The Tower – Liberation
Yesterday I finally quit my job.
Today I pulled the Tower as my daily card. How appropriate. Giving notice at work has certainly resulted in a release from stress and anguish. Nevertheless I still feel out of sorts. The decision to quit came rather suddenly, however timely it may be.
It was cathartic to stand up to my abusive boss. It was also cathartic to type up my letter of resignation. I felt renewed, cleansed and energized afterward. I feel that I am ready to face new challenges.
Because things have been shifting and changing so rapidly in my life lately, I was curious about how the planets may be affecting me. So I took advantage of the free natal chart and forecast info offered at astro.com.
Saturn conjunction Uranus: Fundamental changes: Beginning of September 2006 until beginning of June 2007: This is an extremely powerful influence, for it represents powerful internal forces for change colliding with powerful resistance from the external world. You are trying to escape the routine, dull and ordinary aspects of your life. You try to find new things that will make your life more exciting and stimulating. But with every effort of this kind, circumstances, duties and obligations seem to hold you back and keep you stuck in an oppressive situation.
You may get to a point where the pressure is unbearable, and then you will make a sudden break for freedom. You may suddenly leave a relationship, an oppressive job or your place of residence, without warning anyone.
No kidding.
The Tower is one of those cards that can be scary. But, in fact, it can be a card of liberation. It can be a sign that freedom is imminent. It can represent risk-taking, powerful drive, and fast and fierce changes in any situation. The Tower is a Major Arcana card associated with Mars. Mars is the planet of drive and leadership.
Any major change in your life can be scary. But it can also be exactly what you need to free you from whatever has been keeping you from growth. Sometimes the Tower can be exactly what you need.
This Tower card is from the Universal Waite Tarot Deck
Death – Starting Over
I received an interesting answer in my daily card today.
When I do my daily card draw, sometimes I ask a question if there is some particular issue on my mind. Acknowledging from what I learned here, that I need to work on issues of self-worth, I asked, “How can I be good to myself today?”.
I was a bit surprised when I pulled the Death card. My initial thought was “Quit Your Job!” Yeah, right… that’s just wishful thinking. I’m not quite ready to do that just yet. After taking a few more moments to reflect on it, I realized that I was allowing old habits and automatic reactions to hold me back. I really need to let go of some things.
Let’s face it. Dying is the ultimate act of ‘letting go’.
Yes, it is time to let go of my expectations in my current job that was once wonderful and has now become a chore. But I also need to let go of my old ways of feeling about myself. I need to let go of my anger and frustration at whomever is causing me this trouble at work and I need to let go of my ongoing futile attempts to please everyone all the time. In the act of ‘dying’ to the old ways I will make way for the new ways to grow. Out of the skeleton we see emerging a butterfly, an age-old symbol for rebirth.
For further understanding, I looked up the affirmation written for the Death card by A.L. Samul in the book Wisdom in the Cards, the companion book for the Hudes deck. Here is what I found,
I acknowledge my ability to release the old, so that new can come into my life. I forgive others and release my hold on them. I forgive myself, and allow myself to move on.
This can be a scary card for some. But this morning I saw it as a way out. I focused on what this card meant for me today and as a result I had a very relaxed and productive day with minimal stress. Sometimes the Death card can be a welcome sight.
This Death card is from the Hudes Tarot Deck
Weather Report
The Sun came out today. It was a glorious thing to see. If you live in the northeastern region of the United States, you’ll understand. We’ve had a rough time of it the past couple of weeks. The reappearance of the sun has been a most welcome development.
After lunch today, my husband and I went out to local ice cream stand. We walked to the park and ate our ice cream in the sun and watched people in the center of town, walking dogs and riding bikes and just generally enjoying the day. During the long cold winter months you can forget just how good the sun can feel, and how much you appreciate warm air and blue skies.
This is a good way to understand one of the aspects of the Sun card. It can have different meanings in different spread contexts. But by itself, one of it’s strongest meanings is just that feeling you get after a long cold stretch, whether it be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. It’s a deep feeling of well-being and contentment. Time slows down and you smile a lot. Things that seemed like troubles suddenly become minor annoyances. You feel like you can handle anything. It feels good to be alive.
Ice cream certainly enhances that feeling, of course. 
The Sun card is from Hudes Tarot Deck
Three Steps to Happiness
I have simply not been feeling happy lately. I’m not talking about joy and elation every five minutes. It’s more a matter of contentment, and a feeling of satisfaction in day to day activities. It certainly doesn’t help that I’ve had a bad cold for about a week, but it goes deeper than that. The main problem is that my workplace has become spiritually toxic these days. It’s been a gradual deterioration, and it’s a shame, because at one time I really loved my job. But the atmosphere has been slowly changing due to the behavior of others. I have no control over that and I’m not yet ready to quit this job. So I need some counsel on what I can do to regain my happiness in spite of these circumstances.
Using the Hudes Tarot Deck
The second card is the Three of Wands. The standard image of this card as shown by the Rider Waite Tarot
Regarding this card, I wrote this affirmation in my journal,
Acknowledge and cultivate my personal power. Respect and honor my intellect, energy and talents. Honor myself by acknowledging that I am a good and capable person.
