Page of Wands/Page of Pentacles reversed. 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 might end up creating a conflagration, and this Fire will most likely be internally focused.  This Page is probably the most mature of the four Pages, probably because he knows what he knows, and he knows how to use it.  The Page of Wands has a good balance between the mind and the heart, and he is good at dealing with subterfuge and secrets.  The Page of Pentacles (Aries, “I want,” assertive, action oriented, Taurus, “I have,” sensual, cautious, stubborn, and Gemini, “I think,” curious, sociable, dual) in an upright position is down-to-earth and responsible, and a listener and a learner.  My Page is reversed, and this seems to be increasing the power of the Page of Wands.  Good way to get things done on this last day of the year, but I do need to be careful that I don’t get too ungrounded.

My Thoth card is the Six of Disks.  “Success” The Six of Disks (Moon, feelings and emotions, illusion, imagination, in Taurus, “I have,” Sensual, cautious, stubborn) brings an awareness of resources to the situation, or a lack thereof.  Crowley tends to like all the 6 cards in the Minors, but still sees this card as being a bit heavy; he names it “Success,” and that title could be a burden to live up to.  Since my Six of Disks is reversed, I may be dealing with a lack of balance between need and resources today, and if that lack of balance does not appear to be there, I will need to keep reminding myself that any apparent balance may be quite fragile, or even an illusion.

My Legacy card is the Seven of Cups reversed, flavored by the Three of Coins reversed.  The Seven of Cups (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Scorpio, “I desire,” intense, controlling, obsessive, mysterious) in an upright position represents the distraction, sensory overload and dissipation that can happen when we are presented with too many enticing choices. The traditional image of the Seven of Cups shows seven cups, each filled with what appears to be a wonderful gift: the Wreath (Saturn and The World); the Castle (Mars and The Tower), the Woman (Venus and The Empress); the Snake (Mercury and The Magician); the Veil (the Moon and The High Priestess), the Jewels (Jupiter and The Wheel of Fortune), and the Dragon (our Sun and The Sun).  Because my Seven of Cups is reversed, my choices today might be a bit more realistic.  The Three of Coins (Mars, action, spontaneity, aggression, drive, in Capricorn, “I build,” ambition, cunning, competence) in an upright position tells of competence, planning and teamwork; often it shows us the master at work.  However, my Three of Coins is reversed; perhaps today will be more about solitary efforts?  Perhaps my Three, which is flavoring y Seven of Coins, is reversed because while my efforts may be solitary right now, they may have effects upon the group in the future.  Glad that Seven of Cups is reversed.

My 6-digit date number is 10, the end of a cycle (appropriate!), which reduces further to 1, the number of position, potential, and distance between.

My horoscopes: “You may have a tendency to be overprotective of the people closest to you, especially children. You may feel you live in a dangerous world in which people don't care about responsibility to one another. But the people you're trying to protect are probably better prepared and adapted to the world than you think, Sagittarius. They might try to tell you this even if your support is indispensable.”

And: “Remember that you are put on this Earth to have fun, and that happiness is your true destiny. Keep this in mind today, as forces may tend to pull you off track from the fun you've been having. There is likely to be a sobering tone to the day that is stubbornly working to rain on your parade. Recognize the need for structure and stability, but don't let it bring you down.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Three of Cups.  This is a card of dancing and singing and celebrating, of sharing our own joy and happiness with those we care about.  Friendship and companionship and emotional connections . . . great things to focus on, this New Year’s Eve!

Today is New Year’s Eve, another day of winding up and ending so that a fresh, new beginning can happen.  I am spending most of the daylight hours finishing up whatever I can.  No loose ends laying about!

I performed a meditation this afternoon, at the Ancient Altar.  I received a huge “Cosmic Download,” and my Patroness, Danu, told me to prepare for a test.  Normally I would be saying uh oh, but this does make sense to me.  After all, a test cannot come unless lessons have been presented, studied, absorbed, and made a part of the practice of my Craft.  I am just about at a place where I would expect a test.  **deep, calming breath**

This evening, we are having dinner with friends.  What a wonderful way to transition from 2012 to 2013!

And I am almost to 20,000 visits to my blog.  2013 is going to be a wonderful and exciting year!

Happy New Year!

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The Magician/Ten of Swords reversed. My reversed Magician is now upright; yay! I am being told to focus on gaining the skills and knowledge necessary to apply wisdom and the ability to use Will to impact the physical world in order to perform magick. The Magician corresponds to Air (hot/separates and wet/adapts) and Mercury (reason, intelligence, education, skill), and the Hebrew letter Beth (house); The Magician is the house that contains the Divine energy. I am being told that the use of extra intellect will most likely not cause an overload today, but even so I should be aware of the remote possibility.

My Thoth card is the Princess of Swords. Back to Court Cards! Today my focus may be on handling practical matters, and that focus will be strong and difficult to distract, even to the point of missing out on the possible harm I could be causing to others through my directness. Hopefully, I should be able to calm any controversies that I inadvertently cause.

