Eight of Cups reversed/Five of Pentacles. I may find that I have trouble tapping into my ability to get motivated today. One description that I read as I researched the Eight of Cups tells me that in an upright position this card sometimes tells of a physical sacrifice which must be made in order to attain spiritual growth. Because the Eight is reversed, and because it is paired with the Five of Pentacles (which tells of a perceived hardship in the physical world), I may be focusing too much on the physical event and not enough on the lesson that accompanies it.

My Thoth card is the Nine of Pentacles. Crowley sees the “Gain” card as telling of a satisfaction at having harvested what was sowed, but in typical Uncle Al fashion, it also warns that if left to itself, satisfaction becomes stagnation.

My Legacy card today is The Star reversed. Hmmmm . . . a little less optimistic than I would have hoped. The Star corresponds with the element of Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts), the sign of Aquarius (I know; best interests of the group), and the Hebrew letter Tsadi (fishhook; experience and thought), and in an upright position it tells us that hope and inspiration can be found both above (divine) and from below (unexpected help may appear if I am true to myself). This card is the Anima Mundi, the soul of the world, and tells of the calm after the storm. There is that phrase again: If it doesn’t kill you it will make you stronger. I may find that I am a bit overwhelmed today by distractions of the physical world (and let’s hope that they are just distractions); I need to strive to remember that I have the ability to take care of everything, with a smile on my face and gratitude for the opportunity to test myself in my heart. Not as pessimistic as I thought.

My 6-digit date number is 8. The energies of the number 8 tell of a reaction to the beginning of degeneration of the number 7. The number 8 is similar to the number 6, which brings horizontal and vertical balance from the chaos of the movement of the number 5, only the balance achieved by the energies of 8 is not quite as pure and it does not last quite as long as the balance of the number 6.

I am making progress on crossing things off my To Do list. I checked my very first Reiki I and Reiki II Assessment last night, and I actually enjoyed doing this, even though checking a Reiki Assessment takes a lot longer than checking a First Degree Homework (and I did quite a few of those so far this weekend, too). My Second Degree Lesson is officially done. I still need to print it out and read it through once more, and make certain that my homework questions are good, but that is minimal.

I attended the Sacred Mists Esbat last evening, and I am using the energies of the transition from Dark Moon to New Moon as I continue to organize my life. Steps are happening, baby steps for sure, but I am moving in the right direction.

I spent some time last night and this morning working with Mystery on our ritual, and I spoke to Lisa on the phone in part about her book binding class and the permanent Book of Shadows that I am commissioning her to create for me. Lisa gave me lots of things to think about, and I will be working on visualizing my “perfect BOS” so that she and I can manifest it.

I am sitting in my kitchen, looking out into my yard. The sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is shining, so even though the air is cold and there is quite a bit of snow still blanketing the ground, I can hear and see the meltwater dripping. I am thinking about all that has happened, both good and bad, and I am excited about what might be just beyond the horizon.

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