Queen of Cups - Intuition

The Queen is an influential, calm, stable, intuitive and compassionate figure. I love the description of this card in the hand book from the Mary Hanson-Roberts tarot deck."This queen drinks deeply from the cup of life."

This is one of my very favouite cards and for me I consider it to be an example of how I intend to live my life. For some, following one's intuition rather that their intellect as this queen represents, can be a daunting and frightening way of living, as there seems to be a lack of control and most people want to feel in control of their lives. We can have a modicum of control of our lives, in that we choose and control our own behaviours, no one else's.

I see letting go of control, as being a good thing, when it comes to life generally, because we can't control most things that happen in our lives. This has everything to do with acceptance, and living life on life terms and understanding the one constant in life is change, and we have to learn how to adapt to change.

            " Intuition is the treasure of a woman's psyche."

                                                        - Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Vasalisa The Wise - Egg Tempera - Catherine Meyers

King of Cups - "Light at the Edge of the World"

 The King of Cups, (Orpheus) represents the authority that calms turbulent waters through creativity, compassion and empathy of the healing doctor, counsellor and priest.
 
This King  is one of my favourite  of the court cards because of what the King of Cups represents. I would say he embodies the very best of qualities and personality characteristics a human being can ever possess and exhibit.

The ideal of perfection and wisdom in another for me, comes the closest, when I think of the Canadian anthropologist, Dr.Wade Davis. Every time I hear him speak about the human condition, and how anthropology can provide healing answers to so many of the world's problems, I can't help but wish there were more people like him particularly in positions of political power.

If there were only more of us who comprehended the importance of learning from, accepting and appreciating cultures, what a better world it would be, knowing and understanding that race is a fabricated myth, perpetuated mostly by those concerned more with power and control.

Dr. Wade Davis is a modern day King of Cups in so many ways and poignantly articulates so insight-fully, how human beings are more alike than different, in that we all greatly share and originate from the same genus.

The King of Cups represents the authority that calms turbulent waters through creativity and compassion of the healing doctor and counsellor.

I posted a highlighted link below, to a recent talk Dr. Wade Davis gave on Ideas.

Dr. Wade Davis

Five of Pentacles - The Fat Cat

The Five of Pentacles comes up in my daily drawn card more often than I'd wish, and appears at the times when I'm feeling worry and insecurity over my financial state, which is exactly what this card's meaning implies. It's not my favourite, but on the positive side, I see it as a card of transformation, if I trust my intuition and have enough faith to allow the God of my understanding to do what I can't do for myself.

This perspective has enabled me to become rather immune to my worry, and the fear of financial insecurity. Experiencing these feelings in many ways has made me stronger, given me more compassion and gratitude. The most difficult bit about being in this situation in the past and occasionally today, is, I don't want to ask for help. I know this is a common experience for many people, they find it difficult to ask for help. The problem being, this is false pride, and it makes you angry. You don't want to appear weak, or you might fear being judged, causing an individual to cut their nose off to spite their face, and now added to your trouble, you're walking around without a nose, not a pretty sight!

King of Cups - Creativity and Compassion

I often draw the King of Cups. There is a implicit message here in this card for me, that until now, I've missed. The two primary words used when describing this card are creativity and compassion, that both have evoked and created a kind of vision quest for me throughout my life.

Over the years my understanding and exploration of how I defined what both of these words meant to me  in relation to myself, to others and to the God of my understanding, began for  at an early age, for reasons that perhaps are not fully revealed to me

I was told as an adult, by an astrologer who read my chart, that it was extremely important for me personally, to find my spiritual purpose in life in order to find a deep happiness. This has certainly been born out and because it has long been my focus, through creativity and compassion, especially toward myself, this greatly helped me to find my purpose, mission, and define my vision for living life.

The road was often not an easy one at all, filled with loss, struggles and temptations, after trying unsuccessfully to fill that hole in the soul, that came with the territory along the path on the journey of self-growth.

