Dark Moon Musings

Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2014

It's the dark moon. Well, nearly. at the moment it's 1% of full waning crescent, but close enough. The moon is passing between the earth and the sun, and thus the side of the moon that is illuminated by the sun is facing away from us. We can't see the moon in this phase from earth except during moments of solar eclipse, when the moon passes in front of the sun, and the night portion of the moon becomes visible to us, surrounded by the sun's fiery corona. Once each month, the moon comes all the way around in its orbit so that it passes more or less between us and the sun. If the moon always passed directly between the earth and the sun at new moon, a solar eclipse would take place every month. Instead, in most months, the moon passes above or below the sun as seen from earth. On the day of a new moon, the moon rises when the sun rises, and sets when the sun sets. It crosses the sky with the sun during the day. The new moon is too close to the sun's glare to be visible. Plus, its lighted hemisphere is facing away from us. The dark lasts about three days before the crescent appears. Many people use the terms dark moon and new moon interchangeably. For some, the new moon begins as soon as the moon becomes invisible. For others, not until the first sliver of crescent appears. Tradition holds that no magic should be practised during the dark moon. Traditional yoga practice holds that you should not practice yoga during the full or dark moon, and some traditional yogis fast during the dark moon.

To me the dark moon is a time between times. A waiting period. It just seems natural that you would pause your practices, rather like the moment between breaths.

Today I've drawn 9 of Cups, traditionally the 'make a wish' card. This dark moon will be a time of harmony and happiness for me. Just hanging out waiting for developments. That's cool.

Card of the Day - The Emperor

Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2014

Today is a day for law and order. Or it may be a day that I come up against 'law and order'. It's an Emperor kind of day.

Here are some statements about the Emperor from Yoav Ben-Dov:

The Emperor rules over matter. 
The Emperor imposes his will.
The Emperor is an earthly father.
The Emperor is ready to fight. 
The Emperor controls himself. 
The Emperor conceals his weakness.

So I ask myself...how do I 'rule over matter' today? How can I impose my will? How do I serve as a patron or benefactor, or a kind of earthly father -- or who is fulfilling this role for me? In what areas should I be ready to fight? How should I be controlling myself today? What weakness should I keep to myself today?

All very good questions to keep in the back of the mind as today's events unfold.

Book Review -- The Oracle Travels Light

It's no secret that I've been influenced by Camelia Elias's first book, Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading, which has garnered mixed reactions; some tarot readers love it and some write that they as much as pitched it directly into the trash bin. Her second book, The Oracle Travels Light: Principles of Magic with Cards seems to be as much a spoonful of Marmite to its readers as that first one. Those who love it tend to write things like this:

'This is a book for those who would risk a finger at the loom of the Weavers...This book is a stick of dynamite disguised as a cigar waiting to be lit with three matches from the hand of a dead man.' Aiden Watcher

'With this butterfly in my gun, I feel I might never again miss my mark.' Atticus Hob

'For those who don't mind walking into the forest of the mind and striking a match, this fire will keep you warm for your whole life long.' Caitlin Matthews

This resorting to metaphoric language goes a long way to showing you what the book is like. The following reviewer, who gave the book 5 stars, begins to touch upon one of my problems with it: 

'This one feels scholarly, yes, but, also muddy and sticky, like the shaman as she imparts the secret knowledge as she is rising from the swamp. The book itself is a potent spell well crafted.' Charles Webb

Even this guy, in trying to explain what it's like wading through the prose style and content of The Oracle Travels Light, has to use metaphoric language.

One confused reviewer says: 'Not sure if the book could use some better organisation, or if the less linear structure is part of the intended delivery. But there's gold in them wandering pathways.' Joe Crow (Another metaphor!)

Not everyone has been caught by its Marmite charms, though, such as these reviewers:

'One of the most self-obsessed and myopic books on magic I've ever read.'  James Kennedy

'Don't waste your money on this one. Had a look at it and threw it in the bin.' Wordery

I've spent a lot of time thinking about what I want to say about this book and how to say it. That's because there is some good material here that deserves to be considered, and because Elias demonstrates how seamlessly and organically the cards and magic can (and ought to) be integrated into daily life. Those are the good points. But also, there's no escaping the fact that this book is written in a dense, highly frustrating, stilted prose style, and there is a relentless subtextual thread which might reflect a personal war with a religious milieu, in frequent mentions of defying 'cultural dictations' and rather defiant see-how-naughty-I-am-because-I-practice-magic references to the Devil and the Devil card. These start to distract and annoy early on and they don't let up.

So let's just start with what I didn't liked

1. The prose style. It is dense and unlovely. Occasionally unintelligible.

2. All this banging on about being outside cultural norms and expectations. Anyone practicing magic already knows damn well they're outside the box. Why the gloating? This contempt for the 'norm' glares in a sample reading near the end of the book. It is for a man who wants to know if his friend has 'gone too conservative after marriage' to 'the prototype of the Danish woman, for whom everything is a project, including husband, children, the job, the house and the dog.' Elias writes: 'Yack. While listening to more uncomfortable notions about the dangers of life based on the status quo ideals... I laid down three cards, and the horror, the horror.' A good unbiased start, then.  Elias next details the reading which confirms both her and her client's contempt for conventional life, and ends with the client's feedback that his friend had phoned to tell him that he is happy. Elias isn't buying it: 'We could ask Freud what he would make of this demonstrative act of enunciation that discloses the poverty in inauthentic living: if you have to say you are (happy, rich, content, powerful) you aren't.' She then mentions how useful it is to be neutral in a reading and caps the story with this puzzler: 'As it is fantasy that rules the mytho-poetic act, our magic gets strengthened by the flow of speaking creatures, instructing us in the art of graceful deliverance.' Believe me, that sentence is no easier to interpret in the context of the entire chapter than it is here in isolation in this review. (See point 1).

3. Outright dismissal of the right hand path. In a chapter called 'The Paths of Magic,' Elias declares that only those who follow a left hand path live an authentic life, while right handers conform to what is acceptable to the masses. She confirms this for herself in a reading. For the left hand path, she draws The Pope, Justice and The Devil. For the right hand path, Lovers, Magician and Judgement. She gives the following reading, which I give in its entirety, because I found it so thoroughly offensive to light workers:

Here it becomes crucial to understand what the sorceress wants to begin with: To be in cahoots with the Devil, and do what there is to be done in terms of pacts and bonds, or to mediate relations between the ambivalent subject (herself included) and the public?

Whereas the Devil invites us to the underworld, asking us to start with confronting our own demons, the Angel says "all rise, let us now hear the news."

Whereas in the first example we clearly have a situation that requires a complete cut (Justice) with the dogma of the mainstream church (Pope), and entering into formal submission to the Lord of Darkness (Justice + Devil), the second example demonstrates a need to rise above the very idea of choice (Lovers) by tricking oneself (Magician) into believing that the sharing of higher learning is possible (Judgement). 

