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Showing posts with label moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moon. Show all posts
09 June 2013
31 December 2012
Tarot 2013
Have predictions jumped the shark yet?
I've been saying it like a broken record for years: Tarot doesn't make predictions. Nothing can. You heard George Lucas' Yoda - the future is always in motion. Stephanie Myers was right on target with Alice in "Twilight" too - when someone changes their mind, the "vision" changes. I think Doctor Who said it best in the "Cold Earth" episode written by Chris Chibnall "The future turns around you, here, now, so do good".
Predictions do no good that I can see. A "prediction" seeds a specific idea that may or may not be for a person's highest good. It locks in the psychic's vision of the future...no the person who sought guidance in the first place. Predictions weaken choice and narrows vision. It can heap stress on an already stressful situation if the "prediction" is frightening or un-nerving in any way.
I believe that inutitive work of any kind...psychic readings, tarot, palms, tea leaves, anything... should do the exact opposite. Intuition should widen our vision, show other possibilities we've missed, give us more choices, ease stress and soothe emotions. "Accurate predictions" have no place in that. That's why I won't do readings like that, even though it has lost clients and money for me over the years.
I'm hoping 2013 is the year that REAL intuitive work comes into its own. Maybe with the whole rediculous December 21 doomsday thing behind us, and having survived the mellinium, asteroid fly-bys and the end of twinkies, maybe, just maybe we can all get over the idea of PREDICTING the future and get down to the work of CREATING a better future.
Sure, predictions are fun, especially at the New Year. Truth is, even the most choice-and-guidance oriented of us will indulge in making predictions for the New Year. It's a game, a plaything, an entertainment, as much for us as our readers. It stretches the mental muscles that help us do our more important work, just like playing a physical game can help your physical fitness.
This year I'm going to play a different game. Instead of indulging in the straight "cold reading" kind of thing, I'm going to do a "Four Seasons" reading for the year 2013. The "Four Seasons" is my home-made reading style that sticks with the idea of guidance, but still gives that 'look ahead' feeling that we naturally crave, that need to know that naturally drives humans to want to see the future in the first place. Each card isn't a prediction, but instead is a theme for the season, or an important idea / choice that may come to you during that time. Of course, this reading isn't going to match everyone. It's just for fun, but if it makes sense to you, or helps someone, somewhere along the way...all the better. Happy 2013!
General Pattern: three major arcana cards with only one minor arcana card suggest that we may be faced with more choices, changes, and in the first part of the year compared to the second part. Again, not a prediction, but pointing toward the way things are trending - like a compass needle points north. It doesn't predict what will happen or what people will do...just the direction things are headed.
Winter (Jan. - March ) - THE MOON: On the Rider-Waite deck, the Moon card shows dogs or cayotes looking / howling at the moon, with a lobster crawling out of the water onto a path that extends to the mountains in the distance. The phrases "howl at the moon" and "evolve" come to mind. The 'howl at the moon' part connects with the idea of authenticity...the advice here is to be true to yourself, be your truest self. This winter may ask us to be more honest with ourselves than ever before - and when we are more honest with ourselves, it leads to more honesty and open-ness with others. It is a difficult thing to do, and can cause us to lose some people we used to think were friends...but shines like a light to truer friendships, and helps us find our real community. When faced with a choice in this season, think about what you honestly want to happen not what you honestly think is the best thing for everyone ... not what you think is the expected answer. All of this also links with evolution...not the physical kind that makes so many people twitchy...the personal growth kind that shows we can learn, adapt, adopt new ideas, ideals, and find a better way to do things. My mind is drawn to the national debate about marriage rights. Perhaps it is time for the nation to 'evolve' on social issues en masse.
Sping (April - June) THE FOOL (INNOCENT): This is the very first card of the tarot deck. In very old calendars, the first of April was considered to be the beginning of the new year instead of January. Springtime is still the beginning of the year in some cultures. Urban legend has it that April Fools day started after the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calenday that switched the beginning of the year from April to January. Those that continued to celebrate the old way were teased as "April Fools" (www.snopes.com). The message here is that Spring 2013 will be a chance to relax and play and de-stress a little, as we look forward to new beginnings and fresh starts. Spring naturally carries a sense of renewal and optimism. My hunch is that we can make it larger, more pervasive than usual, like the phrase "renewed national optimism". I think this may extend to national policy and economy despite continued international policy and diplomacy concerns in the background. The advice here is to make the hopeful choices, and to avoid choices based in fear. "He who hesitates is lost". This does not feel like the time for ultra-conservatism, philosophically or politically.
