Two of Pentacles - HOw is Your Juggling Act?

The Two of Pentacles

From the Tell Me Tarot

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

 

I have been stuck for over a month. Because I have been stuck I have been struggling to identify my feelings and therefore a way through the stuckness. Today I saw this tarot card from a deck I have never heard of and it was just what I needed. I have been on that swing too long. When I was a kid if I stayed on the swings too long at recess I would get sick and that is just about how I feel. Sick of the back and forth motion, sick of being up in the air, sick of not being grounded, sick of not going forward. Recess is over (for now); it is time to get off the swing and get back to class. Taking this metaphor a little farther, think of how it is to leave recess where nothing is really expected and get back in line, troop back to class, sit at your desk, get the text book out and back to work.  Attention, class!

The Two of Pentacles reminds us that we juggle so many things it can seem impossible to devote our full attention to any one project, thought, goal, or activity. Intentions we made and felt so committed to are now relegated to some forgotten corner of our consciousness. But, it is OK to be lost in duality (which the Two’s represent) and not move forward.

But are we really not moving forward?

Sometimes we have to process life. Maybe an injury or illness has forced us to put plans on hold. Maybe we are sad or some big distraction has sidetracked our goals. I have had plans for about 3 months to write a particular article that has never materialized. Because I could not seem to get that going I didn’t write anything! I read someplace that if you feel stuck, maybe you could just do something different. Give up on whatever is looming over you causing you to feel overwhelmed or inadequate or unable. Just do something else. Juggle things.

Pentacles represent the physical world and the realm where manifestations finally materialize. The Two of Pentacles is about learning to balance our lives and all that is going on in them. Let’s face it: most of us are on overwhelm most of the time just because we live in a world full of opportunities, stimulation, and expectations. We can’t do it all at once. This is where focus comes in to play. Choose something and do it. Just get going. Goals are not being met here but when we learn to allow committed space for one thing at a time we figure out what might not be important that we can let go of, what gives us joy that we want to make more space for, and realize that the housework is never done, the groceries always need replenishing, and yes, we have to sleep.

Here is what I found out about my latest time of being stuck. Stressing over not getting that one particular article written distracted me from all the other options available. I was mad at myself and so resulted to creature comfort distractions. However, in-between binge watching my latest guilty pleasure on Netflix and eating too many snacks, I DID accomplish things! Lots of things got done and most of them were even on my To Do List. I had quality, fun time with friends, participated in beautiful ritual, went to work every day, and maintained my usual routine.

True, I was not particularly creative but that is another Tarot card all together!

So if you find yourself on that swing of indecision, just enjoy the view for awhile.  Feel the rhythm of back and forth. You will get sick of it soon enough.

...Kathryn Ravenwood 3.15.17

From the Morgan-Greer Tarot

The Wheel is Spinning 

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

Earlier in January I wrote about 2017 being the Year of the Wheel of Fortune (see my blog: www.KathrynRavenwood.com or http://kathrynravenwood.blogspot.com/).  Now, only three weeks into the year, we are feeling the power of the Wheel as it spins. Spoiler Alert: I usually do not write on the Tarot from a political viewpoint but I am doing so today. Still with me? Then read on.

The ruling political party of our country changed hands and just one day later marches and rallies for women’s and human rights were global - the streets filled with an uprising of people not willing to be silent. Protests and marches against the misuse of our Earth’s resources – especially water – are going on right now. People are exercising their Constitutional Rights by taking action on their beliefs and supporting causes that are important to them. Many who have never marched, protested, written to a Congressman/woman before are doing so now. We are stirred up by the power of the Wheel and the vortex of energy it creates. 

The Wheel is about change and “Lady Luck” can be an angel or a devil - what is fame and fortune to one is ruin and loss to another. In the above card we see a king and queen riding high on the wheel of success while at the bottom a poor soul has fallen off his turn at the top. A cosmic hand, partially hidden by clouds, cranks the Wheel. In time the king and queen will fall and someone else will rise. The clouds remind us we don’t know what is coming next.