Whereas in the first example, describing the lefthand path, we are asked to consider giving up a pound of our own flesh and blood in exchange for magical knowledge (Justice cuts and weighs), the second example, for the right hand path, shows us that we are dependent upon the community to acknowledge our magic. Moreover here, as the Magician is looking at the options on his table, we are meant to understand that he may not be aware of how much of that doubting of himself he ends up carrying into the new world.  

Whereas the first example may involve working with necromancy, the ancestors, or the spirit of the telluric forces, the last example emphasises working with celestial forces as received by the larger group. If the first example shows us the transmission of personal gnosis, the price being going down, the second example shows us the transmission of group mentality, the price being having to listen up.

She then caps with this zinger: 'Why is working with the 'Devil' condemned, while working with the 'Angel' is consecrated? Which camp do I want to be in? The winners or the losers?' She calls this a  'transgressive lunch' (your guess is as good as mine!) and says 'good folks have been burned for a lot less than this discussion here.' Tiresome.

But here's what I really liked

1. Magic in the day-to-day. Elias tells many stories about how she sees magic all around, by making connections. On a day when she is thinking about her father and a person she admires, two crows appear and follow her. She names them after the two she is thinking of. Then later, she finds two white eggs in a carton of 12 and feels it's another sign from the pair. She tells a story of a friend who years ago promised her a gift sending her a Tibetan bowl just as she is deliberating over whether or not she should buy a Tibetan bowl. Do these stories prove anything? 'They prove nothing,' she writes. 'But what they do is tell us what we can make of the way in which we interact with the world. By letting ourselves be enchanted with how things come to us, or with what happens when we point our index finger at someone or something, we get a sense of what it means to be alive beyond the blood pulsing through our veins.'

2. Magic in ourselves. In a chapter called 'Necromancy,' Elias tells a wonderful story about a night when she and her sister decide to do some magic to try to 'uncover an annoying family secret'. They draw cards at random based on images seen by her sister in a crystal ball, and try out an array of magical techniques to coax the truth from the ancestors, who toy with them but in the end refuse to reveal anything. It is such a wonderful example of spontaneous, organic use of magical techniques and cards, and also the magical partnership between the sisters. They are playful and good-humoured through the experience, through the chills and rising hair, and finally give up, spill libations and go off to bed. The story is as much about Elias's relationship with her sister and the magical experience itself as it is about magical technique. Actually more so. We don't receive any instruction as to how to do any of this. The idea is just to do it, enjoy it. 'The point of the story here is to emphasise the very pragmatic scope of any magical working beyond its intended function, which, in my case, is the sheer pleasure of enjoying the company of my sister without having to go through the banality of recounting frustrations related to the reality of our 'normal' lives...In our encounters we have found that raving about our achievements, or those of our loved ones, is only interesting for about three seconds. Hence, we have long since realised that the best of ourselves together is found in our letting sacred objects not only mediate between us, but also inform our gatherings. Nothing really compares to the work of blessing our own treading on this planet, and making recourse to unusual practical magical behaviour that enhances our awareness of alternative modes of viewing the world. A community of two can work marvels.' In the margin next to this, I've translated it: 'Magic is more fun than small talk.'

3. Magic in the cards. The cards and your magic practice can be as natural as breathing. Elias tells a story about being anxious about her sister driving on her own through the countryside to Norway. She turns directly to the cards and draws Chariot, Tower, Temperance. She creates an impromptu spell and tells her sister, 'Take the Temperance card from the pack and enchant it with words of power for protection on the road and balanced driving.' Her sister does have an accident but is unhurt. Elias finds out her sister never did take a card or speak words of power over it. However, Elias believes that 'the thought of it counted enough' to allow her sister to arrive unharmed. I find stories like this endlessly fascinating. Our thoughts affect reality. Magic is anything that helps us direct and focus how our thoughts are affecting reality.  I have no doubt on this point. (This draw could also have been read: You are worried about your sister having a car wreck, but don't be. You can trust that it will all come out in the wash. :D )

Despite its frustrations, I believe this book is worth reading. I've read it three times. I've dipped into it many more times than that -- I've been chewing this book over since February. The margins are filled with my outraged or delighted scribblings. We have a love/hate vibe. That in itself makes it pretty magical to me.

Rise above

What is the most helpful thing I can do for myself today? 

Ancien TdM, Grimaud 1973

Hew down troubled thoughts and give them as an offering to your inner knowing. 

Thoughts that seek to destroy you should be met by the serene indifference of your inner knowing.

The 8 of Swords is all about troubled thoughts. The number 8 itself stand for 'ideas or thoughts of the mind', and Swords 'are the troubles that plague every man'. So the 8 of Swords is the perfect card to represent overthinking, particularly obsessive worries about the 'troubles that plague every man' -- thoughts about things like losing a source of income, having a catastrophic illness, or someone dropping dead, contemplating your own mortality, right down to smaller universal troubles like never being sure you're doing the right thing, or looking back on the past and wishing things had gone differently, all of these are 'troubles that plague every man'. They happen to everyone. The 8 of Swords represents worrying about these things. In fact, the Grimaud LWB says, 'This card has powerful undercurrents and possesses no meaning in the abstract sense. Heavy and overpowering, it marks despair because of the evil undercurrents that it attracts.' Wow. We can all justifiably worry about these things. But does it do us any good?

In this story of the cards, even though Death is facing the High Priestess, I don't think he's going for her. I think he's making obeisance to her. It looks like he's just chopped up worries from the 8 of Swords and is looking to her for approval. She certainly looks on at him with a benign and pleasant expression. They see eye to eye. So it could be that he's destroyed the overthinking and is turning it over to the higher mind, the aspect of self that exists above the ego. That's one way to read the story of the cards.

Another way to look at this draw is that in fact 8 of Swords and Death ARE working together -- the overwhelming thoughts and Death have teamed up to try to destroy you. But they find themselves squared up against a more powerful force than themselves -- inner knowing. In this story told by the cards, Death uses the 8 of Swords as his primary weapon, wreaks havoc in the mind, turns toward the High Priestess looking rather exhausted and hoping to go for her next, but nope. She is wise to his tricks. She looks mildly at him. She even looks somewhat amused by him. He can stand there panting and clutching his scythe all he likes. She knows that while she's locked eyes with him, he doesn't have the strength in his scrawny arm to raise it against her.  He'd just better hope she doesn't decide to lift her hand from her book against him! But she won't have to. And that's another way to read the story of these cards.

That is the most helpful thing I can do for myself today. Rise above troubled thoughts that believe they can destroy me. They can't. I cannot be destroyed -- not even by myself. No, not even if my thoughts have convinced me that they can. They can't. Not if I look them in the face and let them know I see them. They can't get the real 'I'. Not the higher me.