My Legacy card is the Ten of Wands reversed. I will not see my responsibilities as burdens today; instead, I will feel very well able to handle them in a logical and possibly a creative manner. Astrologically, this card represents Saturn (disciplined, responsible, cautious) in Sagittarius (philosophic, adventurous and scattered), a conflict for sure, but since the card is reversed, maybe I can get these two opposites to work together.

Two Ten cards, both reversed. While my focus may be on getting things done and tying up loose ends, the end of the day may not bring me a sense of completion. Oh well . . . there is always tomorrow.

I really love what is happening to my perception of my world. I love pondering theories, and I certainly am being gifted with quite a few theories to ponder of late. I asked myself an unsettling question yesterday: with all of these aha! moments and “echoes” of Deity that I am finding in my life and my world, am I becoming a supporter of Intelligent Design? Not exactly.

I spent all day trying to figure out what it is about ID that I disagree with, and I think I have figured it out. The way ID has been presented, there is a definite separation implied between the Watchmaker and his creation. There is a Supreme Being, and that SB created the universe from his/her/its abode and included in that creation instructions for its manifestations. The difference between this understanding and my own is that I have come to see that the Creator and the Created are mixed all together. Yes, life manifests according to its instructions, but life also contains the instructions within its makeup, and both the instructions and the manifestations are “shadows” or “images” of what the SB is, and “looks like” (assuming that the SB can be seen rather than just comprehended and sensed). To me, there can’t be a separation for it is the union of the Creator and the Created that makes it work.

How do I describe this? Let’s use this as an example: as a natural part of its existence, my body creates hair. Does that mean that I am the creator of hair? Not if the “I” of that question denotes a conscious being that is consciously choosing to create hair. Creator and Created are catalysts of each other, and they are byproducts of existence. But they are not completely separate and opposing concepts of “Cause” and “Effect.” There is no Intelligent Designer that is separate from his/her/its Creation because the Creation cannot exist unless it is also the Designer. LOL, hard to describe but easy to comprehend in my own mind (which right now is lit by the sparks of many fried circuits, apparently *wink*).

I emailed Lisa yesterday to ask if she had ever learned book binding, with the hope that she would at some point agree to make a fancy Book of Shadows for me. It turns out that Lisa will be beginning a course later this month that will teach her binding, and she already makes her own paper. By the time she is ready to take on a commission, I should probably be ready to order one. Perfect! I need to find time to call her so she can explain my options. Decisions, decisions!!

Glen and Candy posted a slide show video of our Blue Moon House Blue Moon New Year’s Eve Party on YouTube. I love it!!! There is even a shot of the full moon, which miraculously appeared through the clouds as we walked onto the beach. Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JjxlzTZMsY My vain self must say this: I am probably 15 pounds heavier than I was in August, and that 15 pounds really shows in the video. *wince*

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Four of Cups/Seven of Cups. Stagnation and difficulty choosing today; okay then. My work is cut out for me. I need to focus as much as possible.

My Thoth card is the Two of Wands. The Lord of Dominion, and boy do I need the energy of this card today! Pure Will is just what the doctor ordered to counteract those two stagnating Cups cards.

My Legacy Card is The Wheel reversed. In an upright position, the Wheel (Jupiter: abundance, luck, wisdom and growth; Kaph: fist or plam, Fire: hot/separates and dry/shapes) tells of action and it tells of the unavoidable influence of the cycles of our world. Because the card is reversed, I may have some difficulty connecting with or being aware of these cycles and I might be benefited by a little extra focus.

I finished reading Molecules of Emotion for the first time; I will need to go back and read it again in order to really absorb the information presented, and LOL, the second time I will have pencil in hand, so I can underline the phrases that are important. I enjoyed learning more about the emotional/physiological connection. Interestingly enough, I read a concept that helps to explain my delirium of late due to my bronchitis.

“However, if our emotions are blocked due to denial, repression or trauma [for instance, the physical trauma of illness], then blood flow can become chronically constricted, depriving the frontal cortex, as well as other organs, of vital nourishment. This can leave you foggy and less alert, limit your awareness . . .” [my thoughts added] Hmmm . . . makes sense. A physiological reason for me to feel disconnected while I’m sick. The interesting thing is that Pert feels that through focus of the mind and visualizations, we can help to counteract these physical symptoms. This is the advice of a scientist! I am ready to start The Intention Experiment, upon the recommendation of Bob; can’t wait to get into that one.

We are heading down to Cape May tonight to prepare for our Blue Moon House Blue Moon New Year’s Eve party. Friends, neighbors and family will be attending, and it should be a fun weekend. I am even feeling much better (although not totally well), so I should be able to enjoy the festivities. My cards today are telling me to be careful, to watch out for the effects of outside influences, and to focus, focus, and oh yes, to focus!!! I will do my best, for I have been warned. **wink**

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