Friday, January 18, 2013

1/19/13-1/20/13—Waiting Out the Storm

Weekend Reading: Tower in the House of Clouds from Beth Seilonen's Magick Lenormand (featuring Magick Moonbeam!) and my Deck of Lenormand Houses. There could be some complications with those in authority, issues between you and some large organization or some gray area of the law showing up this weekend. Or, really, it could be all of the above. It could even be that someone's undermining YOUR authority.  Even on a day when the wind isn't in your favor, clouds pass quickly enough, however. So just get through this phase knowing you'll be back to blue skies soon. To fight against something bigger and better prepared than you, however, could bring on a whole weather system of gloom. So if you get stopped for a ticket, be polite. If you get your paw slapped by your boss, be contrite. And if you get placed on hold forever while some company is looking up your account information over the phone, sing along with the Muzak®. 

Thursday, January 17, 2013

1/18/12—Being the Magician

Today's Draw: The Magician from the Infinite Visions tarot by Gloria Jean. Are you aware of your own power? What if you were divinely encoded with capabilities—or even perhaps a mission—and you just don't know it? What if we, as a race, all had that gift but vowed to forget it millennia ago because of the irresponsible way we were using it?

So I thought I'd be all clever today and choose my tarot card in conjunction with a card from my soon-to-be-released Deck of 1000 Spreads. I did this for a couple reasons. One is because I like to promote this product that has been a project in my hopper for two years now. They're going to be released in less than two months time by America's largest tarot publisher and I'm getting excited. The other reason is that I've just added a new tab to my blog with information about this deck and purchasing information about another cartomancy tool I've created, The Deck of Lenormand Houses. In a month or two, a third product will hit that page (but I'm going to keep that on the downlow for now.) If you need a link to my blog, it's at http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/ 

So on to the day's draw. The question I chose for today's draw to answer was "What You Can't Change". See, I wasn't in the mood to be all uplifting tonight and I thought we'd get something...well, I don't know what I thought. But two things happened that I didn't expect. The message we got was TOTALLY uplifting. And the card I chose ended up looking INCREDIBLY STUNNING against the backdrop of my hotly-anticipated new deck...haha. 

The Magician embodies the spark of creation. He can manifest things in the real world through nothing more than will and desire. Earth, air, fire and water are at hand to do his bidding, and he uses his sharp mind, flowing heart, fiery energy and grounded physical presence to alchemize their forces. 

I was recently listening to a lecture by Gregg Braden entitled Unleashing The Power of The God Code.  I can't tell you all the details here...it's a 4-CD set...haha. But he systematically goes through his proof points...some strong, some hard to tell...of why we're an intentionally created race, encoded with this "Magician" power in our DNA. And by Magician power, I mean this power to access god-like powers of creation. He says we're not god, but part god, part animal, with characteristics of each. 

Some of what I heard on that CD completely aligns with what I feel deep in my soul that we are. Some of it is stuff I'm not on board with. But overall, it was fascinating to me. And somewhere along the line, for some reason or another, our conscious knowledge of the Magician within has become lost or forgotten. And it's no surprise. 

For thousands of years we've been told god is separate from us, a force to be feared. And that anyone who claims to have god-like powers is tainted, an enemy of the lord, and their soul will be struck down for countless eternities. And, for many of those years, if you weren't on board with the plan, you'd be slaughtered by your god-fearing brethren. But what if we started believing god was separate from us because our gifts are so fearsome that we could annihilate each other with a force that would make a nuclear bomb blush? Gregg Braden posits that theory and interprets ancient, pre-Biblical, text in an interesting way that supports it. 

People who practice energy healing, psychic arts, manifestation or other methodologies know human beings are capable of more than science is currently able to prove. It's not a hope or wish or dream. We've seen it work too many times and too consistently to believe anything else. But imagine that even what we know and have witnessed is just the tip of our potential. 

That's the Magician. And it's what today's draw tells us we can't change about ourselves. If Gregg Braden is right and if extrasensory/paranormal/whatever powers are encoded in our DNA, then we're on a collision course with our own divinity and there's nothing we can do about it. Cool, huh?

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

1/17/13—Making Plans

Today's Draw: The Three of Pentacles from the Daniloff Tarot by Alexander Daniloff. Are you a plan maker or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants? Are you good about keeping to plans and crossing things off your lists? What is your five-year plan for your life?

This is the third time in four days we've had a "3" card. The Empress and yesterday's Three of Cups are the other two. What's the significance of that? 

