31st
Stick to the plan
Action is signified in the cards today, but are we going to do what we need to do? For the cards suggest although we know what we need to do, the danger is we are going to do something entirely different.
And that would be a mistake. The tarot won’t stop us, but it does make us think. Today its guidance is to follow through on that which we intended to do. To not change our mind at the last minute, but instead align our thoughts with our actions and go with the original plan.
30th
Things can get worse before they get better
A very early post this morning as we fly off to Gran Canaria at 8.15, and the clocks going forward confuses me at the best of times, but created more chaos than usual today. I didn’t trust the phone to update the time so erred on the side of caution and set the alarm for 4.15 instead of 5.15 on the basis that if it all went wrong it was better to wake up at 3.15 than 6.15. I needn’t have bothered because I’ve barely slept anyway. But at least it gives me a chance to draw cards this morning, which I thought I may have to miss.
The dragons aren’t coming with me to Gran Canaria, I was limited to two decks, so I pulled a dragon card this morning and Gloravas has made an appearance. Gloravas has set the world on fire in order to change the world around them, to refresh and renew that which is not working exactly as they wanted it to. It’s a signal that we may need to give attention to something that we have let slide for too long. From a personal perspective we have been talking over the last few weeks about a business that we sold when we moved from Jersey, and which the intention was to always start again when we were settled in the UK. We’ve been here almost 3 years now, and done nothing except talk about it occasionally, and it seems Gloravas is saying to us it’s time to stop talking and take action.
The second card, is the Knight of Cups from the tarot. Knights are action cards, they’re full of energy but also angst, they’re the teenagers of the tarot so we are never actually sure where we are with them. Today it suggests that we’re a bit all over the place emotionally, linked to the dragon card we kind of feel like we need to take action but we are concerned we are not going to get the result we want and may make things worse. I guess from our perspective we haven’t started the business back up because the UK is very different to Jersey in a retail sense, and if we change the way we did it we are not sure it will work. So we’ve done nothing and don’t know either way.
But there’s only one way to find out, and both cards are action cards so they are suggesting we do something. But they’re also asking us not to set our expectations too high. And reminding us that when we take action sometimes things can get worse before they get better. We have been warned.
29th
You can't please everyone all the time
Temperance, in the tarot at least, means balance , harmony and moderation, yet what strikes me today is the phrase “you can’t please everyone all of the time.” Often in life when we try to find balance, a fair way, equality for everyone so that nobody feels left out or that they have the short end of the stick, we end up managing to upset everyone.
And that’s our problem today. We know that we can’t please everyone, but it’s upsetting us that someone is not going to be happy with what we decide. It has to be done, because we can’t move forward unless we bite the bullet and make our decision. Although it’s commendable that we are trying to make things right for everyone we need to remember that the risk is that if nobody gets exactly what they want then nobody is going to be happy.
The final card is the card if victory, so it suggests that we are worrying needlessly. Even though some may not be happy, they will fall in to line. Because if we explain our decision, they’ll understand that we were caught between a rock and a hard place. And that going forward to anywhere is better than going around in circles.
28th
Burn that bridge
Today’s cards are the Fairy of Adventure from the Fairy Wisdom Guides and Aillen Mac Midgna, the fire breathing goblin from Irish folklore and the Druid Tarot. They are suggesting today that we burn our bridges, which is a concept that’s often viewed negatively but can have a positive outcome.
How often has someone warned you about burning your bridges? It’s seen negatively because there is no going back. I’m often distracted by reels on Facebook. I can spend 40 minutes watching videos that serve no real purpose and stop me doing what I’m meant to be doing, but the other day I watched one where a woman got up from her desk at work, threw her things in her bag and then started waving two fingers at the camera. It was clear in the heat of that moment she had had enough of the job, and given her actions I doubt the company she worked for would be asking her to stay. She had burned her bridges, and maybe when she got home and thought about it after a cup of tea, she may have regretted her actions, but was burning her bridges a bad thing?
When we burn our bridges there is no going back, but isn’t it better to always go forward anyway? Often in life we go back to that which is safe and familiar, but it means we miss out on the adventure and opportunity that could be ahead of us. Today if we burn our bridges, we can’t turn around, can’t go back. We have to make the most of what is in front of us. And we are much more likely to make it a success if it is the only option available to us.
27th
It's not enough to want or wish
Today’s tarot card is from The Law of Attraction tarot deck. I have to confess I bought this deck because I was intrigued as to how the creators blended the law of attraction with the tarot. The tarot is a guidance tool, it connects to our subconcious mind through synchronicity and provides us with clarity and a suggested way forward for a situation we are in. Whereas with the law of attraction we are manifesting consciously that which we desire, to make something happen.
I’ve worked with the law of attraction for years. I’m a Feng Shui consultant and trainer and the law of attraction has its roots, although this has been to some extent been lost, in Feng Shui. So when I say this next bit I’m not knocking the law of attraction tarot deck, because it does focus the mind on it, but I’m not sure you need it. You can use any tarot deck to manifest what you desire. Either by applying the principles of the law of attraction when you shuffle a tarot deck, or by applying the principles when you get the guidance (assuming of course we are happy to accept the guidance we get, for the tarot always offers what we need, but not necessarily what we want).
Regardless of whether we need this particular deck or not, I’ve got it, I’ve used it and it’s thrown up some useful guidance today, about the law of attraction, and how it’s often misunderstood. Because like many things in life to make it accessible it’s diluted. Reading about the law of attraction in a magazine we would assume that it’s as simple as sitting in our chair, repeating over and over again that we are rich and money is going to suddenly start raining down on us. It’s not that simple because we have to take action. How I like to think of it is that when we connect our thoughts to our dreams and take action to make them happen, the Universe notices this and gives us a helping hand. But if we just connect our thoughts to our dreams and sit back and wait for the Universe to wave its magic, the Universe watches us thinking we’ll be waiting a long time.
