Eight of Swords/Ten of Swords. “Interference” The Eight of Swords (Jupiter, expansiveness and growth, justice, fortune, in Gemini, “I think,” curious, sociable talkative, dual) tells of interference and restriction, sometimes unexpected, that are of the sheer bad luck nature. The Ten of Swords (the Sun, the inner core of a person or situation, in Gemini, “I think,” curious, sociable, dual, talkative) is also a card of interference and restriction, but it offers pessimistic information about the possible end result. The important thing about both of these cards is that they are Air cards, which means they show me what I perceive as reality. Yes, the interference and restriction may just be bad luck, or they might be happening because I haven’t been realistic or have been refusing to see how things are. But in any event, these things can only hurt me if I let them. That means the worst case scenario is not me laying on my belly with ten Swords sticking out of my back, but rather it is that I will be given valuable opportunities to practice **not** being affected by interference and restriction. So there!

My Thoth card is the Queen of Wands. The Queen of Wands (cusp of Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, soul growth, spirituality, and Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive) has a good attitude about the world and all its experiences. She is the one who can deal with the Eight and Ten of Swords because she is good at being cheerful and optimistic, she handles both success and failure without being ruffled, and she is not afraid of hard work.

My Legacy card is the Queen of Cups reversed, flavored by the Seven of Cups reversed. Two reversed Cups cards; okay then. The Queen of Cups (cusp of Gemini, “I think,” curious, sociable, dual, and Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, nurturing, moody) is Water of Water, and thus is quite deeply connected to her feelings and her Inner Voice. Because the card is reversed, that connection may not serve me today; I’ve gotta be careful not to read into things in a bad way. The Seven of Cups (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, controlling, obsessive, mysterious) represents the distraction and dissipation that can happen when we are presented with enticing choices. So, one of my reversed Cups cards affects me through my own nature, and the other reversed Cups card affects me through the influence of outer possibilities. Because my Queen is reversed, and being flavored by another reversed Cups card, the Seven of Cups, I may not be able to clearly perceive the reality of the emotions and feelings around me today, both my own and those of others. Today might be one of those days that I will be better off choosing to **not** choose.

My Pearls of Wisdom Full Moon card is the Ten of Swords reversed. Bookends again! The reversed Ten of Swords offers a better message than its upright version. Yes, the interference and restrictions may very well be there, right in my face, but I will see them as a personal challenge to be overcome, and in the process of overcoming them I will be offered a chance to become a better person. A seemingly insurmountable challenge? Bring it on.

My 6-digit date number is 8, the number that tells of a conscious effort to maintain the balance of the number 6 a bit longer. I like this number along with these cards.

My horoscopes: “Today's energy might be especially draining for you, Sagittarius. Your tasks could require more effort than usual, and you could be exhausted by midday. This isn't the day to prove anything. Work according to your own strengths at your own speed. You'll probably accomplish more this way than by pushing yourself. Take care and you'll still have energy for a great evening.”

And: “You might need to put on the brakes today when it comes to love and romance. Don't think that this means you have to break off any sort relationship you have in the works, but do realize that you may need to take a more realistic approach in how you handle it. The problem is that you may be getting so caught up in the fantasy aspect of things that you are failing to pay attention to the practical aspects.”

My Shadowscapes Insight today is regarding The Hierophant. The story that weaves around this card is so lovely! In the Shadowscapes Tarot, The Hierophant is the entity who serenely pursues knowledge and deeper meaning, and when he finds them, he “lives” them; he “becomes” them. He uses the intense and personal powers of ritual and ceremony in order to understand what he learns, and to make what he learns a part of his everyday life. While he is open to experiencing new things, his foundation (and indeed, his ability to confidently open himself to those new things) is kept strong through the very belief system that he creates and imposes upon himself and that he shares with others. That foundation is important and it needs to be bound by the rigidity of a system of belief so that it can be a rock-solid platform to be built upon.

And still, I am thinking of “as above, so below.” Yesterday, thanks in part to my Shadowscapes card and its message, I saw the concept in its more broad effect. Sometimes the space between “above” and “below” is huge enough that we have difficulty perceiving the validity and power of the connection in the “now,” and instead need to see that connection through the eyes of either time or distance in order to understand its slower (yet still effective) effects.

But “as above, so below” is not only about the purest of sacred energies that is The Source, and the workings of my Universe that reflect the workings of that sacred energies. “As above, so below” also represents “true magick” (and oh boy, do I hate to use that adjective, but it works), the kind of magick that works without props or theatrics. Perhaps a better way of thinking of this term is “as within, so without”; and there is the power, and the misunderstanding.

As I learned from my Sacred Mists First Degree Training, magick works because a part of my psyche, the Younger Self, believes it works. This means that what my Younger Self believes, says, does, and even thinks about is what is created and manifested, initially in the non-physical realms of emotion and thought and feelings and eventually (if those emotions and thoughts and feelings are strong enough or are perpetuated long enough), in the more dense and slower vibrating physical realms. This process is reversible as well; what I consciously choose to say or do is seen as “truth” by my Younger Self, and thus physical words or actions can manifest in the less dense and faster vibrating realms of emotions and thoughts and feelings.

This is the basis for all magick, for all transformation. What I believe or do or say or think about is what will most likely happen. This is not foolproof, for if these strong tendencies meet energy flows that are moving in different directions, the tendencies will be affected, but if I believe enough or if I say or do or think about things with enough power and/or frequency, I will make things happen the way I am seeing or visualizing or believing them to be.

“The work of wonders is from one.” This work of wonders happens when my belief, the belief of my Younger Self, unites “within” with “without,” and “above” with “below.” When those three ingredients, the extremes and the bridge between them, unite, the “work of wonders” is accomplished.

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