Ancien Tarot de Marseille -- a very old deck finds a new forever home

Ancien Tarot de Marseille, Grimaud 1973

I bought this deck on eBay the other day (£8 -- bargain). In the photograph, you see the box with plastic insert to hold the deck divided in half, the instruction booklet, and on left, the Ancien Tarot de Marseille deck. Next to it on the right, I've placed the CBD tarot for comparison, so you can see how thick the card stock is. It is about twice the thickness of the average tarot deck.

I was really surprised at how pristine the deck is, considering it is 43 years old. The cards still had the cellophane bands around them. They look brand new. The box has some slight yellowing, and both box and deck have that curious smell that comes with old paper. I can't describe it, but you know it when you smell it. It isn't terribly strong, but it's there. The cards have a tiny copyright imprint: G & P Grimaud 1963 (not 1973). The cards are extremely oversaturated with colour, consisting of golden yellow, dark blue, dark green, deep red, a peachy flesh tone and black. The background and some card details are vivid white.  The deck is solid and chunky in the hand, and there is no way to riffle it. Hand over hand is the only way to go.

There are some endearing quirks to this deck, for example, the coin suit is called 'money' and cards are labelled 'Knave of Money', 'Queen of Money'. The Tower is called 'Tower of Destruction'. Lovers is called 'The Lover'.  Batons are called 'Clubs'.  The Popesse is called 'The High Priestess' but the Pope is still 'The Pope'. And card XIII is labelled 'Death', on the side of the card. I have no idea who did the redrawings or what deck it is based on.

Here's my draw for today:

9 of Clubs, 2 of Swords, Knave (Page) of Swords. The Knave has his eye firmly on the flower configuration in the centre of 2 of Swords.

Interpretation:

An obstacle or delay causes conflict; the best course of action is to take up a mildly defensive posture while keeping attention focused on the heart of the matter. Be prepared to swat lightly, like at a fly. It's very likely you'll not have cause to strike. It will probably resolve itself. 

Line of sight reading starting with three majors - what should be my priorities today?

Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2014 

I decide to use majors only, and if I need more cards, I will draw from the minors. Boom boom boom. Magician, Popesse, Pope. But what are the Magician and Popess looking at? Let's draw some more.  Knight of Swords (not pictured). He's facing the left, too, so what are they all looking at? 4 of Coins. And on the right, what is the Pope looking at? 8 of Cups (not pictured).

The trickster and the warrior have their eyes on material stability, but the Popesse has their number and sets it down in her little book. She's not fooled. Back to back with the Pope, who is casting a spell toward the future -- thoughts and ideas that bring happiness; plans for future happiness. Expecting a good emotional outcome.

The three central cards, the original three card draw, show the female and male counterparts back to back. They could either be divided, working in opposition and not pulling together, or they could be seen as back to back in a defensive position, like you see in martial arts films. If the Magician were looking toward the Popesse I might suspect that he is trying to trick her, and that he represents her suspicions about the Pope, who she has her back toward. But he isn't he's looking away, and that makes me think there's something beyond him that he's focusing on, and has nothing to do with the Pope, so that puts the the Popess and the Pope in a defensive couple posture instead of as adversaries. The Knight of Swords suggests that the Magician's tricks are meant to harm, but harm what? and 4 of Coins is solid, material stability. The Trickster is out for my money. But I'm watching. I've got my intuition and I'm taking notes. The Pope's got my back and he's looking toward the future and trying to keep spirits up.

So my priorities for today are to do some research to make sure that my financial stability is not under threat. In fact, the Magician and the Warrior could be aspects of the Popesse sent out in pursuit of financial stability, not necessarily adversaries. Either way, information should be gathered today, and about what? Trust my instincts.

Another interpretation is a division between one partner who feels the need to keep the focus on these concerns and the other partner who just wants to be happy and puts all his attention on happiness. So in that way they turn their backs to each other. And boy does that sound familiar.

Lots to think about today.

So okay, second try -- my priorities for today are to take care of the financial security in whatever ways I can, in whatever ways my intuition tells me I need to, but also not to turn my back on my partner, who might be feeling ignored. I don't know if you've noticed, but I can be pretty intense, and often forget to be 'happy' about stuff. :)

Elemental correspondences -- have you thought about yours?

I've just been reading The Oracle Travels Light by Camelia Elias, again. The first time I tried to read it, it just didn't click for me. I couldn't follow. It was a bunch of gobbledygook. And this after I was so utterly smitten by Marseille Tarot: Towards the Art of Reading. I admit, I was trying to charge through with a pen in hand, looking for the 'good stuff' to incorporate, and not really reading it the way it was meant to be read. Several months later, it seems to be falling into place. And today, I felt a real paradigm shift with regard to elemental correspondences -- the elements we assign to the tarot suits. I initially rejected this when I read it in Marseille Tarot, and even wrote in the margin of that book: 'These are off base -- but as long as she is consistent, I guess it doesn't matter.'

I learned on the Golden Dawn system, which is used in the Rider Waite Smith and most tarot decks. Nearly all readers in the English-speaking tarot world use this system:

Fire - Spring - Wands
Water - Summer - Cups
Air - Autumn - Swords
Earth - Winter - Coins

If you want a book that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about applying this particular system to tarot, then Benebell Wen's Holistic Tarot is the book for you. I read that one cover to cover and thought my life was complete, until I got hold of Marseille Tarot directly after reading it!

Now I'm not an expert on various systems and don't know the origins, but I do know that some decks switch Air and Fire, having Swords = Fire and Wands = Air. Decks such as Silicon Dawn and Legend Arthurian do this.

The Crystal Tarots by Elisabetta Trevisan switches Cups and Swords so that Cups = Air and Swords = Water, which is really hard to fathom.

Let it be known that you don't have to use elemental correspondences in tarot readings. It's not necessary in the slightest. And you don't have to use a widely accepted system, or follow the system of the deck you're using -- though it may be a challenge to deviate, as some decks make the elemental correspondences very plain in the art work and colouring. But if you do use correspondences, you ought to have a good reason behind your choices, beyond, 'It's the one everyone uses,' or 'I just like them like that.'

In Marseille Tarot, Elias gives her set, saying, 'This is my own rendition, and based on my understanding of how the card readers of old, the cunning-folk, must have thought of it when they passed down the essential idea':

Fire - Spring - Coins
Water - Summer - Cups
Air - Autumn - Wands
Earth - Winter - Swords

What? My brain could not compute how Coins could be anything but Earth, or how Swords could be anything but Air. She wasn't even switching Wands with Swords, which at least I'd seen before in other decks. No, she's switching Wands with Coins and Coins with Swords!  I dismissed this as some personal quirkery and moved on, because her explanations were too impressionistic and I could not follow them:

'Coins/Diamonds are for spring and fire. A fresh idea is a hot idea. Coins are chiseled for exchange and culture. We hold coins in our hands. They denote working with our head. Coins represent the nervous system. All things on fire. Travel vehicles that use an engine. Expensive computers. A cooking range. The kitchen. The dining room. The roof of the house. East.' (Marseille Tarot, page 123)

What what?? Coins, fire engines, computers, what the hell?

