Today's Tarot - 7 of coins

This is a lovely card for a lovely time of year. Like the Fall, this card is often associated with cycles of the seasons, taking in the harvest. Because of that, it is often connected to the idea of "you reap what you sow". 

Every card has both light and dark, positive and negative potential outcomes associated with its core ideas...based on choices made and so on. That's why I don't take reversed (upside-down) cards into much consideration in doing a reading. It might point toward one aspect of a card or the other, but it doesn't totally change the meaning, as some older reading styles put it. I think it is wise to look at all aspects of a card in every reading, to highlight the choices we have, and the different options available to us. 

So what is the down side of harvest season?

The down side is more to do with the abstract notion of "you reap what you sow" more than the literal idea of harvest, fall and so on. There can be a great deal of dismissive judgmentalism in that phrase, akin to some of the shades of meaning you see in major arcana cards like "Judgement" or "The Hierophant". It can be taken, by some, as "you deserve what you got because you reap what you sow". Even more subtle is the idea of greed. If you do something "good" with the expectation of good in return...if you sow only with "harvest" in mind...is that as moral as acts of genuine altruism? Philosophers have been going in circles about that one for ages. I kind of look at it this way...what you do sows the seeds of both the act and the motive. You might sow mostly wheat, but if you throw a few thistle seeds in there too, both will grow. Authenticity and being honest with yourself is better, but that is another card, another day.

The up side to the 7 of coins is the hope and trust it engenders. It hints at hope and trust life requires. Planting seeds are necessary to our survival. It is a leap of faith (in both nature and science) that the seeds will grow, harvest will come and life will go on. The "reap what you sow" paradigm shows us how interconnected we are to Nature, the Cosmos, and to each other. This card can be taken, too, as a promise. If we put good things out, share the best of ourselves, there is promise that we will go in a good direction and get a good result. 

This card is a reminder to celebrate the harvest..whether the harvest is a hard won life-lesson, or the result of well-placed hope and trust. This card is a reminder to celebrate life. 

Happy almost-Autumn.

www.ModernOracleTarot.com

Today's Tarot - Judgement

A new day is a new beginning, not a slave to days before.

www.ModernOracleTarot.com

Three card reading about career change

Q. With the changes in the economy, I've taken my career in a new direction. It is a little un-nerving to start something new at my age. Am I headed in the right direction?

A. I've been working with my mentor, and re-reading some of her writing...I feel drawn to approaching this like a 'yes/no' reading, amped up a little bit. Adding a little of my own spin to her card lay-out, let's approach it like this. Three stacks of cards (like we've done before), but with the left stack being the main yes/no indicator, middle stack is cautions, things to watch out for, the right stack things you are doing particularly well or working in your favor. Ace is yes, no ace is no (easy enough, right?)

Things in your favor - ACE of swords

Cautions - Judgement

yes/no ACE of wands

The ace of swords is associated with the element of air, and the sword on the rider-waite deck is straight up. "Up" is a strong energy and concept around this card. Ted Andrews reads this a "Unique new rhythms of success" in his Animal Wise Tarot (www.dragonhawkpublishing.com). I think this speaks of two basic reassurances...that your new path is on the UPswing, and holds a very positive energy right now. I understand from my Mentor Joy (www.psychicjoystar.com) that the astrology right now is powerful and positive as well, which crosses right into the second point...good timing. Your natural rhythm is spot-on for switching...I 'hear' "good timing".

I picked up the "Animal Wise" cards since you've liked them before. In this deck, Judgement is associated with whales, who can dive to incredible depths, so it is read as "new depths of creativity". Does your new career use your creativity more than in the past? Often creative work is more free-form and less structured than more traditional, didactic jobs. The are also more insecure in a lot of ways. The caution here is in second guessing yourself. The first-impulse feeling I got from the card was "trust your judgment". I've heard self-employment is a big trend, and it feels like being "on a trapeze without a net"...but it is also a big opportunity to learn, and one of the big lessons is to hone your judgement, and to trust your judgement.

Finally...drum roll please...ACE of wands, so yes, you are on a good path with this choice. It is 'frog' read as "fertility and new beginnings"...perfect for what you are doing, and encouragement for your new beginning. The from on the photo is bright green...green is, remember, associated with growth, healing, and to some degree wealth. (not everyone uses green money...but there are traditional reasons, I suppose, that we chose that as the color of our currency...green, growing, is a good thing to associate with it anyway)

Like they say, it's all good. Hope this helps. Keep up the good work!

Today's Tarot - Judgement

Judgement: Plumb the depths. Peel back the layers. Use all of your senses...including the 6th one. Use your logic and reason. Know a situation before you make a decision that you can't take back.

Judgment: getting results from your consequences

This is where reading tarot cards gets tricky. Tarot, tea leaves, palm lines, just plain psychic impressions: all intuitive tools are conceptual and symbolic. Intuition-helpers are idea and image driven.


The hard part is putting those pure ideas and images into words. Language can be both powerful, and subtle. Words can have a variety of meanings and connotations. "Judgement" is a good example.


