Sunday, November 13, 2011

Page of Cups/Justice. 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); this Page is intuitive and dreamy, easily touched, and very social in nature.  He is at the mercy of his feelings because of his openness, but seeing the world through the open expectations of a child can be a good thing. Justice is a card of adjustment, and it corresponds with the element of Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts, and quick, animated energy that usually brings problems or challenges that bring growth), Libra (“we are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation), Lamed (ox goad; training or teaching), and the Path between Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify) and Geburah (the place where forms and structures are challenged or affirmed), and is about cause and effect.  The familiar figure of Justice is blind, but the image on this card shows Justice looking straight into my eyes, so I need to look carefully at my world today.  Indeed, she carries a sword, representing the element of Air and the Intellect, as well as the scales.  I will need to balance every factor, including what I believe.  That Page of Cups is a great card here, because he tells me to be compassionate, a nice emotion to add to the analysis connected with Justice.

My Thoth card is the Queen of Disks reversed.  I love the image on this Thoth card! The Queen of Coins (cusp of Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, blundering, and Capricorn, “I build,” ambition, caution, cunning, authoritative) is very good at sustaining the physical world, keeping things dry and cozy and safe and orderly.  My Queen is reversed today, and she presents a warning: be very careful that I do not allow myself to be reduced to going through the motions like a robot, without infusing my own energies into a task, and without being aware of the effect of that task on my subtle and physical bodies.

My Legacy card is the Queen of Wands, flavored by Strength reversed. Lots of feminine Court Cards today!  The Queen of Wands (cusp of Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, soul growth, spirituality, and Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive) is energetic and enthusiastic; she gives 100% of herself into any situation, and does so with a smile on her face.  The Strength card (Fire, hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive and energetic energy; Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic, egotistical; Teth, sieve or basket, digestion; and the Path between Geburah, the place where forms and structures are challenged or affirmed, and Chesed, the place where forms and structures are stabilized and nurtured) traditionally tells of emotional endurance and control, rather than physical endurance and control.  In the past, I have described this card as taming the wild emotions, but I can see now that this is not necessarily correct for every situation.  Sometimes we don’t need to tame our wild emotions; rather we need to direct them.  There is a difference here, and since my reversed Strength card is flavoring my Queen of Wands today, I will need to be very careful about plunging myself into any situation 100%, or I may end up on a windy downhill road, without brakes.

My 6-digit date number is 8, the number that tells of a conscious, sometimes powerful and sudden, response to the beginning of the degeneration of the number 7, striving to maintain for a bit longer the balance of the number 6.

My horoscopes: “If you've been thinking about writing, this is the day to get started. Your mind is particularly sharp and your imagination rich. Unusual developments, mostly positive, could take place in your neighborhood. You might not know the facts about exactly what's going on, and a lot of unfounded rumors could be circulating. Reserve any opinion until you know the truth.”

And: “You will find that you can soar to great heights today on a moment's notice. There is a fast-paced, socially minded quality to the day that will encourage people to share more of themselves with others. You will find a great deal of support from many different people at this time. Welcome this help with open arms. Don't try to do things by yourself when you are surrounded by such a strong team spirit.”

And a new one: “You enjoy taking a sweeping philosophical approach to life, but today's data-gathering Gemini Moon prompts your interest in just about everything. Unfortunately, you might appear scattered as your attention jumps from one fascinating topic to another. But the Sun's presence in your 12th House of Soul Consciousness reveals an intense inner world in contrast to your outer appearance. Slow down and choose a spiritual path now, since it can lift you out of the mundane world and take you to a more magical space.

My Shadowscapes Insight for today is The Emperor.  Oh, I am drawn to this card for some reason today.  The Emperor is about the man-made world.  Yes, much of what man creates is an imitation of the sacred, or an attempt to replicate a sacred process or effect, but this attempt to create and to be his own sacredness is man’s way of attempting to control his own destiny.  There is heavy responsibility irrevocably infused into this attempt, and The Emperor wholly accepts that responsibility and completely lives by his rules and regimens without exception, because he believes his rules and regimens are of the highest good for all, and are the best way to do things.

After yesterday’s entry regarding The Emerald Tablet, I decided that today I would meditate and go to the Ancient Altar.  And so, after breakfast and coffee, I headed for the beach. 

It is a lovely Fall day, breezy, with a blue sky and fair weather clouds.  Once I got to the beach, the breeze was stiff and blowing on shore.  Once again the waves were gentle but relentless, one after another they rolled on shore, pushing globs of foam up onto the sand.  LOL, I came to one place where the foam had collected in a large area and gotten covered by a thin dusting of sand; it looked like the beach was jiggling and dancing.

I walked over to the jetty, and sat in line with it so I could watch the waves hit its end and then split and roll to shore.  I brought my awareness to my astral self, made sure I had matches, pine needles and pine branches and pine cones in my bag, and began the climb to the Ancient Altar.

I reached the last stairs, and stepped onto the top of the mountain.  The breeze was stiff and brisk here, too, coming directly out of the East.  I undressed and piled my clothes neatly, then got out the matches and pine fuel for my fire.  As usual, I started my fire in the rock bowl before the stone altar.  The flames took quickly and soon were hissing and crackling as they consumed the pine needles, branches and cones.  I cast my circle, evoking each Watcher and Elemental Guide; then I invoked the Sacred Feminine and the Sacred Masculine, lighting each of the ancient candles with a pine branch from my fire. 

I stood there with eyes closed, facing East, allowing my awareness to fill with the essences of Those who had joined me in my circle.  I felt the wind grow stronger, buffeting my body, and as the gusts pushed against me and then passed through me, I felt bits of myself being blown away.  These bits were dried out and used up, and I actually felt lighter as they were unattached from my subtle body and carried away. 

