I decided to pull a card then write a powerful, empowering, positive affirmation. I knew it would be easy.
Then I drew this card.
Yeah. Not so easy.
Huddled in a makeshift shelter, this person seems to be just trying to make it through the night. I don’t think he or she is all about joy and seeking it. I’m reminded that there have been times in my life when seeking joy was about as much fun as pulling teeth.
And not as easy either.
But my constant push to seek joy isn’t some rose-colored phrase. I know shit happens. It happens to me as much as to anyone. What makes me different is that I realize it is simply shit and it is fleeing.
Feces Fugit
Shit flies. The trick is to find joy even in that.
So my affirmation for the Five of Earth (Gaian Tarot) is this:
I know how to seek shelter when necessary. I am blessed with knowing when to duck and cover. I am safe from the storms of life because I know how to honor all sides of me. I am loved and loving even in the midst of chaos.
And I am loved. While writing this, a dear friend called me to give me much needed advice on how to handle an injury. I think the Universe really outdid itself when it got me to Austin.
Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.
Five of Earth, Gaian Tarot, Joanna Powell Colbert Limited Edition
It’s Sunday so it must be time for Tarotscopes. Happy Easter to those who celebrate this day. Happy Too Much Candy day to the rest. Have you snagged your copy of my Fairy Tale Tarot Spreads? Well why not? Snag away!
AQUARIUS Three of Earth Who can help you move forward? Create a mastermind group. Join a network. Connectivity with community is the key this week.
PISCES Five of Earth Strong desire to hide. Strong need to take shelter. Examine reasons. Make sure you aren’t just hiding. Face facts, darling.
ARIES Six of Air Good time to join w/others of a like mind. Celebrate successes large & small. Embolden others to achieve. Show the way.
It’s not too late to start your incredible year!
TAURUS Guardian of Fire Nurture passion. It must be fed or it will go out. What have you neglected? Turn your energy towards yourself. Feed your fire.
GEMINI Hermit Study time. Allow space in your world to learn. So much to know but first you must create a quiet space in your world.
CANCER Guardian of Earth Others come to you for comfort. Make sure your energy is there. May have to dig deep to find your own strength. It’s there.
LEO Star Seek guidance from your dreams. Goals out of reach? Extend your soul. Stretch your heart. Reach!. It’s closer than you think.
VIRGO Four of Air Nesting is good. Home brings harmony. Let your thoughts be guarded for now. Share only with trusted family and friends. Potential.
LIBRA Eight of Water Old tapes holding you back? You’re the only one who can free you. Sinking in emotional muck? Let go of the anchors. SWIM.
Lost? Need to find joy? I can help.
SCORPIO Six of Water Gather with friends. Remember the love. Reconnect to hearts that have been missing. Fill up on solid connections. Reminisce.
SAGITTARIUS Lovers Go for it. Deepen current relationships by talking about long-term goals. Create new loves by reaching out to them.
CAPRICORN High Priestess Secrets don’t always need to be shared. Mysteries should remain mysteries. Your own intuition is your best guide this week.
Starts 4/1. Click to open up your own creative self. Male goddess types welcome!
Today’s card reminds me of the importance of sharing and caring. It’s how I see a perfect world–where we all support one another and lend a hand or ask for help. I’ve asked for help recently and received it. I’ve been asked for help and given it. It’s something we should all practice.
One thing I don’t do enough here is to share others and their blogs. I read a ton of them. I participate in several blog sharing groups where I get to read some brilliant voices. These aren’t professional writers although some are. Most of them are just fellow humans walking a similar path. Some are pagan. Some aren’t. Some are liberals. Some aren’t. I wanted to share some of the ones that have recently moved me.
Recently I read something so profound. This woman is in the Leonie Dawson group that I love. Jacqueline Gates talks about overcoming a huge personal block here. It made me cry. I met Jacquie via the Amazing Biz+Life Academy. Just so you know, that’s an affiliate link of mine. I recommend that group to just about everyone I meet. You can join the full thing for $199 or check out one of the e-courses if you prefer. And she has free offerings as well.