But even if we take action it doesn’t always happen overnight, which is what the cards are tellling us today. Embrathar appears with the message to perservere, to keep on going even if we don’t seem to be getting anywhere. And the Knight of Swords, the Fighter in the law of attraction tarot deck, tells us to keep fighting even if feels tough. We may be trying so hard and not feel like we are getting anywhere, may think that the Universe is looking the other way, and maybe it is. But maybe we are having to learn a lesson, or being shown how strong we can be. It doesn’t mean we are not going to get what we want eventually, providing we don’t give up.
26th
Open your eyes to that which is obvious
Many of us, and I include myself in this, can be a bit of a magpie at times. Drawn to the shiny and the new. I see it when I’m at an event, people are drawn to the Fairy Wisdom decks which are sprinkled with fairy dust and sparkle under the lights. Anything that glitters can attract our attention. And yet the cards today suggest there is something glaringly obvious, that is flashing like a beacon in front of our eyes, that we are missing.
One of the things I love about working with the cards, is how they give their messages in such subtle and yet obvious ways. When I uploaded the photograph of the two cards to Facebook this morning I was struck by how dull the picture looked today. As in dark, or not well lit. Thinking I must have nudged the dial on the light switch to a dimmer setting when switching it on (life used to be so much simpler when you only had two options, on and off), my first reaction was to take another picture. But then I realised how much that simple mistake wasn’t a mistake after all. Because it linked in with the message the cards were giving.
It doesn’t matter how obvious the Universe makes something, we sometimes just don’t see it. We cannot see what is staring us in the face. Today the Universe is asking us to open our eyes to that which is obvious. And once we’ve noticed it, and metaphorically picked it up, to do something with it. For the magpie is not only attracted to shiny objects, but uses them, repurposes them, fashions them into something useful. And today we are being asked to do the same.
25th
Life and the Fibonacci sequence
What struck me when I looked at the tarot cards this morning was how they fitted in almost perfectly to the Fibonacci sequence. Now this post could go horribly wrong very quickly because maths was never one of my strengths at the best of times, and it’s still early as I couldn’t sleep, but the Fibonacci sequence, put very simply, is a mathematical pattern that emphasises the speed of growth, and how quickly growth can happen because what is built is much bigger than the sum of its parts. The pattern is formed by the next number in the sequence being formed by the sum of the two preceding numbers, so it goes 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21, etc,etc. If you were to save money for 10 days following a consecutive pattern, you would put £1 aside on the first day, £2 on the second, £3 on the third until you put £10 away on the tenth and at the end of the period you would have £55. Which is not to be sneezed at. But if instead you followed the Fibonacci sequence and put £1 aside on the first day, £1 on the second, £2 on the third, £3 on the fourth and on to £55 on the tenth, at the end of the ten days you would have £143. Considerably more.
I was drawn to the sequence initially because of the numbers of the cards, the 3 of Wands, the 5 of Cups and the 8 of Cups, as they followed the Fibonacci sequence, but then when I looked closer at the cards, each card individually also replicated it. On the 3 of Wands we have 1 wand to the left and 2 to the right. 1+2 makes 3. In the 5 of Cups 2 cups are behind and 3 cups are in front, 2+3 is 5. In the 8 of Cups, 3 cups are on the top row and 5 on the bottom. 3+5 is 8. The cards are highlighting how important it is to not only utilise what we have done before to grow and progress, but connect what we have done in the past to help us grow quicker.
Going back to the numbers, we can see if we use consecutive or incremental steps we can grow, but if we use the sum of the parts that have gone before in the Fibonacci sequence we can grow much bigger much quicker. £143 in our savings account as opposed to £55. We can adopt the same principle in our life. The cards are telling us today not only to use what we have done in the past to build for the future, but to connect the different things we do. To think about how all the different strands of our life can be pulled together so collectively they become much greater than the sum of their parts. Because if we do that we can progress much quicker than we thought possible.
24th
Not what, but when
When we think of the alligator we think of the fearsome power it possesses. But though I wouldn’t want to come across one on land, its power exists really only in water. On land it’s a somewhat ungainly creature, still strong and dangerous, but nowhere near as powerful.
The Ace of Swords provides us with clarity. We have come to a decision and have decided on what to do in a situation. But like the alligator who lurks in the water waiting for the optimum moment to strike, we are being asked to consider when the best time is to go forward. Though we have now decided on the what, we need to decide on the when. For our power depends on whether or not we choose the best moment to put our decision into action.
23rd
First Steps
Veldrath opens the cage door to let their young fly out. It is the start of a journey, and like many journeys there is a reluctance to take the first step. There is the realisation that life will never be the same again, the world has opened up beyond the confines of the cage and will now look and feel different. It is no wonder there is reluctance to take flight.
The Ace of Wands suggests we are being presented with a new opportunity, linked closely to work or to business. And though it looks good, and feels like it is the right thing to do, we are hesitating to take it. Why is that? Is it that we feel secure, is it that we are happy, or is it that we feel neither of those but believe the known is better than the unknown, that if we were to spread our wings, we may soar to new heights, but we may equally fall?