Well, three is a pretty cool number. It's the only number that can claim to be the sum of all the numbers that come before it. In essence, it's the gifted child of the yang 1 and yin 2. Good things come in threes. Spells are repeated in threes. The Christian God is a triple god...father, son and holy spirit. And the Pagan Goddess is a triple Goddess. Finally, this week we've had 3 threes. I think it bodes well for us...a little message from above that somebody's got our back. 

This particular three shows a guy studying blueprints by way of creating a structure. We do that in our lives all the time...create structure through the use of plans. Plans are a way of honing our focus so we can create something new. 

Some people are very structured. Some not so much. I fall somewhere in between. I like the stability of plans, but I like a little spontaneity within those plans. Call me at noon to go to dinner tonight and I'll say no. That's not enough time for me to plan for the plans...haha. I like to make plans like that days ahead. So in that sense, I'm not very spontaneous. But say we have plans to go to dinner and you change your mind about where to go at the last minute, I'm cool with that. Or if something goes awry in our plans and we have to "off-road"...that works, too. I'm also pretty good at thinking on my feet....going with the flow. Just not in those instances where you need a last-minute buddy to accompany you somewhere. 

I'm also a list maker. Lists are plans. I usually have a list when I go to the grocery store. It doesn't contain everything I'll buy, but it contains a list of "must haves". Or if I have a lot of chores to do, I keep a list, but reserve the right to leave one thing undone. In fact, I'm so weird about leaving something undone that I often make up a fake chore that I'll never do, just to make sure all the stuff that needs to be done gets done. 

Perhaps where I'm most remiss with plans is my overall life plan. I made a plan when I was 18 to become an advertising copywriter and I'm still one at 50. In my 30s I had a plan to write screenplays, but that one never came to pass. It was kind of a loose and casual plan. And for the past many years I've had a plan to move to Maine and be an author. Well, I'm an author now. But that was a kind of loose and casual plan, too. And I'm not as close to being the kind of author I want as I'd like...the kind that lives in Maine and is adored by the masses for her boundless wisdom. 

So maybe I need to make a different kind of plan. Sometimes plans can get in the way of spontaneity and flow. And sometimes they can get you to a desired destination in a timely, efficient manner. I'm not miserable in my life by any means. And, in fact, my loose and casual author plans are going ok. But I'm beginning to think I want to see more progress than I've seen. That's what plans and lists are good for...getting things done. 


Tuesday, January 15, 2013

1/16/13—Bringing The Sunshine

Today's Draw: Three of Cups from the Art of Life Tarot. When you do things for others, does it make you happy yourself? What little bits of sunshine do you like to sprinkle in the lives of others? What can you do in the next day or so to make others smile?

The Three of Cups is a card that traditionally speaks of celebration and friendships. That theme is depicted here in Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. The quote from Sir J.M. Barrie reads:

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves."

Of course, the easiest way to bring sunshine into someone's life is to simply flash them a smile. There are many studies that prove just the act of smiling alone can make you happier. In one that I found from Scientific American, they actually injected botox into women's faces to make it impossible for them to frown. Turns out the women who couldn't frown were happier than the ones who could...haha. 

There are also studies that support the idea that smiling is contagious (you can find links to these studies on my blog.) So put the two together and your smile makes you happy, it has a tendency to make others smile back, and that makes them happy. So Sir J.M. Barrie's quote can be proven correct. 

I think anytime we give something of ourselves we create the possibility for a similar loop of happiness. A couple of months back Ciro Marchetti developed a new Lenormand deck and hid his initials in every illustration. I have no doubt doing that gave him the giggles. And people are having fun finding all the hidden gems. 

In fact, the Luncheon of the Boating Party (which I always thought was called The Launching of the Boating Party!) is an example of this kind of fun, too. Renior had a habit of including his friends in his paintings and the lady in the foreground making kissy face with the dog would become his future wife. Of course it must have been fun for all the people pictured and all who knew them, but 100 years later it's a fun piece of trivia to know. This isn't just an iconic painting, it's a slice of Renoir's life...a gift of himself for the ages. 

That's how I feel about crafting. I'd much rather have something homemade than store bought. Handmade items contain "the sunshine of others". 

So all this begs the question...what can you do to bring sunshine into the lives of others, and to yourself? Yes, you can smile, but what else? What other little piece of yourself can you put into your day? And it doesn't even have to be a piece of yourself. It can be a jar of candy on your desk at the office or bringing in a special coffee blend for the coffee maker. What sunshine can you bring to yourself and others today/tomorrow?

Monday, January 14, 2013

1/15/13—Focusing on What's Present

Today's Draw: Four of Cups from the Victorian Romantic. Does it feel like something's missing in your life? Is it something you can't quite pin down? What if the key to that feeling was found not in what's missing, but what's present in your life?

