The Sun and Leonard Cohen

Synchronicity lifts my spirits today drawing the Major Arcana card, The Sun and listening to Leonard Cohen's Travelin' Light, from his new release You Want It Darker. I've followed Leonard from his early beginnings and I think this is the quintessential epic work ever, reflecting the kind of insight that is much like what is called "Apollo Longsight", seeing the purpose and reason for his life experiences through hope, faith and with far reaching vision.


 Apollo is a lord of prophecy, music and knowledge, the son of Zeus and Leto, the goddess of Night. Apollo is the image of the power of consciousness to dispel darkness and fear. He is the image of hope and faith.

The radiant sun-god is embodied in this mythic image of Apollo, with his classic, handsome looks, his golden wings, and cradling his lyre.

Music being the expression of the sun-god, it transforms darkness into light and meaning. The laurel wreath that crowns Apollo's head, symbolizes his artistic and athletic achievements, although Leonard aches in the places he used to play, because alas he is not the sun-god  but I sure do idolize him.

 Clarity, optimism and renewed trust, all enable our understanding of the pattern of life and arms us with  foresight, purpose, hope and faith in the striving human spirit,'travelin' light' toward the goal.

The Tower of Pickled Eggs

I don't ever recall drawing this Major Arcana card, The Tower. I know I haven't seen it before in my daily draw. But I do know it's a very relevant card for me today, having learned from a recent experience, after completing a lot of diligent hard work and then easily concluding that circumstances aren't always as they appear to be. The reason I say that was easy to conclude, is a result of having continued to trust my intuition and have the discernment to understand and accept what has happened and was meant to be, and to know  there are better things to come.

I'm actually further ahead than I was before and I'm now relieved of the stress that I was feeling. I think my increased cortisol level was simply a message from my intuition doing it's job, leaving me with that nagging pull or sinking feeling in the pit of my gut. I wasn't exactly sure why, what it meant and how it was going to all turn out, but I kept trusting that all will be revealed, and happily, it was.

When we experience periods of confusion, it can be very stressful and can be compared to going through that Labyrinth of King Minos, and we wonder when that scary, horrible, and gross creature, the Minotaur is going to show up and do his dirty work.

What has all this got to do with pickled eggs you ask? I'll tell you.
 I just finished making a batch of pickled eggs. I carefully placed them in the refrigerator, after making them, where they have to stay for two days before they're ready. Oh I've made them before, but I was usually in a big hurry to make them, skipping steps and certainly not following any recipe and I sure as heck didn't wait for two days for them to be ready!

This batch of pickled eggs I've made today, are going to be like none other I've ever made. I'm absolutely confident they are going to be delicious after paying very careful attention to detail. I took my time and followed the instructions in the recipe, right down to how to properly boil and even peel the eggs.

Discernment, intuition, having trust in that still quiet voice within my psyche, and practicing acceptance is rather like making pickled eggs. You really need to have the perfect combination of ingredients. You also need to follow the recipe if you don't already have one that you know that works because you know it like the back of your hand. It needs to be a recipe that's been trusted, tried and true, so you can be confident in knowing, you'll have the perfect pickled eggs.

Having patience, taking the time to pay attention to detail is essential in order to get the kind of result you want, or perhaps even something better than you expected, and you'll be a better person for it.

The collapse of the Tower, representing the collapse of old forms, outgrown ideas, and attitudes that don't emerge from the whole self, but are "put on" like a costume to impress an audience, need to fall away, to make room for a better attitude that's no longer confined to that Labyrinth and you can say to yourself, bring on those pickled eggs! They're ready and so am I! If you want the recipe, just ask, I'll be happy to share it with you!

Justice - The Art of Taming Horses

Justice, a very fitting card to draw today as I've been thinking about the qualities reflected in this Major Arcana card. Athene who taught the art of taming horses is a warrior of the highest kind, unlike Ares the war-god for whom the arts of war were based solely on conflict. Not Athene, her arts of war sprang from high principles that uphold and preserve truth.
 
Athene, the goddess of Justice embodies reflective judgement and rational thought, qualities that the Greeks considered divine, because it's what differentiated human beings from the beasts. Her teaching of the civilized arts symbolizes the capacity of the mind to hold untamed nature in check and transform it through clarity and to plan objectively.

The first of the four cards in the Major Arcana traditional referred to as the Four Moral Lessons which are Justice, Temperance, Strength and the Hermit, all necessary for us to function effectively in life. The lesson Justice purports, is how we must learn to think clearly and to have a balanced mind, weighing one thing against the other. If we do not respect fairness and truth as being important ethical principles, there is not Justice to be found.

Today I found this wonderful article about a beautiful 96 year old women who I think must have the courageous, and youthful adventurous heart of Athene. There is much to be said for those who are understand the art of taming horses.

As Dinnie Greenway states, she understands some people are afraid of horses but says the trick is to treat them like people.
"If they step on you, it will hurt but if you are sensible and you are kind, they'll be kind to you."
Dinnie speaks of truth and fairness based on clear thinking and having a balanced mind.

Riding horses all of her life has kept her going and keeps her young, with the true heart of Athene.

Knight of Swords - Synchronicity of Earth and Astral Planes

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” – Rumi

 I know I'm being affected but this Supermoon, Blood Moon, Hunter's Moon that is on it's way after midnight. I am feeling full of synchronicity, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. I'm listening to what I need in the way if sustaining my soul, taking time to find clarity and for this I am very grateful..


