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Make ‘Em Laugh! Make ‘Em Laugh!

Today’s card is from the Moon Princess Himiko Tarot. This is an unusually lovely Ace of Wands. This deck is a really mixed bag for me. Only the courts, the aces and the Majors have scenic interpretations. All the rest follow the Marseilles tradition of non-scenic minors. I prefer the scenic.

I woke up laughing this morning. I was remembering a scene from a movie I watched last night. I didn’t watch the whole thing…I just wanted to watch to that particular scene. It’s from the first Kung Fu Panda where Mantis is doing acupuncture on Po. During an intense scene with Tigress, Po suddenly pulls a funny face which totally pisses Tigress off. She’s going to fight him but Mantis interrupts to say what has happened.

It never fails to make me laugh until I cry.

And isn’t that a great feeling? When is the last time you had that in your life? Too long? Well make it happen. Read a book you know will make you laugh. Watch a show that causes you to hoot.

Don’t depend on others for your laughter, darlings. Make it happen for yourself.

Did you know you can watch some old faves for free? Sign up for the 30 day free trial with Amazon Prime today! [aff] If you use that link, you help me. And you cancel after 30. I am a Prime member and love it. I just watched the Avengers last weekend. Didn’t cost me a dime. My Prime membership pays for itself in the free shipping savings. 😀

Now astrologically we have what is called a Grand Water Trine. This is big according to the astrologers I know (and the ones I follow.) I read the write up on Tarot.com. This line really caught my eye.

“If you embrace the positive energy and heightened intuition of this rare planetary alignment, it could lead to emotional breakthroughs!”

Well, heck. I’m in. Are you?

Your 180 second challenge today? Take three minutes to write about what emotional breakthrough you would like to happen.

Oh, darlings? This isn’t about someone else’s emotional breakthrough. It’s about yours so keep it focused on you.

Ace of Wands, Moon Princess Himiko Tarot, OOP

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Celebrate What You Don’t Have?

Today’s card reminds me that my attitude can absolutely affect my pocketbook. I drew two cards at random from Roxi Sim’s gorgeous, colorful Pearls of Wisdom Tarot. I meant to pull one, but two insisted on coming out so two is what I’m working with.

I was struck by the differences in these two cards. In the Ace, she is celebrating all the things abundance CAN bring. Not has. Can. This is a card of potential, you see. It’s the beginning of what money can do. And not just money, but for this post, I’m going to stick with that.

Then move your eyes to the next card. Dying plants in the upper corners. A waning moon in the sky. A dark closed in room where two people fail to appreciate what they do have as they mourn what they don’t.

Look at these cards again. In the Ace, all of the things are in the border. They aren’t hers yet. They aren’t real. They are in the works. They are possibilities. Her face is open. She is smiling. She is reaching up to the pentacle above her head knowing that the light flowing from both sides is her path to prosperity. All she has to do is walk it and believe in it.

The Five of Pentacles is so different. There’s food on the table (pears). There’s beautiful flowers (daisies). There’s even money and jewelery. He even has a pearl earring!

But there’s no joy.

Why is that? Is this card the “keeping up with the Joneses” card? I mean they both have clothes and a roof over their head. Sure, the candle is nearly out. The pearls show some missing so maybe they had to be spent? The money bags are nearly empty. But they are so closed off in this image. What can flow in or out when they are so closed?

I have this in my own life sometimes, don’t you? Days where I look at my bills in comparison to my bank account. Days where I wonder how I will make it to work because the E on my gas gauge looks like a T-Rex ready to take me down.

I have to go back to a saying a learned from my friend, Ruth Glendinning.

I walk in abundance.

Abundance isn’t necessarily cash in hand, darlings. It’s just having enough of what i need with some left over to share. And I do share. I give where I can including folks standing on the corner. No, I don’t want to get in a discussion about whether or not they “deserve” my help. Everyone deserves help–from Bill Gates on down. What that help looks like may vary of course. GRIN!

So here’s a challenge for you today. Take three minutes. Yes, 180 precious seconds of your day. Make a list of what you have. Not of what you want. Of what you have.

Food in the fridge?
Pets on the couch?
Books to read?
A TV to watch?
A computer to read this on?
Friends who make you laugh?

You feel me? Make a list of what you have. Call it “My Abundance List” and add to it every day. You will be surprised how abundant you can feel when you realize you have a toilet bowl plunger when you need one. 😀

Seek joy, y’all. Walk in abundance. Pass it on.

Ace of Pentacles and Five of Pentacles, Pearls of Wisdom Tarot, Roxi Sim

What Perpelexes Me Is This

Today’s card was a challenge for me because I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with the subject. Sometimes I have a thought in my head so I draw a card for that thought. Other times I wake up “tabula rasa”. This morning was definitely a blank slate morning. 😀

So here is the card I drew from the Rumi Tarot. The Five of Cups with the sad and isolated figure. His head is down. His hands are open but he’s not looking for anyone to give him anything. He seems to have lost hope. Or maybe he’s just lost his emotional way.

