Blaque Flame

Tarot, astrology, numerology, phenomenology, clinical therapy and a PhD in progress. Think of it as an interrogative and interpretive hermeneutic circle. Know Thyself.

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Heed the Call - New Moon Reading

This is a reading for F, as always shared with permission. I’m using the Circle of Life tarot for this reading.Most potent energy moving into Leo season Let’s go. 1. Four of Swords: The thing you most desire this coming lunar cycle, Leo season. Retreat. Heal. Align. The Four of Swords is a card of solitude and I often feel, healing. It speaks of a time of rest, perhaps a ‘calm before the storm’. I’m reading this as a bit of a timeline across the next four weeks, so start at New Moon 20th July (21st of July in Australia) by making time for meditation and contemplation. Use this moment to consolidate the last lunar cycle (Cancer) - sift through your thoughts/feelings/experiences  and put them into perspective. 4′s provide stability and structure, and correspond to Muladhara, the Root Chakra {grounding, security, safety} and the physiological level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: air, water, food, rest, health, shelter. This card is about how you care for yourself aka “self-care” {its a verb} action, deliberate and self initiated. It might not feel glamorous, but until we get this straight, nothin’ else is going to flow. 2. Death. How you can step into your power this coming lunar cycle.  Profound transformation. One thing is ending so another can begin. Carrying on with a timeline for the coming cycle, the Death card follows the Four of Swords. It seems there is a thing you need to allow to die away. This could be anything {A relationship? A job? A bad habit? An outdated emotional tick?} something you intuitively understand is standing between you and your power. Whatever this thing is, it’s past its sell by date, and requires you to unhook your claws and let it go. Letting go is not easy for most of us, however this ending is inevitable and the longer you hold on, the longer what’s fresh and new and beautiful will take to manifest. It’s quite probable during the retreat and healing represented by the four of Swords, you’ve already got some ideas about what is depleting your energy or standing in your way.  The Death card asks you to face the future, accept any changes or losses and adapt accordingly.  Remember:  Whatever falls apart, let it fall. As my Granny said {in a broad Scottish accent}, a thing meant for you,"will no get by you”. If not this thing, something better. Affirm it.   3. Eight of Cups. How you want to feel during the coming lunar cycle. So there’s an emerging theme here, Lovely.  Change is coming and it will occur when that which requires releasing is released, opening space for what is coming to arise.  You may have found yourself in a situation or relationship that left you feeling off balance, that things were unnecessarily complicated or messy and/or draining. You might be feeling a little stuck, but this is an illusion. You walk away from what is weighing you down, the moment you are willing to turn your back on what is not full-filling you and take a step in the opposite direction.  When you align with the decision to move on,  heaviness dissipates and you’re filled with renewed enthusiasm and optimism. 

Remember: Get lit! Whatever lights you up is your path. If its not a hell yeah, it’s a no.   Heed the call. I had a jumper card happen here, The Fool, which I think is significant as a Major Arcana card, and also as the first card in the archetypal journey tarot symbolizes. So what feels does the Fool represent?  Hope, happiness, laughter, spontaneity, innocence, trust, openness and unconditional love. Do these feelings seem worth reaching out for? That’s a hell yeah! The Fool confers upon you the abilities and tools to be able to break free from old ties and habits. You can be a non-conformist or authentically yourself in any fashion that suits you. Let go of all the censoring and self-doubt we human beans engage in. This is an opportunity for sudden awakenings or epiphanies, for freedom in truth. Look inward for your answers, relinquish fear for you are divinely guided and protected. Move on with confidence. 

4. Ace of Wands. What you can do to conserve and protect your energy.

I consider all aces, regardless of suit, to be gifts. What a great note to end on! The Ace of Wands is the gift of new beginnings increased creativity, imagination, and inspiration. You’ll have the energy and drive to invite new things, people, projects into your life. Attune yourself to possibilities and potential in all things. This is a card of adventure and opportunity. What is it that you most desire? Look for the thing that captures your imagination and excites your heart enough to risk the consequences.  Remember: The most divine and holy work we can do is to meet and release our fear. Go forth into the next lunar phase knowing some things will  end and go, others will come. This is all timely and you are DIVINELY equipped to meet any and all challenges head on! “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” - Helen Keller

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As an exhibition of notorious magician John Dee’s books continues, Philip Ball argues that he warrants a place in science's history

“Dee is more or less uncategorisable by today’s standards. Some of his Tudor contemporaries might have considered him a philosopher, an astrologer, perhaps even a magician – but they would have agreed that he was, above all, a mathematician.

