The Daily Draw: Nine of Wands

Thriving Through Challenge

Nine of Wands

It has been a demanding week. A new project that seems to require too much work in too short amount of time, trying to find a new place to live with two weeks left to go (on paper anyway), the usual bustle of living with four small children, two of who are pre-school and autistic, and beginning a winter-term course on parenting such children and, of course, anxiously awaiting payday because it is January, after all.

The Nine of Pentacles says to me, “Please just stop battering me and let me have a moment’s peace”. However, this card stops short of saying “I can’t take it any more”. Because you know what, you can. You’re persistent and resilient enough to have got this far. Sure you’re tired, your clothes are torn, and you’re propping yourself up with a staff. But you’re here, and things are going to get better, or at least change. They’ll definitely change.

When life gets challenging, of course you have to take care of yourself—try to get enough sleep, eat right, meditate, whatever you can find the time for. The main thing, I think, is not to let those challenges wear you down. Depending on your circumstances, you can get to a point where you forget that not everything has to be a struggle, or that there is a way to accomplish what you want without feeling like it’s a struggle.

A lot of surviving, and perhaps even thriving, with the Nine of Pentacles comes down to having a positive mental and emotional attitude. This is where you really need to mind yourself. Is your mind running to negative thinking, or are you looking at your challenges as opportunities? Are you building up stress, or you clearing and releasing when possible and asking Archangel Michael to cut the ties to that stress, for example?

Life doesn’t have a finish line. You don’t get to chill permanently when you reach a certain point. Even some of the 1% have learned that the hard way. No, there are always going to be peaks and valleys and periods of challenge. It’s how we deal with challenge that defines our character.

The Daily Draw: Four of Pentacles, Reversed

Losing Control

Four of Pentacles, Reversed

The Four of Pentacles is one of the few cards that I prefer to see reversed. Upright, this card is all about blocking energy and trying to be controlling. On the RWS card, the pentacles cover the crown chakra, the heart chakra, and the bottom of both feet. This person is trying to hold on to everything they have right here, right now, by blocking anything that could come in or go out. They are trying to prevent change by staying out of the flow of life.

You might as well stand at the ocean shore and throw out your arms to prevent the coming tide. Sure, the person in the Four of Pentacles might have a more powerful effect on their environment in the short term, but eventually it is an exercise in futility—change always comes regardless of whether you cooperate. The more you try to prevent it and live in denial of it, the more you might find your old world eroding with nothing new to replace it.

With the reversed Four of Pentacles, the control that was once exerted is being lost. The impact of that can depend on how that control came to be lost. Is this person finally becoming aware of the impact of their attempts to hold on to everything so tightly? Hopefully that is the case, because that means this person is ready for the release and is at least attempting to get into the flow.

The alternative is that something has happened. Maybe the people in this person’s environment are simply ignoring him and not letting him run their lives. If this card comes up with The Tower, for example, it could indicate that the universe has or is about to give this person a graphic illustration of why trying to control everything is a really bad idea.

This card is likely to pop up in a reading that relates to a co-dependent relationship, since one or more of the people in that relationship will be possessive and/or trying to control the behaviour of the other, as is the nature of that type of relationship.

Of course, the person in this card isn’t always aware of their actions. We don’t always see ourselves as clearly as others do. If this card comes up for you, take an honest look at the relationships in your life and ask yourself whether they are all flowing freely. There may be one or more instances where manipulation is involved. The reversed Four of Pentacles says, “Maybe so, but not for long.”

The Daily Draw: The Emperor

Let’s Get Serious

The Emperor

Look at the time! It’s half past January! Some of you are still dreaming about what you’re going to accomplish this year, where you’re going to go, what new knowledge or skills you will acquire, what creative project you are going to undertake. Some of you are thinking about all these things simultaneously, but that’s a conversation for the Seven of Cups.

Look at this place! There’s dust everywhere. You’ve been lying on the couch since New Years Day. What are you going to do with your life? You’ll get nowhere like that, let me tell you. Time to put some order back into your life.

Welcome to boot camp. TEN-SHUN!!! YOU!!! Pick up that book and give me 20 pages! YOU!!! Get those plinths out. I want to see people on them NOW! I don’t care if you have to drag them in off the street. YOU!! Yeah, you Mr. know all! Why don’t you come up here and show everybody how to open and balance their chakras. RIGHT NOW!!!!! I want to see those chakras LIGHT UP!!!!!