The quote is “Perplexity in the heart is like war.” I had to look up the rest of the piece so I could understand why this phrase was put with this card. Traditionally the 5 of Cups means being over-focused on lost connections while not seeing the ones you still have.

“The perplexity in the heart is like war:
when a man is perplexed he says,
“I wonder whether this is better for my situation, or that.”
In perplexity the fear of failure and the hope of success
always are in conflict with each other, advancing, retreating.” —Rumi

Okay. That works for this card quite well. Seeming to be stuck at the point of an emotional decision. Stay or go.

For me, that is something I can honestly say I run into a lot in my joy seeking. I get into situations that are so aggravating, so crazy-making, so ARRRGH that I just want to stay there until they are FIXED, DAMMIT.

Um, Arwen? Maybe the thing that is keeping them aggravating and crazy-making and ARRRGH is you? I mean…if you are the one common denominator?

Ouch.

But yes, a key tool in joy seeking is owning my shit. I must be responsible for my actions. I cannot blame D for hurting me if I know that is D’s way. I cannot blame S for not paying me back if I know that’s S’s way.

It’s like blaming the wasp for stinging me. It’s what it does.

So my take away for myself is this.

How much I contribute to those unjoyful moments is in direct correlation to the perplexity of my heart.

Clarity comes when I own my own shit. Because then the only person to celebrate with or blame is the person I see in the mirror. I need to allow and understand that not all are joy seekers and not all are shit stirrers. Many of us are a mix of both, right? I try to limit my shit stirring (grin) but I also MUST own it when I do it.

Your 180 second challenge today is to focus on a situation/person that is really chapping your ass. Find three ways you are adding to that situation. Find three ways you can change how you add to that situation (up to and including removing yourself from that situation, yes?!)

5 of Cups, Rumi Tarot, Llewellyn, 2009 [aff]

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

P. to the S. Here’s a course that really opened up my own creativity. I never thought I could create art before! It starts 8/1. Come take it with me [aff]! Yes, I’m doing a refresher/reawakener. 😀

But I Don’t Wanna Go To Work!

Today’s card reminds me that I’m lucky. Blessed, in fact. It also reminds me that sometimes I forget this fact. I woke up wanting to call out. Was it because I didn’t feel well? Was it because I was in pain? Was it because there was some fun thing I’d rather be doing?

Nope. None of the above. I simply didn’t feel like going to work. It was just going to be another day of the same old shit. People complaining. Co-workers bitching. Sometimes the negativity at my office makes me want to run screaming into traffic.

So I laid in bed (after calling in and finding out that, once again, there was no time available) trying to reset my mind. What was one positive thing I could find to hold on to?

Then it hit me.

I had a job.

Period. End of story. I have a job that helps pay my bills, put food on my table. I have a job that doesn’t make me do hard labor. I have a job.

And that, y’all, was how I reset my mind. I got out of bed knowing which card I wanted…or at least which suit. It had to be Pentacles since that is the suit of physical labor (as well as other things). And the Steampunk Tarot was what I worked with for yesterday’s weekly Tarotscopes.

I love this card. The task seems endless and mindlessly repetitive, right? Unending. Same old shit.

But our girl has made it her own. She has created each disk with a different flair. She’s put herself into her task. Her focus is on how to make each piece uniquely hers.

I can do that. I can make each interaction with my customers uniquely mine. I can take pride in what I do.

I still may need ear plugs to divert the continual kvetching from so many of my co-workers, but that’s okay. I’m also blessed to have a job that pays me enough to indulge in Bose® QuietComfort® 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling® Headphonesnoise-cancelling headphones. (I got a deal and found these for $79 on some group thingy last year.)

Find joy in the mundane, everyday tasks today. That’s your 180 second challenge, y’all. Three minutes of acknowledging that what you do for your job is worth it on some level.

And if it isn’t? If there is truly no joy in your job? Use that 180 seconds for brushing up your resume and get the hell out. Don’t be that black hole of negativity that others have to avoid. Please.

Eight of Pentacles, , Llewellyn [aff]

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on!

Tarotscopes for July 14-20, 2013

AQUARIUS QUEEN OF PENTACLES Oh my! Time to let them see your beauty. Don’t hold back. Indulge in beautiful things, long soaks + good friends. Rule your world.
PISCES CHARIOT Juggernaut. Once you start, you can’t be stopped. Get in the driver’s seat. Your focus must be forward. They’ll have to move.
ARIES PAGE OF PENTACLES That adventure? It takes money. More importantly? It takes fierce determination. Each step forward is a goal accomplished.