I can’t remember how I found this blog but she makes me laugh. She’s currently taking a short break from blogging. This is the post that first introduced me to Awkwardly Alive And Pleasantly Peculiar’s writings.
It’s hard for me to pick just one of Sibylle’s posts so here’s a link to her whole blog. She’s a cool witch living over on the other side of the pond. I find her to be very uplifting!
I know you are thinking, “What about Tarot, Arwen. Isn’t this a Tarot blog?” Well, yes and no. I like to mix it up even though I am heavily on the Tarot side of things. Did you know I crochet? If you want to read a fabulous blog that mixes crochet, beautiful pictures and an amazing voice, go read Lucy at Attic 24! I’m extremely fond of her monthly mosaic posts. And while I’m on the crochet kick, don’t miss Planet June. She does these amazing amiguri patterns. I also enjoy her wildlife posts featuring critters from her own South African backyard.
Now about those Tarot blogs. I have so many I can’t share them all. A great daily Tarot blog is Chloe over at Inner Whispers. I love her daily draws. Plus she’s a total Tarot Enabler since she uses different decks every week. This post is an excellent example of what she does. She’s got her own deck in progress with Wil Worthington. Check out the Celtic Lenormand coming soon from U.S. Games!
Someone who doesn’t blog daily is Alison Cross. Her blog focuses on the court cards. And, since I love the Game of Thrones books, I love her blog name. She shares interviews with other Tarot folks as well. Ali is the past chairman of TABI. She recently interviewed the amazing Mary K. Greer.
Now for one last non-Tarot blog. This is from Halina, another member of the Amazing Biz+Life Academy. She shares about her own ideas on Inner Spring Cleaning which I just loved.
Rather than go on and on about the many Tarot blogs I love, I’ll stop there. I’d love to hear about your favorite blogs as well. How about leaving me a comment with a link to a blog you love. Since this post is about others, let’s share someone else’s blog instead of our own. 😀
Today’s a card is a reminder that it is okay to skip a day. I had a death in my family yesterday and also did a late night radio show so I’m just whipped. I have to be at work at 7am today (I’m typing this at 12:09am). Soooo.. whine whine whine…here’s today’s post which is actually from a few years ago.
And please? Do me a favor? Stop by Susan Mallery’s Sisters of the Heart Contest! and vote for Cai and I. We are the two with the story that says “It started with a Three Musketeer bar..” I’d really appreciate it.
Take care of each other, okay? I love you. I’ll be back tomorrow with your Sunday Tarotscopes. Speaking of tarotscopes, have you heard this month’s podcast?
Arwen Lynch, professional joy seeker, shares what getting fired means to her.
In this year’s Imbolc Tarot Blog Hop there were a number of intriguing spreads presented. The one I kept coming back to was from Chloe of Inner Whispers Tarot. She’s a talented reader in the UK. Her original spread with her own reading using this deceptively simply spread is here.
I kept hearing a song by Emerald Rose called “Fire In The Head” which is a reference to a shamanic practice. The chorus runs like this:
Fire in the head…I’m a flame in motion
Fire in the head…I’m a sword that’s sharp
Fire in the head…I’m a drop in the ocean
A shield in battle and a string in a harp.
Fire in the head…I’m an eagle soaring
Fire in the head…I’m a spoken word
Fire in the head…I’m a torrent pouring
A grain of wheat and a cauldron stirred.
Fire in the head!
Found onBending Tradition,Emerald Rose,2000
A side note of excitement! Emerald Rose will be playing at the Oscars party for the Peter Jackson movie, The Hobbit, in just a few weeks. If you like kick-ass music with a Celtic flair, you need their music. Trust me on this one. NEED THEIR MUSIC. 😀
Now on to the spread for me. I got surprised by my cards (big surprise, NOT). The transitioning and absolutely literalness of how they move from one to the next is typical for me with this deck. It is my personal reading deck, the Gaian Tarot. It is not uncommon for this deck to be so literal as to be funny. And I’m not the only reader that finds this to be true of the lovely Gaian.
