Your Reading for Today
Did you get a business card?
It’s your card for the day! To find out what it means for you, scroll down and find it and get your fortune. Learn more about the mystery novel that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Start where you are, Kick butt, and then party like it’s 1999.
Like the other Aces in the deck, the Ace of Rods heralds a call to action in the characteristics of its suit. For the other Aces, it’s a call to action to begin to plan the big plan (swords), to begin to find true universal peace (Coins), or to open your heart finally, truly, and really to the possibilities in love (cups). The Ace of Rods does all this one better. It says, “Start doing whatever it is that needs doing.” It inspires us to act and it is the beginning of doing the acting if you see what I mean. It’s the double whammy of acting to improve your life. So, not only is the suit all about forward motion, following your passions, and doing what needs doing, it is also about the act of acting on all that.
The wheel has somehow turned today. This morning brought a new dawn (of course), and it also brought the chance to grab your dreams by the ears, jump on them, and ride them into the land of “woo HOO!”
Often, the Ace of Rods appears with a flame at its tip. So, it is like a torch that can bring the light of awareness and adventure to the darkness. We can be our very own Indiana Jones and actually be the great adventurer who explores the sizzling, exciting possibilities of life, the universe, and everything and then makes them his/her own.
Each one of our journeys will be different. Each one will be uniquely our own. And it is time, right now, to spend a minute actively doing something about what needs to happen to take the next step.
Take the next five minutes (if that is all you can spare) and go do something, anything that furthers your big dream in this lifetime.
Seriously, go do it. Right now. Want to write the Great American Novel? Go create the text document, title it and write the first sentence. Want to be a woodworker and have never done it? Go to the library and check out a book on it. Want to start your own jewelry-making business? Go sign up for an Etsy account or spend an hour looking at beads, or heck, go string a necklace.
Do something that starts you on your path. Take the first step, and the rest will follow. They will follow because this is the Ace of Rods, and when it’s your corner, you are golden. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Emotion, Intuition, Love.
The Ace of Cups represents that first blush of love or the spark of intuition that leads you in the right direction. It’s the awareness of what you are feeling right when you are feeling it. It is one of the most optimistic cards in the deck. When you feel those feelings and allow yourself the self-love they represent, that is when grand adventures in life take place. When you don’t, when you ignore or disregard them, that is another story.
We are disturbingly good at disregarding our feelings. We have them, but we either shy away from them or deny them outright. The Ace of Cups doesn’t let us play that debilitating game. It states, for the record, that not only are our feelings valid, but we need to pay attention. When you have an emotional reaction to something, that reaction is giving you information. If you don’t pay attention to what you are feeling, if you don’t honor it, then you are going to cause some sort of dis-ease in your body/mind/heart/spirit system.
Today, pay attention to your feelings. They are trying to tell you something. And if you follow the path on which they lead you, you will learn, grow, stretch, and fly.
Moving on, I want to give you a quote from A Winter’s Bones. “Never ask for what ought to be offered.” It’s not a “fuzzy wuzzy” love quote, but I hold that it is true to a great extent. If you feel like you are standing, hat in hand, and hoping/begging/pleading for someone to give you time, attention, love, and if you feel like you are always in that place of wistful anxiety with that person, I would ask you to consider whether or not you need to have that person in your life.
If you look at the image of the card, (see the link for representations below), you will see that it is a chalice that is filled or being filled with water. Water, in this case, is our emotion or love. When the Ace is right side up, it is being filled and full of bountiful, beautiful emotions and the spark that ignites them into love. When it is reversed, that cup is upside down, and our emotions and love are being poured out into a void until we are empty. So, in addition to feeling the love inside yourself for yourself and others, inherent in the card is a caution not to waste your emotions where they are not wanted or deserved.
If you feel like that is happening, if your intuition taps you on the back of the head, or in your belly that something is off, don’t ignore it. Instead, acknowledge it, feel it, and then do something about it. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Nourishment, Abundance, Creativity.
The Empress represents the mothering aspect in our lives. While this can be biological, it doesn’t have to be. The card asks us to nourish that which we love: our dreams, our children, our friends, family, or ourselves. We can mother our creative dreams. We can be fruitfully productive. We can live in the mindset of bounty and abundance.