Finally, I opened my eyes and looked upward; there it was, just as I expected, the “information highway.”  The tether that had attached itself to me was strong, several strands of different colors were twisted together and they pulsed with activity as information streamed down into my crown.  I was thrilled to see how potent the “downloads” appeared to be!  As I watched all the activity, I thought about the phrase from The Emerald Tablet that I was working on, and thus, I thought of the cycles that are created by the concept of “as above, so below.”  Suddenly, I realized what was missing here.

I gathered energy from my sacral chakra and spun it into an orange thread; I did the same with my heart chakra, spinning a green thread, and my crown chakra, spinning a purple thread.  Then, I allowed the three to twist together.  As soon as they touched, the three strands knotted and twisted around each other, moving ever upward on their own, until the triple strand finally reached the information highway, and “plugged into” it with a solid clunk. 

And suddenly, I understood this part of The Emerald Tablet.

It ascends from the earth to the heaven. It extracts the lights from the heights and descends to the earth containing the power of the above and the below for it is with the light of the lights.”  There it was, all along, the instruction I needed. 

First, “It ascends from the earth to the heaven.”  Okay, that is what we all should be striving to do, because that is the process of evolution.  We should be striving to purify our own essence, to “lighten” our energy selves and to “raise” the vibrational levels; not that “heavy” or “lower” are bad or undesirable.  They are necessary effects and provide a foundation, as well as an extreme that offers the possibility of balance.  But the Purpose (and I capitalize that “P” in order to indicate the importance of the concept) of life is to strive upward, to accumulate experiences that are not of the physical world and the physical senses.  Those are the lessons presented by an upward climb of the Tree of Life.

Next, “It extracts the lights from the heights and descends to the earth . . .”  This is what I accomplished today.  The connection moving downward is important, as I will explain in a moment, but I needed to consciously achieve an upward connection as well as consciously open myself to the downward connection, in order to comprehend the message.  I knew there was a message here, I could perceive it, but I could not comprehend it.

Once I reached up and consciously achieved an upward connection, I finally “. . . contain[ed] the power of the above and the below,” for that connection is two way, as is every process and operation of the essence of life. 

So, here is where the real Aha! Moment came for me.  As I stood on the Ancient Altar, watching the flames of the Goddess and God candles dance in the brisk wind, feeling the presence of my Elemental Guides, the Watchers, the Sacred Feminine and the Sacred Masculine, and the Source of all, I understood the upward motion of those who live within a physical body, for that is the direction our essences are drawn.  Life after life, we are offered lessons and challenges to assist us in our evolution; we sometimes reach the point where we begin to attempt to create futures for ourselves, futures that we believe will bring some value to us.  The physical world, the effects of matter and of the Elements, and the challenges that attempt to weigh us down or the physical effects that try to lure us from our Purpose are necessary to this process, for they serve as a foundation for us to stand upon as we look for the next step upward, and they serve as an abrasive of sorts that cleans the tarnish and oxidation from the windshield, so we can see more clearly what lies ahead and thus, make better choices. 

But assuming I would eventually approach the end of this process, why would I cycle back downward?  If life is eternal, then this process should be eternal, too.  Is that the prize?  If I win the game, do I get sent back to Go, without collecting my $200?

The downward process is explained by thinking about the nature of Deity.  I believe that my life force and the life force of Deity both consist of the same essence, with my life essence being infused with the “impurities” of the physical realm (and I don’t mean that in a negative way; after all, impurities can create the most awesome crystals and gemstones!), and Deity’s life essence being the purest and farthest removed from those physical realm impurities.  To me, it is this similarity that manifests “as above, so below,” and that manifests the reflective nature of this phrase.  And just as my physical realm laced subtle body is naturally drawn upward (with “upward” meaning “drawn to purify itself from the effects of the physical world”), the subtle body of Deity (and of every life essence that has succeeded in moving towards a level that leaves behind the distractions of the physical world) is drawn downward.  It is this very effect that causes Deity to respond to an attempt to interact, to respond to a prayer or a request for intervention.

In order to communicate, we need to know a bit about the language spoken by the entity we wish to communicate with.  This is why we physically-focused beings meditate and strive to “see” beyond what our physical eyes show us; this is the way we learn to communicate using the language of symbols, which is the language of our Higher Self (“Higher” meaning less physical, not necessarily better), who is able to communicate with Deity.  This means that in order to respond to a request for communication, Deity must remind Itself/Herself/Himself of our language; Deity must immerse a part of Itself/Herself/Himself in the physical realms and “lower” Its/Her/His means of communication (with “lower” meaning closer to the physical, not necessary worse) in order to use the language of words. 

The cool thing is that while this instance describes the movement of the highest and purest essence of life downward to the lowest and physical world-infused essence of life, anyone who teaches or leads is “walking in the footsteps of Deity.”  If we reach the point where the higher vibrational tone of our subtle body draws to it others who are also striving to evolve, we are presented with an opportunity to light the path of another.  In doing so, we are adding to the downward motion of the “so below” part of this cycle.  There is danger here, because it is sooooo easy for us to assume that as Teacher, we are God, or at least the mouthpiece of God.  And this is sooooo not true!  The only reason I am where I am is because someone else went before me, and took the time to look backward and to plant the seeds and challenges that have guided me.  These realizations, this Aha! Moment I had this morning and am attempting to document using the ineffective language of words, have only come to be because I have followed the training of others.  Yes, I myself have opened to the message, and that is not a skill to belittle, but receiving the download and installing the program and then starting the program so it can run does not make me God. 

It only makes me someone who can occasionally manage to tap into the Sacred Essence of the Source, and actually understand the glimpse I am given.  

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