Friday the 13th - Tarot Spread to Break Illusions

 Happy Friday the 13th!

Do you roll into Friday the 13th with a feeling of uncertainty, dread, fear of the unknown, a sense that something bad is about to happen?  Are you superstitious?  I hope so, there's magic there.

Invoke the power of this 3-card spread to break down illusions, acknowledge dreams and cast a spell of self-protection.

3 Cards symbolize a union of our mind, body and spirit, 3 cards symbolize the Law of Threefold Return - what you put out into the world will come back to you 3-fold, so make it something so good, and so divine.

For Friday the 13th I'm using the Thoth Deck by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frida Harris.

Your 1st card is your Broken Mirror Card.  This is the card that shows us the Illusions we harbor about ourselves, about how others perceive us.  What is your mirror showing you?

"I find it hard to believe you don't know
the beauty that you are
But if you don't let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid"

Excerpt from "I'll Be Your Mirror" by Lou Reed

Your 2nd card is your Knock on Wood Card.  This is a card to show you your Hopes, Fears and Dreams.  Why is it the Knock on Wood Card?  Because we knock on wood to feel something that is Real, connect to Nature, and Make a Wish that things we truly Desire will come true.

Your 3rd card is your Throwing Salt Card!  This is your personal manifesto of Everything Good.  This is your Ultimate Card of Self-Preservation and Protection.  Cast it out there and wish for the sky.

Here's what my Friday the 13th Spread looks like:

The Queen of Swords:  Look, even her crown is a diadem of broken glass. My Queen rises above the puffy clouds, having just severed a head with her sharp sword.  Still, she looks chill.  What does she show me?  The illusory nature of the mind!  She is lifted serenely up to the heavens - she understands that the intellect is only as good as the soul/spirit/divinity that drives it.  She is the champion of higher consciousness.  She tells me to not wallow in trivial matters of the mind, but Elevate My Consciousness.

The 5 of Wands - Strife:  I fear conflict.  But sometimes it takes a certain amount of Strife to make a necessary change.  Sometimes we need the fiery impetus of the 5 of Wands to kick our ass so we can make some moves, shake it up.  Fire is transformational, and these 5 Wands of Fire are telling me whatever Challenge is coming at me right now - I have the ability to come through it - maybe not Unharmed, but retaining what is Essential to feed my Spirit!

The 10 of Cups - Satiety:  I will throw the salt over my shoulder and not just Hope for the Best, but Count on It!  This tells me to put all this good intention out there and Expect it to all come back to me.

Happy Friday the 13th, may a sweet black cat cross your path, may you find a 4-leaf clover, and make some wishes, beautiful people.

The Tarot of Baudelaire

When a heavy lid of low sky

covers a soul moaning with ennui and fright,

and the whole horizon is rounded by

a black day pouring down, sadder than any night;

When the earth is turned to a muggy dungeon

where Hope is the shadow of a bat, feeling

with feeble, flapping wings along the grunge on

walls and bumping its head against a putrid ceiling;

When the crawling spiders of scattershot rains

drop cold bars that imprison us,

water trickles along the channels in our brains,

and the people around us feel poisonous -

The bells speak out suddenly with fury

and lance the sky with dreadful howls,

and frightened strays and exiles, sorry

and homeless, rage from deep within their bowels.

Long hearses roll, slow, silent, hypnotic,

through my soul.  Hope, defeated, cries

out its atrocious anguish - despotic.

A black hood slides over my ferocious eyes.

Spleen: When a Heavy Lid of Low Sky...

Written by Charles Baudelaire

Translated from the French by James McColley Eilers

Harvest Moon October 5 2017

Harvest Moon by Samuel Palmer

The Harvest Moon is our ultimate guide in the darkness.  During this time, we can use its power to get perspective on issues we struggle with.

The Harvest Moon shines with extra light tonight.  At 2:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time we can experience the Harvest Moon bath.

The Harvest Moon can occur earlier in the fall, but this year October claims the Harvest Moon as its own.  The name comes from the extra illumination it provides to farmers to harvest their crops.  We can use this light, too.