The symbols on the card depict fertility, bounty, and abundance. However, you don’t get to that place without putting in the time to nourish what you have already. You must care for the seeds you have planted if they are to bear luscious, juicy fruit. (Oh, and if you are trying to get pregnant, today is an excellent day to make love.)
Today, think about what you are passionate about and then infuse it with love, care, and attention. If that something happens to be you so much the better. We all could use some TLC. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Accomplished, Steady, Content.
I don’t often say, “Rest on your laurels.” I tend to be the person who operates in an, “On to the next thing” paradigm. As soon as I’ve achieved something, it transforms in front of my eyes from the top of the mountain to a plateau that leads to the next peak to climb.
In some ways, that typifies the King of Coins, and in other ways, it doesn’t. The difference between the two is the perspective with which we approach the challenge.
The King doesn’t stop striving to achieve. Sure, he’s worked hard to get where he stands. He’s climbed. He’s bled. He’s struggled. And now, he sits on top of his mountain and takes the time to be content with what he has achieved. He realizes the work isn’t done. There is more to accomplish, but he is no longer fueled by hunger. Instead, the process of achieving from that contented place fuels him. He no longer operates from insecurity. He has nothing to prove to anyone except perhaps himself. He simply does what needs doing without the need for accolades or props. He is satisfied with the job well done by the virtue of having done it well.
In some ways, he is Buddha-like. He is content to be in the present moment. He embodies a sense of peace, and he expresses that peace outwardly by providing something most of us crave without even knowing it. The thing he provides is care. He is the ultimate caretaker and he lives that role.
He has achieved a sense of peace that allows him to know that true care comes without thought of reciprocity. True care is free and freely given. The King doesn’t achieve because he craves the reward. He achieves this because he knows his role, and he is pleased to fulfill it. The process of fulfilling it brings him peace as certainly as would deep meditation on a mountaintop. Because he can find it anywhere and everywhere, he can care for those around him, in the moment, and provide a sense of love and acceptance that so many need.
The trouble is that most of us aren’t there. We chafe under what is expected of us. We run from one “must do” to another “should do” to a third “get it done this instant” and we never spend time just relaxing into what we have and what we have already accomplished.
I wonder how many of us feel truly cared for. How many of us feel like someone really, actually has our back and will protect us, care for us, or stand for us if and when we need that?
On some very practical levels, the answer to that is likely that few of us feel that sense of care, and fewer of us would allow ourselves to feel vulnerable enough to let someone care for us in that way. But that is just what the King of Coins asks us to do, even if the person who cares for us is ourselves. If we change our perspective, if we shift our paradigm, we begin to realize that contentment and yes, that power lie directly inside each of us. We are our own best protector and defender. When no one else will stand by us, then we must stand for ourselves.
What can we learn from this card? We can learn that being terrified or worried about something doesn’t change the thing we fear. The thing we fear stays exactly as it was and has ever been. What changes is that we devote energy to it and that makes it seem bigger in our minds. That gives it power over us. So, if we stop giving it energy by devoting our time and effort to worrying about it, it still doesn’t change, but then we have more energy to either do something about it or to live our lives in peace, depending on what is appropriate in the present moment. If we release our fear and our stress, then what’s left is a well of quiet calm.
Today, I encourage you to remember your own courage, your own achievements, and your own struggles. Remember them and allow them to bring you a sense of peace that you can gracefully handle whatever life throws at you. In fact, write them down. List them. Count your blessings. Start big and work your way down to the tiniest cause for joy. Give those blessings outward expression, and you will be amazed at the transformation. What might have seemed insurmountable will transform into the doable. What might have seemed terrifying will change into the possible.
The peace you will feel when you reach that place of quiet confidence will allow you to climb the next peak. And that satisfaction can change your life. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Honor/Dishonor, Truth/Lies, Fact/Fiction.
Today, we have some decisions to make. Do we remain true to our ideals or do we bend them just enough to get what we ultimately think we want? Do we stay honest or do we tell little white lies that will grease wheels, smooth the road ahead, and keep the peace? Do we maintain our sense of honor or do we relinquish it for the sake of some purpose we’ve deemed higher?
