It is a comment on the loneliness we can all feel at one time or another.
[Tweet “It is a comment on the loneliness we can all feel at one time or another.”]
Bayou Tarot
#affirmation Here is a picture from my Bayou Tarot (it’s not a real deck…it’s just a series of pictures from a Louisiana bayou that I love.)
I see the Four of Cups here. Four empty chairs. A table with nothing on it but the fallen cypress seeds. It is a comment on the loneliness we can all feel at one time or another.
But I also see this picture as a reminder. It is a reminder to feed friendships with love, with attention, with the gift of listening. It is about maintaining relationships.
Sometimes we need to invite people in. We need to brush off the table and chairs so they have a place to sit. We need to open back up.
As a Pisces, I can be very bad about this. I forget to reach out. I forget to check in. So this is my reminder to work on that.
Today’s affirmation
Today I reach out. Today I open up. Today I revisit connections with loved ones. I walk with the knowledge that I am loved and loving. This is enough for this moment.
Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.
Bayou Tarot Four of Cups, Stephanie Arwen Lynch-Poe
Sometimes we need to dig ditches to attract what we want
[Tweet “Sometimes we need to dig ditches to attract what we want.”] Chinese Tarot
#affirmation One of my long-time loves is China. Japan and other areas of Asia, too, but China seems to be a forgotten memory to me. As a child I read many of Pearl S. Buck‘s books. They made me feel as if I was rereading my own story. I can’t describe it any better than that.
The Good Earth trilogy, Pavilion of Women and my favorite, Imperial Woman: The Last Empress all transported me to a place that was so familiar. My mother told me she thought I should have been born Chinese. That was because my favorite food (for breakfast!) was rice with soy sauce.
Here is the lovely Ace of Cups from the Chinese Tarot. It’s recently been reprinted by U.S. Games. I love how she holds the bowl. It looks as if she is addressing it before she drinks it.
Perhaps she is engaging in a morning gratitude giving thanks for what she has.
And for what she is about to receive.
That line should be familiar to anyone with a Christian upbringing (and maybe other faiths as well?)
Are you in a habit of giving thanks for what you haven’t gotten yet? Seems silly to some, but think about it like this.
Giving thanks for what we are about to receive is opening up channels. We are actively engaging in digging ditches for joy, prosperity, and love to flow our way.
Today’s affirmation embraces that idea.
Today I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. I am open to the infinite beauty that surrounds me. I dance along the path of abundance. I am available for joy. Loved and loving, I love each of you.
Notice how I did that? Manage what I can’t control. You may giggle now.
[Tweet “Notice how I did that? Manage what I can’t control. You may giggle now.”] Cat’s Eye
Stress, it is a killer. Or so says Bartok in the animated “Anastasia” film. Right now I am working hard to manage some stress that I can’t control. Notice how I did that? Manage what I can’t control. You may giggle now.
But managing my reaction to that stress? That I can do. I’ve got some great tools that I’m not using. My Zentangles? I keep picking up my pens then realizing that this or that or this other thing need doing.
One thing I do have access to is the companionship of my pets. Or am I their pet? Sometimes it is hard to tell. I can’t sit down without having at least one of them near me. Right now I’m at my dining room table with my eldest cat curled up in the chair next to me. His sister is sleeping on the window sill. They’ve both had a very rough morning of bird watching. Tough life.
Flynn + Vinegar
The dogs wait for me to sit on the couch. Then the Basenji wedges her butt against me while the Chiweenie worms his way between me and the arm of the couch. No matter if I am curled up in the corner. He will have his way.
Batman + Nayru
Today’s card is from the charming Cat’s Eye Tarot by Deb Givin, DVM. Here two black and white cats wind around one another. It reminds me that even when I am tripping over my fifteen pound Maine Coon, I’m only doing that because he loves me so much.
We’ve all heard about pets being great stress relievers. They are. Even when I am whining that I don’t particularly WANT to go for a walk, I always feel better after that walk.
