Belonging as Being Breathed

 

I did an Autumn Equinox reading the other night with the Margarete Petersen Tarot using this spread by Ethony, which I love for its pith and simplicity. It was very forthcoming with some themes carrying over from a few months ago, which is always interesting, to see how the thread winds its way through your life.

Margarete Petersen Tarot

I spent some time sitting with the cards before turning them over. The backs of these cards lent themselves perfectly to the Autumn mood and it was a nice way to drop in and enjoy the moment both visually and energetically. 

Harvest ~ The Hierophant

Compost ~ Mother of Flames

Light ~ Daughter of Flames

Dark ~ Mother of Feathers

Lots of female energy here surrounding one lone traditionally-depicted male, and a Major at that. Interestingly this card, The Hierophant, was the response to the question, 'what deep fear am I working through,' way back in August for the Wild Soul Tarot Challenge on IG hosted by Lindsay Mack. Its appearance here tells me that perhaps I've got more readiness to work towards integration of his role in my teaching life. It is an area I feel conflicted about, this double Hermit who likes her mountain and her books. Of the Hierophant, the deck's creator, Margarete Petersen says, 

The gesture of your hand
shows your calling. Transforming
suffering into knowing, we get to
know the universe--as breath heralds
your existence.

I love this, love the somatic component, bringing it all into the body and the breath beneath it, gesture as intention. Strong and sobering stuff, this. There is a Black Madonna quality to this depiction. Here She arrives bearing the gifts of luminous Shadow, integatrix of light and dark. The snakeskin in the right foreground echoes this theme and also brings that ancient Minoan goddess into my awareness, with her taming of the kundalini energy. 

Here amidst stars and light her blackness shines as she interprets the sacred mysteries of service and surrender, stardust and cell.

And here in the position of Compost is the Mother of Flames aka Queen of Wands. Her poetic description is all about the purifying fire one would associate with a Kali or Durga figure or the Tibetan dakini, Vajra Yogini, or the Hawaiian goddess Pele.

Rider of tigers I am. I tear apart

the patterns that restrict spontaneous

expression of my being. I am crimson

red,  mother of all colors. Barefoot,

pounding sparks from the soil, I 

burn and transmute the food 

in my intestines. I change hate into love

envy and greed into compassion. I plant

fresh green plants into black lava soil.

That this is energy for me to compost is curious. Though I felt that its explanation lay in the card following it, what to take into the world, the Daughter of Flames, her progeny.

Here we see an actual dancing figure amidst all the flaming energy as opposed to its culmination in the previous card. She is wild and free and is intimately aware of her lineage.

My mother gave the gift of song to me.

My father inspiration. My brother rhythm.

Heat and rhythm have made my body fluid. 

Dancing on the periphery well outside of

old habits I feel connected to my core. Jumping into the center I am one with all that exists outside of my perception. While I dance, my boundaries shift and the flower in my bosom opens up. I open my arms and embrace the world.

These words are so intimately relevant for me right now as themes of belonging and retreat spiral around and around asking and re-asking for my attention, my lens, my love. Her placement here is asking me once again to visit place, community and belonging.

To complete the reading in the place of Dark--what to meditate on, the Mother of Feathers appears. Again themes of movement are key. This time through the element of air, of wind, the realm of great winged birds. 

She is the coolness amidst the fire of the previous cards, a perfect mediating influence and conducive to the meditation this card position asks of her. 

I am mother of all movement. Invisible, I 

move in all directions and leave no trace. I play with the leaves of trees and dry laundry in the wind. My spirit is present in all. No prison can hold me because I penetrate all. I look inside as well as outside. I see new, freshly born thoughts still wet from birth. They are soft, transparent, organizing themselves into feathers, plumage, wings of swans through the air, breathing the happiness of belonging.

