Tarot and Art Forecast for Week of Feb 23, 2020

Faith Ringgold Tar beach
Faith Ringgold Tar Beach

We all at some point in our lives have flying dreams.  Dream experts believe that flying dreams represent control, new perspectives, freedom and/or escape.  One of my favorite children’s book is Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold.  It is about an eight-year-old girl, Cassie, in Harlem.  Not only does this loosely autobiographical book give the reader a glimpse into Harlem circa 1939 but it inspires us to transcend and soar.   As Ringgold writes it’s very easy, anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can’t get to any other way.

Ringgold is an accomplished artist and activist.  She started in tradition oil paintings but by 1970 she began experimenting with painting acrylic on unstretched canvas with fabric borders, much like the Tibetan Thangkas (silk paintings with embroidery).  She expanded this technique to her painted narrative quilts which she is now most famous for.  Her pieces are usually heavy in symbolism and full of historical references of African American culture.

P.S. Remember signs with an * it a big week for you.  Pisces this is a perfect time to get an Astrological Tarot Reading for your coming year.  And Virgo it is your halfway mark for your birth year, so if you need a Planetary Reading for a check in now is the time.

Aries
Faith Ringgold Seven Passages to Flight

Five of Cups – Last week’s energy came to help you destroy the edifices that bind you, and strengthen your resolve to create new structures (time, space and how use your energy) that will sustain the work that needs to be done.  You are going to need those structures to ground you this week from the chaotic emotional energies whirling internally and externally.  The goal to traversing these waters is within each wave of churning emotion is a pearl of wisdom and truth.

Taurus
Faith Ringgold The In Crowd

Ten of Swords – Well Mercury is in retrograde and you might be feeling the barbs.  This week’s energy can bring on confrontation if you are not mindful of your intuition warning you to duck.  If the hairs on the back of your neck raise up or you get a tingling feeling not to broach a subject or walk down that street, follow that warning.  People and your environment can be sharp this week. Your challenge is to be aware of your triggers and avoid the clashes.

Gemini

Four of Swords – The energy this week is all about rest and healing.  This energy warns you that your immune system, soul and mind needs rest.  Take time to pull away from the maddening crowd (this includes social media) and relax.

Cancer
Faith Ringgold subway mosaic in Harlem

Two of Swords – Making choices or at least feeling as if you must are in the air this week; however we are in the midst of a Mercury in retrograde. The key to this week is not focusing on the decisions you feel you need to make, but about faith in yourself.  Whatever you decide or not decide you will end up where you should be. This week go with the flow.

Leo
Faith Ringgold

*Hanged Man – With Mercury in retrograde you might find it difficult to go forward.  But this week that will work in your favor.  This is great energy to catch up on anything already in progress or contemplate your next steps.  A break in the action when used correctly can feel like a breakthrough.

Virgo
Faith Ringgold Maya Quilt of Life

King of Swords – The energy this week is best used by planning for the long term.  Though it doesn’t actively move you into the future it does want you to gain perspective and/or a clear focus on the future and how to get there.  This is a great week for planning out the rest of the year or five.

Libra
Faith Ringgold Hide Little Children

Six of Cups – This energy is best used in play.  Get down on the floor with a child and challenge your perspective of time, work and space.  This isn’t about being naïve but about being open to seeing the world with a more inquisitive viewpoint.

Scorpio
Faith Ringgold Tar Beach II

Page of Wands – Your passion needs reigniting.  When this energy shows up it is telling you that your soul’s spark, the reason you get up in the morning- i.e. your purpose(s), is waning.  Take this week to do things that set your soul on fire. Nature and the arts are great venues to help you re-discover why you are here.

Sagittarius
Faith Ringgold

Page of Swords – The last two weeks the energies have been around freedom, newness and metamorphosis.  Now with Mercury fully in retrograde you are giving this time to decipher what has been going on in your outer life and inner mind.  This energy foretells there is information to help you solve a problem or two. But it will take subtle and persistent inquiry to find it, for the truth is hidden by half-truths and denial.  The key is being kind with your queries both to yourself and to others.

