fionabeth13

Curious cards

It began with a daily exercise through Nicole Cody’s site Cauldrons and Cupcakes (https://cauldronsandcupcakes.com/).  I needed to use oracle cards and had never heard of these before.  It may be useful to know at this point that the mainstream faith culture I am grown from treats such things as taboo and dangerous so ordering my first pack felt like a sneaky adolescent rebellion, a  cigarette at the back of the playing fields.  I chose a pack of Doreen Virtue’s angel cards, Mary Queen of Angels as the images were familiar and I could relate to the themes. IMG_0463

Since then I have acquired other oracle decks and have begun exploring tarot too.  I’ve found Little Red Tarot (http://littleredtarot.com/) helpful at presenting a fresh approach and thoughtful insights to this process and have registered for Beth’s excellent eight lesson course to help me to take the next steps.

As part of this learning it’s good to draw cards daily and reflect on them, write about them, share them.  Ta da!  Here are yesterday and today’s cards.

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This card, from the Natures’ Whispers oracle deck by Angela Hartfield shows a tiny person resting peacefully.  They are both supported and surrounded by the leaf which is carrying them down a gentle stream.  The candles suggest guardian lights illuminating the journey even though she sleeps and the rainbow swirls in the water remind me of pleasant dreams.  The card reminds me of the need to rest, to take a break, to spend time recuperating.  This is apt at present as I’m still getting over a bout of labyrinthitis and it is just after the end of a busy term.  I put the card on the mantel shelf to remind me.

Today I was using the Angel Tarot deck from Doreen Virtue and Radleigh Valentine (http://www.angeltherapy.com/oracle-cards).  I didn’t shuffle the cards today (I find it difficult to shuffle them like playing cards as they are large and of a good thick card).  Instead I swirled them around on the table top (as suggested in The Alternative Tarot course – http://tarotcourse.littleredtarot.com/).  This was really good fun.  I then sat quietly with my eyes closed and asked my question which, most days is along the lines of “What do I need to know today?”.  Then I take a card.  This is still new to me and I always wonder what will arrive.

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And it was this.  Which made me smile and also made me think I really should be listening to this message!  The unicorn is resting while the others watch over her, she is surrounded by peaceful, golden light.  The forest is calm and the leaf shown at the bottom of the card reminded me of the leaf holding the little sleeper (above).

It can be very difficult to make the time for rest and refreshment.  Even our leisure activities in busy lives can become another set of goals and achievements.  My practice is now to take  a few minutes each evening to stand barefoot in the garden and reconnect to the earth. And breathe.

fionabeth13

The end and the beginning

I don’t always know when that point is, the crossover between one state and another, the watershed.  It isn’t always marked by a date on the calendar or a celebration, it is like the pause between breaths.

And here we are in a new place.  The shift is subtle and slow, momentary thoughts when you find yourself in a familiar place, a sense of tightness, like outgrown clothes.  Seemingly chance conversations or encounters send me in  a different direction.

It started with the moon.  I had never noticed the moon before, she was there, I knew the explanation for her, but I had never seen her, never noticed that luminescence and grace.  That was three years ago.  From there the path twisted on, so that I noticed her more and more, sought her out, began to learn about her cycles and phases, began to wonder how they might affect my own rhythms.

Then I began to reconnect with the earth’s cycles.  The seasons were suddenly thrown into sharp relief and the backdrop of nature stopped being a wallpaper blur on my drive to work and I could see the vibrant, breathing beauty of it.  I began to wonder how this pattern might play out in my own life.

And it goes on.  And on.  We can talk about this later.  But this is how it began.  Learning to breathe, to feel a rhythm, the slow drum of the planet’s heart beat, underpinning everything.  And learning to listen.