Everyone has to answer these questions for themselves. They are tough. The more seductive road of greased wheels and easy solutions beckons. But do we actually get what we want in the end if we do that? Or is it a false resolution that only looks like blue skies and peaceful times?
I encourage you to be true to yourself today. Keep checking in with what you believe to be the right thing for you and then do that. It will be a fine line to walk, but in my opinion, it’s worth it. Even if it is tough to hear or speak the truth in the moment, in the end, we are all the better for it.
Conversely, if you are on the receiving end of someone else’s malarkey, be an eagle eye, get the lay of the land, and separate the truth from the lies. Know for yourself who’s trying to pull the wool over your eyes and you will make the right and proper decisions for yourself.
It won’t be easy. No one said it would be easy. In fact, in the moment, it might be excruciating to be honest and say and do what needs to be said and done. But in the long run, you will be satisfied with what you chose and your sense of integrity will flourish. You’ll be able to look within and know you did well. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Defense, Persistence, Endurance.
The wounded warrior stands to defend the castle. She or he is heroic, brave, true, and defensive. That last one isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on what we’re going through.
Don’t get me wrong. I do believe that sometimes we are under attack. Someone has it out for us, and we must do something to either defend ourselves or remove ourselves from the situation. If you choose the latter, if you can walk away, do walk away. Sometimes, you get to the point where it is no longer safe or good for you to remain where you stand. Whether it’s a job, an awkward meeting with an Ex, or a living situation, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you must take care of yourself. When you’re done, be done. Then, do what you need to do to take care of yourself.
We tend to think the situation in which we find ourselves is the only way things can be. We get stuck in the pattern or the paradigm, and we don’t remember that we can change it or at least shift it. And, we can. What stops us? Sometimes, it’s habit or inertia. Often, we just aren’t paying attention, and suddenly we wake up and realize that we’ve been in a painful situation for quite some time. Then, we begin the laborious process of making the changes that we need to make in order to feel better.
Certainly, we can remain where we find ourselves, stuck and miserable, but when we get to rock bottom when we’re forced into that corner, we will make changes. We will get into “fight or flight” and strike out in one or the other of them. The thing is that those actions are often bigger and more explosive than they would be if we had nipped the situation in the bud. When we’re fighting for (what might feel like) our lives, we go big, or we go home. And that can burn bridges we didn’t want to burn in the first place. I have a favorite quote. It is, “Diplomacy is the art of telling someone to go to hell in such a way that they actually look forward to the trip.”* If we want to remove ourselves from a situation, let’s make it as far from incendiary as possible. Let’s kill ‘em with kindness and then get the heck out.
If, however, we choose to defend ourselves, in some respects, we are choosing the much tougher road. Defending ourselves against those who have power over us in some way is particularly challenging because it can be risky. We need to be careful about how we do what we do, but we still need to do it. If we need to put up arms to show ourselves to be righteous, then so be it. Again, though, stay vigilant and make sure you that you are true to yourself in your defense. Don’t accuse others. Just defend yourself. If you can, let go of your bitterness. I’m not going to tell you to let go of your anger. Anger can be a positive force provided you don’t take it out on those who don’t deserve it. Anger can help propel you to great heights, but you must keep everything in perspective. Don’t give in to the Dark Side (insert Star Wars citation here). Let your anger help you make a clean sweep if that’s what you need but stay on course and don’t hurt anyone (least of all yourself).
So today, defend yourself if you need to, but then lay down your arms. Don’t go too far. Go only as far as you need to keep your peace of mind. Stay vigilant but not paranoid.
Be like the aikido master. Harmonize with your opponents’ energy to help them go where they were trying to go and then help them go just a little bit farther than that. Then, they’ll be out of your hair and you can go on with your life. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
*-Caskie Stinnett
Rest after harvest, Assessment, Crossroads.
“You deserve a break today…” Wasn’t that how the commercial went? I don’t remember what it was for, but that bit stuck with me. I believe it was written by Barry Manilow (Yes, I know that. Don’t hate me.), and it typifies Today’s card.
We work hard. We all work hard at various jobs whether or not they are the kind that earns us money. Regardless, the vast majority of the time, we rarely get the opportunity to rest and relax as if we don’t have a care in the world. That kind of experience only happens on a certain type of vacation: when you have no plans, no worries, and no schedules to keep. How often do we take those? Seldom.