'Batons/Clubs are for autumn and air. An idea needs to be harvested. Trees grow in the air. Tall trees turned into batons to fight with are at arm's length. We exercise with a stick. Make fences. Clubs represent the muscular system. We run. We use our legs, or take an airplane to whiz through the air faster. West. The floors of the house.'

Okay, I thought -- whatever! This must be really over my head or else this lady's just got some very kooky ideas, but it doesn't matter, because the rest of the book is so useful. Those are some crazy words and phrases hooked together there. I made question marks in the margin and turned the page.

Then, this morning, I was up at an even more ungodly hour than usual (4.00 AM -- sciatica), and encountered these notions again in the book The Oracle Travels Light. This time, it seemed to click. Reluctantly, I might add, because I do not like writers meddling in the affairs of my fixed ideas, for I am subtle and quick to anger. :) But click it did:

'What are the four suits in a pack of cards? Nature, our own bodies, and prompters of action,' I read. Hmm. Tell me more...

'The cups suggest our blood, and the way it circulates in our bodies. Without our blood streaming we are dead.' Yes, true. Cups are essential. Liquid is life. Yes, yes.

'With the diamonds or the coins, we make transactions. We can feel our adrenaline making our blood hot when we're about to close a deal that's important to us. Having your brain on fire is no small thing.' Pause. Squint. Coins as fire? NO. That's not right. I pictured all those tarot cards showing coins nestled in earth or growing on trees. And yet...my own feelings about money aren't cold like the earth, or in any way about growth cycles. My feelings about money are fevered. I have to admit it. I carried on reading...

'With the clubs or the batons, we build dwellings, or compete.' I pictured wattle and daub construction, and cavemen hitting each other with sticks. 'They have the energy of the wind. Before they are cut down, tall trees know who whispers in their leaves.' By god, I suddenly saw treetops swaying in the breeze and heard the noise and thought holy crap! Trees are wind! That's how they talk! What else is here?...

'With spades or swords, we dig the earth. We go to war to conquer territory, more land - more earth.' Great gods, I see this. Spades ARE used to dig the earth, and swords ARE forged to conquer, and to conquer what? More land! Holy paradigm shift, it hurts to have your gears switched. But I could actually see how swords could be EARTH.

So here I am. Changed again. I've already given up esoteric blah-blah when thinking about the suits. Taking the example of Enrique Enriquez, I've started looking quite literally at cups, batons, swords and coins in my readings. And it feels to me as if these correspondences are also more literal and mundane, more suited to the actual emblems themselves. I could never really see how batons were fire, but I can relate to trees swaying in the wind; it is an image that is much more deeply meaningful to me than imagining sticks burning. And I can relate to the fire in the brain caused by coins. Yes. And digging the earth with spades and battling for land with swords makes far more sense than the vague image of a sword slicing through the air. So yes.

Will this last? I'll just have to try a few readings and see. And with the TdM, no artist has imposed any elemental ideas onto the cards for me to fight against. I can use whatever I want, or not use any. Beauty.

Judgement - Noblet

Noblet Tarot, Flornoy 2014

'With this trump appears another judgement: the person must accept what he has become. He must ignore the urge to leave all behind and become a hermit in the desert. He has been through so many transformations on the energetic level that he is wary of believing that the phoenix has at last risen from the ashes. An immense sincerity invades him. And yet, the individual is now accepted, summoned by the heavens to rise and exert himself in the world. ...[He is] someone restored to life on earth in order to work for heaven.' 
                                                         -- JC Flornoy, Tarot of Marseille of Jean Noblet, LWB


I think it's pretty impressive that he is able to take all this in, having risen with a dislocated shoulder, missing arm and a brioche for a head. If I were those other two hipsters, I'd be staring, too.

'Dude...your head.'

'Silence, bro.  Angel's trumpet solo, man.'

Line reading the Emperor

Noblet Tarot, JC Flornoy 2014 edition

I drew Emperor for today and thought, hm, what's he looking at? So I drew 6 of Coins. But then I wondered, well, what? And I drew King of Swords. Well, then. What are these two looking at? And I drew Ace of Swords, which felt like the end of the line, so I stopped.

I'm seeing here a lot of clarity and mastery in the material realm -- finances, health, security, etc. The Emperor is certainly looking over the remainder of the spread. Six is the most harmonious of the numbers, so the Emperor rules over the material realm quite well. He's aided by the King of Swords who looks toward Ace of Swords, his emblem -- he's prepared to marshal all his strengths and skills to create this material harmony. Logic, rational thought, careful planning. The Emperor's crown is held aloft by the strengths of the Sword.

I guess this means I'm heading in the right direction lately. That's good news! I do feel like I've had more clarity, less fog, the last few days. Long may it continue.

Some line readings:

Taking control of financial and health situation requires mastery of emotion and clear thinking. 

Keep looking forward with the knowledge that you have the skills and the power to take control of your financial and health situation. 

Turn your back to the past and face the current situation. Wrest control of it with logical and clear planning. 

Control of the situation depends upon being rational. Emotion plays no part in it. Keep your eyes on that prize of a simple plan. 

Line reading with 7 of Cups

7 of Cups today from CBD Tarot (not shown in image. Image is from Google images, an unidentified deck.)

It's been a rough couple of days. My emotions have been very volatile, explained by hormone fluctuation, the pressures of a house buy and the reality of a mortgage that possibly extends longer than my employability.

7 of Cups is troubled emotion or relationship(s). That pretty much sums it up my last few days. It's been stormy round here, people!

To expand on this card, I drew two more: 2 of Coins and 8 of Swords. Ideas and plans for balancing finances. Yes again.

To read the story of the cards, here are a few different possible interpretations:

--Troubled emotions/relationships caused by overthinking the balance of money.

--Troubled emotions/relationships require schemes for getting to grips with the reality.

--Troubled emotions/relationships find balance (become grounded) through careful analysis.

--A financial partnership is stormy but can be balanced by a rational approach.

No matter how you slice it, the message is clear. Get a grip. This looks like a job for CBT, some research, and some very flexible short term and long term planning. And a bit of faith and trust.

Grand Tableau - Now to end of September - Maybe Lenormand

Maybe Lenormand, Edward, US Games 2016

This grand tableau is meant to cover until the end of September for me.  I'm using the reading method described by Andy Boroveshengra in Lenormand: Thirty-six Cards. It lacks fleshing out, and is mostly a rough outline just for myself. :)

The first three cards have a message for me: Good feelings ahead. The gift of a hopeful heart.

The four corners are Bouquet + Snake + Book + Fox. The gift of transformation comes from being clever with the rules. A clever woman teaches useful information.

The cards closest to me are Bouquet above, Cross to my right, and Dog below. At 1:00 is Star and at 5:00 is Key. Four out of five of those cards are quite positive. Only Cross, which is right next to me, is bad. However, this indicates that the troubles are temporary and easily mitigated. The Cross is touching Gift, Star, Heart, Ring, Mountain, Key and Dog. My hope, emotions, marriage and ability to find solutions to problems may be adversely affected this month. I see this as lots of worrying and mood swings about these issues.