Fire In The Belly Spread by Chloe McCracken
What is the fire in my belly? Seven of Fire
Click for full
I know you, Woman at the forge. I see you creating something stronger by hammering it out.
I also see her as the ultimate multi-tasker. Still here in this moment, I see her focused on what she is doing. The flame seems important in this reading. It i reaching up like a dancer. Do you see the arms reaching up there? That imitates a drawing I just did in a therapy group. A figure rising up glowing and growing. The blacksmith has intention in every blow, every strike of the hammer. None of them should go astray or it can meen more work. That’s important I think.
I have this sense of urgency about some things that I need to do. Creating a Professional Joy Seeker’s course is one of those. I want to do teleseminars where I gather with like-minded humans who simply want to seek joy. Who understand that negativity exists but we don’t have to feed it by focusing on it.
The fire in my belly is about what I am intentionally creating. Yes.
How can I stoke the fire? Elder of Earth
Click for full
What a great card to follow the blacksmith. Now we move to the calm, confident King of Earth who is using what she has to make something new. I see her as the woman who helped the ewes at lambing, then sheared the wool, carded and cleaned the same wool and is now spinning it into yarn. The shawl she wears is wool she produced and even dyed before crocheting it into something to wear. She understand the value of seeing a project through from start to finish. Not a micromanager, but someone who is involved.
I must be involved. I must make sure my focus is on the project at hand and not rabbitting all over the place. I have a serious case of monkey mind at times. It’s one of the reasons I practice the art of Zentangle to quiet my mind.
But to create this Professional Joy Seeker’s course, I need to understand things from the ground up. I need to investigate the tools that will be necessary for this. I must step into the shoes of the confident and calm Elder of Earth.
What bright flame will spring from it? Explorer of Fire
Click for full
Now how about them apples, y’all? From the hard-at-work, single-focus blacksmith to the productive spinner to the fire dancer. Now do you see what I mean about this spread being deceptively simple? So many three card spreads skim the surface, but this one? No, not this one.
The bright flame that will spring from the fire that I am stoking in my belly is me as a leader of joy seekers. I see me dancing forward just shimmering with energy. Magnetic, visible, follow-me, dance-with-me, joy all around.
But this also tells me that I need to make sure my energy is focused on the right things. I do have a tendency to go off course a bit there. I want to do it all.
But the blacksmith, the weaver and now the fire dancer all know one secret.
Focus on what you are doing. Keep your intentions clear. Don’t get spread out too far.
And look at this… Earth surrounded by fire. Earth warmed and protected by flames. I can certainly live with this.
This is a valuable lesson I learned from the eBusiness Goddess course I took last year. It really made me look at what I do and how I do in a completely different way. What I love about this course is that it doesn’t assume you work an 8-5 traditional business. I guess you could say it freed me of some long-term blocks I had about what “real” business is.
Thanks again to the brilliant Tarotist, Chloe, for this fabulous spread. It’s made a difference in my life today.
Arwen Lynch, professional joy seeker, shares this week’s horoscopes as seen through tarot cards.
Here are this week’s Tarotscopes. Enjoy! Feel free to share them with your friends and family.
And, the February in-depth Podcast is available. iTunes users click here. Don’t use iTunes? Go here to listen to this free podcast for your monthly Tarotscopes.
AQ ExAir How high will U have to climb? How thin will the branches be? Don’t worry. Explore to yr heart’s content this wk. Wander!
PIC HPS Mysteries reveal themselves when U ask the right questions. Go w/i to find lost personal meaning. Seek the truth of yr heart.
ARI Justice Stand for what is right. Protect those that need protecting. Don’t waste energy on those who can take care of themselves.
TAU Lightning Hold on tight. Inspiration striking soon. May shake U to foundation. Have plan B ready. Leave the drama for yr mama.
