Reiki Flow

The Daily draw: Two of Cups, Reversed

My first reaction: Now here’s something you don’t want to see in a reading three days before Valentine’s Day. The Two of Cups often represents a strong emotional connection between two people. Reversed, it suggests there are issues with that connection, such as miscommunication for example. It might even represent complete disconnection on the part of one person or both.

On the other hand, if there are issues, wouldn’t you rather know that than go through the day thinking blissfully that nothing was wrong, only to get the rug pulled out from underneath you when you got home to find the suitcases packed? You can’t resolve something you’re not aware of.

Or perhaps you’re no longer sure that the relationship is working out, and the Two of Cups is highlighting that you might be staying in the relationship for the wrong reasons, such as inertia and fear of emotional destabilization. Trust me, as an HSP I know how far we can go beyond the expiry date if the other person seems happy, or at least not unhappy.

Of course, your Two of Cups reversed experience might not play out as dramatically and fatalistically as that. It could just be a simple misunderstanding. These things happen all the time. In my personal experience, I find that misunderstandings are more likely to occur when one or the other of you spend more time talking to a version of a person in your head instead of the real person. Let’s look at an example.

Your significant other invites you over for dinner. “It’s a surprise. You’ll like it,” she says. She wants everything to be perfect for you, because she loves you and she knows it will make you happy. Preparations are going well – the smoked salmon is out, the leeks are chopped. She goes to add the cream and realizes it’s off. She could go to the shop, but there isn’t enough time. She’ll have to improvise, but the dinner is no longer perfect. Sure, you’ll say “it’s grand”, but she knows you won’t be as impressed as you would have been and she feels a bit deflated. Anyway, the dinner is on, she cleans the kitchen a bit and changes clothes, putting herself under pressure but still able to be back in the kitchen with a glass of wine about ten minutes before you arrive. Then suddenly she hears your voice, in her head, say, “I don’t really like smoked salmon”. “What!?” she shouts silently to herself. “I spent hours organizing this for you and you don’t even like it! You’re not even going to eat it!!!”

Meanwhile you’re walking down the street towards her house with a bouquet of flowers whistling a happy tune, looking forward to the evening. You knock on the door and you’re greeted with a look that could give you frostbite. “What did I do this time?” you wonder. When you find out what you (that is, the you in her head) did you don’t know what to say. You know you would have eaten the dry salmon with a smile on your face and said nothing, but it’s too late now – that other you just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Whether you two can salvage the evening at this point depends on your combined level of resiliency.

You’ve still got a few days to sort this out. Communication is fundamental to a relationship. Try to clear the filters of assumption and internal dialog to see and hear your partner clearly so you can have a true connection. And this year, maybe you should go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day.

The Daily Draw: Page of Swords

Mercury is coming to the end of another retrograde phase, turning direct tomorrow. Mercury rules my sun sign (Virgo) and the left side of my brain has found it a challenge to find a clear way forward on a particular project I’m working on or, more accurately, two complimentary and potentially conflicting projects. I won’t bore you with the details. Let’s just say they are complex projects, one of which hasn’t been signed off on yet so can’t be officially begun (and may be shelved). But if we proceed with both, and they are not completed simultaneously, neither will be completed on time.

The slow-down associated with Mercury retrograde has resulted in the pressure feeling like it is off. But with each day that goes by we draw one day closer to the deadline. A budgetary decision needs to be made in the next few days to avoid the type of chaos I’d rather not experience. I’m trying to mentally prepare people for the possibility that the decision will make itself if too much more time goes by, but up the chain no one seems to want to commit.

It reminds me a bit of the old joke about changing motoring regulations to bring Ireland into line with the EU. When implemented, all traffic will drive on the right instead of the left side of the road, as they do on the continent. Starting tomorrow we implement phase 1, starting with trucks and busses.

