My Thanksgiving Turkey

Based on the child’s craft of tracing a line around your non-dominant hand and then embellishing it to look like a turkey, my simple Thanksgiving spread is:

The thumb/the turkey’s head:  Something to keep in mind about receiving and gratitude.
The four fingers/the turkey’s big tail feathers:  Four things to be thankful for.

For my Thanksgiving reading, I drew five stones and arranged them above the tips of my fingers. 

Yes, folks, I got Hanged One, Death, and Devil to be thankful for.  Let’s see how I do with that!  But let’s start at the beginning:

Keep in mind about receiving and gratitude:  3-Empress-Malachite.  I need to keep in mind that everything we have comes from nature.  We are part of nature, and she provides for her own.  But we are so “civilized” these days, we sometimes forget where our blessings of life, sustenance, and health come from.  Our culture has become so intelligent that we can wrest nature’s bounty from her even when she is reluctant to give, or when it harms her, the very source of everything we need.  And we haven’t become intelligent enough not to.  But the Empress is here as a gentle reminder, not a rant, to keep her in mind when we want what we want and get what we want.  Is what we want best for ourselves, for other people, for our mother nature?  And a reminder to be truly thankful to the ultimate source of life.

Be thankful for 0-Fool-Clear Quartz.  I’m thankful for the daily opportunity for a fresh start.  No matter where I am or what I’m doing, I can begin again instantly with an attitude adjustment.  Few of life’s situations are so immutable that a change of mind can’t change them, for the better if that’s what the mind intends.  I’m also thankful for the existence of innocence in myself and in the world.  Cynicism, depression, and despair, although ubiquitous, are not all there is.  Freshness, openness, curiosity, and compassionate goodness are here around me and within me if I choose to look for them.  A blessing that we don’t often remember to count, but a valuable one just the same.

Be thankful for 12-Hanged One-Sodalite.  I’m thankful for the pause that refreshes!  Sometimes the universe hangs us up so we have to take a break from our everyday life or the determined pursuit of our desires.  When I just can’t seem to get to where I want to go is when I get the chance to examine why I’m doing what I’m doing and if that’s what I should be doing.  It also teaches me patience.  I need to learn that good things are worth waiting for.  So thank you, Hanged One for the timely reminder!

Be thankful for 13-Death-Mahogany Obsidian.  I truly am thankful for endings.  It’s good to be able to know that when something is over, it’s over, and I can move on to something new (with the Fool) - or not.  Death lets us know when to let something go, another valuable, although not often appreciated, lesson from the turkey today.

Be thankful for 15-Devil-Hematite.  Temptation can be a good thing.  A flash of random, irrational desire can be a signpost pointing to something fulfilling, even if it was never part of our “five year plan.”  Just because something is different or unexpected doesn’t mean it’s wrong.  (The only thing wrong is if we hurt someone or ourselves in pursuit of that illusive something.)  I’m not sure how this pertains to my life, but I’ll keep my eyes open for messages from Devil in the coming year.

Well, this is a lot to think about.  I definitely feel more thankful on this day after Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and that you have a year full of gratitude!

What do I need to know about reading for the Halloween FAP?

I was asked to read cards at my firm's Halloween party on Friday, so thought I'd read about it!

I laid down 9 cards from the Halloween Tarot in a Tin and tossed 3 Arcana Stones on top.  I took up the cards that didn’t get stones.  This is what I ended up with.

 

 

 

3-Emperor-Carnelian on Three of Ghosts.  Don’t forget this is a top-down organized, employer sponsored party.  So yes, it will have a pleasant togetherness feel, but I shouldn’t get too deep into counseling or deeper personal issues.

 

10-Wheel-Botswana Agate on Two of Bats.  Notwithstanding the previous, I should be prepared for anything to come up in the cards.  It won’t be all fun and games, and I might be called upon to help someone make an important decision.  So I shouldn’t be in too light of a mood.  Tarot reading is tarot reading, after all.

 

19-Sun-Citrine on Knight of Ghosts.  My readings will bring to clearest light to romantic issues.  Or perhaps I will be able to enlighten my coworkers to the romantic and not-so-romantic aspects of tarot. 

 

So it sounds like it will all turn out well.  Now I just need to study up on the Halloween deck!

Autumnal Equinox Health Reading for Me

Coincidentally, a new 12 week session of exercise class started on the equinox (which is also when the sun enters Libra), so I think it’s time to do a health reading!

Using the Stone Arrowhead Spread, I asked what will be the outcome of exercising this session?

My first three stones are:

2-Priestess-Moonstone 9-Hermit-Fluorite 19-Sun-Citrine

I started taking the exercise classes totally on a whim.  I never exercised in my life, and then I started in my 50s?  Priestess suggests that it wasn’t just a whim, it was the prompting of an inner, mysterious wisdom.  Hermit is another wisdom card, a wise, old man.  I finally wised up about my health when I got old!  And the Sun says nothing about this can be bad, it’s a good thing and will have a good and healthy outcome.

A+C=the cause:  21-Universe-Onyx.  It’s true that your health is everything.  I’m too young to give up on myself.  The true cause of exercising at this time is that I am finally valuing myself.

A+B=what I’m receiving:  11-Justice-Aventurine.  I’m not going to turn into a supermodel overnight--or in 12 weeks, but I will receive a more healthful physical and emotional balance.  I knew Justice/Libra would show up here somewhere!

