The Sun - Be your own hero

Today, on a warm August morning I drew The Sun from the Llewellyn Tarot. This card depicts the Sun God Llew, riding on his horse while feeling victorious after slaying his enemy.

So, I was wondering how the optimistic, youthful, and confident energy of this card could help slay my current, most vicious enemy: my anxiety and need to control every situation.

The light and warmth of The Sun will uncover and burn away the anxious feelings and the hurt this enemy is causing me. This does sound a bit like slaying my own dragon because both the characters of this story are parts of myself: my energetic confident ego as well as my slimy and deceitful anxiety.

So what weapons can I use again this ongoing thread? Together, Happiness and Joy will make a strong shield.  Being in the moment with a childlike innocence is the perfect attitude which will keep the darkness at bay. And whenever it does slip through my defences, I can throw an arrow dipped in a potion of trust, faith and self-confidence.

It is so self assuring to be able to be the hero of my own story instead of waiting for my knight in shining armor to come and rescue me.

New Moon in May

For this new moon, I have pulled one card from the Gaian Tarot as to what energy  I should embrace during this next cycle of the Moon and I got The Sun.
This card puts a big smile on my face. As you all know I haven't been feeling all too well as of late but now, when I am starting to feel a lot better this card is an affirmation to hold on to this positive change in my life. I don’t expect everything to go smoothly and within my control but I can try to focus on the things that make me happy and on what  I am grateful for. It is often not so much the reality which makes us happy, sad or anxious but the way we perceive this reality. This card encourages me to seek joy intentionally and if I can’t find it, it urges me to do something which makes me feel good: painting and drawing, walking and riding my bicycle, enjoying my garden, eating strawberries and chocolate and reading a good book or perhaps even buying a red dress. And yes, it's okay to spend time with myself because I am totally worth it!
I also love that when I feel good, others seem to feel better too. It seems that Joy and Happiness are as contagious as an ordinary cold
All in all, I am really looking forward to working with the energy of this card for the next four weeks.
Affirmation from the guidebook: I "choose to make a life that creates happiness for myself and for others.”

The Sun - How to get real

Since yesterday I have been thinking a lot about how to become more authentic and true to who I really am. This was brought about by several events during the day: reading Carolyn’s post about the Inner Child, reaching the chapter about Authenticity in  “The gifts of imperfection” by Brene Brown and becoming painfully aware of my “obligation” to be creative.

All this is strongly encouraging me to find out what it is I really want, as opposed to what I think I should want. Life can be so much more than ticking of boxes, even if they represent enjoyable activities.

 I have to admit I do find it a bit scary; maybe I don’t want to know what I really want or who I really am but then again I don’t like this feeling either.  

One thing which is in my opinion crucial to touch on this deeper layer is to live more mindfully and to make a full stop when a choice has to be made. This way we have the time to listen to our inner wisdom and to our inner child. I strongly belief that both of them are beyond pleasing and pretending.

Also I think tarot can be a great tool to trigger deeper buried desires and needs, especially when you read  the cards purely intuitively. So I have pulled two cards for today:

What do I think I want? Queen of Wands

I think I want to be a passionate, outgoing, confident and creative woman. I want to speak up and to be heard. I want to be unafraid of failure as well as of success. I want tot breath fire with my words. 

As lovely and juicy this all may  sound maybe this is not really who I am at this moment and also not who I aspire to be for now.

What do I really want? The Sun

I do like the become more self aware and to shed some light over the shadowy parts of my personality. My inner child seems to be in dire need of some sunshine lately. I want to learn more about who I am and to see this as the beginning of a journey within, which will bring me more wisdom, joy and happiness than pretending to be something I am not. Also I want to keep safe everything I learn along the way safe and protect it from old habitual thinking patterns. So I will keep the light of the Sun close to my heart and let it illuminate my way.

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are” Brene Brown

Moving from Summer to Fall with The Sun in my heart

By know, I suppose you all know I am not fan of Summer. In the beginning of this week it looked like Summer was finally over. Temperatures had dropped quite significantly and it was pouring all day long. Love it!! Drinking coffee, knitting socks and listening to the falling rain… I don’t need much to make me happy.