So, the trick seems to be to eke out that relaxation as best you can, in the few minutes you might have to do it. Here are some ideas:
Have you finished a major project at work? Take a movie break. Here’s what I do. I take an afternoon and I find a movie (often one no one else will want to see with me, like a cheesy rom-com), and I go. It’s in the middle of the workweek. It’s in the middle of the day. And I don’t care. I just take a break.
Do you have two minutes to rub together? Stop everything. Turn off the phone. Step away from the computer. Walk outside, if you can. Stop whatever work you have going on and breathe. Or, if you want to do this while at the computer, here’s the perfect website to visit. Do Nothing For Two Minutes. http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/
Many other ways of taking a short break exist, and I encourage you to try one or two of them, just to give yourself a break.
In the meantime, this card, as do so many of the others in the deck, has multiple meanings. In addition to needing or deserving rest, you might also find yourself standing at a crossroads. You need to make decisions, but things seem too murky for you to see any clear path. So, take the time to get centered and stable, find a quiet place, and do a full assessment of what is happening. Normally, this sort of assessment is the province of the Swords suit, but the Coins also allow for quiet analysis. The thing is this analysis has to be of a practical nature. If you are going to spend time assessing, you can’t overthink. You must remain pragmatic in how you proceed.
Today, stay calm. Stay focused. Then, when you find yourself at midnight at a crossroads, you will see the path well lit by the moon. Sometimes, in the darkest times, we find light. We find hope that we are making the appropriate decisions. We see signs that we walk the right path. Those signs are precious in a world where often, the clearest things we see are what we have done wrong.
Today is not a day to wallow in guilt. Today is a day to look for the light. Look for what is right in what you are doing and then follow that. It will not lead you astray. If you want a full reading, contact me.Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Dreams, Creativity, Inspiration.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about how what we do makes us who we are. If you make movies, you are a filmmaker. If you write, you are a writer or an author. If you trade on the stock market, you’re a trader. And so on.
We tend to self-identify with what we do. Sure, humans love to categorize. We need to pile likes with likes and then we go a step further, and we ascribe value to those piles. Some end up being deemed more valuable than others. A lawyer or doctor might be deemed as more worthwhile than, say, a writer, or a teacher. Being a lawyer or a doctor might be valued more highly than deciding to spend your life teaching third graders. My question is, why?
Why do we tend to place those value judgments on professions? Is it just salary? Or is there some other reason? Furthermore, why do we let ourselves be judged by what we do?
Having asked these questions, I wonder about my own reaction. I have chosen a career (or careers because I have several going on simultaneously) which will keep me in the not-so-important category. At one point, I had thought to become a lawyer (and even got into law school at American University), but music-making lured me away. And for the most part, I have not regretted the decision. However, there have been times, late at night, when I’ve navel-gazed and wondered about what could have been. I’ve always come out the other side thinking that I’ve made the right choices for myself, but it hasn’t stopped me from wondering.
The previous has been my own process in thinking about “The Star” card. Generally speaking, I believe the card is about reaching for your dreams while keeping your feet on the ground. So, yes, go for what you want, but be sure you have a solid plan in place to help you get there. In the end, it’s about self-determination. Sure, you might choose the road less traveled. And that might make all the difference.
In fact, I encourage you to throw caution to those particular winds today. However, remember making those choices means taking those chances. Being reckless is great as long as you have some plan in place if you fall. Falling isn’t the problem. We all fall. I believe my friend John said it best when he was talking about skiing. “If you don’t fall when you ski, you aren’t skiing hard enough.” The key is to have a plan to help yourself back up if you fall down to Earth after you’ve reached for the stars.
Today, trust but verify. Reach for the stars, but have a solid plan to get your feet back on terra firma. That is the path to success. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Chance, Luck, Destiny.
Lady Luck can either be salvation or utter destruction. Relying on her to be either at any one time is a fool’s game.
Today, ride your lucky streak but don’t ever depend on it. If you were a gambler, I would say stop right before you throw the dice that one last time. Stop just one short of throwing it all away and you will come out a winner.