Let’s use the Tarot to look at the big picture in the framework of the current four-year presidential term. Perhaps in this over simplified exercise we can find some perspective. 2017 is the Year of the Wheel (card #10). The power changed hands and is quickly making itself known. This is only January. We have 11 months to go. 

2018, year two of the term, will be the Year of Justice (card #11). This card is often related to Karma and consequences. “What goes around comes around.”  When discussing a political situation we can expect to see legal activity. Justice is often depicted as a blindfolded woman holding the Scales of Justice, balancing actions and consequences. Not all laws are perfect or carry maximum benefit for all. What will Justice bring in 2018? As the saying goes, “Karma is only a bitch if you are.”

Year 3 of the term, 2019, will be the Year of the Hanged Man (card #12). Who will be hung out on a limb? Health care?  Clean water?  Education? This card is about surrender, letting go, not being in control;  however, the act of Surrender can be very powerful as it frees us from often self-inflicted limitations to open up to other dimensions of knowing, wisdom, and eventual freedom.

The last year of the term, following the linear path of the Tarot, is the Death card, #13. In numerology 2020 = 4, the card of the Emperor, but 13 is also a 4 (1+3=4) so we see an end and transition of the term in Death and an establishment of structure, form, and stability in the Emperor. What’s done is done and has become “written in stone” – at least for now. 

Here are a couple of scenarios to ponder. The current president rides high on the Wheel in full power, the ensuing cause and effect of his actions is demonstrated in the Justice system through laws passed and repealed through the manipulation of truth. The Hanged Man could be the public, not in control and surrendering to the Death of a way of life that came before while the Emperor rises in firmly established power.

OR - the Wheel turns and the People rise up, taking their place of power. Justice is balanced by truth (real truth, not alternate facts), which causes the president to become the Hanged Man who must surrender and discover his lack of control, which leads to Death of his presidency and the rise of the new Emperor/structure that brings stability and new leadership.

2021, the beginning of the next presidential 4-year term, is a 5 – the Hierophant. In the linear progression of the Tarot, it is Temperance (art/alchemy) which is card #14 (1+ 4 = 5 or the Hierophant). Will the current president take on a second term morphing from the Emperor into the Hierophant of the Establishment  who acts as The Leader dictating us with rules, regulations, and pressuring us to conform to what the Hierophant dictates? Or will Temperance bring a blend of physical and spiritual awareness to create a world where we reject rigid rules and blind subjection to power without truth? Will the Hanged Man arise filled with new vision and expression or will he continue to hang ineffectively? Can we rise to a higher alchemy of The Art of Being Human?

None of us can control the big picture or the full effect of the Wheel but we can tap into its energy and momentum to get us moving. The Wheel may not bring us the desired outcome we bet on but we still have personal choice, free will, and the ability to gather information (facts) to move us forward. Each of our individual actions and movements contributes to the whole. As you ponder any number of possibilities and outcomes of the Wheel, Justice, Hanged Man, and Death over the next four years, remember that we have TODAY. We have NOW. We have freedom to speak and act, whether it is in the political arena or our personal lives. So while we cannot control the Big Wheel’s outcome, we can certainly grease the smaller wheels that cause it to move!

…Kathryn Ravenwood 1.25.17

2017: The Wheel of Fortune 

From the Osho Zen Tarot

The Cycles of Change are eternally on the move. Fall turns to Winter, Youth to Old Age, periods of hardship turn into times of joy and realization. As the song reminds us, “sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug.” It is always and ever changing. In 2017 we are given the guidance of card #10 in the Tarot - the Wheel of Fortune. How very appropriate.

