unpredictable, changing, chaotic world...perspective is the solution. Climb the tower, get the overview...FIND THE BIG PICTURE TO FIND THE SOLUTION. This will be the lesson and tenor of the summer.

Fall is calmer...the Page of Cups. It has to do with reconciling old thoughts, with the new thoughts, and finding balance. It has to do with soothing the chaos that change has brought over the spring and summer. There is still a thread of the reality-pragmatic approach. This card has to do with "dealing with demons"...we pay for past mistakes, but that allows us to let them go and move on. Political chickens come home to roost in U.S. elections. Those who believe in the 'end of the world' notions become nostalgic, think of what they might loose....a "bucket list" mentality for some, bittersweet nostalgia for others. For the newly freed freethinkers, there is greater compassion for those on different paths. Maybe a little more unity as we move past the elections and move into the next holiday season.

Moving away from the cards to general impressions: Still politically-minded, I get the mental image of a U.S. map, no state lines, just the national outline, filling with blue from the west to mid-west, some in the northeast, but the southeast being white, not red as is usual with the news graphics. When I look at that white, southeast region I get the words "empty" "crumbling" "old".

I see buttercups...and feel it is related to spring. Yellow, golden tones...often associated with wealth and money luck, but flowers may have more to do with spiritual renewal than physical wealth.

There is a feeling of quiet strength. Growing calm after the summer. Calm knowing, with a tinge of "I told you so".

I can't say for sure, but when I turn my mind to the natural world...it feels quiet. There is a sense of waiting and listening, as if Earth is waiting to see if we will act to heal, or continue to be mindlessly destructive. It is my wish that we all act to be ecologically responsible....green green greenie green green...it is the path to life for Nature and humans alike.  As the children who have been raised to be more ecologically aware over the past decade or so come of age, ecological protection, renewable energy, green jobs becomes easier, more natural, presumed, matter of course...not the hair tearing debate that some have made it out to be in the past....again that idea of the old guard falling into chaos, while a calmer, more pragmatic, truth-seeing, spiritual (not dogmatic or religious) generation comes forward.

It is the end of the world...for those who hate. May it be so.

Feels like a quiet year externally...with much energy internally, with change and chaos in the individual and the collective psyche more than anything.

Was watching the Rose parade earlier I think their theme captures the tone and direction of 2012 perfectly...Imagine.

What we imagine, hope and work for can be made manifest, if we stay focused on our better and compassionate nature.  That is where the "zone" will be.  Those that hold on to the past, embrace divisive, or bigoted ideas are in for a rough year, with questioning and doubt and chaos as old followers awaken to a new way.

Imagine a better place, and act to make it true. Deal with the old demons so they can be let go to make room for a kinder way of thinking.

May this truly be the year that the world of hate, division, bigotry, and violence comes to an end. There is a world of truth and compassion waiting to take its place.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, abundant, magical, imagination filled new year!

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

9 of wands

9 of wands: Acceptance means realism and pragmatic understanding, not blind acquiescence.

www.ModernOracleTarot.com

9 of wands

9 of wands: Accepting yourself as you truly are is an avenue of compassion towards others as they are.