Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Four of Wands reversed/Queen of Cups.  The Four of Wands (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, enthusiastic) in an upright position is about building enough to become established, but my Four of Wands is reversed today.  This could be indicating to me that today is not a day to plan for the future or to look ahead, or it could be indicating a mild funk, or even a sense of restriction. 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, her spirituality and her Inner Voice. She is sensitive and caring, in touch with her own senses and eager to create harmony around her.  Whatever my reversed Four of Wands brings to me, I will need to be certain that I am realistic.

My Thoth card is the Six of Cups.  Yes!  “Pleasure” is the keyword for the Six of Cups (Sun, the inner core of a person or situation in Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, compulsive, deep, obsessive), which tells of experiencing simple joys, innocent fun and being surrounded by blessings.  I am being reminded today that pleasure comes from within, at least the most long lasting pleasure, and pleasure that is rooted within is fertile as well as long lasting, with “volunteers” springing up all over the place.  LOL, garden metaphors.

My Legacy card is the Ten of Swords reversed, flavored by the King of Wands.  The Ten of Swords (the Sun, the inner core of a person or situation, in Gemini, “I think,” curious, sociable, dual, talkative) in an upright position is a card of interference and restriction.  This card upright represents a more powerful restriction than that of the Four of Wands reversed above; this is the restriction we create in our own minds.  Thankfully, my Ten of Swords is reversed, so not only do I have the power to make the ending as I want it, but I will also be satisfied with the end result. The King of Wands (cusp of Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, nurturing, moody, and Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic egotistical) has a Fiery nature, and he is flavoring my reversed Ten. This King is good at using self-expression in useful ways.  His charisma will be a good addition to the reversed Ten.

My 6-digit date number is 6, the number of vertical and horizontal balance. 

My horoscopes: “The day ahead should be fairly positive. You'll begin to feel the faintest hint of a major change beginning. This new phase will last seven months. As it progresses, you'll find greater freedom of expression. You can expect to shift into high gear on subjects you used to avoid in the past. Some friction with siblings may arise in the next few months.”

And: “You might be distracted all day by daydreams of a trip you're planning to take. A friend might phone you up and want to discuss it, which doesn't help. Visions of faraway places and exciting pastimes may be dancing in your head, and routine tasks might seem incredibly tedious and not worthy of attention. However, it's best to get them done if you can. Then you can fantasize about your vacation guilt-free!”

My Shadowscapes Insight today is regarding The Hierophant.  The Hierophant has strived to learn the secrets and traditions and now has a grasp on their intricacies.  But he does not stop learning ever, because there is a thrill connected to learning something new.  This is why he makes such an effective teacher!  He combines knowledge and wisdom with ritual and ceremony, and builds a bridge so that Deity can come to earth.

I have been pondering the last part of the section of The Emerald Tablet that I have been working on: “Separate the earth from the fire and you shall adhere more to that which is subtle than that which is coarse, through care and wisdom.”  Yes, this describes the Great Work of alchemy, but somehow I get the feeling that there is more to be had from these simple words. 

This process sounds as if it would be ponderous and destructive; after all, how else can you separate earth from fire?  Wouldn’t you need to destroy them both in order to separate them?  But perhaps not, because the instructions also say this process should be done through “care and wisdom.”  I wonder if maybe there is a warning here, and a presentation of some kind of responsibility.

If the “earth” represents the physical self and the world that is perceived through our physical senses, and the “fire” represents the other realms, the non-physical planes that cannot be perceived through physical senses (or at least, they can’t be measured and proven to exist via physical measuring devices, including the physical senses), then the separation of the two would need to be done delicately.  Or the result would be death.  Hmmmm . . . am I being directed to the concept of physical death?  Or to Death, the Tarot Major Arcana card?  Both of these would represent the separation of the earthly from the firey.  Even this does not feel quite right.

Okay, let’s approach this from another direction.  I am working on a Tarot Chat about the Tree of Life, so I have “Sephiroth on the brain” tonight.  The Sephira of Yesod can be seen as the process or effect or skill or trait that separates (or allows us to rise above) the physical body from the non-physical body.  Here is some information I have compiled about Yesod:

Yesod (Foundation ) is the ninth Sephira on the Tree of Life, the third down on the Pillar of Balance, and like the Moon, which is the heavenly body most easily reached from our Earth, it is the most easily reached non-physical sephiroth of the Tree.  Yesod provides the life force that animates our physical selves, so in a sense, we are always experiencing Yesod.  Yesod contains the astral or etheric plane, and it is within Yesod that we build thoughtforms and intentions.  It is the sphere of illusion, and like the Moon, which appears to grow and shrink but actually stays the same size, Yesod is the whole of our visualizations of that which is not yet manifested in physical form.

Yesod is not only the last step before physical manifestation, but it is the first step after physical manifestation as well.  Our physical bodies are born and die within Malkuth, but our personalities are born and die within Yesod.  This sphere is the home of the Self, and of the Dark Night of the Soul.  Only after we dispel the illusion of failure and do the work to achieve forward motion once again will we truly understand the energies of Yesod.

My correspondence list for Yesod is: Magickal Image: Beautiful Naked Man, Very Strong; Planetary: Moon; Vice: Idleness; Virtue: Independence; Deity: The Moon, Fertility; Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Machinery of the Universe; Briatic Correspondence: Receptivity, Perception; Illusion: Security; Obligation: Trust; Path: Path 9, the number of completeness of experience.

The Paths on the Tree that are connected to Yesod are 32 (The World, connects to Malkuth, represents the bridge between the physical body and the astral planes) and 30 (The Sun, connects to Hod, represents scientific discoveries that validate spirituality), both seen as steps to initiation, and 28 (The Star, connects to Netzach, inspiration, aspiration, messages of the senses and universal love) one of the Paths that explores the personality. 

Is this sentence encouraging me to “rise up” out of my body?  Could it be reminding me that the messages of my physical senses are merely one small part of reality?  Is it another way of describing the Law of Attraction?  I smell wood burning . . . .

I feel like I am circling the Aha! Moment.  And I’ve felt it approaching, since Friday.  Just can’t find the doorway in!  Right now, I’d settle for a window.

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