There are two women whose online classes encouraged me to take an art class. I didn’t care what it was. I set my goal to take one art class. I actually thought I would take a watercolor class. Instead I took a Zentangle class with Ginny K, CZT. The two classes that I took are being offered again. I hope you will give yourself the gift of opening up new creative paths. Joanna P. Colbert’s is one. The other is Leonie Dawson’s . I’m retaking both because I just loved them so much. Join me?

TAURUS PAGE OF SWORDS Mental preparation done. Time to launch your shiny new self into the world. Time to put to use what you’ve learned.
GEMINI SIX OF PENTACLES Hang in there. What you need is coming. Don’t stop the flow by not giving. Give to get, darlings. Get to give.
CANCER TWO OF CUPS Put all of you in. Let it blend with them. Open to the idea that this partnership will create something new. Yin/Yang

Do you love fairy tales like me? I’ve taken ten world tales (I’ll be you aren’t familiar with all of them) and translated them into Tarot spreads. You can grab your copy here.

LEO FIVE OF CUPS Don’t indulge their need to wallow. Check your enabler license please. If they can’t see what you offer, offer elsewhere.
VIRGO NINE OF CUPS L’chaim! Celebrate life. Appreciate all your dreams already come true. Indulge a bit. Good week for making wishes come true.
LIBRA KING OF WANDS Get ready to make magic. Mental preparation puts you ahead of the pack. Don’t sit. Lead. The wheel is turned by you.

I invite you to answer this question with me. Will You Fly Or Will You Fall?

SCORPIO HANGED MAN Time out now will bring enlightenment. Give your some busy, monkey mind time for quiet meditation. BOOM. There it is.
SAGITTARIUS ACE OF SWORDS Go for it. That idea? That concept? It’s good. Sparks now create steam power. Mental preparation’s fine, but take action.
CAPRICORN TWO OF WANDS The hardest thing is to choose between tow good things. Choose or be stuck there forever. You can’t start until you choose. 😀

Oh yeah…the July newsletter is waaaaaaaaay delayed.:D That’s good news for you if you aren’t a subscriber. I pick a name from the subscriber list. That person wins a reading. This month I’m actually picking from those who leave comments on any of my review videos. So go leave a comment if you want to be in the running. Oh! I’m a tricksy tricksy hobbit, y’all! I only announce it in the newsletter so you’ll want to be subscribed. GRIN!

Today’s featured deck is the . It’s a terrific interpretation of the Steampunk movement as translated through Tarot. Androgyny abounds as women dress like men to take on machines and magic. Men are not left out either. I love this deck a lot. Reads very well for me. Get you some gears, bustles and magic, y’all! Seek joy!

Those Steps Are Too Hard!

Today’s card reminds me that everything is about perspective. Here we see what looks like a daunting climb up nine wands in the Wild Unknown Tarot. The moon sits all golden and waiting but wow…that’s a long-assed climb up some really pointy sticks.

Or is it? Pull back a bit. Stop focusing on all the stairs. There are so many, aren’t there?

No. There are not. If you are too close, all you see is all the tangles, the problems, the sticking points if you will pardon that pun.

When you pull back a bit, you see it’s a staircase. I will admit that the staircase still seems a bit hard, but you can see clear spaces where you can step. And then look to the next one. Another open spot.

If I focus on each step individually, I can find a way all the way to the top where I can touch that shining, waiting, glorious golden moon.

All I had to do was change my perspective.

What do you have in your life that could use some distance to give you a bit of perspective?

The Wild Unknown Tarot is on sale this month for pre-orders. Might want to jump on this one. It’s a deck that really lives up to the hype it’s been getting in the Tarot world.

Seek perspective, y’all. Don’t let seemingly tangled, hard steps stop you from getting what you want.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

9 of Wands, Wild Unknown Tarot, self-published.

Will I Fall or Fly?

Today’s card is not a Tarot card. It’s a Zentangle. It might be a Quotangle, but since it is only one word–not so much. I had a great deal of fun doing it. I started with this video from Suzanne McNeill.

The hardest thing for me was starting. I was scared I would mess it up. I thought I might do it wrong. I had to stop and wrap my mind around the idea that there is no right or wrong in Zentangle. It’s one line at a time. Just focusing on that is the point of the art. What comes out of that focus? Well, that’s a beautiful by-product of relaxing my mind.

I did start, obviously. I also finished. This would be correctly called Zentangle Inspired Art since it uses a recognizable shape.

Fly.

One simple word that goes hand in wing with a bird, yes?

But go back to my hesitancy in starting. Consider this. If I’d never taken that first stroke, the bird would have never had wings.

What in your life are you hesitating over? What has you parked on the edge of your safety zone, your nest if you will, peering over the edge? What has you torn between the terror of making mistakes and the joy of doing something that calls to your heart?

