Seven of Wands - We Can't Stand Alone

This has been called a card of the underdog and can be seen as a situation we can all find ourselves in sometime or another, without having to play the role of the victim, in spite of the struggle. It is a card of faith. We always have the opportunity to see our difficulty, whatever it might be, as a test of our faith, urging us to rise to the occasion and to persevere.
 Of course this is easier said than done when we are going through 'challenging' experiences that I often call shit sandwiches and we can feel completely overwhelmed without a way out, but we don't have to stand alone.

Personally I have to take these kinds of experiences one day at a time, otherwise it would be easy for me to become despondent, overwhelmed and resort to coping mechanisms that would only exacerbate things, making them far worse.

My wise and faithful mother always said, " Things can only go down so far, and then they have to start coming up." I have always found this to be true.

This card reminds me to know and understand that things always change and we can have hope and assurance in knowing that out of the negative can often comes positive no matter how bad they are and we are not alone.

The Star of Hope - How Not to Ruin Your Life

 It's synchronicity that caused me to draw this Major Arcana card, The Star of Hope today. Since I learned of the death of my friend Lillian, I've thought about how death can bring us unexpected inspiration and hope. These are the lessons in the fragility of life, often giving us the deepest sense of meaning that grows out of unhappiness, pain, shame, crisis, depression, and loss.

 Life is full of irony and we can often think that these are unexpected sources of inspiration and personal transformation, but the truth is, they certainly can be. Things aren't always as the appear to be.

 The Star is a card of waiting, which offers hope, urges us to to trust our intuition and to have faith in the midst of difficulties and that there will soon be a dawn.

Life if really about a series of losses, but with loss are also gains, but I believe it depends on our own level of acceptance, grace, and it helps a lot having a really good sense of humour that enables the ability to not take yourself so seriously and can be a powerful healing tool for some.

 J.P Sears has really learned how to do this. Simultaneously he seriously coaches a whole lot of people, helping them to find hope and to understand that pain, shame and broken hearts don't have to ruin our lives.

Listening today to a great program about aging versus ageism, midlife crisis, and transformation I thought the topic this program Out In The Open is aligned with much of the general meaning to be found in The Star.

Eight of Pentacles - The Apprentice

No I'm not talking about you know who, Donald Trump on the Apprentice! Definitely not, but Donald Trump's got a few things in common with Daedalus, who was extremely prideful, jealous, cold heart-ed, impulsive, quick tempered and I suspect very sleep deprived.

The Eight of Pentacles is a card of change, education and engagement and here we see Daedalus in the role of the apprentice. He's dedicated to working at his craft and he conscientiously applies himself to achieve the skills he needs to be successful and happy. But I ask, is he really happy?

Being conscientious does relate to every aspect of our lives, but we aren't human doings, we are human beings. Though it's essential I believe, to love what you do and do what you love, but more importantly if we love the essence of who we are, embracing the positive and the negative characteristics within our being, it's not only reflected in all that we do and how we live life, but is very evident and reflected especially in our relationships with others.


We aren't simply going to be fulfilled and happy by doing what we love to do if our relationships are not fulfilled and happy, especially the relationship we have with ourselves.

So on this Saint Valentine's Day remember to love yourself, love others and love the God of your own understanding.

Six of Pentacles - The Generousity of Hope

 The Six of Pentacles is a harmonious card. embodying King Minos, generously offering Daedalus his six golden coins, that reflects the renewal of faith, and faith in life and one's capacities.

Growth, generousity, giving and charity are all represented in the Six of Pentacles. This card has great personal significance to me. My late husband taught me so much about the meaning of generousity. I could attribute his Metis heritage to his generous heart as generousity is considered one of the core values of Indigenous cultures, but we all have the choice to live our lives with a generous heart, that will truly bring happiness.

In the Western world we have lost our way. Capitalism is the default and though we live in a democracy these two perspectives are sorely at odds with one another, where greed over rides any basic democratic values, such as human rights, and freedom.

It's a well know reality that it's difficult to give what you don't have already for yourself. However if we're feeling so overwhelmed by problems there is nothing that will help us grow more then helping someone else.

Generousity gives us hope. Without generousity, this opens the door to cynicism and hopelessness.

Queen of Cups - "The Treasure of a Woman's Psyche"

I love the description of this beautiful Queen of Cups in the Essential Tarot by Rosalind Simmons who writes,
 "This queen drinks deeply from the cup of life." The queen of influence is calm, compassionate and intuitive.

Cups being connected to emotions, relationships, friendships and romance relates directly to this Queen, who lives her life based on her intuition instead of her intellect. There are many positive things about living this way, and it definitely has worked for me and continues to always be my default.

Understanding of course, that there needs to a balance between the intuition and intellect, sensing and paying close attention to what my intuition tells me, deepens my inner life. It's only when I don't pay attention to this it's then that I get into problems.

Especially in the past, I have found myself in circumstances with others, that are not healthy, and so I'm so grateful knowing today that I've a choice to live a better way. It doesn't mean I no longer make unhealthy choices, but I'm much better at making healthier choices.

Dr. Clarissa's Pinkola Estes says in her book Women Who Run With the Wolves, "Intuition is the treasure of a woman's psyche." Living intuitively doesn't mean becoming complacent and no longer pay attention because I've got it all figured out. Not at all the opposite is true. I strive everyday to pay attention to that intuitive creative spirituality, enabling me, much like the Queen of Cups me to 'drink deeply from the cup of life.'