The cards guide, they don’t tell, and so we cannot see in the cards whether or not we should throw caution to the wind and go for it. But like Veldrath who hovers close and can always swoop down to catch their young, maybe we can find our own safety net that will catch us if we fall. Just because we leave the cage, it does not mean we have to abandon it. It can still be there to return to if needed.
22nd
Pandora's Box
There’s something we don’t want to see. We know it’s there, we know it’s lurking in the background and at some point in the near future we know we are going to have to open our eyes and our mind to confront it, but for now we feel it is better to just ignore it, pretend it doesn’t exist. Because like Pandora, when we open that box we fear all hell is going to break loose.
I’m not saying it’s going fo be easier than we think, when that happens, but the problem at the moment is we are looking at it from one side. The worst one. Now we may argue that there isn’t a best side, and maybe that’s true, but there is a better side. And that’s almost as good. Or as good as it’s going to get anyway.
There are always two sides to a situation. We like to think that both options are going to be positive, but if that’s not possible then we at least want a good and a bad option. Today though we fear that we are only going to be presented with bad and worse. And so it’s better to stay not knowing. But the problem with that is we do know don’t we? We just don’t want to see it.
When Pandora opened the box, all the evils of the world escaped, but it did mean humanity was able to face them, confront them, deal with them. Just because they were kept contained within the box it didn’t mean they weren’t there. And it’s the same for us today. Whether we want to open our eyes or not to what is happening, it does not mean that the situation doesn’t exist. Just that we are choosing whether to face it or not.
21st
Better days are coming
When I was creating the Fairy Wisdom Guides, it was easy to choose the daffodil as the flower for the Fairy of Dependability. I know that we should love all the seasons, but I have to admit I can’t stand winter. The cold mornings, having to scrape the ice off the car, the constant dullness, darkness coming early which means I’m horrified when I look at the clock thinking it must be bedtime to find it’s only 8 o clock. Give me spring any day of the year with the buds on the trees, the longer days and the promise of summer to come. And I’ve come to depend on the presence of daffodils whose yellow trumpets signal the start of a new year to lift my mood.
It’s ages, probably over a year, since I last turned to the Tarot of Mermaids, but there was something about the start of spring which made me want to use a new deck. And as I haven’t got a new deck I chose one that I haven’t used for a while. The Knave of Pentacles was the card I drew, which links in perfectly with the theme of dependability today.
When I looked at the card, I thought of the mermaid swimming down to her treasure chest on the sea bed, trusting completely that it would be where she had left it. Amongst all the precious treasures it contains, she had selected her crystal ball, the object that she can rely on to give her insight, clarity and guidance. She holds it in her hand knowing that, even though she may not have needed it for a while, it will give her the answers she seeks, for it has never let her down.
The cards today suggest two things. There may be those that depend on us, that haven’t spoken to us in a while, that maybe we haven’t seen for a long time, but return to our lives because in this moment they need us and they know we won’t let them down. Though it’s easy in these situations to feel used, to feel as though we are only significant when we are needed, to turn them away in their moment of need would hurt them much deeper than we would imagine. Because though their behaviour may suggest otherwise we are more important to them than it appears. Alternatively, it may be us who are feeling lost, at a crossroads, disappointed, in need of a lift, and if that is the case then we should seek out that or those which we know will give our spirits a lift. Even if it as simple as buying a bunch of daffodils to place in a vase as a reminder that better days are coming.
20th
Do that which makes you feel better
Cavodrak sits in the darkness, waiting for the sun to come up in the sky, to bathe them in warmth and light. Maybe the sun’s progress is too slow, maybe Cavodrak is too cold, perhaps Cavodrak is conscious of the sun’s awesome responsibility and wants to help. Whatever the reason they breathe flame towards the sun. It may not appear to make any real difference and yet it does indirectly. It gives Cavodrak purpose, hope, a distraction. It may not give any support to the sun, but in that brief moment it supports Cavodrak and their wellbeing.
The second card today is from the Pagan Tarot, which I’m really getting into at the moment. It’s great to use different tarot decks because although the basic meanings are always the same, each deck gives a slightly different interpretation. The card is the Four of Pentacles which means in general terms building or hoarding for the future. It’s around saving money for something we want but there is always the warning in the card around the dangers of becoming too attached to the money which in itself does no good whatsoever.
In the Pagan Tarot we have a woman with a full trolley contemplating whether she needs to buy more. It’s a common question we ask ourselves when we go shopping, and one I can empathise with as I popped to M&S yesterday lunchtime as we’d run out of milk and spent £18. At least I remembered the milk as I have been known in the past to go for one thing and come back with a dozen things none of which was what I’d actually gone for. The question she needs to ask herself in the card is does she have enough for what she needs today and for the next few days. Can she create meals with what she has, or has she got lots of things which added together don’t amount to much? (I can empathise with that as well!) Maybe she doesn’t need the chocolate mousse she has her hand on, but is that a reason not to buy it?
Which brings us back to Cavodrak. If they are cold they should be saving their energy, not using it on that which will make no real benefit. Yet in doing that they feel better and can we argue with that? Sometimes it is not about what we need in the long term, but what we need right now. Even if we can’t see a purpose, there is usually one to be found.
19th
Grab the plate with both hands
For the guidance today we have Dominance from the Animal Wisdom, and the Ace of Disks from the Thoth tarot (pentacles in most other decks). It is a call to take action if we want something, or in other words to go out and get what we want.
When I lived in France, we had a huge garden. I use the word garden loosely as although we did turn some of it into what could be called a garden, a lot of it was left as nature intended. I did though in one part of it, give nature a helping hand by creating a wildflower meadow. I’d got the idea for it because on the drive into town I used to pass a small meadow that was crammed full of wildflowers. It had obviously been created, and I decided that I wanted to do the same at the very top of our garden.