Summer (July - Sept)-7 of Cups: Pendulums will swing. The 7 of cups is sometimes read as "delusion". In this case, the connotation would be more along the lines of "take care to see clearly". Don't get carried away with the spring's optimism. This is a season of pragmatism, practicality, watching, and carrying through with what was begun in spring. In spring, seeds are planted. In summer, we don't do much with those seeds except tend them...watch, water, weed, wait. It is a time to face what we can not control. What's done is done. Do what you can. This season teaches the comfort of seeing things as they are, and focusing on here and now.
Autumn (Oct. - Dec.) HIgh Priestess: And the pendulum comes full swing, and things go a full circle in a single, dizzying year. The feeling of watching the seeds grow changes to a feeling of springing into action for the harvest, and reaping what we've sown in spring - literally and figuratively. It feels like a busy time too, the lesson here is to "stop and smell the roses"...where the Moon card pointed to spiritual growth, the Priestess card points to the new destination...asks us to appreciate where we have grown TO. We've cleaned house, added on a room, planted a garden and stored the harvest for winter...this is the season for gratitude, to stop and survey what we've accomplished, and plan our next step. This season is a reminder to remember the spiritual side of things, as much as possible to experience the magic, mystery, and mystical side of life. After all the activity of spring planting and fall harvest, things start to fall back toward watching...this time watching the full moon through the trees, looking inward instead of outward.
General summary: This year will see full cycles compleated at a rapid pace. It will generally follow the cycles and pace of nature, perhaps more closely than society has for several years. I feel pushed to say the "rise of the nones" will continue...nones meaning those from the Pew survey who do not participate in any religion, yet maintaina robust spiritual life. Tolerance will evolve, and we begin to see a generational shift in the way we all look at the world. Letting us have a brightness andoptimism we haven't really seen in the past 10 -15 years. There is a feeling of Korea being in the news again, in a sunny season like spring or summer. I get the mental image of a knit hat in Jamaca's national colors and hear "rasta" and a feeling of fun...maybe a new popularity for Reggae or Reggae influenced music, like The Police in the 80s. Winter weather in the northeast feels crisp, cold and white...but not storms, just normal. There is a feeling of drought in the midwest again this summer, but in a smaller area than last year. Something about whales and the west coast...very large whales like blue or humpbacks, perhaps a rare and special sighting of some sort. Now I see the "time vortex" from the Doctor Who opening sequence...either the Doctor Who 50th anniversary season will be a gigantic hit in the US as much as all the Whovians are hoping, or people really will come to a new understanding of time, predictions, probablilities and all of that quantum theory can teach us. More confirmation of the Higgs boson from Cern perhaps. Overall, I feel upbeat and optimistic energy around 2013.
Ok, so I couldn't resist playing a little with that last paragraph...but why not? Play is a wonderful thing, but it isn't everything. Dessert is a wonderful thing, but we can't eat only sweets. Predictions are fun, but they are only a small, entertaining part of things.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous
17 September 2012
Q&A:Spiritual Dictionary
You might find this one to be a little controversial...read at your own risk.
Q. In a tweet a few days ago, you described yourself as "secular". Isn't that the same thing as an atheist? How can you be "secular" and say you give "spiritual guidance" with your readings?
A. Fair question. You make a good point.This is kind of hard to explain, so be patient with me for a few minutes.
As I see it, "spiritual" and "secular" aren't exact opposites. They don't cancel each other out, and you can have both happening at the same time. I haven't talked about any of that for a while, so someone new to the blog or the @modernoracle twitter feed might not have seen the older, spirituality-oriented posts.
The key is in the words "secular" and "spiritual".
Since we are going there, we might have to talk about the big emotional words "religion" and "atheist" too. They are all emotionally charged words, that carry a LOT of connotations, reflex reactions, defensiveness, fear, anger ...you name it. It is hard to talk about these things without emotions getting in the way, so I'm going to try and take this step by step, as logically as I can, ok?