That last phrase is an eerie echo of the focus the previous card is asking of me, the dance of belonging. And again the thread of how imprisoning thoughts and patterns are. The sense is that rather than 'trying' to change them instead allowing the body to be porous, to loosen and be breathed and permeated with Spirit is the medicine offered. Lots to meditate on here,

Fire and Earth : Wands and Pentacles Through An Esoteric Lens

The theme for this came to me as we drove through the beautiful area of sacred Mount Shasta on our way home from a large Sufi gathering. My husband and I had just finished up teaching a week-long retreat on Tarot and the Soma of the Elements and I was still feeling the grace and richness of our experience. Sharon’s invitation to those of us on Instagram spoke to me and within an hour of reaching out to her the title and focus for this Fall Tarot Blog Hop emerged asking for a voice. I've chosen to use Kat Black's Golden Tarot with its rich rusts, browns and golds, perfect for this time of the year.

We've each been asked to write about something related to the Fall season. For me so much of it is about the shifting elemental energy and color--reds and oranges, yellows and burnished golds along with the rich dark loam of an earth that is preparing for a long sleep. I love how these how these elements, fire and earth, merge with each other in such a visually stunning way. 

I grew up in central Canada and the rolling hills and surrounding woods were always a blaze of color at this time of year. As though Fall had stored up all of summer's Fire and embodied it through the Earth of leaves and bushes, grasses and hills, an awe to be honored and reveled in.

In ascribing seasons to the Tarot suits there are differing opinions but mine is such that Winter correlates with Swords, Spring with Cups with all that water starting to flow again, Summer with Wands with the Sun being at its strongest, and Fall with Pentacles, a time when the harvests come in and the bounty of the earth is appreciated and celebrated with nourishing feasts for body and soul. 

With that paradigm as my rubric I want to explore the synergistic relationship between the two suits and the elements they represent, Wands and Pentacles as Fire and Earth respectively by drawing on some of the Tibetan and Sufi teachings on these two elements.

Where Water always finds its level Fire rises, it leaps and jumps, it wants more. It is movement, actively and relentlessly seeking out material to sustain it. Envision logs on a bonfire, the devastation of a forest fire, a match or even a candle, the flame consuming the wick to stay alive. In this sense fire needs the earth to survive and thrive. Positive Fire energy manifests as the capacity to create, to initiate projects and to complete what creativity sets in motion. It's related to enthusiasm, to inspiration.

In the suit of Wands we see cards in which burden or conflict is pronounced.  This could be considered an afflicted fire energy.The burden however is often the earth element inert. What is needed psychologically is fire to inspire and spur on. Earth plods, it's static, Fire moves. Those Wands could be put in a bonfire and used for fuel. The figure could breathe deeply into the hara center for strength and endurance. S/he could get angry at the load and use that anger as fuel to either leave the situation or continue with renewed strength and purpose. Each of these responses draws on the fire element. 

We also see success that is directional and we see movement and potential. The movement is always going "somewhere". In the Eight the movement is often directed upwards across the sky. In the Six it is active success that is either returning from 'battle' or heading out on another adventure crowned with the potential for victory. In the Five we see a dance or a joust depending on the mood. And the Seven shows us a use of fire that stabilizes and grounds while at the same time being active. Here Fire and Earth are complementing each other naturally. The movement and energy in these cards is dynamic. 

The two cards where there is less movement are also the two cards where the Water element is present. Water, of course, dampens Fire's energy with the potential to put it out completely. These two cards for me show a tempering of the Fire element through receptivity rather than reactivity or activity. 

A good way to explore whether you've got an imbalance of Fire is to look to the strength of your digestion, to notice whether you've got interests that spark your soul, to see what your temper is like behind the wheel, to watch yourself in heated situations. Those of us with too much fire are easily agitated, lack the stability of the earth and move from idea to idea. These will all tell you something about your own relationship to this element

In Earth we see almost the opposite. It is the ground of our ordinary life. Earth is stable to the point of being static. Heavy, solid, connected, secure, these are all qualities associated with the earth element. This element is represented by the suit of Pentacles.  People with a lot of earth are steady, reliable, methodical. They are confident and rooted and are able to stay the course. 

We see a lot of this in the suit of Pentacles. The Two shows us how to balance our earth energies by adding the Water element, movement and flow. The figure is shown dancing while juggling two large Pentacles encircled by a lemniscate. The water behind the figure is that tempering influence to call upon, the way to recalibrate. I love the inclusion of the lemniscate as it reminds that our earthly actions are always operating within the larger realm of Spirit. And the three speaks to that quality of staying the course, of keeping the ideal grounded in the physical plane. 

