Three of Wands/The Emperor. The Three of Wands (Sun, the inner core of a person or situation, the deepest self and personal power, in Aries, “I want,” action oriented, pioneering, assertive) is a card of planning for action that tells of the excitement of seeking out uncharted areas with an optimism that says that no matter what happens, it will be good.  I think I need to look to the future today, and maybe begin to make some plans, plans that will include excitement and enthusiasm. The Emperor corresponds with Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive, energetic change), Aries (“I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive) and the Hebrew letter Heh (window, illumination), and represents confidence, authority, and the archetype of the Father.  LOL, he is telling me to have fun, but to make sure that I am home by dark, and not to stray too far from home.  Order and structure and a willing acceptance of responsibility can certainly coexist with enthusiasm and excitement, and rules (which are there to support and enable) can still be put into place without putting out the Fires.

My Thoth card is Art.  Art/Temperance corresponds with Sagittarius (“I seek,” philosophic, adventurous, blundering) Fire (hot/separates and dry/shapes, and spontaneous, impulsive, energetic change), Samekh (the tent post), and the Path between Yesod (the place where patterns and images emerge that may manifest into the physical world of action and outer reality) and Tiphareth (the hub of the creation process where energies harmonize and focus to illuminate and clarify), and this card presents one version of the concept of balance:  balance achieved through knowledge and experience of extremes. In the best of circumstances, this is a card of realization, and of choosing actions based on accurate calculations.  Kind of a similar message to the one above!

My Legacy card is the Five of Wands reversed, flavored by The Hanging Man reversed.  Interesting! The Five of Wands, which corresponds with Saturn (discipline, responsibility, law and order) in Leo (“I am, passionate, dramatic, egotistical) in an upright position indicates a struggle caused by annoying cross-purposes. While these discomforts can have good results, today they will not have a huge effect.  Rather, things should move in a smooth and integrated manner. The Hanging Man corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts, and emotional, sensitive and imaginative energy that tends to move deep, and attempts to take the same path as in the past), Neptune (inspiration, spirituality, magick, enchantment, dreams, altered states), and the Hebrew letter Mem (water, stability and balance, the reflective quality of thought); this card presents the kind of balance that comes to us through surrender, and through seeing things in a different way.  However, my Hanging Man, which is flavoring my reversed Five of Wands, is also reversed.  Perhaps the way to keep those Fiery energies from conflicting is to offer guidance, or to make use of plans already in place.  Hmmm . . . using plans in a structured manner . . . sounds familiar, eh?

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

My horoscopes: “You've been hoping for a quiet day on the job, Sagittarius, but too many calls could come your way. You might have to juggle several at once. Don't try to deal with every problem. Exercise your triage abilities and take care of the most pressing first. Let the others go, if necessary. You aren't doing anyone any favors by getting too distracted. Even you can be less than thorough when overwhelmed.”

And: “You are smart, strong, confidant and beautiful. Everyone has always known this about you, and you are just beginning to know it about yourself. Today you feel powerful and unstoppable. If the world really is your oyster, where exactly is the pearl? You may spend the better part of your life trying to find out. Ideally, you will have a significant someone with you on your search for happiness. If you have the right mate, then happiness will be wherever the two of you are together.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Four of Wands.  Perfect card for today!  The Spring flowers are in bloom, and the air is filled with exciting possibilities.  Yes, the harder tasks will soon be upon us but for the moment, we can stop and smell the first of the roses. 

Sadly, the raven has won the battle, and the robins have disappeared.  I don’t know how many eggs were lost, but I don’t think it was all four (robins usually lay four lovely blue eggs).  I’m sad, because I really enjoyed watching the family last year, but if it had to happen, I’m glad it is now, before the babies were born. 

Sad that this happened on Mother’s Day, but this is the way Nature works.  Survival of the fittest.  The nest was so well hidden that I am impressed with the raven; he must have watched the pair building the nest, and waited till the right moment.