To my way of thinking, "secular" simply means not-religion. It doesn't necessarily mean atheist. An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in any god. If you don't believe in a god, you don't need a religion, so atheists are, by definition, secular. But "secular" by itself doesn't say anything one way or the other about a belief in god or not. It is possible to believe in a god or gods, and not participate in religion - like the free-thinking Diests in the 1700s and the Age of Reason. Theism and religion, atheism and secularism seem to pair up most of the time, but they aren't the exact same thing. That's why I like the term secular...it is actually god/atheist neutral.
"Spiritual" is different from both religion and atheism as I use it. When I say "spiritual" I mean a person's individual understanding of how life works. Spirituality is an internal, individual relationship with the subtle, mysterious parts of life. It is our personal individual understanding of truth. It is how we, each alone, makes sense of life, the universe and everything (to borrow a phrase from Douglas Adams). It is based exclusively on our internal sense of truth, ethics, morality, philosophy and so on.
Religion on the other hand, is an outward, group, social construct. Religion is codified, external definitions of truth, morality, ethics, philosophy and so on. Religion is often expressed through rituals, writings, lifestyle, and is taught one generation to another in ways that personal spirituality often is not. Religion is external, a shared, group experience. Spirituality is internal, an individual experience.
For some people, their inward spirituality and their outward religion is the same thing. For others, like me, the two are entirely separate. I do not practice or teach any religion...so I'm secular.
Through tarot and such, I think about and interact with the intangible ideas in life. I share what I've learned, and how I've used tarot symbolism (among other things) to learn them...thus "spiritual guidance".
Tarot readings are spiritual, not theological in my experience. The ideas and symbols are helpful, no matter what your religion or beliefs might be.
Readings are all about one person coming to an individual, internal understanding of their situation. Readings are a way for an individual to navigate through a portion of life, and a tool to help with individual choices. Some people use their religion for that guidance. Others don't. Whether you use a religious or secular guidance-tool, the essence of this kind of guidance is internal, individual and spiritual.
From that point of view, religion offers spiritual guidance, but so does intuitive readings. It is all about how an individual uses the reading/religion, not the reading/religion itself.
Your question is a good example - it is essentially spiritual. We aren't primarily talking about religion...so this is mainly a secular post. We are talking about individual understanding, individual life-philosophy - so this is also a spiritual post.
There are even Tarot cards for this kind of conversation. The Pope or Hierophant card from the major arcana talks about the intersections of social convention, religion, and individuality. The Moon talks about our internal, intuitive, spiritual journey.
And before you even ask...I don't talk about whether I am atheist or not. I won't talk about religion except in very very general terms like this, and even then only when it is brought up by a question or a card. Like Bella said in Twilight..."I'm Switzerland". I'm a religion-neutral, religion-free zone. I'm secular, and I help people find spiritual guidance through tarot-symbolism and intuition-development. In my mind, "secular" and "spiritual" live side by side just fine.
www.ModernOracleTarot.com
17 April 2012
Q&A: What do these cards mean?
A. Having worked with you before, I know you get it about predictions. You are exactly right in the way you approached your question and the way you are keeping an open mind is excellent! That always gives the best reading.
You didn't say what card spread (how the cards are placed on the table) you were using. Each position in the layout has a symbolic meaning, in addition to the symbolism of the card itself. Without knowing that, we are missing some good context-clues about what the message might be for you.
Before looking at the individual cards, anyway, it helps to look at the general pattern, and the obvious thing here is that all three cards are from the major arcana portion of the deck. This can be a hint that there are big lessons, big changes or big energy of some kind moving through life for you. You might be on the edge of an adventure, if not literally, then mentally and emotionally.
When you look at cards individually, the best place to start is the card's "meaning" then add on any intuition you might get about the card. To find the meaning, a good place to start is the book or guide that came with the Tarot deck itself when you bought it. If you don't have that, there are several really good books. The best way to choose the right reference for you is simply browse through them whenever you get a chance, and see which one "speaks" to you or seems to really seem to be the most on target for how you see the world.
