Self-love September – Day 3 - Fortune

I just spent an hour making a post.

I did not save it.

I am very displeased at this time. 

Here's the card. I will deal with redoing it tomorrow. 

S LS – Day 2 - Renewal

I decided to make a post each day of self-love September in order to have a record of the action I took for this project.  Today I drew the card entitled Renewal using the gorgeous White Rabbit Oracle. I decided it would be a really good idea to get back to basics in terms of how I learned a new deck. Or I have a deeper understanding and go back to learn and old deck for that matter. So I decided to do Pathwork exercise with this card. The short version of how to do that is basically quieting the mind, focusing on studying the card, and then closing your eyes and either going into that card as if it were a real place or becoming the character on the card. It was a really powerful experience and made me realize how much I need to do that more often. By meditating on the card this way I got several messages. Many of them with regard needing  to really focus on my ancestors altar. That I need to remember that the spirit guides with whom I have the closest connection is my ancestors. Having an altar and working with them gives light in progress to both me and them. I love the woman's posture in this card. She stand so tall and proud. As though she were drawing fresh air or prana deep into her lungs in order to feel renewed and revitalized. Gentle beams of sunlight slice through the shadows as a gust of wind causes her ivory skirt to billow behind her. I'm reminded of something Eric told me a couple of weeks ago. It was one of most beautiful things he has ever said to me and I've known the man my entire life. He said "you shine a lot of light into some very dark places". Yet here she stands and beautiful and powerful solitude. Yet another reminder of how important it is to feed my own spirit first. 

Here are the things I did to practice self-love today:

1. Though I began doing this several months ago, I'm proud that I've kept up with it and it still counts lol. Before I go to bed at night I fill up a large cup with water. They say that there are a multitude of health benefits to drinking a large glass of water as soon as you wake up, from helping all of your organs to work efficiently as well as your nervous system to lubricating your joints. By doing it this way it's right by my bedside so I can't forget when I wake up. I tried to drink four of these per day. 

2. I did a bit of journaling. I got past the fact that I don't have a journal specifically dedicated for S LS yet. I used to know someone that used to tell me all the time "baby, do something, even if it's wrong." There's a lot of validity to that statement. 

3. I did 10 minutes of yoga this morning. Again, getting past the fact that I I feel like I should be doing a much longer practice. I did something because I know that it is definitely an act of self-love. There's a really cool YouTube chick named Allie Kamanova that who has a great channel. She started a 30 day yoga challenge yesterday. Be advised, what Ally calls begin or may be a little different than what you may think it is LOL. I would've preferred to do a we bit of stretching before launching right into downward dog. But hey, I guess that's what self-love is all about, acknowledging what my limits are and deciding if it's best for me to respect them or to push a little beyond them.

https://youtu.be/ClB86KL4b_k

4. I  made myself but on a tiny bit of make up today. Now I'm definitely not a chick you can't leave the house without make up. But it is definitely something that I enjoy doing on a pretty regular basis and makes me feel like a person who gives a damn lol. 

5. I ate a beautiful fresh plum today. I love fruit but I deathly don't eat enough of it. I also ate much smaller portions today. And since I know I need to lose about 15 pounds this is a good thing.

6. I made a business call that I really needed to make. I didn't feel like it, but I gently encourage myself to do it because it is definitely in my best interest to do so.

7. I spent about an hour and a half sitting outside on the back deck. It overlooks a huge expanse of trees. I didn't learn anything from being in the UK last year, I damn sure learned how important it is for me to have my solitude as well as to be in or near nature on a regular basis. As I sat there I journaled about various ways to meditate using Tarot and oracle cards. So now I have that as a reference to always look back on.

Self-love September - Ace of Cups

Last year while I was in England I tripped over the website of a very interesting woman by the name of Gala Darling and movement toward deep emotional healing and happiness that she calls radical self-love. (as I making this post from my phone I can't create a link. But you definitely may want to check out her blog. She makes some very interesting posts and has several classes and workshops that she even offers a payment plan for!)  Then I saw something from one of my favorite YouTube vloggers, The Four Queens, declaring the month of September as self-love September. This year I'm ready to take action on it. Below is the introductory video that she offers for Self-love September 2015. It explains what the concept is all about as well as give some tips to assist with getting started. I was lucky enough to to find an absolutely beautiful journal at Barnes & Noble on clearance for only $2.15! I love the rich creaminess at the paper and the fact that it's not lined as well as the beautiful cover. So that will entice me to use it more. I chose to focus on the Ace of cups from the beautiful BoneFire Tarot. So often as readers we associate this card with a budding of new or the rekindling of an old romance. I think it's very important for us to look at the card from a very fundamental perspective. The Ace is the number one. So this speaks to that gift of emotion, that wellspring of love that starts with it being a gift from the divine to us, and that we continually give to ourselves. it's important for us to nurture and care for our own selves first and foremost. To see our own beauty and our validity through the eyes of the source/divine/god/goddess that exists with in us. When we are able to do this, we are able to stop seeking love or validation from any external source. I think the Ace of Cups also reminds us of the need to be compassionate and gentle with ourselves as we go through the emotive process of diving deep into our emotional being. Look at the lotus blossoms at the base of the cup. The Lotus is a very sacred symbol in buddhism. Is one of the only flowers that is constantly seeding as it is flowering. They can only grow in the most disgusting, murky, muddy water. This represents the constant flux of life and death, of regeneration and renewal that can only come from unpleasant or challenging situations. It's only through sifting through plus parts of ourselves, experiencing the dark, shitty times that were able to see just how powerful and beautiful we are. I finally decided that baking the question as to why things are set up this way is one of the most counterproductive and self-defeating things I can do. So now my work is to except the truth of it and proceed from there.

