Three of Cups/Queen of Swords reversed. The Three of Cups (Mercury, reason, intelligence, orderliness, communication, in Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive tenacious, nurturing, moody) tells of the possibility of experiencing emotional abundance, emotional connections to others (mainly due to things in common), and emotional support as a part of the day. Isn’t this a great feeling??!! The most important message this card brings is that if I share the love and joy, it will grow. The Queen of Swords (cusp of Virgo, “I serve,” practical, sensible, work and service oriented, and Libra, “We are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation, grace) represents a disciplinarian, and a thinker, and an experienced person who is not afraid to laugh at herself. This Queen may appear to be a bit aloof, but that is because she tells it like it is, and while she is straight-forward and honest, her sharp wit comes in handy sometimes. Paired with the Three of Cups, her humor and sense of camaraderie will soften the bluntness a bit.

My Thoth card is The Hanged Man. The Hanged Man corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts, and emotional, sensitive and imaginative energy that tends to move deep, and attempts to take the same path as in the past), Neptune (inspiration, spirituality, magick, enchantment, dreams, altered states), and the Hebrew letter Mem (water, stability and balance, the reflective quality of thought). Uncle Al sees The Hanged Man as the “redeemer” who brings redemption not because the task is forced on him, but because he willingly offers himself as the sacrifice or as the necessary energy exchange. The redemption offered by the Thoth Hanged Man is usually on a spiritual or emotional level; this redemption is often presented to us in the guise of failure or loss. “No pain, no gain” just might be his advice of the day, and I need to remember that when the beam of light shines down from Kether to Malkuth, it might hurt my eyes, but that temporary blindness will allow my other senses to come into play.

My Legacy card is the Page of Cups flavored by The Emperor reversed. The Page of Cups corresponds to Libra (“we are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation), Scorpio (“I desire,” intensity compulsion, mystery) and Sagittarius (“I seek,” philosophic, adventurous, blundering), and corresponds to my connections to others and to my own inner self. This Page is in touch with his own feelings, and while this means his moodiness might be intense, so is his ability to feel joy and to open his heart to everyone without judgment. My Page of Cups is being flavored by The Emperor reversed, which actually supports The Hanging Man above. The Emperor (Fire, hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive, energetic change; Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive; Heh, window, illumination; and the Path between Tiphareth and Chokmah, dynamic male energy and the origin of vital force and polarity) in an upright represents the power of the mind and of intentions to shape the world. The Emperor is about taking responsibility, about personal power and about control over himself and/or others; there is a bit of ambition mixed in as well. Because he is reversed, he is actually encouraging the Page of Cups to bring emotions and feelings into everyone’s day, even those who tend to be more rigid and orderly!

My 6-digit date number is 11 (Archangel Uriel), which reduces to 2, the number of balance and polarity.

My horoscopes: “It may be hard for you to make a decision about anything today, Sagittarius. Things may seem wishy-washy and unclear. Don't worry about it. There is plenty of air to fuel your fire. Be aware that people may pop up from the past and unexpected events may disrupt the flow throughout the day. Best-laid plans are apt to be broken. Don't sweat it. Just go with the flow.”

And: “There's a time to move forward, and a time to stay back and just watch the world go by -- today is a day when you should stay back. Sure, you might want to get going on a fun, new project or play with a fun, new toy, but you should think twice about it. Patience will come to you right when you're at the end of your rope, so don't worry about getting caught off guard. Just wait for everyone else to take their turn, and then you'll know how to take yours.”

Technical: “It's a good time to focus on work issues that have been troubling you for some time. Your mental energy is powerful, and you should be able to come up with new solutions and unique alternatives to deal with the circumstances at hand.”

My Sun reading: “A sensitive Cancer Moon trines Neptune. You're intuitive to your own and others' needs and can take care of them quickly. The Moon aspects Uranus, Jupiter, and Pluto today, and they translate into fireworks. Let the games begin! Fortunately with Jupiter, your luck holds.”

Still more about the 17th Path. Pairs are not only about connections. Yes, that is the first thing that comes to mind when most people look at The Lovers and think about pairs or duality. But remember, we are looking deeper into this card because it is connected to the 17th Path, one of the bridges over Da’at, and so in order to understand the duality of this Path, we need to also take into consideration the Law of Opposites. Basically, the Law of Opposites states that in order to understand something, you need to understand its opposite. You can’t know light unless you know darkness, which is the absence of light; you can’t know heat unless you know cold, the absence of heat. This ability to **discern** is one of the gifts of the 17th Path.

And so, we cannot know our conscious mind unless we experience our unconscious mind; we cannot know love unless we have experienced isolation and we cannot know pleasure unless we have experienced pain. The duality of the 17th Path and its connection between Beauty and Understanding brings us a glimpse of the Machinery of the Universe. And when we love ourselves and strive to evolve, we not only benefit ourselves but those around us.

In “The Witches Tarot,” Ellen Cannon Reed has this to say about the 17th Path: “Our task in this lifetime may be only to illuminate ourselves, but that is a wonderful and mighty task, for each step we take forward takes the rest of humanity an infinitesimal amount forward.” My Patroness, Danu, has taught me that it is life itself and the living of that life that is the gift of Deity, and I have come to believe that we each have a responsibility to experience everything about life and living that is presented to us, whether pleasant or uncomfortable. Here, then, is a reason why we need to do this.

Reed goes on to say: “Gaining knowledge is a loss of ignorance, and oh, how often we have wished we could return to ignorance! It is in many ways so much easier to not know how much more there is to existence. Learning that other people are real, that they have feelings, is to gain a sense of responsibility, but it is also a loss – for you can no longer give your feelings, your actions, your words, free reign. Learning of the world beyond, the world of spiritual things, is a gain beyond price. Yet, at times I have found myself wishing to be ignorant of it – regretting having learned of its existence, because, having gained purpose and direction, I’ve lost the freedom to let my life go, to float along the river, moving only as fast as the river does. Having found direction and purpose, having gotten a glimpse of what is at the end of the river, I must swim – and not only with the current.” I just went back to read my entry on June 24th regarding the 18th Path; I said something similar there regarding that Path and The Chariot. Here it is again, that acceptance of responsibility.

Will this be the common thread through all the Paths that cross The Abyss? We shall see.

$>