Far from me are Letter and Rider -- communications will not come to me easily, I will probably have to seek them out.

My significator is on the far left of the spread. Most of the spread is to my right, where things are 'amplified'. I take this to mean that everything is going to be 'heightened' for me, and I can see that. Lots of stress goes along with a house buy, not to mention my time of life! So yeah, heightened experience of events, definitely. The top row in particular, being above me and to my right, is relevant and amplified: Anchor + Scythe + Coffin + Sun + Fox.

The middle cards are Man + Stork + House + Whip. The changing man brings domestic arguments. There could be a lot of conflict with the hubster about moving house. Oh boy, have I seen some of that already. Still, three out of four of the cards are red suit, Hearts, and only one Club, so it's just spats and nothing serious. Whip suggests they will be same-old-same-old arguments, as well.

The last row of four cards describe an important or triggering event...We've got Paths + Lily + Fish + Rider. A decision about a financial opportunity brings peace. Hm. Maybe this means we'll have exchanged contracts by the end of September -- or something will be settled for good and all, in any case.

Counting nine cards out from Lady: Key + Child + Rider. A message about a necessary new beginning. This could be the move date! Counting 13 cards out: Mice + Fish. Yeah, the money will certainly get nibbled away when we move. So many little expenses do add up.

Next, which cards do I face horizontally? Well, I'm facing left and there are no cards to my left, so -- none! As this row is meant to show what happens within four weeks' time, it looks like nothing much is going to happen until the very end of September.

To cover general topics, look at their cards:

Relationships - Heart, Ring, Anchor
All three of these cards are close to me, and they wrap the Man card, my significant other.  Lots of change will threaten my feelings of stability, but my commitment to the Man will remain steadfast.

Work - Moon
Moon is in my horizontal line, but it is relatively far away from me and won't cause more than the usual level of concern. Sun, Birds and Clover indicate productive and positive conversations, either with my line manager or in my capacity as a manager, suggested by the Bear.

Money - Fish
It's in the last line of four, so that makes it significant, and how can it not be right now? It's all I think about. Flanked by Lily, Tree, Garden, Clouds and Rider, with nothing underneath. Most of these are positive cards. I am looking at a long-term financial commitment, and yes the garden is a big draw! Fish is far from me in the draw, so I'm thinking this reinforces the 'big picture' aspect of this very large ticket item.

Well-being - Tree 
Tree has Child and Garden to left and right, House and Lily above and below, and diagonal are Mountain, Whip, Fish and Path. Only Mountain is a negative card, the rest are positive. Tree is relatively far from me, so I can expect good health. Mountain would seem to be blocks caused by negative thought patterns, and that plays out if you like the surrounding cards -- House, travelling, marriage/commitment -- it's all the usual stresses of buying and moving to a new house.

Deck Review: Maybe Lenormand

It's been ages, but I finally bought a new deck! It's the Maybe Lenormand by Ryan Edward, US Games 2016.

One of the unexpected pleasures of this deck is its lovely box with magnetic clasp. The cards are divided into two stacks with a little ribbon to help you get them out, and a mini guidebook.

This deck comes with extra cards to make up a 52 card pack, and I am happy to say that you can put the 36 'real' Lenormand cards in one side of the box and the 'extras' on the other side of the box, and the book will still fit and the box will still close. Result! (I hate extra cards. Never use them. I know hate is a strong word, but it fits. I don't want them! They're a waste. You should be able to choose to leave them out and pay less. But alas, it's not my world... :) )

I love this deck and there's one simple reason for it -- it's minimalist. The cards are average or medium-sized for a Lenormand. Each card is a slightly off-white colour with a large, clear number in the upper left corner, a prominent and easy to see playing card at the top centre, and a relatively easy to discern symbol at the bottom. Not all of them are easy to discern, which is a pity. I'll show you what I mean.

Easy to discern -- a very simple drawing, instantly apparent:

I really love this type of Lenormand, because I tend to read in grand tableaus or large squares, and when the cards are muddy and collaged and fuzzed up for artistic effect, a throw really does look like one big smear. What's the point of that? I want to be able to quickly find Book or Ring or whatever, and see what's close to it and what's far from it, and what house it's in. If I have to squint and strain to even find Book...well, I just scrape the deck up, throw it back in the box and sell it.

This one is not going to be sold.

That said, this art is 'stylised' and some are not as easy to discern:

Why the smudges over the fish and ship? The mountain looks rather like a wave. Why not make it a straight, simple mountain?  Is that a dog or a bear? And what is that, a pile of grey cloth? A stormy sea? Yes, it must be the sea. But wait -- there's no 'sea' in Lenormand! There's no way for me to know this is Clouds except that no other card in the deck is Clouds, either. Process of elimination is not what you'd call a quick method for identifying a card. (Yes, there's a number but if we were going by numbers why bother with an image at all?) They're just not as instantly apparent, and that annoys, distracts and slows me down in a reading.

It's called the Maybe Lenormand because 'Maybe it's a Lenormand, maybe it's not.' With 36 cards, it is, but if you add in the rest, maybe it's not.

The cards added are:

37. Pig
38. Lion
39. Hands
40. Rose
41. Bacchus
42. Rapiers
43. Cats
44. Medal
45. Sick bed
46. Eye
47. Flame
48. Cupid
49. Lightning
50. Broken mirror
51. Train
52. Safe

'There are those who say extra cards are bothersome,' says the guidebook. I am one of those.

The creator of the deck says that the extra cards here are 'based on a tangential lineage of similar decks, all claiming Mlle Marie Anne Lenormand ownership'.  Of course, Marie Anne Lenormand surely never saw a Lenormand deck in her life. The Game of Hope, on which Lenormand decks are based, came out circa 1799-1800, as a kind of portable board game. One laid out the cards in 6 rows of 6 and rolled dice and moved a token along the cards. There was no shuffling and certainly no divination involved, and Mlle Lenormand was at the time under 30 and had yet to publish any books on fortune telling. She was not yet famous as a fortune teller. No one knows how or when the cards came to be used for fortune telling, but that is true of every game that eventually became a fortune telling tool -- tarot cards, playing cards, and the Game of Hope are just the beginning. So yes, lots of decks have claimed Lenormand's ownership. So what. I personally don't see that these cards add anything, but lots of people probably do.

That's not to say I might not occasionally shuffle them in and have a go...wait, what am I saying? I know good and damn well that will never happen. Call me closed minded, I don't care! LOL

The guidebook is simple, concise and very useful. It does contain an error in the subjunctive mood, which I can't understand why a proofreader didn't catch: 'If I was using only 36 cards...'  UGH! If I WERE using only 36 cards, please. The subjunctive use of 'were' may be dying out in spoken English, but not to me nor many grammar traditionalists like me! (Long may we kvetch!)