The Wheel of Fortune is the impartial and powerful force of life itself. Nothing can stay the same and is always on the move, a constant play of cycles - sunrise to sunset, the four seasons, the moon progressing from dark to full and dark again, the progression of the astrological calendar through Aires to Capricorn. The great Precession of the Equinoxes takes about 24,000 to 26,000 years. Along with that is the grand cycle of the Yugas, marking the Ages of Man’s Consciousness from the peak of Satya Yuga through the depths of Kali Yuga. (We are currently in the Ascending Dwapara Yuga cycle which lasts another 2,083 years or so.) We live on a planet spinning through space at about 1,040 miles an hour as we speed drive down a freeway, talking on a cell phone that is instantly connecting us with someone across the country or the world via a satellite orbiting the Earth.  It really is mind boggling.

2016 was a Hermit year, a time of introspection and self awareness. I truly hope the Hermit brought each of you some peaceful solitude and  understanding of your own inner light. That insight will be most beneficial as the great Wheel now makes her very public turn across the Cosmic Dance Floor. This year the Dance includes a change in political power which, no matter your opinion, is causing a lot of reaction. Some people are happy with the outcome, some angry, some ambivalent. Many are taking action to become more involved through causes they want to lend their energy to. Change leads to more change and eventually to a stasis and then change again. 

The Wheel of Fortune - Fate - is touted in so many songs and sayings - “get it while you can,” “c’mon baby let the good times roll,” “the wheel in the sky keeps on turning - don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow,”“Luck, be a lady tonight.”  The Wheel is no stranger to us. Things happen and our reaction is very often a knee-jerk or gut response. Our emotions ride on the very edge of that spinning wheel. We can feel it is all going too fast and get caught up in the chaos. Change can also find us basking in everything going our way, something we are not always equipped to react to well, perhaps because we have not learned to receive or appreciate our own worth. Or there is the “Gloomy Gus” response of “gee - what’s the use?” where we simply are overwhelmed by the Wheel and let it run over us.

With all this spinning around, there is a much larger lesson available.  At the center of every wheel is the hub, the place where the spokes radiate out providing structure for the forces that cause the wheel to turn. Think of it as a center of energy potential. Potential cannot be still; it must expand and move and that is the Wheel, the basis of life - of experience, growth, evolution, and change. When it seems too much, when the activity and speed of it all overwhelms you making you dizzy, or when you realize your reactions are making you crazy, know there is a place of stability always available - and it is not in trying to hold on for dear life to the edge of that spinning wheel! That place is Center, the place of Awareness of the Now, understanding that this, too, shall pass. This place of the Center helps us to step back out of the chaos and recognize the patterns in our life. Once we can see the patterns we are better able to understand them  - or at least accept them -  and then are more able to make conscious decisions about them rather that repeatedly reacting in the same way. 

Perhaps we discover that we continually choose relationships that do not provide us with healthy support and are able to change that pattern. Or, we understand that periods of down time are to be embraced for rest and renewal rather than berate ourselves for not being productive. Death shows itself to us in the loss of loved ones or satisfying situations and we must face the passage of a cycle and step into an unknown future. We can accept that we indeed do not have control of these cycles but that we can choose how we respond within them. 

When my sister died in 2006, I had been up all night grieving her unexpected passing. Exhausted and depleted, I decided to go into work to finish up some things in preparation for going out of town for her funeral. I stopped in a grocery store to get a little food. Everyone in that store looked so drained, the energy of the store itself stagnant and un-inviting. Then I heard my sister’s voice saying, “be kind to everyone - you don’t know what they are going through.”  And with that voice was change. I looked at each person choosing an apple or standing in the check-out line and, for just a moment, experienced the one-ness of us all as humans living our lives on Earth, each experiencing our own journey, challenges, joys, failures, and dreams. In that moment, I truly felt like I loved everyone. I wanted to hug them all and hold on to that feeling.  In that moment of awareness I had stepped off the spinning Wheel and moved into the Center of calmness and awareness and knew that I would indeed survive the loss of my beloved sister.