In this context, what I’m getting from the Page of Swords is that I need to analyse the possible scenarios and have a strategy for each, because once a decision is made the pressure will be on. At least for today I have the luxury of treating this like an abstract exercise, to look at it objectively without having any specific expectations place on me by myself or others? What happens if we do both? What happens if we do one? What happens if we start one now then begin the other while the first is in progress? We could be told that our course of action could be any of those, and I need to be prepared.

I drew this card last month, and my thoughts on it were a bit broader in scope. You can read them here.

The Daily Draw: Ace of Pentacles

Aces are often indicators of something new coming into your life, perhaps a chance to begin a new phase. With the Ace of Pentacles this new beginning is rooted in the material plane, since pentacle energy resonates with the practical aspects of life. That can mean a chance to be prosperous in a business venture, for example, but pentacles are about more than cash flow (even if it is the first thing people usually think of).

The Ace of Pentacles can just as easily indicate potential results in areas such as health, home improvements, or construction projects. It could even indicate a connectedness or grounding to mother earth in a new and deeper way than before. It can represent any tangible goal in the physical world.

The thing to be aware of here is that you are being given an opportunity to manifest your desires. You are not being handed the end result. So I don’t recommend sitting on the sofa waiting for your lottery numbers to come up. It’s not about that.

When the universe is trying to give you something, the only way you are going to get it is by taking an active role in receiving it. That’s how you let the universe know that you actually want it. In other words, you still need to work at whatever it is you want to achieve, whether it be in your business, in your garden or in the gym. The reason that the phrase “one percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration” is so often used is because it is so often true.

What you can count on with the Ace of Pentacles is that there is now fertile ground and the right environment to achieve those goals. This is the right time to get started and take action You’re going with the current – the energy is flowing in a direction that will benefit you provided you put in the effort.

The Daily Draw: Knight of Pentacles

More than any of the other knights, the Knight of Pentacles has a one-track mind, a singular focus. They set a goal, perhaps off in the distance, and strive to reach goal no matter what. They aren’t prone to roadside distractions, and don’t entertain much that will pull them off course unless it is for a very good reason. This knight tries to keep a steady pace on an arrow-straight course.

Roland from Stephen King’s Dark Tower septology (or is it more now) comes to mind as a great example of just how long and how far this knight is prepared to go. Whatever person or situation is on this knight’s agenda can trust that this knight is reliable, dependable and will get the job done. That is a good thing.

But knights are a bit yin and yang regardless of whether they are riding upright or standing on their heads. With this knight, the reliability and dependability can go hand in hand with being dull, predictable and stuck in a rut.

In college, this knight was capable of studying at the kitchen table while a mad party was going on all around him in the flat. Now, that’s a great trait if you have a final on Monday morning. But if it’s Saturday night and Monday is just another school day, maybe it’s not so great.

The energy of the Knight of Pentacles is a good thing to be able to draw on – we can all use it. But a constant stream of it can be a symptom that one is a workaholic. Moderation and a change of energy from time to time can help prevent burn out for this knight. He might need some help taking the blinders off and having a few laughs, sharing a romantic evening, just taking some time to be and experience life just for the joy of it.

Stubborn as he is, he might take some convincing, even if it is Friday.

Info Share: 10 Ways to Fit Self Healing into Your Day

Everyone attuned to Reiki has been told the importance of self-healing, but many of us with busy lifestyles struggle to make a daily practice of it. In the link below, Reiki Master Angie Webster provides ten tips for working self-Reiki into your day. I was already doing a few of these, and the rest of them seem easy to work into even the busiest day.

When I was going through the attunements, Master Simon advised us to keep it simple. This post will help you do that. I especially like what Angie says in tip 8, which to me is key: If you are attuned, Reiki is already flowing through you. So be aware of it, feel it, set intentions for it, use it, make it a natural part of your day.

To borrow what James Thurber once said about humor, every time is the time for Reiki.

Here’s the link to the article:

10 Ways to Fit Self Reiki into Your Day

The Daily Draw: Five of Pentacles

The Five of Pentacles is not a card I like to see come up. Does anyone? For me it highlights abundance issues, which could be in health, wealth, time, or whatever it is that one fears they lack.

