Nine of Wands - Ready For Some New!

Over the past week,  I have consistently drawn all the Nines from each suit. Today I've drawn the Nine of Wands. It the Universe trying to tell me something I wonder? I am seeing the meaning as reflecting exactly where I am at present in mind, body and spirit, the three realms of experience.

I have come full circle, weathering the storms, ups and downs, through the labyrinth of life to point of a completion, attainment, and acceptance, like a spiral, but where there is closure, there is also beginning and renewal in that cycle of life..

I have met myself and made a connection, come to a place of acceptance. I have found I need to ask some important questions in regards to the number nine, in all it's elements.  Questions about how to live life to the fullest. What makes me feel whole? What particular undertaking will make me feel more complete as a person? How does change affect me, and how do I feel about moving into the next phase of my life? Am I feeling connected to myself, to others, and to the God of my understanding?

Interestingly, the Latin word for nine is novem and has the same root meaning novus, which means new.
I'm more than ready for some new!

Nine of Cups - " A Pure Thought Placed Into Your Heart

For the past two days nines of come up in my daily draw. Here the Nine of Cups, referred to as the " Wish Card. "

Children we are full of wishes and expect them to come true. Many children it seems might not have the luxury of hopeful wishes because their lives are full of suffering and heartache in one way or another.
Wishes for me translate into hope and in a world so of strife, there is always hope, we must have hope, if not for ourselves, then for our children. I believe deeply that there is always 'hope for the hopeless'

I can say that wishing for me is a kind of prayer. But many of us are for what ever reason, sometimes disconnected in someway from prayer. We feel will cannot pray, or don't understand it. There is a poverty of the spirit, and a spiritual dryness, or a misconception of what prayer is..

There was a desperate time in my life when I was unable to pray, though I very much wanted to. A spiritual mentor who was trying to comfort me, said that my desire to pray was a prayer. In so many words in his own prayer, the Trappist monk Thomas Merton says that the desire to pray is prayer itself.

Today I read a definition of prayer that I really love. " The definition of prayer is having  is a pure thought placed into your heart for God to find. "

I expect that whether you call it wishing or prayer it is the intention and what we carry in our heart of hearts that is important.
This prayer of Thomas Merton is a prayer of hope, and the desire for trust.

 "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

Nine of Pentacles - The Blessing - The Gift

Today I had a lovely visit with two friends and the conversation came round to caring about ourselves and what a gift it is to be able to get to the point in life, were you truly care for yourself, and we share the creative gifts we have been given to with other women. These gifts are not necessarily monetary but are really gifts of experience, hope, and strength. These are lasting, bring great satisfaction, a sense of wholeness, and happiness.

In the Nine of Pentacles we find Daedalus with all his "gifts" that he has acquired in the form of pentacles and monetary success. The fruit of his labour has paid off in more ways than one. We see also that he has switched up his work clothes for fancier duds and has reached a point in his life were he feels a level of personal self-satisfaction and has found some success by unconventional means.

It is important to acknowledge our ability to be self-sufficient and recognize what we have accomplished. That said, we also need to keep in mind that never achieve our goals, nor fulfill our dreams without the help, encouragement and support of others, in combination with our own efforts and persistence to succeed.

This is why it is essential we surround ourselves with kindred spirits, with those who share a like mindedness, in order to keep us on track. I am not talking about privileged group of individuals who share in the motto, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch your back." No, I am referring to those who genuinely want the best for us. They are generous in spirit, pay it forward, because someone has helped them in the past to get, not a hand out, but a hand up. They care about their fellow human beings in a benevolent way, with empathy and compassion. These people celebrate and are happy about their own success, and are also celebrate and are happy about success of others.

As women we have the ability to share our gift of creativity and these truly are great blessings.
My mother was the blessing to me and she shared her gift of creativity, which became my blessing and gift to share.
Share a blessing, be a blessing.

Ace of Cups - Pleasure-Pride-Empowerment

The Ace of Cups I've drawn, speaks to me today of the culmination of thoughts, and my ongoing exploration of how women reclaim their bodies in every way, in the realm of the sacred.

Slowly and steadily I've been making a conscious effort to address healths issues, making doctors appointments etc. I am feeling very positive about this and nervous at the same time, making visits to my dentist and my family doctor, and having routine tests. Not much fun needless to say, but necessary.

Reclaiming that sacredness of the female body has become my focus as of late. This is very different than being preoccupied  with superficial concerns about what I wear or "putting on my face" for reasons that have little to do with health or sacredness. The ancient philosophy of referring to the body as a temple immediately comes to my mind.