None of us know what the next moments or days or year will bring but as it unfolds, remember that you have the power of awareness to keep you from spinning off into space, to keep you centered, awake, and present. 

Blessings on the journey.       …Kathryn Ravenwood, 01-01-2017

Death

From The Halloween Tarot

By Kathryn Ravenwood  10-19-16

 

I am loving the season; Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, yellow leaves falling from the trees while brilliant blue skies blaze overhead. This very fun Tarot deck (Halloween Tarot) is full of great images but today Death spoke to me. The card is rich with images and symbolism. A skeleton uses a brightly colored can to pour life-giving water onto grinning pumpkins. A vulture perches on the fence where an Ankh sign (symbol of life) has been posted. Green ferns and bright sunflowers happily grow along the walk, a moth flits by, and a black cat contentedly rubs up against a bony skeleton leg, curling its tail around the other.  This card looks more like life to me than death.

 

The life/death cycle is in everything. The moth was once a caterpillar and transformed through metamorphosis. The seeds that became the pumpkins had to “die” to sprout and become the plant that bore the fruit. The vulture is known as a scavenger – it only eats dead matter and yet transforms that into its living body. Vultures are known to provide the flesh of their own bodies to their babies if no food is available. Eventually the remains of all physical bodies return to the earth creating the compost for new generations of life.

Fall is the time to celebrate two of my favorite holidays, both of which honor Death – Halloween and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Halloween lets us take on an alternate identity. For some of us we are empowered allow the hidden side of our nature to show up as a witch, an alien, or a magical creature. We are allowed to abandon all rules and be as outrageous as we like. For the time we are in costume we experience a little death of our everyday selves and transform into our imaginations where unlimited things can take form.

 

For the Day of the Dead we create altars for the dearly departed in our lives, the ancestors, our friends and family and beloved pets. We fix their favorite foods, get out physical objects they owned and dust off the frames of our favorite photos of them. Enshrined on their altars, lit with candles and strewn with brightly colored marigolds, our dead loved ones are alive again in the stories we tell of them, in the tears and laughter we share remembering them. Re-membering….. “Member” means a part of the physical body such as organs and appendages; to re-member brings back together the parts into a whole, into our present consciousness where the Dead are always with us.

 

While we move through this special time of year, honor the dead – your loved ones, the dead parts of you, the death of what used to be, the death of what might have been. Light some candles, tell the stories, shed some tears, laugh and celebrate that what is now dead once was full of life and will transform into some form of life again. Life and Death are partners in the great Cosmic Dance of Becoming. Our bodies may die but the works we do while alive live on in the talents we shared, the help we gave to someone in need, our children, and the generations after us. Tell your stories. There will come a time when we will be a faded photo on an ancestor altar and some friend or family member will share the tales and we will be re-membered.

 

Love is eternal….Kathryn  Ravenwood 10-19-16

 

 

Temperance

From The Halloween Tarot

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood 10.12.16

 

 

What a happy witch – cooking up a bubbling brew of magic! Everything she needs is at hand; a shelf full of ingredients, books, measuring spoons, flowers for beauty, and of course her Familiar Black Cat. Her wise owl sits on her hat, a lizard (symbol of transformation) has blended right in with the shape and color of the vase, and a darling little bunny peeks out of her pocket as she mixes and blends her potion. Who knows what else is there in her cozy laboratory? She is well stocked to create her magic, her alchemy.

 

Our lives are an on-going recipe, a concoction, and magical brew of our experiences. Like the witch’s cauldron, we are each a vessel for the physical and spiritual ingredients that make us uniquely who we are. The spilled water on the floor is a reminder of spirit flowing through our lives, sometimes unseen but always there. We are constantly cooking up a new version of who we are. Like a tried and true recipe we have some very basic parts that don’t really change but become more refined as we practice our lives. Sometimes we have to just wing it, using whatever is at hand to make the right potion that allows for an immediate transformation. Like great chefs, we are the artisans of our own lives creating the magic that is uniquely our own. We present ourselves as works of art as we live, grow, learn, and interact with others.