B+C=what I’m doing:  10-Wheel-Bostwana Agate.  I’m willing to try anything!  I’m following the program, doing as much of the exercises as I can, and just seeing what will happen.

A+B+C=outcome:  3-Empress-Malachite.  Along with the Sun and Justice, the Empress is a wonderful, optimistic stone for a health reading.  Not only will I have a very healthy physical outcome, I’ll also get control over my life--emotional and physical health, food, time, and possessions.

So a very encouraging reading!  I will try to keep in mind over the next 12 weeks that the origin of this endeavor is subtle wisdom, and it will all turn out very well for me.

Job Search Reading for Meghan

Meghan asks, “will I get one or more job offers within the next three weeks?”

Time for an Oldest Spread reading!

8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye + 4 of Coins:  In this job search, your greatest strength is to stay focused on the money.  While the convention wisdom or normal advice is to make sure the job is a good fit, provides a comfortable environment, etc., the stones are saying you should pay close attention to, and put your effort into, the compensation bottom line for any offers you get.  4 of Coins says “show me the money!”

5-Hierophant-Orange Calcite + Knave of Wands:  You may get an offer from a traditional, well-established employer (Hierophant) who sees you as someone full of youthful energy and enthusiasm that will fit right in -- in a subordinate position (Knave of Wands).

16-Tower-Red Jasper + 2 of Swords:  Well, it looks like you might get more than one offer because this combination is warning you to be careful in your choice of which one to take!  Looking back to Fortitude and 4 of Coins, you need to really check out the offers to make sure they’re as lucrative as they look.  An uninformed or emotional choice could have unpleasant consequences.  Be like those two swords and cut right to the truth of the offers.

9-Hermit-Fluorite + 3 of Cups:  This combination could be a more positive version of the Towery one.  While you might be looking for a job in which you can make friends and express your real self (3 of Cups), it would be better to go into the job search/choice with a Hermit mentality.  You need a job to be self-sufficient, both physically and emotionally.  You should concentrate on doing your work and getting paid, without entanglements, positive or negative.

Alternatively, this combination might mean you will get an offer from someone who is not used to working collaboratively, but thinks that you would be someone he/she could get along with and work with pleasantly.

In summary, you will probably get two or more offers that you will have to be very careful in choosing between. 

Wow, interesting reading!  Meghan, thanks for asking what the stones have to say to you!  Please let me know if this is anywhere near accurate, or helpful, and definitely let me know how the job search goes for you!

Universe Wisdom Reading

What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything? 

With a nod to Douglas Adams and the Hitchhikers, I thought it was appropriate to do a good old houses reading for this question.  What houses are important to, well, everything, what does each one mean, and how should we act in each realm? 

8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye in the Eighth House.  Here we are in the house of endings.  A constant theme in our wisdom readings has been the universality of impermanence.  Everything changes, nothing stays the same, and everything ends sometime.  And Fortitude says sometimes it takes just plain strength of character and guts to deal with all these changes and endings.  But just knowing the truth and the ubiquity of impermanence can’t help but give us the strength of mind to be prepared and accepting when the changes come.

2-Priestess-Moonstone in the Ninth House.  Learning and knowledge are of fundamental importance in human life.  We are born with a very small bit innate knowledge/instinct, but the rest of what we need for life on earth is learned, every day from birth to death.  But Priestess says the most important things we learn are not from teachers and books, but from our own experiences and intuition.  She tells us every day to trust in our own inner knowing and truths for clues for solving the puzzle of life, the universe, and everything.

11-Justice-Aventurine in the Twelfth House.  The mysterious, confusing Twelfth House says that we are all, to different extents, lost in a funhouse of our own making (kind of the flipside of the message of the Priestess).  Our minds are so powerful that each of us creates the entire universe that we live in, which is similar, but slightly (or greatly) different, than everyone else’s.  This is what makes it so imperative that we act with Justice as much as we possibly can.  We can’t know exactly what any other person is going through at this very minute, but we do know that every single person on the planet wants to be safe and happy.  So one of the most important ways to make our lives meaningful is to do things and live in a way that will help others to be safe and happy, and maybe help them live their best lives. 

Sartre famously said that hell is other people.  But the stones say, guess what, the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is also other people!

Judgment Wisdom Reading

What is the best way to rise up to a higher level?

We get, in an obvious bottom to top order, 0-Fool-Clear Quartz, 4-Emperor-Carnelian, 12-Hanged One-Sodalite.

0-Fool-Clear Quartz:  We have to go into it without expectations.  Yes, it’s contradictory.  How can you want and pursue something that you can only get by not trying to figure out what it is?  I’ve been reading a little bit of Chinese philosophy recently, and this seems like the essence of wuwei, doing by not doing.  And “the way that can be named is not the true way.”  Fool says we have to be open to whatever comes, but also ready and willing to set out on the journey at any time.

4-Emperor-Carnelian:  The journey and goal have to be what you want.  You’re never going to get somewhere if it’s not really your goal.  We have to be self-sovereign.  We can’t rise up to someone else’s version of a higher plane.  Religious and spiritual teachings can help us figure out what we want, but no-one can force us to rise.  Maybe they can force us to pretend we want it, or even that we have it, but obviously that’s not it!

12-Hanged One-Sodalite:  And we have to be patient.  To go from Fool to Hanged One is to go with no expectations to end up nowhere.  It’s kind of the dark night of the soul without the dark.  The blank time of the soul.  Or maybe the wintertime of the soul.  We have to trust that things are happening, that seeds are maturing.  And when we least expect it, we will find that we’re already there!

