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Weekly Card Growing the 9 of Pentacles

150205 9 of Pentacles Crystal
Crystal Tarot

Last time we looked at 9 of Pentacles, we looked at the sense of wealth and luxury that go with this card.

This time, let’s go to course basics and examine the specific elements of the vivid Crystal Tarot image.

Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think has 9 as integration and security in the realm of Pentacles: the material world, your health, and your finances. From Tarot 2, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, you see that 9 is a whole lot of the Earth element. If we’ve got a specific project going, we’re just a step away from completion.

So what do we see here? We’ve got our 9 discs. These are arranged as a growing plant, a wonderful connection to the natural world of the Pentacles. The discs are golden, with various petal and star images on each. Am I the only one who sees the sun up there in the top disc, keeping the whole plant warm and growing? Did you notice that the central stalk is a thick, solid brown, not a slender green? This is a plant with some age and solidity, reflecting the qualities of 9.

The horizon line is halfway up (or down) the card. We’ve got a lot of earth showing, again, appropriate for Pentacles. We’ve also got blue sky with the bright green of the plant creating patterns across the sky. We have various elements working together, a wonderful expression of the 9’s integration.

What do you make of all the colours? Remember, you can use chakra associations. You can use the traditional tarot associations of mental yellow for Swords, growing green for Pentacles, flowing blue for Cups, and fiery red for Wands. Don’t forget your own personal associations.

Let’s look back to a couple of cards from earlier this month to build story-telling skills. What happens if you’ve got 2 of Cups next to 9 of Pentacles? What story would you tell if 7 of Pentacles led into 9 of Pentacles? What if you’ve got 2 of Cups to 7 of Pentacles to 9 of Pentacles? Remember, just start the story with a few elements and see where it goes.

From T2WNIKA, you have associations to deepen the story. Earthy Pentacles and Watery Cups have a neutral relationship, so neither will strengthen or weaken the other. But what about those quantities? 7s and 9s indicate a lot of the earth element. Will that dam up the small amount of water or provide a solid bed for it to start a trickling river? Is there enough emotional Cup energy to move the practical Pentacles? Our 2 and 9 “get along”, both being concerned with community. But the 2 wants to get personal, while the 9 demands big picture thinking for the greater good. How about the 7 and the 9 or the 7 and the 2? Not always an easy relationship. If we stay connected to the sacred, using our skills in service to the community, the 7 and 9 combination smooths out. How about the solitary-minded 7 with the relationship-minded 2? How can you use the 9 to help them get along?

Coming back to your own life, what are your figurative blooming plants? Unlike the transient blossoms, expect these elements to last. Make them a part of your very self.

Luxuriate in the wealth that surrounds you!





If you’d like to use the beautiful images of the tarot to help you find and make use of the wealth in your life, you know where to find me.  You can also get in touch for individual and group lessons.

The next Berkeley County Adult Ed classes are on 20th March and 1st May.  Call 304-267-3585 for info and to sign up.

Sacred Integration

141102 Rumi

We’re almost to the end of our year of exploring the Sacred.   November gives us the chance to integrate, to complete that exploration.

We’ve been using our skills of analysis in our year-long discovery. How can you complete your analysis of the sacred this month?

The numbers of November are related to those of February, when we were expanding the sacred. This late in the year, the sense of expansion is very different.

Now, we’re emphasizing the wrap-up of our process. The expansion has to do with our interconnectedness. We can look to our exploration of the social sacred in August.

Rather than seeing our differences and finding ways to blend our different communities, the call this month is to see how each of us embodies all of the sacred, every last bit of it. We’re finding the level where our differences are illusory.

Be curious this month, especially about your connection to others. The more you explore individual connections with an eye to the universal, the more the Universe will provide you new opportunities to connect and explore.

Expand your awareness of your personal sacred to encompass the entire Sacred Ocean!

 

 

Yes, numerological counseling is amoung the services offered here.

Here‘s where to find all the Numerology posts for 2014.

Weekly Card 9 of Swords Revisited

141030 9 of Swords Renaissance
Renaissance Tarot

Well, here’s one of the “scary” cards, just in time for Halloween. No skeletons or ghosts, just your friendly Roman charioteer with a victim in tow. You’ve seen the frightened kitty and the up-all-night versions before. Remember, 9 of Swords is ideas, concerns and communication connected to integration and security.

It’s always intense to see cards like the 9 of Swords in a spread. They’re as much your friends as the more pleasant cards in the deck. Think of them as the notice that there are spooks afoot. If you went out on Halloween without a clue what was up, it’d be pretty terrifying to run into monsters and zombies. Since you know what’s going on, you don’t have to freak out about the dripping blood and hollow eyes.

How would you be if you were tied and dragged? (Be sure to look around when you’re done imagining; come out of your “let’s pretend” well before you hit panic.) How do you handle learning that something like this could be coming up? What would you do for a friend, if it were?

How about if you’re the “victor” – the charioteer? Who would you need to be to do that to someone?