I naively thought that I’d just scatter some wildflower seeds on the grass and let nature do its thing. But nature clearly thought the fool needed to be taught a lesson and nothing happened that year. So the following year I took advice and the area was stripped back to bare earth and then I scattered the wildflower seeds. And the area was not only transformed into a wild garden but looked completely natural, as though it had been there all along. And grew bigger over the next few years as seeds scattered and took root.
But the point is even though it looked like it was meant to be, I had to do something. So often in life if we want something we throw it out to the Universe, say to ourselves “if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be,” and feel disappointed if what we want we don’t get. Sometimes, although we may not like it, wishing or waiting for something to happen is not enough. We have to go out and get it.
Which is what the cards are telling us today. If we don’t take charge, take action, then not only are we not going to get what we want, but we risk losing out to someone who we think is less deserving. It’s not enough to tell the Universe we want it, we have to show the Universe we want it. The Universe will always give us a helping hand, but it won’t hand something to us on a plate.
18th
Commit to see it through
I’m not going to start at the beginning today. Although The Devil is the first card drawn I’m going to leave him until last, which will irritate him, but I don’t care. Because The Devil doesn’t play fair, so neither do I.
The cards indicate work today, as we have the consecutive cards of the Page and Knight of Wands. Wands relate to work, not necessarily a job or a business, but any work we might be doing. Even work that doesn’t feel like work such as booking a holiday. I should have started off by saying wands relate to activity but I’m not going to go back and retype what I’ve written. The court card match with the ages of life, the page is childhood, the knight, adolescence, and so their appearance suggests we are starting something new. And because it’s new, it’s exciting, we’re full of passion for the project and so we are throwing our all into it.
It may be that we have decided to look for a new job, and we are rewriting our CV, searching through the job boards on the internet, taking advice from people who work for the company we want to work for. It could be that we’ve had a new business idea, and we’ve thought of a website name, researched competitors, found new products or wholesalers. Maybe it’s not work, work, but booking a holiday, and so we have spent the last couple of days looking at hotels, clearing our diary, buying some holiday clothes. Whatever it is we’ve been busy.
So where does The Devil come in? The Devil is that voice in our head which whispers, “Why are you bothering? There’s nothing really wrong with your current job, you don’t have the skills to start a new business, it’s a lot of faff and expense to go on holiday, why not stay at home?” All that time, effort, passion could so easily fizzle out and come to nothing now we’ve remembered we can’t ignore The Devil forever.
The Devil is the first card drawn which means he holds significance over what we do today, and so the chances are we are going to listen to him. But he is followed by action cards and so we can take action if we choose, for we are tied to him by fear, not the chains around our neck which are so loose they can easily be taken off. It’s down to us to decide whether we finish what we have started or give up. For The Devil may be the first card, but it’s us who hold the fourth card.
17th
Make a list not a wish
When we see the weasel, it’s often a sign that we should proceed cautiously, not make any sudden moves. Assess the situation before us from every angle and perspective before making the decision as to what we are going to do. Though the desire may be to act quickly and decisively, before we lose the impetus or the opportunity, today the cards are suggesting that we wait.
The Hierophant means learning, amongst other things, and his appearance with the weasel tells us that there are still things we need to find out. That to rush in without the resources or the knowledge we need would be a mistake. Though we may be eager to move forward, we should only do so when we can see exactly where we are going, and have the skills and knowledge to make the most of the journey.
In life we tend to swing from one extreme to the other, rushing in where others fear to tread, or doing nothing and wishing we’d had the courage to follow our dream. Today we should err on the side of caution, but still do something. Write down the pros and cons of what we are thinking of doing to see if it is actually worth it. And if it is , write another list to assess what we have that will help us achieve it, what we are lacking, and how we get that which is missing. And only move forward when we have the tools to get the outcome we want.
16th
Accept life for what it is
The rhinoceros has been called the last living dinosaur. For millions of years it has battled through the ages, survived prehistoric predators, adapted to the modern world. It has shown true resilience, and beaten remarkable odds to stand amongst us today, and we need to show similar resilience as we face the battles of our own.
Life can be cruel. I almost wrote life can feel cruel, but that’s to deny that it is actually is. We faced an extraordinary battle and unlikely odds just to get here and then sometimes seem to think that we are supposed to have reached a land of sweetness and light when we do. That battle and those odds were just a precursor of what was to come. It’s tough out here, and a challenge, some days more than others. And we need a reminder of that today.
Aleister Crowley’s Thoth tarot tells it how it is. There is no ambiguity. The 9 of Swords is cruelty. But it’s not the cruelty of life that is indicated in the card, but the cruelty of our mind. The swords create a barrier on which poison rains down, turning to blood as it comes into connection with the swords. Our minds have been poisoned by the expectation that life is supposed to be a fairytale, that good will always triumph over evil, that life is fair. It’s not, it’s a battle, and if we don’t accept that then we create an additional battle, the one with our mind.
The cards today ask us to accept life for what it is, that there will be bad days as well as good, tough times as well as easy ones, days where we get what we deserve, and others where we just cannot get a break. That’s life unfortunately, but though we can’t control what happens, we can control how we react to it. Are we going to shrug it off and just keep battling, or are we going to let it poison our mind with bitterness and hate? Because the irony is we are often more cruel to ourselves, than anything that life throws at us.
15th
Keep Right
The Universe constantly throws signs in our path. But sometimes we don’t notice them, or choose to ignore them. And when that happens, and they are signs that we were meant to take notice of, the Universe will throw something in our path that will stop us in our tracks.