 

In the Tarot the Temperance card brings a welcome balance. The previous card, Death, has caused us to experience that which must end in our lives, sometimes very painfully. The next card, the Devil, calls to us to go into the shadows and face that which we fear. Temperance gives us a break. We find equilibrium, stability, and beauty. We have tried, failed, tried, succeeded, and failed again. Now we have obtained a level of mastery where all our efforts, wisdom, experience, and risks have come to fruition. We get to feel the magic and know that WE are that magic. We are not stuck or confined to one version of ourselves. We can modify, alter, and re-write how we do this thing called life, all the while accommodating the external events that cause us to internally change. Our cauldron is always there, our familiars ever at hand to assist us in this life long – even eternal - alchemy.

 

In traditional Tarot, the Temperance card shows an angel blending the contents of two cups, pouring one into the other. This reminds us that our spiritual nature, our soul, our higher self, is participating with us in this great alchemy. We might get bogged down in 3-D living but our higher nature is always at work within us, guiding us, celebrating our delicious new recipes with us.

 

Fresh home-made bread right out of the oven has a mouth-watering aroma. If anyone is in the house they will be drawn like a magnet to the kitchen, begging for a piece of the yumminess. As we hone our alchemy we are like that luscious aroma, attracting into our lives that which we need to help us continue on the path of growth and beauty. There might be a few toadstools and toes of salamanders along the way, but hey – they are all part of the mix.

 

What’s cooking in your cauldron?

 

…Kathryn Ravenwood 10-12-16

 

Temperance: What is Cooking in Your Cauldron?

Temperance

From The Halloween Tarot

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

10-14-16

 

 

What a happy witch – cooking up a bubbling brew of magic! Everything she needs is at hand; a shelf full of ingredients, books, measuring spoons, flowers for beauty, and of course her Familiar Black Cat. Her wise owl sits on her hat, a lizard (symbol of transformation) has blended right in with the shape and color of the vase, and a darling little bunny peeks out of her pocket as she mixes and blends her potion. Who knows what else is there in her cozy laboratory? She is well stocked to create her magic, her alchemy.

 

Our lives are an on-going recipe, a concoction, and magical brew of our experiences. Like the witch’s cauldron, we are each a vessel for the physical and spiritual ingredients that make us uniquely who we are. The spilled water on the floor is a reminder of spirit flowing through our lives, sometimes unseen but always there. We are constantly cooking up a new version of who we are. Like a tried and true recipe we have some very basic parts that don’t really change but become more refined as we practice our lives. Sometimes we have to just wing it, using whatever is at hand to make the right potion that allows for an immediate transformation. Like great chefs, we are the artisans of our own lives creating the magic that is uniquely our own. We present ourselves as works of art as we live, grow, learn, and interact with others.

 

In the Tarot the Temperance card brings a welcome balance. The previous card, Death, has caused us to experience that which must end in our lives, sometimes very painfully. The next card, the Devil, calls to us to go into the shadows and face that which we fear. Temperance gives us a break. We find equilibrium, stability, and beauty. We have tried, failed, tried, succeeded, and failed again. Now we have obtained a level of mastery where all our efforts, wisdom, experience, and risks have come to fruition. We get to feel the magic and know that WE are that magic. We are not stuck or confined to one version of ourselves. We can modify, alter, and re-write how we do this thing called life, all the while accommodating the external events that cause us to internally change. Our cauldron is always there, our familiars ever at hand to assist us in this life long – even eternal - alchemy.

 

In traditional Tarot, the Temperance card shows an angel blending the contents of two cups, pouring one into the other. This reminds us that our spiritual nature, our soul, our higher self, is participating with us in this great alchemy. We might get bogged down in 3-D living but our higher nature is always at work within us, guiding us, celebrating our delicious new recipes with us.

