Strength In Numbers - Kindness Can Turn Into Miracles

I drew the Strength card this morning after asking a question on behalf of a life long friend, who is going through some serious health problems.

When I see this Strength card I immediately relate it to having a personal strength of character, and having the ability and presence of mind to overcome adversity. After some very hard lessons and many years of trying to do things on my own, coping and fighting against weakness, I finally realized I didn't always have to be strong, and that it was perfectly acceptable, and even desirable to allow myself, and more importantly to accept my own weakness, and to ask for help when I needed it.

People are mostly, and usually more than happy to help in whatever way they can, if we will only ask. Suddenly we find that our weakness becomes strength, because we have had the courage to reach out.

Cutting my nose off to spite my face, having a stiff upper lip, or a stoic attitude, is not strength, it is false pride. We delude ourselves into thinking that we can do everything all on our own if we are just self-reliant enough. No one can be strong all the time, and no one is an island. We need one another, and we need to care for one another, as the Creator loves and cares for us. The old adage 'Strength in numbers' is very true, as is 'United we stand, divided we fall'. You often hear these repeated time and time again, because they are so very true.

Although it is important, that we ourselves ask for help, we in turn do not have to wait for another, to ask us for help, if it is needed. Never underestimate kindness. Kindness can turn into miracles, and we all could use a miracle, and it is a good thing to ask for one, or why not even ask for two?

Seven of Pentacles - Difficult Decisions and Patience

The Seven of Pentacles speaks of hard work, but more consistent effort is needed. Well I've been told! But it is also a card about patience, things will happen, just not now. Oh how I do know about that today, all to well!

A difficult decision is evident in this card, care and forethought are needed, if the decision is the continue to develop what has already been constructed or to put energy into a new project. New project for me!!!

This card makes me reflect about the Autumnal Equinox, and changes in the weather, in the environment, and being a season full of contradiction. I always feel happy and sad at the same time in the Fall. It has always been this way for me. It is a time of nostalgia, bitter and sweet. The smells of wood smoke, and dying leaves are intoxicating. The sights of the Autumn are so sensual, and at the same time almost psychologically threatening, because I know Winter is coming, and it's hard to let go of the Summer. All the challenges ahead of going through those cold, dark and long days are hard to embrace. The changes of the season can speak of finite ending, even though intellectually I know this isn't true.

In many ways it is actually a hopeful time, of new beginnings. But one thing for certain is, it is about change. We reflect on making decisions, and prepare for the season, or at least we need to, and this can seem overwhelming in many ways. We would never be able to appreciate the Spring without the Winter, which has it's own on deep beauty. Just like we can't really appreciate the sweet without the bitter.
Pentacles represent the element of earth and the Winter season. Oh boy I'm getting anxious just thinking about it! Breath in, breath out.

Seven, being a creative number, signifies the opportunity for intelligent, creative, unique action and is associated with perfection. I always think of the seven gifts of the spirit. It signifies waiting for the thing we most want, the unexpected delivery, and represents the waiting for a miracle. That happened today,  another tarot reading client, and my blog reached over 6,000  views, and I have an exciting upcoming art exhibit! Even though it might appear to be a minor thing to someone else, it isn't for me, and I am very grateful!


However being the optimist I am, and having had many years of practicing, and developing the virtue of patience, and thanks to the reminder forever embedded in my brain, from Mrs. Samara, my good natured, grade nine geography teacher, who would always say out loud enough for only me to hear, " Patience is a virtue " and I am still practicing.The poor woman I'm sure our class drove her to the edge. She must have had a lot of patience, as having lived into her late nineties!

And so here's to letting go of endings, embracing beginnings, the change of seasons, difficult decisions,  miracles and patience!

Sun, Sun, Sun Here It Comes!

 Being that we are mid -Winter, and many of us are fed up with snow and cold, I thought I would  choose the Sun to study today. I was thinking about what would be the best card in the deck. It is said to be this one, The Sun. It is thought to be the most positive card in the Tarot deck. I have to agree. Whenever I do a reading, and this card appears, it immediately gives me a feeling of happiness, great hope, optimism in the present and for the future. The Sun is after all, the life giving planet, and it makes all things grow, including ourselves. We always feel better when the Sun is shining. I know I certainly do.

After yet another snow storm I was at a loss as to how the heck I was ever going to manage to get dug out again. I had shoveled for over two hours yesterday, and now we had even more snow than last time, and it was heavy! In spite of sun shine I was feeling a little on the very glum side, from being shack whacky and  being completely snowed in. Then a miracle happened. I got plowed out!!! A complete surprise! Oh, and now the Sun is shining even brighter, and my back is feeling better already! Sun, Sun, Sun, here it comes! I'm heading out tonight!

The Sun
The naked child mounted on a white horse and displaying a red standard has been mentioned already as the better symbolism connected with this card. It is the destiny of the Supernatural East and the great and holy light which goes before the endless procession of humanity, coming out from the walled garden of the sensitive life and passing on the journey home. The card signifies, therefore, the transit from the manifest light of this world, represented by the glorious sun of earth, to the light of the world to come, which goes before aspiration and is typified by the heart of a child.
But the last allusion is again the key to a different form or aspect of the symbolism. The sun is that of consciousness in the spirit - the direct as the antithesis of the reflected light. The characteristic type of humanity has become a little child therein—a child in the sense of simplicity and innocence in the sense of wisdom. In that simplicity, he bears the seal of Nature and of Art; in that innocence, he signifies the restored world. When the self-knowing spirit has dawned in the consciousness above the natural mind, that mind in its renewal leads forth the animal nature in a state of perfect conformity. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Pictorial_Key_to_the_Tarot#The_Greater_Arcana_and_their_Divinatory_Meanings

 The Sun, the giver of life, represents our conscious mind in Astrology. It represents our will to live and our creative life force.
Just as the planets revolve around the Sun in our solar system, we derive our life purpose from the Sun in our natal charts. The Sun is our ego. It is also our "adult"-- the part of us that censors our "inner child", that reasons things out, and makes final decisions. The Sun is our basic identity, and represents self-realization.  When you are asked, "Who are you?", and you've passed your basic statistics and occupation, your answers will be a description of your Sun. The Sun also represents our overall vitality. The Sun directs us, and can be considered "the boss" of our chart.
The Sun () is so important in the chart, that the happiest people on this earth are those who identify (without over-identifying) with the Sun's expression. Though one might think that the traits of their Sun would come easy to them, the truth is, the Sun shows what we are learning to be. It is very important to remember that the Sun represents reason as opposed to instinct.
With respect to the other luminary (the Moon), the Sun reflects the present or the "here and now", while the Moon infuses the past into our lives through the feelings.
Grant Lewi referred to the Sun as indicative of "the psychological bias which will dominate your actions". He went on to say, "You may think, dream, imagine, hope to be a thousand things, according to your Moon and your other planets: but the Sun is what you are, and to be your best self in terms of your Sun is to cause your energies to work along the path in which they will have maximum help from planetary vibrations." (1)
When we are "acting out" our Sun, we are purposeful, directed, proud, and creative. On the negative side, we can be haughty, overly willful, self-centered, and judgmental.
In the chart, the position of the Sun by zodiac sign represents the native's life purpose and the style in which they leave their mark in the world. By house, the Sun's position shows where our personalities shine. The areas of life associated with that house reveal the types of experiences which contribute to our sense of individuality and which shape our sense of pride. These areas of life are ones in which we seek to express and focus our Sun sign qualities. http://www.cafeastrology.com/sun.html