Vasilisa The Wise - Catherine Meyers

Eight of Swords - Crazy Makers

This card looks pretty crazy I must say. There aren't really any pleasant images. On one side we see the threatening Furies with their wild creepy snake hair, and wacky bat wings. On the other side stands Apollo looking unimpressed and majorly pissed off at Orestes, who stands stuck in between the two.

Regardless of what's initially being presented in the cards we draw, as I've stated before, every card offers a positive beneath the surface of the negative imagery, and visa versa..

Having an awareness of the things we need to address and change, is what each Tarot card offers us and we are given the opportunity to live life to the fullest, based on the decisions and choices we make, no matter how big or small, and no matter how seemingly significant or insignificant.

Ultimately what is presented here in the Eight of Swords is a situation of being in bondage, created from our own fear. We can't or won't take action because we fear the consequences. The only solution to moving forward, is to make a decision to be honest with ourselves and no one can do this for us, it is completely our choice and we shouldn't ignore this, because there will be consequences that will cause us more trouble and grief.

The number eight is symbolic of change. The Eight of Swords reflects the feeling of being intellectually and even emotionally constrained, isolated and imprisoned. It's the opposite of how we feel when we experience the element of air that offers us energy, freedom to express ourselves, change our mind and to have the ability to act on our passions.

Page of Wands - A Gentle Kick in the Butt

This card the Page of Wands has come up twice in five days. When this happens, drawing the same card, initially I get a little frustrated because I just posted the same card. But, I know there's some kind of message for me and because Pages are messengers, I'd better pay attention.

This means digging a little deeper and taking a personal inventory of the positive and the negative. It's time to take a closer look at the areas in our life, examining some of the positive and looking at our character defects, that perhaps we're not quite ready or want to change.

 As I'd stated in a previous post about the Page of Wands, it is a card about personal creative growth, moving forward, with action and enthusiastic discovery. It's a good thing to nip things in the bud that you are already aware of, so as to prevent  more serious problems that might be harder to overcome in the future, and to build upon our existing strengths. I've learned a lot of hard lessons that way, but wished I could have found a ways to have avoided cutting my nose off to spite my face sometimes, but I don't regret my past.

The discoveries we make might be found out the hard way, but hopefully we learn an important lesson. We're the ones who ultimately decide what action we're going to take to improve our situations or if we'll stagnate in a regressive way.
That said, I've learned not to be judgemental, and to be sure that I extend compassion toward myself, like I would any one else, because progress is the goal not perfection.

So I'll contemplate this card today as I think the Page of Wands is an encouraging good kick in the butt.

The Lovers - The Matters of the Heart

Here we see the handsome Trojan prince Paris who's been forced by Zeus to judge a beauty contest between the three goddesses - Hera, Aphrodite and Athene who've offered him many things, the world and then some.

Young Paris didn't understand one darn thing about life, beauty, love or what his inner values were. And so he made his decision with little thought or no matter how unwise. He chose Aphrodite,  the sensual goddess of love. Oh she was a real hotty, and how could he resist? It was a done deal. But this was just the beginning of the troubles that followed his decision.

Honestly, this isn't the card I wanted to see today. But there it is, The Lovers. This card indicates and represents a new love, or being concerned with decisions regarding matters of the heart. It's not something I want to think about so much these days.  But I'm finding myself in the position once again. It mostly gives me more grief than anything I think, to entertain the thought of seriously engaging in a romantic long term relationship again, I admit I'm afraid. I don't have the best track record because of my life experiences. It's not that I fault myself necessarily, it's just the circumstances that was my reality.

I met the man I loved 38 years ago, who I lost suddenly and tragically to illness at 27. I find myself comparing other men to him and often my decision to get involved romantically, is to quote George Bush Sr., no, na-ah, nope, not gona happen, not gona do it, wouldn't be prudent.
I had some short term relationships in between my first and second marriage.

The second time around my marriage ended in divorce after marrying an abusive alcoholic man. Fortunately I decided to get out after two years, but psychologically it was hard to separate and it took me about five years to completely, sever ties. It wasn't easy and I couldn't have done it without having a great deal of counseling and help.

 Growing up with an alcoholic father, co-dependent and eventually becoming alcoholic myself, all added to my insanity, until I got into recovery 23 years ago.

So this card reminds me to make wise decisions. If I'm having a hard time, in confusion, I seek out the help and counsel of some one I trust and or a power greater than myself to draw strength and discernment from everyday.

If you can't figure out how to have a real relationship with yourself, understanding who you are, loving and accepting the person you are, it's impossible to have a healthy, happy relationship with another person. Your ability to make the right decision is unclear and disabled.

Lots of folks these days choose online dating sites. I have friends that it seems to have worked out for them. Time will tell. I have nothing against this and it doesn't matter how you go about meeting someone. What does matter, is knowing what you don't want, what you do want, and knowing what you need is right and good for you.

It takes time and work to have a discerning ability, which is paramount in our relationships. Shared spiritual values with a companion-ability helps to make you good friends who have real fun together, and you laugh a lot, no matter what you do.

As my wise late mother once said to me. If you are going to have a love affair and you find yourself crying more than laughing it's time to leave.