And what did Dee do with maths? He cast horoscopes, practiced numerology and alchemy, and sought occult codes that would permit conversations with angels in the language used by Adam. Dee is, in short, the worst nightmare for those who want to tell the history of science along the same lines as Weinberg. To them, Dee’s work looks like mumbo-jumbo, superstition and mysticism. Yet it was fundamentally mathematical.”

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“My heart is lost; the beasts have eaten it.” ― Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal

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Measuring introversion as the lack of extroversion suggests that extroversion is something and introversion is a sort of nothingness. It is a lack. A hole. A place where something isn’t. I reject that. I believe introversion does have its own energy, its own being.

Sophia Dembling, The Introvert’s Way (via introvertlifestyle)

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Lezlee - Month of July Reading - Wisdom of the Oracle Deck and Sacred Rebels Oracle

Big Picture Guidance for the month of July - The Word Wants to be Written

Welcome to July - the month of 6 shifting retrograde planets, calling us to turn our attention inward and get reflective. This month you may find yourself recycling thought patterns you believed you laid to rest ages ago. Suddenly you find yourself revisiting patterns of shame, worthiness and social and familial constructs about what success is or isn’t; whether you are or are not successful. These ghosts aren't content to merely haunt your career and financial thoughts, they also drift in and out of relationships both old and new. Am I lovable, am I worthy, can I have it, can I keep it?

You're being asked to consciously consider these old scripts - make the ghosts visible, invite them for tea. The more you try to dodge these ghosts, the more you embed shame like a sliver, deep in the heart of your creative energy and relationships.

Your power this month comes from making peace with these old ghosts - the shame they spook you with is not truthful, only a product of their own conditioning and shame they feel compelled to share with you. Deep breaths, trust the sacred rebel within to dispel these spirits and reconnect you firmly to your gorgeous, worthy self.

July 1-8 - Treasure Island {protected}

July begins with Mars sliding firmly into retrograde creating tensions with our energy, ambitions and how we communicate with others. For you, you may find the first week in July to be one of inner angst and turmoil. You may feel anxious about the present and the future. Do you have enough? Enough money, enough success, enough happiness, enough connection, enough love? And even if you do, you may find yourself worrying about how to hold on to things you have. Consider places where you are telling yourself stories about limitations, lack, or fear of loss. Each of these stories creates thought forms, which create mental prisons that firmly prevent you from enjoying your life and relationships. There is great opportunity to expand your creativity and abundance, but you will have to gift yourself with a Get Out of Jail Free card first.

July 9-15th - Thinker

The second week in July your normally logical and rational mind comes back online. Last week's ghosts have dissipated and you are able to assess the facts and make reasoned and informed decisions about life and love. This is a time to focus on calculated action. Decide what it is you want, create a plan or strategy, and focus on the steps it will take to get you there. Make lists, write in a journal, dialogue with Spirit through mediation or prayer. With so many planets in retrograde, you may find this is not time to make great gains with your plans, but it is a most excellent and auspicious time to get clear about what you want and figure out how you are going to get it.

July 16th - 22nd - New Life {protected}

The third week in July builds on the first two - you're still preoccupied with creating the circumstances, and relationships that you believe will improve the quality of your life. You're likely to gain clarity about your desire for  new beginnings, fresh perspectives and change - however, you're still in reversal - and these retrograde planets aren't helping your cause! Now is the time to plant seeds, and allow. Get into Divine partnership with spirit, and get out of the way. Miracles will manifest if you trust the process and give it time. Pushing for outcomes this week is likely to take you backwards, rather than forwards. Patience!

July 23rd - 31st - Time to Go

The final week of July sees you making some decisions about what needs to be released in order to make room for the new beginnings you are hoping for. Your clarity of thought from the second week in July carries forward - you know its time to bless and release things that aren't delivering - if it doesn't feed your spirit or light you up - its time to Let. It. Go. You're readying  yourself for new adventures, and you can't take that trip when you are bogged down with things that have outlived their value.

The overall guidance for this month is to release feelings of unworthiness or shame - feelings that may be binding you to things, relationships, or out grown opportunities that no longer enhance your life. When you love yourself, you won't seek validation or feel-good from things that just don't deliver, no matter how much you might wish they did.

