11/22/12-11/23/12—Affirming Your Growth

Thanksgiving/Black Friday Reading: Letter and Stork from Ciro Marchetti's Gilded Reverie Lenormand. 

Lenormand cards are read in pairs of two. The first card you draw is the noun and the second card is the adjective. This pair says that a message is coming your way. It could be something that changes your life, like finding out you're pregnant or you got the promotion. But what might be more likely is this scenario—you get together with your family and realize how much you've grown since the last time you were together. Or something happens to show you where you've evolved. 

It could even be that your message has been a long time coming. Letters are not email. They take time to arrive. You may not get the news you're hoping for as quickly as you'd hope. But it is coming. 

WARNING! This is where the reading ends and the cartomancy wonk talk starts.

If there's any doubt that the Lenormand oracle has taken the tarot world by storm, this will give you an idea. I ordered this deck two days ago, literally seconds after it was available for order. The first print run is now sold out. Fortunately it's not a limited edition, so he'll probably make another run if there's interest. This deck is typical of what you expect from Ciro Marchetti—luscious satin finish on high quality stock, luxurious hits of varnish on the decorative border, doubles of a few of the key cards so you can choose the ones that speak to you, and four extra cards resulting in a full 40-card deck. 

I'm a total newbie to Lenormand, so I invite my more knowledgeable friends to add to this interpretation if they want. Lenormand is unlike tarot in that you don't read it intuitively the same way you might tarot. There is less room for interpretation, but still plenty enough room to get it wrong. ;) I'll be back Friday evening with the Weekend Reading. Have a great Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

10/11/12—Facing Death

Today's Draw: Transformation from the Osho Zen Tarot. Do do you feel change works on your timetable? Do you feel you have any control over the process at all? And if not, do you tend to busy yourself in stuff you CAN control in order to feel "right"?

This week we're talking about transformation and today we drew the Transformation card. It's called Death in most tarot decks, but what they really mean by death is transformation. Many of us feel in the midst of, or on the cusp of change. Some feel like we're in a holding pattern within that change energy, unable or unwanting to move forward. 

I get two messages for us from this card. The first message is that life only *appears* to work on our schedule and at our bidding. Certainly we have input. The way I see that things work is that I have a desire to change, I make my desire known, I start working toward it and, before I know it, the desire is fulfilled and change has come. 

But that's not working on MY timetable. My timetable would be that change would be instantaneous and painless. Then there are those times when I haven't even thought of change and it just came and hit me in the face. In a way, dog #3 is like that. I had decided not to get a dog. So I fostered. And failed. It's like a surprise pregnancy or a surprise job move or illness...sometimes change comes whether you want it or not. And you have to handle it because it's HERE. NOW. 

So I like to feel like a master manifester, but the truth is sometimes there are a lot of moving parts that take time to come into place...mental attitudes have to adjust, other things that were already in play having to do with the old you need to be stopped, and entire scenarios involving other people and other situations have to come into play. 

It's a wonder anything gets done. But my sense is, if it had to be done right NOW, that would happen too and we'd have no control over it. So my guess is we're all right where we should be—and NEED to be. We have no idea of all of the stuff churning up on our behalf in the background while everything seems to be immobile on the surface. Maybe we NEED to be staring off into space with empty eyes in a state of total shock! Bet you never thought of THAT. 

The other thing about this Transformation card is the way the all-powerful is touching the face of the person while at rest. I think sometimes we busy our lives with appointments and obligations and distractions to keep ourselves busy because it's easier than facing whatever emptiness or anxiety or risk or whatever it is that's happening at a time of change. 

So this card is basically saying to still yourself long enough to hear the voice of God in your life. Maybe that means quiet meditation at night. Or journaling dreams. Or taking some sort of retreat. Especially if being on hold in the midst of change is making you feel a little lost. Answers and wisdom and safety and love is waiting for you if you can still yourself long enough to receive it.