OK, that might have been a little extreme. My point is that good intentions and great ideas are a good starting point, but working towards your goals only when you feel like it just isn’t good enough. To quote DR. Phil, “Winners do things that other people don’t want to do.” That requires discipline and structure. Hello Emperor.

If you want to bring your dreams to life, sometimes you’ve got to get tough with yourself. If you make a plan, stick to it. If you say you’re going to do something, do it, even if you’re only saying it to yourself. Leave your excuses in the box by the door, the bin man will be by later.

The Emperor reminds us that that there is more to manifestation than wishful thinking. Do we want to listen? Not really. Do we want to let him take over our lives? We certainly do not. But there are times when it is appropriate to heed is advice, especially if you really want to get things done.

The Daily Draw: The Page of Cups

Open Up to the Gift of the Cup

Today as I look at the page of cups what draws my attention most strongly is that this young person is clothed from crown chakra to root chakra in a blue hat scarf and tunic. Blue is the color predominantly associated with water, and water is the element associated with the suit of cups, which relates to the emotions, intuition and love.

The clothes are a prop for this youth. Although we have all within us to learn the lessons offered by the suit of cups, props are a tool that can help focus our attention on what we are trying to learn or achieve. So this person has literally immersed themselves in the suit of cups to absorb that energy.

The fish popping out of the cup is also blue. A gift of the emotions, intuition and/or love is being offered, an opportunity to increase their connection to that energy. The youth sees only the head, but the implication is that more will be revealed in time. Persistence, patience and consistency are required, but for now there is the energy that comes from starting something new.

The gift offered by the Page of Cups is there for all of us to accept should we choose to do so. Open up to it, feel it, learn from it, trust it, respect it, immerse yourself in it. It is as tangible as you allow it to be.

The Daily Draw: The Devil, Reversed

So How are Those New Year’s Resolutions Going?

The Devil, Reversed

In an effort to kick-start my brain this morning I had a look at what I’ve written about this card. I found I was pretty happy with my thoughts about it from a little over a year ago, for example:

On the RWS version of this card we see a man and a woman submitting to the control and influence of a big, scary, winged, horned beast of a Devil. The man and woman are both chained to the block on which the devil is perched, but they don’t seem to be terribly upset about it, judging by their faces. Apparently they haven’t noticed that there is enough slack in those chains to simply slip them off over their heads and walk away. Ah, but then they would have to take responsibility for their own cute little horns and tails. If they stay in bondage, they have someone to blame (read more).

But of course one of the beautiful things about Tarot is there is always something more to discover, something more to say, another example to give. It occurs to me that the New Year’s resolution is a perfect example of trying to turn the Devil on its head and extricate yourself from whatever vice, bad habit, or unpleasant situation you’ve been tethered to.

Personally, I long ago gave up New Year’s Resolutions as a bad job. Oh. I believe in self-responsibility, and self-improvement, but I think it’s something you need to do when the time is right, not because that’s what everyone else is doing, and the reason they’re doing it is because the world’s odometer is ticking over. That’s a great reason to say “Whoo hoo” on a car trip, but making integral changes to your life requires a little more focus than that.

If you are going to make significant changes you have to WANT to make those changes (see what I did there). The reason you have to WANT to do it is that it won’t be easy, and you will want to go back to your old ways. People might not always like what they know, but it is easier and often more comfortable. Hence the expression “The Devil you know”.

When we make changes we are delving into the unknown, and it can mess with our sense of self identity. If you quit smoking, for example, you might think, “Who am I going to be without the cigarettes? What will I do with my hands when I’m talking to people? How will I fill my time? What will I do with all this extra energy? Will I ever stop fidgeting or be able to sleep again? Will I eat everything in sight, then next year have to make a completely different resolution?”

Whatever you resolve to do or not do, there are going to be emotional, physiological and/or psychological challenges for some time to come—maybe forever, as is the case with addictions. And the positive changes can be as daunting as the negative ones because they are unfamiliar to us. This is one of the reasons it’s so hard to reinvent ourselves—it’s uncharted territory. While we might have guides we don’t have a map to where we will be when we get there, so we begin the journey with a certain amount of trepidation despite knowing absolutely that we don’t want to be where we are. Can’t we just ignore all this and lie on the couch watching “Sherlock” again? Ah, but what would Sherlock do? Not that anyway.