Take a moon bath tonight, use its power for your dreamwork, allow its amber energy to sink in.  Our receptivity is strongest in the presence of the full moon.  Gaze at the moon and see if you can get a sense of being steered or pulled by intentions you may not realize are there.  The moon's power is to show us what lies dormant in our unconscious.  We may become more aware of how our perceptions cloud our vision - we may be able to see the illusions that manifest in bad choices.

Use tonight to create ritual for yourself.  Make a ceremony to acknowledge illumination.  Make it sacred.  I'm going to gather up everything that could use a cleansing moon bath, put on Neil Young's Harvest Moon album, and moon gaze. xoxo 

Self-Navigation Tarot Spread

Sometimes we need to do reconnaissance on our true course.  A self-navigatory tarot spread can help us connect with what is truly driving us, and we can choose to stay the course or map a path to change.

If you are using a traditional 78-card tarot deck, you can use this spread to clarify your own forward motion.

Separate your deck into 3 piles: Major Arcana, Minor Arcana and Court Cards

These 3 piles will be used.

I like to shuffle each, and then cut each deck 3 times.  My purpose in divining is to see more clearly a higher goal for myself, and that the light within is my true guide.

Your Major Arcana pile will divine your fate.  For our purposes, the word "fate" is used to describe a force over which you have little control - powers, energies, and influences which are at work.

Your Minor Arcana pile shows you the area of your life being affected now.  Is this a reflection of something in your relationship, how you deal with colleagues, your health, your family, your soul work?  Can you trust in your current path and let that trust give way to a feeling of peace, or is this a time of dramatic change?

Your Court Cards pile is your take-away.  What advice can you glean from this card to take back control from the forces at work?  Are you in a position of dominion or passivity?  Let the card be your mirror and trust the reflection you see.

Use this spread to navigate the murky moments of your life - let the images ignite your intuition - that is a reflection of our higher self.  Trust it.

Fate Card - The Emperor, card 4 of the Major Arcana, ruled by Aries, the God of War.  This card is telling me that now is the time to invest in myself, my authority over my decisions.  This card speaks to personal empowerment and asserting myself - right now.  The Emperor doesn't hesitate or waste time in self-doubt.  The Emperor is blessed with ultimate self-trust.  The number 4 is grounding, 4 elements, 4 seasons, balance and wholeness describe the qualities of this number.

Area of Influence - The 4 of Cups, this card suggests that emotional balance is needed in my life.  Maybe this is an area I haven't paid enough attention to, maybe taken for granted.  The 4 of cups suggests loneliness, boredom, and passivity most of all.  This card is a warning to not neglect the relationships that feed our spirit.

Take-Away Card - The Queen of Cups.  She is also determined, assertive, and empowered, but unlike the Emperor, is all heart.  This Queen is full of warmth, and nurturing love.  She is my mirror.  She has the emotional strength and fortitude to balance the masculine force of our Emperor.  Together with The Emperor she advises a balanced approach to my tendency to become absorbed in material concerns.

I will take all of this information with me into my heart, and guide myself toward a more balanced October!

A Tarot Spread For Anxious Times

• Release, Let Go, Accept, Move On, Encourage, Nurture

• A 3-card spread for anxiety:  Release and Let Go, Accept and Move On, Encourage and Nurture. 

• This first card shows me what I need to release and let go: worries, negative focus, missed opportunities.

• The second card shows me what I need to accept and move on from: seek out my own wisdom, inner guidance, but not to the exclusion of hearing others' wisdom. I am surrounded by teachersThis third card shows me what I need to encourage and nurture: security and stability. Now is the time to stay grounded. Connect to my family and community. Let my goals stay firmly planted and focus on asking for help without fear.

• This third card shows me what I need to encourage and nurture: security and stability. Now is the time to stay grounded. Connect to my family and community. Let my goals stay firmly planted and focus on asking for help without fear.

Action.  It is my intention this full Cold Moon of December 2016

Purpose.  I will act with purpose

Ritual.  I will honor each day with ritual

A Complementary Tarot Reading is in the Stars for You

Gold Dust Tarot will be reading this Thursday, December 10th, at Orchid Lane's Ladies Night.  Shake off your stardust, grab your capelet, and join us for an evening of bubbly and good friends.

Orchid Lane Ladies Night 12/10/15