What if you’re both? What if part of you is dragging another part to death?

Misery and Revenge are the words up in the corner of the Renaissance Tarot image. How are these two related? What miseries do you need vengeance for?

There’s definitely a “doing it to ourselves” component to 9 of Swords. We can use all those swords to cut ourselves loose from the desperate or vengeful situation. Storytelling, mastery of communication, sharing ideas in the greater community all figure into the positive potential of 9 of Swords.

Looking at tarot tradition, the Renaissance Tarot blends the old tradition of “pips” on the minor cards – pictures of swords, wands, cups or pentacles in the number noted on the card – with the newer tradition of illustrative images.

So what sort of stories are you telling yourself? Remember, Stephen King and self-torture aren’t your only options.

 

If you’re looking to learn more about Tarot, I’ll be teaching level 1, Tarot . . . It’s Easier Than You Think, on Wednesday, 5th November, and level 2, Tarot 2 . . . We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, on Friday, 12th December, through the Berkeley County Adult Ed program.  Call 304-267-3585 for more information and to register.

And you know where to find me for phone, email, or in-person tarot counseling.

Weekly Card 9 of Swords

140327 Cats Eye 9 of Swords
Cats Eye Tarot

Uh-oh, this doesn’t look good.  Whatever will I do?  I’d better protect myself.  I’ll prepare for the worst.  And I’d better take something to settle my nerves.  Oh, I just don’t know what to do.  I just know it isn’t going to turn out well!

There’s the 9 of Swords for you.  It sends us scrambling to hide under the bed, even if the very big noise was just the vacuum cleaner on the other side of the house.  Especially if we just did something somebody somewhere sometime told us wasn’t a good idea.

140327 RWS 9 of Swords9 of Swords is often called the “nightmare” card.  You can see in the Rider-Waite-Smith illustration that someone’s being kept up at night through sorrow or worry.  Dark night of the soul, eh?

What we really need with 9 of Swords is a safe place to retreat for a rest, so we can think straight.  Hiding under the bed can be a useful short term strategy (if you’ve got fewer dust bunnies than I do!); eventually, you’ll want to find someplace a little more comfortable.

We want to use our thoughts to make sense of our experiences, rather than to spin endless replays or worst-case scenarios.  We need to accept the truth of what got us to where we are, and climb that ladder of swords to a better place.  Remember, swords indicate communication and ideas, as well as concerns.  We can talk with others about our dilemmas, and educate ourselves about possible solutions.  Being alone with our thoughts is not a bad idea, but torturing ourselves with them definitely is.  It’s time to face our fears.

Our way of thinking got us into our perceived tight spot; a new way of thinking can lead us back out.

Find a restful retreat to sort out the old experiences.  Let your acquired knowledge lead you to new beginnings.

Expand the Sacred

We’ve got a society that’s built on endless expansion.  We add and purchase and go for more and look for the next . . . .  in knowledge, in stuff, in relationships . . . .

And we can do that spiritually, as well.  If I do this retreat and take this workshop and practice this moving meditation and repeat these affirmations . . . .

Until . . . .

140204 numbers

 

This month’s energies encourage a general expansion of our understanding of the world around us and of our spiritual awareness.

But not in the way we usually expand in our society.

It’s more like graduation.  We move into a higher grade that opens more knowledge and experience to us but we leave behind the grade we’re graduating out of.   (Can you believe that I just became aware of the relationship of “grade” and “graduate”?  Expansion in action :-} )

We still take all that knowledge with us and use it to build on, but we don’t take the books and the uniforms and the desks . . . .

We let go.

We move on.

And our expanded perspective allows us to dive deeper.

So, this month, let go of what no longer serves you and . . .

discover the opportunities to broaden your sacred horizons.

 

Yes, numerological counseling is amoung the services offered here.

Here‘s where to find all the Numerology posts for 2014.

Weekly Card 9 of Cups Revisited

131128 Dali 9 of Cups
Dali Universal Tarot

Could the message be any clearer for Thanksgiving?

(To those of you not in the US:  this is the day when we gather all our friends and family and feast till we burst, giving thanks for everything we love in our lives.  Alternative celebrations include honouring the spirit of competition through football – not soccer – games or family knockdowns to settle old scores.)

Remember, 9 of Cups is all about sharing the happy.  It offers you the possibility of keeping your mind and emotions balanced.

How do you do that when you’ve got family or friends who are even more peculiar than anyone Dali might have dreamed up?

What if you’ve got the Queen of Wands, the Queen of Swords and the Knight of Pentacles at your table?  Who’s going to keep the sharp-tongued Queen of Swords from biting off the drama Queen of Wands’ head?

What do you do to stay in your happy place?  How do you keep focused on your purpose for this day?  (Yes, I know:  sometimes it seems easier to go with the competition purpose – we’re in the Big Happy Share of 9 of Cups, though.)

9 of Cups calls us to stay connected, both to our deepest bliss and to the world around us.  It’s just the beginning of the celebration!

Keep your happiness in mind and create it in the world around you!

 

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