Judgement can mean reason, good decision-making, as in "use good judgement" or "an error in judgement". This is the softer side of the word, alluding to making a healthy, logical way through many options.


In the tarot cards, the major arcana card "Judgement" is associated with a slightly harsher, harder connotation of the word. Here "judgement" speaks more to the idea of authoritarian pronouncement, like "passing judgement" or "being judgmental".


To move tarot readings from the era of a flat Earth into the era of quantum physics, we need to move the connotations of this card from hard to soft, from authoritarian judgmentalism to individual reason and good judgement.


One interpretation of this card is "consequences and renewal" (Diane Morgan). This interpretation, I think, captures the best of old and new.
Consequences is still used in a punitive way in our language. We often talk of the "consequences" when rules are broken...the authoritative pronouncement.
Consequences can have multiple shades of meaning. One is "result" or "outcome". Sure, breaking rules results in punishment. But too, any cause results in an effect. That effect can be - you guessed it - judged to be either good or bad.


Put the Judgement major arcana card into modern language and might get this:  Use your head (judgement)and learn from what happens (cause and effect/consequences) to learn from the experience and do better next time (renewal).


Wishing you a day of easy learning.




www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

I rant endlessly about tolerance.

I've spent the weekend reading, when time allows, Penn Jillette's "God No".  It's funny and insightful and hits one nail on the head..."I don't know what's best for other people".  By the same token, other people don't know what is best for me. I have to know that, and learn that either by taking respected advice or by hard experience.

I also have to admit that "Black Friday" is one of those days where I struggle to keep my own ego and judgmentalism in check. I hate so-called "Black Friday". It's been years since I've ventured anywhere but work on the day after Thanksgiving.  But I sucked it up and took my daughter to the mall so she could see for herself what all the fuss is about.

She was wide-eyed with the adventure, especially since we stopped at her favorite restaurant for lunch on the way. I couldn't wait to leave...the greed and materialism was palpable. I wonder what percentage of that mass of  bargain hunters would be crowing in a few short weeks that "Jesus is the reason for the season" (God No!) and other self-serving hypocrisy after Friday's  mad dash to the cash register. That's the down side to opening up to your intuition. Annoyingly-busy gets turned into the emotional equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard and a soul-sucking walk through a swamp of cynicism.

So what does that have to do with Tarot? It is a wide idea that takes several cards to build. From the major arcana I'd have to say Judgement is relevant, along with a pocketful of coins cards...compassion, magnanimity, craft and service...to name a few keywords from that suite.

Ah well, that's life. It was an adventure for her and a two hour opportunity for me to repeat "people are more important than things" ad nauseam. Whatever the reason for the season may be for other people, I don't know what buying stuff on sale has to do with it. I'd rather have a small thoughtful personalized gift, and that's the kind I try to give.  Soft slipper socks give me a great deal of pleasure on a winter evening, and music is the gift that keeps giving every time I fire up the ipod...and think of them when I hear it. That small, thoughtful, hand-made ethos is something well worth adopting from Kwanzaa.

(To continue a previous rant...that is another reason I like being a person instead of a religion. A freethinker can embrace the best of all of them while being unburdened by the worst parts of them)

Thankfully it is Saturday. I have a warm pair of slipper socks on, the "Firefly" marathon is on television and as soon as I'm done with this, I'm going back to knitting a beach bag for my niece at Xmas while I listen to a playlist of favorites.

I hope your friday wasn't black and that there are brighter days ahead

Baihu

www.modern-oracle-tarot.com

Today's Tarot - 5 of Swords

An error in judgement doesn't have to be permanent. It can be transformed into a lesson, a journey, a call to action.

www.ModernOracleTarot.com

www.RondaSnow.com

Today's Tarot - Judgement

The Judgement card has many meanings associated with it. The Tarot deck evolved in Medieval Europe, so this card has many images and ideas drawn from the Christian notion of "Judgement Day". I'm not at all comfortable with any of those, which to my mind ring of bigotry and judgementalism rather than wisdom, reason or good judgement. I much prefer the more modern, universal, egalitarian conceptualization of it as "consequences and renewal".


Today, the consequences part is what jumps to the forefront. Not in a punitive way, but more in a cause-and-effect way. The things we do and say have consequences...to others and to the way our future unfolds.


There is a feeling of "advice" around the card today. The advice is to see things as they are before rushing to judgment. Nothing clouds reason and intuition, both, quite like heavy expectations.


It is a little less stressful that way too. It lifts two burdens from you, at least for a moment, when you look at things with that clear, Zen, as-they-are frame of mind. You spare yourself from making a decision, a judgement just at that moment. Plus you spare yourself from the weight of expectation. Taking a moment to see things as-they-are and here-and-now frees you from both the expectations formed by the past and worries about the future. Even if that frame of mind only lasts a moment, at least it is a peaceful moment.


Wishing you a day filled with peaceful moments.








www.rondasnow.com

9 of Wands Tarot daily meditation

9 of Wands: Acceptance. Acceptance is tied to judgement - what is acceptABLE and what needs more effort. Acceptance is an active process, not fatalistic surrender without thought or self-esteem.