Love yourself. Let go.

Have a beautiful July!

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Trust Yourself

April - Month of July Reading - Wisdom of the Oracle Deck and Sacred Rebels Oracle

Big Picture Guidance for the month of July - Trust Yourself

July and August are heavier months with 6 planets moving in and out of retrograde. This is a time of shifts, and many will experience this energy as unsettling, as if we are trying to hold ourselves steady during an earthquake tremor. Something inside feels a little off center, a little queasy.

As July begins you may feel off kilter, something has shifted, something has changed, and in so doing, you have been changed, only you may not quite know how. This is a time to trust, trust yourself, trust your family, your friends, trust that you reside in a benevolent universe and things are unfolding in miraculous ways, you may not yet comprehend. 

This oracle advises you not to resist any points of instability in your life right now. The instability is a growing pain leading to greater consciousness, more connection, more love, more light. The instability you may be feeling is not a sign of sickness, but rather a sign of growth. 

Your power this month comes from trusting your ability to flow through this time with acceptance and grace. You're growing, evolving - everything is right on track. 

July 1-8 - By The Book

July begins with Mars sliding firmly into retrograde creating tensions with our energy, ambitions and how we communicate with others. By the Book relates to abiding by social rules, family or cultural customs and Universal or Divine laws. There is a time to resist or push against structure or rules, and with current Mars energies, you may feel unduly rebellious. 

This first week in July will present opportunities for you to reality check your ability to walk your talk and remain in alignment with your highest intentions. Seek the greater good of your family, friends and community - even if it means biting your tongue.  See if you can find patience and understanding for those who push your buttons. You know they are who they are as a result of their lived experiences, culture, environment and relationship experiences. Your deep compassion for others heals you just as much as it deepens connections with them.

July 9-15th - Why {protected}

With so many planets in retrograde it's no wonder you may find yourself turning inward and being reflective this week. You may find yourself caught up in "why" questions - why did this happen, why am I the way I am, why can't I think myself out of these feelings/thoughts. Why?

Why is a tricky question. It can leave us defensive, building walls of rationalizations, justifications and excuses. Why questions can immobilize, leave us seeking for information we may never access. This week notice where you might be hung up on the why question. How does that feel? Remember, you don't need to know why to let go, and move forward. 

July 16th - 22nd - To the Sea 

The third week in July moves you from ruminating over "whys" to finding a quiet stillness inside of yourself. You breathe a little deeper and easier. Your mind calms, your attention expands to include all the places of peace and ease that are available to you. This week you are being called to surrender. Let go. Cease resisting and just be. This can be a tall order when you've been feeling overwhelmed - but you will answer the call to rest, recoup and trust the flow.

Think of how much more energy we would have if we weren’t constantly trying to change what is, if we quit struggling and resisting? 

July 23rd - 31st - Message in a Bottle 

If July has been a bit of an emotional whirlwind, this last week brings good news through serendipity and synchronicity. There is unseen excellence at work in the world and in your life you are being called to attend to it. Pay attention to messages that resonate and lift your spirit. We amplify our connection to receive such messages, when we tune in and notice all the things that work in our life. This last week of July would be a great time to keep a daily gratitude journal and write out the things you are grateful for.  The more you are able to notice what is working well for you and making you feel happy, the happier you will feel. 

Wishing you a fabulous July!

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Express Yourself

Tracey - Month of July Reading - Wisdom of the Oracle Deck and Sacred Rebels Oracle

Big Picture Guidance for the month of July - Against the Grain

Feeling the desire to tell some hard truths? July may well be your month as you are being called to be your most authentic self, even if it means going against the grain. You are more aware than ever before that authenticity is your calling card, not something you do, but something you are. Now is the time to accept who you are, the highs, lows, good, less good - all the chaos and the mess.  

Take some time this month to reflect on your authenticity - is your outward expression in alignment with your internal truth? Where do you speak up, where don't you?  Trust the way you are moving through the world  and expressing your truths as you see them. Don't worry about who you may disrupt with your truth telling. Remember, when you're biting your tongue to keep the peace, you attract those who are also afraid to be authentic and speak. When you are authentic, true to yourself, you attract people who are authentic and best able to understand, support and celebrate you. Your power this month comes from aligning your outward self with your inner truth. The closer you get to this objective, the more you will thrive and shine!

