Today's Draw: The Empress in the What's Crossing Success position from the Peaceful Path Tarot and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Are you considering a big change? Is your life ok, but nothing terribly exiting? Could you use to shake up your routine a little?
The "Crossing" position in tarot is one that can help or hinder whatever it's modifying. And in the case of this card combo, I think it's saying that the continual birth of new ideas—and the continual rebirth of ourselves—symbolized by the Empress is what adds to our success in life.
I'm sure it's possible to be successful doing the same thing in the same way over and over again. In fact, I've noticed that a lot of authors in the spiritual non-fiction realm just regurgitate the same book over and over and they're successful. And it makes sense, in a way, because sometimes people just need to hear something a different way in order for it to sink in. So if you tell them the same thing over and over using different words, you're certain to reach them.
So you can find some forms of success regardless, but I think if you want success in marriage, personal development, career and all-around, you really have to try new things. In fact, I think it's a major contributor to happiness. And it's not just trying new things, it's having new ideas and thoughts—and being open to new ideas and thoughts.
I think the more we challenge ourselves to step outside our areas of complacency, the fresher and more vital life feels. When I look back on my life, I see where I've "reinvented" myself many times. In a way it's a rebirthing...you change your hair color, you switch careers, you change your lifestyle...all of those lead to a "new you". And think of vital you feel when you do something like that!
Beyond the dramatic things, what are some behavioral things where you're responding the same way over and over again? How can you change something there in a way that supports growth? Is there a way you see a certain issue where you could open your mind a little? Or some part of your daily routine you could reinvent?
Also consider that if you have a big change you need to make, that the momentum can begin just by changing something small. So say you want to quit your job as an accountant to open a bakery and that feels like too big a leap to make, why not teach baking classes out of your home? Or try catering a friend's party? Or play with some recipes, substituting different flours? Or heck, why not just come up with a name for your bakery and print up some business cards? Or consider some sort of partnership pairing, like Sue's Bakery and Tacos...haha...just throw some ideas out there where someone could come in and share the risk. I've noticed that a lot of coffee shops get baked goods from neighborhood bakers...maybe start there. See? Instead of thinking "how am I going to afford this?" or "how am I going to create this change in my life?", just brainstorm all kinds of ideas. The act of thinking or doing or taking baby steps alone, could inspire something you never considered.
I think if we all really took a look, we'd see there are some things we decided for ourselves 30 years and haven't challenged since then. They might be things we're happy with, but what if there's an option out there you'd be even happier with? You won't know that until you consider other options.
In the same way we go through our closets every once in a while to throw out old fashions and things that no longer fit, the same opportunity exists in every area of our life. How long has it been since you've become conscious enough of your life to ask yourself "is XYZ really working for me anymore?...is the way I drive to work...the way I cook chicken...the way I engage others...the way I respond to stress...is all of that still working for me or is it possible there's a better way?" Often if we change the way we do something, things around it change, too. Are you ready to see what you can give birth to in your life today?
Today's Draw: The Emperor from the Tarot of the Sidhe in the What's Working Against Your Goal position from Deck of 1000 Spreads. Do you have control issues? Is there a certain way you want things done and no other way can compare? Is there only one outcome to your goal that will satisfy?
When I first starting doing this blog, my hope/goal was that I would write forever without repeating myself. Inevitably after 700+ blogs, though, I do. I really don't like to do it, though. And I'm on the verge of doing it again. And, in a way, that's what today's card combo is all about.
Crowning Influences are major, kind of obvious influences on something, like a goal, as we have in today's reading. And the Crossing card is something that gets in the way of those influences on our goal...something that works against all the work we do, in a way of speaking.
So the Emperor is what's working against the work we do. The Emperor is very yang. On the plus side, he's a leader and strategist. On the negative side, he can be very controlling.
So by trying to control how repetitive this blog is or is not, I'm working against myself. It's like I assume all of you are like my sister, reading all 700 blogs in order (it's actually more than that, because I did this for six months on Facebook before I started my official blog), and committing each to memory (which I doubt she does...haha). It's as if I think everyone only needs to hear something once—and in one way—to get the message.
Thinking too hard and trying to control what comes up is working against me....and has been for the past six months or so as I've felt I've started touching on some of the same "fine points" more than once.
Sometimes we can be our own worst nemesis.
Because also in that six months, I've come up with a couple of thoughts that I could really do something with if I wanted to write a book or ebook or something. So if I packed it in, I wouldn't have had those insights. Also, it's ludicrous to think any other than a small handful of people read every day or have been following me for all three years. So it's best to just let go and trust the right message is hitting the blogosphere at the right time, regardless if it's something I've talked about before.
So here's the message FOR YOU—let go. Let chaos have its equal time. Embrace the random. Last week in the Lucky Like a Fox post, I talked about detachment, which is letting go of outcomes. Certainly when you have a goal, you have an outcome in mind. But resist the urge to have every little detail spelled out. Leave room for miracles.
One thing I know for sure...god and the universe have a much bigger imagination and creative capability than you or I. Make room for them to meet you halfway and serve you something you could have never imagined on your own. Whether you have irrational control issues (like me) or are married to a certain specific outcome, loosen up and let the wind guide you to your goal.
Today's Draw: Eight of Swords from the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot in the What's Crossing Positive Influences in My Life position from the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Have not been able to manifest what you want in life? Is it possible you've given up too soon? Or could it be that you just tried too hard?
