Word, Card and Rune for 2017

Long before the New year, I had decided what my word for 2017 would be. It is one I struggle with a lot. The word I picked for this year is Trust: Trust in myself and trust in others. I hesitated about adding faith too but I feel Trust is a more active and empowering word than faith.  Faith is more like a spiritual concept and trust is a verb: “Trust is faith in action!”

So with that in mind I pulled my card for my theme the year. Whatever it would be I wanted to trust that it would be able to teach me a valuable lesson this year and I pulled the Nine of Cups ( pfff). This card is all about experiencing intense joy and emotional fulfillment on a personal level. For me the Ten is more about the well-being of community; the love and joy experienced with family, friends and loved ones. The Nine however is an invitation to discover everything which brings you joy, to fill up those nine cups. But also it is about accepting what life has already put in those cups and making the most out of it. Joy can even be found even in the hardest of times.

In the five we were grieving and not able to see the two cups standing upright, The Six reminds us that our happy memories are always with us, the Seven asks us to find out what our heart truly desires. In the Eight we try to leave our cups behind. (I sincerely doubt if that is ever possible) And then we reach the Nine where we learn to find gratitude and Joy in all aspects of life.

I pulled Perthro from my bag of runes to go with The Nine of Cups and immediately  I recognized the cup which would transform my Nine into a Ten, into completion. Perthro means dice cup and it is a symbol of mystery, of not knowing. How this cup will guide me from Nine to Ten is a question I Trust, I will be able to answer one day and maybe even before 2018.

My words for 2016

This  year I’ve had some difficulty choosing my word for the year. Previous years my word had always come naturally to me; distinguished itself gradually from  other options but this time around I couldn’t make up my mind and was left with three words, equally appealing to me. So I made a daring decision: This year is my year, so why not have three words.  I am free to do whatever I with my word of the year so without further ado here they are:

(Drumroll………………………)

Osho Zen Tarot

Attention

This year I want to try to really pay attention to the present moment instead of wasting it to worries and regrets.  The present moment is all we really have so I want to make the most of it

Letting go

Letting go fear and control will encourage me to embrace what is here and now and to step in each moment with an open mind.

Trust

I want to trust that  everything I experience  in my life will bring me more understanding of who I am and will help me to become who I am supposed to be and most importantly that everything will be okay

Last but not least, my motto for this year is:

Everything will be okay, so let go and let God(des)

Do you have a word or motto for the coming year?

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

A Tiny Tarot Reading for the New Year

This morning I decided to draw two cards for the coming new year just for an overall view; a kind of theme.

The first card would provide the question or the situation and the second card would be an advice or an elaboration for the first card. I've used the original Rider Waite for this mini reading.

The first card I got was the Four of Cups. This card is asking me to consider when I feel really content. Is it because of the beauty of these three cups, or is it about the content or is it perhaps because I have the time to sit beneath a tree to relax? But what about the fourth cup? Do I need it on order  to be more happy and content? Does this cup hold the promise of  perfect everlasting happiness and joy. It is something I need or just want because it has been made available?

This card has brought up a lot of timely questions because My word for 2015 will be “Simplicity”:

Trying to be happy and content with the small things, feeling gratitude for the daily events and also trying not to be not so easily influenced by YouTube and blogs etc. as to what I “need to have”  in order to be happy J.  

Of course there is so much more to this word then  what I can write in this post for now. I  will have an entire year to further explore the depth of its meaning.

The second card is the Magician.  The first thing I noticed were the four tools on his table which is all he needs for making his magic happen. If I would tap into this archetype I would find my inner strength would be enough to be fulfilled and happy. It is in myself where my true power resides.  Not even in the tools in front of me. Whatever is in my three cups or in the fourth; they are merely things to enjoy but not necessary to become fully who I am supposed to be.  

