Time passes much to quickly...

It's been far too long. It's been a busy few couple of months for me. I've been working on some business ideas and getting some seed money going.

I'm sorry that I haven't had a post, however I promise to have a tarot posting or two up this weekend.

I can't believe I missed posting for Samhain. I should be ashamed of myself.

Time to get busy

There are very few things I believe I need in life to be happy.

• Seeing my children grow up happy and healthy. Check.
• Someone to share life with, someone who offers me endless love, support, and loyalty. Check.
• A roof over my head and food on my table. Check.
• A career that offers job security, good benefits, and excellent pay. Not so much.

I will say that I believe I have good job security where I work. However it is a far cry from a career. It’s just a job, and it gets me by. I live pay check to pay check and sometimes I’m lucky if I even make it that far. I am offered meager health benefits, no retirement or 401K, no stock options, etc. I bust my ass every day and receive no respect or appreciation in return. The more work I do the more they expect, and have often been yelled at and berated in front of the whole office.

Why do I stick around? I have often asked myself this, but in a time of economic hardship where unemployment is at an all time high, I’m not willing to take the risk to leave my current secure job for one that could evaporate with no warning.

I’ve realized that all I am doing is working to help someone else build their business. I will see no returns from my efforts aside from my weekly paycheck; I won’t be able to retire from this job knowing that I have built something, left my legacy. I will never have anything to leave to my kids if I stay where I am.

I have known for quite some time that I want to own my own business. And the further along I get into the process of writing my business plan, considering funding, searching for grants, and the overall planning the more anxious I feel. I know it won’t be easy, and it will be much more work than what I do now, but it’s what I feel I’m meant to do. It’s a drive so strong that since I have started it more than 2 years ago, I haven’t given up on it, gotten bored with the idea, or just decided it was going to be too difficult. Granted it shouldn’t have taken me 2 years to get as far as I have, but there was a period of time where it was set on the back burner, like many other things.

I always want to go at things full force. I want to go big in the beginning. I’m learning that I can’t do that now; I’m going to have to start small, and build my way up. It’s a bit frustrating because I have so many ideas that I want to see come to fruition right away, so many things that will be beneficial to the business and help draw customers in. Alas, starting small is the first step.

It's time to make a future for myself and my loved ones, time to make my mark, time to get my ass in gear.

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. - Nolan Bushnel

An Introduction to the Tarot Deck

I have been fascinated by the tarot as long as I can remember. As a child my mother had a Rider-Waite deck and even as young as 8 or 9 years old, I remember spending hour after hour shuffling through those cards, looking at the colorful images, wondering what they meant and making up my own stories about the pictures portrayed in each card. I wish now that I had taken the time to learn the cards when I was much younger, but I saw them as whimsical fantasy and my mother never really took them seriously.

I love the diversity of tarot in how each deck is different. Symbolism in each card being similar yet portrayed in different ways. I currently own 3 decks and am always looking to pick up new ones. I have been using Sharman-Caselli Tarot deck to learn. The images are an update to the Rider-Waite (RW) deck so it's easy to use any basic tarot guide to learn since most guides are based on the RW deck. I also own the The Arthurian Legend Tarot which I picked up at a used book store. Beautiful but difficult for a beginner. Recently I acquired a set of Deviant Moon Tarot, interesting images that are a complete 180 from the RW.

For the purpose of keeping things simple, I'm only going to post images from the Sharman-Caselli deck. I think trying to learn more than one deck at a time will be overly complicated and confusing.

One of the things I like to do before sitting down with my deck is to do a brief meditation. Just something to clear the mind, cleanse ones energy, and find a connection to the cards. An extensive meditation session isn't necessary, just a quick five minutes or so does the trick.

Before starting with individual cards I think it's important to talk about the deck as a whole. Each deck generally contains 78 cards divided into two suits. Major arcana (trump cards) and Minor arcana (suit cards).

Major arcana is a set of 22 cards, and most commonly contain the following:

• I - The Fool
• II - The Magician
• III - The High Priestess
• IV - The Empress
• V - The Emperor
• VI - The Hierophant
• VII - The Lovers
• VIII - The Chariot
• IX - Justice
• X - The Hermit
• XI - Wheel of Fortune
• XII - Strength / Fortitude
• XIII - The Hanged Man
• VIX - Death
• XV - The Devil
• XVI - The Tower
• XVII - The Star
• XVIII - The Moon
• XIX - The Sun
• XX - Judgement
• XXI - The World

The Minor arcana is broken into 4 suits of 14 cards

• Pentacles (sometimes seen as Coins, Shields, or Diamonds) - Cards Ace through King
• Wands (sometimes seen as Staves, Rods, Spears, or Clubs) - Cards Ace through King
• Cups (sometimes seen as Hearts) - Cards Ace through King
• Swords (sometimes seen as Spades) - Cards Ace through King

So what do these cards mean? As with most things in the occult there is always symbology involved, a deeper meaning to what is seen on the surface.