Sun Wisdom Reading

Happiness is . . .?

Back in the 70s, there was a pre-internet meme, “happiness is.”  I think it started with the Peanuts cartoon asserting that “happiness is a warm puppy.”  Greeting cards, t-shirts, etc. were soon putting forward their candidates.  There was even a song, which concluded “happiness is . . . different things for different people.  That’s what happiness is!”

So the Sun’s question is what is happiness?  And stays with the idea that there are as many “happinesses” as there are people in the world.

I’m back to using the card method today.  I shuffled my trimmed pocket Thoth, cut the deck on the Sun card, laid out 9 cards in a Saturn square order, and dropped 3 stones, removing the cards that didn’t get a stone.  (Obviously, I didn’t take out the majors, so we end up with a (very strong) major-major pair!)

0-Fool-Clear Quartz on Queen of Wands.  Happiness is taking our own path.  The Fool is beginning a journey, one of his own choosing, even though he doesn’t know much about the path ahead or even where he wants to go.  And that’s the way s/he likes it!  The Queen looks out from her place of fertility upon the path through the desert, winding from oasis to oasis.  She would be happy to give her foolish goat detailed instructions on how to get across with the least trouble, but he wants to go his own way, ready or not!

 

4-Emperor-Carnelian on Prince of Disks.  Happiness is having control over our stuff.  The   Prince’s chariot is full of the seeds of abundance and production.  His trusty ox takes him steadily forward, step by plodding step, toward their realization in physical form.  The Emperor is here to make sure this all takes place in the correct way and under his control.  It is a basic human right and a basic source of contentment to have the authority to control ones own property and ones ability to produce more.  This was a strong motivation for the very middle-class American Revolution.  Even though the Declaration includes high-minded words about life and liberty (and we are glad that it does!), the revolutionaries really had those covered as British citizens.  Their main concern was the pursuit of property and happiness.  “Taxation without representation” was the original rallying cry.  And I’m not denigrating all this.  As a Taurus rising, I feel strongly that knowing what’s going to happen with my property is security, and security is happiness!

 

20-Judgment-Petrified Wood on Universe.  Happiness is believing there is something more.  As I mentioned, a very powerful major-major pair (that foreshadows the two readings left in this series!). Notwithstanding the previous happiness, it is of the greatest comfort to me to believe that there is more to life (and the universe and everything) than getting and spending.  Some people might say that’s just wishful thinking, but if so, I wish to keep wishing!  Universe hints that this physical reality where we live is so much larger, greater, and more complex and interesting that we mere humans can ever understand.  And Judgment trumpets that there is even more than that!  There is a higher realm, a better way of life, and mysterious beauty everywhere around and within us, as well as around and within the great, complex, and interesting physical world we live in.  Which is also greater than we can understand.  Unless we can.  Which is just another of the higher mysteries that can bring true happiness whenever we want it.  What a wonderful message from the stones and cards!

 

And that’s what happiness is!  At least for today.  What is happiness for you?

Moon Wisdom Reading

What are the pros and cons of divination?

I used the Oldest Spread for this one.  Seemed appropriate!

15-Devil-Hematite on Page of Cups.  Ok, let’s get the cons out of the way first!  (As I was going through the spread, I was hoping I would get a good number of more pairs.  I didn’t want to give too much weight to the cons!)  Divination gives rise to the temptation to obsessively read about romance issues!  I see a single/lone person offering up her/his heart, perhaps foolishly or too soon.  Every reader, including for himself, wants to give a positive outcome for a love reading, but this romantic impulse can lead to trouble.  It could cause the foolhardy action mentioned above (offering too much on small encouragement), or at least make the issue too concrete.  Let’s say I feel a passing attraction for someone.  If I then go home and do a reading about it, the situation becomes something--something I could fail at, lose, or otherwise have a negative outcome.  If I hadn’t read about it, and it comes to nothing, then it was always nothing that I can more easily forget about!

8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye on 8 Wands.  One of divination’s strengths is its immediacy.  It gives us the ability to get the answers we want NOW!

Alternatively, we have to be strong of heart to handle knowing things sooner than normal circumstances usually permit!

5-Hierophant-Orange Calcite on Knight of Wands.  One of the attractions of divination is defying authority and/or its connections with alternative spirituality.

Alternatively, most of us rush right into the practice of divination, and then find out there’s so much more to learn!  This is a pro for me!  Although it might be a con for some people . . .

11-Justice-Aventurine on Ace of Cups.  Although there is the possibility/temptation of delusion in romance issues, divination can give helpful guidance when romance is in first bloom or when feelings are running high.  Calming, balanced Justice means divination can give needed perspective at an emotional time, whether the emotions are positive, hopeful, or negative.

Whew!  I’m glad we ended on a pro note!  I’m a big divination fan (obviously), and it would be just sad if I did a reading saying divination is just not worth the effort or bad for you!

Star Wisdom Reading

What if the whole world were conspiring to shower us with blessings?  (Pronoia, http://www.freewillastrology.com/)

I made 3 drops.  The last drop dropped 2 stones.

2-Priestess-Moonstone.  If this were true, you would know it,but only if you listen to yourself, your inner wisdom, the deep, receptive truth.  Other teachers and authorities and culture, pop or otherwise, will tell you many truths that are opposites to pronoia.  Who will you believe?

