What are my blessings?

Today really is the first day of the rest of my life. The cards I've drawn to day from Sirian Starseed Tarot (Cori 2012) answer the question 'What are my blessings?' They seem to directly refer to this morning's task. It's the first day of a new thing, one of those outside agencies I wrote about earlier in the week, the very first day. It's a new start, the beginning of putting things back together again. Well, that started as soon as things were blown to bits, but you know what I mean.

The Sun (or Solar Deity) will shine his light into the dark corners, refresh the pilgrim spirit, and new perspectives will be seen.

Three major cards, a big deal.

Cori writes of each:

Solar Deity - 'When this key appears it is a hallmark of great things in the works. It is a gloriously beautiful new day.' 

Starseed - 'When this card appears in a reading, it implies that the querent is off on a new quest, unconditionally, knowing that a new experience, an unknown, is about to unfold and become manifest.' 

Hanging Man - 'Hanging man appears to be waiting to be reborn, as many of us describe it, into to a new spiritual consciousness.'

It is a lot to ask of a 1.5 hour meeting, but there is nothing to lose and much to be gained by trying. I feel hopeful. Each day has been the beginning of healing, of course. This day appears particularly auspicious. And even if these cards refer not to today but to general life (because after all, I didn't ask about today, I asked 'What are my blessings?) they are good tidings. They show me good things. Whatever the outcome of this situation, however it turns out, I still have these blessings.

That was okay, now somebody get me down from here

Robin Hood Tarot 

I'm working from home today, so maybe this is why I've got that 'Hanged Man' feeling. (That and the fact that I'm just so awfully tired.)

The Hanged Man is an odd card, not terribly popular, though some identify with it. In popular contemporary interpretations, it has come to mean 'self-sacrifice', but I don't really look at it that way. The Hanged Man I see in most decks doesn't at all appear to be suffering. In fact, in most he looks positively beatific, and certainly not a victim.

Take this card for example. Our Hanged Man looks like a professional acrobat or performer from the circus, in his cherry red tights and gleaming white poet shirt. His pose is quite athletic. He hangs from the tree branch with one leg bent over the branch and the other ankle hooked over the shin for security. His hands are pressed behind his back as he grins at his audience. I can imagine him giving a little swing, launching off the branch into a flip and landing on his feet with a big 'Ta Da!' from the band.

That's how he looks, anyway, but he could also be an odd guy who finds it very relaxing and invigorating to hang upside down. In that case, he's probably enjoying the blood rushing to his head, the feel of the breeze, and the sounds of the rustling leaves and the birds of the forest as he hangs in quiet contemplation.

He seems like a lad who has a lot of patience, certainly great physical endurance, and one who doesn't mind, in fact possibly enjoys, being in an 'unusual position'. New things don't bother him. He likes looking at things from a fresh angles. In fact, his point of view is almost always different from everyone else's, yet he doesn't mind; in fact, he rather likes it. He doesn't care -- he's a nonconformist.

The Hanged Man is associated with the planet Neptune and the astrological sign of Pisces. Neptune, as you would imagine, is the ruler of Pisces, and when the two come together, it is a watery time! Neptune is associated with illusion, delusion, glamour, spirituality, boundary-less experiences, psychic experiences, sacrificial love, deception, dreams, religious feelings, empathy, scandal, and the transcending of egos. It is the planet of fog, mist, oceans and oil. Neptune, in its highest manifestation, is associated with compassion for those who suffer, as well as a tendency to glamorize or idealize people, ideas, or even objects (The Astrology Room). 

Neptune went into Pisces in 1848, shortly after its discovery in 1845. It remained in Pisces 14 years (it has a 14-year course in every house of the zodiac). Neptune is currently in Pisces and has been since 2011. It will move out of Pisces in 2025. During its 19th century course, there was an increase in spiritualism and interest in esoteric, Eastern, mystic philosophies, as well as interest in psychoanalysis, dream interpretation, etc. I may be biased, but I think we are entering a new phase of spiritual awareness as we become more and more interested in equality for all--equal rights and acceptance for all sexualities, concepts of universal human rights, ecological conservation, animal rights, and so on. It seems that there is a blossoming of interest in paganism and other earth-based spiritualities, and a movement away from old dogmas. 