GEM 1Air Opening up in sweet surrender is the key to flying free. Escape yr self-imposed limits. Permission to fly not needed.
CAN 10Air Yearning? Searching? Find others of a like mind to travel w. All travel is not physical. Spiritual self needs nurturing.
LEO Teacher Learn to laugh at yrslf. Trick yrslf into having more fun this wk. Establish yr boundaries to include fun, please.
VIR 10Wtr Returning to yr source necessary to fill emotional well. Not failure if U understand how things cycle. It’s all a circle.
LIB Temperance Moderation in all things–including moderation? Changing yr energy/mindset necessary if U want to transform yr life.
SCO 9Wtr Open up. Fill up. Joy available. Heart’s desire here. What will U welcome into yr life this wk? Make it big, darlings.
SAG 1Fire Tango? Peaches? Sacred Sexuality? All means to a juicy, joy-filled life. Pick two and celebrate breathing this wk.
CAP 5Air Competition isn’t necessary. U are already above that fracas. Let go of those who live by bickering. They drag U down.
Want to take a peek at the illustrations for my Fairy Tale Tarot Spreads eBook? . So excited!
Here are this week’s Tarotscopes. What are you going to do to make it a joyful week? Want some freebies to help you along?
Here are this week’s Tarotscopes. If you like your daily horoscope, check out these weekly ones. What are you going to do to make it a joyful week?
AQUARIUS ExAir Time to go higher. Communication will carry yr message IF U don’t delay. Make this happen. Connect w/ those who listen.
PISCES 9Earth Take time to understand how much u’ve accomplished. Celebrate goals reached. Plant new seeds. U are so blessed.
ARIES Lightning Don’t be surprised if U get opened up spiritually this wk. Something big is moving in. Hang on tight. Ride it out.
TAURUS Temperance Weigh everything out. Be moderate in yr approach. Don’t overwhelm or be overwhelmed. Not a wk for HUGE actions.
GEMINI 8Air Who teaches U? Who do U teach? Going back to school? Do it! Just taking a refresher course will open up yr world.
CANCER 5F Don’t let yr temper win. Someone may be pushing yr buttons hard. Their drama is NOT in yr hula hoop. Seek joy by walking away.
LEO 8A Good wk for group work. Engage those who love like U. Involve like minds to dream big + start the work.Called to do more.
VIRGO 10W Baby love, my baby love! It’s all about relationships. Revisit old ones to learn how to navigate new ones. How do you love?
LIBRA 6F Time to shine. U will stand out in a good way if U remember to focus on being yrslf. Dance for yrslf. Celebrate victories.
SCORPIO Hermit Take some time out. Retreat from the world necessary to recharge. Allow yrslf time to study. Get outside if U can.
SAGITTARIUS GrAir Nurture conversation by listening. Find silence w/i U. Allow messages to arrive. Don’t cut them off. Let them be delivered.
CAPRICORN 3W Find time to play. Hard work is helped when U take regular breaks. Don’t be a superhero. Play. Laugh. Live. Create.
Hope your week is amazing, incredible and filled with pockets of You time! Remember that if you want a tarot reading, you can contact me to set that up.
Here are your weekly Tarotscopes for the first full week of 2013. It’s going to be an incredible year. Can you feel it? I can.
AQ Tree Time out. gives a new perspective. Can’t do it one way? Try another. Don’t be so rigid. Sacrifice isn’t always painful.
PIC 2W Partnerships are important but have U given time to the 1 w/ yrslf? How much me time have U taken lately? Well? TAKE SOME!
ARI 7F Putting yr heart into something is the only way. If U aren’t whole-heartedly onboard, take a step back. Re-evaluate.
TAU Bindweed(Devil) Feeling trapped? Again? What’s the common ingredient? Addictions aren’t always to drugs. Being needed is one.
GEM Lovers Want love? Watch others. Emulate them. Practice being lover-like. Focus on spiritual connections over physical.
CAN ExEarth Steady pace. Methodical steps. Replenish yr soul by nurturing yr body. Business needs yr full attention this wk.