One suggestion that KerriAnne of the Four Queens made is to carry some sort of totem or item to remind yourself of participating in self-love September. Last week the universe showed me the universal symbol for love, the heart, in a couple of unexpected and unique places.

 I also found a beautiful pink glass heart that I had intended to give my mother, but didn't get a chance to before she passed away in July. I will definitely use this as one of my talismans for the month.

Last night's post completely dovetails into today's. Through embracing a deep sense of self-love I will be able to access the desires of my heart and spirit and and work toward making them a reality. 

https://youtu.be/0YQMCJvyAlg 

365 days later…

No idea why but the blog popped in my head the other day. Today I realize it's been exactly 365 days since I last posted. On this day last year I was still in the UK. There was a mixture of emotions as I'd just left the seaside and my wonderful friends in Cornwall and come back up to Devon. I knew I would soon be leaving the UK. I felt a lot of relief in some respects yet a lot of sadness as I'd come to truly love England and was surprised to felt completely at home there. And as I prepared to go home to New Orleans I felt equal parts joy and trepidation. So much had happened, some wonderful, some traumatic. I'd had the most amazing experience living abroad for four months, a dream come true! Made so many real bonds with people as well as the land itself. I'd also experience the absolute nightmare of my precious dog Selene dying only two weeks after I had left the US.

One year to the day later I find myself back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after many many years. After swearing I would never ever come back here to live! I'll be damned if every single city I haven't said I swear I'll never live in again, the universe has not fucked me up and made me eat those words. (Maybe I should start saying I will never ever go to Paris, or London, or Mevsgissey, or Munich. Or the places that I have never been that I want to go to, like saying I will never ever go to Melbourne, or Thailand, or Rio de Janeiro!) 

Oddly enough, I left home from New Orleans only 10 days more than being the exact same date I departed last year. This time I find myself reconnecting with several people I've known my whole life and who mean the world to me. But what brought me up here was giving palliative care for my beautiful mommy the last month of her life.

But that's a story for another time. 

While sitting here thinking about all of that, I decided to shuffle the deck I recently acquired and is very quickly become an absolute favorite! It's the  absolutely stunning White Rabbit Oracle, a self published deck by artist Ariana Siegel that can be found on her Etsy shop or at whiterabbittarot.com. As I shuffled, the car that jumped out was Desire. The scene appears to be Victorian era London. Two lovers are tucked  away in a hidden alcove where they have the opportunity to give in to their deep desire for one another. Outside the world behind them is cold and gray, clouded by apathy, confusion and unfulfillment of stoic and depressed sky and surroundings. But inside the secret cavern there's the candlelit glow of the gaslamp overhead. Here they are able to release their passionate desires and focus only on the beauty and joy that this rendezvous brings. Only the Raven in-flight bears witness witness. It brings to mind some of the beautiful scenes from the seductively gothic,  dark drama Penny Dreadful. Or perhaps this is Edgar Allan and his beloved Eleanor.

I don't think this card having jumped out for me is so much about carnal desires, although I'm sure there's a certain element of truth to that. Being in Pittsburgh has led me to spend an enormous amount of time with my childhood sweetheart, the first boy I ever kissed, my first love that I've known since we were  3 years old, Eric. Instead I think the card is reminding me to embrace the true desires of my heart. The death of my mother has made me truly understand in a very different way how imperative it is to embrace and cultivate the desires of the heart and more importantly those that call to the spirit. The two on the card look like they are in an erotic dance. I was really becoming rooted in the burlesque community of New Orleans and had finally gotten the courage to take my first lesson only two days before I had to come up here unexpectedly. This card is reminding me not to give up on that as well as the need to explore and embrace other things that I truly desire. Being a corporate flight attendant who travels the world and gets paid quite nicely to do so. Taking belly dance classes. Seeking out like-minded individuals and communities who have the same interests as I do that don't fit into mainstream society but call to me on a soul deep level. I really feel the importance of this card having shown itself to me. New Orleans and the French quarter in particular is like the land of misfit toys. It's where the unique, the bizarre and what is misunderstood by the masses is openly displayed and embraced. This card is reminding me to be true to myself in many different ways. To continue to explore and engage in the things my soul desires.