So, the Hanged Man is a contemplative chap. He takes his time. He looks at things from new angles. He doesn't mind seeming weird to the majority, all those people hurrying past him doing all their hurried and 'important' tasks. He's just hanging out, thinking things over. 

I could take a lesson from him. 

How do you pin yourself to the wall?

Thoth Tarot

Today's draw is The Hanged Man from Thoth Tarot. Here's another card that can  bid farewell to an old era. At least in the Thoth Tarot it can! I posted about it here last year: No More Martyrs.

I do feel quite put upon today. I have always resented and disliked working on weekends. A day off midweek feels like a cheat to me because my husband is at work and I just spend it on my own. It does me no good as far as spending more time with my family is concerned. And I suppose no one could feel more put upon than the figure in this card. His foot and hands are nailed to the wall, his head peeled of both his hair and possibly his ears as well! No eyes, no mouth -- he's not receiving any messages nor communicating any. His poor little winky has totally shrunk back home. (Well, it would, wouldn't it.) He appears to me to be a conduit of pain. He's almost a sort of pain lightning rod. It all channels into him and fills every cell, and there is nothing else. He is so filled with it that he may have moved beyond it to a higher place within himself. It consumes him.

Now, working on a Saturday, and even a Sunday, can't compete with that sort of pain! I'm not saying it does. BUT...we can sometimes act like it. We can treat our mundane annoyances as if they are supreme sources of pain. We can dramatize and poke and prod our little gripes until we feel like we're pinned upside to a wall. But who really did that to us? We did. 

It's funny, you know. It can be surprisingly easy to nail ourselves to the wall with our own thinking, our own interpretation of the events of our lives, of our lot. It's pretty easy to do that, but once we've pinned ourselves there, it can feel darn near impossible to unstick ourselves. Yes, it's funny like that. 

But there's a trick to it. We pinned ourselves there in our minds. It's not real. Our perception of how bloody awful it all is -- that's just a story we told ourselves. We can tell ourselves a different story. And then -- we're suddenly not pinned to the wall anymore.

I'm going to unpin myself today from this particular wall. I deserve that.

He's not complaining

Golden Tarot, US Games 2003

Well, this seems an appropriate card for Bank Holiday Tuesday! We all feel a bit martyred the day after a bit of time off, don't we? Some of us do, anyway. It's also a card of self-sacrifice, self-imposed inaction, and sometimes can indicate looking at things from an entirely new perspective. The most important thing to notice about any tarot Hanged Man depiction is the serenity of the figure. He never appears to be in extreme pain or bondage. Rather, he seems willing, submissive, and to have reached a higher place mentally. (In other words, he looks kind of spaced out. I guess that happens when all the blood runs to your head.) Personally I think I would be so congested I'd have to breath through my mouth and would be feeling like my had was about to explode after 1 minute, but some people love being in an inverted position.

One of my favourite tarot books of all time is Rachel Pollack's Tarot Wisdom. She says that the Hanged Man 'may be an outsider, or with different attitudes than other people, with no push to convince others, and no need to seek others' approval. For those on a spiritual path, it may signal a moment of illumination or an actual initiation experience.' Well, that sounds pretty serious for the Tuesday after a bank holiday. But I will go with the idea of being a nonconformist, a quiet observer. I will make an effort today to not join in with any complaining about being back to work, or other grousing about the many evils and irritation of the daily grind. That's going to be some effort! But if like the Hanged Man I merely keep myself apart, looking at things 'upside down' and keep quiet, it should be quite doable. :)

Upside down, boy you turn me

Wicca Moon Tarot by Shirlee@Wicca Moon

I've drawn Hanged Man again today!

Rachel Pollack: 'The peace of acceptance; a direct image of peace and understanding. A message of independence. Being who you are, even if others think you have everything backward. Being deeply connected to life, feeling at peace.' (Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom)

Oh, ho! Does that match with what I've been thinking about recently! I might as well tell you there's an online community where I spend a lot of time, and lately I've not been feeling entirely good about it. A few particularly opinionated posters had me feeling quite down. So I decided to just stop going to certain parts of the site. Even though, strangely, the thought of curtailing my online activity makes me feel uneasy. (That in itself is a good sign that it needs doing).

May I remain true to myself. May I trust the way I see my world, regardless of how 'upside down' I may look to 'others'.

Shante prashante sarva bhaya upashamani swaha