I’m a firm believer that you create your own reality. Things don’t just happen to you – you either cause them to happen or you allow them in. Sometimes you can see this easily because it’s simple cause and effect. Sometimes it’s the result of many years, or even lifetimes of complex interactions and soul contracts (or whatever you’re having yourself). That background can be of some use, but what’s really important is where you are now and what you are going to do about it.

Chances are there is a lesson to be learned before you can move on. We as people can be very good at not wanting to learn particular lessons, and often it is because incorporating that lesson into our lives will require us to do something different from what we are currently doing and/or give up something comfortable and familiar, even if we know we should because that something is an obstacle to our progress.

Looking at the RWS version of this card, we see two figures who are seemingly destitute. One of them is on crutches. They are in the cold and snow just outside a beautiful pentacle-filled, stained-glass window that is lit from behind – the building is currently occupied. The concept of Christian charity surely suggests that those inside the church should be helping the less fortunate outside. But here’s the question: have these two been cast out to fend for themselves, or are they so used to their situation that they can’t or won’t go inside and seek help from people who may not even be aware they are outside struggling?

Let’s not get too literal with this. I know some people shut down just hearing or reading the word “church”. In fact, maybe the light in this card represents the light from within yourself, and to begin to change the external negative appearance and begin healing you only need turn inward to that light.

Regardless of what you think that building represents, let’s focus on this: The people in this card seem to have an opportunity for help to improve their current situation. Can they see it? Will they take it? Could you? Would you?

The Daily Draw: Two of Pentacles, Reversed

Following on from yesterday, where the reversed Chariot seemed to be advising against trying to control everything through force of will and just let go, the Two of Pentacles reversed seems to suggest that maybe you should stop and consider the nature and number of the tasks you take on, because either you can’t cope or, if you can, it’s not a very pleasant experience.

The Two of Pentacles is a juggler in an unstable world. The ground directly underneath the juggler’s feet may be solid, but just behind the sea is roiling like a perfect storm. To compensate, the juggler shifts balance to keep the pentacles in the air. The cosmic lemniscate suggests this is not a temporary situation.

Yet the juggler seems to be enjoying the activity, and quite able to move with the flow. And that is as it should be, right? We live in the moment, and ideally we come into harmony with that, along with an appreciation and a love of the process of living each moment. When we dwell on crossing the finish line, (wherever that is) or completion of the task we lose out on being in the moment. We might even perceive the process as an obstacle, and thereby miss out on so much of life. When is the juggling done? When there is nothing left to juggle I suppose, or no juggler to do the juggling.

But what happens when someone becomes aware of those moments and the processes worked within them, then realizes that the experiences in those moments do not serve them, they are not a good match? From an early age we are taught which balls to juggle and how many. We are taught how and when to juggle them. Many are taught that they are inferior if they cannot juggle the same balls in the same way as others.

Then there is the indoctrination into a reward system of what to expect for juggling well, often by people who never fully reaped those rewards but are perpetuating their own indoctrination. The focus is placed so much on reward that one manages to block or become numb to the moment in favour of some imagined delayed gratification, as though now was the illusion and later was the reality, even though the opposite is true. Then one day you wake up and realize that you’re juggling somebody else’s balls, and not enjoying it very much.

(I think I’ve squeezed the last drop out of that analogy, don’t you?)

As wise people keep saying, if you don’t like the journey you probably won’t like the destination. In this life, I believe the journey is the destination. The juggler is content because he enjoys what he’s doing. He chose it, he owns it, it is what he wants. Maybe it’s time for you to take a good, hard look at your … process. If it doesn’t serve you, what can you do to change it?

The Daily Draw: The Chariot, Reversed

The chariot is an interesting card that can take you in a few directions. It can represent the kind of victory one achieves through sheer determination and will, forcing a desired outcome. This energy can be used in a positive way, such as when trying to beat a nicotine addiction for example. The sports world is full of examples of the application of this energy. On the other hand, so are corporate politics and plain political politics.