Capricorn
Faith Ringgold, Coming to Jones Road Part II: Our Secret Wedding in the Woods, photography by Benjamin Westoby

Four of Wands – Last week the energy was about expanding your horizons by integrating your inner and outer worlds.  Diving into the energy and concept of interconnectedness.  You are building on the old world and creating a new paradigm.   So, to move to this new music you must let the composition enter you, let your body and soul find the new rhythm, and then dance.  That energy is still reverberating through this week.  But this energy focuses you on creating a foundation that is more fluid and more accepting of stress. Think of being more like bamboo then like an oak.

Aquarius
Faith Ringgold Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles

Eight of Wands – Now that you know that 2020 is about igniting new passions, new ways of being on the physical plane, and bringing the divine down into reality.  That definition of divine is of, from or like God, excellent or delightful.  So, 2020 will be a year where new not only grows, prospers but lifts others with delight.  This week is about starting to send out those messages and inquires to the world.  However, since this week Mercury is in retrograde, its not about starting these new projects but more like sending out feelers to see what might bite.  The more arrows you let fly the more likely you will hit upon illuminations.

Pisces
Faith Ringgold

Five of Swords – Mercury in retrograde is creating chaos and you with a few other signs are being affected by it.  Chaos has a way of being attracted to you this week, so the challenge is not reacting to other people’s yuckness.  Your hackles can easily be triggered. The solution is putting on soothing music, light some incense/sage and escape when necessary.

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina

Tarot and Art Forecast for Week of Feb 16, 2020

Gwendolyn BennettPoetry has its own way of inspiring visuals.  This week I am adding to your sign’s forecast a line from the poem To a Dark Girl (1927) by Gwendolyn Bennett.  To read the whole poem just read the first line in bold for each sign.

Bennett was an influential person and contributor in the Harlem Renaissance Movement.  She was a painter, poet, and writer in a variety of journals and anthologies such as NAACP’s The Crisis and Caroling Dusk, and she published a monthly column called The Ebony Flute. For more on her history and work read Heroine of the Harlem Renaissance and Beyond

The Harlem Renaissance was centered in Harlem New York during the decade of the 1920s. It was an intellectual, social, and artistic eruption. This era was a turning point in American black cultural history. This congregation and congruence of African American writers and artists created the momentum to gain control over their representation of black culture and experience and was the beginning of these artists and thinkers to be recognized in Western Art world.

P.S. Remember signs with an * it a big week for you.  Aquarius this is a perfect time to get an Astrological Tarot Reading for your coming year.  And Leo it is your halfway mark for your birth year, so if you need a Planetary Reading for a check in now is the time.

 

Aries

I love you for your brownness,

*Hierophant – What structures in your life are holding you back?  The energy this week helps you destroy the edifices that bind you, and it strengthens your resolve to create new structures (time, space and how use your energy) that will sustain the work that needs to be done.  This can look as simple as waking up earlier to eat breakfast, or as complex as getting your job to let you work from home once a week.

 

Taurus

And the rounded darkness of your breast,

Nine of Cups – Last week’s energy wanted you to bring the divine down into the world. Tapping into your spirit and calling it into action. The energy this week continues this theme of the divine, but it asks you is your work ethic getting in the way of your spirit and joy?  Your contentment? Don’t forget the divine has you here to work your purpose, but following your joy sustains you.

 

Gemini

I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice

Seven of Wands – Last week’s energy was best used in building on what already is existing.  This week you will have to defend your boundaries to get anything done.  Work still needs to happen, so put up you do not disturb sign and get back into your groove.

 

Cancer

And shadows where your wayward eyelids rest.

Six of Coins – Karma is the key energy this week.  Take heed in your actions and reactions.  For all the positive you give, positive will return; however, this energy flow happens with negative forces too.  The trick with this card is that the return energy does not always come back directly from the intended source.  So watch for curve balls, lower expectations and be nice.

 

Leo

Something of old forgotten queens

Six of Swords – You need a bit of distance to gain some perspective this week.  So, when meeting a challenge, step back, dissect the issue, simplify and go back in.  The main take away to handling this week is physical space even if its just an extra 5 minutes in the bathroom.

 

Virgo

Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk

Three of Wands – Last week the energy was about organic change.  Asking you to start on your spring cleaning, getting rid of things that are dead weight in your life.  And, it asked you to plant some seeds by tasking you to write down 50 things you wish for, big or small.  Lucky you, you get another week to do this prep work.  The only challenge this energy is thinking bigger and broader horizons in your wishing.