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Transparent Oracle Sunday!

40, Elemental: Gnome (North).  North is the direction of Earth, and thus of the physical or physically formed or manifested world, and of nurturing, health, finances and security, and the wisdom associated with living simply, being well-grounded, and being in touch with our physical body.  The Gnome is about hard work, strength and patience; Gnome is the guardian of the Earth who meets each responsibility fully and completely; he may appear serious, but he is capable of some mischief.  And woe is the person who damages what he guards!

36, Guide: Bear (North).  The element of Earth is stable, material, practical energies that are slow to change; its dignities are cold/binds and dry/shapes. Bear is about protection and hibernation, power, shelter and instincts.  Mother bears are fierce, yet gentle, and that is the message of this card.  I am being told by Bear that I should protect and nurture myself, but I should also make use of what I’ve learned to not only connect with my own instincts, but also to nurture and guide others.

50, Polarity: White Dragon (Above). The direction of Above takes us up and out of the four traditional elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, and reminds us that we are but a small part of the Cosmos.  Above also reminds us that while the Machinery of the Universe is huge, it does have an effect on each of us, and each of us is an important part of the workings of that Machinery.  The White Dragon represents masculine, dispassionate, celestial energies that come into us and into our world from “Above.”  If you see the solar system and the universe as being alive, and as being filled with the manifestations of the Sacred Essences that are the source of life and awareness, then these energies are very important.  We are the Microcosm, after all, and these energies are from the polar opposite, the Macrocosm . . . filled with information, knowledge and wisdom.

I then stacked my cards and created my mandala.  This one is strange.  I get the sense of lots of action as well as a sense of permanence, as if the Gnomes were standing stones and the White Dragon was circling around the sleeping Bears, both striving to protect the Bears and prevent them from being disturbed.  The Gnomes are looking right at me, and I am reminded of my experience just before my last session of Shadow Work and the words, “You shall not pass!”  The White Dragon watches as well, but he is more mobile, more ready to take action.    Being protected and well-grounded are all good things, and connecting to the knowledge, information and wisdom of the physical world is important for a physical being.  However, if I focus too much I might miss the forest for the trees.  Aha! Moments don’t knock on the door to let us know they are there.  They slide under the door and wait quietly in a corner for us to notice them; and if we don’t see them, we miss them!

Last night finished off with a lovely rainbow as the sun was preparing to set.  Today, I spent the day out in the sunshine, working in my beloved garden.  My privets are trimmed nicely, and the grass is cut.  There are blossoms on the clematis, and the rest of the camellia blooms have opened.  Columbine and lunaria are sprinkled everywhere, and there are buds on the iris.  Wild hyacinth and lilies of the valley, and even one rose blossom has opened; rose buds are everywhere, and will be blooming soon.  My wisteria has blossoms!! 

Plus, the robin who successfully raised four young’uns returned and is sitting on her nest in the wisteria.  She is well-hidden, but somehow a raven found her and has been harassing her all day.  I chased him away twice, but I won’t be here all week to look after them.  Survival of the fittest is the rule of the day, but I will keep my fingers crossed that she will be okay.

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The Hanging Man reversed/King of Pentacles reversed. The Hanging Man corresponds with Water (cold/binds and wet/adapts, and emotional, sensitive and imaginative energy that tends to move deep, and attempts to take the same path as in the past), Neptune (inspiration, spirituality, magick, enchantment, dreams, altered states), and the Hebrew letter Mem (water, stability and balance, the reflective quality of thought); this card is about surrender, about seeing things in a new way, and about putting aside my Will.  This is not a card of action, and it has been showing up lately.  My Hanging Man is reversed, so he is encouraging me to not think out of the box.  Action is the word of the day. The King of Pentacles (cusp of Aries, “I want,” action oriented, assertive, competitive, and Taurus, “I have,” sensual, stubborn, cautious, physically oriented) is the expert on the physical world, on physical world resources, and on physical manifestation.  Upright, my King would be encouraging me to focus on the physical world and its slower and more predictable effects, but since my King is reversed, I am being encouraged to act even if there is not a plan in place.  In some ways, these two are somewhat supporting each other.

