Saturday 22 April 2017

Energy hoops

Thursday's Draw: Witchlings Deck, Rejuvenation

I feel the need for some gentle positive energy this week so will be working with Paulina's beautiful Witchlings. The deck comes with a 200 plus page book of spells which could also be called rituals, or mindful practices.

Twirling her energy hoops Trillium arrives to remind us to take time to rejuvenate mind, body and spirit. She urges us to take time for ourselves and do things that bring us happiness and good health so that our energy may be restored. 

Paulina writes that a healthy glow, freshness of thought and a light hearted feeling can be with us every day if we harmonise with rejuvenating powers. I'd settle for every other day - that would be a huge result.

So many ways to do this. I went to yoga on Thursday and came away walking on air. I've been using the calm app  free guided meditations and relaxing music. Shortly I'm off for a trot through the woods with R and B. 

For those lacking in time or really low on energy the spell book has some less demanding suggestions. Taking time to enjoy a glass of sparkling spring water or doing a skin brushing detox. Apparently the latter tones the muscles. Learned something new...

What can you do to refresh mind, body and spirit today? 

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Not playing

Daily Draw: Dreaming Way Tarot, The Magician


My first thought good to see a clever looking female magician with a full head of grey hair and then I read the guidebook...

Someone with infinite wisdom usually aged 20-40. Really? Additional meaning an attractive person. Over forty does not fit this category? 

I take a little umbrage. Perhaps this lady does too (see hands in pockets not touching the tools). I imagine her saying if you're not according me the status (or paying me what I'm worth) then I'm not doing the work. Good on her I say. 

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Bloodless

Daily Draw: Dreaming Way Tarot, Page of Swords


This strikes me as a more mature Page of Swords. Rather than relishing the turbulence or adding to it by wildly waving a enormous sword she wraps up against it. This will protect her from being buffeted about in a continually reactive cycle. 

The guidebook says this card is about asserting what is right and fair and acting with integrity. This young lady uses her grey matter and chooses her battles. She knows that if she doesn't no-one will listen when it really matters. 

Her finger and thumb together seem to say 'speak your truth but do so in a measured way.' The grey behind her and the dagger carried low reminds me sometimes a 'bloodless' narrative is best. 

Let us retreat when we can, not when we must. 

Barbara W Tuchman

Monday 17 April 2017

wooden coin

Daily Draw, Dreaming WayTarot, Ace of Pentacles

Nice place to start from pentacles-wise eh? My assumption England or Wales. What was once backward is now the dream (just look at the flock circling). Former 'castles' in the city skies catastrophic. Or not depending on whether social housing or a £1 million triplex. 

Pedantically pentacles in my outlook. Viewing through a lens...All day arguing with this card because where it is is where I am not and where I am it isn't. 

Perhaps just accept the energy and begin with a wooden coin...


Sunday 16 April 2017

Peace

Daily Draw: Dreaming Way Tarot, The Hierophant

This is an earthy hierophant. Different from the traditional RWS rendition he has no acolytes and does not raise his hand in benediction. His plain but warm woollen clothes recall simple monastic dress rather than the elaborate vestments of high office. 

The cross on the crown suggests he was ordained but it is interesting he has taken himself out of the structure of the church and into nature. 

Sitting comfortably with a straight back, hands softly resting in his lap he appears to be meditating. Or is this teacher waiting patiently for a learner to come to meet him? Or both. What mysteries do those keys unlock? What growth is suggested by the earthy tone of this card? 


Saturday 15 April 2017

Restoration project

Daily Draw: Dreaming Way Tarot, Six of Swords

The recovery card follows on well from the Hanged Man yesterday. The sea in the forefront is a choppy but in the distance the waters are calm. This suggests a move away from turmoil to tranquility. 


If we have been experiencing a really difficult situation sometimes it is necessary to put some distance between ourselves and all but the most positive of energy so we can find peace of mind.

We have a restorative sea trip planned next month. For the first time in thirty odd years I am going to go in it and on it. 

What restorative thing can you do to be kind to yourself today? 

Friday 14 April 2017

Upside down again

Daily Draw: Dreaming Way Tarot, The Hanged Man

In this depiction both feet are bound to the tree. The woman can bind herself further by spinning one way or unravel the binds by spinning the other way. She chooses to maintain the position by gently swaying this way and that observing the world from a different perspective. The aqua blush on her cheeks symbolises serenity, calmness and openness and through that discovery and balance. The green leaves suggest renewal as the result of halting for a while.

