The Contract Tarot – Ace of Virtues & Cosmic Principles

The Ace of Virtues & Cosmic Principles (VCP) is the seed of the rest of the suit. This contains everything that you will see in the next 13 cards.

Let’s look at the card more closely.

The keyword you see is Love. Love encapsulates everything relating to emotions or relationships. It is the crux of all. You either have an abundance of love or an absence of love and this will be seen as we progress.

The heart (the organ most associated with love) on a background of celtic knots (endlessness) and the golden (associated with divinity) mandarin ducks (mate for life) fill the internal V-shape. A bed of red roses (desire) is at the base. Above the ‘C’ are the symbols for Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer. Above the ‘P’ is the symbol for Water.

The flower on each leg of the ‘V’ are white (wholeness, purity) and yellow (wisdom). These flowers stay the same throughout the deck.

The Tree of Life path is Kether (crown) in Beriah (creation).

What do you see in this card? How would you interpret it?

Until tomorrow… Love, light and blessings!

27: Trailblazing… news of progress

I started researching and learning Tarot to write a book based on the Tarot. However, the more I look, read, research, the more I really love Tarot.

I’m still writing a book… the muse has spoken and will not leave me alone until I do. As part of this project, however, I realised I would need to create my own deck and it’s a bit radical. Again, these cards have been inspired by my muse and I have seen them in my dreams.

I have created three cards so far: The Fool, Death and The Universe. I thought I’d share them with you here. Please note that while this deck is based on Thoth Tarot, it is a blend of Tarot and Lenormand Oracle and, if you are familiar with Lenormand decks, you’ll understand what I mean as soon as you see the cards.

I’d love your comments and/or thoughts about them. As I progress with the project, I’ll share more here just so you know why I haven’t been posting for a day or two (bar health issues).

Okay… here comes The Fool

the next one is Death:

and the final one is The Universe:

Until tomorrow…Love, light and blessings!

25: Trailblazing… managing expectations

I woke up this morning to a forecast of winter returning next week for a short visit! How could that be? I was expecting that Spring had truly sprung and winter was but a distant memory! It’s not unusual to have winter in April here.

You might think that my expectations for weather are pretty silly… and you’re probably right. What struck me about the thoughts that ensued weren’t that they were silly expectations, it was that I had any expectation at all and that it had been in my thoughts unabated and quietly forming without any real conscious effort on my part. Imagine that… unabated and quiet thoughts forming without conscious effort! Humph!

This brings about the awareness that, while I realise that manifestation starts with thoughts and that I have been making a concerted effort to control my thought process, the expectation that I could do that with any real success may be just as silly as my expectations about the weather.

Our minds work with such complexity on so many levels that, to control our thoughts, is nearly an impossibility. But like an AA meeting, awareness and admission are the first steps to conquering whatever is taking over your life.

So, how do I manage my expectations? Expectation is like a virus that plants itself and seeks to replicate itself as quickly as possible and overwhelm your defences. An antibiotic won’t do. There is no pill to take, no medication to take that will control this virus.

Perhaps the best way to manage expectation is to become aware of it in the first place as it works away quietly in the background trying to hide away from your radar. Once you become aware it is happening, you make a choice: is this expectation important and valid or is it folly and unnecessary?

If it is the latter, choose to let it go with love. You can say, “Thank you, but I don’t need to worry about this anymore.” The expectation was there to alert you to something for consideration. It has done its job well. Let it go. It is unnecessary.

Whew! Now that should cover about 99% of expectations I have. I can clear that cache from my memory banks. Now, back to work… ♥

Today, I have drawn The Fool – 0. I am using the Thoth Tarot illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris.

 What an appropriate card for today. This card is about creative potential and trust.

Letting go of expectation and trusting that all will be well is exactly what I need to do today. He is fertile, thought, infinity, trust, abundance, creativity, potential, everything and nothing. He is the end and the beginning.

He ends the last cycle and begins afresh with new eyes, new dreams, new creative potential. He is sure of his way because his faith/trust is so strong. This is such a lovely card that supports creative pursuits.

Let’s look at this card a little more closely. The Fool is wearing a diamond on top of his head which represents Kether – the Crown of the Tree of Life. Behind this is a rainbow halo which symbolises the enlightenment that Kether provides. He has yellow skin which is the colour of Air, the attribute associated with him. His yellow horns signify creative force and his yellow shoes signify the Sun, the creative light of life. He wears a green tunic and tights. Green is the colour of the fertile Earth. He wears the symbol of the Sun at his root chakra and this not only signifies the creative potential of the genitals, it also represents base human consciousness like a newborn babe. He holds in his left hand what looks to be like a pinecone on fire, a firebrand that travels over his head to meet the cup he holds in his right hand. This cup has a pyramid base and a bowl. He is emptying the contents onto the ground. The firebrand signifies creative fire, the pyramid base is the male phallus and the bowl is the female womb.