The Four and Five speak to an imbalance of earth. Too much earth produces stasis, hoarding, withholding, either or resources or emotions. No movement here. And the Five is the result of that kind of scarcity mentality, that sense of generosity begetting itself, and how a body at rest tends to stay at rest. The Pentacles teach us this, teach us how to move with the static of elements, how to let it work its magnetism within us. We see this in the Six, the quality of titration inherent in the offering of the nobleman/teacher. The scales here for me speak not to parsimony but balance and knowing just how much the student or receiver is able to receive at a given time.

In the Seven and Eight we see the beginnings of mastery, of real service and finding our place within it. Here's we're learning how to make the earth element work for us, learning how to dance with it. The Seven speaks to a kind of soul regeneration, the pause that takes in what has been done, allows it a place in the body with patience and affirmation. The pace of the earth moves slowly, the earth itself is patient, is humble and these qualities are present in both of these cards.

What is the gardener but a cultivator of the soul, someone who knows just when to water, to nourish, to leave be, to allow light or darkness when needed. This is mastery.

The Nine and the Ten are, in some ways, the apotheosis of this element. An understanding of how to channel the earth's riches, which is to say how to channel the earth element itself, in a way that is positive, beneficial for more than just oneself and seeds things for future generations. There is an understanding, here, of the sensual qualities of the earth, its beauty and fullness. Resources, be they money, harvest, services or are not in question. There is true stability and the opportunity to enjoy that stability and from the experience acquired through the suit there is now insight available for use. This is a somatic truth.

Purification of the Elements through Breath

Though I have only focused on two elements here both the Sufis and the Tibetans have breaths for purifying all the elements in the body. I'm sharing the Sufi approach here. Once you're familiar with the visualization these breaths are practiced one after the other and can be added to any meditation practice as a way to bring alignment to the inner elements in your own body at the beginning or end of your practice. They're also great practiced outdoors immersed in the actual elements. I've cut and pasted the basics from a friend's site. And I've added a bit to round things out. I hope you've enjoyed this little trip through two of the elements and that the meditation below will be of practical benefit.
 

Earth

Feel the healing power of the earth. You may have felt this in your feet while walking barefoot outdoors or in your hands when working in a garden. 

Try to sense a subtle reality, a crystalline lattice-like structure, behind the denser aspects of the physical plane. Sense that, at this subtle level, the earth is not only a singular organism but is also connected to the solar system and part of a galaxy. In your connection to the earth, you are also connected to the moon, neighboring planets, the sun and distant stars. 

Water

The breath of the water element brings a sense of flow, of vitality and purity, and helps unleash creativity. It is also useful in breaking free from habitual thinking patterns, encouraging feelings of moving forward through life and flowing around obstacles rather than hitting them head on. 

Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. You can imagine exhaling a fine stream of water through the mouth. You might imagine yourself immersed in a mountain stream. Feel the drops of water penetrating your cells, dripping off of your fingertips. Feel water reaching your chest and heart, helping to loosen any tightness and obstruction there. Feel energized and renewed, again focussing on those parts of the body that are in need of healing, and those that lack life energy and vibrancy. 

Concentrate on the purity of a crystal clear lake or stream, high up in the mountains. Let yourself become the water, and let the qualities of purity, life energy and power flow into your immediate environment.

Fire

The breath of the fire element is quickening. It sparks inspiration and is very useful when you feel drowsy and dull after a period of intense practice. Breath in through the mouth, hold the breath momentarily and then breathe out through the nose. On the inhalation, imagine fanning a fire in the solar plexus, the area in the center of your rib cage, with a bellows. Purse your lips and draw in a thin stream of air. As you draw in, visualize the embers of the fire glowing. Then hold the breath momentarily, and bring your attention up to the center of the heart chakra, a sensitive point found a few inches above the solar plexus. Exhale through the heart chakra, imagining that you are radiating golden sunlight.

On the inhalation, come in touch with your soul's desire; your aspirations for spiritual awareness and understanding; your desire to be authentic; to make your life meaningful and worthwhile; to stand up for what you believe in. On the exhalation, radiate light as if from a miniature sun in your heart. Feel the light to be intense and golden.