A few weeks ago I was driving to Oxfordshire, a journey I’ve done countless times. Driving up the M3 towards the turn off for the A34, the satnav suddenly told me to keep right. There’s something wrong with this satnav, I thought, not for the first time, as I stayed in the left hand lane. “Keep right, now” the sat nav demanded again. ‘“Shut up” I shouted (or similar words anyway) as I looked at the heavy traffic in the right hand lanes, whilst my lane onto the A34 was clear. “Keep right now.” the satnav repeated as I exited onto the slip road. There was only one thing for it. I muted the satnav muttering curses under my breath at how useless it was. I was cursing louder a few seconds later as a big red sign saying Road Closed blocked my way.
The cards suggest that we are focusing so much on what we are doing today, that we are failing to notice, or choosing to ignore, signs that there may be a different approach we can take. And because we’ve been so determined to do it our way, even though there may be a better way, the Universe is going to intervene. Not to stop us completely, but to make us pause and think. The danger when this happens is that we are tempted to give up, we see whatever the obstacle is, as a sign that we should stop our journey. But the King of Cups is also in the cards today, with the message to stay calm amidst the turmoil around us. To keep our head in a situation where it is tempting to lose it.
It is not the destination that is wrong. We just need to consider a different way of getting to where we want to be. And because we’ve been so busy trying to get there, the Universe has intervened to force us to take a break. Not to stop us permanently or to set us back, but to make us think if what we are doing is working, or if there is another way to get there. When the road is blocked, it is better to keep right than turn around.
14th
The Daisy Chain
The cards have taken me on a trip down memory lane this morning. It’s amazing that what you see in the cards one day you may not focus on another day. Today the Fairy of Gratitude standing amongst a field of daisies has reminded me of childhood holidays on the east coast of Yorkshire.
My parents had a caravan in Hornsea when I was a child, so every holiday until I was 8 was spent there. Because it was a static caravan site, it was the same people who were there every school holiday, and so I had home friends and holiday friends. This was way before technology took over our lives, and we didn’t have much money, nobody did, so we had to find things to do, simple things to occupy the day. One day a group of us decided to create a daisy chain that would stretch right around a caravan, a memory that the Fairy of Gratitude triggered today.
It’s a reminder to give gratitude for the simple things in life, the everyday pleasures that we don’t even notice. In a world where we often find ourselves wishing for something else, we forget to say thanks for what we do have, even if it feels like nothing at the time. Even sitting in a field making a daisy chain which probably felt exciting for a few minutes when I was 5, before I lost interest very quickly, but the memory of which made me smile 50 years later.
The second card today is from the Druid Tarot and is the 5 of Cups. I’m drawing a lot of 5s at the moment, yesterday I drew the 5 of Pentacles as my personal card, the day before it was the 5 of Cups and in the daily guidance spread yesterday the 5 of Wands appeared. 5s represent turning points and given that I have a birthday coming up in a few weeks which contains not one but two 5s I think the Universe is trying to tell me something. But what does the 5 of Cups mean in the context of gratitude?
In the depiction on the Druid tarot, the 5 of Cups shows a group of 4 individuals trying to draw water from a well with a cup. Given the fact the cup is empty, and the disappointed expressions on their faces we can summise that it’s not going well. But then a cup is not the ideal replacement for a bucket. But it is better than nothing, and that is what the card is telling us. What we have may not be what we need, or even what we want, but it’s better than having nothing at all. And we should be grateful we have something. There is also the second message in the card which is that even though what we want may be just out of reach, we are at a turning point, and if we keep on trying then we will get what we want eventually.
But that’s not now. The message from the Fairy of Gratitude and the Druid tarot is to not waste time wishing for what we want tomorrow, but instead give thanks for what we have today.
13th
What feels like two choices may be no choice at all
The cards today suggest we are faced with a choice; fight or flight. There is tension in the air, the energy feels charged and it is as though there are obstacles and challenges waiting to trip us up, whatever we do. Before making a decision, choosing which of the two paths we are going to take, we should give the situation careful thought, for at this moment it may feel like neither path leads to where we want to go.
If we choose to fight, we are standing our ground and confronting the situation head on. It may involve difficult conversations, standing up for what we believe. There is likely to be conflict but we will know exactly where we are and where we stand. If on the other hand we choose flight, it will give us the space to reassess our options, gather more information, prepare for what we may need to say. Neither option feels right, but then neither option feels wrong. Sometimes in life we are caught between a rock and a hard place and what feels at first like two choices is no choice at all.
12th
It's time
I’ve pulled a card from both the Dragon Wisdom Guides and the Pagan Tarot today. They suggest that we are at a pivotal moment, where our journey over the last few weeks has finally led us to a place where we can see that changes are able to happen. If that is what we want.
There is a sense in the cards that we have spent the last few weeks in a phase of exploration, perhaps experimenting with new ideas or approaches, testing the waters to see what may happen if we try different things. It’s been fun, because when we are trying things out there is no sense of failure if we don’t succeed. It’s been a practice run and if what we expected to happen didn’t happen then we could shrug our shoulders and move on to something else.
But now we’ve learnt what we needed to learn and it’s time to put what we’ve learnt into practice. If that’s what we are prepared to do. Now is the time to take decisive action, move forward with the plan that we’ve been preparing for. This is the real test, to put what we’ve practiced into action. But will we?
11th
You need less than you think
It’s time to assess what we really need. As we go through life we accumulate possessions, get used to a certain standard of living, and it can make us think that we need more than we do.
