Seven of Cups - Fretting over first world problems

Today’s card is the Seven of Cups from the Druidcraft Tarot. This card represents being held captive by too many options and the inability to choose one and to get on with our lives. The guy is dressed in vibrant red and is sitting on a rock covered with soft green moss. He is staring at a vision of six beautiful cups, completely unaware of the real cup standing next to him. For me, this symbolizes the conflict between his more primal desires and that, what he truly loves. Often we want it all although deep down we know what makes us really happy and these two are most of the time not exactly the same. As long we have this inner conflict, we can keep sulking and lingering in the hope we can have it all. Yes, sometimes we can still act like our inner two-year-old, screaming for candy in a mall. 

The issues this card addresses are often first world problems. They hardly ever have anything to do with food. shelter, clothing etc. So what does this card trigger for me today? Since we are rapidly approaching October there are popping up several Shadow work challenges on IG. One even more promising than the other. Now you all know I am great at starting challenges but sadly not so good at finishing them. But none the less, I am tempted to join several of them. And the next issue is which decks to use? One or a few for each challenge or just pick them intuitively? Mind you, sticking with one deck for more than a few days is also quite challenging for me. Should I combine Oracle cards with Tarot and if so, which Oracle decks are suited for shadow work? Which journal should I use: a new one or just my regular tarot journal? These are only a few examples of what is keeping my mind occupied and also keeping me from making an actual decision, preparing myself,  and looking forward to the experience of doing this kind of challenge together with a part of the IG Community.

So for today, I am going to make up my mind about all of this and I will challenge myself to stick to my decision in order to clear my head and enjoy these last few days of September, instead of fretting over October challenges… J

New moon in January

This month I have used the Mary El Tarot for my New Moon tarot spread.  I have been working with this deck for a few days now and my intention is to pull one card each day and set those cards apart from my deck. That way in 78 days I will have worked through the entire deck. I hope it will strengthen my relationship with this intriguing but very complex deck. For this spread I will pull 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:

Release – Seven of Cups

With this card we are presented with a black wolf, our animal self, our fears and deepest desires. Normally it would advise us to step of the well worn path and enter the forest to meet our wolf. But in the Release position it tells me not to walk to deep in that forest for I might get truly lost. This is not the time to dig deep for the roots of my fear and anxiety.  I see this  a warning not to stir the smooth surface of my subconscious, so that I won’t get overwhelmed by what lies beneath.

Embrace –  King of Swords

This card is quite the contrary of the previous one. The king of Swords wants me to control my thoughts, master my mind and focus on what I want to manifest this month. Only after scanning this card I noticed there are words written alongside his quills which are the swords he uses to rule his realm. The written word is a powerful tool to keep our mind focused and our intention clear.

As you all know my eldest daughter S and my SIL are living with me for a few weeks now and they plan to move out in about three weeks. So a lot of our conversations and activities are gathered around this pending move. Since it is not my move but theirs I have to allow them to make the necessary decisions about Everything! And that’s not easy….

So instead of worrying and trying not to smother them with well meant advise, I will write write and write, first to clear my mind from obsessive moving thoughts and then to focus on how to make more room for myself: for reading cards, reading books, listening to music and painting in my art journal…

New Moon in November

Today’s cards are picked by myself from the Anna K Tarot to represent my intention for the coming lunation.

Release - The seven of cups.

Lately I feel the desire more than usual to buy stuff on an impulse. YouTube is a very powerful enabler. Lots of gorgeous decks are unboxed, revealed, and reviewed. Besides that I feel the urge to smoke a cigarette more often and more intense. And don’t get me started about milk chocolate with hazelnuts. I know giving in to these cravings only will give short time fulfillment but none the less I feel them so intense.

Embrace - Strength. This card beautifully represents for me the practice of “Feeding your Demons” developed by Lama Tsultrim Allione which Bev  introduced me to.

The woman in this depiction of Strength is facing her inner lion, her untamed self, the sum of  her intense emotions and burning desires. She asks her what it is she really needs because it isn’t chocolate, the next new deck or a cigarette. And gently her lion puts her paw on the woman’s lap and looks at her with her deep brown eyes and she knows: Her lion needs to be loved, comforted, held, cared for, listened to, and so many other things that money just can’t buy. When all of her needs are met she can unfasten the collar and sit with her quietly.