What pets do you have? I’d love to hear about them.
Today’s affirmation:
I am relaxed. I am calm. I manage my response to the stresses of my life. I breathe in. I breathe out. I am enough. I am a beautiful, strong, woman. Loved and loving, I love each of you. Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.
Then they call me sister. And that’s when my fur goes right up. Don’t call me sister, sister.
[Tweet “Then they call me sister. And that’s when my fur goes right up. Don’t call me sister, sister.”]
Gaian Tarot
Today’s blog challenge is about meeting spiritual people. I take that to mean people of a like mind. And I have a problem with that.
I often meet sweet, loving, well-intentioned people who are just beautiful souls. Then they call me sister. And that’s when my fur goes right up.
I understand they mean it on a spiritual, “we are all one” level, but it is a huge button for me. I have a sister. I have two in fact–one by blood and one by my mother’s marriage. They are the only people I call sister.
My best friend is my best friend. We are as close as sisters–closer actually if it comes down to it. But I don’t think of her when I think of my sisters. Her role in my life has been set since we were both sixteen years old. Best. Friend.
Forever, even.
I have had covensibs, but I called them my sibs not my brothers or my sisters. Siblings. Now don’t get me wrong. I totally get that that is just me playing at semantics.
This is MY hang up. My hard limit. My boundary line. In the Gaian Tarot’s Six of Water, Joanna uses the image of her Mermaid sisters in the water. They are joined hand-in-hand, heart-to-heart. I get that they are sisters.
Maybe it is the way I was raised. I have a huge family when it comes to cousins and other relations. We are tight for the most part. By tight, I mean we are all up in each others business.
When I meet another person who is on the same path as I am or a parallel path, I rejoice. I want to know them. I want to meet them. I want to stand in sacred space with them honoring our journeys.
I don’t want to call them brother or sister. For me to give that honorific to someone is to make them family on a level that surpasses spirituality for me.
So if I don’t call you sister or brother, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. It doesn’t mean that I don’t value your friendship, your path, your journey, you.
It just means that I have a different word for you. I want you to be my friend, my compatriot, my co-seeker. One day I may call you brother or sister, but that day will need to have many yesterdays in its wake. I hope you understand.
On another note, and a repetitive one for sure, I have a book coming out August 22. I need help getting the word out. Please go here and sign up to help out. It’s a ONE TIME thing.
Love the Gaian Tarot shown here? Get your own copy here. It’s my one of my favorite decks because of the artwork and the way it delivers.
Also, I have a few spots left if you want to test out the new spread.
Daily spiritual practices are something I am trying to get back to in a more consistent way. Consistency and I are not always the best of pals.
Today’s card comes from a question I answered that Joanna Powell Colbert asked in her Gaian Soul Circle Community which is a private online community. If you haven’t joined to check it out, I hope you will.
But Joanna asked us to share about our daily spiritual practices. I wanted to share my answer here with you as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daily spiritual practices are something I am trying to get back to in a more consistent way. [Tweet “Consistency and I are not always the best of pals.”]
I was doing daily affirmations and flowed away from those. I flowed back today.
Flow is an interesting choice of words since my daily card was the Explorer of Water. I just realized that to ride the wave in, he has to ride the wave out.
To get where I love to be, I must ride the wave in as often as I ride it out. I let the water carry me forward to new and out to those scary places that I must experience. Then I come home to the shore. It’s a cycle and it fits my very Piscean nature.
Joanna shares this on her page. “His ally is Dolphin, who offers the gifts of balance, harmony and the wisdom of deep breathing.”
Is it any surprise that I’ve been working with an app that helps you focus on how to breathe? No, I didn’t think so.
I am reminded of a poem that I wrote in 1999.
Tumbling
Tumbling at the ocean’s edge,
I am a starfish pulling myself in
A sea turtle pushing myself out.
Five pointed star,
Or sea-shelled creature
Will you still love them both?
