Archive for November, 2022

Today’s Card: Get perspective on life, holidays with Hawk

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

While getting perspective is good at any time, I think it’s especially useful at this time of year. The holidays can be beautiful and joyous but also filled with stress and “musts.” If you are someone who gets so busy doing a gazillion things to make the holidays “perfect,” perhaps it’s time to realize that they don’t need to be perfect if it damages your physical or mental health (and not to mention your fiscal health). Take some time to consider what you are doing for joy and what you are doing to fulfill the expectations of others – and trim accordingly. Reach out to loved ones and ask how to simplify gatherings.

On the other hand, if you are typically a Scrooge, perhaps it’s time to lighten up and see some of the joy and peace of the season. While our society pushes a certain image of the winter holidays upon us, we don’t have to accept them. Some of my favorite holiday evening were just a small group of us having cocoa and popcorn with a movie and the Yule lights on.

Blessings!

Thistle

Hawk

Meaning: Hawk (Seabhac in Gaelic) brings the ability to see your life in perspective, to free you of unnecessary baggage and to connect you to your ancestral roots. See if you can take some time out of your daily routine to survey your life calmly and to see events in context. The Hawk can help you to recollect the missing pieces of the jigsaw you will be trying to assemble and he will help, too, to spot the details which are significant.

When you have a sense of your roots and of the breadth of your life, you will start to feel pride and a growing sense of nobility and stature. Once you know where you have come from and where you are going, your life will be filled with inspiration and enthusiasm, you will sense a new day dawning, and you will be able to make decisions with confidence.

On the flip side, Hawk can suggest that you could be paying too much attention to detail. Being precise and “hawk-eyed” can be valuable, but taken to its extreme and without a wider overview, it can lead to cruelty. High ideals, if not balanced with a sense of humility, lead to arrogance and ultimately denial of the heart. Be careful not to get carried away by the justness of your cause, while forgetting to take into consideration the feelings of others.

Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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Today’s Card: Guardians say to focus on building health of relationships, confidence

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Many thanks for your patience as I took a week off from the card without notice. I hope everyone’s week went well, and I hope it was a happy and gratitude-filled one for those of us who celebrated Thanksgiving last week.

We are back today with a powerful card from the Druid Plant Oracle. See you tomorrow!

Blessings,

Thistle

The Guardians – Elder, Hawthorn, and Birch

The Guardians are three trees that together act as preservers of our health, possibly even prolonging our lives, by strengthening the immune system and the key organs of the heart and circulatory system, the liver, and kidneys. Each of them is member of the Ogham family of 18 trees and seven plants that make up this mysterious woodland alphabet that has come to be known as the “Druid’s tree language.”

The card shows a Birch tree growing between an Elder and a Hawthorn. The three trees act like guardians of the sacred pool, in which we can see Brooklime, also know as Water Pimpernel. This may be the mysterious Samolus revered by the Druids, according to Pliny.

Meaning: If you have chosen this card, it may indicate that a situation or relationship which seems to be in difficulty can be preserved and strengthened if action is taken. Sometimes, if there is no expectation of a quick fix, a problem can slowly be turned around over a period of time by a number of small adjustments. The three Guardians act by gradually strengthening the key organs of the body. Similarly, if you take actions to strengthen the specific areas of a relationship, this will, in time, affect every part of it. Rather than focusing on areas of weakness between you, identify where you do connect well, and try to build on these. Long-term relationships need healthy “immune systems” that can cope with the inevitable stresses that arise between two individuals.

This card also reminds us that plants sometimes work best when they are given as a remedy on their own, and sometimes in combination with other plants. If you have chosen this card reversed, it may indicate that you are being called upon to work in a group. Your independence might feel threatened, but is is likely that the synergy generated as a team will be far more effective than if you were to continue to work alone. Alternatively, the card may suggest that you need to have the confidence in your abilities and trust in life to slow down and not take on every offer that is made to you. We often find ourselves rushing through life, anxious that if we stop nobody will want us. Generally this not true, and by slowing down or pausing we give life a chance to show us new directions.

The Druid Plant Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington.

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Today’s Card: Take break working toward goals and recharge with Brown Bear Spirit

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

When we are so focused on a goal, sometimes it’s easy to become TOO focused and not see other ways of doing things (as my better half likes to say, some people think their dominoes can only fall one way). We tire mentally and physically, not seeing what’s really needed to accomplish the goal. Today and this weekend, take a breath, maybe take a meditative walk, and refresh yourself and hit that idea again next week with clearer eyes.

Blessings!