But nothing is as unpredictable than the weather and since Wednesday it is sweltering hot again. And so I asked how to overcome my disappointment about this and I pulled three cards:

1 How does this weather make me feel? – Ten of Swords.

Now that is exactly how I feel: defeated, self pitying , complaining about how hot it is, not being able to do anything physically active, depressed, you name it, I feel it.  I want to stop this so badly because it is preventing me from enjoying my day. So let’s see what I can look forward to, which might cheer me up a bit

2 What will Autumn bring me? – The Ace of Cups

And that I exactly how I feel about Autumn! An abundance of feelings of happiness, gratitude and Love is flowing from this beautiful Cup. Autumn is indeed a gift from God(dess), a time to enjoy the bounty of the harvest.

3 How do I move forward until the wheel turns to my favorite season? – The Sun

O my Goodness! There he is: the Sun, blistering hot but with a smile on his face. “Come outside and play” he seems to call to me. The Sun stands for joy, happiness and a for zest for life. I could use some of that for sure. So I think I have to stand up, get rid of those swords in my back and walk towards the rising sun in the Ten of Swords. No more complaining today. I want to finish this blogpost and that will be the beginning of a joyful day because I choose it to be so. 

The Sun – The Joy of Living

For this last grey and cold day of March, I’ve pulled the Sun from the Joie de Vivre Tarot.

Keywords: Enlightenment, energy, growth, vibrancy, bliss.

“Drifting through the sky on a seahorse named Light, Flare carries a message of cosmic love and joy. His heart holds a flaming connection to the sun itself. With a childlike perspective, Flare's intentions are pure and his energy is vibrant.”

This got me thinking about how to find and hold on joy or a general sense of well being when things don’t go as you would like them too. I have to admit often my feelings tend to go all over the place, following the circumstances like a racehorse. Flare is riding his horse Light and wherever he goes and whatever he encounters he has a firm connection to the Sun. I guess that is the main issue. It is so easy to let go of this thin cord when we feel troubled and then we are adrift, lost in our vast ocean of emotions, negative thought patterns and repetitive sad stories. Each time we have to go find that cord again. What a waste of energy. Holding on this cord teaches us the joy of living in every circumstance.

So for day I intent to hold on to my Sun whatever happens. Mediation, prayer, gratitude, making art, writing, walking etc , are my main tools to accomplish this.

 What is your favorite way to keep your Sun close?

The Sun - Finding Peace

Today’s card is the Sun from the Druidcraft Tarot. We see a boy riding a horse on a summer's day. The sun is directly behind his head so we can only see its rays. This card is about everything joyful and happy we can think of.  It's also about confidence and vitality, about having the courage to put yourself and your talents out there,  so everyone can see how magnificent you truly are. But too often we don’t; feel like this and we are tempted to chase this illusive happiness in the outer world. We buy things, we eat things and yes they do make us happy, for a while, and then we have to hunt for more.

So my question for the Celtic Lenormand was: where to find a more lasting joy and I was quite surprised by the cards I pulled:

Lily + Cross + bear

In the center there is the cross; for me the card of spiritual beliefs and faith. In this context I see the lily as a symbol of harmony and inner peace. The bear is all about strength and courage and standing up for who you are and what you believe. These cards tell me that instead of chasing  happiness, I should turn inside to my spiritual beliefs and find there the inner peace and strength to bask in that sunlight which is a beautiful symbol of the Divine light shining from without and within every moment of our life. (whether we are aware of it or not)

On my way to freedom

These last two weeks of December I am participating the #MagicSeeker2016 Tarot challenge on IG hosted by @ghostkittenart. The prompt for today is: What energy do I need to help me cultivate more Freedom in 2016?

Since carving out more personal time and freedom is one of the major challenges in my life, I decided  not to pull only one card but three, because all good things come in threes!

From the  The Wild Unknown Tarot I pulled: The Emperor, The Sun and the Five of Wands

The Emperor advises me to keep the reins of my life in my own hand. He is the one who makes the rules and expects both his people and himself to abide by them. He is also not afraid to delegate or ask for help . No emperor can do everything by himself.

