Tag: spiritual

Zombie Cat’s Year Ahead Reading for 2023

Zombie Cat’s Tarot reading for the year ahead 2023

Happy New Year Hoomans!

Had my hooman pull the cards for this year for me because she’s the one with the opposable thumbs and all.

I’m Zombie Cat, black sheep of the feline family and Schrodinger’s Cat’s fictional renegade cousin who decided to come out of that famous thought experiment as “both” after the experiment was finished instead of during the experiment. Don’t think about it too hard…quantum physics will break your brain. Didn’t do much for the hooman when she made me up back in a 2015 blog post that was about Tarot, not science, so go all pedantic about it (it makes her cranky when people do that.)

Anyway, I decided to pitch in and help the hooman out so she can sit over there and knit and drink coffee and maybe do something about that hair that looks like post-explosion Veronica end of the movie Heathers. (The cat’s not wrong. 2022 finally caught up with me – I haven’t brushed my hair today and I am feeling very post-explosion Veronica. Now where is that red scrunchie…)

Ahem. My turn hooman.

Just as a brief introduction to this particular layout, here’s what is going on.

The human wrote this several years ago to be used at any time of year, not just New Year. It’s fun for birthdays, graduation, or any time really. There are four cards, one for each of the upcoming season, starting whenever the reading is done and going in order from there. It is intended to look at the direction energy seems to be flowing. It isn’t a definite prediction, but it is a guiding theme for the time period in question. Same for the fifth card which is the theme, over-arching energy or primary lesson for the year as a whole.

Or that’s what the hooman says.

I say it is what it is, I see what I see, I say what I say, you get what you get and we are all just going to have to cope with life however it actually turns out to be. But that’s the difference between us – she is the thoughtful human type, and I’m – not.

Here we go.

The general pattern makes me think there is going to be a lot of energy overall. Stuff is going to happen. You know how when you opposable thumb types are yanking on something that is stuck, and you keep yoinking on it until it suddenly gives way? That’s the feel for this year. We’ve spent the past two years trying to pull ourselves through and out of some real weirdness. 2023 might start out like more of the same but once it starts to move it is going to give way suddenly & move like crazy for a short bit until we get a new grip on it.

While there is only one major arcana card, all of the minor arcana cards are court cards. Court cards might not have the major change, major life lesson ka-pow of energy that the majors have, they still carry a little more catnip than the numbered minor arcana cards.

Winter

This covers roughly the time right now through mid-March or so. The Queen of Pentacles is the card for this season. Just like the peak pandemic times in 2020-21 there is a strong sense of practicality. Pentacles are about earth energy. Find your inner rock, find what anchors and grounds and centers you and do that. The queen is about nurturing and leadership. The king may protect the kingdom, but the queen nurtures it. This time is about taking care of business. This is close to home, hearth and family type stuff. When your efforts harmonize with the energy flows of the time, you get the most bang for your buck as the saying goes. If you try to be too expansive and far flung and boundary-pushing you might meet some resistance or have a rougher than necessary road ahead. If you focus on taking care of what you already have at hand, if you focus on care and maintenance close to the home front, the energies will life you up and your efforts go farther and need less, well, effort. Work smarter not harder so you can slide in a healthy dose of self care too. You know how health and fitness is a fad for five minutes every January? Take advantage, and take care of yourself. Who knows? You might accidentally stumble across something you actually like and can sustain all the way to maybe February this time.

Spring

We stay with the practical, earthy, grounded energy of Pentacles, but the Page of Pentacles moves it from the large-and-in-charge nurturing of the queen to a more intellectual, outreaching quality. Pages symbolize learning, which is something that can be done in the context of any minor arcana suit. The page of pentacles is softer, more practical, more application and less pure theory than the colder more incisive intellect energy we see in the suit of swords. Holistic health is stepping forward as a concept. The mind and learning aspects of sword cards is more like a modern surgeon, while the page of pentacles is closer to the mind aspect of holistic health where mind, body and spirit are one. The page of pentacles is reminding us to use our head, but not heartlessly. Spring is a time of logic and intellect, yes, but logic and intellect with compassionate practical application. Learn all you can, but you will go farthest when you put your energy into learning things that have practical, useful, helpful application.

To put it another way, this energy this spring is more helpful to practical engineering rather than cutting edge theoretical quantum physics.