Thistle

Brown Bear Spirit – Take Time Out

Message: There is a time to act and a time to focus your attention on patient strategizing. The arrival of Brown Bear Spirit signals that you are best served by foregoing hard work toward your goals at this moment and instead taking the time out to meditate – or just take a nap so you can refresh yourself and begin planning what you want to co-create next. Come to know the lay of the land as you contemplate and imagine what you might do in this vast space of possibility before you, and begin forming a plan. Remember, sleep allows for dreaming and rest allows for clear-headed strategizing.

How might you become the person you wish to be and experience whatever your heart desires? Insights will arise as you explore the possibilities and begin envisioning your plan. Knowing what you want will ensure you use your energy wisely in the days ahead. Be patient at this time. Relax and be calm and peaceful so you can recharge. The call for action will come later.

Protection Message: When you become so frazzled that you can’t decide how to move forward, Brown Bear arrives to remind you to let go of your impatience in getting to answers and solving the problems that face you. Now is the time for rest and meditation. Take a break, let insights arise, and know that you have plenty of time to make plans.

Brown Bear Spirit reminds you that sometimes the best and most effective action is inaction, allowing the situation around you to reveal itself to you so you can better understand it. Remember that what is yours will never be withheld from you, so you really can relax and wait until the next right action is revealed. Miracles come from out of nowhere, and yours will arrive on Great Spirit’s timetable.

Spirit Animal Oracle by author Colette Baron-Reid and artists Jenna DellaGrotaglia

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Today’s Card: Madre says to let your creative fire blaze

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 17, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Thyme is a wonderful herb – great in savory dishes, a steam to help clear congestion, and I’ve even put it in apple cider jelly. Thyme here is aligned with the Madre of Fire, who inspires us to be creative in our own ways. For some of us, creativity flows in the commonly accepted arts like painting, dance, and music. For some of us, creativity flows in the kitchen, in the garden, with creative welding, and many other hobbies. Today is the day to let yourself delve into that side of yourself – and maybe work with someone else.

Blessings,

Thistle

Madre of Fire – Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Turn up the heat on your creative passions; a warm heart and a spicy kitchen welcome others to your table; stoke the creative fire that burns in your belly

A woman stands in a warm kitchen. The table is covered in bottles, books, and a large, fresh harvest of thyme. A kettle whistles on the stove. Yellow and orange herbs dangle from the rafters. She is dressed in garden clothes, and her worn hands calmly grind herbs in a large molcajete.

Meaning: The Madre of Fire inspires others by living an artistic life. She teaches from her actions. She encourages collaboration, inviting everyone to play in her busy apothecary. She is upbeat and accepts life’s paradoxes. She knows thyme is a both a popular kitchen herb and a superb medicine plant. She is driven by a rich imagination and finds magic in everything. Creativity is second nature to her, and her days are filled with inspired activities. Just like remedies made with thyme, she is warm and wholehearted. She attracts people into her home. She radiates vitality and love. Embrace your inner glow; it warms the hearts of others.

The Herbcrafter’s Tarot by artist Joanna Powell Colbert and author Latisha Guthrie

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Today’s Card: Learn, be patient of sacred lessons with Cacao

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Today’s trio of cards all said “healing” to me, and I think some of you would agree when seeing them. While we don’t typically think of cocoa as healing, the original drink was quite different.

I have to confess to always giggling a little when I see this card. I once found a molinillo, the wooden whisk used to make the cocoa, in a flea market and didn’t know what it was, assuming it was actually some sort of strange rattle (I’m also a hand drummer and love finding different percussive instruments). After being told what it actually was, I was just as pleased as I’m also a chocolate lover.

Having read about the extensive process of making cacao into cocoa nibs and then even further processing to make chocolate in The Wild Hunt’s recent article, I know that the chocolate we eat is a far cry from the sacred mix drank by the Aztecs for spiritual and medicinal purposes. It would be interesting to try a more original form of the treat, and likely less damaging to the world.

The Hierophant – Cacao

A revelation is at hand; seek the truth in spiritual teachings; the most potent wisdom emerges from the heart.

A clay pot of ceremonial cacao sits on an ancestral tapestry decorated with pink primrose blossoms. A basalt mortar holds roasted cacao beans, a cinnamon stick, and a chili. A replica of an ancient incense burner in the shape of a woman emerging from a hill of cacao rests on a pile of or raw beans and unopened pods. A decorative molinillo lies on the tapestry, having already stirred and frothed the walnut-brown elixir.

Meaning: The secrets of the sacred are available to all. Learn them. Teach them. Drinking pure cacao is an ancient practice that leads to greater perceptive awareness by opening the heart. Commercial chocolate is stripped of its beneficial properties, cloaked in delicious but harmful ingredients. Only true cacao can open the capillaries and increase blood flow. Spiritual teaching must speak authentically to reach the heart, but some things must be revealed slowly. As too much cacao can cause the pulse to quicken, learning too much too fast can overwhelm. Have patience with the pace of the divine. Remain devoted to mystery, yet have respect for ceremony.