I think I might benefit from some kind of schedule or routine which will bring more structure into my days and which will help me to find balance between activity and rest; breathing in and breathing out.

The Sun is a very welcome card for this question. Choosing actively for joy, love and light will help me to prevent losing energy to complaining or whining about everything I have to do or about how tired I am. Just get it done and be happy and content afterwards. Feeling good about yourself is such a great motivator.

The Five of Wands. This card is strongly connected to my word for 2016: Focus. The Five of Wands is an exact representation of my mind when I feel anxious and stressed out by the many things I want to get done All my ideas  and plans and whatnot are all mixed up and they all want to be heard and executed NOW! So for 2016 I am going to try to Focus on only a few tasks or projects at the time and the rest of my ideas will be written down on a “You don’t have to think about this now ” list

So all and all some clear road signs to more freedom in 2016

The sun - Feeling good

After my last post, the Sun card from the Gaian Tarot as my daily draw, couldn’t be more appropriate. Since my impromptu little art session I feel so much more relaxed. It is if all my windows are opened and fresh air is coming in. Look how the woman in red is dancing in the sunlight. She is totally engaged in her dancing and enjoying the flow of her movements. There is nothing but the here and now and the joy of being alive.

This is the card of the great YES; a card of happiness, celebration joy and everything good and optimistic you can think of. It is so important to understand we can all feel this way if we are brave enough to take the necessary choices and actions. Happiness is our natural state of being. When are able to let go of our excess need of control and our rigid belief systems it will surface effortlessly

This weekend I am going to celebrate my mother’s birthday.  My brothers will be there too, so it also will be a family reunion. I intent to spend this time together with an open heart, a smile on my face and without any expectations

I wish you all a lovely sunny weekend and I’ll see you again next week

Hugs

P.S I've been on Instagram for a few weeks now and I would love to follow my readers. So if would like me to, please leave your Instagram in the comments

The full Harvest Moon of September – Tarot Spell

Yesterday, it was the night of the full Harvest moon and encouraged by Bev from By the Sycamore Tree I've decided to create a tarot spell/visual prayer in order to help me cope with and accept the coming changes in my family. (S will be moving out when her boyfriend finds a job) Also to help me see these changes in a positive light; perhaps even as a kind of personal harvest after years of mothering.

I've  learned this type of spell from Kerry from Neopagan Priestess. The tarot is a wonderful tool to visualize and focus on your desires, need for change and maybe even your gratitude before you have actually experienced the fulfilling of your desire or noticed a positive change.

Because I've been working with the Anna K Tarot lately, this deck was a natural choice to use for my spell.

First I've laid down yesterday’s card as the main theme. Then I flipped through the deck to find cards which resonated with me and/or were connected one way or another to this theme. This went very quickly and without a lot of thought. Finally I narrowed the little pile down to three cards to put around the theme card.
I've picked the following cards:

Ace of Pentacles for Me and M nourishing our roots, planting seeds, redefining our living together and for new exciting opportunities for both of us

The Sun as the symbol  for joy, a positive outcome, and self-confidence for all of us

The Three of Rods for S making plans and starting out on a new exciting journey 

I loved how these three cards were radiating their yellow sunlight over the darker Eight of Cups. Yellow and blue, a match made in heaven!

I've put it all on tray (thank you Kerry!) to put it wherever I want it to be. To focus on my intent I've come up with this little prayer. I tried to translate it as well as I could.

“May the sun shine its light over you and your journey and your choices yet to make and over us while we are keeping our home safe and enjoying the new opportunities this change will  bring us.”

The Sun - A Good Omen?

Is my Tarot deck pulling my leg? Yesterday I’ve written about the ”horrors” of Summer. And I came to term with taking some Hanged man time in order to fill my well. Today’s card is The Sun from the Original Rider Waite tarot. My first reaction was: "You've got to be kidding me"! But then I realized this card is so much more than only a symbol for the Hot Summer Sun. The Sun in tarot is all about understanding, enlightenment, self confidence, feeling vital and happy, being radiantly energized, etc. And although I don’t do predictions, I cannot help but wonder, if I heed to the call of the Hanged Man, The sun might be  a likely outcome (Yeah!!!)