All the while, out of the corner of your eye you can see the Devil (metaphorically speaking) smirking in the background, waiting for you to slip up, confident that you will, his hand idly twirling a chain with your name on it.

Ok, so you made a New Year’s Resolution. Don’t panic. Stay calm. If you fall, forgive yourself and get up. Repeat as necessary. If there is a change you want to make to your life just do it, and keep doing it until it is to your liking. The only Devil you need to be concerned with is the one inside. Make him bend to your will for a change.

The Daily Draw: Eight of Pentacles, Reversed

Pay Attention to Detail

Eight of Pentacles, Reversed

The Eight of Cups is the card of the skilled craftsperson, if not yet the master. So this is someone who is quite knowledgeable in their field with a strong foundation and an awareness of detail, yet this person is still learning. Ideally, aren’t we all? With that in mind, this card can also represent a person or situation where the focus is on learning. For example, most students are returning to their studies this week after the long holiday break. Myself, I have a training day where we are learning some useful Unix commands.

The Eight of Cups came up reversed for me today. The main thing I’m getting from this is to stay alert and pay attention to detail. This is good advice for everyone now that Mercury has gone retrograde, which can slow down the mental faculties and cause miscommunication and misunderstandings. In turn, that can lead to anything from minor annoyance to total disaster.

I don’t know how much you now about Unix (I’m guessing most of you are quite happy knowing nothing about it) but the commands are a lot more powerful than Microsoft operating systems. Using Windows, I think we’ve all accidentally deleted a file or folder but, unless you were really persistent, you were probably able to retrieve it.

On a Unix system there is no net. Delete the wrong files in the wrong folder you can do some serious damage. Our trainer today told a story where he did just that, wiping out all the training material from a two year period by deleting everything in the wrong directory. Fortunately, there was a copy (not by design) on a server in another country. But it could have been worse—we could be working with nuclear reactors instead of telecommunication software. Now there are some details you really don’t want to get wrong.

Be careful out there!

The Daily Draw: Ace of Cups, Reversed

The January Blahs

The Ace of Cups represents the beginnings of, or gifts stemming from positive emotions, love, spirituality. For example, it might signify the birth of a child, the beginning of a true love relationship, or a deepening of spiritual awareness. This oversized chalice is so full that water pours over the edge like a fountain.

When this card is in a reversed state the water still flows, but somehow you are flowing against it rather than with it. There could be a number of reasons for that—Maybe what’s being given does not match what you have dreamed for yourself, so you may be closed to what is actually on offer. Maybe you are too busy pondering what has been lost to see what is now here. Maybe it’s just early January and, while you usually enjoy gifts of the heart, right now you’d just rather find a cave and go back to bed until March or so.

On the other hand, you may be seeing quite clearly and the situation may indeed be emotionally challenging. The sadness you feel may be for legitimate reasons. If you are emotionally detached, it may be an act of self-preservation.

The hard times we face on an emotional level are the toughest. We can endure hard labour, mental strain or challenges that require courage and creative effort as long as we have love, particularly if we rightly love ourselves. But without that love we feel as though we can endure nothing.

The thing is, water is flowing from this cup regardless of whether it is right-side up or upside down. If you don’t feel like you are in the flow, do your best to forgive, make peace with, and let go of what you don’t have. Then change direction and dive.

The Daily Draw: The Empress

And so two work projects, a Yule, a Christmas and a New Year later, we are back.

Getting Back to (My Own) Nature

The Empress epitomizes the earth mother type. She is in harmony with nature and keenly aware of all her senses. She is nurturing and supportive. She also represents abundance in its many forms.

I’m back t work after having been off since Christmas Eve. The time was pretty much devoted to our four small children (the older four were pretty much off doing their own thing), their over-excitement, over-tiredness, over-indulgence in chocolate (mea culpa) and in a couple of cases their winter ailments. So mammy and daddy were pretty much on call 24/7 and free time to oneself was as elusive as a purple unicorn. Which is fine, the focus was where it should be considering we’re talking about a flock of three to six-year olds. But there is something to be said for getting back to a routine where you can have a quiet space, an uninterrupted cup of coffee and the ability to finish a thought without somebody trying to drown it out.

