Seven of Cups/Nine of Wands reversed. The Seven of Cups (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, controlling, obsessive, mysterious) is letting me know that there are messages out there to pick up, and choices or opportunities to access. Each of the seven cups contains what appears to be a gift which corresponds to a planet and a Major Arcana card; the Wreath corresponds with Saturn and The World; the Castle corresponds with Mars and The Tower, the Woman corresponds with Venus and The Empress; the Snake corresponds with Mercury and The Magician; the Veil corresponds with the Moon and The High Priestess, the Jewels correspond with Jupiter and The Wheel of Fortune, and the Dragon corresponds with our Sun and The Sun. Since this is a Cups card, in order to understand each of these gifts I need to also understand how I feel about the potential that each offers. I need to also remember that sometimes each of the choices offered, or the possibility of choosing at all, is an illusion. The Nine of Wands (Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, adventurous, blundering) in an upright tells of being pro-active in response to issues, but since the card is reversed, it seems to be telling me that perhaps today is not the day to choose one of those cups.

My Thoth card is the Princess of Wands reversed. The Princess/Page of Wands (Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, nurturing, moody; Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic noble egotistical; and Virgo, “I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented) uses assertion and action in order to feed her need for adventure and excitement. This Princess is a free spirit with childlike optimism, and since the suit of Wands is associated with Fire and the Will, she can often manifest that optimism into reality. Since the card is reversed, I need to remind myself that even though I do believe in myself, in the end I may not be right or correct.

My Legacy card is the Two of Cups reversed, flavored by the Three of Coins reversed. The Two of Cups (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, family and home oriented, tenacious, moody) is usually about relationships which exist and are strengthened because of commonalities. These relationships could be with others, or with myself. Because the card is reversed, there may be some kind of disconnect in a relationship today. The Three of Coins (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, drive, in Capricorn, “I build,” ambition, cunning, competence) tells me that my own creativity can lead me to both hard and rewarding work, and renown, or a good reputation. The upright Three of Coins tells me that these things can be best obtained through a group effort, but once again, the card is reversed, and possibly validating the reversed Two of Cups it is flavoring. Once again, it looks as if today is not the day to choose one of those Cups!

My 6-digit date number is 5, the number of motion that dispels stagnation.

My horoscopes: “Today's a day to daydream, although this may not be an activity you usually do. You may even feel as if you're on vacation. Let's just hope people don't ask you a lot of difficult questions, because your answers will be anything but clear. But you shouldn't have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders every day, Sagittarius.”

And: “It's true that you are a unique person, but you are not the only person ever to have felt the way you're feeling right now. So reach out to someone close to you and share what's on your mind. You have a lot more in common with other people than you realize, and sharing your confused feelings will help you begin to understand that. Thinking through your problems is always important, but often you have to talk about them, too.”

And: “The value of any land investment you may have made, including your home, could well come up in your thoughts today. Whatever time and energy you've put into it is likely to pay off, and this might make a difference to you when formulating plans for the future. You might spend some time working outside, which should clear your head and enable you to get your thoughts together. A female friend could join you.”

My Sun reading: “Fasten your seat belt for a busy day. Expect sudden turns and changes. With a lucky vibe between Mars and Saturn, you achieve more than you dreamed possible. Tonight's communication is pleasant, even brilliant at times. If your inquiring mind wants to know -- ask.”

What an incredible few days I have had!

Friday night, I went to the Wayne Contingency Homestead for a Pagan Brain Trust get-together. As always, after talking and listening to the others talk, I was filled with a renewed sense of purpose, of validation, and of connection to the others in the PBT. How lucky we are to know each other, and to have each other in our lives at this time. Each of us is filled with our own unique Purpose, and we all seem to be able to link together and offer support to the others in exactly the way they require.

As I drove home late Friday night, or LOL, I should say, early Saturday morning, at about 1 am, I watched the waning moon over Route 80. I love the energies of the waning moon! There is a lovely, sensual and very interesting “friction” that I feel when I look at the moon hanging low in the Western sky yet pointing East. Yes, the full moon fills me with such power, but the waning moon seems to move against the flow, so to speak.

Saturday was Off the Beaten Path’s Mind/Body/Spirit Fair, and my dance classes performed our skirt dance. They did such an awesome job! Dancing with seven other girls, each wearing a different colored skirt, was incredible!! Congratulations to all of my students: Elizabeth, Jen, Katherine, Pat, Anne, Melissa and Jess!!

We had eight friends staying in Cape May, and we managed to walk and bike and shop, all under the sun. Yesterday morning, as I drove North from Cape May, I was treated to the salt meadows at high tide. The water filled all the channels to the brim; more lovely energy!

And as often happens, having a series of days with focuses mostly on the physical world has helped to clean out the last of the cobwebs, the left over lethargy from the Winter months, and has brought me a new and clear and deep connection to my energy self, filled with new potential. And, my connection to the Divine energies around me is also refreshed; hence, my experiences of late with physical world phenomena and the energies associated with them.

The 20th Path is about illumination and the acceptance of spiritual experiences as real, even if they cannot be measured or described to others. But there is more to this Path than just acceptance; indeed, the process of exploring the teaching of others that is a huge part of my work with the Tree of Life and with my Third Degree Training at Sacred Mists is ongoing. The big difference here is that I am finally feeling convinced that I have the right to call myself an Adept.

In “More Simplified Magick: Pathworking and the Tree of Life,” Ted Andrews says that the magickal gifts of this Path are the wand, the lamp and the Eucharistic host. The wand presents to the seeker entry into the world of magic and mystery, the lamp sheds light on the darkness and guides the way, and the Eucharistic host commits us to the more spiritual aspects of life itself. The thing about this kind of learning, this sacred seeking to know myself, is that sooner or later, I need to step up to the plate and acknowledge that I am not only tied to my Craft, but also that I am willingly offering myself to be bound irrevocably to my Craft. Simply reading the lessons and doing the homework assignments are not enough now; at this level, knowledge only becomes wisdom because I earn it. Only by doing – or by not doing – can I hope to understand . . . to know. As my dear friend, TL/IC often reminds me, I cannot unsee what I have seen and I cannot unknown what I know. I can only go forward, I can only strive to see more and to know more. What I have accomplished through hard work, and through the pain of defeat and the pleasure of success, pushes me onward. I have no other choice, and this is not a bondage but rather a comfort.

LOL, I just went back and re-read that last paragraph. It does not flow at all, but the things I am trying to say here are not easy to say. Not yet, anyway. And yet, they are momentously important, even if I can’t explain why they are important. Something has happened to me over these past few days. I have made some kind of commitment, or passed some kind of threshold, without even realizing that a time of change was upon me. Somehow, entry has been gifted to me without my even having to realize that I needed to ask for it. I am taken aback, for difficult tests have become the norm as I have entered the deeper parts of my studies, and I accept with my heart and my mind and my spirit that the tests need to be difficult. So why has the gift of the 20th Path been given to me with no test?

Is this the gift of sacred grace that comes through Tiphareth? I am surprised that a glimpse of it would come now, as I still have nine Paths to delve into. Or is it the joyful acceptance of the love offered to me by my Patroness (a love that I will be glorifying within my new BOS once I start working with it), the love which gives me the courage to openly accept the next step in my personal evolution, whatever that step happens to be?

“We all come from the Goddess, and to Her we shall return like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean.” These are not my words; they are lyrics to a song I heard on YouTube. For some reason, they are meaningful to me right now.

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