King of Wands/The Empress. Lovely; I haven’t seen The Empress in an upright position in a little while. The King of Wands (cusp of Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, nurturing, moody, and Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic egotistical) is a natural leader who not only creates new strategies through hard-earned knowledge, experience and wisdom, but puts them into effect as well. He is in some ways like a min-Emperor; I should have a day of creativity ahead of me, and of people liking what I create. The Empress (which corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes, and stable, material, practical energies that are slow to change), Venus (beauty, allure, pleasure, relationships), Daleth (door or womb) and the Path between Binah (female receptive energy and the origin of form and structure) and Chokmah (dynamic male energy and the origin of vital force and polarity)) is also about creativity, and about fertility of all kinds, a deep connection to Nature and its workings, and pleasure of the senses. Nice pair!
My Thoth card is the Nine of Cups. “Happiness” today! The Nine of Cups (cusp of Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, the group, cause-oriented, and Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, suffering, soul growth) is about emotional satisfaction and the ability to find pleasure in my feelings and in my expectations for the day. Crowley sees this as a lucky card, but being Crowley, he also reminds us that the peak of happiness is the beginning of putrefaction. Gee, thanks.

My Legacy card is the Knight of Swords, flavored by the Ace of Coins reversed. The Knight of Swords (the cusp of Taurus, “I have,” sensual, stubborn, cautious, and Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, dual, intelligent) is brave, insightful, courageous, and logical. Unfortunately, he is also rude, domineering, critical and sarcastic. He may be enthusiastic, and he may make the perfect mercenary, but he is not good at compassion. I should be aware of this today. Aces present potential only, and the Ace of Coins (Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive, Taurus, “I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn, and Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, dual, social) tells of the presence of potential that is connected in some way to the physical world. My Ace is reversed, and since it is flavoring my Knight of Swords, it is also reminding me that I might need a bit of grounding as well as empathy for myself and others.

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

My horoscopes: “You're a great creator of systems, Sagittarius. You can tinker with every sort of construction, from theories and computer programs to scientific experiments and strategic evaluations. Today the planets are guiding you. You're a perfect computer, capable of synthesizing random events into pure reason. You're sure to attract attention if you share your thoughts with others.”

And: “You certainly seem frustrated today! There is only one person who could possibly arouse your anger to such a degree. Why, you're mad at yourself, of course! Today's aspect is favorable to crises of conscience that result in a change of attitude. From now on, you're likely to remember to choose your words more carefully.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Nine of Cups. Traditionally, the Nine of Cups is seen as the “wish card,” but the Shadowscapes version of the Nine of Cups is to me the “sensual bounties” card. This card reminds me that pleasure and fulfillment are always available to me; I have only to tap into my own subtle body, and visualize what pleases me, in order to nourish my soul.

More on the gunas. The last time I spoke of the gunas was in my entry for April 24, where I described Heaavy and Light. Today, I will talk a bit about Liquid and Dry.

Liquid is connected to the element of Water, and in a very general sense can be seen to represent the amount of liquid or fluid in foods. However, Ayurveda takes this a bit further, and sees this guna as representing foods that cause increased secretions. For instance, sour foods such as limes increase saliva, as do sweet and oily foods. Salty foods cause our tissues to retain fluid. Other Liquid foods are avocado, butter, sugar, bananas, blue cheese, and of course, alcohol. An overabundance of Liquid can be treated through the consumption of Dry, Bitter or Astringent foods.

Dry (connected to the elements of Air and Fire) can also be seen generally as representing the lack of liquid or fluid in foods, but once again, Ayurveda takes this a step further. Within Ayurveda, Dry is seen as a measure of the wear and tear that is happening within your entire body. Dry is old, and oily is young; youth is plump and wet but dryness shrinks tissues and highlights the effects of aging. Dry is irritating to tissues and causes inflammation and heat. Dry can result from dehydration and too much Astringent, but in most cases Dry is damaging because of the roughness associated with a lack of fats in the diet. Some fats are healthy and required by the physical body. Dry foods absorb moisture, and are hydrated by the body with saliva and stomach solutions so they can be digested. We also need to remember that seemingly “wet” foods that are high in potassium, like potatoes, are also considered Dry because they act as a diuretic. Our emotions can even be Dry, and produce non-physical symptoms similar to those described here. Too much Dry affects our digestion, our blood, our glandular fluids, our skin, our joints, and our energy level, to name a few, and can be treated with Oily or Liquid foods.

Now, don’t think that Dry is bad! Go back and read my entry on the doshas, specifically about kapha, on April 12. Dry would be therapeutic to kaphas; see how cool Ayruveda is??

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