It sounds good to me and hopefully I will remember this when the next “temptation” comes along

Queen of Cups – Listen to my heart

My card for today is the Queen of Cups from the Crystals Visions Tarot. This queen isn't  sitting on a throne; instead she has chosen a rock near a deep pond to meditate and reflect. From the muddy bottom of this pond Water Lilies are blooming in the moonlight. Dragonflies are flying from flower to flower. Both are symbols of emerging from the unconscious, being aware of your feelings and see them as a reliable guideline.

This queen is warm, sensitive and highly emotional. She is a gentle nurturer and empathic compassionate caregiver. Since she is rather passive (water of water) her strength lies in sharing feelings and listening to others. Don’t expect her to help you organize a party but she will be a wonderful host and make everybody feel at home.

When all her emotions get too overwhelming, she can become broody, needy and manipulative. The best she can do then is to shield herself from too much impressions, cool her feet in the water and sit there for a while with herself.

Some days I can relate to this queen but a lot but after a longer period of “Queen of Cupsiness” I get irritated with myself. Then I long for some action and to get my feet out of the water and back on the ground.

For today however it might be a good advice to listen to my  gut feelings and intuition and put my overactive logical mind to rest for a while. This might help me to be more attentive to the needs of others as well as to my own. (Somehow I keep forgetting that “Listen” is my word of the year J)

“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear” - Rumi

Listening with an open heart

For today I’ve drawn a card from the Enchanted Map Oracle: Listening. It depicts a wise old elephant who is listening to the song of the little Red Robin on his head. Before I pulled this card I’ve asked the question: “What energy or attitude can help me to be more loving and kind to others?” I suppose “Listening” is a wise answer to this question. My first reaction was astonishment because I had totally forgotten all about my word of the year which was: Listen! I had planned to be really aware what others would communicate to me; with or without words. And here I am in the beginning  of April standing with this card in my hand and wishing I had the memory of this elephant instead of my own sieve.
Let’s look at the message from this card:
“An open heart will hear the message.”
“When this card appears, you’re being reminded that there is a time to speak and to be silent. Now is an occasion for listening. Pay attention not only to what is being spoken, but also to what is not being said at the moment, for the deeper message is not always obvious. Listen with your heart, not just your ears, and you’ll find clarity.”
 So it is obvious to me I have to put up some sign to remind myself of my Word and to practice the art of true listening.  Because “just” by listening you can spread also love and kindness around you and when you listen carefully you will know more clearly where your love is needed.

Listen as the Hare does

Just a few a hours after my previous post,  I've found this picture made by 

Sue Wookey

The Listening Hare

"Love silence and listen, as the hare does, to the quiet reaching upwards of the grass and the drum of the full moon rolling over the round hill"

My Word for this Year: Listen

Inspired by The Neopagan priestess I've decided to share my word for 2014. Perhaps when I write about it, this word will become even more real to me. Kerry has even made a beautiful picture of her word. The word that came up for me the lasts weeks of December was: Listen. I've made a mind map with it and these are some of the associations I've’ve come up with:

Angel Tarot

Listen to myself as well as to others.
Listen to the silence; listen to nature, listen to the whispers between the words I hear.
Listen to my body; what do I feel ,what do I need, what is good and healthy  for me.
Listen to my boundaries, which are there for my own protection and wellbeing

Perhaps I will make some kind of talisman to remember my word by. My animal for now is the hare. I suspect it can teach me a lot about listening. J

For today I've drawn The Eight of Fire from the Angel Tarot. A gorgeous card with crystal wands carried by sparkling dragons. The annotation tells us: Events moving at a fast pace. Delays are over. Many Things are happening at once. I am still feeling like I am in a hurry. I want too many things at once. I feel excited about all the projects I am planning  and  my goals and resolutions ……and so on. This card combined with my word is telling me to choose a wand and work with it and to calm down. Listen to myself and determine what is good for me now. I have to be the mature about it. Only then I will be able to enjoy all my wands even more.