So what I’m getting from the Empress today is a sense of getting back to my own breathing space and natural rhythm of balancing intuition, spirituality, digital technology, familial responsibility, etc. Sometimes “getting back to nature” means getting back to your own nature, not necessarily camping in a field somewhere. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it is kind of cold and wet out there.

Then of course there is the abundance aspect of the Empress. Our western culture has us conditioned to think of abundance as having a surplus of financial and other material resources at our disposal, but it can just as easily, and importantly, be a surplus of ability and opportunity to participate and make a difference in the world and positively impact the lives of the people around you. To nurture, if you will. You may have surmised from the previous paragraphs that I am indeed enjoying that type of abundance, especially in the familial sense.

Finally, for now, the Empress shows up for me In having the time and ability now to get back to writing this blog and further exploring, learning about and meditating on my own spiritual path, including my connection to Tarot.

Happy New Year to all. Happy seeking. May you all find the abundance you already have.

The Daily Draw: Page of Cups Reversed

Study Your Emotions

page of cups reversed While pages can represent young people, it is just as likely that a page will represent someone with the qualities of a young person or someone doing things a young person would do, like being a student. Which is a long winded way of saying that, for me, the Page of Cups can represent a person who is going through a learning curve related to love, the emotions, or intuition.

So what do we make of a Reversed Page of Cups? Like many students, it’s possible that this person isn’t paying enough attention to their lessons. Maybe they are slacking off, maybe they think they already know it all. Maybe they need a tutor— maybe a Hermit would better suited to teaching this lesson than a Hierophant, for example.

In more practical terms, I feel that the reversed Three of Cups suggests that we might not be paying enough attention to our feelings. Despite the progress that’s been made over my lifetime, we still live in a world that, for the most part, values rationality over emotions. I think we can all agree that the world is currently paying for that choice. We hope for a world where love, tolerance, and compassion are more aspired to than wealth, celebrity, and winning at any cost. If you’re reading this, you probably fall into the first category of people.

Even so, we receive conscious and subliminal messages daily, from all around us, that reinforce the value of thinking, whereas focusing on our feelings tends to be encouraged in small, select groups. Clearly we have to reason to survive in this world, but to truly make life worth living we have to explore our feelings, learn what they mean to us, what they are trying to tell us about ourselves and the world around us. It’s not always easy to start those lessons when you’re used to the dominance of the rational world seeming like a concrete fact of life, but the more you pay attention to your emotions and intuition, the more you’ll find you are drawing people to you who support you with that.

Many of us spent our formative years in situations where there were less than stellar emotional role models. You may be older now, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop learning, changing or growing. Every day is another opportunity to create the kind of emotional environment you want to live in, one that is safe, supportive and loving for you and those around you. And in this way we change the world, one person at a time, by changing ourselves, by internalizing the lessons of the heart.

The Daily Draw: Three of Cups Reversed

Push Yourself Out

Cups3_Rx

The three of cups has a great energy of community, friendship, high spirits. It’s a perfect card for heading into the festive season. So when it comes up reversed, it’s a sign that something is not right in those areas.

Maybe you’ve got a case of the pre-Yule/Christmas blahs. Around these parts, Christmas pretty much starts the moment the kids wake up with a tummy ache the morning of November first, or at least the more commercial aspects of it begin. At least in the states there is the buffer of Thanksgiving, although there is a more extreme commercial craziness that comes into full flow over that holiday. (Black Friday, What marketing genius came up with that name. wasn’t that the day the great depression began?). So it’s understandable if you’re feeling a bit ”bah humbug “right about now, and it’s only December 3^rd.

On the other, this card could be showing up a more general malaise where you just don’t feel like getting involved with your friends or family. You just want to be on your own, put your feet up, make a cuppa and watch TV. Sometimes you just don’t want to be around people and their various energies, even if that has more to do with you than them. And that’s fine, but the Three of Cups reversed could indicate that you’re making too much of a habit of this behaviour, or doing it for the wrong reasons.

Getting out and taking part In a group activity can be cathartic, whether that activity be a party, a club meeting or a community project. Sometimes you have to “fake it to make it”, or at least kick-stat it. By that I mean, don’t be afraid to give yourself a push out the door. Once you get going, you might even find yourself enjoying yourself. Stanger things have happened.

A reversed card doesn’t necessarily mean the opposite of the same card upright—those energies are still there, they’re just blocked or twisted in some way. When you become part of a group, that group takes on a life of its own that can help you forget why you didn’t want to go out in the first place.