giving and receiving

healing, post a day, prose, self-reflection, tarot, the daily draw, Uncategorized, writing

Struck by the Stardust

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Today’s draw is the nine of shells reversed from Spiritsong Tarot by Paulina Cassidy.

There’s nothing like a deck of tarot cards to tell it like it is. The shells continue to hit me with their watery magic– and the reversed draw keeps me honest and pokes at what’s underneath the surface. What strikes me first about this card is how perfectly arranged the shells are in front of the penguin and how proud he is of this arrangement. Just like yesterday’s draw, there is an openness and oneness with the world around him– I am struck by the stardust, just as I was in the image yesterday. This card asks me to take a few steps back, gain a little persective. It says, YES, but…

Yes, I am establishing new habits. Yes, I am holding myself accountable. Yes, I am doing a good job. HOWEVER– to what end? There is a smugness and arrogance in the penguin– which is exactly what a reversed nine of shells (cups) connotes. This card reminds me to stay true to my internal motivations, and to stop getting distracted and wrapped up in EXTERNAL VALIDATION. This is the struggle of my insecure little girl, always seeking that approval from whomever is willing to offer it to her.

It reminds me of the perfect interaction I had with my partner a few days ago– after I published my first post on 18 days and counting. He came home from work and walked into the kitchen as I was cooking dinner. I excitedly said, “I’ve already got 150 views on my first post of the new blog!” He hugged me and said calmly, “baby, how many views you have doesn’t matter, it’s the fact that you published it… AND– that’s AWESOME that you have that many views already.” He re-framed it for me perfectly. And he’s absolutely right, just like this sweet, smug reversed little penguin. I must keep myself in check and remember that although I’m doing a good job– I’m just at the VERY beginning of these new practices. There is SO MUCH TIME that I have to continue putting in consistently not for the feedback I receive from others, but for the growth that I’m allowing myself.

There’s also a beautiful symbolism in the penguin– who flies in the water as opposed to the air. The water, that is so consistently calling me to connect with it, invites me in with the penguin, but acknowledges my fear with the reversed draw. The penguin also is a symbol of balance, being a creature who lives in both Arctic as well as hot climates. That duality is also expressed in the diametric opposition of black and white on its body. It symbolizes the ability to handle and hold space for duality to exist, holding the balance and equilibrium between giving and receiving which is such a present part of my journey. Both penguin and reversed nine of shells also give the message to connect to family– which is beyond appropriate at this juncture for me.

This draw is humbling. I’m reminding myself WHY I’m engaging in this practice and how it is truly benefiting me. (And it has nothing to do with my number of views). I’m engaging in this consistent practice of meditating, writing and publishing because I am a healer and writer, and it is my work. Just like any other discipline, the most important part of it is TIME IN. All the other stuff that comes along with it is just icing on the cake.

 

joy, love, marriage, post a day, prose, the daily draw, Uncategorized, writing

the MAGNITUDE of ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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Today’s draw is from Sacred Geometry Cards for the Visionary Path by Francene Hart

I had completely forgotten that this deck existed until this morning. I found myself in a neglected corner of my house, one that used to be an altar space that is now a dumping ground for randomness, asking myself “what am I looking for?” BOOM these cards called out to me, greeting  me like a long-lost friend. I remembered buying them out at one of our favorite bookstores on the coast over a year ago and using them just once to create an altar for our family. I immediately disassembled the altar (an untended altar is no altar at all) and made the deck whole again. I didn’t even check in with my other decks. This was the deck for today’s draw.

Drawing this card, the last one in the deck, feels absolutely perfect. Finding the balance between giving and receiving for me has been a life-long journey. Lately however, it feels like I’ve finally turned a corner with it. I finally have a deep understanding of the necessity of receiving in order to be able to hold the necessary space as a healer, mother, partner and business owner. I resonate so completely with the image of the beautiful woman on this card who is one with the sacred geometry that flows through and around her. She is one with the stardust. There is a flow between herself and all of creation. She is a conduit for flow and movement. She is open and allowing.

Creating a structure for my daily writing practice to exist within has opened me to allowing the flow of my writing. Giving my words voice has allowed them to bubble up and out of me with ease. They are begging to be written and I am acknowledging them and allowing them to move through me. For years my practice was ignoring them. Occasionally I would open a small escape valve, a post here and there, a haiku or poem. But ultimately, my firmly entrenched pattern was one of containing– not allowing.

