Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! —

Whether you’re happily single,  newly paired, married for a zillion years, or looking for a partner,  I wanted to share my article on

Five Ways to Bring Love Back to Valentine’s Day

Remember… love isn’t something other people give you (not even if they have roses or really awesome chocolates)  it’s in you always… it IS you… always…

valentine17

 

 

 

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Magical Twilight; card of the week 19th January 2016

card 1.19.2016

 

This i-Ching hexagram #36  sometimes called “twilight” or  “darkening of the light” relates to a similar theme we saw last week (don’t rush into motion, there might not be anything you can DO) and the re-view, re-negotiate, and be thoughtful themes of this month’s  mercury retrograde.   “Twilight” speaks of an especially fortunate time for  continuing to guard steady, amazing progress by sticking to our personal integrity and letting go instead of leaping into fevered motion.

When the twilight comes it’s a magical time of evening with fireflies glowing and stars beginning to shine.   But it’s also a time between rest and motion when visibility is low and when  not all the little day-creatures have found their safe nests.   Bound by day and night, the land between these two worlds creates the need for caution and consideration.     After all, you don’t want to be the day-mouse darting around haphazardly  under the watchful eyes of a night owl.

(this picture painted on a tiny wooden disc makes it hard to see – but there’s a little mouse peeking out of a hole)

This week, appreciate the beauty of the transitional energy underway.  Count the fireflies and stars, but be mindful about what you’re doing. Don’t get lured out of your nest before the time is right and don’t scurry without direction or a flashlight.  Even if you find yourself going to lots of social engagements, you’ll do best if you keep yourself grounded in your own immovable core as you have a good time or as you bring your wisdom and friendship to those who are having a tough go.

This week is not about dimming your PERSONAL light or living in the dark!   In fact,  this is a great week to think about ways in which you can stay true to yourself  without getting all caught up in what’s going on.  If you’re true to yourself  then your light can really shine the way it’s meant to and you’ll have way more fun that way.

Twilight hexagram is also about not always going along with what’s popular.     Conventional thinking  could lead you down a road that is just not YOU. The masses can be right about a lot of things but there’s also time when the conventional wisdom around you might suggest the most basic “little me” ego way to see the world – for example:    —   don’t try to understand another person’s pain or experience – ditch ‘em!  — don’t think about what role you played in things, blame someone else!  You shouldn’t have to be kind or loving, the person in the wrong should do it!

Think twice before you let what’s popular or common  define your direction.    You might even  find yourself swimming against the Zeitgeist this week.   Think about all those scientists who were laughed at; of Copernicus who had the crazy notion that the Earth revolves around the sun, and how very much AGAINST the grain of popular thinking that once was.

Yes, the  twilight brings dimmer light and with it, it’s harder to see far ahead and harder to connect the dots and see how everything fits together but sometimes it’s not important to see how it all fits and to trust the Heavens in their sparkling, infinite array of stars and potential ahead.   You’re safe, you’re you and you have an important light to bring to the world!

 

Have a great week!

About this deck: I made this oracle many years ago using wooden discs painted with wood pencils, varnish, and wood enamels.       It is inspired by the  I-CHING  or “Book of Changes” dating back to end of the second millennium BCE, it’s also one of the oldest books in recorded history.     The I-Ching comprises a set of 64 hexagrams (6 lines each)  which  represent all the possible six-line combinations  of yin/yang energy.   Yin and Yang energy are the dualistic building blocks of the universe;  feminine/masculine, active/passive, light/dark, etc.     Each hexagram is made up of two of the 8 “Hua” Trigrams that represent the classical  fundamental elements and which were said, in legend, to have been inspired when the first  Emperor of China Fu Hsi had visions related to the lines and dashes on a turtle’s back.   Because of some of the legends surrounding it, scholars believe some of the “I-Ching” material pre dates recorded history in Ancient China.

Electric Blue Moons; Card of the Week 11th January 2016

 

card 1.11.2016

 

 

 

This week’s card, Impatience (Electric Moon) from Tori Hartman’s Chakra Wisdom Oracle cards is so interesting because a lot of folks seem to be experiencing a huge influx of “I want to do it….and do it all… right now!” energy that came in with the New Year.   There’s lots of things pending and lots of sources of both positive and seemingly negative anxiety sources and we want to barrel through it all at once and get it  done.     Thankfully, this isn’t a feeling I get very often (I’m usually more on the methodical-tree-sloth-molasses end of the energy spectrum)   but boy have I been zapped with it this week.

Each image in this deck has an associated spiritual fable by Tori Hartman and her spiritual guides and in one, our protagonist Etan can’t wait for the dawn so he decides to figure out a way to light up the night sky even though the Sky God assures him that the dawn will come, and the sun will come back up…. and he does it with a used (electric) moon. Unfortunately, the electric moon doesn’t work out that great, and like the old rabbit-ear TV’s of the 70s, it just wouldn’t stay lit unless he is holding the cord.   Even though the Sky God tells him to let go,  let go of that cord,  that the dawn will come….

*spoiler alert***  does the sun come up and does dawn arrive? Yes it does!

It’s tempting to want to leap into action or to take shortcuts (or seeming shortcuts) to make something we want come sooner or to make it all seem to be under our control, but this simply isn’t always possible.   This week, thinking and making decisions from a mental or emotional landscape of “I don’t have enough, I don’t have it when I want it” won’t go very well.  Hasty decisions, rush jobs, or MacGyvering electric moons aren’t going to light the way any faster.   It’s time to trust the dawn, let go of the cord, and slow down.

This is a good week to work in service of the Mercury Retrograde (“re-think, re-organise, re-view”) fairies and to remember that the dawn is a wonderful, awesome, revealing and successful time coming for you!

 

About this deck:    Tori Hartman’s Chakra Wisdom Oracle is illustrated by Gretchen Raisch-Baskin and it’s a fabulous re-tooling of the Colour Wisdom oracle.  We’re back to weekly cards –   and some new features and changes will be happening on the page in coming weeks.  I’ll be reintroducing deck reviews and book reviews and changing some features around as I plan to change the blog and main site too.  (astronomy page and other side pages will be back in a new form)