Tag: Divination

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for June 3rd is 58: Joy

58: Joy

Hexagram 58

General Meaning: A joy that is shared is symbolized by a group of friends playing, or a carefree young girl singing to herself while engaged in her work. Happiness is rising within, and spreading out into the world.

Joy arises through gentle means, but springs from a solid inner base. The power of pure joy should not be underestimated. The enjoyment of learning and discovery, for example, has let to great innovation and much material progress. Accordingly, that which brings the most joy into the world — love — is the source of life itself.

If happiness is supported by personal stability, it will eventually wear down the stiffest barrier and win over the hardest heart. True joy is a beacon in the world, and though it is indeed rare, its presence is an indication of great good fortune, both now and in the future. How could it be otherwise?

Today’s Runes for Sunday, June 3rd is Inguz

 

Ice Runes are most commonly used for questions about struggle, conflict, and achievement. Inguz is the rune of completion and fertility. The presence of this rune suggests that tasks which have been initiated will come to fruition. This rune is associated with Ing and Frey, it is this connection that explains its connotations of both fertility and sexuality. The variant of this rune shown here is reminiscent of the twin strands of life, and of the challenge and rewards of bringing together things complimentary.

Today’s Tarot Card for June 3rd is The Devil

The Devil

This Tarot Deck: Folklore

General Meaning: What has traditionally been known as the Devil card expresses the realm of the Taboo, the culturally rejected wildness and undigested shadow side that each of us carries in our subconscious. This shadow is actually at the core of our being, which we cannot get rid of and will never succeed in taming. From its earliest versions, which portrayed a vampire-demon, this card evoked the Church-fueled fear that a person could “lose their soul” to wild and passionate forces.

The image which emerged in the mid-1700’s gives us a more sophisticated rendition — that of the “scapegoated Goddess,” whose esoteric name is Baphomet. Volcanic reserves of passion and primal desire empower her efforts to overcome the pressure of stereotyped roles and experience true freedom of soul. Tavaglione’s highly evolved image (Stella deck) portrays the magical formula for harnessing and transmuting primal and obsessive emotions into transformative energies. As a part of the Gnostic message of Tarot, this fearsome passion and power must be reintegrated into the personality, to fuel the soul’s passage from mortal to immortal.

Today’s Runes for June 2nd is Ken

 

Jade Runes are most commonly used for questions about love, friendship, and relationships. Ken is the rune of light and knowledge, driving away darkness and ignorance and revealing hidden truth. This rune also brings forth images of friendship and comfort. Ken is the light of inspiration, the light of imagination, and a beacon in the darkest hours.

Today’s Tarot Card for June 2nd is Temperance

Temperance

This Tarot Deck: Golden Tarot

General Meaning: What is traditionally known as the Temperance card is a reference to the Soul. Classically female, she is mixing up a blend of subtle energies for the evolution of the personality. One key to interpreting this card can be found in its title, a play on the process of tempering metals in a forge.

Metals must undergo extremes of temperature, folding and pounding, but the end product is infinitely superior to impure ore mined from the earth. In this image, the soul volunteers the ego for a cleansing and healing experience which may turn the personality inside-out, but which brings out the gold hidden within the heart. (This card is entitled “Art” in the Crowley deck.)

Today’s Tarot Card for June 1 is The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man

This Tarot Deck: Lord of the Rings

General Meaning: Traditionally, the card known as the Hanged Man usually indicates a lack of ability to help oneself through independent action. This energy is arrested and awaiting judgment. With this card, there is no avenue for the will to regain control until the situation has passed.

This represents a good time to be philosophical, to study and meditate upon the position you find yourself in, and form resolutions for the moment you become free again. Only those who possess wisdom, patience and optimism will be able to see through limitations, including possible humiliation, to grasp the inspiring lesson one can gain from such an experience.

Lessons In Tarot – Lesson 8(b): The Question Tarot Reading

Lesson 8(b)

The Question Tarot Reading

A Step-By-Step Procedure

Here are the steps for a tarot reading you do for yourself based on a written question. (See lesson 8.)