What is that word? Hygge? Both winter and spring have that warm fuzzy sort of feel to them. Make yourself comfortable the first half of 2023, whatever comfortable means to you. This isn’t the time for pushing too hard outside of your comfort zone. 2020 & 2021 shoved us out of it hard enough already. 2023 may at last be our chance to re-define, re-establish, re-stabilize our new comfort zones to get ready for the next push, no matter whether that push come from us on the inside or from the outside of said comfort zone.

Summer

Here we pick up the spirit part of that mind, body, spirit holistic paradigm.

This is our only major arcana card, the Moon. The moon has long been associated with dreamyness, psychic ability, intuition, spiritual growth, spiritual journies and the like. First the soft jazzy song “Summertime” from Porgie and Bess comes to mind to capture the mood of the card. Then it shifts to the opening few lines from the Madonna song “Crazy For You” from the 1985 movie Vision Quest. Which is a real side-door into the concept that intuition is trying to communicate, I think. The vision question in question here is more like the genuine hamanic kind than the feel good movie 80s pop culture kind. Here my mind is drawn to the early books by Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan from 1968 in particular. It’s been so long since the human had read it, neither of us are entirely sure what that reference is about, if anything, other than to encourage all of us to explore our spiritual life with courage and openness. Here I see starry, moonlit night with warm wind, candle or firelight perhaps. Night steps forward strongly. Night time is particularly important during this season for some reason. It feels like sunset and night time is the most potent for you to indulge in your deepest thinking, deepest feeling, and most important spiritual questing.

Fall

Here, it seems, is where all the yoinking and nurturing and caring and questions pay off. The Knight of Swords is best summed up by screaming “Geronimo!” or doing your best Tenth Doctor Who impersonation and yelling “allonz-y.” Here is where things move fast albeit for a short time. Whether that rapid giving way results in something good or something problematic remains to be seen. But it will be seen. Here is get the word “clarity” good or bad, at the end of 2023’s burst of movement there won’t be any doubt about what the problem actually is now. It might be a brand new dilemma, or it might have its roots in everything that has been going on for the past few years.

We may not get much fixed this year, but by the time next winter rolls back around, at least we might have a clear idea what the fix is.

Year 2023

The card of the year is the King of Cups.

The message is simple, but multifaceted.

Kings are leadership. You are in charge of the whole mess. You own your own mind, body, and spirit so it is up to you to care for, nurture and respect all the facets of yourself within yourself. That inner autonomy and maturity will in turn allow you to be present, emotionally available and nurturing to those you love and care about. That intimate inner circle is the relationship that cups cards symbolize. Cups cards are about emotions and those most important relationships; romance, family, found family and more.

Cups are also about intuition so I would guess that the spiritual aspect of life will be a prominent thread throughout the year despite the other energies that may be slightly more dominant for a time. Spirituality will be the constant even as the other energies comes and go.

Taken together, the King of Cups as an individual card symbolizes a mentor, or some sort of emotional teacher. The word “guru” comes to mind here. I don’t see it as the traditional Yoda-ish meditation or martial arts master. It feels like something low key – a real person or a writer or someone somewhere that you admire in some respect and want to emulate their success. Not in a tangible or materialistic way, and not in toto as some sort of child-like hero worship. “Take the best parts” comes to mind. Little inspirations from multiple reliable sources is more the feel of it.

The color blue steps forward as a good color for this year. To my mind it looks like a lovely sapphire or cobalt blue. That would go along with supporting the third eye chakra (energy center) and the spiritual component to the year.

That’s the inner world for 2023. The outer world is anybody’s guess. Personally I’m hoping for a piping cup of hot political schadenfreude that is full to the brim of deserving indictments. I hope that the forces for inclusion, compassion, support, safety, and environmentalism own the year like Greta Thunberg owns pizza eating criminals on the internet.

With that, the energy steps back.

With that the human and I wish every one of you a safe, happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Says Who?

The Hierophent (Pope, High Priest) card asks us to think about who we allow to influence us. TaoCraft Short Sip Tarot is guidance for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee

Hello and welcome to TaoCraft Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip from your coffee.

Today’s card is the Hierophant. The Marseille and some decks call it the Pope. My personal favorite version of the card is the High Priest in the Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan and Mark Evans.

There is a lot of nuance and subtle shades of meaning around this card, most of which have to do with some iteration of authority. It might be the literal political power and authority that many people grant the actual Catholic papacy. Or it may be a more purely moral and spiritual authority many people grant to the wisest among us like the Dali Lama or the late Desmond Tutu, for example.

