Eight of Swords reversed (again!!)/The Hanging Man. Okay, okay; I am embracing my Dark Night, and I am not trying to direct things. Honest!! The Hanging Man corresponds to Water and the Hebrew letter Mem, which corresponds to Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts) and the planet Neptune (spirituality, inspiration and altered states). The Eight of Swords card in the Welsh deck shows a bound woman surrounded by swords, standing on a rock with churning water at her feet. If the card is turned upside down, it looks like the Swords are pointing at the Water. Hmmmm . . . . Perhaps I am being told that I cannot conquer fear and uneasiness unless I accept that they exist. Water without the Air to cause storms is calm and placid and perhaps this is what I should be opening myself to today.

My Thoth card is the Two of Cups. Crowley’s “Love” card, and typical of Uncle Al, he does not have much to say about this happy card. Crowley sees the Ace as representing the Holy Grail, so the love that is just beginning to be manifested in this Two is of a spiritual nature. More Water, too.

My Legacy card is the Nine of Cups. Emotional fulfillment and sensual pleasures today, but this card, with its presentation of the possibility of having wishes fulfilled, also presents a warning: don’t allow the senses to fully rule the day. Water always seeks the lowest ground, and while it makes a good ballast, too much and I will drown. Lots of Water in my cards today, so I need to remember this.

My Pearls of Wisdom Full Moon card is Death. More Water!! Death corresponds with the element of Water, with Scorpio, a Fixed Water sign, and with the Hebrew letter Nun, the fish head, representing liberation. This card specifically focuses on the cycles of life, specifically references the presentation of a doorway, and encourages me to walk through that doorway. It also verifies that I am more alive without my physical body, which is an interesting interpretation to me. I have often wondered of my awareness will become so much more than my physical self that my awareness will break away from my physical body and rise into the astral realms, the way an air bubble in a glass of soda breaks away from the side of the glass and floats upward.

My 6-digit date number is 6, the number of vertical and horizontal balance.

My horoscope: “You may receive some upsetting news from a family member today, Sagittarius. It could have you reeling for a moment, but when you take the time to think about it some more you'll realize that things aren't as troubling as they first seemed. Be sure to get all the facts before taking any action. You want to be sure to do what's right in this situation.”

This horoscope is interesting, because in Cape May on Saturday night, actually very early Sunday morning, as I was going to bed I saw the lights of an ambulance and thought of our next door neighbor, Marie. For some reason, I felt that the ambulance was coming for her, although it did not end up coming onto our block. I received an email from her daughter this morning, advising that Marie had a stroke last night, Sunday, at about 8 pm, and is in the hospital. That was very much a precognitive event, even though it was vague the effect was strong; as soon as I saw the flashing red lights pass by on the street behind ours, the very first person I thought of with concern was Marie.

Well, according to my cards, today’s potential is so filled with Water that I may feel like I am attempting to walk upstream against the current. Maybe this is why I had so much trouble getting up this morning. I will be thinking of the image on that Pearls of Wisdom card all day and the concept of stepping through a doorway; my instincts tell me that it is important.

In an effort to understand the Nigredo and to help Mystery with the Shadow Craft Extension Class she asked me to help her with, I purchased a used copy of Raven Digitalis’s book, Shadow Magick Compendium. The book came this morning, and I spent about 20 minutes looking it over at lunchtime. LOL, I need to have a pencil handy, because there appears to be lots of useful information in this book. I am pleasantly surprised! This book seems to be more mainstream (if Wiccans and Pagans can be considered mainstream) than I expected; shame on me for prejudging!

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