Historically as women we carry pain, shame, and dis-empowerment of the past and present. If we can look within ourselves, we find there exists the exact opposite, pleasure, pride and empowerment. It has been there all along. It's time we all remove the historical cultural shroud placed upon us, embrace and love our fertile, feral, sexual and creative selves, reclaiming our wild woman nature, that culture has long feared.

 “You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you.” - Isadora Duncan

Nine of Swords - Antidote To Worry

I spent yesterday from early morning until late at night in town running around having various appointments. In between my numerous errands I made a conscious decision to slow down. I took a break with coffee, a doughnut and visited with a few good friends to talk.

My mind over the past week and a half had been filled with worrisome thoughts and I finally concluded that I could no longer continue on like this, as it was simply creating more anxiety and worry. I needed to get myself in gear and do something proactive to address the issues I was worrying about, and so I did. I feel so much better now. Drawing this card was full of synchronicity in meaning for me today.


The Nine of Swords sure looks like it's game over for this poor sop, with those Furies, the creatures  overhead, that pursue and threaten him with swords. It is the card of the nightmare. The initial impression one might have, would be impending death and destruction, signifying the end of life as we know it. We are likely to be inclined to react with the emotion of overwhelming anxiety and fear of what awaits us in the future.

However, Swords are the suit that represents the intellect, not emotion. Swords cut through muddled thought, in spite of our head being filled with worried thoughts, causing us to loose sleep at night, resulting in more stress, fear and anxiety that affects our mind, body and spirit. Action is the best antidote to our mental malaise. Yes life can hand out some real shit sandwiches, but the good news is we don't have to eat them!

The Sun - Good Orderly Direction

I am always uplifted when I draw the Major Arcana card, The Sun, Apollo the Sun god, dispells fear, the enemy of darkness who is casting away shadow. Drawing this card, especially today for personal reasons, gives a deep sense of solace, strength,  the consciousness of a striving spirit, clarity of hope, and that all is right with the universe. The Sun card indicates growth, transformation, and the life giving force, for which all living things upon the earth depend.

Traversing through the journey of our lives with optimism, trust, purpose, and faith help us to lessen any burden, and can change our body chemistry. Thinking positively may lower our stress hormone cortisol, directly affecting our health.

I am a person who isn't so much of a worrier, but truth is, I am prone to panic and anxiety attacks on occasion. My stress levels can increase rapidly. I know this is somewhat normal for everyone, under certain circumstances.  I react like many who are experiencing stress or a crisis, whether real or imagined. I have to work at keeping worry and unhealthy stress at bay, and in check. Sometimes I am just not very good at actualizing this when the hammer comes down, but I continue .

It is a very positive activity studying the Tarot as a daily routine and habit. It reminds me to keep things in perspective, to remember to live in the present and not to project into the future or regret the past. These are the two crazy making attitudes.

The Sun urges and encourages me to not depend solely upon my own human resources and to direct my strong will in the right direction. I know I must honestly accept my own limitations, and turn to the Creator's guidance. Then my worst faults, become my greatest assets

Many things can upset us, and it is very easy to get off course. These situations are not a matter of weakness, or being weak-willed, but one of direction.

 I pray to see with a clarity of vision and discernment in order to steer a straight course, and accept good orderly direction in my life's journey, the direction that the Creator has for me.

Ten of Swords - The Star of Bethlehem

I've been so busy since mid May and all through June. I've been feeling overwhelmed which gets me down. I've had little time to keep up with my blogs or for that matter, even getting the lawn mowed. So it is lovely to have three days to myself, be able get caught up some, and look forward , having more free time to come again soon.

When we reach  low points in life we need to reach within and find an inner strength to rise above. This is the message of the Ten of Swords. It looks like a dark card but we can turn things around, if we choose to do so. We can choose to lift our attention away from the problems we are so focused on, and onto the enormous things beyond which inspire, give us hope, strength to continue, and persevere. The sun is rising, amidst the darkness of the night.

The alignment of Venus and Jupiter on June 30th 2015 in combination with the full moon tomorrow makes for an interesting force of energy that I think inspires and renews the spirit.  Some scientists have conjectured that this alignment is what accounted for the The Star of Bethlehem. It occurs rarely, and this event will not be reviled again until 2023.

Venus and Aphrodite representing the goddess of love, and Jupiter the god Zeus, the inner father, embodies a sense of raw power, a force of nature, where hope, creativity and beauty are symbolized.

This celestial heavenly event in the skies is truly a thing of awesome beauty, and hasn't been seen since the time of Christ. That's a long time! One can't help but think that this rare occurrence is significant some how, and in someway. Perhaps like the Ten of Swords it represents the ending of a difficult situation to make room for a hopeful future to begin. It is up to us how that future will unfold and it is vital that we continue to be hopeful, and backing up our hope with action.