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!