December 6, 2016: Choices, Discomfort and Change

I saw a bald eagle yesterday at mile marker 49, when driving back from Cape May.  This was the first one I’ve seen in a long time!

My Dreams of Gaia card for today is another upright Six card, the Six of Air.  The keywords for this card are solutions, comparisons, compromise, open-mindedness, mindfulness, illumination, epiphany, and personal power.  This card tells me that now is the time to create a powerful and effective compromise that is created not as an either/or or black/white kind of situation, but rather through interviews and research, through considering many possibilities and their many possible manifestations and consequences.  I am being reminded that every choice I make today will have a tangible effect going forward.  This means I have immense power at my fingertips, and just the awareness of the potential of this power I have can change my future.  The down side (and there is always a down side) is that I am responsible, and I can’t blame anyone but myself if I am not happy with the results.  

The image on the Six of Air is somewhat similar to the image on the Two of Air.  Both cards are half dark and half white and they both represent the idea of choices.  The difference between them is that the Two of Air has no other color; it presents duality (which separates) and polarity (which joins), and the Six of Air infuses color to the image.  The Six also infuses the idea of the written word, and the idea of compassion; it infuses the idea of the effects of the chakras, and the effects of input of Deity.  More choices, more sources of information are available here.  

My horoscope this week presented by Chani Nicholas offers the following: "Break with the personal traditions that bind you to limited ideas about yourself, but reinvent the traditions that you need to keep. This is an extremely creative period you are entering. Do what you can to support its visions and follow its leads.”  I love the idea that I am entering a creative period!  Choices, many powerful choices, are available to me, and if my card throws are any indication, I am doing the work to access the best of these choices.  And isn’t this just what Fermentation offers me?  Perhaps I am ready to accept the discomfort that is a part of these positive changes.  Yes, I do tend to cling to comfortable situations, and I do need to have confidence in my understanding of a concept or task or belief.  But sticking only to what I know brings stagnation.  

Time to allow Fermentation to churn and bubble!

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October 13, 2016: Discomfort with social media and politics

My Dreams of Gaia card today is the lovely Six of Air. The keywords for the upright card are solutions, comparisons, compromise, open-mindedness, mindfulness, illumination, epiphany, and personal power.  The Six of Air tells of a solution that is reached through the creation of a compromise that lies somewhere between the extremes of black and white, as is so effectively presented within the lovely image on this card.  Ravynne Phelan is a genius.  The card and its image remind me that while things may appear cut and dry and choices may appear to be only black or white, there are always other important shades of meaning that need to be considered.  Every experience and every choice I have made (and indeed, the experiences and choices of others, too) comes into play today.  I am also reminded by the words in the LWB for this deck that “every choice [I] make in the present will shape [my] future.”

We are only weeks away from our election, and I am very, very disgusted with the entire process.  My beautiful country is being destroyed by politics and by the unconquerable desire to win at any cost.  I am a fact checker; if I see something that interests me (or lately, that horrifies me), I do a bit of research so that I know what is being presented is actually accurate.  These days, the truth is apparently no longer a highly-valued commodity.

As I stated a few days ago, it is so difficult for me to not respond to things I see on social media, to attempt to offer a saner version of what is flying around out there.  But the message of this card is valid and valuable today.  Things are not black or white, and people are not either with me or against me.  Everyone perceives the current news cycle in a personal way.  I firmly believe that whatever emotions or feelings or visions that are circling around and bouncing around in my mind are what I attract to me.  I need, more now than ever, to choose what will come to me by controlling my “now.”

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September 11, 2016: A Painful Anniversary

Today is a day that brings back horrible memories for most Americans and in fact, for many around the world.  I started the day in a very good mood, driving to work after a week’s vacation on Long Beach Island with friends.  The sky was clear and blue, the air was warm with little humidity, and I was relaxed.  Then I turned on the news.

By the time I had parked my car and turned off the radio an explanation had not yet been found for the plane that had hit the side of one ow the World Trade Towers, but just the short amount of time it took for me to get in the elevator and walk to my desk, the whole world changed.  By then, the other plane had hit.  This was not some weird accident, a pilot having a massive heart attack or something horrendous like that.  This was deliberate, an attack on America. 

It took quite some time for me to feel normal again.  For days, driving east presented me with the view of billowing clouds as the Pile burned.  For weeks, the television was filled with horrifying experiences, and with loved ones wandering, searching, hoping their husband or daughter or cousin was unconscious in the hospital.  Finally, hoping a body could be delivered.  Or a part of a body.  Heartache!

Over the past 15 years we have evolved through our grief, moving through disbelief to heartache, to anger and to revenge.  I am hoping that just perhaps, we can come to understand why this happened.  Perhaps not to forgive, but to understand.  I believe it is only through coming to this kind of peace that we as a country can move forward, move forward in a way that made the many deaths that happened 15 years ago worth something good.

My Dreams of Gaia card for today echoes this thought.  I threw the Six of Air reversed.  Again, a lush and beautiful image!  The keywords for the upright card are solutions, comparisons, compromise, open-mindedness, mindfulness, illumination, epiphany, and personal power.  The Six of Air tells of a solution that is reached through the creation of a compromise that lies somewhere between the extremes of black and white.  The card reminds me that while on the surface, an either/or choice may seem the only option available, there are always, always other resources that can be brought into play. Taking a rigid stance and refusing to hear the other side just might not be a productive plan.  My card is reversed, and the energies of this card may not be available.  That might mean my tendencies could be to **not** take into account the differences of others.  I need to remember that while I may be uncomfortable with the actions or beliefs of some around me, those actions and beliefs are created by their life experiences, and thus deserve some consideration. 

This really has a connection to my feelings and experiences regarding this day.  I do feel as if I have emerged from the darkness of heartache and I am attempting to find some compromise that will bring inner peace. 

Putting things back together in a new way. 

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