 

Libra

And something of the shackled slave

Ace of Swords – With all that heart work last week the energy has done a 180 degree turn from your heart to your mind and ways of thought.   Hopefully, now that you have reconnected with your emotions you can clearly see the direction you need to take this week with problems and their solutions.  

 

Scorpio

Sobs in the rhythm of your talk.

Queen of Cups – Last week’s energy was rough and hopefully you got to dodge most of it.  But you might find yourself a bit tender and vulnerable.   However, this is not to week to hide in the shadows.  Go out find solace in your friends and people who love you.  Refill your cup.

 

Sagittarius

Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow’s mate,

*Judgment – Last week the energy circled around freedom and newness.  Reminding you that exploring the world is part of what drives your soul.  Discovery is key to bringing new ideas and stimulating your sensualities.  If you did well with that task last week, you are ready to deal with this week’s energy of metamorphosis.  If you didn’t investigate new avenues you might find this week has growing pains with your evolution.  This can be as simple as you found a new route to work which gives you 10 more minutes in the morning to eat breakfast.  Or it can be as complex as not finding that new avenue which stops you dead in your tracks, and you hang upside down spinning a large cocoon around yourself until you solve your challenges and changes.

 

Capricorn

Keep all you have of queenliness,

*World – The energy this week is about expanding your horizons by integrating your inner and outer worlds.  Dive into the energy and concept of interconnectedness.  You have just completed a major work and/or turned a significant corner in your life and now you need time integrating this accomplishment into your consciousness.  You are building on the old world and creating a new paradigm.   So, to move to this new music you must let the composition enter into you, let your body and soul find the new rhythm, and then dance.

 

Aquarius

Forgetting that you once were slave,

*Magician – Ok this is your last birth month card and the Magician has shown up to add to the energy of the Aces, new beginnings.  So, let’s review, 2020 ignites new passions and new ways of being on the physical plane.  Then the Magician steps in adding its big energy of bringing the divine down into reality.  This energy begs for you to start new projects/jobs, create, imagine, and experiment in the coming year. The big challenge is that these creations must have an aspect of the divine.  The definition of divine is of, from or like God, excellent or delightful.  So, 2020 will be a year where new not only grows, prospers but lifts others with delight.

 

Pisces

And let your full lips laugh at Fate!

Ten of Coins – The energy this Ten brings is satisfaction from the work you have completed. This week is a transition of completion and new beginnings. This week spend time just enjoying the gifts that you have worked so hard to get.  Set your gratefulness into your bones to strengthen positive reverberations for the next cycle to ride.

 

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina

 

Tarot and Art Forecast for Week of Feb 9, 2020

Australian animals
Grey headed flying fox

Above are Grey-headed flying foxes and they are suffering due to climate change ie fire and summers temperatures over 100 degrees.  As you know the fire season in Australia has just begun.  Luckily due to some rain the raging fires of January are subsiding, but now the area needs help in rebuilding the habitats of Eastern Australia.  Above and below are some cute baby pictures of native Australian animals that are endangered due to the fires.

Many of these animals are unique to this continent.  Seventy percent of our marsupial cousins and all monotremes are found only in Australia. Marsupials are mammals that give birth to relatively undeveloped babies therefore carrying them around in pouches to nurse them.  Monotremes are mammals that lay eggs but still suckle their young.

If you want to help here ae places you can donate to: WorldWildlifeFund, RSPCA, WIRES, Kolas in Care, INC,

P.S. Remember signs with an * it a big week for you.  Aquarius this is a perfect time to get an Astrological Tarot Reading for your coming year.  And Leo it is your halfway mark for your birth year, so if you need a Planetary Reading for a check in now is the time.

Aries
Australian animals
Eastern Pygmy Possum

Seven of Coins – Last week, the Star brought with it a lovely, calming, healing energy.  This week that energy will carry into to all that you do.  You needed time to rest and now refreshed, you can see your work with new eyes.  So, this week is great for planting and growing whatever you put your will to.

Taurus
Great glider

*Magician – The energy this week is bring the divine down into the world. This energy asks you to find ways to manifest your purpose on this plane of existence.  The challenge is thinking to much about it.  This dynamism is about tapping into your spirit and calling it into action. Logic often blocks this, so experimentation is key.  Do without goal setting and magically the goal will be reached.

