Three of Cups/Ten of Wands reversed.  The Three of Cups (Mercury, reason, intelligence, orderliness, communication, in Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, tenacious, nurturing, moody) is about connections, emotional abundance, and about blessings.  Often, this is seen as the friendship card, and the relationships represented by this card are often pleasant ones.  This card can also be advising us to open ourselves to these connections, or even to accept assistance and support from others.  The Ten of Wands (Saturn, discipline, responsibility, limitations and resistance, in Sagittarius, “I seek,” philosophic, fun-loving, blundering) in an upright position tells of being taxed to some perceived limit, or of feeling as if we are out of gas at the bottom of a hill.  My Ten of Wands is reversed, and perhaps it is reversed because of that Three of Cups.  Yes, the reversed Ten of Wands can hint that responsibilities are being avoided, but I prefer to think that many hands make light work, a perfect interpretation for these two cards.

My Thoth card is the Two of Swords.  “Peace” is the keyword for this one, but that can be a bit deceiving.  The Two of Swords (Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination, in Libra, “We are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation) represents a time of not looking or of shutting out the world.  Crowley’s peace happens because we are vigilant and on guard, and because we abstain from uncontrolled thoughts or actions.  Crowley also presents with this card a possibility of deception, mainly because the card tells of the ability to isolate and close off even strong feelings.  Thus, the outer peace might not be reality.

My Legacy card is the Page of Cups reversed, flavored by the King of Coins.  Clear message there.  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); upright is a card of soft and tender energies and of getting fulfillment through connections to others; since the card is reversed, and paired with the King of Coins, the message might be a bit different.  The King of Coins (cusp of Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive, and Taurus, “I have,” sensual, stubborn, cautious, physically oriented) is the expert on physical world manifestation of all kinds.  He is responsible and reliable and calm, no matter what he faces.  He is good at managing physical world resources, and he shares what he has.  Together, these cards are reminding me that while connections and emotions are positive things, we also need to be reliable.  On the other hand, too much seriousness could be depressing; the King of Coins understands this, and his advice is to help others by sharing our bounties. 

My 6-digit date number is 7, the number that tells of the pause that happens as growth slows and degeneration approaches, usually requiring a choice or a crossroad to be navigated. 

My horoscopes: “Money matters may seem up in the air today, Sagittarius. Your usual practicality may desert you. This could make you stressed and angry because you're perfectly capable of dealing with your finances. Don't worry. The vagueness should pass by tomorrow. In the meantime, get some help, or if your concerns aren't too urgent, wait a day or two. Give yourself a break.”

And: “You have a strong creative bent, and likely feel the urge to exercise it today. Why not do so? Even if you are busy, there's no reason you can't take some time to do some writing. Better yet, why not have lunch at a nearby museum? The works of the masters will inspire you and your creative endeavor will benefit as a result. Don't make up any silly excuses about having to work. Start bringing more balance into your life!”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Eight of Pentacles.  Steady effort and long-term focus are the suggestions of this card.  Often, our responsibilities require that we focus on details over the long term, and keep an eye on the big picture as we do this.  We can build wonderful things through these focuses, but this card tells me that the process might be more important than the end result.  After all, if everything gets wiped away, tomorrow we will have the skill and the fortitude to begin all over again.

I am home from this year’s weekend in the Dominican Republic with my son, Brian.  Actually, I got home early last evening, but was tired enough to crash without even a blog post.  Yep, unusual, but it happens.

Brian is recovering from a bad case of pneumonia, so we knew in advance that this was going to be another one of those relaxing, sit-on-the-porch-and-drink-coffee vacations, but considering the busy-ness of things lately, I had no problem with that at all.  My flight down was pleasant and uneventful, and Brian met me at the airport.  We made a few stops on the way home so we could stay in place once we got there, and then once I settled in, we moved to the porch to relax. 

We spent the weekend watching the coming and going of the local creatures.  Lizards are common, as are all kinds of insects, some of them huge!  We were visited one night by an ox beetle, a relative of the rhinoceros beetle, and equally as huge.  Imagine that thing bouncing off the walls and the ceiling as it tries to escape.  No tarantulas or ground spiders this time, but plenty of moths and crickets and grasshoppers, some of them loud.  Seriously, really loud.  Wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night loud. 

Two of Brian’s neighbors have chickens, and we were treated to their company all weekend.  There were three sets of babies; I called them the Teenagers (fully fledged but not yet adult), the Middle Group (bigger than the Marshmallow Peeps but just starting to get adult feathers), and the Marshmallow Peeps (yellow and fluffy and young).  We also had a bit of excitement: a newly-adult rooster began his challenge of the current leader of the harem.  We were treated to a contest of crowing, and some fluttering chases, but thankfully no fights.  Apparently once a rooster issues a fight challenge to another rooster, they pretty much fight to the death (hence the excitement and betting involved with cockfights), but thankfully there seems to be enough space for them to avoid each other.  LOL, typical men, eh?

The herd of cows from the large property next door has grown; there were five or six young calves in the group.  I could hear them mooing, even late at night, and often early in the morning as they all headed past our driveway and down the road to an alternate grazing ground.  The white ibis were all hanging out with and following the herd.

We had glorious weather.  Each day we had a combination of sun and clouds; late each afternoon the darker clouds rolled in, and we were treated to a couple of short but intense Caribbean thunderstorms.  Cool lightning, constant thunder and brief downpours!  We always knew when the rain was about to start because the chickens fled to the nearest banana or plantain tree so they could use the big green leaves as umbrellas. 

I find that there is something nurturing about placing myself in the middle of “raw” or “rural” places.  I get this same sense of having my spirit fed when I am on the beach alone, or walking the trails of Point Park or Higbee Beach, or walking along Sunset Beach towards Fader River, or even on my early morning bike rides.  Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the comforts of civilization, but I think humans miss this kind of connection to Nature.  I am blessed because I have these opportunities to recharge my battery in such a natural and truly beautiful way.

$>