A "crossing" card is usually a card that is placed on top of another card in a tarot spread, crossing it, like a plus sign. (This is different from a "covering" card, which is placed square on top of another card in a spread, thereby covering it.) The crossing card can either help or hinder the card it crosses, depending on the context (whereas a covering card is always hindering or getting in the way of the card beneath).
In this case, the crossing card is what's getting in the way of positive influences in our lives. And the Eight of Swords from the Phantasmagoric Theater is about not making decisions, having a lack of patience or giving up too soon. So consider if leaving things up in the air or backing out too soon might be blocking the positive influences in your life.
One of my friends calls me "lucky like a fox", because I set myself up for success without even trying. It's not like I stumble into luck or luck just happens to me. At some level it's by design, but I'm usually not conscious of it or "trying".
Here's an example. When I first joined Facebook, I decided to friend some tarot people, because it's my hobby. At this point, I had no intention of ever writing a tarot book or creating a product or anything like that. In fact, it was the furthest thing from my mind. I did know I wanted to one day write a spiritual book one day, though. But I certainly didn't think anything on Facebook would help that.
So anyway, while chatting with the tarot people I friended on Facebook, I noticed a really friendly woman named Barbara that everyone seemed to know. She and I got along really well, so I friended her. A couple of months after friending her, I realized that the Barbara I friended was a big-time tarot author. And I thought, "oh cool I have a famous friend". Then, after time, I learned she was also mucky muck at Llewellyn, the big publisher in the space. But what did I care? I wasn't ever going to write a book. I was just happy that my friend that I liked was part of the tarot glitterati...haha.
Then a year or more passes and I get the idea for the Deck of 1000 Spreads and I need to know how to approach a publisher. So I ask my friend Barbara, figuring I'd send the proposal to her and a few others. Then, as it turned out, my friend liked my idea and Llewellyn made me an offer. Lucky like a fox.
Since then I've learned what it takes to get a spiritual book published. It's one of those Catch-22 situations. They want to know you're worth taking a risk on. So having a published work that's doing well in its space doesn't hurt. Having a following on my blog (that I started for no conscionable reason other than I felt drawn to do it) and having this now huge cache of content and spiritual thought, also doesn't hurt. Nor does the discipline it takes to do this every day. Nor does the fact that I have a loyal following.
None of this was planned to fall into place like this. But the end result of writing a spiritual book was. Now, that part hasn't manifested yet, but after attending a seminar on publishing spiritual books not that long ago, I learned that I'm WAY better positioned than most others. I've somehow already done all the work that looks like such a huge obstacle for them to traverse. Lucky like a fox.
Now, the reason I've told you all of this is because I think a lot of people set an intention, sprinkle some seeds, then sit and watch. And wait. And poke the ground. And stay on course. And spend their energy completely on point. Then get disappointed when nothing bears fruit....or when it bears little fruit.
"Lucky like a fox" plants seeds and goes on with their life, sprinkling seeds everywhere they go. And they get caught up in the wind like a leaf, floating here and there, doing loop-de-loops and never quite landing. Never having any concrete expectations from the seeds they plant, never making a specific planting with the intention of it growing. Just knowing their ultimate intention, then going on with their lives. In Buddhism, it's called detachment...detaching from the outcome.
When you go after something pointedly with intention, the temptation to manipulate outcomes is huge. And this sort of desperate energy is felt all around. It's constricting. It narrows the flow of positive influences, because your definition of what is "positive" is something entirely dependent on its ability to bring an outcome. So maybe you make connections with people solely for the purpose of reaching your intention. And that is felt. Or maybe you don't "waste time" on writing a tarot book when what you really want to do is write spirituality books. So you don't get a good track record with a publisher, or a following from people who like your work, because you didn't anticipate you'd need all that.
When you detach from an outcome and just float in the wind like the leaf...always moving forward but not attached to any single action producing an outcome...you float in a field of greater possibilities where pathways offer themselves to you through weird little whispers in your ear—"friend that chick Barbara", "write a tarot book", "start a blog". And you follow these voices and some bear fruit and some don't. And you may plant 1000 seeds, but you're not keeping count, because you're not outcome driven. Your intention, like everything else along the path, is a seed you've planted in the universe. And as long as you keep moving forward, you trust it's getting water and sun and food. And because you're not so constricted by having to watch the earth, positive influences have a much greater pipeline through which to reach you.
So that's what I think today's Eight of Swords is trying to say. The little guy has a turkey baster with which he's conceived his idea. But he's otherwise trapped in the dark, not knowing where to move...instead of just moving anyway. He's waiting for a red carpet to roll out and guide him through all the thoughts (swords) in his head. And he's even giving some of those ideas "the hand". He's thinking too hard...trying too hard...and making it all too hard. Some of those ideas he's refusing might be positive influences in disguise...or routes to positive influences. But he's not free wheeling and open enough to even consider that.
People who have what you want didn't get there because they never failed, made a wrong turn or tried something that led to nowhere. They got there because they kept on moving forward despite all of that. And they probably kept on failing, too. But they were on a journey, not running errands, you know? And they probably found success in a way they never could have imagined or set up through conscious thought.
They were lucky, yes. But they set the luck up for themselves through the seeds they planted, the perseverance they had and the wide channel they created to allow positive influences to flow in through. Lucky like a fox.