The final card is the Page of Cups. This counsel is to continue my studies in the spirit, including Tarot and other energy work. The advice is to focus on these things and to remain open as a child to them. To continue to learn and reflect as a student and allow my understanding to grow and deepen. This is my heart’s work and it will continue to feed and strengthen me as I continue on my life’s path.
It is interesting that the energies represented here are Fire (Wands) and Water (Cups). Fire is male/active and Cups are female/active. The strong energy of fire is flanked and supported by the strong energy of water. The male power within is focused through the female power that connects to the outer world. This is inner strength tempered and balanced by love and spirit; personal will focused channeled through God-Energy.
I will try to accept and apply this counsel through out the coming week. It will take a bit of effort and time, but if I can follow this path it will lead me back to a state contentment again.
Three of Swords
This will be the first post in a series I’m calling Dreaded Cards. There are cards we all hate to see turn up in a reading, be it for ourselves or others. My idea is to take each of these cards and see what I can discover about them that will take some of the fright out of them.
I use the Tarot as a tool for insight and answers. I like to think that there is always something positive in every card no matter how negative it may first appear.
This is the Three of Swords from the Rider Waite Smith
My initial reaction is to cringe. It hurts to look at it.
Here is part of the interpretation to be found at tarot.com:
General Meaning: Traditionally, the Three of Swords signified separation or the breakup of a significant relationship, including the tragic emotions that come along with such an event. Some cards show the horizon filled with storm clouds and flashing lightning.
This past week I read a book called Stories in Stone
A particular passage caught my attention in the section on religious symbolism. It states,
In religious and cemetary symbolism, a flaming heart symbolizes religious fervor, a pierced heart indicates repentance and devotion, and a heart wrapped in thorns is associated with the Great Promise of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. (Italics mine).
It got me thinking about the Three of Swords in a different way. Yes, it would still represent pain or difficulty but not necessarily sorrow or grief. If you see it as repentance and devotion, perhaps it symbolizes this to a degree of completeness signified by the number three – as represented by the three swords that pierce the heart. Maybe in a spread it could be speaking of self-sacrifice because of devotion to the point where it hurts. It could also be speaking of true and absolute repentance that affects not only the mind but the heart as well. That the heart is seen in the clouds could show that it takes place on a higher level of consciousness. The rain can represent tears, not of sorrow, but of true repentance that truly seeks forgiveness. The tears could be of the higher joy that comes from sacrificing everything out of devotion to a person or a higher cause, or of the kind of religious devotion that strips away everything but the love that emanates from God.
Depending on it’s position in a spread it could be asking the querent to make such a sacrifice or choose a path of devotion. It could the cause of a situation, the reason things are happening they way are. It could be warning, if someone is giving too much in a relationship out of a false sense of devotion, not realizing they are hurting themselves in the process.
These are just a few ideas, and I’m sure it could be elaborated on with further study and reflection. I find comfort in this new way of seeing this card, because it can mean something positive resulting from something that may seem at first read to be negative. That pain and difficulty can sometimes serve a purpose for good. It’s the silver lining I was searching for in this particular cloud.
A New Venture
My husband and I have been discussing an idea we have for a new business venture. One that we can work on together and will allow us to replace our present incomes. Using the Hudes
The first two cards show the inner and outer manifestations of the situation. I see the King of Pentacles representing the comfort level we had achieved with our employment situations crossed by the Five of Swords. This card is basically the “cheating” card. It’s a card of those who want to win at all costs, no matter how much they must lie and cheat to do so. On one level it reflects the strange circumstances under which my husband was laid off. But another level, and speaking more to me, shows my attitude and primary motivation behind my wanting this venture to succeed… an unhealthy desire to ‘get even’ with people who have wronged me at my workplace. This is not the best foundation for a new venture and it’s something I need to change in my heart.
The outcome card, the Wheel of Fortune, is noncommittal. The outcome of our new venture is purely up to chance. Perhaps if I change my primary motivation for wanting to start this venture, the outcome card would also change. My primary motivation should be to benefit our family and to find satisfaction in my tasks – not to get back at people.
The past is very clearly stated here – The Devil – security through enslavement. It’s ‘easier’ to stay in a job that makes you unhappy because of the illusion of security. The fact that you know a paycheck is coming from someone you are working for vs. earning money by working for yourself in a self-employed situation. This is in the past and it is time to move on.
The Nadir card, or spiritual past, is the Nine of Cups. This is often called the ‘wish fulfillment’ card and it’s nice to see it in this spread. However, in this position I think it reflects the a deep heart’s desire and basic motivation to become self-employed and to be successful.
The Zenith card, or spiritual future, is the Page of Pentacles. This reflects the learning experience involved in starting a new venture, along with the idea of starting over again financially. I interpret it this way as a result of a comparson with the King of Pentacles, which represents the level of comfort we have achieved through employment. The Page is representing new financial growth, with the goal of eventually maturing to the King that lies in the heart of the reading.
I think a change of attitude and motivation on my part will result in success. I will need to meditate on this further to bring about this change in my heart.
