Page of Wands/The Universe/World.  The Page of Wands (Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, nurturing, moody; Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic noble egotistical; and Virgo, “I serve,” practical, analytical, work and service oriented) is the spark that could create a mighty flame, if there is enough kindling and air to feed it.  The Page of Wands is in touch with his mind and he is in touch with his heart, and that is a good thing!  He is also good at dealing with secrets and things that are hidden. The Universe/World, which corresponds with Earth (cold/binds and dry/shapes, and material, stable and practical energy that is slow to change), Saturn (discipline, responsibility, limitations and resistance), Thav (mark or sign), and the Path between Malkuth (the physical world of action and physical, outer reality) and Yesod (the place where patterns and images emerge that may manifest into the physical world); it is a card of integration and involvement and understanding, a crystallization of the entire issue at hand.  These two cards make a nice pair; we are looking at excitement and clear vision, and everything we can see is useful to us.  Good vibes, eh?

My Thoth card is the Ace of Cups.  Another pleasant card. The Ace of Cups (Libra, “We are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation, Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, deep, mysterious, obsessive, Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, adventurous, blundering) tells of the potential for experiencing deep emotions, a connection to my Inner Voice and to those around me.  Crowley sees this card as indicating the presence of love in a situation or environment, powerful love. 

My Legacy card is the Seven of Wands, flavored by the Six of Cups. The Seven of Wands (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, drive, in Leo, “I am,” passionate, dramatic, natural leader, egotistical, selfish) in an upright position reminds me that my own judgment is worth relying on.  This card has a personal significance to me; it always indicates the approach of a test of some kind.  The thing I need to figure out is whether I’m on the giving end of the test, or the receiving end.  No matter what, this will be an intense challenge, but I need to remember that I am ready. The Six of Cups (Sun, the inner core of a person or situation in Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, compulsive, deep, obsessive), is a card of innocence, emotional balance and harmony.  This card also talks about love, as well as pleasant memories and innocent joy.  My Six of Cups is flavoring my Seven of Wands, and I like this.  The gentle happiness of the Cups card encourages me to embrace any challenges that appear, and remember that they offer me positive opportunities.

My 6-digit date number is 4, the number of depth and stability.

My horoscopes: “Messages from close friends expressing their love and admiration for you may seem to arrive out of the blue. Your accomplishments over the past few weeks may have caused them to see you in a new light. Today you will experience the full force of their feelings. The doors of communication are open for you. You could decide to spend the day getting to know your friends all over again.”

And: “Impromptu and perhaps unintentional group meetings could take place in your near neighborhood today. The atmosphere is one of optimism, excitement, and looking forward to the future. Intriguing and stimulating discussions could take place. You might find yourself doing a lot of running around in the car that you hadn't planned on doing - but you won't mind. The day should end with a new sense of anticipation.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Page of Pentacles.  Well, I do need the grounding of this card, but the nice thing is that this Page is not heavy.  Instead, this card offers me opportunities in the physical world.  I have only to be aware of them, be open to them, and accept them with an open heart and an open mind, and the enthusiasm and optimism of a child.  I can do that!

Time to reconnect to “A Beginner’s Guide to Constructing the Universe,” and focus on the number 2.  The number 1, if you remember, is symbolized by a point, which is actually a small circle.  Now the thing about circles is they can only create other circles; you can see this concept in action by attempting to multiply the number 1: 1 time 1 always equals 1!  So how do we move onward?  Ready?  This is cool! We look in the mirror!  This is the way that each of us can turn the primordial “I” into a replication of ourselves, “Thou” if you will.  Indeed, within my own spiritual path the creation myth I use involves staring with Sacred Feminine/Goddess and Sacred Masculine/God as one Entity, and then Sacred Masculine/God separating Himself from Sacred Feminine/Goddess (and enduring the trauma of separation) for the sole purpose of being able to experience once again reunion with Sacred Feminine/Goddess.  Nice synchronicity.

And it gets better.  I am close to submitting my next Third Degree Lesson homework, and I noticed that once I have completed this one and received permission to go on, the next thing with which I will be working on a Third Degree level is my Shadow.  Michael Schneider, the author of “A Beginner’s Guide,” describes this process of achieving the number 2 in this way: “The circle replicates a mate for itself by contemplating itself, reflecting its light, and casting its own shadow.”  Those last words, “. . . casting its own shadow,” are causing that tickle in my brain. 

But as usual, I digress.  It is through creating a separate circle, rather than through ripples or expansion of itself, that we give birth to the next number.  This is done in geometry by creating the vesica piscis; in order to do this, we take our compass and pencil and draw one circle, and then place the point of the compass anywhere on the circumference of that circle (without changing the size of the circle to be drawn) and draw another circle (which is a reflection of the first circle, a separate being if you will).  Once we do that, we create an overlap, which is the vesica piscis, a universal symbol of fertility and birth and the womb.  The vsica piscis does give birth, to the line.  If you connect the two points, you get a line. 

A true line has length but not width.  The line can actually be considered as a picture of energy!  How cool is that??!!  The line symbolizes tension, force, urge, action and impulse; it symbolizes movement and direction between two points,  “extension,” or “distance between.”  And the point/circle and the line can be seen as the “parents” of any other shape or form drawn through geometry.  Interesting.  I guess the point/circle can correspond to the Sacred Feminine, and the line can correspond to the Sacred Masculine. 

This number can also be seen as representing the concept of singleness or isolation; after all, we are creating a point that is away from the center of the circle; we see this concept in the Tarot Two of Swords, which represents a self-imposed isolation.  This polarity and the tension it creates is found throughout Nature, so it is important.  And while he number 2 can symbolize separation, like my version of the creation myth, it can also symbolize re-union, joining, or twining.  Oooh, I like that one; it is a perfect example of the pleasure we can derive from that polarized tension, which can only happen through separation and isolation. 

Polarized thinking can create walls, but these walls are often the parents of something new and unique.  After all, you can’t think out of the box if there isn’t a box in the first place!

More on the number 2 in my next blog post.

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