Today's Tarot - 8 of Swords

Stand strong and fear will pass

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Tarotbytes - 2 of Wands

Sometimes, the most courageous thing you can do is to wait, watch and learn.


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Today's Tarot - Queen of Swords

When you work with intuition, you run the risk of startling yourself every now and again. It is just part of the territory, and kind of the point....some ideas need to grab our attention.

As I am writing this the TV is on in the background. I just didn't bother to change the channel after the morning news, and they are re-playing the whole news broadcast from 2001.

I picked up the cards for today's post...I had no intention of touching on 9-11, which has been remembered to the point of exploitation over the past decade...but when I cut the deck to shuffle, the Tower card was in my hand. It's hard to believe that is random coincidence. We commemorate the day because it was a watershed moment in history, a profound point of energy that echoes still today.

I remembered my fear that day: home with a baby, a husband working in a downtown high rise, watching the live news from New York ... and the report that another plane was down south of Pittsburgh. The distance was initially mis-reported as being closer than then it actually was. Living in the southern 'burbs, I literally looked out the windows expecting to see a smoke plume somewhere within sight.

That was 11 years ago. The loss may never heal for those who lost loved ones that day. The grip the events still have on people who were not directly affected, except in the abstract, national sense, surprises me sometimes. Violence is a global heartbreak, no matter what country, what day or what motivation causes it. At some point, all the focus on "9-11" starts to feel like wallowing in self-pity, when other places have lost as much.

Which is exactly why commemoration is still needed...the chill from seeing the Tower card in my hand at the same moment of the news re-play was a reminder of that. We still have much to learn from the retrospective. It is a chance to see the facts, see the mistakes, see how the tragedy has been magnified by the further tragedy of ten years of war. The loss of life that day has been multiplied many times over by war - some defensive, some unnecessary, all too long-lasting.

It also lets us see where we are stuck, where fear has become paralyzing and unhealthy, but also where we have courage and where we are strong.

We could just sit here and be freaked by the Tower card turning up like that, or we can go on to shuffle, and see what we need to know NOW, HERE, TODAY.

That is when the Queen of Swords comes along. The meaning of "mystical power" from Diane Morgan's book seems the strongest one. There is mystical power available to each and every one of us...intent, attraction, action...and choice.

We see now how the events of 9-11 and the choices of 2001 have affected us today. Today, we have the ability to choose our path for the next 11 years. We can choose war, pain, fear (as the suite of swords reminds us) ...or we can choose wisdom, courage, cooperative action (as the nature of a queen reminds us).

A queen is a leader, with the feminine touch of intuition and nurturing. Today she is asking us to remember - to understand those in pain and grief, but also to remember the power we have, the magic we hold over the future through the choices we make today.

Daily Meditation Tarot Reading - the Chariot

Freedom and leadership are close allies. Both require awareness, presence of mind, responsibility for oneself and courage.

Today's Tarot - King of Wands

A person’s real character can not hide from a crises. An emergency will show you  what you are made of, whether anyone else notices or not.

Today's Tarot - 5 of wands

Aspirations are both ephemeral and enduring. Enthusiasm comes and goes. Joy and sorrow comes and goes. Assessment of, reasoning about, acting toward...and believing in ... your dream is an every day thing.

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Today's Tarot - Knight of Swords

Silence and quiescence is often a sign of strength, like that old adage "beware the quiet ones". The smartest and strongest are often the quietest because the way they live speaks for them. They walk their talk, as the saying goes, which speaks volumes.

Today's Tarot - Knight of Swords

Authenticity is a powerful blend of pure honesty and raw courage

Inspired by conversation w/ @thatbuddha on twitter.com










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Today's Tarot - 7 of Swords

It doesn't matter if you get lost. What matters is having the courage to begin the journey in the first place.

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Favorite Quote

This is one of my favorite quotes. I've always seen it as a "Chinese Proverb". I don't know if that is true or not.  Doesn't matter, really. It is an important idea anyway.

The birds of sorrow will fly overhead, but you shouldn't let them build a nest in your hair.

When I was drawing today's card, the news was playing in the background, naturally saturated in 9-11 remembrance.


