The Hanging Man reversed/Two of Wands. The Hanging Man is about suspension, about self-sacrifice, and about changing perspective in order to think out of the box. It corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts; emotional and imaginative energy which attempts to prevent changes), Neptune (inspiration, spirituality, magick, altered states), Mem (water, stability and balance, the reflective quality of thought), and the Path between Hod (which provides analysis and communication) and Geburah (the place where forms and structures are challenged or affirmed), and since it is reversed, a change in perspective or a choice to **not** act may not have positive effects today. The Two of Wands (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, drive, in Aries, “I want,” action oriented, pioneering, assertive, enthusiastic) tells of the concept of applied power, and today I may find that not only am I able to tap into my own energy, but also that I will be able to effectively make use of that energy. This is not about the final manifestation, however, but rather about perceiving the initial vision.

My Thoth card is the Seven of Disks. “Failure” is not what I expected to see here. The Seven of Disks (Saturn, discipline, responsibility, law and order, in Taurus, “I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn) tells of what happens when you combine the element of Earth and its focus on stability with the planet Saturn, which is about responsibility and discipline. Crowley sees this card as representing extreme passivity, and since the card is the number 7, that passivity could very well have been caused by the vertical and horizontal balance of the number 6. Today I need to be certain that I don’t get lulled into a sense of security by my recent successes.

My Legacy card is the King of Coins reversed, flavored by the Page of Coins reversed. Looks like today’s focus will not be in the physical world. Interesting that I threw these two cards upright on the 4^th and here they are again, reversed. The Page of Coins (Aries, “I want,” assertive, action oriented, Taurus, “I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn, and Gemini, “I think,” curious, sociable, dual) is a listener, and this Page listens to both sides of an argument because he is also a student, and is eager to learn. He watches his world with curiosity and wants to learn how everything works. Because this Page corresponds to Earth, he is practical and cautious, but because he also brings a youth’s enthusiasm to learn into the picture, he is the least cautious of the Coins Court family; he will actually take risks on occasion. The King of Coins (cusp of Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive, and Taurus, “I have,” sensual, stubborn, cautious, physically oriented) is the expert on physical manifestation. He is very good at managing resources and overseeing growth, and he has one other important talent that the Page has not yet attained: the ability to be patient. The King of Coins is flavoring the Page today, which tells me first of all that my awareness will be focused on my physical world today, and second that the youthful enthusiasm of the Page of Coins will be tempered by the King’s ability to use past experiences to better manifest good health and a secure place in the world. Looks like today is not a good day to get anything accomplished in the physical world.

My 6-digit date number is 3, the number of new creation out of the polarity and balance of the number 2.

My horoscopes: “An unexpected letter or call could totally turn your working situation in a new direction. This can be disconcerting, Sagittarius, but it's a very positive and fortunate development. Relations with colleagues should involve new respect and enthusiasm. By the end of the day, you will likely feel very good about the way your life is going. Don't expect it to be the same as it was this morning!”

And: “All of your efforts are starting to pay off -- and the lesson you should be learning is that the more you put into something, the more you'll get out of it. There's a lot of balance in your life right now, so be prepared for every action to have an equal reaction. All positives have a corresponding negative, so you need to accept the fact that every silver lining has a cloud. But if you focus on the bright side, you'll keep a positive perspective.”

Today’s Sun reading: “Three nice lunar sextiles say good times are in store today. When people listen, put your ideas out there. Romantically, a Moon-Neptune aspect before a void-of-course Moon advises against starting anything new. Neptune plays the role of grand deceiver in this moonlight.”

Yesterday was another interesting day. I did a Tarot reading for J, a dear friend and teacher of one of the Pagan Brain Trusters. J is an experienced Shaman, and until yesterday I have only known him through T’s eyes. Which meant that I was a bit intimidated by the idea of providing a reading for him. But reading for J turned out to be an amazing experience. I think that the cards wanted to offer information to him! LOL, sounds positively “woo-woo,” I know, right off the charts, but I have never had cards situate themselves again and again (I threw three spreads for a total of 16 cards) with such clear and consistent messages.

The bonus was that besides my usual fee for readings, J gifted me with three Tarot decks that belonged to his deceased wife (who I have also known through the eyes of all of my fellow Pagan Brain Trusters). I am now the proud custodian (because to me, you never really own a Tarot, just live with it) of the Native American Tarot Deck (which I know of through a Tarot student of mine, who used this deck for Tarot lessons), the original Rider Tarot by Waite (and LOL, every Tarot reader should have this deck), and the absolutely exquisite Haindl Tarot, which draws on such traditions as the Kabbalah. Which is a big part of my focus right now.

Just before J and completed our session, I had an interesting moment of synchronicity. This goes all the way back to my Thai Massage weekend workshop. During the workshop, we performed a tratak meditation during which I had a visitation: a beautiful woman with almond shaped eyes, high cheekbones and smooth, pale skin. I did not know who she was and so far, I had not seen any pictures that could lead me to discover her identity. Until this past week.

I don’t even remember what I was looking at on line, but suddenly I was looking at a picture of the White Tara, one aspect of the Hindu Goddess, Tara. Tara is known in Hindu, Japanese and Chinese Buddhism; She is a meditation Deity who helps us to develop certain inner qualities, and to understand both compassion (“Metta,” loving kindness towards oneself and others) and emptiness (“Sunyata,” which teaches us that nothingness has identity, and experiencing emptiness helps to bring wisdom). Each of Her aspects has its own correspondences; going solely by the images and statues I have seen, I believe that I was visited by the White Tara (who is known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity).

And there They were, all of the Taras, on J’s wall, Whose existence I did not know of, mere days after I first learned about them. Talk about synchronicity.

And the day was not over yet. Last evening, I went to Wayne to give M, a good friend of the Wayne Contingency, her Reiki I attunement. M is in the middle of her Yoga Teacher Training, and expressed a desire to receive a Reiki I attunement; since I strongly feel that every Yoga teacher should be attuned to Reiki, I volunteered to offer M her first attunement.

It was an amazing moment! As M received her attunement, E, T and J, each of whom have received attunements from me, watched us. Then, we proceeded to have what turned out to be a very “woo-woo” discussion. M is Catholic, very solidly grounded in her faith, and very respectful of other paths (as we all are at the PBT), and we were all able to speak in depth about several spiritual topics. I truly enjoy having these kinds of discussions, especially when I can find someone who practices another religion who is open to having respectful and informative “ecumenical” discussions. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the PBT could encourage such discussions on a regular basis?!

I am off to organize my thoughts on my essay regarding the validity of the requirement of initiation into an established coven in order to be considered Wiccan. To require initiation or not to require it; that is the question of the day!

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