Head out, Head in,
Or regeneration.
Which would you hate?
Which would you love?
Will you be a quiet pool
that I seek refuge in?
Tidepool sunlight on wet sand,
and no depths for me to hide in.
Will you cover me with the
salty water of your love,
insisting that I stay in the light?
If the tide calls back for me
and I am carried away once more
will you be there when I return,
a quiet pool for me?
Today’s card reminds me of sadness and being misunderstood. And that’s a rather unusual interpretation for this particular card. Normally this is the card of love and romance and partnership.
Today’s card reminds me of sadness and being misunderstood. And that’s a rather unusual interpretation for this particular card. Normally this is the card of love and romance and partnership.
But the Lorelei, to me, is a sad creature. She only wants love to come to her. She sings for love. She attracts love. Sadly none of them want to stay and that love is destroyed. Often, so is the lover.
Per the Dark Goddess Tarot, she is a German spirit of unending desire. The phrase in the Little White Book (LWB) is “the deeper you go, the harder your heart beats”.
So perhaps the Lorelei can find love if only one person will go deep enough to understand her. Deep enough to see all her parts–both light and dark.
Isn’t that what we all want? Just someone to love all of us?
Journal prompt today: “Do I love all their parts?”
Today’s card is a hard one for me. I’ve been this person. The one overly focused on what I don’t have. What I can’t have. What is so lost to me. I’ve been stuck in the grief of the loss.
Here with her hands on her hips is the Dreaming Way‘s Four of Cups (USGames). Her bangs hide her eyes. Her hair swings forward to cut off her peripheral vision.
Oh if she would only lift her head up for just one moment. Then she might catch a glimpse of the cup behind her. The one being filled from a Universal well. The one that has everything she could want and more.
How do you get someone unstuck from that spot? I have known people who I call YesButs. The ones who listen to any encouragement, any pointing out of the small joys and goods and respond, “Yes, but…”
Then they list their litany of woes and sorrows and pains.
I am absolutely not saying that we don’t have woes and sorrows and pains. Not even!!!
I am saying that dwelling on them KEEPS us there. That the energy we give to things in our life is the food they need. I don’t just believe…I KNOW FOR A FACT that focusing on the small good, the little joys works.
If you’ve ever been a parent or a pet owner, consider the idea that you focus on the right behaviour and praise that. You don’t over focus on the wrong–that’s time for a simple, direct correction. Then you move on.
Then you move on, y’all.
Many of us aren’t moving on. Why? Is it fear that the cup we don’t see will be spilled too?
You know what? It’s okay if that happens because there is always more where that came from.
Always.
The Universe wants us to be happy. Happy children make the world better.
Be a happy child today. Don’t be a YesBut.
Your journal prompt is this. “Where do I get stuck? Where do I lose my peripheral vision?”
Today’s card is one of the scariest cards in the Tarot–to some. It used to terrify me. If I am being honest, it still does at times. But why? Should we live in fear of this card? I’ve pulled this card in readings so many times. And so many times, I’ve seen grown men and women pull back as if they were about to meet the Texas Chainsaw Massacre dude.
Today’s card is one of the scariest cards in the Tarot–to some. It used to terrify me. If I am being honest, it still does at times. But why? Should we live in fear of this card? I’ve pulled this card in readings so many times. And so many times, I’ve seen grown men and women pull back as if they were about to meet the Texas Chainsaw Massacre dude.
I’d laugh if I didn’t intimately understand their reaction. The message of this card is freaking scary, y’all.
Right. The Ace of Water. The erstwhile card of new love, deepening love. Love is what scares so many of us.
And why is that? Because risking your heart is scary. But that fingerling in the foreground? He or she knows that if a risk isn’t taken, growth won’t occur. Did you know that fish tend to grow to the size of their environment? So if that little fish doesn’t move out to the deep, scary unknown, it will never grow.