In retrospect, I wouldn't change a thing, because these experiences have made me the person I am. Today I continue on the path to creativity and compassion, learning important life lessons along the way, and very gratefully, this has helped me to patch up and heal that hole in my soul, restoring the emotional balance that the King of Cups reflects.

The Emperor - Holding His Emotion

I so down with aspects of The Emperor and what he represents. I know it's my own issues with authority figures and I'm often uncomfortable, weary and I often question authority.

The power of Zeus's personality gives me pause to think, as he grew up with a violent, sociopathic father Cronos, who killed his five children except for Zeus. Cronos had intended Zeus to be among his murdered children but his mother presented Cronos with a swaddled stone instead of a baby, which Cronos promptly swallowed. Zeus escaped his fate at the hands of his violent father thanks to his mother Rhea, who'd saved her son's life.

Zeus representing both the positive and negative aspects of the father, he typifies the archetypal man who holds his emotion in check, with the kind of personality that could become oppressive, tyrannical with ideologies that interfere with life and personal growth.

Zeus's dark side can express rigidity, self-righteousness, inflexibility, arrogance, anger, and vindictiveness when and if his authority is challenged. This negative and destructive part of Zeus's personality is the worst  face of authority, is an abuse of power and control, embodying so much of what is wrong with our world today.

Many of us can be dominated by an inner dialogue and a scenario that we can repeatedly replay and act out in our lives, where there exists a dominating inner father, which restricts and constrains our relationships and happiness, especially if we've had emotionally unavailable or absentee fathers for whatever reason. It's been my own personal experience that we have to find ways to heal from this legacy or we are bound to repeat it with the next generation, passing it on to our own children, and on to our children's children.

The positive characteristics of The Emperor encourage us to foster self-respect, self-discipline, the spiritual ideals and ethical principles we need, in order to meet life's challenges, learning to rely on our own
resources and or to learn how to reparent ourselves if necessary.

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.

Ace of Cups - What's Love Got To Do With It?

When I see the Ace of Cups that I drew this morning I always get excited, because it means there is a raw
emotional energy abounding some where within the context of my life, depending on what I choose to do with it, and how it is directed and channeled.

We see here Aphrodite, the goddess of Love that is embodies the potential for compassion and intimacy.

This card is a representation that urges me to be compassionate toward myself and have an intimate knowledge of who I am, both the positive and negative aspects of my personality. It's really about accepting and loving myself as I am. This isn't an easy undertaking and often takes years of work and maybe therapy for many of us.

 I remember over 20 years ago before my own personal recovery, I was rightly told that, I had to learn how to re-parent and love myself. I was as mad a hell. I'd been care-taking most of my life, making sure others were happy, putting my own needs and wants on the back burner, letting people use and abuse me.

I felt like once again I was expected to, and was going to have to be the one to do this 'taking care' of myself, when what I really wanted and needed I thought, was for someone else to take care of me for a change. I figured this was only fair. This in fact was due to having grown up with unmet needs when I was a kid, and it carried over into my adult life, and I acted this out through my co-dependent relationships, until I finally understood how to really re-parent and love myself. It meant changing myself and changing my relationships.
Many of us, if not all human beings are a work in progress.

When it comes to love and intimate relationships, what's love got to do with it? If I don't have a healthy relationship with myself, being really happy and content with my life as it is, I can't expect someone else to either fix me or to make me happy. That's my responsibility.

 It's really a simple kind of equation and formula, but many of us get wrong, time and time again. We just have to look at the statistics and observe the high incidence of divorce.

Taking an inventory of how we define our relationships with ourselves and with others, is a very important factor to consider as we more forward in our lives, regardless of our status and whether we are single. married or other. Tina Turner figured this out. She is someone I greatly admire.

King of Cups - The Caring Heart of the Artist

I realize this card it is truly my favourite Court Card. The King of Cups is full of compassion and counseling for others, with the sensitive, wise and caring heart of an artist who was both poet and musician, represented by the Mythic figure Orpheus.

