Friday, November 9, 2012

11/10/12-11/11/12—Breaking Routine


Weekend Reading: Guardian of Air from the Gaian Tarot. This is one of my favorite cards from the deck, because it has all the stuff I love—owls and crystal singing bowls and snow. This card calls you to remove yourself from your everyday life this weekend and spend some time in silence. You can do that by spending time in a special natural setting, taking a long bubble bath, meditating, challenging yourself in some way, trying something new...anything to break out of the routines that lead to habitual thought patterns and losing sight of the "now". By breaking routine, you'll make space for insight and clarity to flow into your head. You'll transcend your normal definition of "self". And you may even just find some of the answers you've been looking for. At the very least, you'll gain a much needed break from the hamster wheel of life. 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

11/9/12—Doing What You Want

Today's Draw: Giving Over to What I Love from Illuminate! Life Journey Cards. Do you do what you want in life? Or do you find yourself doing stuff just because everyone else does...or to please others...or because "that's the way it's supposed to be done"? What are some of the consequences you've come across in either doing what you want or not doing what you want?

Ever since I was a kid, I've wondered, "what if everyone did just what they loved? Would everything get done?" Would trash get picked up? Would sewage get taken care of? Would bodies get buried? Or would everyone just choose to work in the jimmy section of an ice cream store? 

At times when I've thought of this, I've thought that some people really like to collect trash. They do. And so I've thought my Utopian idea could work. But at other times I've thought that not enough people like trash enough to cover the need. 

That said, I think there a lot of white collar jobs would be covered. There are enough people who love science, for example, to fill our need for scientists. I mean, theoretically, that is. Some of those people are currently doing something else because it pays more or because they didn't have the grades to be a scientist. And some scientists might rather be collecting trash. 

I was thinking along these lines today, because I kind of have a nice little set up where I don't do anything I don't want to do most of the time. I don't clean my house until I'm tired of seeing it dirty, for example. Or unless someone's coming over. I don't do laundry until I need it. That kind of thing. Yet, there are things I like that I do on their regular schedule. For example, I like to cut Magick's hair. So when it gets long and unwieldy, we play beauty shop. 

So how's this working for me? Good. And not. I don't exercise because I don't want to and the result is that I'm overweight and feel like an old lady. So that's not a good thing. Either way I lose. But on the other hand, not doing what I don't want to do has also helped me be more genuine to myself in some ways. I do like myself better and feel like I'm a better human since I stopped trying to meet social standards for what a person should look like, act like, occupy their time with, etc.

So I guess the secret is to give yourself over to what you love. And in those situations where you dislike both the action and the consequences of not doing it, do what is right. Life is too short to work it any other way.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

11/8/12—Learning Something New

Today's Draw: The Hermit from the Collective Tarot. What new thing did you learn about life today? What did you learn about yourself? And what did you intuit today?

The Hermit is a solitary seeker of inner truth, introspective and wise. She learns something new from every interaction and every experience in her life. She sees more than is evident, noticing the subtleties of life. 

I've always felt a particular connection to the Hermit. I'm a lone wolf, after all. And an inner journeyer. I like to look for the lessons of life. 

I believe that every day we learn something new....not just about life in general, but about ourselves as well. Today one of my life lessons was that it takes a lot more roux to thicken a cream soup than I had imagined. I read a recipe for a rule of thumb, then doubted what I read and ended up with thin soup. 

I've also recently learned that people from your past that you're curious about will somehow pop back into your life in the most interesting and surprising ways. In the past week or so, four people from my past have either resurfaced in my life personally or through the words of someone else. It's interesting how you can go years without "bumping into" someone from the past and then, BAM, they're on you like flies. :D

About myself, I learned a few things. I learned where I was on the whole "caring what others think" thing. And I'm still not as far along as I'd like to be. And I realized really how persistent I can be about something I want. There's something I've been pursuing for years without any discernible progress, yet I keep attacking it in new ways hoping for a breakthrough. What I've learned/realized is that I'll never give up, even the battle I'm waging is against myself. 

