Eight of Pentacles/The Magician.  Well, that is a powerful pair!  The Eight of Pentacles (Sun, the inner core of a person or situation, in Virgo, “I serve,” practical, analytical, sensible, orderly) tells me that diligence and an awareness of details is important today.  I should be certain that I know all facts before making any decisions. The Magician corresponds with Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts, and quick and animated energy which usually presents problems or challenges), Mercury (reason, intelligence, orderliness, communication), Beth (house; builder) and the Path between Binah (female, receptive energy and the origin of form and structure) and Kether (the source, limitless possibility).  The Magician is a card of action, and of confidence.   He is skilled at using the tools at his disposal; he knows what he is doing and why he is doing it.  And he is an important card to me personally.  I should be able to tap into his powers today and still remain aware of the details of what is going on.

My Thoth card is the Four of Swords.  “Truce” is the keyword for this one, and I’ve finally thrown the card upright! The Four of Swords (Jupiter, expansiveness and growth, justice, fortune, in Libra, “We are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation)can represent a pause or truce or mutual deterrent, or a time of silence and isolation.  In a way, that is what I will have available to me for the next day and a half, and I may be able to benefit from this time of preparation and grounding.

My Legacy card is The Chariot, flavored by the Four of Wands reversed. The Chariot, which corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts, and sensitive, emotional and imaginative energy that likes to stay the same or follow the same course), Cancer (“I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, nurturing, moody), Cheth (the fence), and the Path between Geburah (the place where forms and structure are challenged or affirmed) and Binah (female receptive energy and the origin of form and structure), tells of having the control necessary to focus on goals, and to avoid distractions. I am being told that I need to use my own Will in order to stay on the straight and narrow today, and to avoid distractions.   The Four of Wands (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, enthusiastic) in an upright position is about building enough to become established.  But my Four of Wands is reversed, and flavoring my Chariot, so there may be some responsibilities that need to be taken care of.  If I focus and keep steady, I can accomplish what I need to.

My 6-digit date number is 7, the number that tells of a slowdown or pause as growth begins to slow and degeneration approaches; usually this time involves a crossroad or choice of some kind.

My horoscopes: “Your subconscious mind is active today, Sagittarius, perhaps releasing old traumas from the past. Memories from long ago could pour into your mind as though floodgates were opened. Many of them won't be pleasant. This is good nonetheless. You're releasing obstacles caused by these memories. By the end of the day you will feel so much lighter. Make the most of it.”

And: “Passion is your primary motivation now. Have you recently started taking a course? You'll learn a lot from it! Are you involved in an artistic project? The quality and intensity of your work could surprise even you! Are you romantically involved? Expect a rush of love and sensual desire for your beloved to well up within you! Celebrate all of this by relaxing with a glass of wine and a lovely dinner. Good things are happening!”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding The World.  I love one of the definitions to this card found in the “Shadowscapes Companion”: “Achieving balance, melding and blending to bring together in unison the multiple songs of life.  Yesss!!  This is a card of realized goals, but the pause involved with this one is only temporary.  Enthusiasm and a sense of accomplishment won’t slow down for long.

I am continuing with my Shadow Work for my Third Degree Lesson, and still I am finding a mention of a shadow self or of the processes involved in this kind of work.  Last night I downloaded a free book onto my Kindle called “Mystic Fool,” written by Andy Hill.  I was expecting a fun book, and so far it is fun.  However, not long after I began the book, I found a description of the very process I am going through, and of the results I have achieved so far:  “I had been thinking a lot about alchemy, and the axiom solve et coagula.  Dissolve and coagulate.  Take it apart and put it back together.  Analysis and synthesis.  This was the general process that the alchemists would apply to base metals in order to transmute them into gold.  Everything in the universe is either in a state of dissolving or coagulating.  Things come together and things fall apart.   Cells, bodies, relationships, belief systems, cultures, empires, galaxies; all are undergoing vicissitudes imposed by these two states.  I was thinking of the alchemist’s base metals psychologically, as the shadow, that repository of all shame, guilt, fear or things that just didn’t fit into my nice idea of myself.  Suppressed and alienated though it was, I knew it was a living part of me, and if I could confront and embrace it, I could free up an incredible amount of power.  By doing so, a rift might be crossed, and an experience of oneness would occur as I accepted my own dark side.  I willed to dissolve this leaden burden and coagulate it back into myself, to incorporate it into my being.  I understood that I had to cease being afraid of it, hiding from it, and projecting it out and finding it only in others.  I didn’t know what I was doing but I was led by a murky, intuitive sense.  I wanted to reach down into the base of my being and somehow extract the gold from that within me I had been so afraid to embrace.” 

I think the most important and useful thing I am bringing away from the exercises associated with my Lesson homework is the fact that I’ve been approaching this Shadow Work all wrong.  My task was not to eradicate these feelings through coming to understand the root cause, but rather to embrace these feelings because they are a part of me.  The feelings are not going to go away, but bringing them worth and validity just might lessen the discomfort associated with them. 

I am ending up being healed by my Shadow Work, but I am also coming to understand the process in a better way.  Cool!!

What a lovely realization to have on Imbolc, the day I celebrate the returning light. 

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