 

Fresh home-made bread right out of the oven has a mouth-watering aroma. If anyone is in the house they will be drawn like a magnet to the kitchen, begging for a piece of the yumminess. As we hone our alchemy we are like that luscious aroma, attracting into our lives that which we need to help us continue on the path of growth and beauty. There might be a few toadstools and toes of salamanders along the way, but hey – they are all part of the mix.

 

What’s cooking in your cauldron?

 

…Kathryn Ravenwood 10-12-16

 

The Ace of Cups
From the Witches Tarot – Ellen Dugan
Detoxification

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

We are each a vessel of Spirit.  Our physical bodies, made of water, earth, fire, and air, are the living containers that Spirit inhabits, allowing us to enjoy not only a physical experience but to also provide a way for Spirit to expand through us. We use our minds, our hands, our voices, gifts, and talents so Spirit can experience the physical world and do work through us. When we are tuned in and “in the flow” with Spirit we are like the picture above: a shining cup filled and overflowing with the grace and love of the Universe. 

There is a cosmic filtration system set up. While we are in these bodies we are constantly learning. The Cups of the Tarot are about water and emotions. The planet and our bodies are about 70% (or more) water so the Cups represent a huge part of how we process life. Ideally, we experience and incorporate the lessons and gifts, releasing that which does not support us. We keep the flow going. The lake under the Cup is filled with water lilies blooming on the surface. The unseen roots of these plants grow and are fed from all the cast off dregs washing out of that cup. It is a scummy, putrid mass if you scoop it out from the bottom but to the plant it is an anchor, food, and the growth opportunity it needs.  In this recycling process everyone wins. 

However, all is not always well. Our emotional bodies get very clogged with the detritus of life. We experience more than we can continually process: fear, rejection, toxic relationships, loss, broken hearts, shattered self-esteem – the list goes on and on. We find ourselves holding on and when we hold on, the natural order of the Universe  - that of give and receive – is stopped. We begin to drown in our own emotional murkiness. 

The Ace of Cups is generally associated with things like a blissful new love affair, an overflowing of joy and spiritual love, and all things happy.  But when our cup is clogged with all that muck there is no room to receive. We have to release and give away – we need to detox.  If you were offered a drink of the most delicious nectar on earth and all you had to drink from was an old rusty cup or a glass caked with yesterday’s milk or coffee you could not receive and enjoy that nectar. But if you washed the cup first…

Try to stop the toxic intake. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Implore Spirit to help you. Be willing to change and forgive even if you think you cannot do it. Even if the crime against you was truly heinous, be willing to let it go. Start giving yourself some emotionally beautiful moments.  Focus on what makes you happy, what gives you joy. Embrace your life – all of it. It is OK and normal that you experienced failures, that people let you down, that things did not turn out how you hoped or expected. Recognize and honor of the gunk you are holding within you. As it begins to filter out of you trust that, like those water lilies, it becomes the base for new growth, to be an anchor for the present and future you. 

This is a grand alchemy and nothing less. You will feel the new reaching out, rising up from the mucky layers. As you grow and reach out to the light above, the transformation continues; the buds of new life will form and, like those lilies, you will bloom and grace yourself and the world with beauty. There will be room again in the vessel to let Spirit and life experiences flow through you; the cosmic order of give and take will be restored and you will be once again filled with love, grace, beauty, joy and all things beautiful.

We cannot change what happened but we can choose how to respond. We are talking about emotions here – not the mind, not the will power, not the muscles and joints of our physical bodies. Emotions, like water, have to trickle and find an opening, flow through that opening and clean and clear along the way. It is a journey.  The Grand Canyon took eons of time as water simply sought its way through and carved beauty out of layers of rock hard resistance.  

The Ace of Cups is being offered to you.  Drink up.

…Kathryn Ravenwood 10-5-16