Tarot Pix Challenge - Day 3 and 4

Day 3 - Someone helping you do tarot

 

I was texting my friend in New Orleans a reading using my Mystic Cats Tarot and getting additional kitty cat energy from Ozzy and Whisper.

 

 

Day 4 - 4 Things

1. The cloth is another reading cloth I've brought with me to the UK. It's a gorgeous teal made of heavy, good quality silk. I got it at the best thrift/vintage clothing store EVER called Ragstock, located in Chicago. It's worth a flight with two empty suitcases just to go there! Two floors of the most amazing stuff for stupid cheap prices. I think this was .50 cents. It opens up to about a foot long.

2. My favorite smoky quartz point. An excellent choice as a reader because it absorbs negative energy and is very good o balance the root chakra for grounding.

3. The pouch was hand made by a fellow reader in Jackson Square just for me. My Universal Goddess Tarot lives in it.

4. I always like to read with a candle when possible. Candlelight attracts Spirit.

 

 

 

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30 Day Tarot Picture Challenge!

If you've followed this blog for a period of time, then you know that I tend to...

I'm trying to find an honest yet non-judgmental or self destructive way to say this.

As Abraham-Hicks says, don't tell the story as it is unless that is the way you actually want it to be! So let's say that I am learning to work on my follow through on things lol. I'll have to post about my 30 Day Yoga Challenge, it I'm damn proud to say that I've only missed one day! And that was by choice in fear of hurting myself. I'll have to see how many days it's been, but well over 30! Now that 21 Day plank challenge... LOL

So today I'm starting my 30 Day Tarot Pix Challenge I found online! Yay!

Day 1 - Tarot selfie with an Ace - Since Iansã has been blowing the winds of change all around me, I chose the Ace of Swords. And it was exceptionally windy when this picture was taken!

 

If you'd like to do this as well, Google the list. It's not letting me put the picture of it in. I'll just be posting on here for now since I don't have a Twitter of G+ for this blog.

 

 

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Honoring Oya on a #9 Day

 

I'm sure you've heard me speak about Oya. She is the Afrian Orisha (spirit) who rules over change. In the Afro-Brazilian faith called Condomblé she is the Orixa known as Iansã. She is the natural phenomenon that is the storm. Oya, who is the winds of change and transformation. She brings clarity, courage the ability to objectively decide the best path to take. She can "clear the air" with regard to disputes. She can "clean house" of any people, situations or relationships that need to be removed from our lives. Her lesson can b quite painful and unpleasant. She is quite often more like a tornado, but lately I'm very fortunate to see the summer breeze aspect of her, which I didn't know she had! So I'm quite greatful for that! I still have a piece of glass in my arm from her coming down on me. Often times you will see her represented as St. Barbara, St. Catherine or St. Theresa.

She comes up in readings as the Queen and/or Ace of Swords. Wednesday is her sacred day and her number is 9. I needed to say thank you to her for several things so when I looked at today's date, I realize today was the perfect day to do so. It's Wednesday the 27th. 2+7=9. And it has rained with wind gusts ALL day long. One of the lesser blessings she bestowed was to hold off the rain and storms for the garden party my new friend in the UK, Tracey, was having last Saturday. Because it was supposed to rain and the wind was starting to get strong. Yet we got about 5 min f rain, the wind calmed down, and we even got one her symbols people often forget, the rainbow! The joy and blessings that come after the storm.

Another thing I needed to thank her for was a much larger blessing of no severe storms this year. In two days time, August 29, it will be 9 years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Here is an article from the local paper, The Times Picayune about plans for the Gentilly area, which was hit quite badly. One cousin of mine had 14" of water in her house. He father a few blocks away had about the same. 9 years later, many empty lots remain. And the fact that where a multitude of massive oak trees, banana trees and mimosas, there are almost NO TREES at all for blocks and blocks makes it look down right creepy! This sight has a very interesting 11 Facts About Hurricane Katrina, one of which being #7. An estimated 80% of New Orleans was under water, up to 20 ft deep in places.

6. Today I used cards from my Earth Magic Oracle to honor her. Although we have another month to go before hurricane season is over, I am so grateful there have been no storms to affect the US thus far. I also gave a free mini reading yesterday to a client who is a child of her's. And today I left her an offering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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