Fly, darlin’, fly.

If you want to tangle with me, bring it. 😀 You can learn more here. All you need are:

Zentangle Bird, Arwen Lynch, 2013

#seekjoy, y’all. Pass it on.

Housecleaning Is The Goal???

Today’s card is a fun version from the Housewives Tarot. It makes me wrinkle my nose and think, “But I don’ wanna do it.” I mean I know there are those that enjoy cleaning house. I’m not one of them. 😀

But what catches my eye in this is not the feather duster, but the background. Do you see it? It may be too small in this picture. The background is a blueprint. You see the 10×15 kitchen, the 10×15 master and more. There’s even landscaping sketched in.

Ah yes, the perfect Ace of Wands reminder. What you do in the here and now should be geared towards what you want in the future.

And what do you want in the future? If your goals are limited to physical things/wants, I challenge you to broaden your search. Realize that your goals need to be less “lose 50 pounds and find a partner” and more “wake up happy every day.”

Because while one is completely doable, the other will make the first an afterthought. Once you can wake up happy every day, you will be on the right track.

Wow, Arwen. You really wake up happy every day?

Hell to the no.

I wake up in pain and wondering if I can call out at work.
I wake up, smack the snooze and go back to sleep.

😀 I’m human.

But I reset my mind. I write a daily affirmation. I hold on to that. Do I lose it? Sure, I do.

But the secret to being a professional joy seeker?

I keep the goal in mind.

I seek joy so I can be the person I believe myself to be.

Seek joy, y’all! Pass it on.

Ace of Wands, Housewives Tarot, Quirk Books, 2004 [aff]

Have You Ever Perjured Yourself? I Have.

Today’s card makes me a bit sad. It reminds me of something I used to do. If I catch myself now, I have to correct it immediately. While I’m no court of law, I do expect myself to hold some things sacred.

Truth is one of those. Here in the Shakespearian Tarot, the Devil shares this quote, “Sweet soul take heed of perjury”. It’s a line from Othello, The Moor Of Venice. One of the bard’s darker pieces, this tells the tale of a husband who murders his wife. I was going to say wrongfully murders, but really…is murder ever right?

But I digress. Today I want to talk about lying rather than murder.

Have you ever promised yourself something then not followed through because, after all, if you can’t lie to yourself who can you lie to?

Now think about that while you read the definition of perjury.

“The offense of willfully telling an untruth in a court after having taken an oath or affirmation.”

Willfully. Intentionally. Deliberately.

If we are in a relationship with anyone, the first one is with ourselves. If we can’t be true to ourselves, who can we be true to?

Now then, please note that I don’t see “fake it until you make it” as lying to myself. Not at all. That is actually telling myself the truth as it should be. That is rewiring my brain from negativity into positivity.

But there are, or were, things I told myself that were lies. Like…I was strong enough to do certain things alone. Or…I would set a boundary and then let someone else walk all over it.

The resetting of that boundary is something I had to do very recently. On the 4th of July in fact I had to clean up one of my own personal lies to myself. I ignored all the red flags about someone and gave them more chances to hurt me. And yeah, big surprise, I got hurt. Emotionally, not physically.

If I can’t tell myself the truth, how can I tell anyone else the truth? It really comes down to that for me.

What about you? How do you see perjury in the sacred court of your own sweet self?

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Devil, Shakespearian Tarot, USGS 1993 [aff]

How Much Do You Bend?

Today’s card is the Universe’s way of teasing me, I think. I pulled from the gorgeous Magical Times Empowerment deck by Jody Bergsma (USGames) this morning. I didn’t focus. I didn’t meditate. Just grabbed the deck and pulled. And snorted when I saw the card title.

Flexibility. Gently flow through the turbulence. Life has the ability to shape you. Bend, don’t break.

This echoes a phrase I saw yesterday. It’s one I’ve heard (and said) a lot. The willow survives the storm because it bends.

Life throws a lot at us. We have to think on our feet. We have to negotiate seemingly endless bumps and turns. We have to actually live.

Life isn’t meant to be a straight line, y’all.

We set goals. We have to change those goals or alter how we get to them all the time.

That’s not failure. That’s life.

It goes back to that other saying about giving thanks for unanswered prayers. Our today selves aren’t fully cognizant of what our next year selves will need. We make goals based on today’s self so it’s okay that things change as we move through life.

Be flexible but more than that? Be gentle with yourself when you realize a goal needs to be moved or reshaped. It’s okay. That’s life.

Flexibility, Magical Times Empowerment Cards, Jody Bergsma, USGames (aff)

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on!

And do yourself a favor! Sign up for free goodies from Leonie Dawson. Her changed how I do business but, more importantly, how I VIEW business. Mind-altering stuff. [aff]