July 1-8 - Soul Mates Reversed

July begins with Mars sliding firmly into retrograde creating tensions with our energy, ambitions and how we communicate with others. The Soul Mates reversed card, highlights the relationships in your life, whether long term or brief interactions, that stimulate  opportunities to transform and evolve, taking you to the next level of self-awareness, insight, authenticity and healing. 

Soul mates aren't all about love, romance, and happy ever after. Soul mates sometimes deliver our toughest relationship challenges and greatest opportunities to learn about ourselves. Of course, its nice to find yourself powerfully drawn to someone exciting, but this month, with Mars in retrograde, it is just as likely you may learn through a strong aversion to someone. If someone(s) pushing your buttons the trick is to see the opportunity in the relationship exchange, even if it feels like anything but a gift. 

You are being led to consider old patterns and stories you hold about yourself, how you think, feel and move in the world - particularly as it relates to how you manage relationships with others. Of course this may not feel comfortable, the call to growth seldom is. Notice this week, the places where you have especially strong responses or reactions to other people. Don't waste your time trying to figure out what/why they are "doing" this or that "to" you -- instead ask, "What can I learn about myself in this interaction?"

July 9-15th - Regeneration

The second week in July, relationship matters ease up a bit, and your focus shifts  to exploring new opportunities and second chances. It may be that you are rising from a situation you initially thought a "failure" and now have the presence and peace of mind to see it for what it actually was -- an opportunity to let go of all that does not serve you. 

You are now better able to create and be a new version of yourself, one who moves through the world a little lighter, brighter and wiser. Regeneration reminds us life and circumstances happen in seasons; time to plant, time to grow, time to harvest, time to lay dormant and regenerate. 

Consider what seeds you'd like to plant with the New Moon on the 12th of July. Seek out opportunities for growth, new possibilities that are so much better than those that came before. Don't limit your thinking, dreaming or believing. Write what you want down and keep it close, you'll want to reflect on these thoughts, feelings and ideas, as they truly do mark a rebirth. You’ll also want to begin paying attention to your ability to manifest the things you most want. Don't play small here, dream BIG.

July 16th - 22nd - Mending 

The next 8 weeks are heavy and slow, with 6 planets drifting in and out of retrograde inviting you to turn your attention inward.  In the third week of July you may find yourself revisiting mistakes you feel you have made. Following the Full Moon in  Capricorn, your thoughts are likely turning to pragmatic, earth sign considerations; work, money, abundance and success. Maybe you have made some mistakes; things that seemed like great ideas or investments at the time, turned out to be burdens not gifts. Maybe it's about feeling like you don’t have the abundance or success you thought you would at this time in your life. Maybe its just a quiet certainty that you can do and be more. 

Mending is a gentle reminder that some healing may need to happen and forgiveness is of the essence. You may find that you are the person most needing (and deserving) of your forgiveness. The energy needs to clear, and in order for that to happen you must remain truthful, let yourself see any losses, grieve openly and heal. 

Forgive yourself, mistakes are mistakes, don't get caught up blaming yourself - that only immobilizes you and fixes you in a past moment you've already experienced. Be gentle with yourself. Let it go. 

July 23rd - 31st - The Tribe 

The final week of July returns your attention to relationships. You may choose to spend time with people who you feel truly "get you" and who are able to nurture your healing and emerging sense of self. You're not the same you that you were only a short time past. You'll want to spend time with people who not only support you, but who will also champion and celebrate your transformation. 

It may be time for you to commit your energy to a group of people, or an activity that serves the "greater good". In helping others, your value and worth is restored, and your spirit will shine. You have something to offer others because of your recent challenges and internal growth. Look for people and opportunities that invite you to bring your emerging awareness and growth to the table, in a manner that is harmonious with your authentic self.

Wishing you a fabulous July!

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Happy New Year Reading - The Steampunk Tarot

