Now that's a power squat

Tarot of the Sidhe, Carding 2010

My Card of the Day is Warrior Two: Power Awakes. Interesting, as I woke up this morning at 4.59 AM. I didn't feel terribly powerful at that hour, let me tell you! It's getting that time of year, though. See, I have one of the most deeply entrenched circadian rhythms on the planet -- when it's dark it's time to sleep, when it's light it's time to wake up and that's that! So of course during this time of the year when it gets light at ungodly hours (like 3.30 AM in June), I struggle. I've got an eyemask around here I use during this time of year; it went in a drawer for the winter months. I need to dig it out again!

Anyway, today's card is Warrior Two (2 of Wands) from the Tarot of the Sidhe by Emily Carding (2010). It's a beautiful card. The sidhe is covered in blue body paint (or else really is blue) and decorated with red and orange swirls, wearing a red loin cloth. His hair and face have a distinctive shape, almost as if splitting in two. He squats in a kundalini yoga frog pose, his forearms crossed in front of him, palms facing out. Emerging from his two palms are dragons of fire, which curve about each other over his head.

The palm chakras are often overlooked, but it is believed there are chakras on the palms of the hands and on the arches of the feet. The traditional way to stimulate these chakras is to rub the palms of the hands together vigorously, and for the feet you can rub them together, dance, or stand firmly on the ground. In the Warrior Two card, the sidhe has his foot chakras pressed together and his palm chakras facing out. The foot chakras are said to draw energy from the earth, so I imagine he has activated his foot chakras and now has them pressed together to send the energy up through his body, where it emerges from the palm chakras. The palm chakras are associated with trust and control issues, creating what you want in life, and healing (yourself and others). The sidhe in this card has transformed himself into a conduit of energy, drawn from the earth (whose core, after all, is fire) and sent out into the universe like twin fiery dragons.

Of course, after this dramatic ritual, the sidhe must carry on with life, and thus there are two paths leading away into the horizon. Which one will he take? They are parallel paths, suggesting that whichever he takes, things will work out. They always do.

This card suggests that we open ourselves to receive power, to muster the power that lies within and to tap into the powers of the universe, to direct our attention and our energy to choices that must be made, and to be assured that whichever path we choose, we will eventually reach the mountaintop.

What power do you need to awake in your life today?