Crafting with the Hierophant:
• Create or participate in a cacao ceremony and listen for an epiphany.
• Enjoy true chocolate. Find an ethical source of whole cacao beans. Dip them in vanilla honey.
• Enhance your perceptive abilities by learning about heart intelligence at heartmath.org.

The Herbcrafter’s Tarot by author Latisha Guthrie and artist Joanna Powell Colbert

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Today’s Card: Be an Gift to a Grateful Universe

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 15, 2022| Leave a Comment »

So often, we focus on all that isn’t going to plan or is “going bad” in our lives and in the world around us. But we are still here, being provided for in some way. Learn to express gratitude for the little, common things and often we will often see opportunities and gifts that will ultimately help us in our greater Journey. Be a blessing to receive blessings.

Thistle

Offerings

Meaning: The Universe is grateful for you! You are a gift to the world. Feel gratitude for everything in your life, even the things that don’t seem perfect. Appreciation for everything flows through you in a great bounty. Cherish the preciousness of life and everyone and everything around you, and thus you will be cherished. 

Native Spirit Guide: Every native culture throughout history has made offerings, often on a daily basis. Offerings were made to the Sun, the Earth, the plants and animals, and to everything in Creation. The offerings varied culture to culture, but they were always made with a feeling of extreme appreciation for the bounty of life. Gratitude was the secret to a joy-filled life. True thankfulness can work like modern-day alchemy in your life, yielding happiness and peace beyond imagination. And it’s simple: Find what’s good and wonderful in every moment. No matter what’s happening around you, there’s always something to be grateful for. Whatever you appreciate in life will grow, so discover what you’re thankful for – even the people and situations you’ve found challenging – and watch miracles unfold.

The Journey: As a suggestion, make an offering to whatever nurtures your soul. If you’re nurtured by a particular place in nature, for example, you might consider leaving fruit at the base of a tree for the animals in that area to give thanks for beauty that is there.

Native Spirit Oracle by author Denise Linn and artist Charles McStravick

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Today’s Card: Ease pain, look for luck with Mandrake

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Screaming roots aside, the Mandrake plant is seen as rather beneficial, suggestion wealth, fertility, and helping to ease pain. Remember that wealth (I tend to prefer the term prosperity) can take many forms and that fertility might not be literal. There is fertile ground for creative and business pursuits as well as creating offspring.

Blessings and have a good Monday,

Thistle

Mandrake – Wealth, fertility, anesthesia

Meaning: The ability to assuage pain is mandrake’s greatest gift to humanity. Easing pain in others – whether it be physical, mental, or emotional – is a skill that should be treasured. If you have chosen this card, it may indicate that you were called upon to alleviate suffering in someway. This may be as simple as offering reassuring words to distressed friend  or it might involve a vocational choice; perhaps you are considering whether to follow a course of training or work that focuses on alleviating pain in others.

Alternatively, the card may suggest that you are entering a phase of great luck and even wealth. Mandrake has been associated with prosperity and good fortune for centuries, and those who planted seeds of happiness for others in the past can expect to experience joy in their own lives too.

Since mandrake is connected with love and fertility, the card may also mean that love is entering your life or that you are beginning a fertile phase in your physical or spiritual life.

On the flipside, mandrake was considered a magical amplifier, which could act as a magnet to attract love, power, and wealth. Like the Devil (or Cernunnos) card in the tarot, the forces it represents can be beneficial or detrimental depending upon intention and maturity. If you have chosen this card it could also indicate that you need to be aware of the dangers of obsession – of becoming overly occupied with a notion or desire that may have a value, but which risks being all-consuming. 

Although mandrake was used medicinally in the ancient world, it was also the first plant to be used in chemical warfare. Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, faked a retreat from an African enemy, leaving behind wine steeped in mandrake as a poison. Something that is life enhancing in small measures can become toxic in higher doses.

The Druid Animal Oracle by authors Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm and artist Will Worthington

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Today’s Card: Use energy for heroic acts, finding direction

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Interesting card to come up today as, here in the United States, it is Veteran’s Day – when we honor all those who have served in our military branches. However, we must remember that being a warrior and leader is not just for those who wear a uniform; it is for all of us to answer the call to stand for something greater than ourselves and yet that represents ourselves. A short meditation with this card’s image might be fruitful today.

Blessings,

Thistle

Boar – The Warrior Spirit, Leadership, Direction

The card shows a boar in the forest. In the foreground lies a bronze carnyx, with its mouth in the form of a boar’s head. Such a battle trumpet has been found in Grampian, Scotland. By the path, and also from Scotland, is the Boar stone, beside which all Pictish kings took their oaths. To one side we also see the discarded bronze helmet of a warrior, complete with a board crest found in Wales. In the foreground grows mugwort, dandelion, and wild asparagus.