Because The Hermit sheds light on dark or unseen things, I'm also going to comment on a psychic thing that happened today. I pre-ordered something months ago and had no way of knowing when the package would ship or arrive at my house. But today I was thinking to myself, "it seems about time I should get that package." And the mailman came and went and I thought, "odd, for some reason I though I'd get that today." Then a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and the mailman had the package. I mean, of course I was "expecting" a package...sometime, like, in November or so. But like I said, I had no idea it even shipped, much less would arrive today. So I was pretty proud of that spark of intuition. 

So what about you? What did you learn today?


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

11/7/12—Winterizing Your Soul

Today's Draw: Mabon (Justice) from the Book of Shadows Tarot. What does "being ready for winter" entail for you? Are you ready? And what do the winter months mean to you?

Mabon is the time of the Autumnal Equinox. It's the time of harvest and of preparing for winter. It's also the time when, in the myth of Demeter, that Persephone begins her descent back into the underworld until Spring. This is a time of forgiveness and of preparing our souls for the long, dark months ahead. 

Back before electricity and other modern conveniences, the work you completed now determined whether or not you'd live through the winter. Did you may enough hay? Chop enough wood? Store enough food? 

This time of year we still "winterize" our properties. For me, that means trimming the azaleas, mulching leaves and doing a winter weeding. I'm not much for gardening, but I manage to do it every year. And we sort of mentally prepare ourselves for the months ahead. The darker months can be depressing. One of my online friends lives in Alaska and they go without sunlight at all for a good couple of months!

Personally, I like winter. I like the snow. I like the cold. While many will spend less time outside in the winter months, I'll be out there more. Certainly more than I'm outside in summer. There have been times when I've laid outside on the hammock so long watching the snow fall that I've accumulated more than an inch of snow on me! I love to bundle up and watch the snow fall. Is it ever more quiet and peaceful than when the earth is insulated in that way?

Anyway, I've been trying to think of things I do to prepare for winter...or things I do differently. I get out the blankets, because I like a cold house. I drink more hot tea. I snuggle with the pack more. Cook more soup. I nest. I don't ever have to prepare my soul for the long, dark months ahead because it is always more than ready for the downtime...haha. 

Tomorrow a big nor'easter is supposed to blow through. It could be the first flakes of winter. The thought excites me, but I know better than to get too excited. We're frequently disappointed when it comes to snowfall in the DC area. But I did do my normal "snow is coming" ritual. I backed my car into the driveway and lifted up the windshield wipers. There! Prepared. 

How about you?

Monday, November 5, 2012

11/6/12—Defining Your Mission in Life

Today's Draw: The Nine of Pentacles from the Crystal Visions Tarot. How much of what/who you are today was visualized long ago? How much of what you are came as a surprise development? And how does it all come together to help define your mission in life?


The Nine of Pentacles usually pictures a woman and speaks of someone who is self-sufficient and appreciates the finer things in life. The lwb for this deck says she has tamed the wild part of her (thus, the tiger) and has built the life she visualized for herself. 

This got me thinking about what I've visualized for myself over the years. Even as a little girl, I never wanted to be married. And I always wanted to be around dogs. At first I wanted to be a veterinarian, but as a grew older and my talents made themselves known, my desires moved more toward a career in the arts, first as an actress, then as an advertising copywriter. 

So today, I'm a single doggie mom who writes advertising for a living. I remember when I was young, passions and interests would come and go. The same is true of me as an adult. I cook, sew, do stained glass, craft, create and pursue all manner of artistic endeavors. But only writing has stuck with me as an ongoing passion that permeates my life. I can't imagine doing anything else. I believe I would be terribly unhappy earning a living any other way. In fact I was so unhappy the first three years of my professional life doing other things in advertising agencies, that I found a way to freelance and build a portfolio in my off hours. 

But as I was thinking about all the stuff I visualized that came true in my life...my writing, the dogs, the singledom...I also thought about stuff that happened in my life that I never saw coming. 

For example, I never saw myself being self-employed, though my early foray into freelancing (along with my rabid independence) should have been a clue. And I also NEVER saw myself becoming a spiritual writer or a tarotist. And now those things are essential parts of my life. Heck, growing up I was not only "shielded" from religion, I considered myself an atheist. Now I embrace all gods. And I didn't even know what tarot was growing up. 

In retrospect, of course, I can see how it makes sense...introspective, day-dreamy girl and all. But the whole spirituality thing wasn't something I ever visualized for myself. It just happened. And the "just happening" part of it has entirely reshaped my life and everything in it. I could still be a copywriter and doggie mommy without it, but it has opened a new path for visualization that I know will serve the second half of my professional life well. 

