Tarot Strategies for Life Change

Page of Swords, Moon trine Mercury: first impressions serve you well today

As I sit down to write this blogpost, I sneak a look at my astrological clock and see that the transiting Moon makes a perfect trine to transiting Mercury. Mercury is in Gemini where the planetary trickster makes his home and the Moon is cruising through gracious Libra and the trine describes an easy flow of energy between them.

Both are air signs--air is the realm of communication, words and abstract ideas. When the Moon, the seat of our intincts and emotion, hangs out with Mercury, planet of thinking and communication, our thinking is rapid-fire.

People who make a living through communication such as TV news anchors, who need to be quick on their feet, often have Moon/Mercury aspects in their birth charts.

Like most things Mercury or Moon oriented, this aspect is fleeting. Actually it is a coincidence of sorts that I had a break in my day and I could slow down, check #amtarot, and write this post.

The #amtarot card for today is the Page of Swords. Like the astrological element of Air, the Tarot suit of Swords represents communication and mental functioning. Being the Page, the youngest member of the Tarot court, we are looking at spontaneous communication and a fresh perspective rather than carefully analyzed, strategic planning.

So my take is that first quick impressions and spontaneous words serve you well today.

Knight of Pentacles and the Earth Element

Today's #amtarot is the Knight of Pentacles.

To me, the Tarot suit of Pentacles is tied with the astrological element earth. They both address the tangible, the material, the practical--humans as physical beings living in a physical realm...

I took a look at the current astrological picture and I noticed that with the Moon still in Virgo (until 5:24 pm EDT), that 5 out of 10 planets are transiting through earth signs. That's 50%, a huge proportion, especially since the Sun itself is not currently in an earth sign.

Regardless of what else happens (and at 11:24 am, Moon will oppose Uranus just to stir things up a bit), much of our energy is tied up in functioning in earth mode.

Can you say grounding anyone?

Unlike the other knights, the Knight of Pentacles takes his sweet old time, appearing to dilly-dally. Or perhaps, he doesn't want to proceed until he has a very clear idea of where he is headed.

If the Knight of Swords is the Hare, the Knight of Pentacles wins the Tortoise competition.

But in the earthy physical realm, matter is dense and the energy just doesn't travel as quickly as it does in the rarified realm of spirit.

So, in a word, or a 140 character tweet, my take on today's Knight of Pentacles is that he represents the concentration of slower, more solid earth energy we are currently dealing with.

The Hanged Man Reversed and Tarot Reversals

 The Hanged Man reversed is today's #amtarot card.

What does it mean that a card is reversed? It means that in a reading, the card appears upside down--standing on its head, as it were. The cards energies are either blocked or manifest in an unconventional way.

You can have fun with The Hanged Man who, because he is hanging upside down, appears to be reversed when he is upright. So when The Hanged Man is reversed, the card is standing on its head, but the figure appears to be upright. Wrap your mind around that.

The Hanged Man shown here is in its upright position. In this position, he hangs down with one foot tied to a tree whose upper branches look like a cross. Most of us would find the position constraining and uncomfortable, but The Hanged man seems quite content. With his halo and serene expression, many Tarot scholars have labeled his appearance, saintly, other worldly.

One thing is clear. If you were hanging upside down, you would see the world in a very different way than the rest of us. And The Hanged Man does not seem to care what others are thinking--despite the physical constraints on his body, he is off in his own world.

So one interpretation of a Hanged Man reversal is forced conformity. Keeping up appearances even if your heart isn't into it.

Today's astrology supports this. The Moon in Virgo sets a tone of doing one's duty. later today it will conjoin Saturn, which certainly represents conventionality and the demands of a material world. It does not seem to be a combination that supports The Hanged Man's escape into his spirituality.

What do you think? Comment here or at #amtarot.

To me, the reversal of this is being forced into an unnatural conformity.

The Empress and the Female Archetype

 

The Empress is today's #amtarotcard. Take a good look at it.
What kinds of feelings does it evoke?

Curiously, when the card was chosen, the Moon was rising and Venus was overhead. Astrologically, these planets are the two representatives of the female archetype.

The Moon represents the female archetype in her role as mother and nurturer. Moon on the ascendant is a warm placement. Emotional connections are easy and immediate.

While the Sun continues to travel through Cancer, this archetype remains as a dominant part of the backdrop. The Moon itself is traveling through the Leo, the Sun's home sign. So the Sun and Moon are in each other's signs, or as we astrologers call it, a mutual reception. This serves to strengthen both.

Venus overhead shows the strength of the other female archetype, woman as sensual being. If the Moon is your mother then Venus is the woman you date.

She also governs art, aesthetics and harmony in design.

The position of Moon rising and Venus overhead are very temporary. Since the Earth is constantly revolving around its axis, the rising degree or ascendant changes every 4 minutes. Yet, the coincidence of the selection of this card and the placement of the female planets on these sensitive points gets my attention.

So what about The Empress card herself?

This rendition of the female archetype of creating and bringing life is a woman with a kindly face that gazes directly towards you. She is a queen, note her crown, seated on a curved, padded throne. Her realm is that of growing things. All around her is lush vegetation and trees. The sky is golden, reinforcing the message of abundance.