Don’t expect the luck to hold forever. Conversely, if things aren’t going your way, stop, breathe, wait five minutes, and they will shift. Lady luck is a fickle mistress, but she goes both ways. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Striving, Blossoming, New beginnings.
Imagine being a seed. Imagine lying dormant in the still, cold earth. Imagine the sun shining down on the earth where you lie. Imagine the soil warming. Imagine the discomfort of realizing your shell has become too hot and uncomfortable. You realize you are too big for what contains you. Although it provided shelter when you needed it, you must now break out and move on.
That instant of breaking free and breaking through is filled with possibilities. Who you are and what you will be, are limitless. If you push, stretch, and work against the walls that hold you, you will crash through your current limitations into the sunshine.
And that sunshine rocks. On toast. With raspberry jam. Yes, of course, it’s hard. You strain. You push. You bend. You tear at your status quo until you shatter your shell. Then, you must live in a brand new paradigm. Sure, there was safety in that shell, in the cold, dark earth. Now, you are in a sink-or-swim situation. Either you will gather your courage and thrive in the sunshine, or you will wither.
This situation isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes great daring to rise into the sun. Once you do that, it takes great bravery to keep going, to evolve and grow into the you, you will be.
The Ace of Pentacles calls on us to release the peace of staying sheltered and to blast through to the chaos and light of new growth. Imagine what needs to happen for a seed to germinate, and it daunts you. So much change, so much faith that the cells will replicate and that there will be enough nourishment to stretch and grow and come to fruition. It takes a huge leap of faith to believe there will be enough. And if we don’t believe, it takes an even bigger leap not to care and leap anyway.
This Ace raises a battle cry. Accept where you have been, find your peace with it, accept that it is time to change, and then evolve!
This evolution is the domain of the Pentacles suit. Germination (of an idea or an action). Growth (building and nurturing the idea or action) and Fruition (as you reap, so will you sow).
You will bring to fruition whatever you begin today so make it worth your while. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Beginnings, Truth, New Mindfulness.
This card brings sweeping changes in the form of new ideas and new plans. It harkens to the new, the innovative, the original. It’s also the bee in our collective bonnets. Once the new idea takes hold of us, it will grow internally. And then the external manifestations will come.
When I think of the Ace of Swords, I think of new truths. They can be challenging or downright frightening to face, but that moment when we stop fearing them and start seeing them revolutionizes our lives. Today, this Ace is the paradigm shift to end all paradigm shifts. It’s not the active Ace of Rods wherein you put the plan into motion. It is more the changing, opening, and awakening of a new mindset. It allows for the possibility of action that makes room in the universe for the changes that will soon be made manifest. It is the mindset of, “If you can envision it, then eventually, you can create it.”
It is the Platonic ideal of the breath of fresh air. The first clean, clear breath a pneumonia patient takes is a lifeline (if you have ever had pneumonia, you know exactly what I mean), and that is the Ace of Swords.
Treat today like an exciting opportunity. Allow yourself to awaken to see the possibilities for yourself, and soon, you will see those very same possibilities at work in your life. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Solitude, Alone time, Knowing your own worth.
There is a big difference between being alone and being lonely. The Hermit has chosen a life of solitude, but she or he is not lonely. There is a purity of purpose to his/her solitude. Whether it’s a life of examination, meditation, communion with spirit, dedication to a craft, or the simple desire to be alone with our thoughts, sometimes, we just need that alone time.
Unfortunately, sometimes we need that alone time long before we realize we need it. We need time to meditate or ruminate or just be with our own thoughts, but for whatever reason, we don’t take it. Instead of spending time alone to recharge, we turn our back on solitary time. Rather, we end up joining social events, causes, clubs, etc. We try to fill the well with external influences when what we might really need is space and time to take things in from a universal source. We can call it God or gods or universe or nature or books. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we take the time to do it.
Sometimes, we must demand the right to solitude from others. Sometimes, we have to demand it from ourselves. Try as we might, we can’t run away from our own thoughts no matter what we do to get away from them. We can turn to partying, alcohol, sometimes drugs, extreme sports, extreme activities in general but our thoughts are right there the instant we’re no longer vigilant at keeping them at bay. In the end, it’s easier to take some time to be hermits and sit with our thoughts and feelings. If we make friends with them, we can begin to understand them. Whatever those thoughts and feelings are, they loom worse – darker, inkier, and possibly more terrifying – before we name them and shine the light on them.