I’ll grant you, my view of the card is profoundly influenced by western liberalism in the sense of democracy and the notion that authority is granted by those who are governed by it.

Here my thoughts turn to an interview I watched last night with Russian dissident Nadya Tolokonnikova.

Even where there is autocratic government there is choice: compliance at lesser risk and protest at great risk.

War and dictatorships aside for a moment, here in the relative safety of the western world and in our own minds, consider for a moment where you grant authority.

On International Women’s Day I want to fall back to one of my favorite Eleanor Roosevelt quotes because it resonates with the self-guidance and personal, spiritual autonomy that is the point and purpose of Tarot work. She said that “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

The High Priest agrees today.

Who do you consent to impact your feelings? Who do you give authority over your self esteem? Who do you give permission to influence you?

Are they worth it?

Another cue to think about who you consent to have influence or authority over you is the word “should.” If you catch yourself thinking that you “should” do something, take a moment and challenge that thought with loud “Says who?”

Hopefully, the who is you.

Thank you so much for reading and listening. TaoCraft Tarot blog, podcast and youtube channel are all supported through your Tarot reading purchases, Tarot Table Memberships, “buy me a coffee” donations, plus all of your likes, subs, shares and follows. Thank you so much for your support.

See you at the next sip

Pedantic Pointer Fingers

NEW! This post is now a Clairvoyant Confessional podcast episode!

“It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory.”

Bruce Lee
public domain

I’m not a collector by nature, but I’m convinced that professional Tarot readers should have multiple Tarot decks and plenty of books about them. Sure it is a good excuse to indulge in something we already love but decks are, after all, the tools of our trade. Mechanics use more than one size of wrench and your phone has more than one app, doesn’t it? Owning multiple decks isn’t only fun, it has practical application.

It’s said that two heads are better than one. More decks are like having more heads. Different decks mean different artwork and different insights from the guide book that typically comes with them. You can draw from all the different decks you’ve used over time to give your client deeper insights regardless of the deck you are using at the time.

Let’s consider the High Priestess card that I drew a few days ago. To paraphrase Edward Waite, the Justice card is a “spiritual mother” who interprets rules and dogma in a more spiritual way. In keeping with Tarot’s roots in the deeply Catholic culture of medieval France and Italy, Waite’s interpretation calls to mind a Saint-like or Mary-like spiritual role for the card.

Contrast that with the Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell. It is one of the decks in my small collection and this is a photo I took of the Justice card used here under the ‘tarot education’ permissions granted on Llwellyn.com

Moore interprets the card as symbolizing something that can only be understood by direct experience. This in turn reminds me of an Instagram post by author Mat Auryn that talks about witchcraft is considered a mystery tradition not because it is a highly guarded secret, but rather because it can only understood through direct wordless experience. Both versions of the card together reminded me of the Bruce Lee quote. Anyone can point to the sky, but only you can experience the beauty of the moon for yourself.

The different cards combined with the quotes that they brought to mind all point toward an important core idea: spirituality is a direct, individual experience rather than external dogma or the product of didactic training. Among many other things, the Justice card reminds us of great mysteries and the way to experience them is directly, for ourselves. Look to the moon, not to pedantic pointer fingers.

This episode is based on the TaoCraft Tarot Blog post by the same name. There is a link to the source post in the episode description. If you have any questions about Tarot, intuition or, well, just about anything please let me know. Questions will be chosen at random or by the Clairvoyant’s caprice to be answered on air, maybe with a tarot reading. Contact information is in the episode description too.

Thank you so much for listening! See you on the print side and see you next time in the Clairvoyant’s Confessional.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Look

Time and space isn’t such a big deal in Tarot. Viruses be damned, we can read Tarot together any time, anywhere. You may be reading this years after it was posted – thank you! If I just smashed the old publish button and you are reading this – Wow! Thank you! You may be watching this for the fourth time…it still has some message for you, even if it isn’t the week in the video or the interpretation that is stepping forward right now. Follow your intuition.

Choose a card at random, left, middle or right. Choose on impulse, or if you want to think about it, pause the video and then restart it to see the reveal.

The video get things started, then here in the blog we take all three cards together for a theme too. For this week’s theme, I get a sense of “look.”

Left: Seven of Swords. Look around. Watch your back. Mischief is afoot. It is NOT a prediction. This isn’t to say anything bad will happen. The energy feels like a minor heads up, think critically, question things. It could be as innocent as a prank by kid, or it could be more adult office politics. Use your head, don’t be taken in by social media hysteria or a deep fake. This is a good week to question everything. But then, aren’t they all?

