Tag: Shadowscapes Tarot

Are You A Nosy Parker?

Shadowscapes_9HermitToday’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, LlewellynShadowscapes_9Hermit

Nurture, New & Swans

I’m so tickled to have folks subscribed that I thought I’d give them a treat just for them. There’s another treat tucked in there as well, but that’s just for them.

Today’s card reminds me of all the things I have to do. I see this gorgeous girl focusing not on all the adults around her but on the baby in her arms.

She, like me, is focused on something new, something coming. She sees the potential in this flightless cygnet and so do I. I’ve been working on my newsletter today along with my monthly Tarotscopes podcast. Did you know I’ve been doing them for several years now?

This month, my newsletter readers will have their Tarotscope podcast announcement earlier than anyone else. I’m so tickled to have folks subscribed that I thought I’d give them a treat just for them. There’s another treat tucked in there as well, but that’s just for them.

If you want to get yours early or want to see what my treat for my November newsletter subscribers is, you can sign up.

So what are you nurturing right now? Are you remembering to focus on the beginning rather than worrying about the end? Do you gaze out your window looking at those who are doing what you want to do or are you keeping your eyes on the prize, the project, the promise you made to yourself.

You can let others lift you up and show you the way like our Page of Swords (Shadowscapes Tarot) is doing. But never forget that you are the one sheltering that new beginning. You are the one watching it carefully to know when it has wings ready to fly.

What do you nurture today?

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on!

Page of Swords, Shadowscapes Tarot, Llewellyn Publishing, 2010

Crows, Swans & Carrion

Today’s card is a terrific expression of this minor Arcana. Traditionally it shows someone being ferried away from somewhere. You are left to believe it’s a Bad Place ™. But in today’s drawing, we see someone rising above it all.

Carried away by a helpful swan, the elfin redhead looks back at what she leaves behind. I see the six swords here as representative of the sorrows of her life. But the crows? The crows are her naysayers. They are the ones who held her back out of fear. They refused to let her rise above her troubles.

Who in your life doesn’t lift you up? Who in your world is a naysayer to every dream you have? I’m not talking about the voices of reason who yank ugly shirts out of our hands when we are shopping. I’m talking about those who mock or laugh at us when we tell those secret hopes and wishes.

Sure! Maybe they have a snowflake’s chance in hell of coming to fruition, but we all need dreams. We all need hope.

So today, I want you to count your crows. Identify which ones are the useful kind who help you see reality. Then identify the ones who are the carrion eating type who are just waiting for you to fall so they can squawk, “I told you so.”

Those? Those that are waiting to squawk? Stop feeding them. You know what I mean. They are in your life because you allow it. Tell them you need supportive friends. Tell them your energy is reserved for those who want to see you succeed.

Tell them.

Shoo them off your sorrows. Quit letting them feed from that old dead part of you. Cut it out of you. And maybe, just maybe, one or three of them will reveal that they really are swans who forgot how to be swans.

No crows, darlings! And really, don’t be one either.

Seek joy,y’all. Pass it on.

Brag about your professional joy seeking! Grab a bumper sticker here.

6 of Swords, Shadowscapes Tarot, Llewellyn, 2010

Mermaids, Choices & Love

I think we have all had those uncomfortable loves where we made choices to not be ourselves. Where we lived with the pain of leaving huge pieces of our self unrealized so we could have someone else’s love.

Today’s card is a bit gruesome in some ways. It reminds me of something I wrote last night. Just a few lines about the mermaid’s choice. If you’ve read the original Little Mermaid, it is not a happy tail. In order to love the prince as a human girl, the little mermaid’s tail is split in two. Every step she takes is painful. She still likes to eat fish–raw. She’s seen as weird because of her tendencies to lie by the pool in the garden.

Her love caused her to make a hard choice. Eventually she is thrown back in the sea. Was it too late? You’ll have to read the story to learn that.

I think we have all had those uncomfortable loves where we made choices to not be ourselves. Where we lived with the pain of leaving huge pieces of our self unrealized so we could have someone else’s love.

Only to lose that love in one way or another.

How much better it is to find someone who loves us for us. Who loves us as we are. Who doesn’t cause us to feel apart from ourselves. And how much better when that person is our self.

It’s true. If we can’t love ourselves, we make poor partners in this world. So, for the sake of love and your loves, embrace who you are. Stop tearing yourself down. Celebrate your beauty.

See that you can grow your own way while your love grows there. The roots you put down will support the branching away. You will not lose them. As you allow yourself to grow, allow them.

Love. It’s a funny thing, y’all. Start with yourself for optimum results.

I tell people I love them all the time. I’ve had people tell me that it makes them feel I don’t value the word. Far from it. I value the word, the concept,the feeling enough to want to share it with everyone. Love, for me, is not finite. It is infinite.

Who said the more you love, the more you love? Probably no one since I don’t think that’s the right quote, but you catch my drift. Sharing is caring and you aren’t weak for loving others. We aren’t lessening the power of love.

No, we are increasing the power by immeasurable amounts. So I love you. And you. Yes, you too.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

2 of Cups, Shadowscapes Tarot, Llewellyn 2010