I love it that in this depiction the lion is female too, which highlights the fact that the woman and the lion are on and the same.

This month I am going to focus on tending to my lions needs and to be compassionate with every part of myself when things get difficult. I also want to focus more on being grateful for what I have.   

Gratitude: Today I am grateful for seeing through the illusion that things will give me what I really need and for the inner strength to change my behavior patterns    

Problem solving with tarot

This morning, when I woke up, I didn't feel that great. I was obsessing about, now please don’t laugh, which journal I would like to use for the coming time. This is an obsession which has been going on for as long as I write in my journals. I go back and forth between several formats and almost never really finish one. Sometimes I write everything in one book, or I use multiple journals; for each subject a different notebook. And don’t get me started about the actual journals I can choose from: ring-bound, spiral bound, hardcover, digital, A4, A5, A6, lined grid, blank…. the possibilities are endless. A typical first world problem or maybe a cover-up for an underlying issue. When I feel this anxious it is very hard to let go of. So instead of obsessing about it even further, I flipped trough my deck and picked a few cards face- up which visualize how I feel.

In short:

When too many choices are available, I get stuck, unable to move, while in my mind the quarrel is constantly going on and without a winner. The only thing I have to do is take of my blindfold get up and receive the gift of choosing one possibility, be content with it and start journaling. This will lead me through the gate towards freedom.

It is so easy. All I have to do is make one decision and release the illusion I have to solve this dilemma for eternity. Just choose for today and be happy with it.

Is it just me, or does any of you have such nagging, not at all crucial, long lasting, dilemma too?

Creating a Tarot Mandala around the Seven of Cups

This morning, when I was driving home after visiting my husband, I was thinking about this reoccurring theme in my daily draws: “Dream, dream,  dream….”

I thought it might be a good idea to play around with this theme and see what would come up. First I started to write down everything I wanted in life. And I wrote quickly without censoring. Next I grouped similar wants and needs together, making small clusters. For  the more abstract dreams I added some practical implementations:  For instance living a creative life will require some practice and dedication on my side.

Then the fun part came: Creating the mandala. I used the Morgan Greer Tarot for its beautiful simplicity, bright colors and up close imagery. (You can imagine what this mandala would have looked like if I had used the Joie de Vivre tarot  J)

I flipped through the deck several times, pulled out a few cards out, put others back again and so on. And all this while putting them in some kind of layout. I deliberately choose the Four Queens  with their Aces for the corners of my Mandela as an indication of my strive to become a more balanced woman. The rest of the cards are my hopes, my dreams and my challenges.... 

Two of Wands – Feeling a bit off

Today’s card is the Two of Wands from the Original Rider Waite tarot. Although this card has a lot of many meanings, varying from personal power to loneliness, today for me it is all about not feeling quite right.  At first glance there is nothing wrong with this guy but since tarot is a mirror of the soul, I feel he is not happy with everything he has accomplished so far and he doesn't fully appreciate everything he has. Somehow I get the feeling he takes it all for granted. Of course he knows very well  how to reverse this feeling: practicing gratitude, meditating, exercising etc.  But he is just not into it. So what to do when I feel like this? I pulled the Seven of Cups and this card put a smile on my face. Of course it is so  easy: just let my mind roam free like and be in awe of all the dreams I encounter. One by one they are ready  to be manifested. (This is definitely a reoccurring theme in my daily draws.)

And admiring  all these gorgeous cups, suddenly I feel so happy, and grateful for the abundance I already have received. And for everything what life has still in store for me.

Yes, feeling not quite right is often a state of mind which can be turned around and it is almost always a matter of choice

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."

Nine of Swords - What to do when you worry too much?

What a fitting card I've drawn for myself today: the Nine of Swords from the Anna K Tarot. Being a rather anxious worrier myself I can often relate very easily to this card but today even more because yesterday evening I was feeling down and hurt and I had trouble sleeping. When you look at the girl in the depiction you’ll see she doesn't even have room to lay down in her bed because of all the swords are sticking in her mattress. Sometimes I wonder if I expect too much of others but I felt left out and forgotten and it did hurt and I felt sad about it.  And then I find it difficult not to wonder about the why’s and I worry about how deal with this issue; what is the right thing to do. Should I forget about it and act if nothing has happened or should I share my feelings and risk to be completely misinterpreted or brushed aside. 