Center: Knight of Wands. Look inward, then DO something about it. Whatever your spiritual tradition, spiritual leaning or life philosophy might be, this is a good week to DO it. LIVE it a little bit. For me, that is in the realm of lighting a stick of incense or meditating with a mala. Or it may be to do nothing at all. Celebrate your nonbelief by celebrating SOMEthing you love. I mean, they are going to fly a drone on Mars soon – go Percy & Ingenuity!

Right: Ten of Wands. Look inward, and persist. The Ten of Wands is about slowed or blocked energy, a strong sign of obstacles, more than simply a reversed card would be. It is a spiritual time and energy, but chances are you just aren’t feeling it….which is perfectly OK. If all the peace, love and positivety is more annoying than not, it is fine to find your vibe. Don’t force yourself to listen to new age harp music when you really want to crank up the thrash metal. Acknowledge your true mood, and keep one eye on the spiritual stuff. Time will work it’s magick and your moment of peace and Zen will come in its own time.

YouChoose Interactive Tarot: Merry Happy Everything

Happy Merry Everything!

If the worlds belief systems were Venn diagrams, there would be a lot of overlap this time of year. Light overcoming darkness, the triumph of human spirit over adversity, days literally becoming longer are core themes within every solstice season celebration. As I see it, that is where attention and energy and celebration are best focused – on the shared, universal, deep, primal underlying humanity of it all. Although you won’t see me turning down any mulled wine or Christmas cookies regardless of the reason they were made. It makes happy to know the fixins for some soft gingerbread cookies are waiting in the kitchen. And yes, the lights are lit on the tree even though it is broad daylight just because.

Not much by way of announcements. Email readings are open for the holidays. Order anytime 24/7. Am also working on some “Mindful Moments” bracelets to photograph and list in the shop

Before we get to this week’s cards, Happiest Holidays to everyone, everywhere. Wishing you health, safety and prosperity at the solstice and all the year.

Left: Page of Cups. One of my favorite cards 🙂 Traditionally, the fish in the cup is said to represent the mysteries of the deep soul and psyche. I like the playful happy quality the artwork takes on with the Witches Tarot, used here. Mark Evans’ artwork is far and away some of my favorite. The Pamela Smith artwork gives the card a sort of conversational quality. When you think about it, having conversation with a fish in a cup is a little bit absurd. Roll with it. See the humor. A spoonful of humor brings out the light in almost any situation. If you can’t see beyond the mystery or the misery of a situation, maybe find the humor in it if you can instead.

Center: King of Pentacles. Any day above ground is a good one, any little thing is a win. Have toilet paper? Win! Scraped together dinner? Win! Found a moment for a cup of coffee (or a beer, or whisky) Win! Things held together with bubble gum and baling twine are, nevertheless, together. Make the most of what you have on hand then lead your merry band of misfits (a bit of Robin Hood energy here) into a place of celebrating and enjoying whatever-it-is that you have. If you are the one who popped the top off of the can of spam, you still are founder of the feast and qualify to enjoy the moment as much as anyone. Whether other people follow your lead or not, whether there is another living soul around or not, make the most of what you have and enjoy the celebration. Make merry in your heart, just like that big old red clad ghost of Christmas present in that version of “A Christmas Carol” that always seems to be on TV this time of year. Cheers to you!

Right: The High Priest. This is one of the major arcana cards I tend to wrangle with a bit. And it is one of the other reasons I like this deck so much. The Marseille deck among others calls this the Pope, which makes sense given the Catholic church’s dominance in the countries where Tarot first evolved, Italy and France. Pamela Smith’s classic artwork for the card fuels that specific religious association and imagery despite using the more general term Hierophant (defined by Oxford Languages as “a person, especially a priest in ancient Greece, who interprets sacred mysteries or esoteric principles.”) The name High Priest is, in my opinion, much more in keeping with the Hierophant name and the intent of the card. I’m going on about the hair splitting semantics because it makes a point about the cards energy for the week.

Vesak, Hannuka, Diwali have all happened recently. Today is the winter solstice and Yule. Secular and religious Christmas, Festivus, and the start of Kwanzaa are coming up this week. Sure, it’s never good to slavishly follow traditions if they have become detrimental. There is something laudible about making up your own, or bending old traditions to suit new beliefs and circumstances. By the same token, there is no reason to discard old established traditions if they are harmless, meaningful or a comfort. If there is any little tradition that makes you feel comforted or happy then yes, if at all possible, indulge. In the middle of chaos and crazy is precisely where repetition and tradition does the most good.