1. The Past year in Retrospect - 2 of Wands. Comparisons, crossroads, gestation - hurry up and wait. There’s nothing more frustrating for wands than having to sit still and patiently wait - but that is, in fact, what your past year has been all about. Maybe you felt like there were compelling choices on offer and you wanted to take your time to make a decision - or maybe it felt like there was no clear choice and so you sat still and waited for more to be revealed - either way, you probably didn’t make any life altering changes last year. That’s okay, it really is. Better to sit and wait, than to rush into a decision you aren’t ready to make. So maybe you didn’t get very far last year, but you know what? You also didn’t make a giant big mess you will need to dig yourself out of this year! 2. Let go of this -  9 of Swords. Suffering, fear, anxiety, guilt, uncertainty. Seems like you might have been doing quite a number on yourself while under the influence of the 2 of Wands ... you want to move, to do and get on with things, but the path has been obscured - no road looks like the “right” road  and as the clock ticks on, you’ve been punishing yourself for not knowing. It’s okay to “not know” - it’s okay to feel uncertain. Oh sure, we live in a ramped up culture of do do do, go go go ... but its often not in our best interests.    There’s no need to feel guilty or anxious - you’ve been presented with a period of time where forward movement was most likely to take you directly from the frying pan straight into the fire. Discernment, patience, sitting still with not knowing ... is nothing to feel bad about. Let it go.                                                                                                                3. A Gift - 8 of Cups. Impermanence, walking away, moving on, letting go, turning your back on the past, end of a cycle, the wake up call. Yay! Just what you’ve been waiting for, cosmic approval to get moving! You’ve been marinating in your indecisiveness and your fingers are all pruney with it. The Eight of Cups wisely lets you that now is the time to do something about your dissatisfaction.  Whatever you’re looking for isn’t sitting in your lap, look wider. You may have to let go of something to reach for something better. The 8 of Cups is the gift of a kick in the pants. You’ve been  feeling the need to break away - go on, do it!. 4. Embrace This - 7 of Swords. Moving on, gradual healing, slow but steady progress, calmer waters, overcoming difficulties. A call to be gentle with yourself, yes to change, yes to making some decisions, but also a reminder to look after yourself. This card suggests change probably won’t be a quick fix, and that too is okay. One foot in front of the other. 5. The Year Ahead - 5 of Wands. Brainstorming, bright-sparks,challenges, restlessness, impatience. It’s not over until it’s over. No matter that you would prefer things to just move forward, there’s a process involved. You may find yourself alternating between ideas for change, and impediments to making them happen. The 5 of Wands calls upon you to be daring, brave, gutsy, unflinching, determined and competitive when it is called for. Be prepared to face your challenges head on - you can’t dodge change and to be fair, you don’t want to.

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So, are these cracks worth plastering over? Shouldn't we just highlight them? Show them off to the world? Or just crumble, erode away and wait for the weather to shift and for a new structure to emerge? -  Amy Jirsa

New years - cant be arsed with resolutions, but! intention setting, opening space for something new, I can get behind that. I drew a card from this funky new deck of cards, The Oracle of Tarot (seems legit, right?), that my friend gave to me for Xmas. Up popped the Dreams of Change card, aka the Three of Wands. Those three women look like they're carrying dandelions, going to seed, close your eyes, make a wish...change ... but what sort of change?

There's some irony to this card, in that I have been living in suspended animation, a sort of stasis. I have become the Queen of Liminal Space, and have been reigning  here for what feels like a very long time... six months? A year even. My time has been spent waiting for things to crumble, to erode away, to pass. My time has been spent waiting for the weather to shift and for new patterns to emerge.  Yes to change, but there is no change in sight. Of course I'd like some freakin' change! But change is a tricksy wish.

When I'm feeling stuck I can get to thinking any kinda change is better than no change. In the past I have certainly made my fair share of leaps from frying pan to fire in just this way. I have also settled too soon [tho it felt like I had waited much too long] for things that were more of the same, disguised as change. So I won't wish for just any ol kinda change. No, I'll hang out here in Liminal Land until I know better.

While I wait, it occurs to me, here at the beginning of a new year, that most everyone wants to change their world - isn't that why people are busy making and sharing their resolutions? Maybe new years pushes people [not me] to make resolutions or set intentions toward resolutions before they really know what they want to change, what they want to do, or what they are willing to do. Maybe new years is a forcer of change, whether that change is organic or ready to happen. Maybe we shouldn't be in such a rush to make resolutions, or wishes or changes. Maybe we need to just ...

wait.

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Shhhh! She is traveling between worlds right now. You can see her holding the tension of not knowing ~she is simply breathing into her unanswered questions. Sometimes she drinks her coffee with quaking hands, not knowing where her relationship or her bank account is going. But this time, she is holding onto the tension of not knowing, and is not willing to hit the panic button. She is unlearning thousands of years of conditioning. She is not being split between the opposing forces of fight and flight. She is neither naïve nor ignorant. She is a frontier woman, paving new roads & making new choices. She is willing to make a new transcendent possibility emerge. You may see her now ~ standing at thresholds, or at crossroads ~breathing into her body~ intently listening for inner signals. She's learning new navigation skills as she arrives at a most magical moment of her life.

