How Will You Change Energies Today?

For me, the product of those no-distraction moments are greater than the black and white on the paper.

zentangle046Today’s card is one of my tangles using the Zentangle(c) process. If I were to name this a specific Tarot card, it would be Temperance.

Temperance is a card of balance and changing one energy into another. The central piece of this reminds me of wings. I can’t get my mind off the idea that this is the back of an angel. We can’t see his or her head because it is bent doing the work of mixing energies–blending two disparate things into one. If you are a tangler, the wings are Meer and the side pieces are Hollenbaugh (my shading is still not what I hope it will be and for some reason the scan totally missed picking up the shading. Weird. :D)

How do you work with disparate energies? We all have them or so I believe. We are all dichotomies of pushmi/pullyu feelings that cause us to start then stop then start again.

The key is to keep starting. It’s so easy to lose your focus particularly in the multi-tasking, super distracting world we live in. There’s always something to pull us away from what we start.

You start cooking and a child needs help with a homework.
You start the homework and the dog needs a walk.
And so on.

Some distractions can’t be helped. Dogs need out and kids need love. But what about the ones that can be helped?

  • Facebook doesn’t need me that badly.
  • Twitter can stream along just fine.
  • My email isn’t so urgent that it can’t be dealt with twice a day instead of every 15 minutes.

When I do these tangles, I go into a no-distraction zone quite often. Suddenly the world gets turned off. I can’t hear the murmur of the TV that is rarely off when my son is home. I can’t hear the traffic streaming by.

I just tangle.

For me, the product of those no-distraction moments are greater than the black and white on the paper.

Why?

Because my brain has a chance to process other things. I have a new vision of my Fairy Tales Tarot Spreads eBook that Lisa Hunt (yes, I said Lisa Hunt) is illustrating for me. I have more things to add to my 100 Things I Want To Do This Year in my workbook+planner.

It’s like magic only better.

And if you want a copy of my Fairy Tale Tarot Spreads eBook (pre-illustrated and then illustrated) for free, you’ve got 14 days left to get it. Starting 2/1 it will be for sale but for now all you need to do is snag a copy of this and let me know. You’ll get my eBook with all ten spreads at no cost.

So how will you change energies today? How will you blend them into something that, even for three minutes, calms your mind allowing you to see new ways?

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on!

Zentangle, Arwen Lynch, 2013

Dreaming, Growing & Dichotomies

What do you snip off too soon? What do you not give enough growth time to? For many of us, myself included, it’s time to dream. I think I must be doing something in order to grow.

FairyTale_18MoonToday’s card reminds me of the growth that dreaming can inspire. Here lies Sleeping Beauty with her little cat on her legs. A beautiful picture of a castle hangs above her. The moon shines in casting glittering light on her face. Through the window a vine creeps.

It’s that vine that caught my eye. So often we trim things back. We don’t just let them grow, do we? I know someone who has allowed an outside vine into her house. It’s always a bit startling to walk through that front door to see green growth following me.

What do you snip off too soon? What do you not give enough growth time to? For many of us, myself included, it’s time to dream. I think I must be doing something in order to grow.

But really? Do I? If I don’t give myself time to dream…time to creep into other realities…time to stretch myself, how can I grow? It’s a dichotomy.

It’s a dichotomy that works, y’all. Do what needs to be done to achieve your goals. Yesterday I finalized an agreement with am artist that I admire. This person will be illustrating my Fairy Tales Tarot Spread eBook. By the way? The unillustrated version is free and if you get the , you get the unillustrated version for free AND the illustrated version once it is ready. Can’t beat that with a stick, right?

So I spent some time with that dreaming. I “wasted” time by lolling about with a pen and paper scribbling down things I wanted in my life. One of those things was to have an artist illustrate my spreads book.

Then I did something about that dream. I actually asked two people who were at the very top of my dream list and one said yes.

**THUD**

Yes? OMG! So not only did a dream come true, I checked a goal off of my 2013 goals on January 2. SECOND! I’m still pinching myself over that one.

So what are your dreams? What are your goals? What are you doing to achieve them? Are you spending time dreaming and creeping into other realities? Are you spending time actually writing down the goals and the steps?

Well why not? Let’s get to it, y’all! There are 362 days left in 2013. .

The Moon, The Fairy Tale Tarot, Lisa Hunt, Llewellyn Publishing, 2009

Seek Joy, Y’all. Pass it on.

30 Minutes, Carpe & Riddles

The Wheel of Fortune is chance. It’s opportunity. It’s the ability to Carpe Diem (or Noctum if that’s your diurnal preference). You make the most of what comes your way.

