Celtic lenormand – How to survive the last week of Summer?

For my daily draw I’ve used the Celtic Lenormand by Chloe McCracken and Will Worthington. First I’ve shuffled my deck thoroughly and then I searched for the sun card to represent the intense heat of this week. Then I picked up the two cards on either side of the sun, asking how to get through this week as good as possible.

And I drew: anchor + house and birds +letter:

Lenormand is sometimes such a blunt and direct tool and can tell you exactly what you already know. As if it is telling you: “why do you bother me with  trivial questions with such obvious answers! I am capable of so much more." And maybe it is right; I do tend to forget this tool when I need guidance for something. I also notice that I often return to the same decks and forget others entirely. And I do believe each system and each deck has its own individual quirks and qualities so this is a good reminder pay some more attention to my neglected decks. But I digress so let’s look at the cards: 

Anchor and house. 

Stay at home, especially during the hottest hours of the day.

Birds and letter

Write a blogpost, journal, phone a friend and talk with M about daily fun stuff and don’t start complaining  about how hot it is.

Anchor and letter

In Dutch we have a saying: “Who writes will remain” so I will take this as an encouragement to journal more elaborated this week. When it is so hot I tend to skip the juicy details and keep my entries more concised.

House and birds. 

Social gatherings at home. You're all invited! :D

To have Faith in the Process

Today’s card is “Faith in the Process” from the Sacred Rebels Oracle by Alana Fairchild. My first thought was about how we have to have faith in ourselves when we want to bring about change; change in ourselves or in our circumstances. It often depends on how much confidence we have and how much willpower and inner strength we can muster if we are going to be able to fight our battles and be victorious in the end. 

But then I realized the woman was sitting on her knees in that little cart: hands folded, head bowed and praying. This card is not about our ego’s managing it all by itself . No, it is about when we are at our wits end how hard we try, nothing is changing at all. This card is about believing in something more than our ego. It is about trusting that all things can work together for the good of us. This can be very difficult to grasp, especially when when we seem to be stuck in some downward spiral or when we find ourselves lost in the desert of our souls. There and then is when we learn about Faith. In those desperate times we bend our head and we find relieve in knowing we don’t have to go through all of this on our own. It can be God/dess, it can be Spirit or your Higher self, or any other force who can lift you up, set you on your feet again and encourages you to move own. Yes sometimes we just need Someone to pull our cart a little further, just over that bump in the road. Maybe the best part of this experience is that we might remember to have faith also during the good times.

“Faith is seeing light with your heart when all you eyes can see it darkness.”

Temperance – The gentle approach

Today’s Card is Temperance from the Original Rider Waite Tarot and with this card we continue to explore how to find balance between opposites. In the background we see a road leading into the mountains. Because of this I like to assign this card also to Middle Way as it was taught by Buddha. He said that The Middle Way was a manner of living life in a balance, and avoiding extremes  and knowing our boundaries and limitations.

It is funny because while I drew this card I was wondering how I could better manage my online and other distractive screen activities. I was expecting something like the strict King of Swords or maybe even The Devil or The Tower but no, an angel came to me to encourage me to find inner peace and harmony so that I wouldn’t crave this digital refuge so much. Because that is what it is for me: escaping from the here and now, so I won’t have to deal with the scary stuff like writing, drawing, knitting, meditating, etc. When I spend my time behind a digital screen I can tell myself I don’t have time for anything else. The advice of Temperance so the opposite of how I would try to cut down my screen time myself. So no strict schedules or alarm bells are required. because by finding harmony I won’t crave it anymore but I can enjoy it and so I will find a natural balance in my activities. 

Jera and Soulcards 1 - Inner balancing Act

Today’s rune is Jera (year, cycle, harvest) and I was wondering what cyclical movement I needed to embrace and accept more.