  1. To begin, have ready:
    1. your written question
    2. your tarot cards
    3. the layout for the spread you have chosen
    4. the card and spread information pages, if desired
  2. Setting the mood
    1. Prepare the environment according to personal preference.
    2. Sit down with some empty space in front of you.
    3. Relax and still your mind. Breathe deeply several times.
  3. Asking your question
    1. Remove cards from container.
    2. Hold cards cupped in one hand. Place other hand on top.
    3. Close your eyes.
    4. Say on opening statement out loud, if you wish.
    5. Read your question out loud, or say it from memory exactly as written.
  4. Shuffling the cards
    1. Shuffle the cards until you feel ready to stop.
    2. Concentrate on your question while shuffling, but without strain.
  5. Cutting the cards
    1. Place cards face down in front of you with short edge toward you.
    2. Cut the deck in one unplanned action as follows:
      1. Grab some number of cards from the complete pile.
      2. Drop this smaller pile to the left.
      3. Grab part of this second pile. Drop this third pile to the left.
      4. Regroup cards into one pile in any fashion.
  6. Laying out the cards
    1. Hold cards in your hand with short edge toward you.
    2. Turn over the top card as you would turn the page of a book.
    3. Lay out cards according to the spread you have chosen.
    4. Turn reversed cards around if you are not using them.
  7. Responding to the cards
    1. Note your responses to individual cards.
    2. Note your response to the whole pattern of cards.
  8. Analyzing the cards
    1. Analyze individual cards:
      1. Find the information page for the card.
      2. Read over keywords and actions.
      3. Look for actions that hit home.
      4. Write down thoughts and feelings, if you wish.
      5. Consider card orientation – upright or reversed?
    2. Analyze card relationships.
    3. Use principles of interpretation.
    4. Note additional insights.
  9. Creating the story
    1. Tell your story spontaneously out loud.
    2. Tape your story, if you wish.
  10. Writing the summary statement
    1. Think about the theme or message in your reading.
    2. Answer your question in a written summary statement (1-2 sentences).
  11. Finishing up
    1. Write down the cards and their positions.
    2. Clear the deck.
    3. Gather the cards together.
    4. Hold cards cupped in one hand. Place other hand on top.
    5. Close your eyes.
    6. Say out loud what you have learned from this reading.
    7. Express gratitude to your Inner Guide.
    8. Put cards back into container.
    9. Restore environment if necessary.
  12. Using what you have learned
    1. Decide on one or two actions to take based on the reading.
    2. Write down intended actions.
    3. Relate developments in situation to the reading.

Lessons In Tarot – Lesson 8(a): Shuffling Methods

Lesson 8(a)

Shuffling Methods

  1. Card Player’s Method
    The Card Player’s Method is commonly used to shuffle everyday playing cards. Hold about half the cards face down in each hand and intermingle them as they drop to the surface of the table. This technique mixes the cards thoroughly, but it can be awkward because most tarot cards are bigger than normal. This method is also hard on your cards. They tend to form a bend in the middle. The Card Player’s Method is effective, but somewhat mechanical in spirit. 
  2. Insertion Method
    Hold about half the deck in each hand, and insert one half in a scattered fashion down through the other half. You can hold the cards on their long or short side. This method is fast, efficient and composed with a lot of hand-to-card contact. Be careful with the edges as they can fray over time. 
  3. Cowie Push/Put Method
    In Tarot for Successful Living, Norma Cowie describes her push/put shuffling method. Her technique thoroughly mixes the cards with maximum hand contact and little or no damage. Hold the deck face down in your dominant hand. Push some cards from the top with your thumb into the other hand. Then, push again, but this time to the bottom of the new pile. Continue alternating a push to the top, then one to the bottom until all the cards have been transferred. At this point, put the entire deck back into your dominant hand and start over. This method can be difficult at first. You may push too many or drop some, but your technique will improve with practice. 
  4. Scrambling Method
    The Scrambling Method is about as basic as you can get. Spread all the cards face down on the floor or table, and start scrambling. This technique creates a good mix with few ill effects on the cards. The main drawback is that you need room. This shuffle also has a rather uncomposed feel which some find undesirable.
To Avoid Reversed Cards: To Encourage Reversed Cards:
Start with your cards all facing the same direction.
Every time you divide the deck before shuffling,
make sure the two piles stay facing the same way.		 Every time you divide the deck before shuffling,
rotate one of the piles 180 degrees.

Today’s Runes for Wednesday, May 30th is Ger

Today’s Runes

Spirit Runes are most commonly used for questions about mysticism, spirituality, and religion. Ger is one of the runes that touches on the cycles of the year, in this case the fall harvest. These cycles are eternal, which is represented in the rune by the fact that it is unchanged by reversal. Ger can represent pregnancy or other forms of fruitfulness, and is especially indicative of the cycles of providence and karma – that which has been sown is now being reaped. This rune can also represent the cycles of wealth, for crops were frequently a sign of wealth.

