Page of Cups/The Magician. The Page of Cups (Earth, cold/binds and dry/shapes, of Water, cold/binds and wet/adapts) brings the message of the Ace of Cups, the power of love, through the eyes and the mind of youth. The Magician (Air, hot/separates and dry/shapes; Mercury, reason, intelligence, orderliness; Hebrew letter Beth, house or builder) is the expert who can easily manifest his desires through the use of his Will. Perhaps today I am being reminded that no matter how skilled and able I feel, I can always benefit from attempting to see the world in a new way.

My Thoth card is the Knight of Swords reversed. In an upright position, this Knight represents very clever logic that ends up being very unstable because the logic becomes separated from practical reality by its purity. He is the military man, the hired mercenary who avenges his liege’s hurts without questioning the ethics involved. Because the card is reversed, there is hope that I may become aware of such actions before they have a chance to manifest consequences.

My Legacy card is the Five of Swords. This is such an interesting card because it proves that victory, when accomplished without compassion, can actually be defeat. An insistence on having my own way could end up having negative consequences today. Taken with the Knight of Swords reversed, these two cards and their warnings seem to act as a grounding to the Page and Magician. Confidence and childlike wonder can be benefits, but not when I step on others’ toes as I experience the awe of life and living.

My 6-digit date number is 4, the number of depth and stability.

My horoscope: “You're likely to find people somewhat irritating today, Sagittarius. It's as though nothing is good enough, and nobody seems to know exactly what he or she wants. You'll reign supreme within this maze of overt conflict and dissatisfaction. You might even be asked to step in and restore order. If the conflict is domestic, go ahead. But tread carefully if you're asked to be the sheriff at the office!”

I am amazed at how synchronicity works. Psychological alchemy comes to me at just the right time (even though I had access to information about it, literally at my fingertips, for a while), and then other bits of information come to me, also from sources that I have had in my possession in one way or another but had not connected to. When the time is right, the teacher (or the lesson) appears. The information below is taken directly from Wikipedia and the Vedic Conservatory website. I will be learning Nuad Boram in June through the Vedic Conservatory.

The Five Sheaths

Annamaya kosha
This is the sheath of the physical self, named from the fact that it is nourished by food. Living through this layer man identifies himself with a mass of skin, flesh, fat, bones, and filth, while the man of discrimination knows his own self, the only reality that there is, as distinct from the body.

Pranamaya kosha
Pranamaya means composed of prana, the vital principle, the force that vitalizes and holds together the body and the mind. It pervades the whole organism, one of the physical manifestation is the breath. As long as this vital principle exists in the organisms, life continues. Coupled with the five organs of action it forms the vital sheath. In the Vivekachoodamani it is a modification of vayu or air, it enters into and comes out of the body.

Manomaya kosha
Manomaya means composed of manas or mind. The mind (manas) along with the five sensory organs is said to constitute the manomaya kosa. The manomaya kosa, or “mind-sheath” is said more truly to approximate to personhood than annamaya kosa and pranamaya kosha. It is the cause of diversity, of I and mine. Sankara likens it to clouds that are brought in by the wind and again driven away by the same agency. Similarly, man’s bondage is caused by the mind, and liberation, too, is caused by that alone.

Vijnanamaya kosha
Vijnanamaya means composed of vijnana, or intellect, the faculty which discriminates, determines or wills. Chattampi Swamikal defines vijnanamaya as the combination of intellect and the five sense organs. It is the sheath composed of more intellection, associated with the organs of perception. Sankara holds that the buddhi, with its modifications and the organs of knowledge, form the cause of man’s transmigration. This knowledge sheath, which seems to be followed by a reflection of the power of the cit, is a modification of prakrti. It is endowed with the function of knowledge and identifies itself with the body, organs etc.

This knowledge sheath cannot be the supreme self for the following reasons;

It is subject to change.
It is insentient.
It is a limited thing.
It is not constantly present.

Anandamaya kosha
Anandamaya means composed of ananda, or bliss. In the Upanishads the sheath is known also as the causal body. In deep sleep, when the mind and senses cease functioning, it still stands between the finite world and the self. Anandamaya, or that which is composed of Supreme bliss, is regarded as the innermost of all. The bliss sheath normally has its fullest play during deep sleep: while in the dreaming and wakeful states, it has only a partial manifestation. The blissful sheath (anandamaya kosha) is a reflection of the Atman, which is bliss absolute.

The Atman (connected to root words meaning breath and to breathe) is a philosophical term used within Hinduism and Vedanta to identify the soul whether in global sense (world's soul) or in individual sense (of a person own soul). It is one's true self (hence generally translated into English as 'Self') beyond identification with the phenomenal reality of worldly existence.

Philosophical schools such as Advaita (monism) see the soul within each living entity as being fully identical with Brahman – the all-pervading soul of the universe, whereas other schools such as Dvaita (dualism) differentiate between the individual atma in living beings, and the Supreme atma (Paramatma) as being at least partially separate beings. Thus atman refers to the individual soul or the observer being.

Within Advaita Vedanta philosophy the Atman is the universal life-principle, the animator of all organisms, and the world-soul. This view is of a sort of panentheism (not pantheism) and thus is sometimes not equated with the single creator God of monotheism. Identification of individual living beings/souls, or jiva-atmas, with the 'One Atman' is the monistic Advaita Vedanta position, which is critiqued by dualistic/theistic Dvaita Vedanta. Dvaita Vedanta calls the all-pervading aspect of Brahman Paramatman quantitatively different from individual Atman and claims reality for both a God functioning as the ultimate metaphorical “soul” of the universe, and for actual individual “souls” as such. The Dvaita, dualist schools, therefore, in contrast to Advaita, advocate an exclusive monotheistic position wherein Brahman is made synonymous with Vishnu. Aspects of both philosophies are found within the schools of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta and Achintya Bheda Abheda.

Mostly however, the delights of the physical kosha have trapped our awareness relentlessly prohibiting experience and nurturing of the other spiritual dimensions. We want and need the influx of the other koshas in order to have self revelation.

The physical kosha is represented by the mysteriously alluring intervention of our 5 senses [sight, sound, touch, taste, smell]. The mind of course being the master juggler of these 5 energies provides orientation and relativity for the soul.

Each of the koshas are connected to the preceding kosha by an interfacing pranic occurrence such as a wheel [chakra] or a sphere [marma]. Sacred channels [nadis], described as careening rivers of rainbow light, are also constituents of this anatomy and also function on all 5 koshas.

When emancipated consciousness flows and radiates attuning itself to primordial spirit, then we are experiencing the information and life of the other koshas. We are experiencing our self truly and purely, a most desirable satisfaction which subsequently inspires us to welcome personal evolution, growth and healing.

So . . . .

What are these chakras, bio-vortexes, marmas and nadis congested with?

In Sanskrit the term is Anarthas which means “unwanted undesirables.”

Nuad Boram (Vedic Thai Massage) addresses these reservoirs of dormant vitality and releases them of doubts, fears, angers, sorrows, resignations, ignorance and pain [artificial control] and any one of the other 2,700 negative and unresourceful emotions and feelings circulating within our bio-sphere.

Nuad Boram truly opens and sanctifies these congested and retarded longings thus releasing perhaps decades of thwarted intentions and unfulfilled expectations so that we can continue returning towards our spiritual home, the paradise of transcendent pleasure, perpetual peace and perfection. Hence the emotional weeping and joy that frequents our art's session.

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