So I ask what is the best solution if I worry too much and can’t stop my train of thoughts. And I got the Seven of Cups. This card is shouting to me: “you should practice what you preach” 

Last Tuesday I had written the post: “a thousand gifts”. This was all about how to be grateful and see the beauty and wonders of life even when you’re down or in a stressful situation. And look at me two days later. Needing the Seven of Cups to remind me of my own resolution to practice gratitude and list my gifts J. 

So for today I am  going to pick up my journal and write down the content of those Seven Cups!

“It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.” Eckhart Tolle

The Knight of Cups can’t make up his mind

For today I've drawn the Knight of cups from the Original Rider Waite Tarot. This  Knight is the romantic, the dreamer, the artist, He is the one who wants to pursue a holy quest. He is holding his cup with his ideal in front of him. His horse is ready to go and yet there is a hesitation to move forward. What could it be ? To answer this question I pulled a second card: the Seven of Cups. O, my poor knight; so much confusion is going on in his head: Life is a banquet of possibilities; why should I choose just one path? Perhaps I can have it all. Perhaps I am meant to have it all. Sometimes I feel that if I don’t choose one path and apply myself to it, I will never really accomplish anything with my life, and yet what path could possible keep me forever entertained when there are so many exciting things to try?” (leila Vey)

So he doesn't have one goal, quest or passion. He has too many options to choose from and now he isn't sure if he has picked the right one and it paralyses him with fear. So what can he do?

I can relate to this fear quite easily. Eager to improve my life, to expand my knowledge, to practice my creative skills and so forth, I can get stuck, procrastinate and do nothing of the things I would love to do. The answer is so easy and at  the same time so very difficult: get up, pick one cup and go for it! Then pick  the next on and so one. If you are like this knight you are blessed to have so many passions in life. What if your seven cups were all empty but one….

Seven of Vessels – Mourning

Seven empty vessels and a decorated human skull at the foot of a large tree are the main components of this beautiful card of the Wildwood tarot.

It is something entirely different than its RW counterpart which is all about fantasy ,illusion and options.

Perhaps it is not according to the guidebook but this is what I read in the card:

What stands out to me is the fact there are all kinds of different bowls. Most of the time when we think of mourning we immediately remember our greatest loss, our biggest bowl. The person we miss the most, a situation which has scarred us intensely. But I've learned the amount of grief increases by various losses (bowls). Sometimes we mourn parts of us we had to let go in order to move on to the next phase of our life (skull). So did I had to let go of being a mother of little children, in order to become a mother of adult women. I had to let go of the town I grew up in so I could follow my husband to a strange part of my country for a job he had found there. My piano was sold because I couldn't play anymore (neck injury) There are also minor events which I mourn for instance the chopping of the most beautiful Cherry Blossom tree by my neighbors.

This is not the place to list my greatest losses; the things I mourn the most. Everybody has their own empty vessels but I guess you will understand what I am getting at: Every day something is left behind. So our bowls gradually increase in number. Does that mean I am crying all  the time. No, sometimes mourning can be as sweet as honey: the most beautiful memories mixed with a longing for lost loves and sometimes finished with a topping of a few heartfelt tears. I always say grief is the downside of love. The more you love the more you will have to mourn.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.  ~Kahlil Gibran

Cups, cups, cups: A three card spread for my Daily draw

For today I've pulled a lot of cups from my Morgan Greer Tarot deck. It is becoming a bit of a theme these days.  It seems to me my cards like to communicate a certain message to me:

Morgan Greer Tarot

Seven of Cups – It is so easy to get overwhelmed by the innumerous amount of choices we are presented with these days. Some are healthy and bring about spiritual growth and some are more shallow. Some are very tempting and even addictive. How do we find our way in this enticing labyrinth?

Temperance – This card is teaching us to practice patience and maintain a sense of balance. Sometimes it is wise to take a step back and carefully consider your options, think whether you really need and want what you wish for.