These qualities are so admirable and highly regarded and can be seen as being very positive. The negative aspect is that the King is unable to help himself and is known as the wounded healer. Many in the helping professions tend to crash and burn, because they extend themselves beyond their limits, in order to help others without addressing their own personal issues. I had once experienced this myself years ago as a counselor.

I heard it said that the best way to get your focus off of your own problems is to help someone else. This is often true especially if you are feeling sorry for yourself our full of worry and anxiety about your life. However if your motivation is to do this in order to avoid your own problems, this is not going to work for long and isn't healthy.

Certainly, those who are helpers do have insight into other peoples problems and are initially very good at assisting them in many compassionate ways. However this cannot happen consistently over a long period of time, because the individual will eventually come up against their own struggles and eventually will be unable to ignore them.

The message found within the King of Cups is that taking care of ourselves is an absolute must. If we can't take care of ourselves first, we can't really be there to effectively help others.

Ten of Swords - What Gets You Singin'?

Athene is giving those Furies the finger, telling them that's enough, back off, and has read them the riot act. The Furies have beat this poor bugger down to a pulp, and he appears to be dead in the water, without hope.
The Ten of Swords might look like a card of dread, defeat and victimization. And it a way it is, but there is hope and relief ahead. Oretes unconscious on the ground, is symbolic of a Christ-like kind of figure. Some might see Oretes as being symbolic of a victim.

There exists in this universe a life force for good, that helps us to find inner strength, and enables us to rise above our seemingly hopeless situation. I know this to be true, because I am speaking from personal experience. You don't have to look very far in this world to see examples of such horrendous circumstance that many have overcome. They come out the other side, and not only to lift themselves out of their situation, they will often help others to do the same through their example their own experience of strength and hope that comes from a power greater than themselves, from this life force.

I remember years ago, sitting in a living room with an elder, who I had so much respect for and greatly admired. She had been through so much suffering in her life. She was so strong, full of compassion, wisdom, humility, and gratitude. I put the question to her. Why is it many seem to get through life without suffering, and others get more than their share?

She had no pat answer, but she did share this. She said people who do experience more suffering are often able to experience compassion and empathy toward others, and have a depth of character that is often lacking in the individuals who don't experience this kind of walk in life.

I read the other day a comment the struck me, from another wise and spiritual woman. She stated that the Divine is not found in suffering but is found in joy. I've thought about this, and I asked myself is there joy to be found in suffering? I don't think so. But perhaps there is beauty and hope not because of the suffering itself, but because of what a person believes and how it changes them, and then they begin to can feel joy and the Divine.

I don't have the answers to this, but I know there are many important life lessons to learn through the struggle and heartache that comes with life. I do believe the God of my own understanding comes in through my wounds. We have the opportunity to decide how we respond to those wounds. We either lay down and give up, or we sing a special song, and maybe we even dance till the end of love.

I think Leonard Cohen said it best in his song You Got Me Singing.

Four of Wands - Blind Trust Project

Jason could never have met the challenges, dangers, and struggles that were overcome during the perilous sea voyage on the Argo, in pursuit of the Golden Fleece, without his fellow friends the Argonauts. They trusted, supported and believed in him, in spite of having no idea what they were going to have to face, or what lie ahead and in many ways they were going on blind trust. Jason also had to trust them.

The Four of Wands indicates a deeper significant lesson to learn. No one is an island and we have a responsibility to love our fellow humans, be they friends, family, those we don't like, and even our enemies. We can tolerate, without having compassion or love in our heart toward others. To me there is nothing virtuous about tolerating another.

It is much easier to offer help and support to those we love. Where the real virtue lies, is often in helping those we don't understand or reject in some way.  It is very easy to sit in judgement of those we fear, based on status, race, colour, gender, or religion, because we don't understand.

Today I heard about an amazing project, a youtube video that went viral with over a million views, which I have posted below.

Seven of Swords - The Road Less Traveled

This dude carrying his seven swords, walks his own path, which has been a rough and rocky road. The road hasn't always been this way, living by his wits and paying a price for the choices made. This individual has benefited from many choices, he is street wise, and has applied his mental energy in a rather amoral way, and no doubt for a variety of reasons, that many are unaware of and don't fully understand. He may not even understand himself.

