The Horned One reversed/The Tower reversed. Eeeek! ). The Horned One in an upright position corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes), Capricorn (“I build,” ambition, caution, authoritative, cunning), Ayin (the eye or the senses), and the Path between Hod (provides analysis and communication) and Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify). The Tower in an upright position represents Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes), Mars (action, spontaneity, aggression, drive), Phe (mouth or speech), and the Path between Hod and Netzach (the stimulating factors of emotion and inspiration). It is interesting that these cards have appeared together, and in the exact order they appear in the Major Arcana, for The Horned One can be seen as a catalyst that ends up causing the chaos of The Tower. Because The Horned One is reversed, I may find that in actuality, I am not being bound by the forces that I believe are controlling my life, and this knowledge of the power of my own Will and the power to choose just might be enough to short circuit a potentially ugly issue. Alertness and awareness are the key, for although the two cards are reversed, they are there.

My Thoth card is the Seven of Swords reversed. This is the “Futility” card (Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination, in Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, causes, society aloof) and Crowley sees it as presenting a passive version of the Five of Swords, but I like Crowley’s “yielding when victory is within grasp,” and I also think this card could tell of the urge to fail in order to sabotage ones own efforts. Thankfully, the card is reversed so those energies won’t have a strong effect on my day, but once again, the card is there.

My Legacy card is The Chariot reversed, flavored by the Knight of Wands. Wow; lots of reversed cards today, and three are Majors, but for the most part, I am not upset by them. And the Knight of Wands gives me advice as to how to deal with all that reversed energy. In an upright position, The Chariot corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts), Cancer (“I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, family and home oriented, nurturing, moody), Cheth (the fence), and the Path between Geburah (where forms and structures are challenged or affirmed) and Binah (female, receptive energy, the origin of form and structure), and it tells of the ability to tame and harness opposing forces for a specific purpose. The Knight of Wands (the cusp of Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, controlling, compulsive, secretive, deep, and Sagittarius, “I seek,” Philosophic, fun-loving, adventurous, blundering) is a mercenary whose focuses include projects related to spiritual quests, implementing ideas, assertion, and action; the Knights manifest their suit in an extreme fashion, the same way that a paid mercenary would accomplish his assigned task without taking into consideration the wants of anyone besides the person who hired him. He takes action and implements ideas with confidence and without hesitation, but I do need to remember to hold him back, just a bit, and look before I leap. After all, that Chariot is reversed, and those powerful and opposing forces just might be able to knock me for a loop!

My New Moon Esbat Pearls of Wisdom card is The Star. The Star (Air, hot/separates and wet/adapts; Aquarius; Qof, back of head; the Path between Malkuth, the physical world of action and outer, physical reality, and Netzach) in this deck represents love kindled by hope for humankind. It tells me that the act of giving itself is the greatest gift of all; the image of this card depicts this concept, as the figure pours the elixir of her love back into her creations, distributing the love to all whether they deserve it or not.

My 6-digit date number is 9, the number of completeness of experience.

My horoscopes: “If you're having trouble tackling a giant problem, Sagittarius, don't get discouraged or overwhelmed. They key for you is to break things down into smaller chunks, analyze them, and figure out their role within the greater whole. You will find that by taking things one step at a time, any problem you encounter will be infinitely easier to overcome than you may have thought at first.”

And: “Heaven help anyone you're around now who decides they're going to take you to task in public. Whether it's in front of a cast of thousands or an audience of two, they'd better be careful. Not only will it not happen, but they'll probably end up extremely sorry they mentioned the subject in the first place. You won't hesitate to mention each and every incident they've ever been involved with that might look less than exemplary on a resume -- and that's just for starters.”

And: “There is change in the air today! For the last three weeks you have been driven by a desire to take a new direction in your career. Based on this desire, you made plans for the future. Now that you are actually carrying out those plans, you are becoming increasingly aware of the intrusions of reality. But there's no need to abandon your latest goals, simply re-adjust them.”

From a Wiccan viewpoint, Watchers are Guardians or Rulers of the four elements of creation, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and over Portals between the physical world and the astral dimensions. It is through these Portals that we are able to access the effects of the elements and the support of the elementals associated with them, and we do this by evoking or calling on the Watchers ~and~ the elementals in order to gain their assistance and have them witness our rites and workings.

Watchers are said to not only guard and witness, but they also can either offer some useful support in the establishment of a working or focus of a ritual into the astral substance, or dispel the charge built by the worshiper or magickal practitioner should the Watcher deem the working or ritual ill-advised. When we use gestures or movements as we evoke Watchers and elementals, we are in a sense announcing to them our intent to perform a ritual or magickal working.

More to come! I am on my way to a Pagan Brain Trust meeting, which will include our New Moon Reiki share.

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