Today's Tarot - The Wheel

One person can the world-their world. In the change from fear and anger to peace and calm, a good first step is to release the fear of change itself.

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Today's Tarot - 8 of Wands

Welcome movement and change...sometimes it is the good seeds you planted a long time ago finally starting to bloom.

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Wisdom from the Kitchen

I was reading for a client earlier today, and the death card came up.

Before you go wiggy about it ... NO...it has nothing to do with anyone dying.

It has to do with change. "life is never the same again" kind of change. 

Not all change is bad. Not all death is dying. Sometimes old ways "die out"...for the better. Aren't we all glad slavery was abolished? What about people who truly overcome addiction? That was the "old them"...that "other" person is in a symbolic sense dead to them. Or at least in a serious coma.

In that same symbolic, conceptual sense we all evolve, grow, change and mature as time goes one. Our "old self" is gone. 

Crazy as it sounds, it reminds me a little of something I saw on FoodNetwork. Yes, a cooking show...I know, not exactly what you would connect to the death card ( I hope! ) But follow this logic...

It was one of those contest shows and the chefs were being required to cook outside of their usual cuisine...way out of their comfort zone, and one stressed chef made the comment "This isn't me"

I love Alton Brown's response to that (heck, I love just about everything A.B. has ever done on FoodTV). He said something on the order of  "Not you? No, this just is a you that you haven't seen before"

The death card is a little like that. The old "us" passes away and makes room for the new "us"...we keep the good, let go of the bad, and are given the chance at "rebirth" into something better. 

You are still you...just not a "you" that you've seen before.

Thank you Mr. Brown.

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Cornerstones and Fulcrums

Reblogged from "The Vampire Diet"...continuing from Friday



In Friday’s post, we talked about ideas being the cornerstone of change.


The cornerstone I was thinking about for today is personal responsibility. It is nearly impossible to act differently unless you have some vague idea that something else is possible. On the other hand, ideas are motionless unless and until you act upon them. If you have an idea or a bit of knowledge, but do not change what you actually do, then ideas alone can’t be an agent of change. If ideas influence how you do things or how you make choices, then they are essential to change. They might attract other things that prompt change, they might set lessons in motion just by being ignored, but in the short term, ideas alone need a little help from our spine to made real.


One cornerstone does not make a building.  Just like a rock can’t make a lever without a stick. 


After thinking about it a little more, A lever would be a better mental-example than ‘cornerstones’ in this case. It was a start...ideas are so basic, so foundational, so needed to build something new. Ideas are the turning point, but more is needed.


Think about levers. We all learned about them in elementary school science. Or at least played on seesaws at recess. 


Ideas are the fulcrum...the turning point around which change begins. Personal responsibility a is the stick that gets stuff done, that makes the change actually happen. 


No matter what diet books we read, or what regulations are enacted, or what resources we have at our disposal, who is that picks up the fork or picks up the cup? Who is it that opens our mouths and who swallows? The same person who can change all of that. We are the ones who got ourselves overweight, and we are the only ones who can get as fit and healthy as possible. Knowing what to do is of marginal value until we take the responsibility for ourselves and do it. 


That is the concept that I was trying to crowbar into words last week when the perfect, elegant, simple expression of it fell into my inbox. That is where the Richard Bach quote comes in.

“It isn’t up to my parents to change my past . . . even if they want to change it, that’s not in their power. It is, though, in my power. I can let the past go! If it’s never our fault, we can’t take responsibility for it. If we can’t take responsibility for it, we’ll always be its victim.”

Richard Bach

The quote, I’m proud to say, is used with permission.


It isn’t in the power of books or support groups to change our past...or our future. It is in our power to let our past go, to take responsibility for our mis-judgements and do things differently. We may have eaten poorly, been sedentary and hand a hand in our own ill health. But we can let that past go. If we continue as we are, then we that past is in vain. If we change, then we instantly transform that past from a mistake into a life-giving lesson. If we take responsibility for both what we did and what we will do, then we are free in the here and now as well.