When we spend time in repose, we get the opportunity to do that. We get to be with our thoughts, dreams, hopes, fears, and plans. Mostly, though, we allow ourselves to be honest with ourselves. We give ourselves the opportunity to confront and make friends with ourselves and that is the most vital relationship we will ever have.
Today, if you can, spend some time in repose. Give yourself time to be alone with your thoughts without to-do lists, without guilt, and without judgment. Even five minutes spent in self-examination can change your life. Certainly, it will change your day. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Secrets, Internal awareness, Independence.
In my mind, there are two big archetypical women in the deck. The first is the Empress, who represents the caring, mothering aspect. Then, there is the High Priestess who represents the strong, independent aspect. She holds herself to herself, knows what she wants, and gets the job done.
She is fiercely independent. The trouble is, even she sometimes needs a helping hand, but she is too independent to ask. She might feel that showing vulnerability is a sign of weakness, so she carries on but perhaps misses out on opportunities for growth and connection. That reluctance to ask for help, reliance on secrecy, and reticence can bring their own share of troubles. First, if we stay quiet about needing help, we miss opportunities to learn other ways of doing things. Second, we run the danger of becoming like the little hamster running in a wheel. The little guy runs, runs, runs, but he never gets anywhere.
We must grasp and utilize chances to change, learn, and grow. If we don’t, then we run the risk of remaining in a sort of stasis. We might remain safe, but we will also remain too sheltered and closed.
The agitation that comes from stepping out of your comfort zone brings that spark and the High Priestess can use that spark to fan all sorts of flames if she has the courage to make the choices she knows she must make. But, often, the High Priestess remains somewhat removed from the mess of the every day and although she remains pristine, she also remains untouched and untouchable.
That mess, that life brings the good, the bad, and the ugly. But, at least it brings something. If what you don’t want today is stagnation, then your mission is clear. Make your choice. Drink from one of the cups of chance and choose a path. Find that courage you already possess inside you. Once you do, you will be unstoppable. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Partnership, Union, LOVE!
I love this card, and yet it can be tough to decipher. Sure, it means romance, love, passion, lust and all that other good stuff. It also means partnership and connection. It represents the soul-to-soul union that not only feels right but also is right. You know it down to your marrow when the Lovers is influencing your life. You are where you are supposed to be, and you are sharing it with the right person or people.
It doesn’t have to mean your boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, or spouse. It can be anyone who is there for the ride with you.
It can also mean allowing yourself to sit still for a minute and appreciate those who are on the journey with you, even if they aren’t the loves of your life. They don’t have to be the loves of your life. They only have to be there to share in the experience. Seek that connection and nurture it. You can’t go wrong.
A dear friend and I were talking about why she ended up with her husband. She is what anyone would term a complete and utter babe (and is also beautiful on the inside as well as being kind, vivacious, and extremely intelligent). She could have had her pick of mates. When asked why she ended up with the man she married, she replied. “In the end, I think it’s because he just kept being my friend. He persisted and persevered.”
So, that’s what the Lovers means to me. The best Lovers are the friends who persist and persevere. Today, look for playmates, lovers, and friends who are present in your life and who express interest and love towards you. Those who show up are the ones who are worth your time. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Being creative, Being emotional, Being open.
Purposeful vulnerability typifies the Page of Cups to me. The Page might have been hurt before, but she never lets it faze her. She remains steadfast and committed to her path of staying open to the possibilities.
That ability to remain present and ready to experience the highs and lows of what life has to offer give this Page the gift of true creative freedom. She is not hounded by demons of doubt. She is not pursued by a need to bring others to her cause or to please them with her actions or words. Instead, she resides in that place of acceptance. She remains ready to experience the new without judgment and with an open heart.
She also represents the person who is open to love and romance in the deck. She doesn’t yet have preconceived notions about what role love is supposed to play in her life. She has no expectations of her possible partners. Instead, she moves through her world ready for the light of love without feeling anxious about it. When it arrives, she will receive it. Until then, she has better things to do.
Those things? Creation. Love toward others. Remaining consistently in an open-hearted state.