Fire - Wands - Intuition

The suit of wands represent the element of fire. Fire is the energy that is called intuition. It is the spark of creativity, the feeling of inspiration, the ability to make sense out of passing thought. Fire is an active, masculine and life-giving power. It requires the other elements of earth, water, and air to keep it balanced and to give it form. Let's look at the suit of Wands. I've chosen the Ace of Wands to reference.



Here we see prominence in the colors. Reds, golds, yellows and orange all symbolize the element of fire. Other symbols to look for in the fire suits: Salamanders and flames.

Water - Cups - Feeling

The suit of wands represents the element of water. Water is the feelings and emotions that are constantly shifting. In cups the water refers mainly to personal relationships and the personal life, it deals with experiences and realities that are emotional and sometimes illogical and volatile. Just as unconstrained fire can burn out of control, so can unconstrained water rise up and drown that which is valuable within.

In the suit of cups you will see watery blues and pale pinks that represent the calmness and serenity of water. Other elements to look for in the water suit: Streams, rivers, fountains, fish, mermaids.


You may also notice the hands in each picture. Where the hand holding the wand is a strong, masculine hand, you will notice the hand holding the cup is more delicate and feminine. This also denotes the difference in masculine/femininity in the suits.

Air - Swords - Intellect

The suit of swords is connected with strife and difficulty. The element of air seek out truth and logic. The cutting edge represents the thought process and cuts through illusion and deception, even when it can have a painful outcome. We use thought to clarify our minds and sort through emotions. When confused we need the sharp edge of the sword to cut through to the truth.



You will see ice blues, greys, and pale mauves in this suit. Not to be confused with the colors of the cups suit. You will also see birds, butterflies and cloud formations.

Earth - Pentacles - Sensation

The earth is the base from which we grow. It's a symbol of our bodies, being, and physical needs. A pentacle symbol, the five pointed star is symbolic of the earthy magic that is found everyday in our bodies, in nature and our world.

Symbols you will see in the pentacles suit: small animals as well as flowers and fruit. Colors of greens and browns are prominent.

I believe this is a good bit of information to start with. Study each of the suits and become familiar with the images and what they associate with. Look for the fire symbology in the wands, see the masculine fire, the reds, yellows and oranges. Remember this symbolizes the creative spark and intuition. Study how cups shows the flow of emotion and the colors of pales blues and pinks and feminine influence are prominent in these cards, etc.

Next post we will look at symbolism in the cards. Rivers, buildings, clouds, etc.


Some information in this post provided from The New Complete Book of Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke

Autumn is a second spring, when every leaf is a flower.

Merry and Bright Mabon!

The autumnal equinox has come and gone. Mabon fell on September 23rd this year, and I'm a day late in getting my post up. I have to say however, that I am so happy to see autumn here. It is absolutely my favorite time of the year. I love the feel of the brisk mornings and the amazing colors. Although autumn is the time when the leaves begin to die, the earth comes alive with color, the trees look as if they are on fire.

"How beautifully the leaves grow old. How full of light and color in their last days." -John Burroughs

I am fortunate to live in the Tennessee Valley where we are surrounded by mountains. Fall is always so beautiful here, I hate to see it come to an end as the last leaves flutter to the ground.

Mabon

The Autumnal Equinox signals the descent of the Goddess into her long winter sleep. We see the decline of nature and the coming winter. We reap the benefits of our sowing and planting. At the moment of the Equinox the sun's strength diminishes until the Winter Solstice and the day and night are of equal length. From this point on the days become shorter, and the nights longer.

Mabon is a witch's thanksgiving, our time to appreciate and give thanks to the Goddess for her bounty and to share in the joys of the harvest and pay our respects to the impending dark. Even if you don't grow your own food and buy only from the grocery store, those things come from the earth as well. Now is also the time to give thanks for a our personal growth and harvests through out this year. We celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth

Mabon Symbology: Wine, acorns, seeds, grains, apples, ivy vines, horn of plenty, pine cones
Mabon Foods: Breads, nuts, vegetables from the soil such as potatoes, carrots, and onions
Mabon Herbal: Thistle, rose, sage, passion flower, marigold, myrrh, honeysuckle, ferns, acorn, saffron, almond leaves, chamomile, yarrow.
Mabon Colors: Red, russet, orange, brown, gold, orange
Mabon Incense: Pine, sage, myrrh, marigold, fern.
Mabon Celebration: Harvest the fruits of your labor. Gather your herbs and vegetables from your gardens and don't forget to scatter an offering of thanks back to the soil. Offer libation to trees, offerings of ciders, wines, herbs, and fertilizers are appropriate.

Happy Equinox and Harvest Home!
Bright Blessings to all!

A step back on the path... (again)

I fear I accidentally deleted my last post. But just so everyone knows, as few as you may be, I have a new post coming in the next few days. I was away from my blog for quite awhile but will be updating regularly.