Have you ever seen a whining, victimized vampire? If that is part of the mythos, it is in a comedy or parody. Even in camp and satire show vampires as powerful, in control, and self-responsible. They own their atrocities, whether they regret them or not. In choosing to be healthier, we are letting go of the past and leveraging ourselves into a new and better direction.


I feel lighter already just thinking about it.

Today's Tarot - The Wheel

The Wheel: Change is life's glass of water. It is full or empty, good or bad, hopeful or fearful depending on how you look at it.

Today's Tarot - The Wheel

Embrace change.Change is essential to hope. If we are in a bad situation, and there is no possibility of change, then what hope is there? Even when things are good, change is essential to keep them that way. If we do not embrace change  (adapting, evolving, actively maintaining) then the natural tendency is for things to fall apart (entropy).


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Today's Tarot - Ace of Swords

The ace of swords is associated with "awakening". Ted Andrews -his books have inspired, instructed, and defacto mentored me for ages...buy and read them please!! www.dragonhawkpublishing.com - but like I was saying, Ted Andrews reads the ace of swords as "new rhythms of success" (Animal Wise Tarot).

The idea of material success connected to spiritual awakening isn't as uncommon as one might think, and not necessarily for the better, but it isn't entirely evil either. Like everything, the place where spirituality and material wealth meet has both good and bad aspects to it.

Growing up in the south, I always had a very negative impression of the idea. I grew up in the most right-wing, social conservative, republican, evangelical, fundamentalist, deep-dark-ruby-red counties you'll find on the map. In the 70s (and maybe since, I don't know) there was an undercurrent of thinking that if you were "right with god" and "living right", that material needs would somehow be magically met - a sort of get rich quick by being religious scheme. No surprise, it doesn't work that way, and the only people getting money were the overly-dramatic evangelists. Even as a kid, I could see that connection between the "spiritual" and "material" spawning a toxic whirlpool of judgementalism and lack of good judgement managing money. My reflex is to steer toward logic and work when it comes to earning a living and connect wealth-meets-spirituality with ideas like contentment, releasing unrealistic desires.

But over the years I've also learned that there IS another connection between personal and spiritual growth and material needs, other than the obvious learning to be content with the way things are.

Here again we see that acceptance is not acquiescence. Just because we accept the reality of what IS doesn't mean we can't act to try and change it. As it turns out, change is the cornerstone of that place where material success and spirituality meet.

Like Master Gracenin (www.dctaichi.com) always told us...'keep doing what you've been doing and you'll keep getting what you've been getting'. If things are going well, keep up the good work. If things aren't so good, they won't get any better until something changes.

Even if that something is us. Change is big, bad, scary thing for a lot of people, which makes BOTH spiritual growth and movement toward success (however you define it) an intimidating process.

Success, both materially and spiritually, often requires change...sometimes permanent change. Never mind bank accounts...think of weight loss. To have lasting success at that, you have to change your habits - permanently.

So Mr. Andrews interpretation of the ace of swords as changing rhythms of success is spot-on once again.

Happy New Year 2012 - The Wheel

The Wheel: change.

This card is the "New Year" card in my mind. Others attach the idea of "fate" to the card, or the "wheel of fortune". Either way, these are topics at the front of our minds as we turn the calander to a new year.

It is a time where we long for a glimpse to the future, it is in our nature to want to know what the new year holds in store.

I'd like to focus more on the 'change' aspect of the card more than the 'fate' or future aspects. The change of year is purely artificial. It is roughly attuned to the change of season, which makes sense. In the circle of the year, in the four seasons, we need to pick a start/finish line...any one will do, and has, for one culture or another through our history. For some the year changes in the fall, at the harvest. For others, it is the spring...with the new births of animals and the planting of a new crop. Summer and winter do just as well. It is all arbitrary, an idea placed on Nature to let we humans work with nature and each other in a coordinated way. Nothing more. It is social convention, not magic. The power of the New Year comes from all of us putting our energy into it together. If there is change and magic in the coming of a new year, it is because we, together, in our culture, make it so.