From Soulcards 1 I pulled a card to give me an answer to this question. In this card we see a man en a woman standing back to back and holding each other by the hand. (Look how they almost resemble the rune itself). With their free hand they seem to welcome whatever comes their way. Together they are strong and firmly rooted in day to day’s life. Like The Lovers this card can represent a loving and supportive relationship with another person but for me today it is all about “Me Myself and I”. I wonder what part of me strengthens me, supports me and grounds me and how I should embrace this part more and let it into my daily life instead of ignoring it and underestimating its value. It feels like this card has to do with finding the balance between my masculine and feminine aspects, my Yin and my Yang. Like the turning of the seasons is based on the in and out breath of nature so are my Animus and Anima dancing around and with each other in a continuous movement of push and pull, to try to find an inner balance and to maintain it as good as possible.. For me it is also reminder to view the Divine as a integration of both these aspects. Nothing is complete without its counterpart and so we all keep searching, time and again for that which makes us whole.

Four of Swords - Doing nothing is sometimes the best thing to do

For today I got the Four of Swords from the Wild Unknown Tarot. A little lamb is resting, while four swords are hanging above him. On the place of his third eye a light is shining brightly. He seems like he is not afraid of those swords. He knows he has to turn inward to access his mental strength and clarity in order to cope with them before they might strike and wound him severely.

For me these Swords symbolize my reaction to Saturday’s Skeleton card. I thought I had overcome the challenge it represents a long time ago but now it strikes back and I have to deal with it again. Parts of me need to get some more meat on the bones, made stronger and less vulnerable. My initial reaction to all of this was: let’s handle this quickly; put a kiss and a bandage on the sore spot and move on. But after given it some more thought I knew this skeleton needed more gentleness, nurturing love and time to heal this time around. So my card for today is about giving myself the time to do nothing about all of this and just sit with the notion of feeling vulnerable and being okay with it. No more hiding behind a clever and fierce appearance but really trying to connect with this part of me and then I hope a true and more lasting light will begin to shine from within. Only then healing this part of me might have some more long-term results.

A reading about energy-efficiency

Today is a bit of a Blah day. I don’t have much energy to do the things  I wanted to do. And those were fun things and not something like household chores. I even went to the gym to turn this downhearted feeling  around.  I did enjoy it but it did not have the result I aimed for so I decided to dedicate my daily draw to this dull and dreary Saturday.

My rune Kenaz told me there was something I needed to pay attention to, since this is the rune of fire, knowledge and clarity.  From Soulcards 2 I pulled a skeleton with an aura of yellow and red. It almost seemed like this skeleton was screaming in my head:  “Don’t you see, I am bone tired!” and I said: “You certainly don’t look that way, because you put a façade of knowing it all and being able to cope with everything  which comes your way!

Oops, that’s me all over. This perfectly ties back to my New Moon reading of September 1 and my ongoing quest to feel good. Today I realize (again) that  I don’t have to be creatively and intellectually  active  all the time. So what to do about it? And  I pulled the Hermit from the Wild Unknown Tarot. Ah, It is permitted by the cards to be tired and to take some essential me time, so I don’t have to do anything  but everything is permitted. I do hope that next time I feel like this, I don’t need The Hermit  to tell it is okay to be tired

N.B. Look how the flame is now protected in the lamp. It still shines brightly but It can’t be put out very easily anymore.  This is a much more energy-efficient way to illuminate yourself and everyone around you. 

Three of Pentacles and Perthro - Creative soul searching

Today’s Rune is Perthro (cup) which  is all about mystery, the unknown, the womb and wisdom . So I asked for my daily draw: "How can I dig deeper into my subconscious to  illuminate my soul; to find wisdom there, which will guide  me on my path?" 

And I got the three of Pentacles. I had hoped I would pull The Hermit but no, no hiding for me in my room today. The Three of  Pentacles is my Creativity card. And what would be better to explore my soul than through some intuitive painting or free flow writing. I’ve just recently experienced how my art is able to unlock parts me without my initial intent. But this card is about more than locking myself away with my paint and journals. It is also about sharing my art and my writing with other people and be open to their opinions. Over the years  I’ve added  the insights from so many different people to my own magical cup of wisdom….

And just now I realize I’ve started this blog almost three years ago. I’ve learned so much from all of you! So to all my readers I want to say: 

Thank you for your wisdom, your encouragement, your kindness and your friendship. It means so much to me.