Today, try to stay open to possibilities, in love, creativity, and compassion. It’s often a challenge to do, especially if we’ve been bruised before. One of the toughest things to do is to pick ourselves up and continue to try after love has sucker punched us in the gut. As far as the Page is concerned, that is exactly the time to keep trying. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s about love, creativity, or staying open. What matters is remaining true to our hearts.
But staying open to the possibilities allows us to create and to be open to love, in whatever form it takes when it shows up on our doorstep. It might not be what we expected, but it will be there. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Dreams, Options, Wishes.
The seven of cups is one of my favorite cards with one caveat and it’s that old chestnut, “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.”
The card shows up when we have options (and sometimes don’t even know what those are) and we will eventually need to make decisions, but for the moment, we are still in the dreaming and wishing phase rather than the choosing-a-path phase. The trouble here is that if we choose blindly, or if we don’t have all the information, we end up going in the wrong direction or just running in circles.
While that can be fun, it’s not terribly efficient if you’re trying to get things done.
So, here’s the mission. If you want to indulge in some wishful thinking, by all means, spend a little time in La La Land. It is healthy and fun and will even bring you ideas from far-flung corners. And those ideas might change everything.
However, when it comes time to choose among your options and start making those decisions, make sure you have all the information before you embark on a path. If you know exactly what you want, you will walk with purpose and your heart will feel lighter (even if you are a little scared of going for whatever it is you’re going for). Fear is fine. It’s a sign of change. But when you choose toward your highest good, underneath the fear is excitement and dare I say it, joy.
It’s a knife-edge but if we are going to live authentically, it’s the only way.
I am reminded of the amazing Anais Nin quote: “And then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud became greater than the risk it took to blossom.”
Choose among your options toward your highest good and you will blossom. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Patience, Fortitude, Inner knowing.
I’ve always loved this card because its name belies its true meaning. The word strength implies outer, physical strength (think the Chariot card if you want to go in that direction). It makes us think of some sort of display of that strength. But the Strength card is wilier and sneakier than that. It doesn’t mean strong-arming a thing. Quite the contrary, it means internal moxie, if you will. It is all about knowing your inner landscape and being at peace with it.
If you look inside yourself, you will find a well, no, an ocean of reserves, often, when you least expect it to be there. We spend our lives being tested in one way or another. We often feel we have failed either others’ expectations of us or more importantly, our own expectations of what we can do and who we can be.
The Strength card calls on us to go inward, to go deep, and come out the other side with the certainty that we know who we are, we understand what we can do, and we are at peace about it. Then, we can move forward from that place of certainty and do whatever we need to do.
Today, if you find yourself tested, don’t be a gladiator. You don’t need to prove a thing to anyone but yourself. Instead of reacting strongly, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and connect your “Innerscape” with the universe’s “Outerscape.” Don’t know how to do that? It’s not too difficult. As your eyes are closed, breathe in and note the sensation of taking in life-giving air. Send your senses out and note what you hear, smell, and touch. Acknowledge the clothes on your skin, the hair on your head, the sounds, hums, whirs, and chirps around you. Become aware of the feel of your body, mind, and spirit in this place and this time. The beauty of this connection is that it helps us remember that we are part of it all, and that goes for us, that which challenges us, and those who stand with us or against us. Once you have that connection established, open your eyes and face your challenge. With that strength, you will prevail.
And when in doubt, remember what that fabulous sage Youmei Zhang says: “If not this door, another door.” If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Struggle, Movement, Motion.
Have you ever felt like packing up all your toys and going home? Sometimes, you struggle to make something work or to make your square peg fit into something else’s round hole. Sometimes, you force yourself to pretend that you care about the minutiae of whatever it is that you are supposed to be concentrating on. But all you really want to do is go somewhere warm and wild and dance naked in the sunlight. Those days, you decide that you are just done.
When you are done, be done. If you can’t handle one more excruciating meeting or one more dish to wash, or one more paper to grade or one more note to take, and you need a mental health break, then go do that for yourself (it will all still be there when you come back, anyway).
Take care of your need to take care of yourself. We spend a lot of our time fulfilling responsibilities for everyone and everything except for the ones our inner being really needs. Yes, we make money to pay bills. Yes, we study. Yes, we walk the dog. Yes, we sweep the floor or scrub the tub. We do all those when what we might really want has nothing whatsoever to do with obligations and much more with desires.