Every day is a new day. Every day is a chance for change. New Year's Day is no different in that respect. No more and no less powerful than any other sunrise. It is all in how you welcome it, feel about it. Any day can be New Year's Day if you choose to make it so. It has everything to do with the way we recognize, accept, and adapt to change. Change in calendar, change in ourselves. It is inevitable. How you deal with change is an important, personal, spiritual journey. New Year's day celebrations are a reflection of that. Do we welcome the new year with hopes and high intentions or do we send away the old year with a 'good riddence' and nothing more than a caution to not let the door hit it on the way out.

I've felt both ways, depending on the desires of the year, the judgements I've hung on events big and small.

This year I think I'll welcome 2012...who knows what it will bring. The old year was a good/bad year, just like any other. Pick a day, any day, and follow the events for the year that follow it. There you find a mixed bag of events...the same as the melange found from Jan. 1 to Jan. 1.

Hope is as eternal as change. So I hope that the time between January 2012 and January 2013 is happy, hopeful, healthy, playful and prosperous for you all.

Today's Tarot - The Tower

The Tower: Chaos and change force us to look at things differently. They are the seeds of a new vision.
This card was an attention-getter, even for me. It is a nice example of what I mean when I say synchronicity is the language of spirit / intuition.


This morning, I had the TV on in the background, as always, tuned to one news station or another. While I was checking e-mail, Twitter started lighting up with reports of small scuffles with police, people being checked for work ID just to be allowed to walk down Wall Street, some arrests. Maybe I'm wrong...but these are twitter news sources that have always proven themselves to be accurate in the past. TV news was a different as it could get. Network and cable both talking about trivial things.  Intuitively speaking, it had a surreal, chaotic, Tahrir square, who-do-you-trust feel to it all.


I kind of squinted at the TV, thought something profound like "huh?" grabbed another cup of coffee and shuffled back over to the computer.


Just then I shuffled the cards to write "Today's Tarot", cut the deck right to "The Tower".  On impulse, I thought I'd use a different reference than usual. Grabbed it off the shelf and flipped it open...right exactly to "The Tower" page. I think it's a hint. This is definitely today's tarot card.


Sometimes we misjudge things. Sometimes new sources turn out to be better than the old...and we have to re-think. And there is nothing like chaos, contrast and change to prompt that re-thinking and re-choosing.


Like the old knight in "Indian Jones and the Last Crusade"... I hope we all choose wisely.




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Today's Tarot - The Tower

When it comes to change, flexibility serves you better than fear. There is just as much chance the change will be for the better as anything else.




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Today's Tarot - The Emperor

The Emperor: You have absolute power - over yourself. Live well, and you change the world for the better.

Wishing you a day of change for the better

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Daily Meditation - Page of Wands

Today's card is a nice example of something I've learned from working with Tarot and intuition: change, new people and fresh ideas invigorate everyone except the fearful.

You may not think of something as old as Tarot in terms of 'research'. But academic research is an example of today's card...

Think of a research and development lab. What if a new idea or new person comes along...things can go a couple of ways. The change can bring fresh ideas. The people on the team can embrace the newness, adapt, and raise the level of the lab's research for the love of what they do and what they hope to learn.

Or, they can fear change, hold on to old ideas, become defensive and allow the research they used to value to suffer for it.

So how does this apply to Tarot and psychics?

The intuitive, creative right side of the brain can become as rigid and fearful as the scientific, logical 'research lab' left side of the brain. Even supposedly insightful "psychics" can be resistant to change. It may stem from a fear of being "wrong" or a fear of being judged by 'logical' society. Whatever the reason, today's card advises us that change can be good, and fearing change is maybe not so good.

Even the process of reaching this message is an example of the message itself...let me explain.