Use the fire breath as a place of offering up the parts of yourself you would like to transform. Subject your self-doubt, cynicism, addictive patterns or resentments to the fire. Avoid making pledges you won't keep. Simply clarify your intention and open yourself to the purification process.

Instead of using will power to change, the concentration on the fire element represents the action of life as a teacher, who activates and burns up what needs to be burned, a natural force of change and growth, by which your deeper nature emerges.

Air 

Breathe in through the mouth and out through the mouth. The breath of the air element relates to freedom, ecstasy and transcendence. Imagine yourself to be like a great eagle perched high on a mountain. Feel the wind ruffling your feathers, blowing through all your pores. Feel the coolness and freshness of the air. Soar upwards on the currents of air. On the inhalation, feel yourself buoyant and free, like a zephyr crossing a lake and lifting upwards. On the exhalation, allow yourself to reach out beyond the boundaries of the body. Let your being disperse with the wind, and let your consciousness reach out into the cosmos. Enjoy a sense of vastness and, if it helps, visualize vast landscapes, such as a mountain, canyon, or the starry night sky.

Ether

Very refined breath inhaling and exhaling through the nose.

After you have completed the purification breaths, reflect upon the effect of all the elements taken together. While separately each of the breaths emphasizes different forces and qualities in one's being, together the breaths bring about a sense of wholeness. Each element complements and moderates each other. According to your own makeup, you may feel the need to place more emphasis on one or another in order to attain greater balance.

To sum up :: 

Earth Breath: In the nose and out the nose 
Water Breath: In the nose and out the mouth 
Fire Breath : In the mouth and out the nose 
Air Breath: In the mouth and out the mouth 
Ether Breath : In the nose and out the nose, very refined, whole body is breathing

~

The Autumn Equinox marks the balance between light and dark and is also known as Mabon by Pagans and Wiccans. To celebrate Autumn, several of us have banded together to support your own Equinox Journey, offering tarot and oracle card spreads; information on how to work with the Colours of Autumn; tips on working with your Inner Cauldron; new additions for your Art Journal; creative writing tips; working with Lilith; the journey of Persephone, Demeter and Hades, and much much more. To read the next article in the Fall Tarot Blog Hop, click here.

Isn't She Lovely!

Queen of Wands ~ Pagan Otherworlds Tarot ~ Uusi Design Studios

She’s kept me company on this hot September day beginning with coffee in the morning and following the light across the sky. Compelling, charming, vivacious…she doesn’t disappoint. Her little black cat is a constant presence, caprice and inscrutability both, through half-slit eyes and languid movements. Together they make a dynamic pair. Sunflower in one hand, staff in the other she wears her golden robes with ease and grace. Today as I was watering out in the garden I noticed our own two sunflowers were particularly tall. Both of them reaching towards the light, much like our Queen, seeking out the fire, the heat, the passionate response. She says, Yes, to the Desire that is asking for her by name. 

Full Pisces Moon Reading

Moon in Pisces Spread by Ethony

With my own moon in Pisces this felt like a good time to see what the cards might have to say about this influence in my life, inner and outer. Using Ethony's spread I chose to work with the Tarot of Sacred Feminine and also pulled a card from the Sacred Rebels Oracle to set as a theme.

Free from Judgement Free to Love is the theme for this reading. Doesn't get more straight forward than that. Of course this is lifetime work for most of us, myself included but I'm learning to become more aware of that inner critic when she arises. Lately I've been stopping and taking a long, slow breath whenever judgmental thoughts come up. It's a remarkably clever way of stopping them in their tracks without engaging in dialogue with them.

Sacred Rebels Oracle ~ Blue Angel Publishing

In the first position of energies that are coming up from my subconscious is the King of Pentacles. This is a grim depiction with Cerridwen holding on her lap the fawn she will kill once it has become a stag which is already dead in the background, an arrow in its heart, blood streaming from its body. There is a strong theme of death and rebirth here in this card. According to the LWB the stag represents the god of Beltane, a point on the wheel associated with fertility and union. Cerridwen herself is the goddess of rebirth, transformation and inspiration. This is a powerful grouping of energies to be coming up from my subconscious.

