Thresholds

Soul Cards ~ Deborah Chapin

Feeling my soul tugging at the hem of my awareness this afternoon. I decided to pull out my Soul Cards and see what was asking to be heard, to be visible. What a powerful card to pull. She is so very pregnant, clearly at the forty-week mark and radiant with that knowledge. I remember that time with fondness and a kind of protective tenderness towards my uninitiated self, a self who would experience a pain like no other alongside a love like no other. But before that initiation there were sleepless nights, slow and ponderous movements, discomfort and anticipation that rivaled Christmas morning as a child.

Seeing this card now the memory of that time comes flooding back. A soul memory and physical memory both. Is this the reason for the current restlessness of my soul? Preparation to birth some as-yet-unknown part of myself? Based on my current status, I'd say that's accurate in a compellingly somatic way. I decided to draw an Oracle card to ask what it was that was awaiting birth. And the theme continued with 'Harvest Moon'. The keywords are Turning Point, Preparation, Gathering.

The LWB indicates that, in fact, this Moon is associated with right now, the time between August and September. It is a Moon that teaches 'the art of preparation through gathering'. Abundance flows and gratitude is key to that flow. Soul questions for me to drop into the heart-basket are what does my authentic self need to gather in order to embody more fully? What qualities would I like to cultivate to prepare for a richer, more immediate interface with the moment?

I decided to pull a Tarot card as a way to articulate, if not an answer then at least a pathway to follow. And what a pathway! Traditionally Death this card has been renamed, Transformation. These three cards seem to all flow together. Birth and Death inhabiting that same threshold realm differentiated only by a breath. Both of them deeply physical experiences, one leaving the body behind, the other adding a body to this greening earth.

This Death card is a wonderful one. The LWB describes it as 'dying to be reborn', and goes on to describe how the soul's longing to be born anew can only happen when a letting go occurs, letting go of dogmas, structures, identities, anything unnecessary or extraneous to growth. The moon is a fingernail hanging low in the sky, the stars are bright, the landscape is magical and it is night. What mysteries does it hold?



Bev, over on By the Sycamore Tree, was talking about the Hebrew word Ruach today and I see in this Owl, that quality, the divine Breath, Spiritus as it hovers over the skeleton beneath it, as it is poised between the doorway between worlds, blessing and witnessing.

I'm glad I heeded the call to listen to those shimmering and glimmerings my soul was sending out. It has allowed for more awareness of the process, reminds me that my authenticity is found in my humanity, reminds me that gratitude is key and that preparation for transformation, be it the new beginnings of birth or the letting go of death,  is actually the journey, the cultivating of the earth and loam of the soma that is the Soul's landscape.

Pagan Otherworlds Tarot ~ First Glimpse

Pagan Otherworlds Tarot ~ Uusi Design Studio

It's here. The much awaited, most anticipated deck of the year. And it exceeds expectations right down to the box that houses the cards which is meticulously curated with luxurious gold embossing, a red and cream seal and exquisite hand-lettering.

Pagan Otherworlds Tarot ~ Uusi Design Studio

The team of Linnea and Peter did an amazing job. It is stunning. Hand lettering by Peter on all the Court cards, the Aces and Majors is wonderful, adding a whole new dimension to the cards that I wasn't expecting.

Ace of Swords ~ Pagan Otherworlds Tarot ~ Uusi Design Studio

The card stock is gorgeous and the deck shuffles like a dream. It is a beautifully wrought work of art, this deck, a labor of love and devotion...to detail, to ideal, to vision and to beauty. I'll be posting my deck interview with it soon but I've already done a few readings with it and the cards have been very generous. After sharing a few pics on IG, as I was shuffling and feeling into the overwhelmingly positive response my focus naturally focused around the deck's reception by the larger Tarot community as a whole. The response couldn't have been more positive. 

Two of Cups ~ The Lovers ~ Pagan Otherworlds Tarot ~ Uusi Design Studio

I mean!! Does it get any better than this as a response? Not much interpretation needed here, the relative and absolute in perfect accord. And isn't this a fab Two of Cups! Minors don't get short shrift the way they so often do in other decks. The intricacy of line and curve here is so skillful. The water meandering out towards an unknown tomorrow. Again perfect for the 'present moment only moment' treasure aspect of this card.

Ah, The Lovers... the curve of her belly, the drape of her cloth mirrored in the coil of the snake. The apple's potency mirrored in the flame held aloft by the male figure. And best of all their size in proportion to the tree. Love looms large, dwarfs the mundane order of things. Very excited for you all to receive your copies. Clearly the cards already feel the anticipatory love 😍

Goddess of Stones Tends the Nascent Moon

Another beautiful reading with the Wanderer's Tarot by Casey Zabala. Today it's the Goddess of Stones leading the way.

Wanderer's Tarot ~ Goddess of Stones ~ Wanderer of Moons 

This Goddess is strong, Queen of the Earth realm. Poised atop the sacred geometry of rock and stone, atop the slow and patient history of form. A group of lit candles stands beneath her mountain as if to say she is an expression of the numinous light at the center of all that is manifest.

Her focus today is the Wanderer of Moons aka the Page of Cups, she of the feeling heart with its ebbs and flows, its tidal sways. With the reflective light of the moon as her vision, hands open to receive and offer, this Wanderer is guided by the waxing and waning of her own emotional body. Ready, in that single raised foot, to embark on the journey of reciprocity, intuition as plinth.

The Stone Goddess reminds the inner child, the tender, feeling, moon-eyed self to remember the body, to remember and tend to it. You know how children forget that, forget to eat, don't realize they're tired or cold, or even hurt, because they're so caught up in the heart of the moment. This Goddess shows us how to remember and tend the strong and visible body which so loyally houses the pliable and muscular heart. Look, she says, I will show you, stone by numinous stone, how to claim the earth beneath your feet.

Dancing with the Wanderer's Tarot

Wanderer's Tarot ~ Casey Zabala

The Wanderer's Tarot arrived on my doorstep this week. It's a spare, compelling deck that will ask me to flex my intuitive muscle deeply which I'm excited about. It also feels like the perfect deck to use for the Fall. I jumped right in with a daily draw and this reading is such a beautifully affirming start to my relationship with the cards.

Ace of Moons (Cups) and The World

The path of the shining heart is reflective, intelligent, unerring. It weaves, it flows, it meanders and still it always leads you to the completion called Home. That place where the soul dances free of convention, held by the rhythms of the natural world. Today is a day to let the heart be compass to the bliss body.

And because I'm in a Strength year I have to include the Strength card. So much wonderfulness here.

Strength ~ The Wanderer's Tarot ~ Casey Zabala