~Sukhvinder Sircar Joyous Woman With Sukhvinder Sircar

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A small fixation but I felt it growing I began to feel outnumbered By situations and the possibility I long to feel relief Is everything a sign for me Is everything a sign for me to see Is everything a sign for me Is everything a sign for me to see ...

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Everybody loves the Cups ... or do they?

I’m following along from yesterday’s post about the suit of Swords. I mentioned that I have a strong affinity for the Sword suit as a thinking sort of girl - my career is about the pursuit of intellectual awareness and understanding. I also mentioned I have less affinity for the suit of Cups - and in fact, have to work quite hard to incorporate them in a meaningful way into my life. Its intriguing to read tarot for other people who are strongly aspected in the suit of Cups - I always enjoy those readings, in the same way I’d enjoy looking at anything unfamiliar and interesting, under a microscope. Their way is not my way. It’s probably interesting to note that my work and my research {swords/cups} has been a lot about relatedness, child and adult attachment and disconnection {cups}. My brain is curious about relationship. Perhaps I can offer some {hopefully} interesting perspectives about the suit as one who doesn’t necessarily align easily with Cup energy. 

1. I mentioned yesterday that everyone likely has an affinity for one suit over the other, one element over an other. This depends largely on the way we move through the world, and our primary mode of operation / M.O. It’s obviously not solely related to our elemental signs astrologically, or I’d be an expert in Earth/Water. Thinking about primary modes of moving through the world, I think it’s helpful to look at how we were raised, what the expectations of us were, and what we got “strokes” for. We need to think of our  experiences of relationship - were they places of safety, caring, nurturing and trust? How were our efforts to reach out and connect managed? Do we feel confident in our ability to engage successfully in relationship, or has our track record been less than happy and satisfying? We also need to look at how these themes have played out across our lives. With the suit of Cups its all about what we bring into our relationship with them - and often this is intuitive and only semi-conscious.

This is ,of course, it’s own challenge. How do we work with things that aren’t on our conscious radar? Some people work better than others with the unconscious, intuition and watery realms. Others like things made explicit, conscious, and out in the open, where we can readily see and appreciate them. 

2. Keywords are important, they shift the way we relate to the card’s meanings - and determine how we read them. What do Cup symbols relate to? Receptive, dreamy, watery, creative energy, emotions and our connection and relationship with others. Again, how we relate to this imagery has a lot to do with our personal and social constructions around the imagery/symbolism and keywords. 

How do we feel about feelings? Are we comfortable with our full range of feelings? Do we express them well? How about creativity? Are you creative? Is your creativity valued? Do you value creativity in others? How about your spiritual orientation? Are you connected to the idea of spirituality? How does this work {or not work} in your life? What’s your experience with people? Do you derive joy and satisfaction from your relationships with others, or is are they a bit of a strain/drain? Do you tend to be more receptive and flow with life and relationships or are you more directed and forceful? What’s your track record like with love? Are you looking for it, have you found it, are you even interested? Are you in love with being in love? Are you addicted to the “feel good” value of emotion?  All this “emotional baggage” we drag into our relationship with Cups and directly or indirectly, the way we read them.

3. Cups aren’t all feel good, happy, happy, joy, joy, joy and celebration. there are developmental tasks associated with the suit. Quite simply, this suit is here to teach us to manage our emotions and relationships and learn to navigate their depths. Cup energy resists conflict, and unpleasantness - and when we read them, there’s a tendency to focus on the good stuff, and overlook some of the harder aspects of the suit - things like  sensitivity, passivity, procrastination, needing to balance connection with introspection, relationship with privacy, contentment with conflict, the desire to nurture, with ambivalence. 

Cups are the emotional element in ALL its glory,  intense, powerful, deep - not just love and contentment, but also jealousy, possessiveness, anger, rage, melancholy, depression, despair and martyrdom. There’s a full spectrum here, and it has to be said, that some people swim more easily in this spectrum than others. Some people are very good at managing hard emotional aspects that would make others cringe, they know how to swim where it is murky and deep. Other’s are surface swimmers, skimmers, that prefer to stay close to the warmth of the sun.  I think about this when I read Cups for myself and others, I don’t assume everyone is a surface swimmer, but conversely, and I know better than to assume everyone can navigate the depths, or wants to. 