14-Temperance-Rose Quartz.  Blessings come in many forms.  The creator of the term pronoia, Rob, is careful to point out that things that seem like misfortunes can be great blessings if dealt with as if they are.  If we take the good with the bad as if they are both blessings, we definitely are living the pronoia life!

15-Devil-Hematite (and 10-Wheel-Botswana Agate).  Pronoia doesn't deny that bad things and random things happen, and doesn't deny that evil actions and motivations exist.  But experiences originating in someone's bad intent can be turned to our own good if worked with as a blessing.

Buddhism's teaching that we should be grateful for people who annoy, bother, or block us is an example.  These people are our best teachers, teaching us to be strong and forgiving, or at least what not to do!

10-Wheel-Botswana Agate.  The same goes for random circumstances.  A monkey wrench in our plans can be a curse or blessing, depending on how we perceive and work with it.

Which brings us back to Priestess.  The truth of pronoia is within.  It may not be scientifically true, but it can be true if we live as if it is!

Tower Wisdom Reading

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
            “Anthem,” Leonard Cohen

How do I let the light in?

6-Lovers-Rhodochrosite.  Love is the answer.  The light is love, and love is light.  A broken open heart lets the light in only if love is still within it.  Suffering is redemptive only if it causes compassion.  And don’t forget love and compassion for oneself, of the past, present, and future.

The striations of Lovers-Rhodochrosite once again say this is a world of opposites--pain and love, suffering and light.  And there is never one without the other. 

Feared and despised Tower gives us a perennial opportunity to be perfect in our imperfection.

Devil Wisdom Reading

Why does evil exist?

There are many formulations of the “problem of evil,” some presupposing an all-powerful and all-merciful deity.  (If God loves everyone and can do anything, then why does he allow bad things to happen to people?)  But my question is more encompassing, with fewer assumptions:  Why is there evil or bad things at all?  Why do people do things to hurt other people (sometimes on a spectacular scale), and why are there earthquakes and tsunamis that kill and destroy?

While I was gently pouring the stones back forth and between my hands and thinking of the question, 20-Judgment-Petrified Wood pretty much jumped out of the pile to the table.  I thought it probably needs some back-up, so I dropped two more stones near it,  which turned out to be 3-Empress-Malachite and 12-Chariot-Amethyst.

Judgment makes me think of the Christian idea that this life is a vale of tears, just a testing place for souls headed to some other eternal destination.  Evil exists because that’s what humans are destined for.  To be tested.  Doesn’t really sound like the work of a merciful God, but maybe it’s tough love.  Just as a teenager thinks she can’t bear the agony of missing the party of the year while her father knows that grounding her on that Saturday night is the best thing he can do for her growth.    

Buddhism also teaches that this world is a mixed bag of good and bad for a reason.  We are lucky to live in this world because there’s just enough suffering for us to realize that we want to try to be released from the endless round of birth and death, but not so much suffering that we are unable to find the right way or have an opportunity to try it. 

And probably all religions teach that most evil in the world is caused by people who are doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons, hurting other people in the process.

But Judgment says that’s not the way it is everywhere, all the time.  There is a higher level we can rise to.  There is a heaven or a deathless realm or a nirvana, above or surrounding or within this world of bad things happening to good people.  And the best way to get there is to try to create it where we are right now, beginning within ourselves.

Empress backs all this up by saying, life itself is a mixture of good and bad (especially from the individual organism’s viewpoint).  Humans are born in pain and usually die in pain.  There has to be death in order for there to be life.  Living things eat and are eaten.  The same operations of the planet that make life possible also make weather and geological disasters inevitable.  This world, by its very nature, is a vale of tears--and joys.

Chariot says “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”  (Winston Churchill)  “The only way out is through.”  We’re here in this world of tears and joy, so we have to live by its rules.  Our choices are despair and give up or do the best we can with what we’ve got. 

So I guess the answer to the question of evil is “That’s just the way it is.  Live with it.”  But there is the intimation of something better, something greater, if we keep going in the right direction.

Temperance Wisdom Reading

Temperance wisdom question:  What opposites most need to reconciled at this time in our culture?

I decided to drop two stones and hope they are opposites or could be made to be!

And I got 18-Moon-Mother of Pearl and 8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye.  Interesting and, yes, arguably opposite pair. 

We need to reconcile illusion and imagination with surface appearances and materialism.

Imagination is a wonderful thing.  We need to be able to dream and visualize possibilities before we can pursue them and make changes to the way things are.  But often in our culture, our dreams and imagined worlds (and goals) are manipulated to serve someone else’s agenda (to sell something, or some other, more power-hungry agenda).  That’s when we need a good dose of reality, often of the surface appearance kind.  (If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . .)

On the other hand, scientific materialism is the superstition of our age.  If an M.D. doesn’t agree with it, it can’t be possible.  Religion is the opiate of the masses.  Or at least more than a little kooky.  You get the idea. 

A negative (nefarious?) reconciliation of these opposites was the perpetration of the global warming denial hoax.  Smoke and mirrors, bought with very deep pockets and untold political influence, were able to blind people to the plain scientific truth just long enough so that there’s nothing that can be done to prevent serious repercussions.  So we might as well burn the climate and environment down.  (Hopefully, that’s another illusion that we can awaken from . . .)

A positive reconciliation would be a society that values the two truths, those of imagination and the spirit and those of science and reality.  We can dream of a world in which most people live in comfort and justice.  Then we can think of and act on a sensible, solid, practical way to make that a reality. 

Stranger things have happened!