Like the Seven of Swords there are things we do that may cause us to feel our character is has been compromised. On the surface this cards encourages us to be tactful, diplomatic, and intelligent in our communications with others which will enable us to better cope with life, to survive and to thrive.

We may not agree with another individual's life style or the decisions they make. It is often easier to sit on the sidelines in judgement of another. Until we walk their path, and look beneath the surface, only then can we really understand. It is important to be more than just tolerant, but hopefully having more compassion toward another who we may not like, respect or love will help us understand them, ourselves, and to have gratitude.

King of Wands - The Heroes Journey

Heroes always never think of themselves as heroes. Like the King of Wands, possesses  the courage of a lion, with such a soft heart. This rather dual character can create serious dilemmas, and can be difficult to overcome, especially when having to do things that may not feel right, and go against the grain, creating conflict within. Emotion and feelings are placed on the back burner in order to do what must be done. This can sometimes cause guilt, shame and sadness or even post traumatic stress in extreme circumstances.

There is so much to admire about the King of Wands, especially his leadership strength, abilities and creative, energetic spirit that he embodies. The character defects, of impatience and his quick temper can get him into trouble. Combine this with the desire to control and manage is problematic. It's one thing to have leadership abilities, but if these are not tempered with patience, calm, and humility, leadership can quickly be interpreted as being overbearingly bossy, only resulting in alienating the very people one is trying to help.

I have know several men and women in my life that I consider heroes and heroines. Ultimately we all have to learn how to be our own hero or heroine and rescue ourselves  from our character defects and strive to have the courage of the lion, while still keeping that soft heart intact, full of compassion for others and for ourselves. We cannot give away what we do not have for ourselves.

King of Swords-The Snow Warrior

I was never so happy to see what I was hoping and praying for, a King of Swords to come along and save the day! This was the card I drew yesterday, and with the Spring snow storm, that left 6-10 foot drifts completely filling in my long lane, there he was, he came, he saw, he blew snow for two hours! I never got around to posting because I was digging my car out and busy having a meltdown. I felt completely overwhelmed with next to no food, the amount of snow and I was getting a little freaked out feeling very alone, seemingly without anyone to help me.

After having a typical what I'll call 'cups' kind of morning, and into the afternoon of waiting. I was so very grateful to finally find someone to get the job done, to free me from over ten days of snowbound Snowmageddon! I don't have many moments like this, and I don't want to apologize for feeling this way. It's just not a good feeling for me, when I do find myself in such a state of mind.

Sometimes all we need to do is vent, and talk things out, to share with another who can help to remind us of, and who can exhibit those kind of King of Swords characteristics, in order to bring us around, and this is just what a did, and was able to find those who could be that King of Swords for me.

The King of Swords is a clear thinker and with leadership skills. He knows how to approach problems logically, and directly head on without hesitation, he gets the job done, calmly stays the course, in a rational manner. The King of Swords knows what to do in a crisis. He will defend the defenseless, and take a vehement stand for what he thinks is right. He excels in his strategic skills, and reminds me of a Neutrino.

Having great intellectual capacities, combined with high principles, and a strong idealistic sense of justice, this determines all of his decisions. He may appear somewhat distant and detached emotionally, but he feels deeply and is a very compassionate individual.

"No one is too rich to receive, and no one is too poor to give."

The King of Cups - The Guy With The Big Heart

The King of Cups (Orpheus) is a deep feelin' kinda guy, and he has a very big tender heart. Helping others is what he most values above all. Being both priest like and healer, with a generousity of spirit, people might think they can take advantage of him. They would be very much mistaken, as he is neither unintelligent nor naive. Often folks equate the ability to feel or display deep emotion, particularly in men as weakness. This is not true, it is in fact a strength.

This loving and compassionate King fills his life with creative activities like poetry, music, art, that speak to, and touch the soul. He is open, honest, and wants to help others in what ever way possible. Living life by way of the heart, enables this King to be an example to others, he is a leader for change, making the world a more compassionate place.