Whatever your Holiday, wherever and whenever you celebrate – or don’t – I wish you a safe and happy week. Merry Happy Everything!

Today’s Tarot: Every Little Thing Can Be Magic

What is magic, really?

Being raised on a steady diet of 60s sitcom re-runs, I full on want nose twitching, wand waving, hand gesturing, incantation mumbling, midnight margarita saturated POOF! magic.

It’d be fun, you have to admit. But out here in the real world we are dealing with technology, stagecraft and the spiritual path kind of magick (I like making the distinction between stage or fictional magic and the spiritual practice of magick by using the ‘k’ at the end. Besides, it just looks cool.)

Regardless of fictional fun or your serious spiritual beliefs, The Magician is nonetheless a very powerful card. It is a card of transformation, in essence, of initiating and controlling change.

TV magic is alluring because it is all instant gratification but no real possibility. Real magick is all potential and possibility, but not instant, and with a better grade of gratification. They don’t call this stuff magickal or spiritual work for no reason.

In a daily read like this, the message is in that potential…and the change. Change really is possible. New attitudes, new habits, new feelings, new lifestyles, new philosophies take time. The magician is powerful. Tap in to that power – however long it takes. Real magick is absolutely possible, but you have to realize it is made of some amount of time and a sufficient amount of effort and the secret potion of waiting, welcoming and holding space. Change anything and POOF! you are magick.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget the second anniversary giveaway on the special offers page. Just a reminder that the blog is not at all monetized (neither is the youtube channel) so any blog follows, likes, shares, social media follows and of course reading orders are all greatly appreciated. Thank you all!

RWS Tarot magician image from the public domain

YouChoose Interactive Tarot 25 July – 1Aug. 2020

Take your week, and the Tarot guidance for it into your own hands. Pick a card, right, center or left. Take your time, pause the video then restart for the reveal…or pick which ever card feels right on an impulse. Both ways work just fine.

Left: Seven of Swords. Mischief is afoot. Stay on your toes. Watch out for pranks, be kind to unintended mistakes

Center: The Magician. Create your world. Like attracts like. A shift in perception and point of view can change the world like magic

Right: King of Pentacles. Focus on the practical. Generally, energies are turning toward the spiritual and esoteric, but this week still needs a grounded and practical approach. Don’t let your head get stuck in the clouds.

Today’s Tarot: I AM doing something

“Just a moment, Mary. I’m having an idea” – Young Einstein

Today’s Tarot: Five of Wands. Keywords – conflict, inner world, element of fire. Inner conflict isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can take you to a powerful place.

Not all work is visible. Mental focus can be exhausting. Personal growth and spiritual work is work. It may not be obvious to other people, but inner conflict is as valid as the physical combat depicted on today’s card. It is arguably more important.

“Conquering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power” – attr. Lau Tzu

Small changes that you integrate into who you are and can sustain permenantly are the most powerful. It is as true of perception as it is of a healthy diet, new exercise routine, adding a meditation practice to your day…any change really. It can be the most challenging…and challenged … part of real self improvement. Others may confront you about small changes without even realizing it. “Don’t you…” “When did you start…” “Just one time won’t matter…” and other little off handed comments can derail the best intentions without meaning to. If you are supporting someone, respect the small as much as the big. If you are making changes, lots of small step can get you to where you want to go just as much as a giant leap….just like a mouse can frighten an elephant or a tiny little mosquito can drive you up a wall. Little things mean a lot. They are worth any challenges they may bring.

Especially since these kinds of small steps and inner challenges are winnable conflicts. The five of wands often connotes conflict, but with an undercurrent of success in the end. Yes, long term small changes may not be evident to an outside observer, or show immediate success, but the Five of Wands gives encouragement to go along with its heads up message. Sure, little challenges and possible inner conflicts may be on the horizon, but they are winnable, do-able things. It may not be obvious on the outside, but you ARE doing something, even when you are busy having a new idea.

Today’s Tarot: Seven Coins and One Hundred Thank Yous

THANK YOU each and every one. No matter if you are seeing this directly from your YouTube subscription or if you are on the blog or social media – thank you. As you can tell, (insert Star Trek Dr. McCoy voice) dammit Jim,  I’m a writer not a YouTuber. I really didn’t know what to expect when I started the channel. Triple digits are both a surprise and a priveledge. I’ll do all I can to make the channel and blog only get better from here.