I have mixed emotion about the whole topic of 9-11. On one hand, I feel for those specific bereaved families, and would not want to inflict any further upset onto them. I believe the love they shared with the family and friends they lost transcends time. Any act of remembrance is an act of love, from one person to another.


It is appropriate that we all show support for them.


On the other hand, as a total population, the vast majority of us did not lose someone close to us that day. As a percentage of the population, the injuries and casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan has caused more total impact then the events of 9-11.  With all due respect, sympathy and compassion to individual tragedy, as a nation, as a whole, we are at a crossroads. We need to get over ourselves. For those of us not directly involved, there is a point where we turn their personal tragedy into a national wallowing in hyper-emotionality and self-pity. That, to my mind, is an insult to their losses and an insult to the memory of those lost. It is time for us, as a whole, to take a new direction or risk stagnation and darkness. It is time for us to honor those people and those events through courage instead of fear, peace instead of war, compassion instead of intolerance.


For some unknown reason, the last post about the Sun card has been popular. Given the historic context of this weekend, I'm not surprised that the Sun came up again today (all pun intended).


The sun is a symbol of LIFE, of LIGHT, of stability...
When 9-11 happened we could have chosen to react differently. Instead we collectively chose to be afraid, to be angry, to go to war, to villify those who protested the wars as 'unpatriotic', to spy on ourselves, to torture. We chose a world of pat downs and misnomered 'patriot' acts. Some even chose to use innocent military funerals as a means of expressing hate. Sure many, many individuals have acted with courage, vision,even selflessness...like the military, first-responders, NYFD, NYPD....heck, New Yorkers in general. But the national sway, in hindsight, was the opposite.


George Lucas was absolutely right when he wrote that fear and anger leads to the dark side.
Now, at the tenth anniversary, we arrive at a new crossroads. Yes, we should remember those lost...but maybe a kind thought for those lost to hatred world-wide might be order too.  In my opinion, the best way to honor those lost is to live with compassion and courage.
Not live stupidly...reasonable safegaurds are, well, reasonable. Not live with war, fear and bigotry. Live with a compassion and courage that would make lost loved ones proud and make war-mongers quake. Down that path we might find the stability so craved since that day ten years ago.


Deep in the human brain, there is a cell cluster of special cells called the amygdala. If I'm understanding correctly, it has to do with dealing with emotions, conditioned fear responses...the pavlov's dogs kind of thing.


Perhaps it is time to reach deep within ourselves and reawaken our national amygdala, to learn to get over our fears, get over ourselves, to stop wallowing in self-pity over what happened. It is a time to choose a path of light instead of a path of darkness. It is time to shake of the dust of "ground zero", put aside fear and anger. If we remember and commemorate by way of compassion and courage, then the sun rises again over the world trade center.

Today's Tarot - Ace of Swords

Swords are often associated with pirates & knights & all sorts of swash-buckling heros. The Ace of Swords is associated with spiritual awakening. It takes real courage to walk a spiritual path that is genuine, honest and authentic, especially if it is different from friends & family. More so if it is different from the path you have walked before. Be your own swash-buckling hero. Dare to awaken.

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Today's Tarot - Ace of Swords

Swords are often associated with pirates & knights & all sorts of swash-buckling heros. The Ace of Swords is associated with spiritual awakening. It takes real courage to walk a spiritual path that is genuine, honest and authentic, especially if it is different from friends & family. More so if it is different from the path you have walked before. Be your own swash-buckling hero. Dare to awaken.

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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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Now on amazon kindle!

Knight of Wands

Knight of wands: Self-confidence is not arrogance. Self-confidence is the courage to do the right thing and be a decent human being.

Baihu
www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

Knight of swords

If you find yourself outside of your comfort zone, it might be time to make your comfort zone bigger, not run for comfort.

Expanded post on knight of swords on kindle blog today: http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Oracle-Tarot/dp/B0029XF5WO

Baihu
www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

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
www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

Ace of Swords psychic tarot daily meditation

Ace of Swords:

No one can become enlightened for you. Spiritual awakening is a solitary experience that requires courage. Doors may open and close, but only you can walk through them or walk on to the next.