This card reminds me of a small scene from the movie “Never Been Kissed.” In the movie, a reporter goes undercover at a high school to get the scoop on the teen experience. While at school, she is required to take gym. At one point, while running in gym class, she falls to the ground and gasps for breath. The gym teacher stands over her and yells at her that if she doesn’t get up and finish her mile run that she will fail gym and will therefore never get into a good college. She looks up at the teacher and pants, “Are you still telling them that crap?” (I am paraphrasing here, but you get my point.)
Now that Josie (the reporter) is out of high school and now that she has some perspective, what had seemed so daunting and crucial back in high school has lost most of its importance both to her status and to her life.
That is the way with most things. In the moment, they might make you crazed. But once you get some distance and perspective, you realize that they aren’t that big a deal and you have a lot more freedom than you thought you did.
So, here’s your mission. If you are done, be done. If you are ready to move, do so. If you want a change, make one. As long as you are willing to face whatever consequences your actions create, I say go for it.
One last thing, if you’ve been thinking about moving (job, house, etc.) today is an excellent day to get that ball rolling. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Uncertainty, Choices, Intuition.
In our eyes, we have two viewfinders as it were. They are the rods and cones. Cones are shaped like prisms. We use the cones in our eyes to see colors and for daytime viewing. The rods, shaped, like long cylinders, are best used for night vision.
Then, we have twilight. Have you ever wondered why you have such trouble seeing in twilight (and why the DMV or the MVA say to be extra careful driving at twilight)? It is because at that point, when there is still a little light (and also still a bit of color) but mostly dark out (where most things become grays rather than colorful), neither the rods nor the cones can be used predominantly for seeing so instead of getting the best of both types, we get the best of neither.
In that moment of twilight, things become uncertain and unclear. We have to trust that we are going in the right direction because our eyes become less reliable.
Sometimes, we even have to imagine or remember what we believed was there in order to make it through whatever momentary or significant challenge we face.
The above epitomizes the Moon in the tarot deck. The Moon represents the uncertainty that comes with not having the evidence right in front of your eyes. If you don’t know, you either have to find out, or you have to trust that your best guess will suffice.
Today, if you find yourself uncertain about what to do and what to choose, either remove the murky doubts or trust your inner knowing, your intuition and take your very best guess.
The Moon is not about clarity. It is about will o’ the wisps at the dark of midnight. She shows shadows and misrepresents all manner of things. Perfectly innocent things can appear terrifying and frightful things can look completely benign.
Today, trust your inner eyes, and you will make your choices and walk your proper path. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.
Energy, Vitality, Radiance.
The Sun evokes the feeling of possibility. Vitality, enlightenment, radiance, energy, joy – they are all possible in our lives. And the Sun tells us to reach for them and fly with them.
If you look at the card (see the link for representations below), the child sits on the horse and plays. The sun beams burnish the world in golden light. Energy crackles and sparks. It’s electric. However, we must be willing and able to grab that energy and make it our own.
We can’t squander it. We are called upon to negotiate internally what it will take for us to follow our muse, to create, run, dance, sing, and to fly.
As we follow our bliss today (and by that, I assert that it might mean the dishes remain dirty or the house doesn’t get vacuumed), we must remember there is a trade-off. If you commit to one course of action, the others remain untested and untried. There will always be a road not taken, and we must be daring enough to choose one. If we choose toward the sun, we walk a different path than if we stay on the ground. The one is more practical, to be sure, but it doesn’t give us that feeling of running on sand, exploring the unchartered, or just letting the sun warm our faces. The other gives us warmth, energy, and possibility. But as always, we must choose it in order for it to work in our lives.
In the Icarus myth, he flew too close to the sun and perished. I’m not saying throw all caution to the winds. I am saying if we don’t try, we will never know how far we might have flown. So today, test yourself. Try something new. Take a break and seek the sun. Luxuriate in your own dreams and then take a step, even if it is only one single step, toward your Sun Path.
I leave you with this: “Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.” -H. Jackson Brown, Jr. If you want a full reading, contact me. Learn more about the mystery that inspired this deck, Die By The Sword.