Depending on the context, the Chariot might indicate a situation where you need to hold things together to prevent disaster while waiting for a rescue team to survive. There are times where you have little choice but to roll up your sleeves and dig in your heels to survive.

Then again, the Chariot is the card of the ego. What the ego wants is not necessarily what is best for you, or indeed for everyone around you. So when I see this card reversed I have to ask myself, “what am I holding on to, and what happens if I let go? “Because my take on this is that whatever it is, either it’s not something I should be trying to hold on to, or else I’m not using the best method of trying to achieve my goal. With the Chariot, the end justifies the means, but in an interpersonal world where we affect and are affected by everyone we come in contact with, that is seldom the case.

Victories gained through force of will are not of the win-win variety. There are winners and there are losers. It is an energy for conquering, not cooperating, as the examples in the first paragraph show. Those on the receiving end of this energy might not feel too good about it. That might not be an issue for the chariot driver, at least not while he’s driving the chariot. It’s when he gets off that he needs to beware of retaliation and revenge from those he has beaten, or maybe just disassociation from others who are just fed up with his controlling attitude.

The ego desires to control as much as possible. While that might work temporarily, in the end it is an illusion. The higher self knows better. The patience and compassion of Strength, the next card in the major arcana, shows a more positive, peaceful and longer-lasting way to win than the Chariot can offer. So when I see the Chariot reversed, I know it’s time to let go cause, folks, it I just ain’t going to win this one anyway.

The Daily Draw: Queen of Cups

The queen of Cups is the queen of the emotions. She is someone who feels things more deeply than the average person. Every moment experienced during the course of a day is perceived in a range of feelings as varied as the palette of colours an artist might use. She might not be able to articulate each of those feelings, but she knows the subtle variations of each and every one.

Someone in tune with their own feelings is, of course, someone who can more easily tune into other people’s feelings, so it should be no surprise that this queen is a natural empath. All of us are constantly pushing out and receiving emotional energy as part of the waves of energy that surround us. The Queen of Hearts is adept at reading these waves, and is therefore naturally intuitive.

She is more inclined to listen to her heart than her head, and in return her heart provides reliable information consistently. She knows when someone is being honest and sincere, and she knows when they are not. The inner relationship between this queen’s heart and her head often leads to the heart information connecting in such a way that her head receives images, and thoughts that cause her to know about people and events from within and in advance – in other words, she has an innate psychic ability.

The energy and abilities of the Queen of Cups is available to all who want to communicate with her. Imagine if young people were taught emotional awareness as an essential skill like reading and writing, which of course it is. Even without that, I think most people could work out their own emotional language and how to listen to their hearts for themselves if they would only take the time to be still, go within and listen.

Emotional self-awareness leads an awareness and respect for the emotions of others, which in turn makes one want to take care with the expression of their own. How much more peaceful the world would be if we respected each other’s emotions in the same way as the queen of Cups does.

The Daily Draw: Judgement

The Judgement card represents a range of energy. It signifies a turning point in life, a transition that may be a change of direction or, just as likely, a step up into a higher vibration or level of existence. You feel strongly motivated to walk that path with determination.

Judgement can also represent the energies that are part of that transition. For example, there is an aspect of clearing clutter and past baggage that holds you back. This is the time to look at yourself objectively. You have insight into what in your life serves your purpose and what does not. You may have been aware of this dichotomy for some time, but now you are ready to act by keeping what works for you and discarding what does not so that there is more room for what you really want.

There is also a sense of forgiveness for past actions and lack thereof, and maybe of forgiving others so you can get past that pain and move on. Rather than beating yourself up over what has come before now, you are ready to simply accept the past for what it is and let go.

Then there is the moving on. Knowing that there is something better for you that wants to come into your life is one thing, but to embrace that change you need to take steps receive what the universe wants to give you. Get up, get out, meet the universe halfway, and don’t look back.