The coat hangers may represent the threefold benefits of halting, observing and thinking. I am reminded also that an item used to create order may symbolise entanglement. How hard is it to pull one hanger from a messy stack at the bottom of the wardrobe?

This is the message of the card. To disentangle from situations in which we cannot function is a sufficient action in itself. Deciding what to do next can come later.



Thursday 13 April 2017

Which way?

Daily Draw: Dreaming Way Tarot, Two of Wands



The traditional meaning of this two is broadening horizons. This version seems to suggest taking a 360 degree perspective. There are two worlds spinning within this person's sight and possibly a third - the one the figure is standing on. Not sure what to make of this but I am intrigued and looking forward to seeing more of this deck this week. 


Sometimes you have to turn the world upside down to see it right side up

Kristin Hannah

Wednesday 12 April 2017

The rabbit has it right

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot, Eight of Cups

I think this is an untrustworthy 'now you see it now you don't' sort of tree. If the gent turns back I bet the 'candelabra' of cups will become into eight candle snuffers. He's right to walk away from those games. 

Our man's hat and beard point in the right direction. The rabbit's thumping leg encourages him to heed his intuition while the butterfly beckons him to a better place ahead. Put one foot in front of the other while the bridge is still there...

You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened... or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the [ahem] on.

Tupac Shakur





Tuesday 11 April 2017

Eight of energy

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot,  Eight of Wands

This determined gal glides swiftly towards her goal. 
Sensibly she holds one wand firmly touching another with her toes allowing the remaining six to shoot alongside her. The moons on her skirt recall the passage of time, the stars her hopes. The flowers growing from her head are ideas that must be cultivated and the butterflies hint at their transformative power. 

Urgent things and important things. The former demand immediate attention, are usually about achieving someone else's goals. The ones we focus on because the consequences of not dealing with them are instantaneous. 

The important activities are the ones that move us forwards in any sphere of life (career, finances, home, family, health etc). They are easy to put off as they relate to longer term goals, may be ill-defined and if we don't achieve them we only let ourselves down. 

In this card the eight represents structure and wands raw energy. I am reminded we do need structure in our lives but we also need to be mindful of how and where we expend our energy. 


I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, quoting Dr J. Roscoe Miller.


Monday 10 April 2017

Curious light

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot, The Hermit 

I was thinking how odd it was to get last minute called into the office on a Hermit day and then I arrived for my meeting a whole month early...

Should have paid more attention to the card as well as my emails. 

This hermit is supported on her meditative journey by two contemplative companions carrying their own light. One eyes closed under cover of a brain shelter, the other awake carrying a gold pocket watch. 

Not sure if the message is hurry up your hermit time or take longer. It's mindfulness class tomorrow so I might take my steer from that. 

Time and space - time to be alone, space to move about - these may well become the great scarcities of tomorrow. 

Edwin Way Teale

Sunday 9 April 2017

devil's can can

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot, The Devil

Since beginning daily draws I've only pulled the devil twice. This card strikes me as a curiously camp and comedic devil. Yet even this lady in her finery is underdressed compared with modern 'fashion'. 

I'm thinking of cheap, throwaway fashion one of the markers of which is over embellishment. I wonder what tempts a designer to furbish a single t shirt with sequins and beads and pockets and zips and stitching and slogans and glitter all at once? What tempts someone to buy it? Why would member of the opposite sex find it a good look? 

Ethically highly embellished fast fashion is the worst - produced by children working into the night stitching in poor light on a penny an hour.  

Give me a well cut white t-shirt any day of the week except no-one takes pride in crafting something beautifully simple any more. 

Elegance is refusal

Coco Chanel

Saturday 8 April 2017

Frogs and stars

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot, The Star


I was about to write a post about the biggest star coming out to meet us to day but no...A quick fact check reveals the sun is just an average sized star ( a yellow dwarf) that appears so large because it is so close. 

An average sized star that could fit one million planet earths inside it...The largest star (subject to debateVY Canis Majoris is so big the Sun would fit inside it about 2100 times. Flying a plane around it would take 1100 years...