Tarot readers seem to collect card decks and books about Tarot meanings. This is a good thing...it is just like those research scientists reading journals and papers and keeping up on the latest in their field.

Even though tarot cards have been around for ages, every reader puts their own spin on things. One person's way of looking at a card might be very different from another's. Sometimes one interpretation of a card just doesn't seem right. If that happens, it is time for a different, fresh look at the card. It helps to look at the same card from a different deck. Sometimes the change in artwork can offer inspiration. Sometimes checking another reference might help. That is exactly what happened today. The most common interpretation I've found for the Page of Wands is "reciprocity"....things being of equal exchange. That didn't seem quite right, so I went to another favorite reference which associates the card with change, and an influx of new idea...even to the extent of 'social progress' in a way.

That's the ticket! Some psychics have been writing of a "shift in consciousness" coming in 2012 (that's a kettle of fish for another day). Look at the mainstream news, about the "Arab Summer" and cultural changes in the middle east. Look at the time of year...schools out, and people are coming alive, getting outside and getting active. Even the sun is waking up...there are reports about solar ejection masses and flairs after a longer than average "solar minimum". So it all fits...change, renewal, embracing change and new ideas. That is the lesson today's card, the Page of Wands, has for us.

Wishing you a refreshing day!

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The Wheel - Arcana in Balance series

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It seems odd to talk about change in a time of tradition like this.

Yet it fits. Nothing is as inevitable and inexorable as change. It is more fundamental to the universe than any holiday tradition. It is the universe, it is life.

Here in the winter holidays, we celebrate life. We celebrate the light of human life, and enlightenment, love, compassion and all that light represents. Light is a symbol integral to life. Light, is in a fundamental way, essential to life. No light, no crops, no food, no life.

Change is just as essential. Ironically, it is the most feared essential thing.

If things are good we fear loosing it. If things are bad, we fear it won't change.

Change, the essential element of the Wheel card is essential to life. If there is no change there is no growth. If things don't decay or change, there is no room for the new.

Change is hope. Change is a new start when we need it. Change can be for the better.

The Wheel card, though, captures one very comforting element of change. It can happen in different increments.

At the axel of a wheel, it changes little at all, change is the wheel hub around the axel. At the hub, and spokes near the hub, the arc of movement is smaller than at the rim, where the circumference is largest.

This gives us a model to deal with change with courage.

Keep the treasures on the inside. Through tradition, memory, love, priorities, appreciation - we can keep the times and people we treasure most with us, closest to heart.

The things that need changed, that need refreshment, renewal can me moved to the rim, for the biggest trip around the wheel: the most change.

It's all relative. From any point of view, a spinning wheel is always half moving up and half moving down. Whether a certain change is good or bad depends on which direction you are watching the wheel at a given moment.

In this time of tradition, may your circle of friends, family and loved ones be near. In this time of tradition may the hub or your wheel be strong, with all the mud and negativity thrown off as we spin toward the new year.

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The Wheel - daily meditation

The wheel: change is certain, so choose well and adapt wisely when it happens. That is where you choice and control becomes part of creating something new

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knight of wands

Knight of Wands: changing for the better is one of the bravest things a person can do. Be brave.

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6 of swords 3/10

6 of swords: adaptability. A brittle tree breaks in a storm, but the supple one survives.

Baihu
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The Devil major arcana card

The Devil card is one that many people find frightening. It has the strongest association with the occult, and other misunderstandings about Tarot.

So lets use the Tower card that we've talked about in the past to understand this card: use perspective. Let's put the Devil major arcana card into some context.

Tarot evolved in a very Catholic culture in pre-renaissance Europe. Sure, the Devil was a very potent symbol in its time, and it still communicates powerful ideas. But it is also time we introduce the Devil card to the 21st century.

Many cultures and religions have a figure like this. So restricting the card to just the christian understanding of 'the devil' isn't so useful in our global, multicultural time.