And I don't mean to say that everything we are today had to have been visualized in adolescence or whatever. It's just that I never visualized the spirituality stuff coming into my life—AT ALL. There didn't even seem to be a basis for it the way I was raised. It was a complete surprise development. And now it has sparked a whole new set of visualizations. And it has also changed something so deep in me that I would characterize it as changing my DNA. It feels like, outside of my creativity, intelligence level and sense of humor, I'm almost unrecognizable in relation to who I was when I first started visualizing a life. 

Even my hair color and eye color are different...haha. Honestly. I went from blond as a teen to auburn blond in my 20s/30s and now I'm more brownish. And my eyes changed from blue to green when I was about 30. 

So all of this makes me wonder. I define my mission in life as "healing people with my words". But part of the means to do that came from something I never visualized for myself—the spirituality. And part of it came from something I pretty much always knew was ingrained in me—the writing. If it's why I came here, why didn't I see it sooner? And if a surprise development was the missing link to having/finding purpose in my life, what might still be hiding itself within you?

Sunday, November 4, 2012

11/5/12—Choosing Something Different


Today's Draw Classic*: Four of Wands from the Tarot of Prague. Do you have a normal "routine" you follow every day? Do you feel stuck in a rut? What's one thing you can do differently today?

NOTE: It's not really Baba Prague week. This is a classic post from a week when it WAS Baba Prague week. And the Top Secret Project mentioned below is my Deck of 1000 Spreads, coming out in Spring 2013 and now available for pre-order on Amazon. :)



This week we're going to have a little fun and feature a different deck each day from Baba Studio. Baba decks are created in Prague, Czech Republic. Their quality and design is highly prized among collectors and their decks sell out quickly. 

As tarot is wont to do, the first card I choose after I make the decision to have a "theme" week for the first time ever is the Four of Wands. Among other things, it talks about breaking out of your routine. It also speaks of celebration. And both of those things are exactly what I've done today—celebrating my favorite deck creators by breaking my deck selection routine (which, by the way is usually a random choice made according to my daily whims.)

We all get caught in ruts. Many times we're not even aware of it. We just feel like we're on automatic or slogging through something and don't realize it's because we repeat the same task day in and day out. In fact, most of our days are routine to one degree or another. We wake, drink coffee, shower, drive to work, work, drive home, make dinner, do family stuff, sleep, get up and do it all again. And this kind of repetition lulls us into hypnotic state of sorts. We're not living consciously. We're just completing the routine.

So today's card comes to tell us it's time to shake things up a little. It doesn't have to be anything major. Just something spontaneous and different. Get your coffee made a different way in the morning. Walk your dog along a new route. Stop by that place you've always wondered about on the way home. Or dance to the music at the grocery store. Just change the energy of your day a little and see if it makes a difference. Better yet, do one thing different every day this week and see if it doesn't change your energy. You never know what will happen if you veer off course. 

So today, I'm changing my usual routine with my daily reading. It's not a terribly big thing, but it woke me up enough to give me a new perspective on this particular routine. I already have a few themes for future weeks swimming in my head. But I'm also going to finalize my proposal for my Top Secret Project today and open the door (hopefully) to a whole new thing in my life. And that is BIG. I almost feel like the last few months of my life have been about shaking things up in my routine. And it feels good. The more I exercise my options, the more I see how many options are available to me and the more of an adventure life becomes. 

Which is why I think it's important to do something different and unexpected now and again. I think routine makes us forget we have options. Somewhere along the line we chose a certain direction and haven't veered from it because it was easy and efficient. Well, today is Veer Day. Whether you do something big or small, approach it consciously. Be present and see if it makes you feel anxious or comfortable or neutral or whatever. 

And, just for funsies, maybe take the opportunity to look at multiple things in your daily routine and ask yourself how you might do them differently. See what your many choices are. Question why you made the choices you made. And know for sure that when you repeat something day after day, you're doing it because it's the option you still consider most viable, and not just because it's the same thing you did yesterday. These are all baby steps. But they lead us toward living more consciously, being in the now and experiencing more of the adventure of our life.

Taken from an entry on 6/13/11.