He urges us to pay attention to matters of the love and the heart, as it is truly the most important thing in our lives especially, through relationship with ourselves, with others, and with the God of our understanding. We are all interconnected to each other and to the earth.

In Greek mythology, Orpheus is described as being the wounded healer, because he cannot seem to help or heal himself, which is a dichotomy. He is disconnected from himself. Many people who are in the helping professions are the same, but they cannot go on this way, as it is an imbalance, and can lead to burnout or ill health.

At some point I'd like to think that King Orpheus will get himself into recovery of some kind, in order to heal his wounds, so he can be the best kind of healer and priest that can have the kind of intimate relationships he so longs for in his life. This recovery is about making a kind of soul bargain, that Deepak Chopra  speaks of in his book, Path To Love. A soul bargain means we have a trust and faith in things unseen, believing that there is a greater good that loves and cares for us, and that there is a plan. This faith will enable Orpheus to let others into his heart, allowing them to love him, as he loves.

The Queen of Swords-Warrior Woman

This Queen of Swords impresses me very much, and simultaneously she does not. I am not so drawn to her, like I am the Queen of Cups, that lives life from the heart and intuition. Nonetheless I admire The Queen of Swords greatly.

This Queen, strikes me as being distant and aloof, sometimes appearing cold to others. Her  intellect, and ability to always maintain an objective, detached perspective, takes precedence over her emotion. Don't be fooled though, she feels deeply, and is a very passionate, compassionate woman. Her aloofness is really her armor that protects a very tenderhearted broken heart. She is really a wild woman in the sense, that she walks her own path and is her own person. Still waters run deep, and what appears to be, may not be all there is to the story, as much lies beneath the surface, within the depth of this woman's personality.

There are always occasions and circumstance that this kind of detached approach to life is positive. This can be problematic, if an individual is implicitly devoid of feelings and subjectivity, this leaves a person suspect, relying solely on empirical evidence of things unseen, such as intuition, the psyche and love. It makes for difficult intimate trusting relationships.

You will not win in a war of words with this Queen, and you don't want to cross her, as she will cut you with her quick wit, and sharp tongue. She expects much from others, like she does from herself. This can be manifested in a character defect as perfectionism, and having unrealistic expectations of others, that they can not idealistically live up to.

Inherent in the Queen of Swords seems to be is a lack of trust in the self, in others, and in the God of her own understanding. Reason, rational thought, and logic are the tools she uses to solve her problems, and how she reaches her conclusions. It is difficult for her to let go of her rational mind, and to take that leap of faith that is a prerequisite for trust.

Understand that I am somewhat biased, and admittedly a bit jealous of her ability to be so intellectually, rationally strong and emotionally detached. I know I am not so much like her, but she has some very admirable personality characteristics I relate to, and I try to emulate and adopt her mental strengths, and her positive traits.

The Queen of Swords is a very strong warrior woman. She is the embodied mythic figure of Atalanta the Huntress, who in the past was dealt a bad hand of cards, regardless, she has thrived, not in spite of all these struggles, but because of them. She has developed an internal fortitude, that has given her an independence and the self-reliance to take care of herself. In this way she is very close to my heart, as I have known and know, many beautiful strong woman like her, and I identify with her very much.

Wolf Woman-Catherine Meyers

Queen of Cups - Emotion Vs Reason

I was once told I was like a ball of emotion. This isn't true. I am simply no longer afraid of my emotion, but I wasn't always this way. Today I am very grateful to be able express my emotion, because there was a time when I completely shut down my feelings for many years, and learned to do this at the age of five, due to my family circumstances.

 I also learned how unhealthy it is to suppress emotion as it eventually leads to repression, resulting in an inability to know you even have these feelings. It is if a steel door has been slammed shut where nothing gets out and nothing gets in.
Alcoholism is described as being a disease of the emotion. Being sober 20 years, I can attest to this.