Meaning: Boar (Torc) can open you to the Warrior Spirit, helping you to find your direction in life. It’s a wild and powerful animal, he calls you into the forest to discover a secret about yourself and about the world. The ritual boar paths that exist in Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, and Scotland exist in the inner world too, and if you follow them you will come face to face with an animal embodying the wild and untamed power that lives within each one of us. Stare closely at him and you will discover he is a representative of the goddess – his skin can heal you, he can inspire you to write music and poetry, and his primal power can make you a leader or chief. See if you can use your wildness and your energy for genuine acts of heroism in a world that longs for insight and healing.

This card may also mean that you have lost your sense of direction. There is a close connection in tradition between madness and pigs and boars. At a playful level this folly is expressed by the Morris dancer who beats the audience with the pigs bladder – also used a football. But at a more serious level, those who were mad were often made to act as swineherds. Merlin, in his period of madness, talks to pigs, and within this image is conveyed the concept that madness and insight are closely allied. Sometimes we have to go through A breakdown so that something wider and deeper can enter into our lives. The boar is the emissary of the terrible mother – who is also the initiator. Sometimes a period of destruction proceeds Creation or rebirth.

Druid Animal Oracle by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, art by Will Worthington

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Today’s Card: Act on your potential with Starfish

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The starfish serves as an inspiration for our dreams and goals. Today is a day to reach for things you normally tell yourself aren’t achievable. Go for it!

Blessings,

Thistle

Starfish Spirit – Open to infinite possibility

Message: Stretched out on at the beach, the Starfish opens fully to the rays of the sun, to the power of potential. As you look out toward the horizon, do you open to infinite possibility? Spirit is the source of opportunities beyond your wildest imagination and ensures endless possibilities are available. At this time, Starfish Sprit urges you to stretch past the limits of your everyday perception and comfort zone to dream of bigger things and imagine even greater hope and faith, for miraculous potential is shining down on you. Feel it, bask in it, and open yourself to be filled with inspiration. This is a very fortunate sign that Starfish Spirit has come to remind you of your infinite potential.

Protection Message: When cynicism says no, Starfish Spirit says yes a thousand times over. Are you willing to entertain new possibilities? Are you limiting your goals in order to be realistic, and cutting yourself off from the power of dreaming big? Let go of your rigid beliefs about what is possible for you, and let Starfish Spirit inspire you to open your heart and your eyes to what Spirit has available to you. Now is a time to stretch beyond the familiar and unfurl yourself, for you are meant for more than you are imagining for yourself. Spirit wants the best for you and will support you in achieving whatever intention you hold dear.

Spirit Animal Oracle by author Colette Baron-Reid and artist Jena DellaGrottaglia

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Today’s Card: Injustice tips the scale for now – let’s change it

Posted in daily card reading, tagged , on November 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Wow, today’s three cards definitely hit home for many of us who watched U.S. election results with bated breath before giving up and going to bed last night. Today, we might take a breath, but then we have work to do.

Remember that injustice is a result of believing falsehoods, ego and pride ruling the spirit, and people setting us up against each other. Don’t fall for it – we can rebalance the scales. And remember that balance is NOT about getting everything you want. It’s about ensuring everyone gets what they need.

Blessings,

Thistle

TWO OF ARROWS – INJUSTICE

MEANING: The scales of natural justice have been skewed by false judgments, ignorance, or arrogance. Sitting in judgment with unbalanced scales to an untrue premise, however ardently or sincerely, will not prevail. The bow is broken and useless through prejudice and misuse.

DESCRIPTION: The enthroned and faceless figure of Justice sits like a statue, her feet resting on an ancient wooden longbow. Her eyes are bound and she wears a simple white gown. Above her head are the uneven scales, one plate bearing a feather, the other a few coins. She holds two arrows in her arms.

READING POINTS: False conclusions and unjust decisions, based on disinformation and motivated by fear, greed, and prejudice, can cause innumerable problems. Either mistakenly or deliberately distributed to pervert the course of natural justice and the revelation of the facts by those who fear the truth and wish to manipulate the situation for personal control or gain, this propaganda will not survive honest, wise, and impartial scrutiny. In many worldly situations the truth becomes hijacked and twisted to become a false message, designed to confuse and instill fear in those seeking clear insight. The wise seeker questions and tests false messages and discerns the validity of a harmful accusation. Perversions of the truth will always bring frustration and bitterness to the individual or group that deploys such dishonorable tactics. The perpetrator of lies and falsehoods will always be judged as an unreliable source, bent on mischief and destructive interference. For the victim of the injustice, the best defense of the truth is always more truth.

The Wildwood Tarot by authors Mark Ryan and John Matthews and artist Will Worthington

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