I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to comment on YouTube. I’ll reply individually in time (once I get my almost boomer brain around how to do that effeciently) But yes, you are absolutely right. These videos ARE short – for a reason. They were always intended to be a starting point. I hope you’ll follow the description link to get the full written reading. There are plenty of speech to camera talking head Tarot videos out there. I want this to be about the cards and the *intuitive process*. Intuition and mental processes don’t make for exciting video.

And yes, I’ll be making videos of actual readings on a variety of topics, career included. Comments on the website are closed, but you are welcome to use the feedback page or email to send any questions, comments suggestions or topics you would like to see covered both on the YouTube channel and in the blog.

But now back to the reason we are all here…

Seven of Pentacles: Give stuff time and space to grow. Tarot evolved in medieval Europe, even if it was initially just a game. Even if it didn’t make the jump from game to fortune telling device or spiritual practice until the eighteenth or nineteenth century, the culture was still more agrarian than industrial. That would explain why this card is so rooted in gardening images and metaphores. You reap what you sow – literally. It is both warning and a promise.  If you plant artichokes, you are going to get artichokes, not a field of daisies. It is a warning that if you throwdown bad stuff, bad stuff will come right back at you, in some form or another. It is a promise, that if you put in the effort, that if you plant seeds there will indeed be a harvest, in one form or another.  Warning and promise take time. To get the good stuff, you have to put in the work, invest good things, and let nature take its course a little bit, but nature promises some sort of return, symbolically speaking. Sure, real life farming can take disasterous turns that are no fault of the farmer. Metaphorically speaking: nature gives back, always, sooner or later. What nature gives is in many ways up to you, what you do, and how you perceive the result.  A tomato may not be picture-perfect, but still taste delicious.

Today’s Tarot: Homecoming

In numerology they do this thing where they add the individual digits of higher numbers to reduce them to a single digit equivalent. Why, I don’t know, but they do. But it is an interesting concept when applied to the 10 cards of the minor arcana suits. Not only is it the largest of the numbered cards, the threshold to the court cards, but 1+0 = 1 which hints at a full circle, satisfying completion, a return to origens, a homecoming.

On the surface, the Ten of Cups has always been the ‘happy family’ card, akin to the Ten of Coins/Pentacles that we’ve seen in recent days. Instead of reminding us that relationships and loved ones are our most valuable treasure, this card lifts 10 cups in pure celebration of them. Homecomings of all sorts are celebrations.

Not all homecomings are the literal with all of those people, food, home and hearth goodnesses. There is a thread here connecting today’s card to the past two cards.

The Devil card reminds us that there are still storms on the horizon and that there are, in reality, some legit bad stuff out there. The Two of Wands reminds us that within any journey or project, a planned detour is possible. You can steer around the storms and get where you were originally wanting to go if you are heads up, eyes open, and plan on the fly. New phases, new plans, new turns don’t have to be stumbling blocks. Fluid, effective adaptation is very possible.

We’ve also seen a turn in energy that was outside of the cards and their artwork. That shift connects the other two cards to today’s Ten of Cups. While the first half of the year was focused on the physical realm and doing what needs done (even when what needs DONE is to stay home, wear face masks and wash your hands.  Now that we are in the dog day doldrums of summer, the energy has turned toward spirituality and introspection. Now the time has come for spa retreat, soul searching, growing, deciding, planning for the Fall and Winter ahead. That is where the homecoming comes in.

Author Richard Bach is known for saying “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.” The same is true of our internal philosophy-home. It is time for a spiritual homecoming. It is time to celebrate whatever path embues life with the most respect and joy possible. It need not be the path you started on.

Bad things happen, steering away from those things can happen. Taking your place among people and ideas that give you respect and joy can happen – and must. For me that comes through the lens of Taoist and Buddhist philosphies paired with Tarot and other magickal things. Whatever it is that you respect, that respects who you truely are, and brings you happiness – that – I hope that for you. If you have an iota of inclination, the energies are right to celebrate the esoterica that makes you happy.

If you have tried new ideas and new ways of doing things and find they are off course after all, then it is perfectly fine to change back. Going back to a spiritual path that brings good things is wonderful sort of homecoming. If you seek out new spiritual ideas and find something that perfectly fits you, then that is your homecoming too. Just as family is defined by respect and joy and love, spirituality is defined the same way. No matter whether you are going back to the old, or taking up residence with the newly discovered, the energies are flowing toward homecoming.