Sometimes we don’t get to choose!

4. More about developmental tasks inherent in the suit: The Cup suit 1-10 helps us explore the giddy excitement of new relationship and connection, but also helps us with the developmental tasks of working on relationship, and living in/with relationship, how to persist and stay with difficulty and conflict in relationship, and learning to let go of and end relationships that are not in our best interests. 

The suit helps us celebrate our creativity, new creative projects and endeavors, but it also helps us learn how to develop responsibility, sticktoitiveness and work within the cycle of creative production. Cups walk us through the hard lessons of love, loss and impermanence. They teach us about developing our internal sense of self worth and self-esteem and learning that these are things that must be consciously worked on if we want to be able to maintain them.

5. Again,  depending on where you are in the suit’s journey, implies you’ve also been working with the energies in front of it - even if the cards don’t appear in the reading. And for every message a card renders, it also provides illumination about what to do with that energy to progress forward, “learn the lessons” and best actualize the developments of the suit. If there was ever a suit that demands fluency with tilts and reversals, Cups has to be it! 

Let me give an example. Everyone loves the 6 of Cups,  and the feel good vibe of equilibrium and balance of mind and spirit, and harmony. However, there are developmental tasks that needed to happen before we arrive here. The 4 of Cups is about developing emotional, spiritual and relational stability - about exploring how we are agents of our comfort and discomfort. It’s a self absorbed, internal focus. The 5 of Cups is about learning to realistically appraise what’s working and what’s not working for us, relationally, emotionally, creatively and spiritually. It’s got an outward, appraising sort of focus and is about learning to toss out the dirty bathwater, without losing the baby. Only when we have progressed those developmental tasks do we arrive at the 6 of Cups. We’ve got equilibrium, but only because we’ve damn well worked for it!

Yet just because we sit with say, an upright 6 of Cups, there’s a subtle undercurrent of learning. Not only is there progression through the suit of Cups - the 6 of Cups yields to the 7,  the Wheel Turns - relationships shift, things change and we must adapt. We also might notice that equilibrium is a moment by moment state of affairs, it can be changing while we sit looking at the card! We can predict change because life is about change and flow. Our ability to navigate the suit of Cups is a lot about our ability to let go and flow and a lot about persisting and sitting still with discomfort, long term and moment to moment.

Cups are hard work because we’re so invested in our connections with others, in our relationships and in our feelings about who we are and what is real for us. It’s confronting to know that every single relationship obeys the law of change, even if we remain in a relationship for 50 years , it will not be the same relationship we entered into, nor will our relationship to that person be the same. It can be very hard to open ourselves, when we already know that everything will change, morph, fade away or die. When we love we long for permanence, not change.

Cups are seldom all the way or nothing - their lessons run too deep - we can be matured and developed in one aspect of the suit, and struggling like crazy to pull it forward into another. Because Cups are about ALL relationships, with ourselves, familial, intimate, with others, with life, we’ll always be navigating the tension of creating and maintaining balance and learning to flow with. We are tasked with being patient, adaptable and persistent, think of Chinese water torture, or the way water can wear away rock. Cups are very firm teachers about learning what we can control and what we can’t and learning to know the difference and adapt accordingly.

So in conclusion, I think Cups as a suit can be challenging to work with and read, because its so easy to skim the surface of what’s happening with them and miss out on their complexity and depth.  Cups demand emotional and relational intelligence from us, as people, and as readers. We’ve got to be willing to dive in and get messy with them. To me the trick to working with Cups is to expect complexity, nothing is all the way good, or all the way bad, and everything we feel, create, believe and love is subject to flow and change, whether we like it or not.

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Thoughts about Age, Tarot and the Queen of Swords

I’ve been having a long assed, running conversation today with some friends about reading tarot, the psychology of tarot and in particular the suit of Swords and the Queen of Swords. Whew! GREAT chat.

I’ve left thinking a bunch about how tarot manages age, particularly in its imagery and story telling. Much of tarot imagery is caught up in mythology and so for instance, we hear of the Triple Goddess; Maid, Mother and Crone. And I am thinking that probably worked okay when women died before their 40th birthday. But what about in the year 2015 - when women have other options open to them, they may not marry or have children until they are considerably older, or not at all, and their children may grow up and leave home to start their lives, leaving women with 30-50+ years of life where they are not maidens, not mothers, and not yet crones.

