The Fool/Knight of Pentacles reversed. The Fool corresponds with Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts, and challenges that tend to require the use of the intellect to solve), Uranus (technology, science, radical change), Aleph (the head, youthful learning) and the Path between Chokmah (male in the electric sense, dynamic energy and the origin of vital force and polarity) and Kether (the source; limitless possibility).  The Fool is the spark that begins the idea, and his powers and energies are neither positive nor negative.  My Fool is telling me of potential, and of the need for optimism in order to get that potential manifesting. The Knight of Pentacles (cusp of Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic, egotistical, and Virgo, “I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented) tells of persistence to the point of being stubborn, and caution to the point of being boring.  He is reversed, though, and he is thus validating the action of The Fool, and the ability to “boldly go where no one has gone before.”  LOL, the upright Knight of Pentacles would veto that idea.

My Thoth card is the Five of Disks reversed.  “Worry” is Crowley’s keyword for this one.  The Five of Disks (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.  Crowley’s concept of Worry is more like “pick at,” and we all know what happens when we pick at a scab.  Thankfully my card is reversed today, so the discomforts of the physical world may not end up distracting me from the day’s possibilities.

My Legacy card is the King of Wands reversed, flavored by the Nine of Swords reversed. The King of Wands (cusp of Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, nurturing, moody, and Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic egotistical) in an upright position is honest and open hearted, and rules his realm through the advantageous use of his creative impulses.  Because my King of Wands is reversed, today is not a good day for me to put myself out there as an example to others.  I need to be careful that I don’t get too much of a high from any adrenaline that flows, and I need to watch carefully that I am not distracted from my ethics.  The Nine of Swords (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, in Gemini, “I think,” curious, talkative, social, dual) which in an upright position represents brooding and worrying, usually self-caused, and usually unproductive, is reversed, and is flavoring my reversed King of Wands.  Good; that means I won’t be worrying too much.  

My 6-digit date number is 7, the number that tells of the pause that comes as growth slows and degeneration approaches, usually involving a choice of some kind.

My Pearls of Wisdom Full Moon card is the Queen of Wands.  Ooooh, nice!  My only other upright card. 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, gives 100% of herself, and always has a smile on her face and humor in her heart.  My Queen is at home in a garden or a board room, and so am I!

My horoscopes: “This is a terrific day for you, Sagittarius. You will feel a greater sense of appreciation and respect for the people around you. The planning and hard work you've contributed recently is finally paying off. People are likely to arrive at your level of thinking. You'll find you can connect on a very productive level. Your emotions are under control and your thoughts crystal clear.”

And: “You might find that other people's strong opinions are dictating the activity of today. The overall atmosphere is intense, so you might just want to lay low and let others have their way. Don't try to put up a fight. Unexpected opposition may come out of nowhere and take control. There is a powerful force at working asking you to attend to your own business with passion.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Eight of Wands.  Many see this card as representing light or electricity, but anyone who has picked a dandelion ready to go to seed, and then puffed at it and watched the seeds float away, understands the energies of this card.  This is about a sudden eruption of energy that scatters seeds.  Some may fall on rocks, but others may fall in fertile soil!

Looks like the book I mentioned on the 26^th, “A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science (A Voyage From 1 To 10),” by Michael S. Schneider, is going to be a marvelous distraction for me.  I finally got into the meat of the book, and it is fragrant and juicy and positively yummy!

Because everything I’ve read so far connects deeply to both my own spiritual practice ~and~ to the Tarot (LOL, how could numbers **not** connect to the Tarot in some way; you all know by now how my mind works), I’m going to summarize what I’m reading.  LOL one of these days, I’m going to have the time to compile all this stuff into the best Tarot Workbook ever.  In the mean time, here we go.

As I mentioned in my blog post on the 26^th, Schneider breaks Math down into three categories: Secular Math (the adding and subtraction and multiplication and division, the quantitative measurement, and the search for perfections, that I was taught in school), Symbolic Math (which talks of the reoccurring patterns and the synchronistic effects to be found across the board when dealing with numbers and shapes), and Sacred Math (which involves these patterns and effects and the way our consciousness perceives their patterns and effects as a profound mystery; this awareness is the true sacred wonder).  My main focus will be on both Symbolic Math and Sacred Math; I’ve already spent time (and learned to avoid) Secular Math, but who knows?  Maybe this will encourage me to go back there some day.

Let’s begin with a bit about the tools used for this foray into Math.  There are three of them (a nice, sacred and symbolic number, eh?): the compass, the straight edge, and the pencil.  According to Schneider, these tools need to be honored; they should always be used with conscious awareness, never while focused on something else.  When working with these tools, we need to remember that mistakes are just as important as perfection.  Any mistakes we make should not be erased; rather, we should assume they were meant to happen and we should strive to live with them.

The compass is found in many cultures; maybe not as the implement we have all used to draw circles, but it is there.  It might consist of a stick and a string, even in our modern world; this is after all the easiest way to draw a circle.  Because the circle is seen to have sacred symbolism (more about that in a bit), the compass can be seen as having divine attributes.  It can be seen as the eye of God, the catalyst that creates sacred space.  The Kether/Source of shape and form, symbolic of the Ace/number 1, and potential .

The straight edge is used to connect the points where circles intersect, it is used to draw lines.  It does not need measure marks, and in fact it is preferred that it not have them; it does, however, need to be an edge without chips or dents and without the ability to bend.  When using the straight edge, we should begin the line at the farthest point away from us and then draw the line toward us, visualizing the line as a path of energy.  The Binah/Sacred Feminine of shape and form, symbolic of the number 2, and balance, polarity and “distance between.”

The pencil translates divine ideas into the symbols our brain is able to absorb and understand. We need to remember that the pencil is both literal (a pencil is a great Math tool) and symbolic (we could be using a stick to draw in the dirt and achieve an equally powerful result).  The Chokmah/Sacred Masculine of shape and form, symbolic of the number 3, and the creation of something new out of the Ace (the compass) and the number 2 (the straight edge).

If we hold for a moment longer the symbolism of the Tree of Life, we will remember that the first three Sephiroth of the Tree, the Supernal Triangle (representing the highest, purest and most abstract qualities of Deity), are considered the “triplet of the mind” (with the second three being the “triplet of the heart,” representing an inner emotive focus, the third three being the “triplet of action,” representing the actions we take; the final sephira, Malkuth, represents the final outcome or manifestation).  This tells me, right from the start, that there’s gonna be a whole lot of growing going on.

My brain is tingling already!

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