Ace of Cups -  Our reward, our ultimate Cup, overflowing with love in whatever form. This is the card of receptivity, creativity, openness, spirituality and intuition. It is the holy grail of the seeker. The Cup which stands out from all the other cups in the first card.

To wrap this up, I think it is so important not to be tempted by all sorts of glamorous possibilities but to really weigh your choices and to go for the most fulfilling option.
"An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit". – Pliny the Younger

Seven of cups - Where do we go from here?

Druidcraft Tarot

My card from today is the seven of cups from The Druidcraft Tarot.. We see an man daydreaming, reflecting and possible not knowing what to do with himself. He is sheltered by the surrounding rocks. It is a calm secluded and safe place to ponder about the question: What’s next?What do I want? In the pool we see six cups immersed in the water and next to the man there is a beautiful cup but he doesn't know it is standing there or he doesn't care or appreciate the golden filled cup. To me this man seems be withdrawn, confused and unsure what to do. He has closed his eyes and doesn't see the any of the cups. Perhaps he is overwhelmed, paralyzed  by all these choices and is taking a time out. Until he is able to make a decision, this is a  good place to rest and make up his mind before he can go on the spiritual quest of the eight of wands Because he has to be sure which cups to leave behind and which to pursue.   

“The problem, simply put, is that we cannot choose everything simultaneously. So we live in danger of becoming paralyzed by indecision, terrified that every choice might be the wrong choice.” 

― Elizabeth Gilbert,

Seven of cups: dream, dream, dream!

Robin Wood Tarot

The subject of yesterday is keeping my mind occupied. Especially since women raised in the 50^th, 60^th and 70^th were not encouraged to dream and worse, sometimes even discouraged to dream. We were told to behave and smile, play with our dolls and color between the lines. It was not appropriate to be loud  en adventurous and get dirty like the boys of our age. But perhaps it is never too late to change. Why not dream now. Make up our own adventures, send our most exuberant wishes into the universe and trust they will come true. To believe in the magic of our imagination.

This card did not come up randomly. I picked it myself! Often this card is associated with someone with a lethargic attitude or an airy fairy type of person who has to stop dreaming, choose what she wants and get on with it. Someone who has got her head in the clouds (Literally; the clouds are made of her hair)

But today I say let her dream. And let us dream spectacular dreams, naughty dreams and impossible dreams. Take your old and dusted dreams from the shelf. Just dream and be happy with it. Don’t think any of these dreams can’t come true. Neither would you have done this when you were little. Everything is possible; the sky is the limit. 

Play with your thoughts, write them down, eat some chocolate or ice cream , smile and be happy about them and perhaps even share a tiny one in a comment???

I will be first:

It is/was my dream to live in a small cottage on the heath and lead a self-sufficient life there with some animals and a patch of land to grow some veggies. I would fill my house with stacks of books and read for hours and  afterwards listen to the silence of my surroundings. I would spin the wool from my own sheep eat the eggs of my chickens. I would life a simple but a fulfilling life. This dream came up for the first time when I was around 14 years old. When I remember this and visualize me living there on the heath, I feel so good. 

Putting some of my desires to rest.

October 11: October is the time to plant bulbs. Plant the bulbs about six weeks before the first frost. In that way the root system can build up sufficient structure before it really gets cold. What can I put to rest in the earth so it may root during the cold winter?

The seven of Cups from the Druidcraft Tarot. Usually this card stands for fantasies, illusions, daydreaming and that sort of things. For me today, this card makes me think of something slightly different.  I've had this card in my Inner sun reading. There I had asked myself: “and what is the one desire I want the most? Do I dare to look into that?” Now it seems as if the guy in the card has moved on a little bit. He has chosen finally his favorite cup which is standing beside him on the rocks.

And what to do with the other six cups? “Put them to rest in the earth so they may root in the winter” When I shift to my daily reality I translate this to releasing my other, less pressing desirers and see if they will develop their intensity over time; do I keep  mulling over them or do I completely forget about them?. Do they root or do they perish into oblivion. The main issue for me is, the guy in the picture has chosen his cup but I’m am still not so sure about mine. The advice however I get from these readings is a sound one. So I’ll meditate on this a while longer