Her gown is loose and flowing--some say to cloak her pregnancy. To get the point across, the pattern of her gown is made up of ripened fruit clearly showing seeds. The picture is one of fertility, growth, and the abundance of nature. Left to its devices nature delivers abundance in its own time-frame.

What are your thoughts?

Intuition or Fear?

Dr. Judith Orloff writes in her book Emotional Freedom of the difference between fear and intuition. Her points are well taken because fear undermines you while intuition supports you. And depending on the situation, being able to tell the difference can make all the difference.

These are her signs that you are receiving reliable intuition:
• Conveys information neutrally, unemotionally
• Feels right in your gut
• Has a compassionate, affirming tone
• Gives crisp, clear impressions that are “seen” first, then felt
• Conveys a detached sensation, like you’re in a theater watching a movie

And when it feels like this, it is irrational fear:
• Is highly emotionally charged
• Has cruel, demeaning, or delusional content
• Conveys no gut-centered confirmation or on-target feeling
• Reflects past psychological wounds
• Diminishes centeredness and perspective

You have probably felt both at one time or another. But in my opinion, the key difference is that your intuitive voice is speaking in your best interests while the voice of fear does exactly the opposite.

The Wheel of Fortune, Moon in Leo, and a Day of Opportunity

Astrology and Tarot complement each other very well. Each lends illuminates and adds depth to the other. And both speak through the use of symbols

One result is that while every symbol has universal meanings that you can read in a textbook on the subject, each speaks a secret language that is individual to you. 

Since you experience every astrological configuration through the filter of your birth chart and life experience, each person experiences the same conditions differently. And some Tarot symbols may have a very personal meaning for you. Sometimes, the very same card or same symbol will carry a different meaning if necessary to speak directly to the particular conditions you are experiencing. 

So how do you learn its secret language? By working with your Tarot deck and listening to the voice of your intuition. I speak of that in more detail in my free ecourse (opt-in on the upper right corner of this page), but to get started immediately, I suggest you follow, and if you'd like, participate in the Twitter conversation at  #amtarot.

Every morning, a Tarot card is pulled at random and tweeted onto #amtarot. The Twitterverse is invited to comment. You can do the same. Before you peek to see what others are saying, I recommend that you pull that card from your own deck and sit with it for a few minutes to see what its message is for you. 

There is no right or wrong answer and you don't need access to a Tarot book. Just go with whatever impression you get.

It has been my observation that the chosen card highlights an element of current astrological conditions. Although I have been a participant in the conversation for awhile, Twitter's 140 character limit is constraining. So, I will comment here and link to Twitter.  My comments will also touch upon the astrological correspondences also.

I will begin with today's card, The Wheel of Fortune. This particular card was taken from the Universal Waite deck. Take a good look and see what associations you make with it. Pay attention to where your attention is pulled. Is it a detail? The card's colors, shapes? What was your immediate reaction when you saw the card?

For me the card has associations with luck and good timing. The orange circular form in the center is the first thing that grabs my attention. It reminds me of a roulette wheel which seems apropos given that the Moon, which sets the day's emotional tone is in Leo, a sign associated with, among other things, gambling. 

My quick take of this combination is that today is a day to be alert to and to take full advantage of any opportunities that come your way. That if you do, doors may open.

What do you think? And let me know how your day went? Please add your comments here or at #amtarot. I also invite you to share the conversations and invite others to come in. The more the merrier.

The Wisdom of Cancer

People born with an emphasis of Cancer's energy in their astrology charts are deeply intuitive and keenly perceptive about emotions and what lies beneath the surface, over time gaining wisdom that can be used to heal and teach others about these matters.

But at this time of year, with the lunar cycle beginning in Cancer, we all become honorary Cancerians regardless of where our birth-chart placements lie. This is just a fancy way of saying that Cancer's energy is more accessible now. 

Honoring our intuitive perceptions is not always easy in a culture that values analysis over feeling, even though we need both to function in a balanced, healthy way. The Cancer lunar cycle is a good opportunity to rebalance if you tend to be very left-brain driven. 

There are many ways to encourage the voices of our intuition to speak to us. Generally anything you do to quiet outside noise, provide yourself with down-time and quiet, and stimulate your right-brain will help. So these would include meditation, alone-time while driving, paying attention to dreams, taking solitary walks, listening to soothing music, even doodling. 

That is because quiet is necessary to hear the voices of instinct and deep emotion that lie below the surface.

Perhaps the most important encouragement you can give your intuitive process is to refrain from judging too quickly. Intuition and emotion both contain truths that are akin to poetry as opposed to scientific research. But intuition's language comes across as impressions, symbols, fragments, and feeling which must be first be translated into words and then interpreted. It is easier just to disregard them.

As a water sign, it is also useful to know that Cancer's movement is not linear. Its symbol, the crab, moves in a sideways direction. A straight line is not always the shortest path to your objective.

By honoring Cancer's energy, by spending some quiet time listening to your intuitive perceptions, you rejuvenate your inner self and plant seeds for creative expression that germinate when the next lunar cycle begins in Leo.