King of Pentacles ~ Tarot of Sacred Feminine

What is in need of healing is the Six of Cups. I often view this card as the one associated with inner child work but here it's got a slightly different slant. It's a depiction of the Annunciation with Gabriel revealing to Mary that she will be bearing a bodhisattva. In terms of this as a response to what needs healing I have the sense it has to do with vulnerability, tending to nascent life, and receptivity and how be a good midwife to that triumvirate. (can't seem to get this script out of the box so here it stays for now, bothering my virgo-rising self with its aberrant insistence)

Tarot of Sacred Feminine ~ Six of Cups

Intuition's message is The Emperor and a particularly iconoclastic one at that. The LWB doesn't tell us who this is but it feels like there are lessons in mastery and service for me here. I often think of The Emperor with the phrase, 'what you wish to conquer you must serve'. This calls for continual recalibration and check-ins with the Self. I regularly pull The Emperor and rarely The Empress so clearly there is something wanting to come forth into the manifest world of my awareness. 

Tarot of Sacred Feminine ~ The Emperor ~ Lo Scarabeo

I'm being asked to meditate and sleep on Judgement. How compelling this is with that first card being all about freedom from judgement. This is another grim depiction, the Erinyes, known more commonly as the Furies, the chthonic goddesses of vengeance, are seen judging Orestes for matricide. His mother was Clytemnestra. Her story is as sordid and bloody as his. Clearly this is a card to meditate on because I'm not yet clear as to its message. His position is one of humility and surrender and I sense that's a beginning point with this card.

Judgement ~ Tarot of Sacred Feminine ~ Lo Scarabeo

The Two of Swords is the way to ride the waves of this Full Moon energy. The Roman goddess Cardea is depicted here. She is the ancient goddess of winds, of the hinges of doors, thresholds, that ability to swing between two worlds. This feels like a clear directive, the way to ride these Piscean waves is by maintaining a balance between inner and outer. And this can be done by placing oneself squarely in the medial position of awareness between the two, by not getting caught up in, i.e. identifying with the need for an either/or perspective. Ha! Another practice for a lifetime.

Two of Swords ~ Tarot of Sacred Feminine ~ Lo Scarabeo

Deck Interview ~ Pagan Otherworlds

The other night I did a deck interview with the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot by Uusi Design Studios. It was a surprisingly gentle reading, a whispered reading almost. For such a strong deck I was expecting something more forthright, less oblique. And yet the deck sings refinement, discipline, and restraint even amidst the compelling art and strong characterizations. And in the end the interview was a beautifully gentle one, the deck offering itself unapologetically to my questions. So off we go then.

I used a spread found on AT, a fairly standard new deck interview spread that covers all the bases.

5 ************* 6
******* 4 *******
3 ************* 2
******* 1 *******

Card 1 ~ Tell me about yourself. What is your most important characteristic? Ace of Wands

Card 2 ~ What are your strengths? Six of Wands

Card 3 ~ What are your limits? Page of Cups

Card 4 ~ What do you bring to the table -- what are you here to teach me? Six of Cups

Card 5 ~ How can I best learn from and collaborate with you? Ten of Cups

Card 6 ~ What is the potential outcome of our working relationship Ace of Cups

What a fab card to begin with. Ace of Wands, initiating, creative energy, visionary energy, drive, instinct and intention. Fire, baby! 

I'm loving the way the green leaves of the Wand are mirrored in the grassy landscape below. They are Yod-like in shape, suggesting the power of the untapped elemental energy at work in our lives. A gift that is ours for the taking. We only need say, Yes!

And interesting for an Ace of Wands, the element of water is present. This actually sets the tone for the whole reading as it is wholly a Fire and Water reading.

The Aces speak to a renewal, a rebirth. And this Ace in particular can help me understand how the other cards in a spread might contribute to living soulfully, authentically, with heartfelt inspiration.