Hmm well this makes me think of perspective. Something to mull on as I pick up the watercolour paints and pad I bought a year ago. 

Yes I am in the garden. No I don't hear any frogs but SUCCESS there is one in this card wishing me luck...

Thursday 6 April 2017

Rude sea and mad stars

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot, Six of Cups

I thought these were flowers at first but actually the mermaid's son is offering her a cup full of stars. The substitution of stars for blooms suggests to me this is a hopeful, moving forward six of cups rather than a nostalgic one. What a gift! 

I have a thing about stars. I have star jewellery, bags, shoes, and shirts but don't think I've ever seen the sea and the stars together. That's the real thing and it's going on the list. 

Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song:
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.


William Shakespeare

Wednesday 5 April 2017

Neither fish nor fowl who cares?

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot, Nine of Pentacles

This looks to be an interesting garden party. A white rabbit in a red dress, a whippet faced worm (forgive me I am claiming that as part hound) and a hawk? (I googled bird with a tassel on its head and got nowhere). 

Out of the lady's hand a ninth flower sprouts reminding me that friendship can blossom in the unlikeliest places and between people who on the surface appear very different.

I was reading today that by observation we can work out what elements are influencing people's actions - air, water, fire or earth. 

In reality few people are all fire or earth or water - they may be influenced by more than one element or have different influences at different times. Certainly I can spot the faults of all in myself. 

In this card I see air (the bird), earth (the worm thing) and fire (the rabbit's red dress). The water is the feeling of friendship they share. I'll take that...

Tuesday 4 April 2017

A bit of a hotch potch

Daily Draw: Shadowscapes Tarot, The Fool

She stands on the precipice with only the ribbons and doves to hold her up if she makes that leap. The fox cannot understand the leap of faith she is about to take. The guidebook asks who is the fool? The woman for instinctively embracing the unknown or the fox for being too rooted in rational thought? 

The monkey beneath her feet gazes intently at a tiny glowing heart. The bees buzz that passion needs to meet industry. The butterfly whispers of courage to change. The primate on the left reminds us to take time to smell the roses. 

The answer to yesterday's questions seems to be back to the beginning. The sun tattoo on the fool's foot reminds me to keep the almost end in sight. I have been naughty with this deck (demanding answers, berating it for its honest responses) but tomorrow I will miss it. 


Monday 3 April 2017

mañana

Daily Draw: Shadowscapes Tarot, The Sun

Numerologically this card interests me. The one signifying beginnings the nine almost completion. Together they add to ten - full completion which reduces down to the one -beginnings again. Or should I add together in Roman numerals? 10 + 1 + 10 which would be a three. 

The sun has set on another day and I've no idea if I am at the beginning or almost end of my thesis work or somewhere in the middle...I'll know more tomorrow I guess. 




Sunday 2 April 2017

Tread lightly

Daily Draw: Shadowscapes Tarot, Page of Pentacles

The Page offers the opportunities for growth and prosperity. It is up to us what we make of the ember she holds - a smouldering coal or a bright rising star. 

At the bottom left of the card there is a sinister looking trio. Did they walk along the viridian path of the dragon's spine and become so absorbed with dreams of possessing material wealth that they turned to stone? 

So how can she avoid a similar fate? 

The owl perched on the slim branch suggests it will be wise to tread lightly along the dragon's back. 





Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them... 

So throw away your baggage and go forward.
There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet,
trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair.
That’s why you must walk so lightly. 


Aldous Huxley, 

Saturday 1 April 2017

Wise cups

Daily Draw: Shadowscapes Tarot, Two of Cups

These two look to be insanely in love. Hands matched perfectly, they wrap themselves around each other in an embrace as fluid as smoke. One tentatively offers a heart, the other a cup from which they both drink deeply.

A sylph keeps watch over larger cup balanced precariously on an outlying branch. Is one lover holding something back or holding something in reserve? 

This card reminds me of how young people in love will put up with all manner of privations to be together because just being together is enough. I remember a young couple who spent their last penny on a deposit for a flat, couldn't afford crockery and took in turns to have a cup of tea for a few months. Long term they didn't make it. 

The first flushes of romantic love only take us so far. The lengths people will go to to be together is an indicator. How we respond when life throws up a major test is a better predictor. The lavender dryad is wise to keep a cup in reserve for that time.