Leymah Gbowee: An Ordinary Woman Changes a Country by Aligning with her Inner Strength

Sometimes, it is only when you are pushed against the wall that you discover just how powerful you really are. But by connecting to your spiritual core there is nothing you can't do and no obstacle you can't overcome. The story of Leymah Gbowee is an excellent example. 

Lynn Sherr interviewed her on Bill Moyers Journal along with Abigail Disney creator of the documentary film, Pray the Devil Back to Hell which tells her story. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html 

Leymah Gbowee was an ordinary woman from Liberia who inspired and led other women in a non-violent movement to unite against despot Charles Taylor and restore the rule of law in her country. As a result Charles Taylor left the country, the daily unspeakable violence, fear, and corruption had ceased, and Liberia now boasts the first woman head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

In 2002, Liberia was gripped by civil war between the government of the corrupt, ruthless dictator Charles Taylor and various warlords who sought his overthrow. Over 200,000 people were killed and one-third of the population was homeless. Young children were kidnapped to become unwilling conscripts, killing and other unspeakable horrors were commonplace and rape became a weapon of war. 

Day-to-day life became hellish as ordinary citizens woke up in the morning not knowing if they and their families would survive the day.

Leymah Gbowee prayed for an end to the hunger and the violence. One night she had what she called “a crazy dream.” She was instructed to bring the women of the churches together. 

It was not a role she accepted readily. In fact she describes her initial reaction as terror. As a single mother in a church that looked down upon unmarried mothers, she felt she was unworthy of any leadership role.

Nonetheless, after speaking to her friends and contacting women from other churches, she mobilized a non-violent movement of women. She focused on market women who were in a position to observe strange movements and could talk to the fighters.  

Her actions in such a war-torn country took tremendous courage. Backed by her supporters, they resulted in a public meeting with Charles Taylor and later a sit-in in Ghana when Charles Taylor met with rebel leaders for peace talks. The women blocked the doorway to the conference hall where the talks were being held.

When Security came out to arrest Leymah for Obstruction of Justice, she began to strip naked. In Africa, it is considered a curse to see the naked body of your mother.

That act, coming from her core power as a woman and a mother, changed the dynamic in the room and broke the stalemate. The resulting changes culminated in the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first woman head-of-state.

Intuition, Memories, and The Right Brain

Did you know that the random memories that pop into your mind are another source of information from your intuition? My thanks to Laura Day for this.

Everything, but everything associated with the right-brain connects you to your intuition.

Even, or especially, day dreams and memories.

Your right brain processes information in a non-linear way. It relies  on impressions that can come through any of our five (or six) senses. Because its connections are non-linear, it is often not clear to our conscious brain. And that makes it easy to dismiss seemingly random associations. 

A song brings on a reverie. An image brings back a memory. Why that memory? Why now? What question are you thinking about that is illuminated by that memory?

The answer may be blindingly obvious, or not obvious at all. 

But there are two things of which you can be certain. The memory is coming from within. And your intuition is often aware of things before your conscious mind. 

Laura Day suggests keeping a journal or notebook to record such musings. And even better, making an audio recording especially if you are consciously searching for the answer to a question.

Seemingly random memories, daydreams, and the dreams we experience in sleep are ephemeral--gone in a flash.

But these offer important clues to unlock the voice of your intuition.

Tarot and Children?

Children take very easily to the Tarot. Tarot cards, after all, are rich with imagery and color. I recently read for guests at a family graduation party where there were a number of elementary school-aged children. While setting up the children, curious, wandered into my room to find out what I was up to. They knew I was the "fortune teller." I took out my deck and allowed the children to look at and handle the cards while I talked about how they worked. I explained that each card contained many stories. Then I asked the children to create stories about the individual cards. 

Story telling is a powerful technique to use when working with Tarot cards. They had never seen a Tarot deck. I was amazed at how fresh and interesting their interpretations were. I was using the Universal Waite deck, similar to the popular Rider Waite Smith. When one boy saw The Tower, he said it reminded him of Rapunzel. The Five of Swords looked to him like people getting ready to go to battle. One girl described the Five of Pentacles, a card many feel is difficult, as "the Five of Stars." Ella talked about the Eight of Swords which shows a blindfolded woman, her arms tied securely by her side surrounded by an arc of standing swords while a castle sits in the background. Most people seeing that card for the first time find it disquieting, But Ella talked about an invisible shield that protected her so she couldn't be hurt by the swords. Then she put The Devil and The Lovers card side-by-side and remarked at how similar they were--except The Devil is dark and The Lovers is light. Then we placed the Eight of Swords in a 3 card spread with The Devil in the middle and The Lovers on the left. I asked her to make up a story about the three cards. Ella described the woman depicted in the Eight of Swords as being trapped by the Devil who was trying to get her under his control like the other two human figures depicted in The Devil card. She said that the angel of The Lovers card, approximately the same size as the devil in The Devil card, was trying to rescue her. I asked her who she thought would win out. She responded that the angel would win because the angel represented good.

With that ease of interpretation, Ella is a natural.