Tarot Reading for January 1 through Jan 7

Merry Meet Gentle Reader and Happy New Year!

I am still having some formatting issues so nothing fancy today but I did want to start with the reading for the first week in 2018. 

Our cards are: The Hanged Man    The 4 of Pentacles      The 7 of Wands

Interesting amount of energy since the first full moon of the year will also be on the 2nd. Are you ready for the new lessons in this year?

Monday and Tuesday start out with us reflecting on our values. Sometimes we have a sense of sacrificing ourselfs to get where we are going but The Hanged Man is also about reviewing our world through a different set of lenses. Something that causes us to pause and challenge our world view.  This brings us to our mid week card of The 4 of Pentacles.

4 of Pentacles is very much about structure and the material things we surround ourselves with.  Maybe it is the physical structure of fat needed to be let go of, or our books and electronics?  What are we holding onto too tightly that prevents us from learning new lessons in our lives? These are things we are being asked to reflect on midweek. 

The weekend is the 7 of Wands.  This card shows a person riding triumphantly on a horse with the wands standing at attention.  So there is a certain amount of victory heading our way.  Things working out to our advantage. Maybe even feeling a little smug but being smug every once in a while is a good thing.  Gratitude for the things that have gone well and have allowed us to grow.

It looks like if we take the time to reflect on the events of our life and how we respond, we will be able to make positive changes and grow from even the more unpleasant aspects of our life.

Move with gratitude into 2018 and enjoy!

Ode to Abraham Maslow Part I

Merry Meet Gentle Reader!

Once upon a time I was an intern and then counselor at The Salvation Army Beacon Program in Minneaplis.  Every second Tuesday of the month for many years I would give a lecture on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a part of our recovery classes.  Little was I to know that the hierarchy of needs would become as much a part of my daily spirituality and view of the universe as the Serenity Prayer.  

The will be divided into two parts. The first will be a brief introduction to Maslow and the concept of self actualization.  The second part will be published next week and go over the hierarchy of needs in depth and how it relates to a spiritual practice like wicca.  

Abraham Maslow was born in Brooklyn, NY on April 1, 1908 and was the eldest of seven children.  He started his higher education in New York City but later transferred to the University of Wisconsin and completed his psychology degrees there. Graduating with his B.A. in 1930, M.A. in 1931, and Ph.D. in 1934.  He moved back to New York and wrote his great work The Organism in 1934.  

Maslow is considered the father of motivational psychology and promoted humanistic psychology.  He was the first to promote this idea of self actualization.

Self  Actualization is the achievement of one’s full potential through creativity, independence, spontaneity, and grasp of the real world.  

So how does this fit into Wicca if Wicca is a nature religion? I’m glad you asked that.

Wicca is an offshoot of ceremonial magick. Ceremonial magick has this idea called the Great Work.  I like Aliester Crowley’s definition in Magick Without Tears that it is the,”spiritual practices leading to the mystical union of the self and the All (God)”

The hierarchy of needs is really an outline of what becomes necessary for that Great Work to happen.  Next week we will go into detail about the hierarchy itself.  

12172017 Weekly Tarot Reading

Weekly Tarot Reading for December 17, 2017

Happy Sunday Gentle Reader!

We are back on track with a new moon today and a return of the weekly tarot reading. I am using the Golden Tarot by Kat Black this week. At a glance it looks like a fairly active week.

In the first position we have the Queen of Wands. Cool under pressure.  She thrives in the chaos of abundant action.  She is being tempered by The Hanged Man in the 2nd position. The Hanged Man reminds us that we don’t always get what we want.  We do need to remember that We don’t always have the answers and need to yield to the wisdom of others.  Towards the end of the week we have the Knight of Coins or Pentacles coming into play.  Again the Knight is a go getter.  In this case he is actively pursuing career and household finances goals being anything from creating a budget and sticking to it or perhaps taking on creative projects to bring more joy to your life.

I hope the start of the week finds you all well and continues to be joyous as we continue on with the winter celebrations this week!

Taking A Week Off

Hey Folks.

Just taking a week off to regroup.  All is well. Just snow and chronic winter health issues getting in the way of the usual. 

Now that we are in the colder part of the year for Minnesota it takes me a week to get adjusted to the additional cramping in my leg and seasonal depression.  All is well and things are going better than normal.

Sunday will see a return to the weekly tarot corner with a year in preview at the end of the month. 

Next Wednesday I will present my Ode to Abraham Maslow and how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs figures into Wicca and focus on ethics for the rest of the month.

Yes, It really does take me a couple of weeks to go through my ethics discussion.   In real class time we typically spend 3 classes and then several coffee clutches going over when and why to do magic let alone how to be a responsible community member.

I pray all is well with everyone and you are all enjoying this amazing holiday season!

Blessed Be!