The Sun is also representative for trusting my abilities, letting my inner child play and feel free. So regarding my next art project this is very good prospect. J

“I am the welcome burst of good fortune and clarity that floods your senses like the midsummer sun. I bring understanding and glory, happiness and freedom. I bestow vitality and radiance and usher in times of success and confidence. Bask in this moment. Enjoy it; savor it for this time will not last forever. Just as the sun sets and makes way for darkness, so my brilliance must, in time, give way to rain.” (leila Vey)

It all comes down to energy

The Sun of Life

For today’s daily draw I've chosen The Wildwood Tarot and The Faeries’ Oracle.

From the Wildwood Tarot I’ve got: The Sun of life.  At first glance a rather strange card for this time of year, since this card is connected too Midsummer, warmth and light. But it’s also a card about self: self-esteem, self reliance, self worth and after that even unselfishness; you have to be fully aware of self before you can put it aside. Otherwise unselfishness can lead to exhaustion. Being aware of self is a life theme for me. Since I am, like many of us, so often tempted to ignore myself and cross every boundary if someone else’s self needed me to. In that light I’ve asked which faery can help me to explore and strengthen my inner me: The Rarr. This is a little spark of energy; an igniter for whatever energy there is available. Energy is not good or bad it is just energy. So whatever intent I put out, The Rarr can give a extra spark to it.

The Rarr

When I look at the two cards, energy wise they seem  each other’s opposites: as to color ( bright and yellow -  dark and blue), shape (size of the sphere) and vibe (radiant, bold, sun -  inward, dormant, moon)  Just as we are on one side of the wheel and Midsummer is on the opposite side. It occurred the me our preschool teacher once told us that little children often start singing Christmas songs at Midsummer, because they sense the connection between the two solstices.

And then I realized it all comes down to energy.  We want to name and distinguish energies, to label them. But in origin we and everything around us are all the same in terms of energy. We  need our sense of self to survive in this material world, but wouldn’t it be a great Christmas experience to look beyond that without losing ourselves. To see and acknowledge Energy (or God(dess) in our friends and family and eventually in everybody else

Perhaps it is a bit of a rambling post but I’ve done my best to put it into words J

A thing called Love

October 15: Teresa of Avila is a mystic of the sixteenth century. Today is her feast day. Theresia had intimate contact with God. In what way do you and the Divine interact?

Crystal Visions Tarot

Since the original writer of these prompts is a Catholic, we have another saint to flavor this prompt. Of course I have my own perception of the Divine and that’s definitely not Catholic. The Sun card from the Crystal Visions Tarot will emphasize that. Unlike other Sun cards where a naked child is depicted, here we see a woman cradling an infant which is wrapped in her robe. She is showing it the sunflowers so patiently, as if they were the only two people in the world. The white horse of this sun child is waiting nearby. They have nowhere to go yet. It is just the two of them being as one in this everlasting moment.

And that says it all. Communicating with the Divine is for me the feeling of being one with everything around me and beyond. At the same time it is like feeling held and loved and cared for and being very close to my Mother. I don’t have to ask for anything because she knows what  I need. I am just grateful for and happy with everything she’s giving me. I think that’s Love…

Let the sunshine in

October 8: Some days in October are sunny. What do I need he sun for, before the beginning of winter?

Anna K Tarot

Out of all cards, I've pulled The Sun From the Anna K Tarot! What are the odds! This card has just the sun depicted: No child, horse or what so ever. Just a warm blazing sun shining on a beautiful field of sunflowers and some houses in the distance. Although I don’t like to be in the sun during the midst of summer, these days I enjoy its warmth and light while I can. With a book in garden or walking my dog. It’s like I want to soak up the last rays of sunshine before the dark winter begins. And with those rays every other positive shining aspect of this card; For me The Sun is mostly about the self: self respect, self awareness and self love. When you develop all these things, in the end that will lead to unselfishness: letting go of ego’s desires. It’s of course also a card about joy and happiness, optimism and hope, success and growth. I think everything positive can be represented by The Sun. So what does this all mean for me? I am going to focus on enjoying myself, doing the things that make me happy and in that way gathering the light of this radiant sun in my heart. So It can be my guide during the dark cold winter days.