Llewellyn Archives < Arwen, Professional Joy Seeker

I DO IT MYSELF!

Today’s card is from a deck that I have on order. I haven’t heard yet whether it is in. The lush beauty of the first card I see pulled me in–hard. I am a very visual person. If there is a TV on near me, I check right out of any conversations. I try to position myself with my back to the tube if I’m out at dinner with friends.

And here’s why. As I stare at this card, I see the lions (all four of them), the Daliesque sunflowers, the cat who looks so much like my beloved Carmen, the hint of a peacock on the staff, the rich fabric of her dress and the face of Angeline Jolie staring out at me.

Is it Jolie? I don’t know. She’d make an excellent Queen of Wands though. But this card shows off the stylish side of the active Fire mistress. Odd that I am such a water sign but identify with this queen more than any other.

She is fierce. She is ready to get things done. She is a do-it-herself woman.

Those are pluses as well as minuses really.

That last one…that do-it-herself one? Yeah. That’s why I’m currently on two different medications. One to stop the inflammation and the other to help me sleep while the inflammation is still raging. In a word? I hurt.

Why?

Back to that do-it-herself. I could have easily asked for help moving the dog crate and other things for my house-sitting gig. Did I? No. Why?

Picture a three year old, curly black hair, hands on hips shouting, “I DO IT MYSELF.”

Yeah. Never quite grew out of that.

So now I get to pay for that toddler attitude. 😀

What about you? What is your “DO IT MYSELF” moment? How did you learn to stop and ask?

I’m still working on that one. Getting a bit better, but still…hands on hips!

Queen of Wands, Illuminati Tarot, Llewellyn, 2013[aff]

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

July 21-27 2013 Tarotscopes

Here is this week’s Tarotscopes. You bless me when you share them. Thank you.

AQUARIUS SEVEN OF PENTACLES Golden goose hunting? Do the work. Ethically. Relentlessly. Daily. Hard work pays off big! Stop hunting. Start doing.
PISCES THREE OF PENTACLES Do your own work. Build with others as long as they do their work. Carefully preparation now is key. Lay each brick solidly.
ARIES SEVEN OF WANDS Sneaky win? Okay. Sometimes it takes a plot twist to make a great story. Finish your current situation if you want to be free.
TAURUS TWO OF CUPS Sweet friendship blossoms. Explore personal relationships. Offer what you have. Share who you are. They are open to meeting.
GEMINI TWO OF PENTACLES Balance between what is best for you vs what is best for us challenges this wk. Give you some but save some for the family.
CANCER MAGICIAN Go on! Open up. You’ve got tools, will + need. Make things happen by focusing on what you can do. This is about willpower.

LEO EIGHT OF PENTACLES Believe in your ability. Don’t let anyone stop you from success. Learn from others’ mistakes. Success comes from trying!
VIRGO ACE OF PENTACLES Someone offers help. Part-time job, apprenticeship, intern. Keep your ears open. Accept aid when given. Growth promised.
LIBRA TWO OF WANDS Unusual partnership opens your mind to new ways of thinking. Allow others to share. Choices should be made in favor of both.
SCORPIO Sorceress(HPS) Listen to Higher Spirit. Whispers from self show you the way to lost joy. Intuitive journey only needs inner GPS.
SAGITTARIUS Chariot Magical journeys start with unusual gifts. By staying alert/in charge, you can guide spirit self into a higher realm. Go!
CAPRICORN SEVEN OF SWORDS Sometimes? You are your own troll. Stop teasing/baiting your self. Let go of need to win against yourself. Just be at peace.

Last year, in June, I signed up for an run by Leonie G Dawson. I had no questions about renewing this year. And? Everyone who signed up for it last year? Signed up again this year! I think that says something right there about this group. The courses alone are worth the membership. There’s a Raw Food one, a Creative Goddess one and the Business Goddess just to name a few. Some I didn’t take were focused on being Mama Goddesses. When I say it changed my life, I mean that. It took my ??seek joy? focus and amped it up. It’s for any woman who wants to explore her own amazing life. You don’t have to be a business owner (although that IS why I joined it.) The online networking and forums are fabulous even if I don’t take as much advantage of those. 😀 . See if it is a good fit for you.