Next up is the Six of Wands in the position of strengths. Of all the cards to land in this spot, this card, traditionally of victory, of affirmation and recognition is a wonderful one. This is a confident, sanguine deck. The Six of Wands speaks to the future, to movement, to celebration that is directional. This depiction is full of all of the above. The green leaves and wreath remind me that instinct and inspiration are fertile places. And the pale scarf entwined and dancing around the Wands suggests a kind of teamwork, a collective approach to success. And yet only one Wand wears the wreath of success, one wand is a bit taller than the others. This deck doesn't mind being seen as dynamic, doesn't mind a little effort.

The deck's limits lie with our Page of Cups, the nascent heart, the vulnerable heart, the heart that leads without expectation. This deck has soul but it is young at heart without the experience of a Knight or King. It's learning, still, like all of us. This Page holds the loving cup aloft. His long, garment swirls around him dervish-like, his one finger pointing to the earth, much the way the dervishes do during the Sema (though in their case it's the left hand). His upturned face with red hair blowing out behind him makes me think of the kind of momentum the heart inspires, a gathering momentum. There is so much movement here but he stands still.  He's not quite ready to take that first step but all the influences are there when he is ready.

With the Six of Cups this deck is here to teach me about simplicity, perhaps my own, even. The six chalices are, themselves, filled with simplicity--narcissus, daisies and irises, joy’s bucolic dance overflowing with pastoral pleasure. Here we do see ‘a heaven in a wildflower’. 

It is a dance unfolding in the ethers, in a place outside of time and space, the country of the heart. The fields curve as a long green breath, the tree leans out of the picture, the earth beneath it slopes gently towards its past and speak of grace, of ease, of an unhurried appreciation of moments past. 'All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.'

How can I best learn from this deck depends on my ability to embrace the whole picture. Ten of Cups traditionally speaks to a realization of one's dreams, emotional fulfillment, to a collective happiness, to serendipity and the sharing of it. 

How awesome that this deck is here to teach me about leaning in, about connection, about harmony and 'coming home'. Refinding my place within the larger collective and drinking deep from that ongoing stream is always a good thing, a comforting thing.

The reading began with an Ace and it closes with an Ace. Bookended by beginnings, by seeds and possibility. And here in the position of the potential outcome of our working relationship...the Grail itself, the Loving Cup, the pure and limitless energy of the Source, womb of form. I'm reminded of Prajnaparamita, the Mother of the Buddhas, interdependent with livingness, engendered by connection and flow. This card sings of that kind of energy. 

The tendriled lotus the Cup sits upon, branching down into the necessary muck of it all, the loam of the heart, of our humanity. And not losing sight of the ineffable, the dove, Spiritus hovering above the chalice, greening branch in beak as if to say, what shines does so with a green willingness to grow. 

All in all this reading has been such a gentle introduction to a marvelous deck. Thank you, Linnea and Peter, for birthing it. 

New Moon Reading with the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot

New Moon spread from a few nights ago using the fab Pagan Otherworlds Tarot by Linnea and Peter of Uusi Design Studio.

1. Moon Energies ~ What energies are abundant for me during this New Moon cycle?   Chili Pepper 🌶

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2. Energy Assist ~ What can I do to aid or ease it?  King of Cups 🏆

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3. Goals ~ What challenges should I set for this moon cycle? King of Swords ⚔

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4. Drift ~ What do I need to let go of from the last moon cycle? Three of Swords 💘

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5. Advice ~ What advice do my spirit guides have for me for this new moon cycle?   The Hierophant 📿

Well, predominantly male energy here. Even the oracle card in the middle has male energy to it. Last month while working with the elements esoterically through walks, turns and breath I realized that it wasn't Earth but Fire I am deficient in. Earth needs fire to move else it stagnates, plods. Fire is also the key component in digestion and that is very much up for me these days.

Loving the King of Cups in the position of aid. His gentle, healing waters can titrate some of that heat and fire energy. 

King of Swords as goals. Clear communication, equanimity and dispassionate evaluation of my situation. Again a good balance for the heat that is theme for this moon cycle. 

Happy to see that Three of Swords in the letting go position. And my friend The Hierophant as advice from my spirit guides. This is a particularly accessible Hierophant, earthy, kind-looking and receptive. Happy to walk a ways with him and listen.