I never quite found the perfect book, that's why I'm writing the "modern oracle" books I told you about...the one telling how to do readings for yourself and the other with my take on the card meanings. It seems like there are no in-between books for people learning to read cards...either they are too basic (like the ones that often come with card decks) and more advanced books, like the "Animal Wise Tarot" by Ted Andrews that I've been using lately (I'm pretty sure its available on www.dragonhawkpublishing.com if you are interested). ANYWAY....
(The following sections have been edited to protect privacy...what you see is a generalized version)
The moon has to do with spiritual journeys, internal learning, intuition...that sort of thing. Basically that means that no matter how things turn out for you and A*****, in the long run it will prove to be an important lesson. You will learn and grow just from the experience of this time.
At first glimpse, you might think "justice" is that law-and-order, book 'em danno kind of justice. At the heart of it, it really is more about wisdom. This is both an advice and a validation kind of message. Use your wisdom with A*****. If you are steady, supportive, loving, compassionate and wise toward him during all this, he'll notice. This card underscores that positive loving feeling from earlier. It feels like he is giving his soul-level or etheric-level permission for me to tell you that. More than just advice, there is a reassurance here that you have what it takes...you really do have the wisdom and patience to be there for him in the way he needs right now.
The High Priestess is "mystery". I don't think that traditional meaning applies here, not directly. It is more a reminder of discretion as the better part of valor...it is a reminder that not all love is "out there". You don't have to tell all of your friends or announce yourselves from the rooftops. I think this card is asking you to let things unfold naturally, don't push, and give yourselves the time and privacy he (and maybe you too) might need for good things to happen.
I usually wrap things up with any general intuitive feelings or impressions that come through, whether they are related to the cards or not. Since the reading is originally yours, I'm not getting anything in that respect. What I suggest is that you pull those cards again, and just look at them quietly, then do an inventory of what you feel. Are there any mental images, words, sounds, sensations, memories...anything...that comes to mind to give you any additional clues to what the reading's message for you might be.
That's all I can help with at this point...to carry the reading any further is up to you. Given the amount of time that has elapsed between the reading and now, what I would suggest is a "one card daily meditation" type of reading for you...
Pull another card, but this time keep you and A***** clearly in mind, but stay open. Let it show you whatever you need to know with regard to the two of you. Look up the meaning of the card in a few places, then try the restful meditation/review of feelings that we just talked about.
Good luck and best wishes to both of you!
Ronda
www.ModernOracleTarot.com
www.RondaSnow.com
02 December 2011
Last Night's Moon
I watched the moon last night
It was a pretty little moon
Cheshire Cat smile in the western sky
I don't know if anyone else saw it
Or appreciated it, but then
I don't care.
The Moon didn't care that I was watching
It is enough that the Moon exists
Copyright 2011, Ronda Snow, all rights reserved
18 November 2011
Paranormal and Provocative: The Moon
Whether you gaze at it alone or with others, the moon remains as it is. Our spiritual journey, the awakening of our soul, doesn't need group activity or organized religion any more than the moon needs us to look at it in order to be beautiful in the night sky.
www.ModernOracleTarot.com
13 August 2010
The Moon - daily meditation
I think it is interesting to draw this card the morning after the peak of the Persied meteor shower. Not that a hauled myself out of bed to go watch it...
One traditional meaning for the card is "spiritual journey". Today I also want to connect it a bit with the Native American idea of the "vision quest".
I think too, there is a message of nature, connection with nature and our spiritual journey. Also a reminder of the cyclical, always-changing nature of life and spirit. We can't spend every day in a state of blissed-out spirituality. It doesn't seem right to go through life without those moments, or at least thinking or feeling those esoteric things.
What in nature inspires you today? What cycles and changes do you need to acknowledge as natural and normal?
The moon is small but growing now - perhaps something new but growing is coming along for you.
Wishing you the highest and best as the moon unfolds.
www.modernoracletarot.com
09 October 2009
The MOON
Today seems like a good day to talk about the moon, with the impact studies that NASA is doing.
The moon laughs at us…tiny kittens with even tinier claws touching and testing her…
The moon has always been magical and romantic. It is part of legend and lore.
It is the symbol of our spiritual journey, ever changing but still reliable, predictable, comforting.
Wishing you moon magic, and a sense of spirit in her soft light.
Baihu
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