Rants aside, I like this little deck and will keep it. I may even use it for some readings this week. :D

Greenwood Week - Day 5 - Stones and the Maiden

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

Another card about ancient wisdom. 'The ability to relate to ancient knowledge and pass on the lessons of ancestral memory and ritual,' according to the Greenwood guidebook by Mark Ryan.

On her website, Potter writes, 'Be aware of the patterns of connection linking you and nature around you to the past, present and future. Deep learning. The memory of much that has been revered in the landscape can be retrieved in periods of respectful stillness. Learning from elders.'

Celtic Shamans Pack, Matthews 

Hm, another card about learning from elders. I really need to find what wisdom this is point to.

Does Celtic Shamans Pack help? I've drawn The Maiden. 'The manifestation of young and burgeoning life. She is the lost innocence we all seek, and which is strongly present within us at the time of spring.' I suppose I could do with some of that.

Today's just a Thursday, though, and at the moment, I have no idea how these cards might play out in my day.

I'll report back at the end of the day with an update.

Greenwood Week - Day Four - Waterworld

Six of Cups: Reunion 
In the golden light of an autumnal sunset, two souls are reunited on an ancient mound, the source of the waters of memory and deep love. Six green cups full of golden liquid float in the pool of knowledge. Two otters, animals of loving and playful affection, hunt nearby. Reunion with an old friend, soulmate or a wise part of oneself. A feeling of inner peace. -- Chesca Potter

The otter on the right stands on a bit of log, and seems to be presenting the other otter a fish. The otter on the left stands upright on its hindlegs, perhaps to get a better look at this old friend who's turned up with a gift. In the background water pours out from the burial mound. Potter calls it the pool of knowledge.

What wisdom from the ancient past offers itself to us in such abundance today? What old friend provides a bit of nourishment? It appears it may be an issue that the sun seems to be setting on, and the source of wisdom is very old indeed. (The mound has mature trees and grass growing on it and probably looks nothing like it did when originally built.)

What ancient, spiritual wisdom will flood out for us today, in a playful, affectionate, and nourishing way?

The oracle card from Celtic Shaman's Pack offers an echo. The Inworld is 'the abode of the ancestors and thus one of the prime sources of knowledge and wisdom. The roots of the Tree of Vision and Tradition grow down into this realm and it is reached by descending through a tunnel or deep hole in the earth.' Could this be the view inside the mound from the 6 of Cups?

All we can do is humbly ask what primordial wisdom is on offer for us today.

(I think my message may have something to do with the wisdom of going two days with no vegetables beyond the toppings on veggie burgers and pizza.)

Flow with the waters of the wisdom of the ancestors today, whatever that may mean for you.

Greenwood Week - Day Three - Watch out for the massive...dose of maleness

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

The two cards I've pulled today from Greenwood Tarot (Mark Ryan and Chesca Potter, 1996) and Celtic Shaman's Pack (John Matthews and Chesca Potter, 1995, 2015) have, to say the least, a strong masculine energy.

The 5 of Wands from Greenwood features the Cerne Abbas Giant.  Nobody knows why or when this figure was cut into a hillside in Dorset, but the first earliest mention of it isn't until 1751. It almost certainly isn't as ancient as it appears. And no one knows who cut it or why. Strange.

Potter has added some embellishments that reinforce the themes of the figure -- virility, fertility and power. The oracle card also depicts a powerful male figure, as a head emerging from a cauldron.

The questions that spring from these cards today:

What will give me this fiery drive today? How will it manifest? In what way can I ground and direct it, so that it is not wasted engine revving? What project or idea will I turn my attention toward? Or will it be a series of rapid, staccato tasks, buzzing through a to-do list?

How will I be assertive and authoritative today? How will I be a strong leader?

What fires me up?

What gets me excited?

What germ of idea or action will I fertilise today?

What lights a fire under my feet?

What do I need to bash with a big club?

And how do I keep all this raw male power from becoming overly aggressive?

Greenwood Week - Day Two - Justice

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996

One of the many curiosities of the Greenwood Tarot is that the majors are not in the traditional order. This is probably why they don't have numbers on the cards, as it could confuse people. Instead, the cards are arranged in Wheel of the Year order. By this reckoning, created as far as I know by Mark Ryan,  Justice falls as trump number 4, at Spring Equinox.

Chesca herself seems to have thought of the cards more firmly in the traditional order, possibly linking them numerically with the minors. Either that, or she decided to present them in the order we're familiar with in her online guide book. She places Justice in position 8, and then follows that with words about each of the minor 8s. We can see Chesca's thoughts about the Greenwood here, where she states:



'Position on wheel: Spring Equinox
Element: Fire 
Chakra: brow
Colour: red. 
Polarity: red 

There is strength in this card, that will not tolerate injustice. The deer speaks with the voice of nature itself. This card is particularly applicable at the moment when so many forests are being destroyed. The figure stands firmly, watching you with ancient eyes; tangled moss-covered branches of the Wildwood are animated by the spring sap. The red dawn sky emphasises the reawakened will to act. In one hand it holds the cutting edge of the axe, in the other a shield, upon which is an oak tree, a symbol of injustice thwarted; of the dispossessed in the Greenwood mythos defending themselves, and their natural right to live off the bounty of the land. Justice is placed in the element of fire as it was the human discovery of fire which gave us the ability both to destroy nature and warm and protect oneself. Humans have so often misused this position, acting without care or responsibility. The energies in both Justice and The Archer cards require steadiness of intention; integrity of thought, and wise action. If unharnessed, one becomes selfish and headstrong; impetuous impatience leads to ineffective action. Justice is a strong and powerful ally; a guide to a wise balance between action and defence.'

The figure in the card is a guardian of justice. But that doesn't mean he rewards the right and punishes the wrong. Mark Ryan says, 'The concepts of forgiveness or reward are not appropriate in Justice. They are human ideas which have no reality in natural lore. One reaps what one has sown.'

He goes on to say, 'We must, as individuals, constantly observe the rules and regulations of society, and these can fluctuate as the views and knowledge of civilization change. Whether on a political or moral level, we subconsciously know when a realignment of our perception is due.'

Or as Maya Angelou said, 'Do right. Just do right. Right may not be expedient. It may not be profitable. But it will satisfy your soul. It brings you the kind of protection that bodyguards can't give you.  Try to live your life so that you will not regret years of useless virtue, and inertia, and timidity. Take up the battle -- take it up. Pick up the battle and make it a better world, just where you are.'

Celtic Shamans Pack

The oracle card from Celtic Shaman's Pack, by John Matthews and Chesca Potter, which I've drawn today to accompany Justice is The Eagle, which stands for wisdom, aspiration and clear-sightedness. All of these are essential qualities if we want to achieve and receive justice in our dealings, our lives and our world.

Today may I have the strength, clear-sightedness, and higher perspective of the Eagle, so that I can deal with others justly, and that others may be just in their dealings with me.