Death Wisdom Reading

I modified my “All-Purpose Four Position Spread” to ask Death wisdom questions:

 

(Questioner) What do we currently think and feel about Death?  5-Hierophant-Orange Calcite.

Most people hold very traditional, accepted ideas about death.  In many cultures, including our own, people who pride themselves on their clear and independent minds, as well as people who avoid religion and spiritual ideas all their lives, are still tradition-bound when it comes to dealing with funerals and the death of friends and family.  It might be superstition, or an inability to buck societal norms at a vulnerable time, or an unwillingness to seem disrespectful, but traditional funeral practices and related religious rites are still usually the norm.  For some people, the death of a friend might bring openness to spiritual, religious, or, as Jane Austen calls them, “serious subjects.”  On the other end of the spectrum, but just as in line with the Hierophant, some people don’t think much about death, except to believe what modern scientific culture teaches, that when you’re dead, you’re dead, and it doesn’t mean anything except that you’re an animal just like other animals.  As with most extremes, I think you’ll agree the truth is somewhere in between!

 

(Issue) What do we need to know about Death?  21-Universe-Onyx.

Death is universal.  Not only do living things die, but everything in existence is guaranteed, sooner or later, to be in non-existence.  Death, as the impermanence of all things, be they animals, plants, mountains, works of art, cultures, etc., is a fundamental basis of the universe.  The Buddhist three marks of existence are impermanence, suffering, and nonself.  This great philosophical truth, one of the greatest of “serious subjects” to be contemplated, can be simply summed up as “nothing lasts forever”!  Easy to say, much more difficult to understand, know, and act on.

 

(Outcome) What will this new understanding lead to?  0-Fool-Clear Quartz.

As we turn from the fullness of the Universe to the emptiness of the Fool, a greater understanding of the truth of impermanence leads us not only the Fool’s openness to new “serious” ideas and feelings, but also a family feeling with all other beings of the universe, whether conventionally categorized as living or non-living, for we are all caught up in the dance of existence and non-existence.  “Ask not for whom the bell tolls.  It tolls for thee.”  And thee, and me.  “This too shall pass” is a comfort to those in trouble, and “nothing lasts forever” can be a key to the freedom of thought and action of the Fool.  Whether one believes in the current new age teachings of reincarnation or not, it’s hard not to be inspired by the idea of a Foolish newly-about-to-born soul gaily embarking on a new, fresh life, simply for the joy of  learning from all the happinesses and sorrows that every life contains.  A greater understanding of death inevitably leads to a greater understanding of life and all it holds.

 

(Advice) What should we do about this new understanding?  16-Tower-Red Jasper.

Tower as advice.  Always an interpretation challenge.  But I look at its positional relationship with the Hierophant and see that just because a teaching is traditional doesn’t mean that it isn’t true, or at least good advice.  The Tower catastrophes of life, especially the Death ones of indefinite, often devastatingly unexpected, separation from friends and family, or even compassion for the similar suffering of strangers, are opportunities to appreciate and enjoy what we have now, without grasping on to wanting it to last forever.  It’s such a difficult lesson to learn, but it does make us think:  What would I do today if I only had six months to live?  As you know, none of us are guaranteed even that.  And you know the advice:  Live each day as if it were your last.  Be just as happy, good, loving, and compassionate as you can be every day!

Hanged One Wisdom Reading

Hanged One Wisdom Question:  It’s said that to enjoy fiction we must willingly suspend our disbelief.  Well, what should we willing suspend in order to have a better, happier life?

I tossed three stones and ended up with an obvious top to bottom order.  There doesn’t seem to be much repetitiveness in color or transparency, but we do have opposites in meaning, Hermit and Lovers, in opposite positions (top and bottom), with Judgment in between.

9-Hermit-Fluorite.  We should suspend the idea that we are alone in the world, or that we have to act alone in order to be strong and effective.  No man is an island.  We shouldn’t believe, and it’s just not true, that what we do affects only ourselves.  There are no victimless crimes, and there is no real comfort in “if I’m doing something wrong, I’m only hurting myself.”  Conversely, depending on our web of support, and even asking for help, are not signs of weakness.  Our friends are part of us, and they are usually more than happy to help us be happy.  And even if we feel alone, or that our friends are few and far between, or far away, each one of us is part of something greater than ourselves.  If need be, suspend the belief that you are unlovable.  There’s no rule against consciously looking for and making friends!

6-Lovers-Rhodochrosite.  On the other end of the spectrum, we should suspend the idea that a romantic relationship is a necessity for happiness.  This idea is ubiquitous in our culture, but remember, a very large percentage of popular culture is geared toward selling things.  Sex sells.  We shouldn’t let that universal truth standing in the way of enjoying a fulfilling and rewarding life.  Romantic love, and sex, can be enjoyable and inspiring, and a source of misery and ruined lives.  Having them certainly doesn’t guarantee a happy life!  As I touched on in another reading, particularly unhelpful are the ideas that being with ideal lover is a completion of oneself, and that sinking ones own identity in the lovers’ is somehow beautiful or noble.  It’s actually just a particularly easy way of abdicating responsibility for ones own life.  Which is getting nowhere indeed!