Today’s card reminds me of my first thought this morning. 30 more minutes. Just 30 more minutes. I only wanted 30 more minutes to snuggle in bed with my 12 year old cat curled up against me.

Then my mind started. I picked up my phone to check my mail, catch up on my WwF games, answer texts from my sister. Instead of actually taking that 30 minutes, I lolled in bed (I adore the sound of the word “loll”) but got some things done.

In a way, I grabbed that opportunity I had to snooze another 30 but turned it into relaxing in a different way. When I actually rolled out of bed, I didn’t have to face a ton of email. I had deleted most of it or marked “unread” what I needed to come back to.

The Wheel of Fortune is chance. It’s opportunity. It’s the ability to Carpe Diem (or Noctum if that’s your diurnal preference). You make the most of what comes your way.

I could have spent that 30 worrying that I was wasting time or that I needed to get up. I always have something that could be done. But I wanted to loll and my cat wanted to snuggle. He said so by piercing my arm with his nails as he played starfish paws. Owie!

Lisa Hunt’s Fantastical Creatures Tarot (reprinted in 2012 by US Games, thank you thank you thank you) depicts the Sphinx for the Wheel. An unusual choice if you consider the solid, unmovable nature of the Sphinx. But! Consider the riddles that the Sphinx was said to propose to the seeker. If you answered right, there was another riddle or maybe you got the treasure/knowledge you were seeking.

If you had an extra 30 minutes, what would you do with it?

Seek joy, y’all! Pass it on!

P. to the S., I pulled three cards from this deck last night while working on my and got this as one of my answers. I’ll be chatting about this on a private Facebook group that’s for everyone who gets this fabulous planner.

Already have yours? Let me know. I’ll add you to the group.

The Wheel Of Fortune,Fantastical Creatures, US Games 2012, Lisa Hunt/DJ Conway, US Games 2012

15, 51 & Wisdom

Today’s card reminds me that wisdom and age are no more joined at the hip than foolishness and youth. Here we see a young woman holding a scroll of knowledge. A large hat sits on her head. I think it looks like a Greek Orthodox priest’s hat. Obviously, I’m no expert on that religion so that may be way off.

Anywho! She’s young. She almost looks like a schoolgirl with her ruffled lace collar and white stockings. But her gaze is clear and direct. She’s seen things you and I haven’t yet. She’s known how the world works for a long time.

Sometimes I forget that age doesn’t equal wisdom. I can point to more than a handful of those who are “old enough to know better” but don’t. I can point to an equal number of those who should be carefree and not worried about the state of the world, but are.

When I was fifteen, twenty five was officially “too old to have fun.” Now that I’m fifty-one (and a half, thank you very much), I am not sure if there is an age that is “too old to have fun.” Okay, so maybe my fifteen year old self would find sitting at an auction for nine hours fun, but my fifty one year old self certainly did.

That fifteen year old me held passions that have never gone away. I started talking to trees (and getting answers) when I was eleven (the year my father died.) I’ve never stopped that. I’ve never stopped weeping when a healthy tree is cut down for no reason. I’ve never stopped believing that my animals talk to me all the time and I’m just not getting the full message.

So what if this High Priestess has a young face? So what if her face is unlined? Perhaps her lines are on the inside. Perhaps I need to remember that everyone has something to share and to teach. Perhaps I need to look at my ideas of wisdom with younger eyes.

This fabulous High Priestess is from a brand new deck released by U.S. Games Systems Inc. I want to be clear. I review for USGS which means they send me free product. That doesn’t influence my thoughts or opinions on these decks. This is the Dreaming Way Tarot, 2012.

Seek joy, y’all! Pass it on!

Volunteering, Weeping & Control

Today’s card reminds me that sometimes joy is hard to seek. It’s hard when you feel as if the world is dead-set against you ever breaking free of things. It’s hard when you feel as if no one truly cares about your forward progress.

So what do you do when you feel like the 8 of Swords? This card is from the Fradella Adventure Tarot. It’s a particular favorite of mine–this depiction. I was reading with it one day when it hit me.

She’s not a victim. She’s not on that wheel at someone else’s hand. No. She volunteered for that position. She trusted that the thrower would hit the target and not her.

But the important piece is…she put herself there. Look at her. She’s no simpering, weeping miss. She’s a strong confident woman who knows how to take what life throws her way. She knows it’s only a matter of time before she is free again.

She knows that even when someone is throwing blades at her, she is in charge.