This week with the Greenwood - Day One

'I have no means of tapping into a supernatural force, a higher force -- no. Images are made by people.' - Enrique Enriquez

A relevant thought from Enriquez as I move into this week, where I'll be reading with the Greenwood Tarot and an oracle illustrated by the same artist, Celtic Shaman's Pack. These images are made by people -- and their meaning is assigned by people. And that's enough.

My questions:

What can I do to alleviate my stress and feel less tired and worried? What should I be asking for from others? Where should I practice acceptance? Where should I stand my ground?

Greenwood Tarot, Mark Ryan & Chesca Potter, Thorsons 1996

I can realise and accept that challenge is a normal state of affairs. There's never a time when we aren't facing some battle or other. You just carry on...and like the hares, you realise that it's rarely a life and death and fight, anyway. The guidebook even bears this out: 'Learn to deal with rivalry or adversity.' Ha.

Healing from others is what I need right now, or rather, enough respite to find healing myself. I need enough of the burden carried by someone else that I can find space and time to do this important work.

I must accept that my counterpart in this life is not like me, doesn't think like me, doesn't operate like me, doesn't feel like me and isn't me. A partner isn't a mirror of ourselves. I must accept the polarity of our relationship and how we stand together but separate.

I should stand my ground when it comes to my inner voice. I should, in other words, have confidence in my ability to find creative solutions to my problems.

I see the repeating motif through this spread of pairs. The two upright hares, the two figures in 2 of Cups and the post stones in 3 of Stones. I am reminded that I do not move through this world alone, and I would do well to remember this. Duality can mean tension and conflict, but it can also mean cooperation and strength.

Deva of Air - Breathe, You Are Alive

Deva of Air, Devas of Creation, Conway

Will they ever come to me again, 
The long dances,
On through the dark till the dim stars wane?
Shall I feel the dew on my throat
And stream of wind in my hair?

-- Euripedes, The Bacchae (qtd in The Devas of Creation: Working with the Energies of the Universe, Conway)

It's the last day of Devas of Creation week, and very glad I am to see something less gloomy today. We have Deva of Air, one of the Elemental cards in this deck. (There is also Fire, Water, Earth and Spirit). These, according to Conway in the companion book, are the building blocks of matter.

In this card, we see the upward movement of Air, as it morphs into a humanoid shape --the better to relate to, my dear! A female figure wends its way upward, having woven her spell and escaped all who wished to keep her down by consuming her.

'The deva points out that a couple of hours of real air will revive us, blow away the cobwebs, and allow us to think more clearly. Go out, run up a hill, fly a kite, find the 'long, long dances' and remember how good life can be,' writes Cilla Conway in the companion book.

This card is about liberation from cares.

How can the element of Air liberate us from cares?

In Thich Nhat Hanh's book 'Breathe, You Are Alive: The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing,' the Four Foundations of Mindfulness are discussed --

1. The body ('Form').  The practice of mindful breathing brings awareness to the body. We can then reconcile ourselves to our body, and allow healing to take place.

2. Our feelings. The practice of mindful breathing brings awareness of our feelings, and it is only through awareness that we can recognise them, reconcile ourselves to them, calm them, transform them, and heal them.

3. Mental formations. This concept is rather complex. In a nutshell, a mental formation is a  conditioned response to an object of experience. One might say it is a response based on our perceptions, a reaction to a trigger. This is where Buddhism sounds a lot like Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. You see clearly the pattern of your mental formations in response to some trigger. You can recognise the conditions that brought the mental formation to you (this practice is called Vipasana).

4. Perception. When the mental formation is recognised, then the perception can be challenged. Most suffering comes from wrong perception. If we look at the true nature of reality, we are released from suffering based on wrong perceptions. Form, feelings and mental formations are all the objects of our perceptions.

How is this so? I perceive my body as a whole, when in fact it is an aggregate of many parts and cannot function without the system in place. At a deeper level, I perceive my body as solid, when in fact it is made up mostly of liquid. Even deeper, I perceive my body as material when in fact it is made up of atoms containing mostly empty space.

I perceive my emotions as real and singular, when in fact they are a physical response to complex stimuli.

I perceive my mental formations as logical and right, when in fact they are skewed by my perceptions of the way things are or ought to be.

All of this insight comes of focusing on the breath. Or it can. And that's how the Deva of Air can deliver us from care.

This is a little more thorough than engaging in the distraction of running up a hill or flying a kite, but those techniques also have their place.

What can you do today to help you rise above forms, feelings, mental formations and perceptions that try to tether you to suffering?

We don't need no stinkin' astrology :D

Pluto, Devas of Creation, Cilla Conway 

Well, it just keeps getting better and better with the Devas of Creation this week. But I have to admit, I have been feeling pretty bleak. Apparently, this card depicts Pluto and its moon or 'satellite', Charon. Conway says that Pluto is Hades and Charon is the Ferryman (their namesakes), and that Pluto 'rules over the collective as well as the personal, particularly in relation to power and its misuse. It challenges stagnant systems and brings about change, death and rebirth.'

You know what, I get a little tired of every card in every oracle deck being about 'transformation and rebirth'. And I don't see how this particular planet could be about either of those. I mean, I know that in astrology, Pluto represents the decay and transformation part of the life cycle, but seriously, what doesn't?

The scale shown between Charon and Pluto is about right, as Charon is said to be half the diameter of Pluto, but they bear very little resemblance to one another. Pluto has the reddish colour, but Charon has a lighter colour, and their compositions are different. Though scientist believe they were born in a collision billions of years ago, 'in many ways they seem more like strangers than siblings', according to NASA:

'A high-contrast array of bright and dark features covers Pluto’s surface, while on Charon, only a dark polar region interrupts a generally more uniform light gray terrain. The reddish materials that color Pluto are absent on Charon. Pluto has a significant atmosphere; Charon does not. On Pluto, exotic ices like frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide have been found, while Charon’s surface is made of frozen water and ammonia compounds. The interior of Pluto is mostly rock, while Charon contains equal measures of rock and water ice.'

So if we wanted to be more literal in interpreting this card (and I'm growing to believe that literal analysis of a card generally leads to more accurate figurative interpretations), we need to think about the distance Pluto is from the sun, and its tiny size, and the controversy surrounding its classification, and its lengthy orbital period of 248 Earth years, and the 'chaos and pandemonium' of the orbits of its moons, which scientists call 'beyond disorganised -- it's unexplainable.' Pluto's gravitational pull seems to have no influence on them. There's certainly a story there, don't you think? 