It’s relevant today, because something needs to end. And I said need to end, deliberately, not will end. Many people fear the Ten of Swords, because it signifies a clear end. You’re not going to get up if someone sticks ten swords in your back. It’s final. But the cards are not suggesting today that something we know is going to end, rather that we need to bring something that is not working for us to an end.
And it’s going to be difficult, because it suggests loss. Not the loss of something precious, but of something that we think is precious. The lifestyle that we have created. Maybe though, the lifestyle we have created is to make up for what is lacking in our life. Maybe we should ask ourselves the question, do we buy new things because we want to, or because they briefly make us feel happy?
Possessions can fulfil a need, they can distract us from what truly matters. We may be scared about ending something because it means the loss of something, but the cards ask us to look at it another way. For that which is removed because it is not working does not need to be replaced.
10th
Put yourself first
New beginnings are indicated in the cards today, but are we prepared to listen? It could be said that the start of every new day gives an opportunity for a fresh start, it’s a blank page in a new chapter in our life, but rarely do we see the day like that. Most days have a familiar feel to them, a set rhythm as regular as the clock that counts down time. There’s nothing wrong with that, we need the safety and security of the known, but we do occasionally need to shake things up a bit.
The cuckoo is here to symbolise now is the time to disrupt the routine. The cuckoo has an, if not unique, unusual approach to motherhood. When she’s ready to lay her egg she finds a nest already filled with eggs, and removes one, replacing it with her own. The surrogate then cares and nurtures the egg until it hatches when in grateful thanks for the time the surrogate mother has cared for it, the baby cuckoo pushes all the other eggs out of the nest so it can have all the food the mother bird brings. It grows stronger, quicker, and can fly off to live its own life on its own terms.
There’s a lesson there for us today, and it’s not survival of the fittest. It’s that we need to remove any blocks that are in our way in order for us to start afresh. I sense that the blockages are emotional, we don’t think we are good enough, we lack in confidence, we don’t want to risk what we have when we don’t know what will replace it. It maybe that we are worried what others may think or say. Whatever it is, we cannot move forward with what we want to do, until we remove that which is preventing us from taking the next step.
Judgement, the second card today, is a wake up call. It’s the voice in our head that says, listen to me, think of yourself, put yourself first, be selfish. Remove the blocks that are in our way. It’s time to stand up and take the future we want. Because at the end of our life, whatever we may think now, the person who will be our harshest judge is ourselves. Not for what we did, but for what we didn’t do.
9th
A world at risk?
Emberhatch wakes to the dawn of a new day, but it’s not the gentle awakening that we all hope for on a relaxed Sunday morning, but the jolt awake that we get if we hear a noise in the night, or the shrill of the alarm telling us it’s time to get up. And what a day we have woken to, with a storm raging around us (figuratively, as ironically it looks nice outside today). The storm is representative of the world which seems to be in chaos, Emberhatch’s broken shell ties in with our planet where cracks appear to be forming yet again.
I’ve gone a bit deep today, but that’s because the Hierophant has appeared twice in two days. The Hierophant is a spiritual leader and/or teacher, and I’m drawn very much to thinking of the Pope today. Not because I’m religious, because I’m not, but because billions of people are. And about a billion of them, just over, are catholics, and at a time in the world where they really need their spiritual leader to be leading them, he can’t.
Spiritual leaders offer structure as well as faith, I may not like, nor agree with a religious structure, but I recognise the benefit of having a structure of some kind. Because without a structure there is chaos. We may think it’s great to challenge a structure, rail against having one enforced on us, believe we are free to do what we like, but our planet is governed by structure. It spins at about 1000 miles an hour. Let’s imagine for one moment what would happen if we tried to stop it to see what the outcome would be. I would pretty much guarantee that in less than a second we’d wish we hadn’t.
The cards today suggest that we are all waking up to the fact that the world is at a greater risk now than at any time in the last 80 years. Existing structures are disintegrating before our eyes, and there is nothing to replace them. But the cards offer guidance and so they ask us to hold onto our faith that though we may not be able to heal the world, we can heal our world, if the world breaks around us it doesn’t necessarily mean our world has to break. Our beliefs and values need to be our rock more than ever now.
8th
What would our younger self think of what we have become?
There is real energy in the cards today, so much in fact that I had to sit back in the chair after I’d drawn them because they contain so much power. There were three things that immediately struck me when I looked at the spread, firstly the cards were very masculine, secondly the colours red and yellow were very prominent and lastly, they told the story of the three ages of life.
I barely know where to start as I feel like I could write an essay on the spread in front of me today, but I can’t as I’m going to Glastonbury shortly to the psychic fair that’s being held in the town hall. So I’ll have to try and give a snapshot of what I believe are the main messages in the cards today. Starting with the masculine energy in the cards.
Life is balanced between masculine energy and feminine energy. It’s yin and yang, yang being masculine and yin feminine. I’m going to start using yin and yang actually because masculine and feminine can be off putting. Yang is day, yin is night. Yang is loud, yin is quiet. Yang is action, yin is contemplation. All three cards are not only representative of yang energy, but they are filled with yang energy. They’re telling us we have to take action.
Colours are important in the tarot, and one of the striking things about this spread is the cards are filled with red and yellow. Red is a power colour, it’s passion, dominance, authority. Yellow represents happiness, joy, positivity. Not only do we have action in the cards but we also have power, passion, positivity. Now you can start to see why I had to sit back after I’d drawn them this morning, it was all a bit much this early in the day.