Gemini
Australian animals
Echidnas

*Emperor – The energy this week is used best in building on what already is existing.  Get out of your head and get your hands dirty.  It is a great week to check items off your to-do list. Fix that cabinet that squeaks, expand on that project you are working on, and/or materialize your dreams.  This energy is a great motivator.  Just direct the energy and go.

Cancer
Wombat

Three of Coins – Collaboration is key this week. The more eyes, minds and hands you have to bounce ideas off of the more you will get done.  Take time to ask for input and/or help.  Different viewpoints are needed not so much to change your mind but to have more surer footing and clear insight on what you are thinking and constructing.

Leo
Australian animals
Tasmanian Devil

King of Coins – Last week the energy of change was asking you to dig deep, turn things over, throw out the stones in your path and plant the seeds for things to come.  Well this energy continues with the King of Coins.  His moto is just do it.  Keep moving, keep producing, keeping going – you are on the right path in building upon the material plane.  You GO!

Virgo
Spotted Quoll

*Death – The energy this week is organic change.  Time to start on your spring cleaning, getting rid of anything that is dead weight in your life.  Doesn’t fit, doesn’t’ work, old emails, books you will never read but carry around, clothes that don’t fit, etc…Dump it.  However, this energy is clearing space for planting too.  So, take time this week to write down 50 things you wish for, big or small.  This energy of change is not sudden but organic, so save that paper and see what has sprouted in a year.

Libra
Australian animals
Koala

Knight of Cups – The energy to work with this week is vulnerability and your emotions.  Are you giving enough space and time to your emotions? Letting off some steam, opening up to someone you feel safe with, asking for cuddles, quality companion time, or bitching to your bestie is all good this week.

Scorpio
Duck billed Platypus

Ten of Swords – This week the energy is gnarly, and you can be easily triggered by it.  People are just not getting you, so best to walk away from situations when you feel the tension.  Defend yourself if you must.  However, the more you let yourself get triggered, the more pokey conversations and actions will be on both sides.

Sagittarius
Australian animals
Dunnart

*Fool – The energy this week is freedom and newness.  This energy reminds you that exploring the world is part of what drives your soul.  Discovery is key to bringing new ideas and stimulating your sensualities.  This process of newness keeps you from feeling bored or being in a rut.  Say yes to things this week especially if you never been there, eaten that, done it.  The world is yours to enjoy and discover.

Capricorn
Wallaby

Ten of Pentacles – This week’s energy is about completing projects and basking in your accomplishments. This is not a week to start anything new, so each time you check off an item off your to-do list – celebrate.

Aquarius
Australian animals
Kookaburra

Ace of Coins – The energy of beginnings continues for your birth month.  This week the focus turns from passions to grounding them into reality.  What schedule fits your circadian rhythms?  List the foods that empower and refresh you.  What are your skill sets?  What new skill sets will you need to make your dreams come true?   By answering these questions, you can fertilize the seeds to create more opportunities where your passions can flower.  This is another great card to begin your new birth year.  So far 2020 will be a year where new not only grows but prospers.

Pisces
Kangaroo

Knight of Coins – The energy this Knight brings is stability and pace.  This week is about applying structures that support you going forward.  So, look to your sleep cycle you getting enough or too much?  Look at your eating habits? Are you exercising at least 4 times a week?  Is your home relaxing?  This week is about tweaking your physical reality into shape for the long haul.

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina

Tarot and Art Forecast for Week of Feb 2, 2020

A Golden Ray of Hope by Eva Camacho

The beginning of 2020 has been a bit rough with fires, plague, a variety of governments in turmoil and corruption.  The art of Eva Camacho brings many of these injustices to the forefront, but she also gives us hope. The piece above, A Golden Ray of Hope, and her words below are just what my soul and maybe yours needs to hear to carry on.

Worry, loss, sadness, injustice, desperation, tears, incredulity, uncertainty and pain can sap us of our will to carry on. A golden ray of HOPE keeps us going, striving, moving, laughing, breathing, loving and surviving. It binds us to each other and roots us to the ground. It is the current that jolts through our hearts and brightens are eyes. HOPE nourishes us and guides us from darkness towards peace, justice, and love. This piece visualizes a golden ray of HOPE that can help us all carry on.