My Thoth card is the Two of Cups. Aaaah, “Love”!  Not Major Arcana love, but love all the same. The Two of Cups (Venus, beauty, allure, relationships, in Cancer, “I feel,” sensitive, family and home oriented, tenacious, moody) is about love and connections, usually about relationships and commonalities.  This card tells of favorable connections of all kinds, even business connections, but more likely having to do with caring and respect and love.  Perhaps this is alchemic love, chemistry.  Hey, I’ll take it!

My Legacy card is the Nine of Cups reversed, flavored by the Four of Swords reversed. The Nine of Cups (cusp of Aquarius, “I know,” friendships, the group, cause-oriented, and Pisces, “I believe,” feelings, duality, suffering, soul growth) is about emotional satisfaction and the ability to find pleasure in my feelings and in my expectations for the day.  The upright Nine of Cups tells of nourishment, fertile surroundings, luck and romance, but since my Nine is reversed, those things may not be a big part of my day.  That’s not bad, it just means that today is not a day for wishing.  The Four of Swords reversed is flavoring my reversed Nine and kind of reinforces this.  The upright Four of Swords (Jupiter, expansiveness and growth, justice, fortune, in Libra, “We are,” partnerships, balance, cooperation) can represent a pause or truce, but that’s not what today is about. 

My 6-digit date number is 6, the number of vertical and horizontal balance.

My horoscopes: “You have a natural ability to accomplish a great deal rather easily, Sagittarius. But today you may feel snowed under with projects. Things around you might be moving quickly, and perhaps you're having difficulty dealing with it all. For once, try to take it easy. You don't need to struggle all the time in order to be accepted by the world. Lighten up!”

And: “You will find this day agreeable. There is a great dynamic energy in the air that is helping to fuel your fire with extra logs from the woodpile. Have a good time regardless of what your daily activities are. You will find that an adventurous, high-spirited approach will get you where you need to go in every situation. You have the power to make important transformations that will aid you in the future.”

My Shadowscapes Insight is regarding the Six of Cups.  Pretty!  “They are drawn forth by her innocent chatter and by the mind that has not yet been chained by boundaries of ‘what must be’ and definitions of responsibility.”  Don’t you just love that??!  Perfect description of the energies of this card.  Today I will strive to keep my mind unchained!

Well, I must have done a good job pruning my wisteria two weekends ago, because last weekend I discovered that we have a robin who has built a nest right in the middle of the vines.  How lovely!  She does not seem to mind us sitting on the porch so far, and last Sunday I waited for her to leave the nest and checked; yup, two pretty robins-egg blue eggs in the bottom of the nest bowl.

I did a bit of research (how novel for me!), just so I would know what to expect.  Apparently, robins march to the beat of a different drummer, at least as far as procreation is concderned!

Most birds lay their eggs at dawn, but robins tend to lay their eggs mid-morning.  This is so they can eat breakfast first.  Robins have an easier time finding earthworms at dawn, and so they delay the egg-laying long enough so they can eat first.  Which makes sense; after all, producing eggs is a tough job. 

They say that robins usually lay four eggs, one each day.  Sounds like I had better check that nest again tomorrow!  The cool thing (literally) is that a mama robin may appear to be a bit neglectful for those first days, but there is a method to her madness.  She is allowing those first eggs to stay cool so that the chicks are not too much ahead of the last egg to be laid. 

Normally it’s 12 to 14 days till hatching, so by next weekend we might begin to hear some noise from tat nest.  Once they hatch, the babies will stay in the nest for anywhere from 9 to 15 days.  Once they are all hatched, we should see papa too; it takes two parents to feed four hungry babies!!

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