Today’s Tarot Card for May 30th is Wheel of Fortune

Wheel of Fortune

This Tarot Deck: Connolly

General Meaning: The central theme of what is traditionally called the Wheel of Fortune card is cyclical change. The Wheel keeps on rolling, churning events in a ceaseless progression of ups and downs, either way freeing us from the past. No one can escape its cyclical action, which can feel somewhat terrifying — no matter whether we are rising or falling. When one is balanced on top there is a moment of crystal clarity, but the only part of the Wheel not going up and down is the hub, which is your eternal Self, the Source of Freedom.

Every one of us will occupy all the points on the wheel at some time or another. The cycle of the wheel is its lesson — and we can learn to take comfort in it (as we do when we celebrate our birthday). If you don’t like the look of things right now, just wait — things will change. Of course, if you do like the look of things right now, enjoy it while it lasts, because that will change too!

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for May 29th is 41: Decrease

41: Decrease

Hexagram 41

General Meaning: Increase and decrease are part of the natural cycle of life. As spiritual author long ago put it, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.’ Like a reservoir that is being used to irrigate the fields, learning to accept a decrease in position or material possessions is part of preparing for increase in the future.

We may live in materialistic times, but there is no disgrace in material decrease, particularly if it represents an investment in future gain — even if that gain be in the form of one’s education or the development of personal character. Likewise, the inner strength that comes from bearing loss can be balanced by a corresponding increase in inner strength and insight — as in the expression ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ When letting go of attachment and personal demands leads to a greater simplicity in daily life, good fortune often comes calling.

In nature, the lake evaporates to form the clouds that drop the rain that nurtures the surrounding forest. As the forest grows thick, more rain is captured for the lake. Similarly, an ‘evaporation’ or decrease in one area of your life, may give rise to an eventual increase in another. A loss of responsibility at work can mean more free time; more free time may generate more career options. A period of decrease is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact, it can free the spirit and fill the soul.

Be mindful of the lesson of young lovers: even with a minimum of possessions, feelings of the heart can bring an unsurpassed richness to life. The smallest of actions, if sincere, have value. So remain confident, for a time of decrease may actually bode good fortune, especially if you remain open to that possibility.

Let go of frustration, resistance and regret over whatever may be going down at this time. Accept the cycle, and remember what goes down must come up.

Today’s Rune for Tuesday, May 29th is Inguz

Jade Runes are most commonly used for questions about love, friendship, and relationships. Inguz is the rune of completion and fertility. The presence of this rune suggests that tasks which have been initiated will come to fruition. This rune is associated with Ing and Frey, it is this connection that explains its connotations of both fertility and sexuality. The variant of this rune shown here is reminiscent of the twin strands of life, and of the challenge and rewards of bringing together things complimentary.

Today’s Tarot Card for May 29th is The Anchoret

The Anchoret

 

This Tarot Deck: Cagliostro

General Meaning:The challenge of what has traditionally been known as the Hermit card is to be able to recognize a teacher in a humble disguise. This font of mysterious knowledge will not make it easy for the student to acquire his wisdom, as it takes time and long contemplation to fathom what he knows. He often speaks wordlessly, or in ancient and barbaric tongues, communicating with the elements, animals and Nature herself.While the hourglass was an identifying feature on the earliest Hermit cards, more modern ones have shifted the metaphor, showing more or less light released from his lantern. In either case, the Hermit card reminds us of the value of time away from the hubbub of civic life, to relax the ego in communion with Nature.

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for May 27th is 13: Fellowship

13: Fellowship

Hexagram 13

General Meaning: Fellowship. When communal bonds unite people, great success is possible. But such bonds can develop only when personal interests are subordinated to goals that serve the greater good of all. The broader the basis for action, the greater the benefits that can be achieved. And conversely, the greater the potential good, the more powerful the support behind it. A spirit of cooperation steadies the boat, but it helps to have a beautiful island to row towards.

Learn to respect the strength in diversity, for a community’s true power lies not in its numbers, but in the diverse skills and resources of its members. Just as the stoutest walls are reinforced with many different materials, so the strongest groups allow differences to co-exist inside the whole.