The reason I love the Queen of Cups, is that she reminds me emotion is a good thing, balanced with reason. And like the Queen of Cups who relies on her intuition before her intellect. I believe this is a good way to live life. At some point we have to let go of reason, and make a leap of faith. We need to have faith in ourselves, in others, and a faith in the God of our understanding.

 I can't say feeling emotion is painless, because that would be far from the truth, unless I am crying tears of joy. More often than not, we experience emotion from painful things, like the death of a loved one. No one wants to feel pain. Our immediate response, and I will only speak for myself is fight or flight. In the past, I would want to take, what I thought, was the easier soft way, and run away. Thank goodness now, I strive to have courage in the face of fear. Having courage does not mean I am not afraid.

What if I don't believe in God, and what if I find it hard to have faith you ask? I remember it being said, that if you don't believe or have faith then borrow someone else' faith. That made a lot of sense to me, because others can give you if not a complete faith of your own, well it can at least give you courage to go on. Those who have been through worse things than ourselves, can inspire us to believe that if they can make it through, perhaps we can too.

People who have been through hard times in life, are often more compassionate, and can cry with those who weep. Like the Queen of Cups, they drink deeply from the cup of life, and are emotionally generous. They can impart this to others, so we in turn can pass it on, and give it away to others.
It is in giving that we receive.

This emotional generousity is compassion, and can make our world a better, kinder place, that will bring tears of joy, and the tears that heal.

Five of Cups - When Bad Things Happen

Here in the Five of Cups we see Psyche in full pursuit of Eros. Her joy has turned sour, she is feeling great loss, and even resentment over unfulfilled dreams and her severed relationship with Eros. This Minor Arcana card that I drew today, is about when bad things happen to good people and how we deal with these events. We can choose to withdraw when circumstances beyond our control manifest in negative, or even destructive ways. When we see the glass half empty, or isolate in fear with cynical contempt toward others or toward life in general, in order to protect ourselves from getting hurt, it is not realistic, how to live a happy fulfilled life.

Things can happen directly to us or to others, and can have a profound affect on our lives. I am no different and have had many difficulties and heartaches that have changed me, and my life.

 I once asked an elder wise woman who had several hardships, why bad things happen, and why it seems some folks have more of their share of hardship, heartache and loss.

She shared with me, that when these events happen to us we become different people. We have the opportunity to be more compassionate toward others, and we can help them to overcome the burdens they suffer. We can become stronger individuals from the struggles we endure. Those who have not had this experience can often lack understanding and compassion, or often do not have the same depth of character. When my friend shared her thoughts, it made a lot of sense to me, and my experience had found this to be true. I saw things differently from this point on.

What happens to us in life of course, and how we respond, I must say, depends on our own attitude, our philosophy, and how we actualize this in our daily life. Remorse over unfulfilled dreams or regret, is simply living in the past. Acceptance of our circumstances and appreciation of life, and all that it has to offer makes the difference.

 If of course we have overwhelming feelings and thoughts, that are affecting our mental health, beyond our control, we have to find and seek help, and those around us hopefully, will help us, to help ourselves. We can not say to people, I know things are difficult, but just  be positive and things will improve, like Pollyanna. It is just not that simple for so many of us.

I cannot help but think of the association Glenn Close helped to initiate called, BringChange2mind or Robin Williams and how he suffered silently with a smile on his face, making others laugh like none other on earth.

 I can't say that we can  prevent another from depression, addiction and any other circumstance or malady. However we cannot stick our heads in the sand, in denial, pretending that is does not exist, or that someone does not need our support, help, acceptance and most of all our love.

Bad things do happen to us, but so do good things, and they are worth fighting for in life.

King of Swords - Patience

I am feeling very grateful today and the King of Swords affirms and clarifies this for me.
There's been worry lately, and I know it is a useless thing, and it can show a luck of trust, but like all human beings, I can't seem to help myself sometimes. I can feel like Alice trying to find my way through Wonderland having to deal with all those creatures and weird folk.

 I may not actively engage in worry it is as much as I used to, but it lurks there, in the corner of my mind, poking it's head round the corner to stare at me like the Red Queen. Well what are you looking at?! Stop starring I say!

