Page of Swords reversed/Nine of Swords reversed.  The Page of Swords (Capricorn, “I build,” ambitious, competent, cautious, cunning, Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, the group, society, cause-oriented, and Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, soul growth, spirituality) reminds me to use my mind and my intellect to analyze situations as well as the messages of my senses.  The Nine of Swords (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, in Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, social, dual) represents brooding and worrying, usually self-caused, and usually unproductive.  These two cards together, both reversed, seem to have a message for me.  I need to be super cautious today, because honesty and ethics are important, but because I am not sensing their importance and thus, not worrying about them, I might miss something important.  However, not worrying also might mean that I will attract good things, and thus won’t need the clarity of focus of that Page.

My Thoth card is the Six of Wands.  “Victory” is Crowley’s keyword for this card, and I can use one.  The Six of Wands (Jupiter, expansiveness and growth, justice, fortune, in Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic, noble, authoritative) expresses the celebration we feel when we have passed some test.  This is not an ending card, so the cycle is not yet complete, but I am being told that enough has been accomplished successfully to necessitate analysis of the experience thus far.  Yay!

My Legacy card is the Five of Coins, flavored by The Hermit reversed.  The Five of Coins (Mercury, reason, intelligence, education, skill, communication, in Taurus, “I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn) traditional image shows a woman and a child, one of them injured in some way, travelling in the cold wind, with a church window behind them.  I am being told to expect some challenges in the physical world connected to finance, health, or family that may result in a feeling of isolation. The Hermit, which like the suit of Coins, corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes, and material, practical and stable energy that is slow to change), as well as Virgo (“I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented, orderly), Yod (open hand, touch), and the Path between Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify) and Chesed (the place where forms and structure are stabilized and nurtured), is about searching within for a deeper meaning.  The upright card often tells of the need of solitude in order to be able to perceive the messages offered and lessons to be learned.  However, my Hermit is reversed, and thus it is telling me that while circumstances may attempt to isolate me, I do have the choice of actively placing myself within a group so as to not be alone.  I need to remind myself that physical world luxuries are not everything, and often the things I value most cannot be purchased with any coin.

My Pearls of Wisdom New Moon card is Judgement.  The Pearls of Wisdom LWB states that the Judgement card “speaks to a fiery initiation and period of growth if you are willing and able to identify and release the psychological toxins associated with your conditioning.”  Well, this speaks to me in several ways.  First, it could be referring to the Great Work and my experiences within the alchemic stages of this process.  Second, I just learned that good friends of ours lost their restaurant to a fire last night.  Thankfully no one was hurt, but the building is totally destroyed.  Oy!  Judgement corresponds with Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive and energetic change), Pluto (power, metamorphosis, cycles of dying and becoming), Shin (fang), and the Path between Malkuth (the physical world of action and physical, outer reality) and Hod (provides analysis and communication) and it usually tells of an opportunity to validate the good stuff and get rid of the stuff I don’t need any more.  This is the very alchemic process I am focusing on!  Separation!

My 6-digit date number is 9, the number of completeness of experience and manifestation.

My horoscopes: “Emotional issues rooted in the past could leave you feeling inhibited today, Sagittarius. You might also be a bit more touchy than usual and see insult where none is intended. Curb the impulse to take offense. Try to confront and release the old issues or at least promise yourself you'll deal with them later. Then be very sweet to your entourage. You should be feeling more positive by day's end.”

And: “Social events that you attend today could put you into touch with some fascinating people. A new female acquaintance could become a close friend. These individuals may either be highly educated in a field that interests you, or they could be from other states or distant countries. Conversations should be more than stimulating, and information gleaned today could serve you well for a long time. Matters of writing, teaching and publishing come to the forefront.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Page of Pentacles.  This one has been appearing quite frequently.  This Page loves to learn, loves to examine or consider details, loves to meditate, especially on material matters, and loves to bring happy news.  Diligence and focus allow me to enjoy my accomplishments!

I have not been here for a bit, and with a good reason.  I ended up coming down with a horrible head cold, and most of my focus was on getting done the things that absolutely had to get done.  But I am finally feeling back to my old self, and now I begin the game of catch up, taking care of all the things I let slide while I was not feeling well.

I’ve got some work to do within my Coven responsibilities, so I will be busy over the next few days.  And I have incentive to get things cleaned up: my much-loved Wayne Contingency of the Pagan Brain Trust will be visiting me in Cape May this weekend.  We will even do our New Moon Reiki Share a few days late so that four of us can perform the Share face-to-face.

Before I move away from the alchemic process of Separation, I would like to mention that this process is not only about sorting through things and then discarding whatever is old or broken or worn out.  This process is also about identifying the things that are genuine and strong and of value, and Separating them from the detritus in order to keep these things pure.  Separation allows us to actively choose to take the high road, and to see all potential and possibility through optimistic eyes. 

One of the biggest difficulties to be overcome within this process of Separation is keeping those chosen things pure, and not allowing them to recombine with refuse or to pick up new impurities.  This is the last 1796) that “[w]hen the alchemist sees the perfect whiteness, the philosophers say that one has to destroy his books, because they have become superfluous.”  This is similar to connecting to the Mysteries of Wicca; once we discover these Mysteries, we are boldly going forward where no man has gone before.  There are no instructions from that point forward.

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