Some say that the representation of the devil on the cards is less a visual representation of the old testament entity, but more a suppression of the horned male god of the European pagans. It symbolizes the id unleashed, the natural world and the natural impulses of humans. The physical aspects of life were vilified, some say as a way of suppressing the nature-based religions by the advent of a politically powerful christian church. So in this view, the 'devil' became the cosmic bad-guy trying to make you do really bad things - like question church authority.

If that is the old understanding, how does this concept fit into a modern outlook? Has the Devil card been rendered irrelevant?

I think a better understanding would be one that reflects the idea of the "dark side"...both of our individual persona and in life at large, a la George Lucas.

I think the Devil card can be seen two ways...as the dark side of humanit: racism, bigotry, hate, anger, brutality, torture, theft, assault...the list is huge.

While few individuals are heinous criminals or despotic dictators, we all have parts of ourselves we judge as 'bad' or 'wrong'. Nobody is perfect. We all have our inner dark side: anger, bias, harsh words, selfishness, apathy to others...sadly this list is just as long.

The message of the Devil card isn't external arch-evil, it is our inner demons, and the way they are made manifest through our words and actions.

The message of the Devil card is to be aware of the dark side of existence, and meet it with courage, conviction and common sense.

In a literal way, this card is a reminder that bad things do happen, so common sense precaution is a good idea: get that emergency flashlight, don't walk alone in a dark city alley at night, don't throw gasoline on a campfire...

It also speaks to the inner dark side. Denial does nothing to bring balance. Denial of our true selves, dirty laundry and all, does nothing to serve compassion. If we ignore our faults, we can't learn from them or change them. Facing our inner demons takes the most courage, but yields the most profound changes...for the better.

Wishing you courage and balance to free you from the devils inside and out.

Baihu
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8 WANDS

8 wands: Totality. Don't forget the big picture. Shifts in perception can change anything, everything

5 of CUPS

5 of cups: change is certain, both gain and loss. The joy and pain that comes with each is up to you - your attachments & expectations.

Numerology isn't my strong suite...but when a number shows up two days in a row, it warrants a look.

I've looked at several sources, and my understanding of the number 5 is this:

First look for any personal meanings, which take precedence over any generalized 'dictionary' meanings...it can represent an important date, or month or any other personal association. Sometimes it can be a sort of signal from someone who has died, to get your attention. Often, if a number keeps repeating in your life, it helps to think of people who might have been born, died, or had some anniversary or association with the date or month the number represents.

Some people have a personal association with a particular number through their birth date. Add the individual digits in your birth date, keep adding the individual digits of the answer until you get down to one number. That number is thought by some to be the guiding concept or 'life path' number. I would tend to think, given the wide variety and high number of people born on any given day, that the 'life path number' would have the same benefit as the one size fits all newspaper horoscopes.

Some thoughts I've found associated with the number five, is freedom, restlessness. I personally tend to associate it with the mental realm, logic and reason, symbolic of base 10 math and other scientific ideas.

The idea of restlessness co-ordinates well with the idea of change. For the restless, change is a relief. For the restless, stillness and stability is needed for balance.

cups has to do with relationships, but also with intuition. So there is a sense of balancing reason with intuition, which resonates with the reading yesterday of the 5 of wands. The two have been connected by number to similar concepts, adding depth, complexity and emphasis to these simple, generalized single card 'readings'.

This shows Tarot can be an elegant, sophisticated tool for understanding, helping us unlock both reasoning and intuition.

May you find balance of logic and intuition, gain and loss, joy and sadness: all a part of a full life.

9 OF WANDS daily tarot reading

The 9 of wands has to do with acceptance...accept yourself and your circumstances as they are.

But that is not to mean that you give up hope of change, or stop acting on behalf of things you believe in...most of all not to give up on your own growth and learning.

Acceptance is a very different thing than hopeless resignation...

It is a warriors card. It is a card of acceptance, yes, but this implies realism and pragmatism, not hopelessness. It implies practicality, not resignation.

This card reminds us to play the cards we are dealt. It says nothing about giving up on the game.

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