But worry has taken a break and stopped staring for a while. Today I am feeling very hopeful and positive. What comes to my mind is the adage or proverb that says " Good things come to he who waits. "  Or what I heard in the 12 Step rooms of recovery, " Courage is fear that has said it's prayers " - Karl Barth

The King of Swords is a card of leadership, of strength and having the ability to provide good counsel to others, being compassionate and kind.  Unfortunately, many of us can't seem to take care of ourselves for many reasons and this can be very problematic, damaging, and hurtful to the mind, body, and spirit.
 And so we have to take good care of ourselves, the best way we know how. Sometimes this involves swallowing our false pride, being patient, and trusting that the God of our understanding will some how come to our aid. This requires faith and trust, not the easiest thing to do when you are between a rock and a hard place.

The King of Swords is a card of action and intelligence, where reason prevails over emotion. Swords clarify and cut through muddle thought.

Patience is a virtue. We must be especially patient with ourselves, which perhaps may be the most important aspect of being a compassionate, kind and good leader.

Queen of Pentacles - Abundance and Sensuality

The Queen of Pentacles is the just the card that confirms and an affirms what I need today. I'm not exactly there yet financially, in that I don't have a stable income. I am however striving to create balance in my life between  mind, body and spirit.
 Far from being financially prosperous like the Queen, I do feel secure within myself generally speaking, and this is a good feeling, and I want to be generous toward others, especially in a supportive and compassionate way. I am a down to earth person, like the Queen of Pentacles, relate and connect to others in this way.

My personal strengths were imparted to me. I was very blessed in my life to have had a mentor, my mother, who generously helped me get to where I am now at this point in my life. She was and is a great example and the epitome of what the Queen of Pentacles represents to me.  My mother became that secure and independent woman after many years of difficulty, hardship and struggle. A single woman who was rich, strong in spirit and generously shared her abundance of life with her messed up daughter, her family and with others. She was what I would call a mother's mother, embodying what the Queen of Pentacles asks of us; to be compassionate, nurturing, practical, down-to-earth in our attitude when relating to others, and in whatever the circumstance. My mother was stable, resourceful, realistic, versatile, loved life and was spiritual. She always was able to find solutions in an uncomplicated way.

I will conclude this post by relating to you a meaningful and affectionate memory I have, that for me, expresses the kind of woman my mother was. My mother loved dance and music, as she was a singer and a musician.
She had told me that she belly danced in the privacy of her own bedroom, by herself. This revealed to me how she was connected to the sensuality of her own body and to the earth, like the Queen of Pentacles. When she first told me she belly danced, myself being a teenager at this time, I was amazed, and a little shocked.
 Later in my own life I became a belly dancer. It was one of the best things I ever did for myself. It greatly enriched my life, my sense of self-value, acceptance of my body and connection with the earth. Challenging my self physically, affirmed my own Queen of Pentacles within.

Baubo The Belly Goddess - Egg Tempera - Catherine Meyers, 2013

King of Cups - The Wounded Healer

Synchronicity has caused me to draw the King of Cups today, after having drawn the Queen of Cups yesterday. The Wounded Healer is the best way to describe this King, as he cares and helps so many, but some how is unable to care for, or heal himself.

Like many of us that work in the human service professions, or simply in our everyday lives we can make great allowances for others, and do as much as we can to counsel and or assist them in whatever way we can. This is a wonderful gift to have empathy and compassion toward others.
However there is a problem that arises, when we are not the same way toward ourselves. It leads to burn out, and you can easily be taken advantage of, perhaps because there is a problem with being able to say no. Self-care and taking responsibility for our own happiness is essential, if we are going to be in a position to really help another.

The message is an important one in the King of Cups. It is not healthy to project our problems and unconsciously try to work them out, through others.

We need to be able to trust in our own personal life, so we can have fulfilling relationships.  To do our own healing by seeking help, and doing what is necessary in order to get healthy and happy, is the only way to ensure that one does not cheat the self, otherwise we will do more harm than good, and perhaps lose the very thing we desire.