Where are our stories, our imagery our photo-shoots for these women? Our tarot cards for women who survive their 40th birthday? Who tells their story? What happens to the Queen of Swords when the kids leave home? When she doesn’t want to or is not able to fight, sword in hand? Who is the Queen of Swords if she doesn’t have a sword?

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Women of the Swords 

Which women are Pages of Swords? Which Women are Knights of Swords? Which women are Queens of Swords? Which women are Kings of Swords?

Why? How did you decide?

All women, all potentially occupying each of the tarot roles in the suit of Swords.

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Every Woman Is A Queen .... really?

Carrying on with my last post, I wanted to bring up another elemental / developmental tasks thing. I use tarot therapeutically and I am often interested in how / who people assign themselves a significator. I think there’s room to look at developmental tasks in relation to this as well.

Since it seems that most every woman I know identifies with a Queen, it makes sense to really think about what Queens represent. Firstly, all Queens hold a water aspect elementally - they are inward, reflective and receptive, regardless of their suit. Queens also represent a matured energy, and some would say a “maternal” energy as well - not just the “pro maternal” message we have shoveled down our throats - nurturing, tender, giving, caring etc, but also the less valued maternal aspects, such as “disconnection, angry, smothering, ambivalent, disinterested. From a psychology perspective, Queens may represent ourselves as mothers, or “carers” and also represent our mothers, the way we were mothered, and what we pull forward with us, from our childhood experience of our mothers. They also speak to our relationship with “caring for”.

There is identification, non identification and over identification with specific cards, suits, elements and roles. For instance, I mentioned my {possible over} identification with the Queen of swords - when I say this I am not only referring to the thought process identified with the Suit of Swords, but also the water element that is intrinsic to all Queens.  This is an internalized, receptive attunement and also shows the essential tasks of developing the Sword and Cups as elements - how does the Queen of Swords manage the tensions between thought and feeling, unspoken versus spoken needs, active versus receptive principles? What is it about the Queen of Swords I identify with? Why do I relate to her? What is it about her I want to emulate?

I also spoke about my under identification with the Queen of Pentacles and her Earthy/Watery elements. A non identification or under identification, shows just as many developmental tasks. What is it about the Queen of Pentacles that turns me off? What don’t I like about her? What about her don’t I relate to, or don’t want to be like?

Also, non identification with a role, is very revealing as well. Why do you only want to be a Queen? What makes Queen energy more desirable that say Page energy, or King energy? What qualities as matured women are we most attuned with? How does this fit with cultural, social and familial standards? What does it mean to be a “good” woman? A “good” Queen?

How does tarot speak to age? Maiden, Mother, {mature woman}, Crone. How long can a Queen stay a Queen, before her tasks and role must evolve and transcend? How do you read a Queen of Swords for a 21 year old? A 35 year old? A 55 year old, a 70 year old?

We can look at our own mothers, sisters and grandmothers. If we were to assign them a Queen Card, which would they be? Did they actualize the best of their suit, the best of their element? We can also look at the female friends we chose. Which Queen most represents them? What is it about their suit and elemental proficiency attracts us? Are they a good fit for our Queen? Would the Queen of Swords want to be friends with the Queen of Pentacles? Or the Queen of Wands / Cups? Why or why not? Are we friends with Queens? Maybe we surround ourselves with Pages, or Kings, or Knights?

Lastly, I think it’s important that we don’t gender trip into a significator or an over identification with a card. There are women who are far more aligned and attuned, for instance, with King energy. There are also women who align strongly with pages and knights. I haven’t seen any women for instance, tagging themselves as the Knight or King of whatever, even tho, they are very active, dynamic, forceful and courageous in the way they move through the world.

I sometimes imagine what it might have been like to grow up in a household with strong, well actualized older women, maybe mom, but aunties and grandmothers and who ever else happened to be around. Maybe they were Queens, but maybe they were other roles as well, kings, pages, knights, but all very attuned. The question is, what would it be like to be able to learn from all the suits and elements, from women who are strongly aspected and identified within their roles and suits? 

We take away learning from all of the people cards, and in this instance, all of the Queens. If we approach them as friends, or colleagues, the question isn’t which is the “best” or which am I -- but more, how can I learn from everyone and best actualize these qualities and learning in myself and my life?

 pagan-psych-disaster said: What deck is this?

Oops, it’s the Steampunk tarot