And finally we have the ages of life. The freedom of childhood in The Sun, the discovery of adulthood in The Hierophant, and the wisdom of old age in the King of Wands. That’s the natural order of life, a sign of a life well lived if we reach old age having not only learned the lessons of life, but having put them into practice. But will we have lived a life well lived, followed our dreams and our purpose?
There’s a question that people ask, when encouraging self reflection, which is: what would you say to your younger self? Today the cards want us to flip that around and ask what our younger self would say to us? Would they be impressed, happy with what we did with their future? Or would they wonder what had happened to all those hopes and dreams?
It’s never too late, for a life can be broken down into a series of days. And a new day comes around every 24 hours. If we look at the cards below not as a life, but as a day, then rather than seeing the ages of life, we see the passing of a day. And if we make a promise to our self, commit, to doing one thing that’s our passion, and learn or do one new thing every day, then we will be living through each day and not sleepwalking through it. And if at the end of every day we’ll be able to sit back and say that was a good day, just imagine what we can say at the end of our life. We’ll be able to look our younger self in the eye and say, “we did great.”
7th
Candour and kindness
Candour is a virtue that not everyone appreciates. It involves speaking with honesty, transparency, openness, and so should be welcomed, for if someone is being honest with us we know exactly where we stand. And yet, if it is delivered bluntly, without empathy or tact, then it can lead us to feel less impressed, unhappy even, with both the message we have received, and the person who has delivered it. We don’t take on board the feedback, which could help us, because we focus too much on the way it was delivered. Candour is a virtue, but only if it accompanied by kindness.
The cards today, the Fairy of Candour and the Ten of Cups, remind us that we need to be both honest and kind with ourselves. The Ten of Cups is what I call the ‘happy ever after’ card, the sentence that appears at the end of most fairytales. As a child I loved reading fairytales, I had all the ladybird books, and the stories from Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm. But they do give us an unrealistic view of life, because life isn’t perfect, it’s never going to be a bed of roses. Life has ups and downs, that’s just the way it is.
There is nothing wrong with having a dream, striving for the pot of gold at the end of our personal rainbow. But there’s also nothing wrong with falling short, getting the ‘happy’ but not the ‘ever after’. So often in life, if we aren’t where we want to be, or can’t do what we want to do, we beat ourselves up about it so much that we don’t change. We can’t. Because we are focusing so much on blaming ourselves that we are using up the energy that could be put to use in making the changes we need to make. But then we need to ask ourselves, is it easier to stay where we are, than try for the happy ever after and risk falling short?
Only we can answer that. The Fairy of Candour though does provide us with some advice. If we aren’t where we want to be, then we have to ask ourselves why. And not only be honest with the answer we give, but accept what we receive with gratitude not blame.
6th
You'll never walk alone
Today I’ve drawn the Elephant, meaning protection, from the Animal Wisdom Guides, and Justice from the Pagan Tarot. Justice can mean both legal matters or fairness and equality, and today I get a strong sense that it’s, if not legal, some kind of paperwork or documents that we may need to fill in. Insurance, financial, that kind of thing. The stuff that if you’re like me you leave until the last minute because you keep putting it off because it’s not fun.
The phrase that came to mind today, when I looked at the cards was ‘You’ll never walk alone’, the title of the song which depending on whether you’re a sports fan or a musical fan is associated with Liverpool FC or Carousel. I’m a fan of both football and musicals, but of neither Liverpool or Carousel if that makes sense. Liverpool because they’re not my team and Carousel because to me you watch a musical to forget your own struggles and if I want to forget my own I don’t want to watch someone else’s. But just because I’m not keen on either it doesn’t mean that You’ll never walk alone isn’t a good song, and a line to remember today. Because the cards suggest we shouldn’t be trying to do something that’s not in our natural ability to do on our own.
It’s tempting, when faced with official paperwork, to try and do it ourselves. Not because we particularly want to, but because the cost of taking advice or getting help is so expensive. But the cards today do suggest that we need to take advice, that it would be in our best interest to do so. Even though paying someone to do something that we believe we should be able to do ourselves with a bit of time goes against what we want, it’s a safeguard. Because when we pay someone we are not only paying for the work, but the protection that they bring.
5th
Make the best of the hand you've been dealt
There are days when nothing seems to go right. I’m not talking disastrous days which lead to life changing events, but the days that are filled with a catalogue of minor irritations which result in us wishing we’d stayed in bed. We put the bread in the toaster to discover we’ve no butter, we can’t find the car keys, we turn off a traffic filled road to take a shortcut only to find the traffic is even worse on the road we’ve turned on. There are no parking spaces where we are going, so we have to park several streets away, it’s started to rain and we’ve no umbrella. And it goes on and on and on.
That’s life. It’s the way of the world. The world is filled with opposites which work together to bring balance and if we’re having a bad day then someone else is having a good one. And we have good days as well. Days where everything goes right for us, although we don’t tend to notice those.
Nimborok appears today to tell us to make the best of the hand we’ve been dealt. It might not be a winning one, but it doesn’t mean we can’t play it. If you can’t have butter on your toast have something else, if you’re stuck in traffic, put your favourite song on or listen to a podcast. You may not be able to create a rainbow from the rain, but as my mother used to say when she pushed me out of the house on a rainy day in the school holidays, “it’s a bit of water, it’s not going to kill you.” So you’ll get wet, you’ll dry.
We may not be able to control whether in the tossed coin of life it’s going to fall on the good side or the bad side today, but we can control how we react to it. Whether we look at the day in a negative light or a positive one. Because there is always a bright side to be found, it just takes a little bit more effort to find it.