Over the past few months I've been completely preoccupied. My focus has been very methodically working on completing a government application for a grant relating to my art business. Some days I'm both simultaneously energized and mentally exhausted. I can almost feel like it's taken over my life, because I'm taken over by a new idea and am inspired to move with changes, even if some are uncomfortable and even turbulent. I am positive this will result in a broader vision of life.

 I am reminded of my past behavioural tendencies to take things to extremes or react in haste or being conflicted by opposing principles within myself. I've been all or nothing kind of gal most of my life. I've learned some hard lessons, and have come to understand the meaning of slow and steady wins the race, and that balance is better than extremes.

As a Gemini I identify with the Knight of Swords, as it typifies my personality in just about every way. Today I can say I experience more the positive aspects of this card embodying the Mythic imagery of the Dioscuri, who were never separated, the twin brothers, Castor and Polydeuces. Of course both Mythic figures demonstrate positive and negative characteristics, like we all exhibit a duality within our personalities. If we can bring this duality into synchronicity it can bring balance.

We all make big and small  life choices everyday. Some times the smallest and seemingly most insignificant of decisions made, can have the greatest consequences, in both positive and negative ways. Regardless, we're either moving forward or back, but always in motion. I don't think there is such a thing as staying still. I guess I'd describe being stagnant as being in denial, or doing something over and over again expecting a different result. In 12 Step Recovery programs we call that insanity.

The Mother's Prayers Are Carried to The Grand Mother - Coloured Pencil & Oil Pastel - Catherine Meyers

The High Priestess- The Dark Night of the Soul

With every sunny day must come the dark clouds and the rain. The High Priestess, embodied in the Mythic figure of Persephone represents the many facets of this in our lives, such a loss, grief, tragedy, love, spirituality, peace, severity and transformation. Persephone symbolizes for me the dark night of the soul.

I remember sitting in the living room of an elder woman whom I admired greatly. My spiritual mentor and friend Joan was a very faithful and deeply spiritual person, who'd been through so much difficulty and suffering through her life. She reminds me of the High Priestess, in that she was in the state of grace and balance that comes from patience and intuition. My friend always had a joyful, kind, grateful and very compassionate heart.

As we sat talking over cups of tea, I asked her why it seemed that some folks went through so much tragedy and grief, yet others seemed unscathed and dodged all the hurtful bullets of life. She replied yes, this did seem to be true, but pointed out that those who do experience more than their share of heartache, come away with a deeper understanding of life, and are offered, if they accept, the gift of compassion toward others, because they know what it means to not only survive but thrive because of what has happened to them, not simply in spite of what has happened to them.

Within my heart I knew this to be true, but somehow when she verbalized this truth it became even more real to me. Perhaps because she inspired me with her grace, inner strength, courage, faith and gratitude.
When we share with another what we've been through we impart a strength to the other who had walked a similar road and who also come to understand what that dark night of the soul really means.

It's pointless to compare ourselves to others and ask ourselves why them and not me. What's more important is to identify with the feelings of another. Helping each other this way brings great rewards, instead of being resentful and envious of someone who has a seemingly perfect life. We never really know what another is going through and we can't assume or judge, but we can empathize, show compassion and open ourselves to transformation.

The Fool - The Hopeful Free Spirit

I rarely draw the Fool card, but it is a Major Arcana that represents hope, and the free spirit within and one of my favourites. A person can never have too much hope and having a free spirit may frighten those who rather play it safe and can't embrace that side of themselves. But life means risk if we want to grow in faith, trust and in hope.

And so it's always a much welcomed card and to see today, this first day of October. As I write, I can hear the duck hunters. I can't say I hope they get some ducks. But I do wish them safety, as I do the ducks.

When I think about hunting I reflect on my grandfather, who was an expert marksman. He was never really so interested in hunting. He he did get the odd duck I know, but had no passion for in big game hunting. I remember a family photo of him sitting on the back of a moose that had been sick and he'd nursed him back to health. Granddad simply loved living with nature,  he loved animals, the country life and was a creative, gentle, sensitive and kind soul.

As a teenager I loved nothing more than wearing his old canvas jacket with a rap around inside pocket at the bottom of the coat, for gathering up ducks. It always made me feel close to him when I wore that coat. Summer days spending time with him out in his garden is a special memory. He didn't talk much because he was hard of hearing and wouldn't wear a hearing aid. But it didn't matter so much because I always knew he loved me and wanted to spend time with me whether it be in the garden or just spending hours playing checkers.

My grandfather Roy Winslow Milner's heart and mind were open and faithful. His love of music and reading was also very evident, as he was always reading and played a number of instruments. I know his life was difficult, living through the Depression and working all of his life in the Foundry where he was a molder, working in such an awful very unhealthy place, in order to earn a living to support his family.

In spite of my grandfather's hardships, he was a man that instilled hope in me as his granddaughter, because I inherited his love of music, reading and nature. Like the Fool, embodied in the mythic figure of Dionysus, my grandfather in spite of what happened to him in life, his right brained, intuitive, and creative nature allowed him to connect to his hopeful and free spirit. I'm blessed so grateful to have known him as my kind and loving grandfather.

Roy Winslow Milner

Grandfather and my mother, Sarah Helen Milner