If we don’t take risks, we won’t grow. My friend Jay Pryor took an amazing risk in his 10/11 video. I’m here to tell you that my mouth fell open when I watched it. Talk about risky!
But one of the reasons I admire this man is his authenticity. He works at living an authentic life. And that ain’t easy kids. It just ain’t easy.
He talked this week about taking risks. I hope you will take two minutes and nineteen seconds to listen to his words –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4JsF_Bzc4Q <--. Then take another set of minutes to journal with today's journal prompt.
"What would I lose if I told someone that I loved them? How does avoiding risk limit my growth?"
If you like, share with me in the comments what risk you will take.
Ace of Water, Gaian Tarot (limited edition), Joanna Powell Colbert
Well, then it made so much sense. I mean we all wear masks, right? How many of us can say we show our true selves to all the world all the time?
Today’s card is from the Fradella Adventure Tarot. Once my primary reading deck and still a dear friend, this deck translates cups into masks. At first I wasn’t sure about that suit change but once I started reading with this deck?
Well, then it made so much sense. I mean we all wear masks, right? How many of us can say we show our true selves to all the world all the time?
Scary, right?
I know I don’t. I think, in a way, it’s the right thing to do. There are some things we only want to share with those we trust. Those we know won’t shatter our dreams. Those who understand how to kick us our ass when necessary but do it with love.
This Queen stands half in, half out of the waterfall. Is she taking that mask off as she retreats into her own safety zone? Is she putting that mask on as she heads out?
Journal prompt for today. “Who do I show my true self to? Who sees my true self?”
I am blessed to have more than one person in my life that can see my true self. Some of my exes who are still friends number among those people. I’m lucky that we have been able to reforge friendships and caring relationships after the rubble of the breakup cleared.
Today, I recognize that my masks are part of me for a reason. I accept that I wear many hats and many masks because I am a spiritual multi-tasker. And that’s a good thing.
Are you a spiritual multi-tasker? Want to focus in on what you can shore up or what you can let erode? Contact me today. Let’s set up a time for a Tarot conversation to help you plot your journey.
Queen of Masks, Fradella Adventure Tarot, US Games
Today’s card made me giggle. Then it made me snort. Then it made me laugh until tears rolled down my cheeks.
And you are looking at me with your head tilted thinking, “Arwen, have you lost your mind? There is nothing funny about stagnation.”
I might agree with you if you didn’t know what I know. The Universe is mocking me again.
You see Monday night I did a reading for a young friend. It was her birthday and she is officially a tween now. Her parental units requested it. I was happy to oblige. While I did that reading, her parents unloaded a closet for me.
Close your eyes. Imagine a typical closet with sliding doors. Now imagine it is packed floor to hanging bar with boxes. Now wedge more in. Now realize that you can’t even slide the doors shut because there’s so much SHIT in that closet.
Then walk away from the closet for two, no…let’s make it two and a half years.
Yeah, talk about stagnation, right?
But here’s the thing. That’s not an imaginary demon of a closet. It was very real. And my friends moved all the boxes out.
Now I have to go through and purge, purge and purge some more.
I live in a cute, little condo. I’ve lived in larger spaces. I still have allllll the chit from those larger spaces. So you see where I’m going?
A lot of what I have hung on to has sentimental value. I have a turban and a pair of glasses. Both were worn by my mama during her battle with, and subsequent loss to, cancer.
I have books that took me places once upon a time.
I have Tarot decks that I wanted SO BADLY once upon a time.
Everything in these boxes has been in these boxes for two and a half years. Thirty months, y’all.
Like the chipped and no longer functional bowls in this card from the Vision Quest Tarot, my stuff is clogging me up. My chi is not flowing.
In fact, I think I heard my chi running for the hills.
Operation: Declutter Arwen is on the table. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’m going to do this thing.
Do you have anything that you hang on to that you need to let go of?
I know my mother will be happy to know her glasses are heading off to the Lions to be put to better use.