LEO 1F Time to break out of yr shell. Explore yr passionate self. Leave rules that don’t serve you behind. Learn a new dance move.
VIR EldFir Projects bring success if U put yr all into them. No time for mousing around. Get fierce. Get intense. Get it done.
LIB ExAir Mental exploration is good. Climb as high as U can. Keep your eyes on upwards rather than downwards. Positive is best.
SCO 4Air What’s in yr secret thoughts? Are U nurturing that? Keep it secret for now. Guard yr nest. Focus on thoughts that support.
SAG 8Fir Pack a bag. Take a trip. Break out of the humdrum. Loads of fast energy so put your running shoes on & take yr vitamins.
CAP 9F Work on alignment. Focus on yr mental truth. Find the sweet spot & stay there this week. Mental preparation is the key.
Already got your ? Let me know. If you got it through me (or get it through me by 1/31), you get to join my seeeekrit Facebook group AND get my Fairy Tales Tarot eBook. Just message me here with your email. 😀
But I let that go as I sat there on the bed. I wanted to be open to the message of the Universe. I laughed out loud when I saw this familiar baby snake staring at me.
Today’s card comes from my work with the . One part is a reading for your year ahead. I’m loathe to look to far into any year (my clients know this since I prefer to do 3 month or 6 month look-aheads to full years).
So I focused on “What is my theme for January? What is the main message?”
Using my beloved Gaian Tarot, I got quiet then pulled. I had to work on steadying my mind since I was, I’ll admit, a bit afraid I’d pull one of the harder cards due to yesterday’s unhappiness. I spent most of the day in a fog. I went to bed early as well and slept for nearly 9.5 hours.
But I let that go as I sat there on the bed. I wanted to be open to the message of the Universe. I laughed out loud when I saw this familiar baby snake staring at me.
Joanna says, “A snake has just broken his way out of an egg and is encountering the world for the first time. Because of his ability to shed his skin and emerge in a new one, Snake has long been a symbol of renewal and transformation. In the background we see sparks shooting from a hidden flame, symbolizing the fires of creativity, sexuality and empowerment.”
I say, “WHOO HOOO! January is going to rock, y’all.”
Because of the work I’m doing with this workbook from , I’ve got some big plans for next year that include a workbook on seeking joy as well as the launch of my nearly-completed Hero’s Journey book. There’s another book as well in the works.
I see January’s Ace of Fire energy as the seed to all of that. I’ll be using that creative fire to launch my joy-missile self into outer space, y’all.
Did you know that one of my is to hear one specific person say, “Seek joy, y’all!” ? Can you guess who it is?
What’s your big theme for January? How are you going to launch your own joy-missile self into the new year? Or whatever you see your missile self as? I’d love to hear about it.
Don’t forget! When you get your, let me know. I’ll get you added to our seeeekrit Facebook group.
May today bring you joys you never expected. May you see joy in ways that you hadn’t thought about. I love each of you.
Today’s card reminds me that for us to grow we must head out into deeper waters. On this day where so many of us gather with loved ones, let’s remember to deepen those relationships. Tell them how much they mean to you. Remind yourself of why you choose to love and laugh and learn with them.
Let’s not forget those who don’t have anyone or any where to go today either. Some choose that quiet time while others would rather be with loved ones but can’t. Some are working on this day to make sure things are running in case of an emergency. I hope none of us need their services today or ever, really. But here’s to all of those alone today for whatever reason.
The Ace of Cups here is a simple wish for everyone to find joy today. Find it wherever you can. Through a phone call. Through email. Through family. Through Facebook or Twitter. Through the purr or pant of a pet.
May today bring you joys you never expected. May you see joy in ways that you hadn’t thought about. I love each of you.
I decided to pull a card then write a powerful, empowering, positive affirmation. I knew it would be easy.
,Emerald Rose,2000
. It is not uncommon for this deck to be so literal as to be funny. And I’m not the only reader that finds this to be true of the lovely Gaian.
