Death/The Sun.  Wow!!  What a powerful pair of Major Arcana cards!  The Death card corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts, and sensitive, imaginative energy that strives to stay the same or take the same course), Scorpio, Nun (fish head; liberation), and the Path between Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify) and Netzach (the stimulating factors of emotion and inspiration), and tells of natural change that cannot be stopped.  Death is about endings, non-reversible endings, but these endings always present exciting new beginnings when the time is right. The Sun corresponds with Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, spontaneous, impulsive and energetic change), our Sun (the inner core of a person or situation), Resh (the face; reason), and the Path between Yesod (the place where patterns and images emerge that may manifest in the physical world) and Hod (provides analysis and communication), and tells of a time of enlightenment.  The thing that I need to remember is this time of illumination is temporary, so I need to take advantage of it while it’s here, but I must not do so in an unbalanced way.  These two cards together tell me that there is a good potential for me to turn any endings that appear into productive and valuable new beginnings!

My Thoth card is Ace of Swords.  The Ace of Swords (Capricorn, “I build,” ambition, caution authority, cunning, Aquarius and Pisces, “I believe,” feeling, duality, soul growth, artistic) is about potential within the mental or intellectual realms.  The manifestation of this potential involves the use of analysis in an ethical, just and fair manner; the manifestation also often involves challenges of some kind.  The light at the end of the tunnel is that successfully dealing with these challenges will bring growth, and with this Ace around, I do have the skills to succeed.

My Legacy card is Ten of Swords reversed, flavored by the Page of Cups reversed. 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, powerlessness and restriction, completely manifested. More importantly, it is the perception of these things, and thus it is a reminder that self-defeating thoughts can end up manifesting the very thing we fear will end up happening.  My Ten is reversed, so I should be able to see that light at the end of the tunnel, if I can force myself to look ahead rather than focusing on the things that appear to be going wrong.  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 upright is very emotional, dreamy card that is strongly connected to the inner voice.  This Page has a message for me: don’t repress my feelings, but don’t allow them to control the situation either.  These two cards are reminding me that thoughts and feelings have real power, and without balance they can derail any positive intentions.

My 6-digit date number is 10, the number that tells of the end of a cycle, which reduce further to the number 1, which tells of potential and position.

My horoscopes: “As you work slowly and steadily toward your goals, realize that there are apt to be unexpected obstacles along the way, Sagittarius. You can't possibly plan for everything, so don't get discouraged today when some crazy variable pops out of nowhere. Your mental process may be thrown for a loop, and you might find that you go into a frenzy. There's a valuable lesson to be learned here - patience.”

And: “You will have a day of profound reflection. While you may be tempted to look back and think about how far you have come in the last months, your time would be better spent thinking what the future has in store for you. You have entered a period of rethinking both your identity and your objectives. These are not small changes. You will need every ounce of energy at your disposal to make it through this time of transition.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Eight of Cups.  Love the image on this card.  This one is telling me that sometimes we need to move away from the brilliance of the light in order to allow our eyes to get a bit of night vision.  Sometimes we need to take a time out from physical world experiences; by focusing on the non-physical effects for a while, we will heighten our awareness of physical effects by our temporary absence from that world.  This relaxation of my focus and this walking away from the messages of my physical senses in order to achieve a mini-vacation will ensure that I return rested and invigorated, and eager to dive back into work.

I’ve given more thought to the process of Fermentation.  I came to some realizations the last time that I posted about Fermentation on March 30: “I think it is interesting that Fermentation is a reaction, rather than a catalyst.  It appears that if the right ingredients are present, Fermentation will occur.  Perhaps this alchemic process of Fermentation can only happen when the other steps have been achieved with as close to perfection as possible.  The thing that really seems to be popping out to me, as I begin to think about the process of Fermentation, is that it is only once I reach this stage that I realize that if I did not pay attention to the steps before now, if I did not perform each step thoroughly and to the best of my ability, then Fermentation will not happen.  If the ingredients aren’t perfect, the reaction will not occur.”

Upon rereading this, I feel I’ve got a handle on this process.  But the other thing I need to remember is that once the process of Fermentation has begun, I can’t make any changes in the ingredients, or the whole thing will be derailed.  All I can do is maintain the current environment to the best of my ability until the process winds down, and hope that my work within the initial steps was correct. 

This means that I must continue with my Metabolic/Elemental Discipline, I must be extra vigilant as far as what I eat and what I drink (which will be difficult because of the upcoming holiday weekend, with company coming), and I must continue to strive for balance within my subtle body, all implemented with dynamic balance.  I must also continue with my Coven Third Degree Training, putting efforts into empowering others as well as myself.  And I must continue with my efforts to be mundanely employed.  Wow, not asking much of myself, eh?

But I can do this, I know I can.  I need to remember that the best results are often attained by consistency, patience, and an application of Will.

Will this process of Fermentation give me wine?  Or vinegar?  Either way, the outcome will be useful.

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