Here’s Leonie in her own words about how she deals with fear. If you do nothing else today, take seven minutes to watch this video. This is just ONE of the many videos she freely shares on Youtube.

The truth always lights you up.

Today’s deck is the lovely, and sadly out-of-print, Fairy Tale Tarot by Lisa Hunt.

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!

How Prepared Are You?

Today’s card is a reminder that bad things happen. It is how we react/act that makes us or breaks us. Watching the coverage of the tornadoes that killed so many people in Oklahoma was hard for me. I wept for the dead, the living, and the lost. So many young lives wiped out.

In card 16 of the Gaian Tarot, we see an unusual rendition of the Tower. Typically you see a tall building with the roof being blown off and people leaping out. It is a disturbing image on a good day but was really brought to horrific life for me when I watched the 9/11 news coverage. Now it comes to life again when Mother Nature does such damage.

I am not sure how I would react if I were in Moore, OK. I guess I can’t know because I wasn’t there. I heard of such bravery with neighbors calling neighbors to join them in their shelters. It made me happy to hear that.

Then I watched an interview with a woman who was weeping for her lost pets. There’s a chance they made it but that chance is so slim. She wasn’t home to save them. I had to change channels to love on my babies a bit.

The Tower is not a card you can really plan for but it’s always good to have some sort of disaster plan together. My honey has a bag packed with necessary items for himself and his pets. His fraidy hole, as he likes to call it, is stocked for himself and his pets. He’s no fool when it comes to tornadoes.

The key thing about the Tower card is this. Once it has happened, you have two choices.

Clear the rubble and build again

OR

Leave for another place

I think I would have to clear and build again. There isn’t any place in this world that I know of that doesn’t have some type of severe weather. So wherever I might go, I would still have to have some preparations to put in place for the inevitable.

My heart goes out to all those affected by yesterday’s storms. Rebuilding will occur but the sorrow will be so deep. May your own spiritual beliefs sustain you in this time.

Lightning, Gaian Tarot (limited edition), Joanna Powell Colbert

This deck is going out of print. It’s one of my top reading decks so I own several copies. I urge you to grab your own [aff link].

Or get your own copy of the limited edition here.

Storm Coming? Passing?

Today’s card reminds me of something I heard today. The quote was by a man named John O’Donohue who died in 2008. He said

“The normal way never leads home.”

I learned two things when I heard that. The first was that I needed to get his work. The second was that I had no definition of what home might mean in that quote.

Living in Austin, I can certainly identify with the idea of not being normal. I’ve decided that if I ever do leave this mecca of weird, I will go to another mecca of diversity and unusual. I need to be where the norm is to be uniquely myself.

I am not like you. You are not like me. Like everyone else, we are unique. Isn’t that an amazing concept? Consider it for just a minute. No one on earth is just like you. No one has your life experiences or your truths or sorrows or joys.

Many of us have similar. Many of us have shared in the same experience. But how many of us have come away from those shared experiences with different outlooks?

When I went ocean kayaking with my best friend, we fell in. Whether we fell in courtesy of me or her is a matter of opinion. I’m willing to believe her when she says I tumped us in. I saw a WHALE. (Tumping is what I was taught you do when you turn a boat over. 😀 )

So my experience of being in the water THISCLOSE to a humpback was thrilling as well as humorous. But what was Cai’s experience? I know that when I was pointing out how close the whale was, she somewhat tartly pointed out that I should be getting back in the kayak so she could too.

It may have been April and it may have been slightly brisk in the water that day.

But our experiences were not the same. Neither of us was angry at the other. Far from it! We laughed our butts off. But I think you would hear two different stories from that day that we went swimming quite unexpectedly with whales.

The Two of Pentacles from Aly Fell and Barbara Moore’s fantastic Steampunk Tarot shows a woman on an old-fashioned bicycle. There is a neon lemniscate acting as the chain. She appears to be riding on water or clouds. The sky above her shows a storm breaking. Or is it gathering? Is she finally leaving shelter to head on her way? Is she hurrying for shelter before the storm hits?

Your personal story will lend flavor to this card and every card in a spread. As a reader, you must acknowledge that. Some of it will need to be put aside if you are reading for another, but if you are reading for yourself, understanding how your own mood can blend into the cards is key.