In the years I spent blocking my writing, I was always very conscious of the fact that I was doing so, but also completely unable to change the practice. I would go through fits and spurts but ultimately there was an intangible fear keeping me from allowing the flow of my words. As I ease ever closer to my wedding day– just two weeks from today, I begin to understand the magnitude of the acknowledgement to the world of my union with my partner. I have known intuitively since I laid eyes on him that we were bound to each other– but there are years that have passed from that moment until now, years of patience and trust. The acknowledgment of our bond to the world allows me to trust myself at the root of my being. It allows me to fully step out from my self-imposed shroud and shine as brilliantly as I possibly can. I can finally say with absolute certainty:

I TRUST MYSELF.

I AM SAFE.

healing, prose, self-reflection, tarot, the daily draw, transformation, Uncategorized, writing

the balance i am seeking

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Today’s draw is the Knight of Shells from Spiritsong Tarot by Paulina Cassidy.

I am certainly beginning to notice a theme with the shells, this being the third shell I’ve drawn in the last four days. Shells are equivalent to cups in other tarot decks. They represent the element of water and are tied to the energy of emotions and imagination. The water theme seems particularly relevant to me as I have just in the last couple of months made a deep connection to water, after spending a lifetime being ruled by FIRE (and being fairly terrified of water).

When I was a small child, under the age of ten, we had a pool in our back yard. I can remember at one point as a very young, probably 3 year old child being deathly afraid of the water, clinging to my mother desperately anytime I went anywhere near it. And then because of that pool and my daily summer adventures in it, I gradually let go of that fear and began to embrace the ease and flow of being one with the water. I turned into a water bug, pushing myself to extend the amount of time I could hold my breath, turning myself around and around doing underwater somersaults– trying to continuously push past my previous count.

Then at the end of the summer before my sixth grade year we were having a big party and one of my brother’s friends was vacuuming the pool in preparation and ripped a hole in the bottom of the lining. There went our pool, and with it my comfort and trust of the water slowly faded. To this day I have an intangible fear of water. I am a competent swimmer– but have a deeply rooted irrational fear of being in water. I’m working on it, and as strange as it may seem, these shell cards seem to be helping.

The first thing that strikes me about this card is how grounded the flamingo is in the water. It is exactly the balance I am striving for as I attempt to incorporate the element of water with my fiery undercurrents. Unlike the other two shell cards I have drawn, this card feels like it blends a rooted stability and the allowance of the flow of currents. It affirms the balance I am seeking in all aspects of myself, emotion and intellect, masculine and feminine, giving and receiving, holding on and letting go…

motherpeace, tarot, the daily draw, Uncategorized, writing

to hold and be held

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Today’s draw comes from the Motherpeace tarot deck by Karen Vogel and Vicki Nobel.

I’m no tarot wizard, but I can gather information from the internet. This card classically refers to success, and having enough energy and resources to share beyond yourself.

When I sit with this card I am struck by the flow of giving and receiving. There is joy in both. There is an equilibrium between the two. There is a stability and groundedness in this equal exchange. Receiving has been a challenge for me for most of my adult life. My natural tendency as a healer has been to take care of others and give and give and give. I used to feel guilt or shame attached to the idea of receiving or reciprocation– to a point where I gave to others far beyond my resources– depleting myself to fill someone or something else.

The last several years of my life I’ve been asked to take a long, hard look at this pattern and its effect on myself and the things closest to me: my family and my business. I’ve had some big, hard lessons around prioritizing myself over others. What I have come to understand is that I can’t possibly give without first being full. As I truly begin to embody this concept and understand that I AM MY GREATEST RESOURCE, I watch this brilliant equilibrium unfold.

The community that has grown up around me from my original intention of serving and offering others a place of sacred safety– has taken on a life of its own. As I have honored my own needs for support and guidance, and put those needs ahead of everything else, my business’s ability to offer that to others has broadened. The foundation is immeasurably deep and wide. I feel  blessed to go to work each day surrounded by practitioners and clients who are able to understand the importance of nurturing themselves. This card is a beautiful affirmation of the community I was not capable of imagining at its inception. It is far beyond myself and I feel blessed to hold and be held by it.