Don’t let life win. Don’t give into the “it’s not fair” and “they are all mean to me” mode of thinking. Rise above that. You can’t control others. You can only control yourself. Don’t give them the pleasure of seeing you falter.

Keep. Seeking. Joy.

Here’s a great quote from Robert Louis Stevenson.

“…Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.”

To miss the joy is to miss all. Wow. That quote in one of my Oprah newsletters really swatted me hard. I’ll bet this woman strapped to the target knows where her joy resides.

It isn’t out there. It isn’t in the hands of the knife thrower.

It’s within her.

It’s within you.

Find out where joy resides, y’all. Pass it on.

9 of Blades, Fradella Adventure Tarot Deck & Book Set with Book(s), USGames, 2003

Whoosh, Plunging & Doom

Today’s card is a bit scary to me and many others. I mean really! Do they have any concept of what they are doing? Have they thought about it? Talk about crazy. Who is that said anyone with half a mind to get married has all the qualifications?

Then, I go back to yesterday’s card. OMG! I’m being a crow. All I can see is the plunge to doom. I can’t even hold on to the hope that the car is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang‘s granddaughter. I ignore the blissful happy faces. The hearts floating mean nothing to my crow mind.

Ever been that person? I know I have. This is my one big bump in life. I’ve been married. Twice to women and once in a perfectly acceptable male-female format. None of them panned out. Will I marry again? Hmmm, that remains to be seen, but most likely yes. 😀

This Lovers card is a reminder to me to not be a crow in my own life. I can’t seek joy if I’m enumerating all the ways this relationship could Titanic on me. Or Hiroshima. Or Pearl Harbor.

I have to lift my head up and enjoy the whooshing sound the wind makes as we take the plunge.

WHOOOSH, y’all! Whooshity whoosh whoosh.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Lovers, Housewives Tarot, Quirk Books, 2004

SPREAD: R.S.V.P. Spread

So, do you have any invitations that you need to investigate? Are you wasting your energy RSVPing for situations that would be better for everyone if you just said no? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I did a web course about professional business writing. There was a series of questions that really leant themselves to a Tarot spread. The questions were simple.

• What is the situation/problem?
• Why is this document needed?
• Who is going to read it?
• What do those readers need to know?
• What action does the writer want the reader to take?

So I translated them into a spread to do when you aren’t sure about becoming involved in a situation. This goes back to my current theme Continue reading “SPREAD: R.S.V.P. Spread”

Tarot&Food: Taco Rice for the 2 of Coins

When you are in that mode, cooking can, by necessity, be a last minute, throw it together affair. So you need fast and easy meals that don’t make your budget scream bloody murder.

Yes, yes, I’m on a recipe kick these days. My recipe list, the Pagan Table, has risen from the ashes so cooking is on my mind again. 😀 Today’s recipe is a super-easy, very budget-friendly recipe. Because of that budget-friendly piece, I’m pairing it with the Two of Pentacles.

Why? Well I’m glad you asked! I’ll tell you why now. The Two of Pentacles can be a card that indicates having to juggle personal and professional as well. When you are in that mode, cooking can, Continue reading “Tarot&Food: Taco Rice for the 2 of Coins”

Interview: Marie L. White & The Mary-El Tarot

I asked Marie L. White, the creative mind behind both the book and art of the Mary-El Tarot, a few questions. For the answers she had to draw from her own deck and interpret the cards for us. I will have a review of this deck up eventually. I’m just having so much fun learning it right now.

I asked Marie L. White, the creative mind behind both the book and art of the Mary-El Tarot, a few questions. For the answers she had to draw from her own deck and interpret the cards for us. I will have a review of this deck up eventually. I’m just having so much fun learning it right now.

Born in California and now living in North Carolina, Marie L. White has always found a need to touch, paint, taste or in some way immortalize the beauty that she sees. Her dreams and experiences made her search for answers to make sense of it all. She sees Tarot as a triple threat of expression through art, word and number. Read her full bio here.

Now let’s hear from Marie as she explores her process letting her own deck speak for her. Continue reading “Interview: Marie L. White & The Mary-El Tarot”

Wings, Tigers & Bartending

What do wings, tigers and bartending have to do with the Temperance card. Join Arwen as she does a comparative study of this angel of balance using some very different decks including the Gaian, the Mary-El and the Tarot of a Moon Garden.

I have been thinking about doing some articles on comparing cards. This morning, I picked up a deck to draw a card for the first comparison. Using the Cat’s Eye Tarot, I pulled Temperance.

Click for larger image

This Temperance shows the balance as Continue reading “Wings, Tigers & Bartending”