20-Judgment-Petrified Wood.  Now, what about poor Judgment stuck here in the middle?  (I’ve never thought of the powerful Judgment stone as being at any disadvantage before!)  (It’s also difficult to think of a negative aspect of Judgment, except for the fact that it is a great change, for those of us who are a bit unhappy with change!)  Oh, dear, I’m over thinking this, aren’t I?  Suspend judgment!  Life is not a game, and there’s no need to keep a running score.  Yes, we should evaluate where we are and where we want to be, but not so we can beat ourselves up if we fall short or feel superior if we are on track!  Especially pernicious is comparing our “progress” with other people’s.  My life is not her life.  She might be heading in some totally other direction I don’t even want to go!  And even if I think I want her life, she may have troubles I can’t know about, or I just need to go in a different direction.

So whether we’re lonely or self-sufficient, in a happy or troubled relationship, suspend judgment.  The best way to live a happy life is to live it to the best of our abilities without looking back in anger, or self-judgment!

Justice Wisdom Reading

Justice Wisdom Question:  Is the concept of karma just a way of blaming the victim?  (Or otherwise a not true or not helpful concept?)

Today I used the “Oldest Spread” with Arcana Stones and the Visconti mini.  The spread a very cool way of getting a varying number of major-minor pairs for each reading.  Check it out on Mary Greer’s blog:  http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/the-oldest-spread-by-le-comte-de-m/  To use it with stones, I counted out the minors as usual, turning them over with my right hand, and when I got a minor hit, I closed my eyes and randomly grabbed a stone from the pile of stones under my left hand.

And this is what I ended up with.  (The first minor was the Ace of Coins so I put the stone in the middle of the coin/card on impulse, and then continued that with the rest of the pairs.)

Ace of Coins + 19-Sun-Citrine.  The truth and operation of karma in this current life/incarnation is a plain as the nose of your face, if we would just open our eyes.

3 of Wands + 11-Justice-Aventurine.  Karma does travel with us wherever we go.  (The next pair implies this includes through a series of lives and/or between lives.)

7 of Swords + 13-Death-Mahogany Obsidian.  Death causes us to forget past lives, but just because we don’t know about them doesn’t make them not exist.  In a way, our past life actions sneak up on us like a thief in the night.  We might not know the thief is there, or know who she is, but we know there is a possibility that someone is there.

Page of Cups + 4-Emperor-Carnelian.  We are truly sovereign in our free will.  We can do anything we want with our lives, even though we sometimes feel like innocent victims of circumstance.  The Page also suggests that we should follow our hearts.  Conscience is an innocent, innate feeling of the truth and goodness of the golden rule.  I disagree with Hamlet (which could show the difference between believing in everlasting punishment versus karma)--conscience does not make cowards of us all.  It can help make us strong, powerful, and determined Emperors of our own lives.

4 of Coins + 0-Fool-Clear Quartz.  This is a continuation of 7 of Swords + Death.  When we incarnate, we have to start at the beginning of this life.  So, while it’s true that karma stays with us, it’s also true, and probably more helpful to understand, that we have to life this life, not a past or future one.

5 of Wands + 3-Empress-Malachite.  Here are the circumstances that we feel victim to.  Yes, life entails struggle, for the basics to sustain life plus other needs and desires.  But we can’t make that an excuse to leave our conscience behind.

9 of Wands + 12-Hanged One-Sodalite.  Both of these speak of waiting.  “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”  1 Corinthians 13:12.  We are not wrong to ask this wisdom question, and the reading has given us some valuable tips on how to think about karma, but it’s one of those things that humans aren’t able to understand entirely until we reach or pass through some other state or stage.  In the meantime, we watch and wait for the truth.

Wheel Wisdom Reading

Wheel Wisdom Question:  How do we let go of the fear of change and embrace, or at least accept, impermanence?

(13th century manuscript illustration of the goddess Fortuna turning her wheel.)

Today I’m using the Four Noble Truths/Medical Model Spread, with Arcana Stones for the four main positions and cards (Lo Scarabeo Visconti Mini) for the path cards.

Symptom:  What is the character of the fear of change?  0-Fool-Clear Quartz.  If we are completely honest with ourselves, impermanence is a very, very obviously a fact of life.  But it is part of the human condition to feel naked before it, and yes, fear it.  Simple survival concerns practically dictate a discomfort with and fear of change.  In fact, routine and stability are an important part of a child’s healthy mental and emotional development.  But for continued emotional health, children and adults also need to accept change’s inescapability.  As soon as that cold fact slaps us in the face, we begin to weave a web of self-deception, fooling ourselves into thinking that we’re resting on a firm foundational base of absolute security and permanence.

Diagnosis:  What causes the fear of change?  12-Hanged One-Sodalite.  Just as the Fool feels naked before change, the Hanged One must acknowledge his/her helplessness before it.  When you’re strung up by your ankles, there’s not much chance of getting out of there, except with help, or at least long, patient effort!  So, the feeling of helplessness is the true cause of the fear of change.  If we felt like we have some control or that we can make change happen in line with what we’re aiming for, fear and discomfort would diminish a good bit.

Prognosis:  Is acceptance of impermanence possible?  4-Emperor-Carnelian.  Speaking of control . . .  Yes, accepting and even embracing impermanence is possible, not by fooling ourselves, but by taking control of it in an active and rational manner as much as we can and accepting the rest.  Serenity Prayer, anyone?  And I mean accepting what we can’t control, not by throwing our hands up in the air and sighing, “whatever,” but by taking control of our own minds and the way we “spin” our role in otherwise uncontrollable events.  Am I a victim of circumstance or a competent person doing the best I can with what I’ve got, with an eye toward the next opportunity I can act on?