See, it's so much more exciting and filled with possibility to consider the literal meanings of things, rather than turning to esoteric or traditional associations. And you get to possibilities beyond the usual, 'change is ahead, something dies and is reborn' trope. Well, duh. That's the only thing we ever knew on Earth -- birth, life and death. Of course we interpret everything as ultimately meaning that. But it makes for a predictable and ho-hum reading. What if your reader pulled this card and said to you -- 'Wow, you feel really isolated and like the things going on around you just don't make any sense, everything's chaotic, isn't it?' You could even then go on to look at the crazy behaviour of individual Pluto moons and see what the sitter relates those to in his or her life. Wouldn't that be a better springboard than 'Hmm, I see an opportunity for death and rebirth here. What's dying and what's trying to be reborn, do you think?' Ugh, it's so old hat. It's so blah blah blah. 

Sure, it means that the reader needs to have a good general knowledge of lots of things, and willing to do some research. But I'd rather read about the real Pluto than memorise a bunch of esoteric meanings, personally. I've done the esoteric thing, but astrology never was a favourite of mine, and I've been unable to beat it into my head. Now I'm realising I don't really have to. It's useful sometimes, but it's not the only way. 

Ah, I'd like to keep rambling, but I've run out of blogging time -- gotta get ready for work. 

Today's the day to think about being way out there, far from the sun, and surrounded by truly bizarre events, which for you are so familiar they seem normal. What is the sun you are far from? What are these truly bizarre events? You'll have to look at them from a different perspective to see them for what they are -- really weird! Pluto's stuck with its weirdnesses, but we're not planets, so we're not stuck. But maybe we like it there. Think about it! How can we make it work for us, rather than against us? Or is it working against us? Is it all just a matter of point of view? Think on, boys and girls! 

You gotta break some eggs

Growth/Decay from Devas of Creation, C Conway

Look who's turned up again. I can't say I'm particularly glad to see this card, because the events that unfolded last time I drew it were not at all fun and not something that I am prepared to share on this blog. But suffice to say that an 'anchor' in my life did unexpectedly prove to be a bit more rotten than I'd thought.

I just can't look at this image without picturing an egg and its chalaza, the white structure that serves as the anchor as the egg grows and develops (assuming it is fertile, which actually most commercial eggs are not).

You can see from the diagram how the chalaza anchors the egg yolk in the middle of the egg:

I can't help but think there is some wisdom in this. It must have some meaning for me, or else I would not have drawn this card twice, nor would I have seen it as an egg broken open in a bowl both times. 

I suppose when this card comes up, it is time to really take a good look around what has been supporting and sustaining equilibrium for you as you float in your safe comfort zone. It must be better to learn it's rotten before you shrivel up and fade away for its lack. Or worse yet, if we follow the egg analogy, get slammed around inside your shell until you are destroyed. 

There's a world outside the shell. The chalaza was keeping you anchored in the shell, which may have been the place for you for a time, but the world outside the shell is real, too. 

Going back to the card, the yolk in the bowl with the black chalaza is surrounded by swirling energy. Maybe being freed from the shell is the best thing that could have happened. Staying inside would have led only to death. But being freed suggests transformation into something else entirely. 

I know it seems a little silly to keep chasing this egg thing, but it's how I see the card and it's worth contemplation, even though it does not make a point for point tidy analogy. 

How am I no longer anchored, even though I thought I was? 

What structure, thing, person, or idea did I count on as my anchor? How has it gone bad? How is it failing to do the job I thought it was doing? 

Now that I'm free of that tether, what do I do? Where can I go? What does it mean for the direction of my life from now on? 

I can't answer those questions right now. I'm not sure what they point to. Or maybe I'm not ready to let myself go there. How about you? Can you answer those questions right now? And what does this contemplation reveal for you? 

Big Blue Marble

Gaia, Devas of Creation, Cilla Conway

This card reminds me of a TV show from when I was a little kid: The Big Blue Marble. It aired in the early 70s and here's the theme tune:

The earth's a big blue marble
when you see it from out there
The sun and moon declare
our beauty's very rare

Folks are folks and kids are kids
we share a common name
We speak a different way
but work and play the same

We sing pretty much alike
Enjoy spring pretty much alike
Peace and love we all understand
And laughter, we use the very same brand

Our differences, our problems
From out there there's not much trace
Our friendships they can place
While looking at the face
Of the big blue marble in space.

Bad egg - Devas of Creation

'Growth/Decay' Devas of Creation, Cilla Conway

Yesterday I drew 'Life and Death' and today's draw is 'Growth/Decay'. I detect a theme here.  Subtle, Devas of Creation. Subtle!

The image shows a swirl of energy creating a golden egg shape, and into it creeps a dark shadow of badness. It looks a lot like the little white blobs attached to an egg yolk, only this one has turned black. (By the way, that little thing in an egg is called a chalaza, and it is not a chicken embryo or anything to do with rooster's contribution, but serves to anchor the yolk to the two ends of the egg to prevent it being sloshed around. If you break an egg and it's very visible, you've got a fresh egg. I pick them out anyway, because they gross me out.)

I don't know how I'd react if the 'chalaza' of the egg were black!

What do you do if your 'anchor' has gone bad?
Do you die? Or do you float, free of constraints, and become something else entirely?

On the other hand, the black smudge also reminds me of an umbilical cord. It should die and shrivel up after the baby is born, but what would happen if it died while the baby is like in this image, just forming? Whatever happened to it, it wouldn't manifest as a baby -- but would its energy manifest elsewhere as something else? Ultimately energy is neither produced nor destroyed (that's straight from the Prajnaparamita Sutra), and so it doesn't just disappear. Everything becomes something else. Everything that ever was something else first, and will be something else after. That's why there's no such thing as loss, except in our own perception which is limited by our physical brains and rather dull five senses.

Who thought I'd be contemplating an egg yolk with a black 'chalaza' this morning. I certainly didn't.

This cards invites thought. What plans or germs of growth am I losing the foundations for? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? When is loss not loss but opportunity? Is there anything I should ditch before I even get started on it? Should my plans make an abrupt change from what they started out to be?


(Go on, google 'chalazae'. You know you want to. How do you think I found out the word??)

Devas of Creation - Eternity

'Eternity' Devas of Creation, Cilla Conway

This week I'd like to take a closer look at the Devas of Creation by Cilla Conway. I don't know how well they lend themselves to daily draws, but we'll see.

It's Monday morning and I've drawn this rather muddy-looking card called 'Eternity'.

To me, it looks grey and cloudy, like a rainy day, and there's a vague, cloaked figure looming, and the squiggle in front looks rather like an embryo.

So we do seem to have Alpha and Omega represented here. The shadowy place between life and death, with symbols of both swirling together. And in fact this card is called 'Deva of Eternity, of Life and Death.'

According to the companion book, the appearance of this card can signify 'an important message from your non-physical self, or partnership, guidance, or soul connection.' Or it could represent 'repeated cyclical patterns you need to be aware of, or issues of life and death.'

Well, I just cannot imagine what this could be pointing to, unless it's the fact that is Monday and the chance to start a new 'diet' to try to lose some of this ever-increasing fatness.

Am I hovering between some beginning and ending? Is something coming to a close in my life? Is something starting up? Maybe today's the day I find out something...Or maybe it's just a card with some swirls on it.

Maybe both.