Month: April 2021

Weekly Reading, April 25, 2021

This weeks reading using the Tarot of the Divine speaks to the two messages of building a solid mental foundation through your daily practice, whatever this means for you, and also that no matter how bad it looks, if you return to that practice and hold hope in your heart, things will get better.

The first card is the Page of Coins, in this deck represented by Beaivi Nieda, the goddess of medicine and healing from the Sami people in the Northern regions of Norway where the Sun represents and end to the long winter. This is a Sun deity who are usually male, but here since the sun brings back fertility and plants and animals its female. Her mother, Beaivi is also the goddess of mental health as long winters can impact mental health in very harsh ways.

You may be in a long winter, but you should know that the Sun will always return, and if you have set up a solid foundation of mindfulness to fortify your center, and you know how to find your center in the midst of darkness, you will be ok.

Next a slightly more extreme example – the Star represents Hope after a disaster. In this deck represented by the Russian folk tale of Alyonushka and Ivanushka, two children left all alone in the world after the death of their parents. And to make matters worse, Ivanushka turns into a goat after drinking water from a goats hoof after a period of extreme thirst. Alyonushka is strong though and she holds hope in her heart, and soon a merchant finds them and gives them a better life. (By marrying Alyonushka, so I’m not sure if that’s my definition of being saved, but I’ll go with that for now.).

Alyonushka had a strong center of hope and she prevailed, and so will you if you cultivate this strong center and have the ability to hold hope in your heart.

Finally the most extreme example in the entire Tarot of hardship – the Tower, represented here by the German fairytale of Rapunzel. Some towers are meant to fall, and after they finally fall we may actually feel relief at the chance to start over – always with our center and our foundation which will remain.

The card shows Rapunzel and the prince falling out of the tower after Rapunzel’s hair is cut off and they are found out by the Sorceress. They then spend a period of time apart and wandering the world, Rapunzel raising twins on her own and the Prince blind and lost, but they do eventually find each other again. And what’s more they are free of this tower.

Holding on to something that is not healthy is not holding on to hope, if your tower is falling, let it fall as it was never serving you in the first place. Go back to your center and rebuild, you will be stronger and happier for it. And if your tower keeps falling, you may want to look at what your using as a foundation to build it on.

the hunter 1

come near 
and I will trip over some words 

a plaid promise that weaves in and out
of different colors
until the story is told

approach and wonder 
at the moonbeams falling through trees
which point like leafy fingers
to the stars

don’t cower in the shadows
you will never be able to hear
  syllables drip from my mouth 
and hit the soft ground
like thuds of paws running In strategic stealth

kneel closer so the scent of anticipation 
looms in the still night air between us
and heated hearts draw nearer and nearer still 

Now crouch as I circle and stalk you
you’ve never felt so hunted 
I’ve never felt so close
to the prey
that I never knew I wanted

the prey that drives my thirst
and without which I’m no hunter
just another lonely stalker
on a forgotten path
to the moon

Weekly Reading, April 18, 2021

Community is Compassion + Support

This week I used a combination of the Literary Witches Oracle deck and the I Ching to explore how to connect more with the divine feminine. (For more on the tools I use please visit the tools of the locksmith page. (https://theramblinglocksmith.com/tools-of-the-locksmith/)

I’m doing this because I believe that the standard leader as an authority figure paradigm is not effective. Authority is not the only way to show strength. Compassion and community also show strength, and so I often look for ways to strengthen team leadership through inviting not only strong intentions, but the ability to be receptive.

First the Literary Witches – a teacup with Leslie Marmon Silko who represents community. When I think about sitting down for others with tea I often think of this as a way to establish community. If you are sitting down for tea, in my mind you are sitting down to share stories and listen to one another. Leslie Marmon Silko shares the stories of her own Native community of the Laguna Pueblo as well as those passed down through her own family. I love the image of sitting down with her over tea to hear all she has to share. Over the course of the pandemic I have started having some of my friend over two or three at a time for socially distanced tea in my backyard.

There are more things than just having tea that we can do to create community, a common dream, a common fight for justice, a common goal on a project or team, a common vision. The work community has the word common embedded in it. Its a shared vision, shared resources, shares support, the ability to listen to and support each other. To strengthen this reading I went to the I Ching which never disappoints me.

The first Hexagram was Hexagram 17 – Following (Lake above, Thunders Below) ( Changing lines 1 and 4). The message is that choosing to follow good influence brings supreme success. Those who want people to follow them and lead in a strong way need to speak the language of the followers.

  • Do not bend on your basic principles, but listen to the common good to form the eventual course of those you are leading.
  • Self aggrandizement and ego will only be met with resistance, a strong leader checks his/her ego and listens to those around them

Changing line 1 – When a person of vision undertakes a challenge they may need to change course. If this comes from sincere communication with those of different opinions and not just current opinion success will follow. You should be listening to those of dissenting and supporting opinions to decide when to change course, not just those who agree with you – because..

Changing line 4 – Beware of flatterers. They will have a subtle but destructive influence. An insincere viewpoint is not a helpful viewpoint, be wary of insincerity and do not consider it as part of the the overall course of action.