Prescription:  So how do we accept and appreciate change?  17-Star-Blue Lace Agate.  Count your blessings, 1, 2, 3!  We need to simply realize that all good changes are changes!  Every blessings is a change!  Yes, there are unpleasant changes, but think of all the wonderful changes we experience every day.  Well, technically every experience is a change.  Growth, of a child, a plant, or an idea, is a change.  Life itself is a product of change.  So here we are again, back to the whole unity of opposites--you can’t have good changes without bad changes, or change itself!  Once again, clear as, uh, the Fool, but so often overlooked or confused as we fool ourselves.

Now the Path of cards.  (Since the Star is 17, we get a true eight-fold path!)  How do we put the advice of the Star into action?  I arranged the cards in a numerically progressing path.

Fool.  Here’s the Fool again, looking particularly naked.  The Fool of historic decks is usually a poor wandering beggar who is not quite in his right mind.  The feathers in his hair are allegorical illustrations for “light thoughts,” perhaps fleeting, uncontrollable, and/or recurring thoughts that don’t have much relation to reality.  So the first step of accepting the reality of impermanence is to realize we are fooling ourselves if we don’t accept it!

Ace of Wands and Ace of Cups.  Acceptance is both an active and receptive step.  The important thing is to make a start. 

3 of Swords.  Accept that bad things happen.  To anyone, good or bad or in between.  The race is not always to the swift.  It’s just a fact of life in an imperfect world.  A more numerological meaning for this card gives us 3=manifestation + swords=thoughts.  Manifest your thoughts.  We can accept the whole imperfect world thing in theory, but when it happens to us, it’s often met with “why me?”  The insights of the Emperor are the advice here:  Take control of what you can change and what you think about what you can’t.

4 of Wands and 4 of Cups.  Celebrate and accept your blessings.  You receive them every day, whether you know it or not!

9 of Cups.  Not only do we receive generic blessings every day (like health, good food and shelter, loving family, etc.), we almost always receive the specific blessings that we wish for!  Consider all the wishes in your life that have come true, or may yet come true.  They’re all the products of change and impermanence!

King of Swords.  This king is here to reiterate the message of the Emperor.  In many ways, we create our reality with our own minds.  If I tell myself I’m a victim, or that I never get what I want, guess what, that’s what I am and that’s what I get!  And the opposite is true.  If I think I’m blessed, I know I am!  And if I have a positive attitude toward change, change will be positive for me!

Hermit Wisdom Reading

Well, I’m kind of burned out on the stone and card method, so I’m going back to the old tried and true from the Arcana Stones booklet, the Stone Arrowhead Spread.  The positions are modified a bit to accommodate the wisdom reading, but I think it has worked well.  You be the judge.

 

Hermit Wisdom Question:  What is the wisdom of age that we most need to learn?

Basic answer:  11-Justice-Aventurine, 14-Temperance-Rose Quartz, 10-Wheel-Botswana Agate.  Throughout our lives, we try to do the right thing/embody morality/be good, and take care of ourselves by having balanced physical and mental health, but chance and change always take a role in how things turn out.

What causes us to learn this wisdom?  21-Universe-Onyx.  Because that’s the way the world is.  Nothing in this life and in this world is perfect, and nothing is all one way or the other, everything is always blended.

How do we receive this wisdom?  7-Chariot-Amethyst.  If you live long enough, it makes itself known in the course/ride of life.

How can we actively pursue this wisdom?  6-Lovers-Rhodochrosite.  Unconditional love/acceptance gives is the first clue that nothing and no-one is perfect, but that doesn’t mean that it/she/he doesn’t have value.  We love anyway.  This is the active understanding of impermanence.

What is the outcome of learning this wisdom?  8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye.  All wisdom, if we accept it, makes us stronger, but accepting what we can’t change and what changes us is true strength.

How should we live with/live out this wisdom?  14-Temperance-Rose Quartz repeated.  Although the concept of the unity of opposites sounds esoteric, or at least complicated, in practice it just makes sense.  Life is a unique and usually unforeseen combination of cause and chance.  And the higher wisdom of Temperance is acceptance.  There is no use railing against fate.  That’s the result of an unbalanced, one-sided vision of life that can only cause an unbalanced, one-sided way of life.

Hmm, interesting reading.  Using all majors/stones in a reading does make it a bit more abstract, but I think the reading flowed and made a lot of sense.

Fortitude Wisdom Reading

Question:  Where should we draw the line?  What should be non-negotiable?

La Forza is from I Naibi di G. Vacchetta by Il Meneghello.  I like her (even though numbered 11) because she has both the column and lion attributes of Fortitude, plus she’s no-nonsense but not violent in her lion taming!

11-Justice-Aventurine on 3 of Wands and Prince of Cups.  The first thing that should be non-negotiable is fairness, both in the public (Wands) and private (Cups) arenas.  Fairness in actions (3 Wands) is a necessity that shouldn’t be compromised by circumstances or pressure from others.  But we should also have the strength to be fair in our beliefs and inner feelings (Prince of Cups).  And then fair actions easily follow.  Hidden reservations or prejudices, perhaps even hidden from ourselves, will eventually manifest (3) in our actions (Wands).

6-Lovers-Rhodochrosite on Prince of Cups.  A strong person will not give into the desire to fully submerge herself/himself into a relationship.  The Lovers stone suggests that in a relationship, two are joined but not thoroughly blended.  The Prince’s mysterious lake is not the right place to sink into.  It’s great to skim along the surface in a snazzy eagle-drawn chariot, but don’t get distracted by the magical appearances in the cup of emotions enough to fall in or dive down into oblivion.  It is each person’s responsibility to take care of herself/himself, and that includes maintaining a viable and separable individual self.  Lovers says give all of yourself, but don’t give up yourself!