So, when you look at this card, given your current mood and understanding of where you are, is she fleeing the storm or has the storm passed?

Here’s some of John O’Donohue’s work [aff].

Two of Pentacles, Steampunk Tarot, 2012 [aff]

Are You A Nosy Parker?

Today’s card reminds me of this quote I got from the AWAD newsletter. The word was so far from the essence of this card that it made me laugh. I liked the juxtaposition of the card, the word and this quote.

The word was “nosy parker”.

The quote was, “Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.” -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956) ”

The quote makes me think of the Hermit as the skeptical yet tolerant civilized man. However the Hermit is the furthest thing away from a nosy parker.

I like Mencken’s notion that the more right you think you are, the less civilized you are. I agree with that wholeheartedly.

In fact, grin, you might say I’m right. Ha!

Seriously though, how flexible are you? Can you be like the Hermit who remains a dedicated student of life? Can you follow his lead into quiet introspection about how things work? Will you join him in his intense search using the natural world as his vehicle?

And let me just state here and now that I live in a city and I can find nature EVERYWHERE I go. It may be harder when the weather is severe, but nature is there. Look for it.

Your 180 second challenge today? Search within yourself to find where you are “RIGHT, DAMMIT” and see how much flexibility you can worm into that.

That’s three minutes of admitting that your point of view might not be the only one with validity. That maybe that person with a different religious belief or cultural understanding of the world might simply be different rather than wrong.

Hermit, Shadowscapes, Llewellyn

Tarotscopes: March 31 – April 6, 2013

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.

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!

P. to the S. Want to laugh your butt off? Bet this makes you laugh til you cry!

What Are Your Dreams?

But the big dreams? The ones that are so scary I might as well say I am going to run for President? Those dreams? Yeah, those.

Today’s card has so much to love. It’s a very unusual interpretation of this card. Normally you see someone standing waiting on something to happen. But in the Waking The Wild Spirit (Poppy Palin, Llewellyn, 2002) we are offered a different scenario.

The fairy could be born of the sun behind him. He holds a lantern with a candle (makes me think of the Hermit and his lamp). He launches a moth from his finger. A hedgehog waits beneath the mushroom…and is that angel’s cap to the bottom right?

For a card of waiting, there is a lot happening here. I like that for this card. If you follow the numbers, the ace of fire is about the potential of passion while the two is about a passionate partnership. It could be said this is the results of that passion. 😀

He’s come together with someone else to create something magical. Now he must pause for the results.

What about you? It’s nearly the end of February. For those of you working through with me (and it’s not too late!), where are you in your exploration of your Incredible Year? From our Facebook group, I know some of us are feeling a bit overwhelmed. The biggest sticking point seems to be the “100 Things” list.

I admit that I haven’t written down 100 things I want do do this year. And, grin, some of my list has been written down AFTER I have done it. But it is helping me remember that there are things I want to do.

Do you know that these things are not great earth-shattering events? They are small, nurturing things mostly. I think the biggest one on that list is “fly a kite on the beach.” Not going to change the world with that one, am I?

But the big dreams? The ones that are so scary I might as well say I am going to run for President? Those dreams? Yeah, those.

I have written two of those down along with steps to get there. One is already a done deal. I just got the final illustrations from Lisa Hunt and will be adding them to my Fairy Tale Tarot Spreads eBoook. Those of you who got the non-illustrated version will get the new version free. And I’ve made the decision to beef up the verbiage just a bit as well as shuffle a few things around.

What are your dreams? What do you want to do this year?

Want to know what my other dream is? The scary, big one? I want to hear one of three people say, “Seek Joy, Y’all” to an international audience. No, I won’t tell you who they are other than they are all female and very famous.

So what’s holding me back?

All I need to do is write three letters and mail them. Then I have to wait to see what happens.

Of course, while I’m waiting, I’ll be launching another moth into the air because I am not willing to pause this year. It’s too important. I’m creating my incredible year.

Are you? It’s not too late.

Can you commit to 180 seconds today to write down your dreams? You don’t have to show a soul. Just write them down and then list the steps to get there.

Three of Fire, Waking The Wild Spirit, Llewellyn 2002

Seek Joy, Y’all. Pass it on.