4th
Peace doesn't come with a price
I’ve had to think long and hard about today’s message, and even though I’ve taken a huge amount of time to study the cards and try and work out what they are trying to tell me, I’m still not sure even as I start to type how it’s going to end. The issue for me is the presence at the beginning of the spread of the Four of Pentacles. There are no good or bad cards in the tarot, even though there are typically a few cards, like the Tower, Death, Three of Swords, Ten of Swords, Five of Pentacles that people don’t like to see. But for me it’s the Four of Pentacles that I struggle with because the guy just irritates me.
And he shouldn’t. Because fours in the suits of the tarot signify security, stability, building strong foundations for the future. The guy sits holding on to his coins very tightly, not letting them go (even trying to write a balanced message I was tempted to write frightened and refusing before settling for the word not). Behind him is a city suggesting that if we are careful with money then we can build for the future, but to do that we have to let go to allow it to grow. And all I see when I look at the card is someone not letting go. But then I would see that because I’ve never held onto a penny in my life if I had the opportunity to spend it.
The second card drawn is the Three of Cups, which is a card of celebration. It’s party time because we’ve come to a decision or revelation in our heads. In partnership with the Four of Pentacles this could be that we’ve realised that we need to release our money to allow it to grow, but remember I’m coming at this from my perspective and like Viv Nicholson who won the pools I’m always going to spend, spend, spend. It could equally be that we’ve realised what we can do in the future if we save our money. How you see it comes down to your approach to money, are you a spend now or save for later? There really is no right or wrong.
The final card is an interesting one in the context of this spread, because again it could be looked at in two ways. In the Eight of Cups a man has arranged his cups on the path, and left them behind. Now cups represent emotions, and thoughts, so it suggests he knows in his head what he’s going to do and has set off to do it. He’s got a plan, but is he going to do it now, or in the future?
Maybe the cards today don’t have a message, but ask a question. They ask us to revisit our relationship with money, to identify if what we are doing is working for us. As long as we are living to our values, and are happy to live with the consequences, then that’s all that matters. Because peace doesn’t come with a price*
*And there’s probably a few people who could do with remembering that at the moment.
3rd
If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is
There’s a warning in the cards today. To keep our feet on the ground, to not get carried away and make rash decisions because we think we’ve discovered a potential solution to all our problems. The holy grail of ideas that will not only solve a problem but move us forward in life. There’s a saying that if you throw mud at a wall some of it will stick, and we think we’ve discovered the exact mud that will stick. But there’s another saying that the cards are asking us to remember today, and that is “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is”.
I made the mistake of clicking on a link on Facebook last week. For anyone who has made the same mistake as me, you’ll know what happens. My feed has been full of similar adverts for the last few days. The link I clicked on was for a police auction, I can’t even remember why of the hundreds of links I scrolled past last week I decided to click on that one, but there must have been a reason at the time. What I do know is that whatever the reason was, it wasn’t because I was thinking of buying pallets of goods to resell. Which I think, based on my Facebook feed, Facebook thinks I now want to do.
According to the ads I’ve seen, I can make a six figure income buying vintage (second hand) clothes and selling them online. It sounds so easy. Buy bales of second hand clothes from one of these auction sites and sell them online for a profit. In one of the videos a guy opened a bale and showed the items he’d bought for £2.50 each. He said he could double his money, and maybe he could, but I wouldn’t be attempting to sell what he’d bought for £2.50 never mind a fiver. It And even if I did attempt it, I’d have to sell 40,000 a year to make a six figure profit. Or to put it another way, over 100 a day. Every single day. I’m sure someone, somewhere is making that kind of profit, but my guess is that’s the exception not the rule.
The cards are not telling us not to try to find a solution today. But to be discerning about what we do find, to analyse it carefully, to keep grounded and not get seduced by quick fixes or get rich quick schemes. Because the danger is, if we don’t keep our feet on the ground we will find ourselves with an even bigger problem than the one we have now.
2nd
What drives us?
What drives us to do something? Whatever it is it’s very personal, different people have different drivers. For some it may be stability and security, the need to build strong foundations that last the test of time. For others it may be financial, to make money, or recognition for a job well done. It may not be obvious to others, and we may even try to hide it from ourselves, but the driver is there, giving us the reason to continue.
Verdawn appears today as we seem to have forgotten what the driver is. We have fallen out of love with doing something, have almost got to the point where we can’t be bothered to continue. We have lost our mojo. It’s because what we are doing feels routine, or a hard slog, and we are focusing too much on the what as opposed to the why. Find the driver, and we will find the reason to continue. For if we don’t, we will later regret giving up too soon.
1st
Spring has sprung
t’s the first day of meteorological spring, so one could also say it’s the first day of the year, as the cycle of nature begins again. It’s highly appropriate on this day that The Empress appears, Mother Earth, symbolising rebirth, fertility and new beginnings. A time to look forward, to focus on what we want the new year to bring. To work out which seeds of ideas that we have planted in our mind we are going to cultivate and allow to grow.
To make room for the new, we have to get rid of the old, sweep away anything that is broken or not working for us at it should. The Seven of Pentacles in this spread suggests that we are holding onto things from our past that we no longer need. Let them go. Like a house that needs a spring clean once the winter has passed, now is the time to spring clean our lives. Declutter, reenergise and refresh.
The High Priestess is the final card drawn, with a reminder to be mindful about our spring clean. To remember that there is a purpose to what we are doing. As we let things go that are no longer working, we thank them for what they brought, as we make room for the new we purposely invite what we want into our lives. Today is not only the start of a new year but can also be the start of a new you.
©Copyright. All rights reserved.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.