With a unified group solidly behind you, even difficult enterprises can be attempted without great risk

Today’s Rune for Sunday, May 27th is Man

 

Spirit Runes are most commonly used for questions about mysticism, spirituality, and religion. Man represents Mankind. This rune evokes the image that although we must make much of our way in the world on our own, there is nevertheless an entire populous that shares similar experiences. Thus, this rune represents the relationship of the self with the whole – working together we can produce great results. Additionally, Man speaks to intellect and culture that separate us from the animals.

Today’s Tarot Card for May 27th is The Chariot

The Chariot

This Tarot Deck: Art Nouveau

General Meaning: Traditionally, the card usually entitled the Chariot points to a triumphal feeling of freedom, as if the charioteer is being paraded through the streets as a hero (or heroine). The card reflects congratulations for high achievement, and serves as a sign of empowerment.

Huge wheels and frisky steeds speed the rate at which the driver’s willpower can be realized. This kind of charge makes more of the world accessible to anyone ambitious enough to seize the Chariot’s reins. But there is danger in this feeling of freedom, because of the increased rate of change and its power to magnify mistakes in judgment. As a seasoned warrior, the Charioteer is called upon to be extra attentive to the way ahead.

Today’s Tarot Card for May 26th is The Lovers

The Lovers

This Tarot Deck: African Tarot

General Meaning: Although it has taken on a strictly romantic revision of meaning in some modern decks, traditionally the Lovers card of Tarot reflected the challenges of choosing a partner. At a crossroads, one cannot take both paths. The images on this card in different decks have varied more than most, because we have had so many ways of looking at sex and relationships across cultures and centuries.

Classically, the energy of this card reminded us of the real challenges posed by romantic relationships, with the protagonist often shown in the act of making an either-or choice. To partake of a higher ideal often requires sacrificing the lesser option. The path of pleasure eventually leads to distraction from spiritual growth. The gratification of the personality eventually gives way to a call from spirit as the soul matures.

Modern decks tend to portray the feeling of romantic love with this card, showing Adam and Eve at the gates of Eden when everything was still perfect. This interpretation portrays humanity before the Fall, and can be thought to imply a different sort of choice — the choice of evolution over perfection, or the choice of personal growth through relationship — instead of a fantasy where everything falls into place perfectly and is taken care of without effort.

Today’s I Ching Hexagram for May 25th is 30: Clinging like fire

30: Clinging Like Fire

Hexagram 30

General Meaning: Flames cling to their source of fuel in order to keep the fire burning. Likewise, in the human world, emotional attachment results from everything that radiates light or warmth is dependent upon something else. Through these dependencies we can see that all things are related, each thing to the other. Awareness of your own dependency on others is the key that unlocks the door to your true place in the world. No woman is an island.

Fire is also a symbol of liberation — sending out crackling molecules that fly away from home. Paradoxically, by clinging to what is balanced and true, we gain inner freedom.

Given perseverance on your part, this hexagram indicates success. In spite of challenges, cling to what is luminous in yourself, in others, and in life itself, never forsaking your belief in what is right. When events seem foreboding, or people seem oppressive, remember the good that has been and is yet to be. Holding to this idea is to cling to the power of the light and love within you.

Today’s Runes for Friday, May 25th is Hagalaz

Today’s Runes

Ice Runes are most commonly used for questions about struggle, conflict, and achievement. Hagalaz is the rune of hail. Hail is a destructive and elemental force, so one can expect this rune to represent the disruption of one’s life. In the harsh northern winter there is a halt to activity, and so delay or hindrance is frequently associated with this rune. The opposite of chaos is yet more chaos, as illustrated by the fact that this rune cannot be reversed.

Today’s Tarot Card for May 25th is The Hierophant

The Hierophant

 

This Tarot Deck: Ukiyoe

General Meaning: Traditionally known as the Hierophant, this card refers to a Master and the learning of practical lessons from the study of Natural Law. This energy of this card points to some agent or resource that can reveal the secrets of life, the cycles of the moon and tides, the links between human beings and the heavens.

Because monasteries were the only places a person could learn to read and write in the middle ages, a Hierophant was one to whom a student would petition for entry. He was the one to set the curriculum for the neophyte’s course of study.

Often pictured with the right hand raised in blessing, the Hierophant is linked with the ancient lineage of Melchezidek, initiator of the Hebrew priestly tradition, the one who passes on the teachings. All shamans of any tradition draw upon this archetype.