The Fool/Knight of Wands reversed. The Fool can be seen as an optimistic rebel who has found a way to transcend earthly bonds, except he is flying without a parachute. Of course, he believes that he won’t crash! The Fool corresponds to the element of Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts) and the planet Uranus, which is about technology, science, change and the unexpected. The Knight of Wands is Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes) of Fire, and represents the cusp between Scorpio (“I desire”) and Sagittarius (“I seek”), which I should know well **wink**. The element within this Knight supports itself, and thus is considered a dynamic force, whether upright or reversed. I am being told that today is a day of optimism and new beginnings, and I may see the world and the events that present themselves to me as having good and positive effects. Both The Fool and the upright Knight of Wands are entities of action and optimism; because the Knight is reversed, I may find that some creativity and some enthusiasm for my day may be blocked, which might not be a bad thing in the long run.

My Thoth card is Adjustment (the number 8 card, which corresponds with Judgement, the number 11 card of most decks). To Uncle Al, this Major Arcana card tells of a suspension of action in order to make a decision. It also tells of the potential for the day to bring connections based on cooperation. This card corresponds with Libra (“we are”) and the element of Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts).

My Legacy card is the Six of Wands reversed. This Six in an upright position (Leo (“I am”) and Jupiter (expansiveness, luck and growth)) is about victory after difficult battles. It seems that no matter how optimistic I am and no matter how conscious I am about adjusting force with discernment, I will not be able to finish the battle to my own satisfaction just yet. But tomorrow is another day, and the fact that this card is here for me today, even though it is reversed, tells me that victory is near. I just need to clear away the blocks that are preventing me from attaining it. LOL, The Fool’s attitude!!

Day 46 of my Reiki project. Today is the first day that I am really feeling a sense of pleasure at my accomplishment here. The cool thing is that part of the effect of this continuous Reiki application is a strengthening and refining of my own connection to the Universal Life Force, and to my Guides. As I applied Reiki to my sacral chakra this morning, I was given a gift. My Lady Danu came to me, and opened my heart, and showed me that I need to understand that past actions were taken with good intent and taking into consideration the knowledge I had at that moment, and that it is wrong for me to judge the past through my present level of self-knowledge. Yes, I know; my brain already knows this, but often it takes a long time for the heart to allow a hole to be opened in its wall of protection. The work I have been doing with my Younger Self may have facilitated this bit of healing, along with the ongoing meditations and Shadow Work that Mystery and I are doing. That lovely feeling of release is the goal, and it is nice to finally attain it. I am hoping that this ability to prevent harsh self-judgment will help me to further know and understsand that in judging others I am isolating myself. It is the instinctive snap judgment that I am working to eradicate, for stopping the act of consciously judging others has been a part of my awareness since reading Stuart Wilde’s The Art of Redemption.

These cards really do describe how I feel today. I have been greatly empowered by my workings with Cernunnos and Mystery, my interactions with Helen (and the rest of her household), and my interactions with my peers. I am trying my best to comply with the urging of Cernunnos to get my physical world in order, and in doing so, I am feeling empowered by the meeting of my responsibilities. The efforts that Mystery and I are expending to examine every detail of every step of our proposed working is serving to not only validate the skills and abilities we have to date, but is also showing us what new information we need to attain and what new abilities we need to perfect. I find the combination of applying skills that I have already worked hard to successfully acquire, and seeking new experiences by applying those skills and learning about possible effects of their application, as heady indeed!! For the first time I feel like a qualified Witch who is in touch with her arsenal of tools, knowledge and wisdom (all well-earned), and while I understand that I have only scratched the surface of everything that I need and want to learn in this lifetime, I have made enough progress thus far to actively participate in attracting to me what I need and want, in the most ethical manner possible.

My much-loved Pagan Brain Trust is a manifestation of this heady combination as well. We each come from different experiences and we each are secure in our own paths, but we all come together in perfect love and perfect trust, to enjoy the ecstasy of union with like-minded fellow humans. And since we all feel very strongly that, because we are aware and because we each strive to attain and maintain the state of grace that is perfect love and perfect trust, we have an ethical responsibility to spread that awareness and that grace whenever possible (without manipulation), we just may be able to have a noticeable effect on our world.

We finished our evening with a Reiki share. I am amazed and excited by the way those final five minutes or so of sending Reiki around the circle of the five of us serves to lace us all together. I am reminded of a group of five separate trees whose roots grow together into one mass of connective tissue. I have learned through my work with bonsais that one individual tree cannot be removed from such an environment without causing damage to the rest of the trees. This connection has already happened to us, and I find that knowing I have that kind of foundation supporting me is validating and healing. My Mystery may be my manifestation of the solar plexus chakra, the element of Fire and the Will, but the Pagan Brain Trust belongs to my root chakra, and to the foundation of the four elements plus spirit, meditation, self empowerment and the concept of “as above, so below” that are all a part of that chakra to me.

Blessed be!!

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