New Moon in July - Get real!

For this New Moon I've drawn as usual two cards. The first one for the energy I am going to release and the second one for the energy which is beneficial for me to embrace. From the wildwood Tarot I pulled:

1 Release - Page of Vessels

This Page is depicted as an Otter, sitting on a slab of stone near the river. Otter is a very playful and joyful creature. He also represents being intuitive, brave enough to be vulnerable and open to share his feelings. I don’t see how I would want to release any of those qualities.

As a challenging card this signifies self-indulgence, living too much in your imagination and being absorbed by your own troubles. Now those are more likely aspects of my life I want to let go of.

2 Embrace - Ace of Stones

I was pleasantly surprised to see this card in the Embrace position. It is also the first card of my Tarot spell for a healthy life style.

Here we see a standing stone as a symbol that we can create changes in the material world if we set our mind to it; we can manifest our hopes and dreams but also our fear and anxiety. It is up to me what I chose to create. The potential of this Ace is limitless.

Together these cards tell me to step out of my over busy imaginative mind. I’ve spend more time thinking about a healthy lifestyle, than actually living it. Luckily I know myself and I am not going to beat myself up over this but I do love the fact how this reading is giving me a wake-up call to get real.

Winter Solstice Tarot Reading

On the evening of the Winter Solstice I did a tarot reading for myself.  A lot of the blogs which I visit regularly had several spreads to choose from: Beth from Little Red Tarot shared with us her Winter Solstice/New Moon Tarot Spread

Sarah from the Tarot Parlor came up with  a Short & Sweet New Year Spread which is of course also perfect for the Winter Solstice.

Last but not least Kerry from Neopagan Priestess has posted her Yule spread.

This is the one I've picked for myself to use on this special night. Not only because it is a very profound spread but honestly also because it was the smallest one and I do like my spreads to be both meaningful and simple.

I love it when I can visualize these small spreads during the following days and when I do decide to blog about them there is less to translate. (just kidding J  )

Kerry's spread has two cards with the following questions:

1) What will help me sit with the darkness right now?
2) What will help me transform  it into light?

I've used the Wildwood Tarot which is personally for me the most wintery deck I have and I've got:

       

1 The Seer (The High Priestess)

In the card of The Seer,again we see the symbol of water. The Seer is using it for scrying and to me that is a lot like “diving deep”  from my previous post. When you look at her face she is very concentrated and perhaps a bit anxious for what she is about to see beneath  the surface of the water but when the moon is dark and the Winter Solstice is here, it is just the time to explore these caverns of your soul. You may encounter secret longings, abandoned and or sacrificed parts of yourself, less favorable traits and so on. Just to look at them and acknowledge them can help you to feel a bit more whole again. 

2 Ace of Stones (Ace of Pentacles)

Then there is the Ace of stones: a large standing stone to go to and wrap your arms around in order to ground and center yourself after being submersed into your inner darkness. To transform this darkness into light you just have to be and to do. Take the opportunities given to you to really engage in the here and now.  I have been sitting on the bench to long due to my neck pains and had too much time to worry and feeling sorry for myself.

Being just a few days away from Christmas there will be a lot shopping, baking bread and cookies and (a bit of) cleaning to do. I am going to try to participate in these activities as much as I can without overdoing it. Watching over my physical well-being is also a gift from the Ace of Stones.