We had this exact card just a few months ago. At that time, I challenged you to ask yourself some pretty tough questions about your life. If you're curious, the post was posted on 10/17/12, but dated 10/18. I won't repeat any of that here, as I have another take on the card. 

To begin with, this card from this deck is one of my favorite cards. The gentleman is surrounded by lovely ladies, he's at a party, yet something is missing. Sometimes this is a card indicating boredom, but more often than not it's about dissatisfaction. 

I'm sure all of us feel like "something's missing" at some time or another. We might even feel that way frequently. It can indicate a whole bunch of things covered in the post from last October. But one thing I think it also covers is our connection to spirit...or our connection to whatever we were before we came here. 

It's hard to be a human. We come here and we're disconnected from that part of us that is divine. Some believe that, as a race, we once knew, but forgot. But it's like there's something hardwired in us that knows we're so much greater than our everyday lives suggest...and we just can't seem to grasp it long enough to make it last. We see glimpses of it through "coincidence" and "miracles" and "spiritual epiphanies". But those are passing moments and we're left, once again, with our humanness. 

I was talking just today with someone about being human. I debate sometimes about whether we're here to just be human and have this experience with no pressure placed on it. Or whether we're here to raise ourselves up as humans so that one day the whole race may fuse with our collective divinity. Or some such notion. So maybe we're here to be schlumps. Or maybe we're here to find our divinity. Or maybe we're just here. 

Anyway, today when I saw this card, I thought the man had lost connection to his own divinity...and to the larger God around him. And the advice I had for him is this—gratitude. Look at all the abundance around him. But he can't be happy within it. Because he's not grateful for it. He's not grateful for his health, his good looks, his friends, his opportunities. If he were, it would be hard to stand in the midst of all of that missing something. He's focusing on what he doesn't have instead of what he does. 

We're all allowed moments of that. If we're in mourning over some loss, it's completely understandable. But there are times we feel this way when we have no good excuse. And the answer is gratitude. Our higher, divine selves understand the power of gratitude, but it's something we often forget as humans. So the next time you feel like something's missing in your life, consider that the only thing that's missing is your gratitude for all you do have. 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

1/14/13—Getting Creative

Today's Draw: The Gardener from the Gaian Tarot. What kind of a creator are you? What do you create? And which do you value most—the destination or the ride?

Most call her the Empress, but Joanna Powell Colbert calls her the gardener. She is the earth mother...the creator...the nurturer. 

All of us have some garden we tend in our lives. Some of us grow things from seed. Some of us plant seedlings. Some of get fully grown plants and hope we don't kill them. And some of us like to cross-pollinate and create new strains. 

When it comes to actual greenery and plants, I'm a seedling girl. I have a pretty extensive herb garden that stays in containers. I'm not good at tending at beds, so I let them go wild. But elsewhere in my life I'm all about creating new strains and growing from seed.

This year I'm hoping to get a publishing contract for a spiritual book. That was a goal last year, but I just lost my grasp on it with all the other stuff going on in my life. Meanwhile, my spreadcrafting product, The Deck of 1000 Spreads, will be coming out in March (now available for pre-order on Amazon and everywhere else). And I've just self-published the Deck of Lenormand Houses, which is pretty much the same thing, but with Lenormand (a popular fortune-telling oracle). I'm also hoping to unearth the glass from the junk room this year so I can go back to making stained glass. 

I don't know what I would do or who I would be if original thought and the expression of it were not allowed in our society. It's such a big part of my world, touching nearly every waking hour. My job in advertising pretty much depends on it. And after hours I work on things like those decks and this blog. They say there are no original ideas, but I don't agree. Nor do I think it matters, as long as it's original to me. 

I'm not really sure what all this musing is about, except that I know for every person like me, there's at least one other person intimidated by creativity. Either they feel it has to be perfect or they have to have a big idea or even have to be good at it. But like I said up above, there are many ways to tend a garden. If you're not confident with growing from seed, then buy a seedling (like a craft kit) or fully grown plant (like something nearly complete that you can easily embellish.) Nothing compares to a gift or possession that you have put your heart and soul into creating, imo. 

We're all so different and I'm sure there are people out there who dislike being creative with the same passion as I like it. But I think there are a lot of people out there who shy away from creative projects because they think they won't do it well. For example, I can't draw, but it doesn't keep me from making my own stained glass patterns or creating card decks or anything else. 

The goal isn't to display your art publicly or get compliments from others or to even like it yourself. After all, all the actual creation happens in the process. If you only get joy out of the finished product, you may as well just buy something on etsy. The real joy is in the doing, whether you do it well or not. You just have to give yourself the permission to enjoy the ride, even if it ultimately leads you to Uglyville.