Behind the Fool is a background of yellow diamonds. Yellow is the colour of Air and the diamonds tie this to Kether. An arrangement of flowers can be seen between the Fool’s legs. One is a white rose, the other four are lilies. The infants below the flowers represent the ‘solar twins’ found in the Lovers and the Sun. A rainbow-hued spiral circles three times around the fool. This is attached to his heart chakra and is the link between the higher and lower energies of the chakra system.

A dove, vulture and butterfly fly towards the Fool’s heart. The dove,  the female symbol of Venus and the male influence of Yod (20 rays of light), is thus a hermaphrodite, and signifies the descent of spirit to matter. The vulture represents Mut, the Egyptian Mother-goddess, the creator of all things. The butterfly represents the soul and the symbol of Air. This represents the soul entering the unborn babe in the womb. The Fool is, like a newborn babe, trusting and full of potential.

There is a strange image on the spiral over the Fool’s left rib cage. It looks like it has pinecone head and the body of a caduceus supported by the blade of a sword. The caduceus and the sword are symbols of air. The pinecone suggests a Thyrsus, the staff of Dionysus, a symbol of creative energy.

The grapevine that sprouts from the Fool’s heart chakra ties this figure to Bacchus and Dionysus. Suspended from this grapevine is a bag of coins. The symbols on the coins are for the planets and the zodiac and represent the powers potentially available for the Fool to use.

Finally, a tiger and a crocodile are apparent near the base of this image. The tiger represents Leo. The color is reddish-yellow and this represents the world of Assiah (action – one of the four worlds associated with the Tree of Life). The crocodile is the symbol of Saturn, the devourer and a carryover from the Universe, the end of which the Fool takes on as he initiates a new cycle.

I know, there is a lot to this Fool! He is initiating a journey of discovery and growth. He is a newborn, trusting and full of potential.

Until tomorrow… Love, light and blessings!

2: Pathfinding…

It is a vicious cycle, the more you learn, the more questions you have and the more you want to know. So it is with Tarot. The more you learn, the more the cards ‘speak’ to you, the more questions you have and the more you want to know.

For instance, knowing that Tarot is not ‘set in stone’ and knowing that people will tend towards ‘self-fulfilling prophecies’ and knowing that there is an element of ‘suggestion’ in readings, how do you help people find balance in a reading? If it is so positive that negative is not seen, or so negative that positive is hard to find, how do you help people realise that it is in their hands and they manifest their own destiny? Do you trust that the things someone hears is all they need to know and the rest will be understood in due course? Knowing that people will hear what they want and disregard the rest of the reading, do you detach yourself from it and adopt a c’est la vie attitude? These are the difficult questions to address before you being reading for other people and, when reading for yourself, to address internally as well. What is your take on these questions?

To work… today I have drawn the Princess of Disks (Reversed). This is from the Thoth Tarot illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris.

Looking at this card I am struck first by the shades of gold and yellow, the brown and bare trees in the background and the green-yellow tones of the roots, the yellow sky, the golden gown, the stave releasing golden energy through its diamond-shaped base. The hills in the background are earthy tones of muted brown and wheat colours. The princess ‘glows’ in this picture. She is curvy and her belly protrudes either because she is pregnant. Her head is crowned with a ram’s head and horns. Her cloak is enormous and undulates from her outward to embrace the entire foreground. It appears to be animal fur. It looks organic and envelopes her in a fashion that suggests it is part of who she is. The disk she holds is leaves and golden-yellow petals of a flower that has yin-yang at its centre. Her altar is behind her. She is part of the earth itself and stands confident, radiating power and control.

This card ‘speaks’ to me to remind me to be careful as I go. I have within me the power to manifest my destiny and give birth to something wonderful. It is important that I don’t squander what I am learning and doing but to treat it with responsible stewardship so I can bring life back to what was once a barren tangle of knowledge inside of me. I am wrapped in a cloak of knowing, a primal animal instinct, that will keep me safe and warm my desire to learn more. I have wand that will light my way through the tetrahedonal diamond (Kether, highest of high and the shape of carbon-based life). I carry the 36-seeds that will germinate future growth and the yin-yang of balance that will help me as I assimilate my growth.

This Princess has limitless potential. Reversed, this is a warning to me that my potential will be limited if I fail to undertake my study with intention and deliberation. She holds the power of the universe within her form and this is a reminder to me that we all have the power of the universe within us and as creators, we can manifest whatever we conceive. I take heart from this today as I go forward.

More tomorrow… Love, light and blessings!