3-Empress-Malachite on 7 of Wands.  Go ahead and enjoy the fight, but life and death are much deeper issues.  Empress understands that using force, physical or energetic, is sometimes necessary.  It’s a part of life.  And sometimes it can be enjoyable.  (7 is the number of Venus, and we have Mars in Leo, showing off how forceful (masculine?) we are by being a great warrior.)  But there’s a line (or there should be) between beating your chest, and maybe punching someone in the nose, and killing.  That’s something that can’t be taken back or made right.  We should never be so blinded by the love of the fight that we change or end someone’s life irrevocably, including our own. 

Chariot Wisdom Reading

Chariot Wisdom Question:  Are we progressing or just chasing our tails?  Conversely, are we part of the rhythm or off on a tangent?  (In other words is time more like an arrow or more like a cycle?)

14-Temperance-Rose Quartz on 8 of Swords.  I’m trying to limit reality to how my mind works.  Obviously, time is both arrow and cycle, and Temperance says I have to do better with being able to hold opposite ideas in my mind and my understanding of the world.  There is creative tension in both sides being true.  Jupiter in Gemini says let the doubleness (Gemini) of things expand (Jupiter) my mind.

21-Universe-Onyx on 10 of Wands and Knight of Wands.   The Universe is what it is, and that is HUGE!  Human minds are finite and can’t help but be overburdened (10 of Wands) when trying to understand everything about it.  Saturn in Sagittarius says as much as we speculate and philosophize (Sagittarius), there are limits (Saturn) to what we can know.  Knight of Wands says we have to act on partial evidence.  Otherwise, nothing would ever happen because we can never know everything!

3-Empress-Malachite on Knight of Wands.  Life force goes against the law of entropy--life comes from and causes more organization of matter, not less.  Entropy finally succeeds on the individual level with death, but even that continues to feed more life and more organization.  So we have the arrow of life moving forward, along with the cycle of life and death.  Perhaps the Knight of Wands riding upward and forward is showing that evolution is an arrow, ever improving the complexity and usefulness of life forms, as a complement to the Empress’s emphasis on the cycle of life, passed on from mother to child.

And all this brings us to the concept of the spiral, which is a cycle that rises to a higher level with each turn.  (In this case, thinking in 3 dimensions is probably more accurate than in 2!) 

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold

Can the center hold?  I think having Universe in our reading here says yes, it can.  Maybe not in a way we expect, but in the way that nature has of healing herself.

For the final word, let’s look at the Chariot card again.  Wheels make forward movement possible, giving us the perfect combination of arrow and cycle.

Lovers Wisdom Reading

Well, I've really fallen behind in my wisdom reading assignment, but I'm going to try to catch up!  (Don't you hate it when work gets in the way of tarot?)

Lovers Wisdom Question:  Is there such a thing as true love in this world?  Which I’m defining as the experience of complete trust, selfless giving, grateful receiving, and physical attraction between two people.

I really want to know this and don’t have a preconception about what is the correct answer!

This reading came to me in fortune-telling style, so here you go:

0-Fool-Clear Quartz on Knight of Wands.  Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.  Love before you leap.  Love first, ask questions later.  Well begun is half done.  Love like you’ve never been hurt.  Faint heart never won fair maid (or dashing gent).  You get the idea.  There are no guarantees in the relationship biz.  You can’t expect someone else to commit just to make you comfortable enough to commit yourself!  This knight looks like he’s been shot out of a cannon.  He’s on a quest for love, but it’s not a sentimental journey.  It’s all about expending the energy and committing yourself without expecting anything in return.

13-Death-Mahogany Obsidian on Knight of Swords.  Over-thinking can cause love to die a-borning.  Here’s another knight.  He’s aiming in the right direction, but he’s going about it in the opposite (wrong) way.  (Both knights and horses are heading left, but the Knight of Wands is leaping up, while the Knight of Swords looks like he’s going down, even if it’s just because we’re looking at him from above.)  This knight wants to pin down what he’s feeling and experiencing with his two swords.  His hands aren’t free to hold the reins, let alone reach out to someone.  His mind is going a mile a minute (as fast as the birds beside him), but where is his heart going?  If he sees something he doesn’t like in the other person or the incipient relationship, his mind is not going to let the seeds of love germinate in his heart.  He looks like he’s going forward swiftly, but it’s in the wrong way.  He’s being penny wise and pound foolish by prudently avoiding a taste of trouble, when it might be something easily overcome on the way to a feast of love.  (Cliches are the specialty of the day, with a generous helping of mixed metaphors on the side!)

17-Star-Blue Lace Agate on 2 of Wands.  Finding true love requires faith and works.  Lots of people are sitting around wishing on a star that true love will find them.  2 of Wands (and the Knight of Wands) are saying we need to go out and find it!  2=force + Wands=energy + Mars in Aries--this card is all about action, action, action!  Do something, even if it’s wrong!  Star is here, not as a contrast, but as a plus:  While you’re acting, looking, and finding, keep hope alive for the truest of loves.  And don’t settle for anything less.  If you can dream it, you can be it.  True love is only possible if you believe in it, but believing isn’t enough.  It also takes the Foolishness of the Knight of Wands to go out and find it!

Well, that answers my question and opens my eyes.  I feel more hopeful just looking at the cards and stones!