The Ins and Outs of a Tarot Reader

Sometimes a spade is a spade no matter how much you want it to be something else.  

Last week I became public with my practice of a weekly tarot reading.  My interpretations of the the cards tend to be more neutral to positive.  There are too many readers who still use the \whole “there is a curse placed on you by…”  to rope people into spell services they don’t  need or are always prophets of doom.  

Paradigm shifts are tricky and messy.  Part of my own lessons from The Hermit  were lots of alone time as normal, dealing with the expected loss of a pet in a different, less emotional way, and dealing with the positive of lots of mail from my biological family including my estranged father.

How does the tower truly fit into a paradigm shift for me?  

I am reevaluating how I respond to things.  I am generally a very vocal emotional person and it is exhausting at times.  I am learning to be less reactive in a  lot of ways.  I still had difficulties late into the night with an unexpected emotional downswing but I am choosing to take a longer pause before I react to the emotion and as Pema Chodron suggests  choosing to do something different.  There was a combination of usual texts but mostly it was just being really curious. The curiously has led me to question how much I sugar coat information to lessen the blow to others and still have their approval.  I think I would rather be known for being less perky about prophetic information and just deliver it and trust that I will still have favor with those I  need favor from.

The other paradigm shift I am experiencing is not fighting so much over situations I cannot change.  Living and internalizing the serenity prayer vs just saying it.  I can hear my elder Rosanna asking why do divination then? For myself being a diviner is not just about finding out about the future but analysing how our behaviors and beliefs influence it and what if anything we can do about it.  So…..  cards will be drawn tomorrow. For now it is time for my true crime shows and cuddles with the cat.

Yule Sabbat Basics

Merry meet gentle reader! Tis the season for all things pumpkin spice and peppermint! Lots of bright lights, ornaments, cookies and festive decorations too.  In Wicca we celebrate this season with Yule.  

Yule is celebrated on the Winter Solstice.  Usually December 21.  It is the shortest day of the year and the longest night.  It is a night of perfect balance.  In the life cycle of the Goddess and the God we celebrate the birth of the divine child.  Depending on the tradition it is either focused on the birth of the Goddess specifically or the God specifically.  In my tradition we celebrate the birth of male and female twins to honor both.  

As far as decorating the home altar I tend to use the colors that are readily available red, green, gold, and silver.  I also use these colors when I am choosing crystals to add to the altar. Since carnelian and citrine are my favorite to work with they are prominent but I also use pyrite, green aventurine and garnet. Herbs and incense that I utilize are frankincense, myrrh, pine, and cedar.  Mulling spices, citrus, along with other traditional christmas scents are used as well.

Winter is a time of gestation and waiting.  Rituals focus around the things that need balancing in your life.  Sometime the process of rebalancing is a long haul filled with determination and purpose.  It is also a time to celebrate where you have been on the way to where you are going.  Taking joy in the light that is being birthed and sunlight starting to lengthen.  

With that in mind, I hope that as we continue through this season, you are filled with light and joy!

Blessed Be!

Dec 3 2017 Weekly Tarot Reading

Welcome to the first instalment of the Armchair Mystic weekly tarot reading!

You may notice this is NOT the Golden Tarot by Kat Black.  That deck did not want to be found today so we will be working with my other favorite of the Motherpeace Tarot by Vicky Noble.  I like doing a three card draw for the week ahead. The first card is the energies for Monday and Tuesday.  The second card is for  Wednesday and Thursday and the third card is for the weekend.  

The World XXI is the card for Monday and Tuesday.  The World is a joyous card for me.  It usually represents completion of projects, travel (even if it’s to do errands) and generally enjoying your surrounds and contentment.  

The Crone aka The Hermit IX is the card for Wednesday and Thursday.  The Crone is all about accessing  our inner wisdom and using our intuition.  It may indicate just a quieter time to plan and contemplate you and your goals.  This may be a great time period to have a meeting with yourself and do some reflection and goal planning for the future.

The Tower XVI is the card for the weekend.  Here is the lesson included with the reading.  The Tower is usually met with a lot of fear because it represents major changes. We don’t like change because it is scary, takes us out of our comfort zone and sometimes makes us late for dinner.  (Sorry, watching a lot of The Hobbit movies lately.) I don’t believe any of the card meanings are inherently good or bad. Since we spent two day with The Crone it is only logical that making some changes to  make a difference in our live in a positive way is a part of the process.  The Tower in the case represents those old behaviors and thought processes stripping away for the new to happen.  So breath dear one and move on with your bad self!

I hope this has been useful to you. Please leave comments about what you think and even critiques on what I could be doing better.  This is a learning process for me and I am excited and blessed to be on this journey with you.  On Wednesday we will start talking about the role of Yule in the Wiccan wheel of the year.

Blessed Be!