Listen to your community, all of your community. Have that cup of tea with those who don’t agree with you. As long as they are sincere, differing opinions are very important to sharing our visions and goals, and to creating a strong team.

The resulting hexagram from the changing lines is #8 – Holding Together – Water above, Earth Below. High level team work is achieved when the right team shares a clear goal at the right time. The relationships of a team are formed in a delicate manner, chemistry can come from shared experience.

Accept the structure of the team if you want to receive its benefits, and take the responsibility of binding people together. Create community on your team and a strong performing team is sure to follow.

Weekly Reading, April 11, 2021

This week’s cards come from The Wild Unknown Archetypes Oracle. You can read more about the tools I use on my tools of the locksmith page.

Reading from bottom to top we have the Archetype of the Mother, the source, the feminine. Next we have the Initiation of Thanatos, so pretty much death, and in this aspect of death we acknowledge its transformative nature, not just of the being that experiences the end of cycles, but for those who transition to a life without them. And last we have the Initiation of Anima Mundi, or the soul of the world, all that is, and the principle of Accept all, reject none. This last card relates well to the Universe card of the standard Tarot.

I spent a lot of energy this weekend delving into the world of Zen meditation. Trying to stay in the present moment using all of my senses, and connecting with myself as I am, which is in essence connecting with the universe. We can only make this connection when we are in the present moment, not when we are stuck in the past, and not when we are searching for the future.

I think this is what this week’s reading points to. We should acknowledge where we have come from, but release any power the past holds over us. We should hold hope for the future, but try to stay in the present moment. In doing so we can find our place in the Anima Mundi.

How will you try to stay in the present moment this week? Where you find your connection with the Anima Mundi?

The third step

the 3rd step was not the first step
but I took it anyway

slowly but with strong willed intention
my surefooted strength found solidity
not on rooted ground
but in a step
   on a stair
      not frequented

the tool chest was old 
that made the 3rd step
but the step was made well
and in a strong measured fashion

so I thanked the tool maker
 with my folded fingers
and took the 3rd step
which was not the first step
and found solid footing again

Weekly Reading, April 5, 2021

The Mother of Roots

This week my reading is a three card spread using the Brady Tarot. I think it may be a doozy, but lets see.

My original intention was to do a spread representing the root, the heart and the crown, and I drew a root alright, the Mother of Roots who correlates to the Queen of Pentacles or Coins in more traditional decks. More on her in a bit, but I think you could read this two ways, one as a story with a beginning, an action and a result and one as a root, heart, crown. Lets dive in!

First lets focus on the Mother of Roots as she is the star of this reading, and if were to pick a card of these three to take into the week with me its this one. Here a Mexican Honeypot Ant queen and drones is shown. The queen is holding up the an egg that looks like the number for the fool, ready to start the souls journey. She has built the most nourishing environment and sacrificed her wings for the good and preservation of the colony. She is a person who readily sacrifices for the good of others.

There are three ways to look at this person, one is as the ant showing mindful preparation:

  • The ant in the grass hopper and the ant fable
  • The Hopi creation story where the Ant people hid the Hopi people underground during the destruction of the first two worlds by fire and then by ice, going hungry themselves

A second is the ant as a messenger. This mother is about the send the fool out to communicate with who? It could be the world, it could be her own heart and crown. There is a Wiyot Native myth about the ant as a messenger that a large earthquake is coming because the ant once beat the earthquake in a long and arduous game and after this became the messenger to man.

Last this could be someone who is sacrificing too much and denying themselves spiritual or other nurturing medicine.

Which one of these Mothers of Ants do you recognize either in yourself or in those around you? This matters when we look at the rest of the cards so choose wisely!

The very literal reading of this spread is that a lack of preparation in the beginning, has lead to or will lead to scarcity of an important resource through an unforeseen turn of events, or turn of the wheel of fortune. Its a warning to make sure we are prepared for what comes next, either emotionally, spiritually, or physically which could be financially or literally in the case of an earth’s resource….like water as California prepares for a drought this summer. The suit of roots represents the physical so if you want to take this as literally as possible that’s what it means.

In order to take this into a deeper meaning we have to know who the Mother of Roots represents for us.

In the first and second case are told to look at where we might need to prepare for scarcity in any of the above cases, and this ant reading is bringing us this message, that a turn of events is coming to us, and if we don’t prepare we may find ourselves in a situation of emotional, spiritual, or physical scarcity.

In the third case which is where I would read this as a root, heart, crown orientation, the cards are illustrating that you are depriving yourself of something important and that you are not connecting to something you need in the web (or wheel) of your own life, your crown energy is blocked and you are experiencing scarcity or lack in that way. In order to remedy this look further into the four directions and see what you need to reconnect with, or what you need to nurture and store up to heal your crown. The root is strong. The heart is strong – its the wheel of fortune where all things connect, and our journey is represented by the wheel. But we have scarcity in our crown which is where we connect to our creative and spiritual energy.

I hope you have enjoyed this reading, and that it has given you something to bring into your week or your own practice today.