Camacho started out as a designer of felted garments and gave it up to hone her skills into conceptual art pieces mostly around social and environmental justice. Even though her pieces take on heavy injustices, the technique she uses, and her designs show us that even in the presence of hardship that we can mend bind together and grow.   She has combined her felting wool with the process of Joomchi.   Joomochi is an centuries old Korean technique working with Mulberry fibers to create sculptural paper.  The pieces below are just close ups of her stuff please click to her site to see the full display.

P.S. Remember signs with an * it a big week for you.  Aquarius this is a perfect time to get an Astrological Tarot Reading for your coming year.  And Leo it is your halfway mark for your birth year, so if you need a Planetary Reading for a check in now is the time.

 

Aries
Reflection by Eva Camacho

*Star – The Star brings with it a lovely, calming, healing energy to this week.  Take time to just be. Allow yourself the time and space to connect to the positive flow of the Universe.  If you are quiet enough you can tap into your north Star, your guiding light.  This process will help you realize you are not alone in your quest, and that you can heal not only your wounds but some of those in the world too.

 

Taurus
Border Scars by Eva Camacho

Two of Cups – The best use of this week’s energy is focusing on the ones you love.  These are relationships you choose.  There is a need to re-balance these relationships.  The challenge is finding the time to create the intimacy that fills both your cups by just being with each other.

 

Gemini
Hasta Siempre by Eva Camacho

Seven of Swords – Small victories abound through out this week, and you are due these successes.  However, the challenge is to be careful not to allow in the energy of tit for tat or retribution.  Your battles are being won but the war continues, so play fair and win with good sportsmanship.

 

Cancer
Bleached Coral by Eva Camacho

Queen of Wands – Taking time this week to be creative and be in nature will help you focus on the tasks that need to be done.  I know this sounds counterintuitive or makes you feel like you are goofing off.  But taking the time to reconnect with your soul is as important to your work as checking things off your to-do list.

 

Leo
Lack of Rain by Eva Camacho

*Death – Change begins this week. The energy is the combination of letting go of things that don’t work and learning from that process what to focusing on or plant next. It will be a slow process and a very organic one. This energy is very cyclic in nature.  The more you empty your cup – the fuller you can re-fill it. The more you till the soil – the more fertile the ground.  Dig deep, turn things over, throw out the stones in your path and plant the seeds for things to come.

 

Virgo
Enough by Eva Camacho

Ace of Swords – The energy this week is buzzing around thoughts and communication.  Do PR, answers all those emails, and take time to contemplate new ideas.  The more you think about and communicate the more seeds you will plant for the coming month.

 

Libra
Nerverless She Persisted by Eva Camacho

Two of Coins – The energy to work with this week is balance.  Not only doing exercises that hone your physical balance, but also balancing work and play is vital.  The challenge with this is that you can’t juggle more than one thing.  So, if working, focus on the job at hand, and if playing, focus on the fun.

 

Scorpio
Silent Scars by Eva Camacho

Two of Wands – Betwixt and between is the energy to work with this week.  This is not the time to start new things.  It is more of a time for preparation and reflection. The best exercises to do with this energy is examining your past for lessons and imagining your future with out restrictions.

 

Sagittarius
Industrial Scar by Eva Camacho

Eight of Wands – The Universe is full of communications and information for you this week. The soul’s flow is trying to ease your path and it does it with synchronicities and signs.  You can also ask for more directed help and the more you ask for the more hits you will get. Though you will have to sift through all messages to find them.  The challenge with this energy is sometimes the Universe believes it knows what you want better than you do.  And lol that may be true.

 

Capricorn
Corrosive Epidemic by Eva Camacho

Page of Swords – To get to the truth this week will be tricky.  The challenge with this energy is to truth-find you will have to do some digging and deep listening. Ask questions that slowly peel away the layers.  Go at your life and your problems like a therapist with inquiry, compassion and patience.

 

Aquarius
Me too by Eva Camacho

Ace of Wands – The energy this week is about planting the seeds for future passions.  What makes you get up in the morning other than the alarm? What is your driving force?  By answering these questions, you can start planting the seeds to create more opportunities where your passions can flower.  This is a great card to begin your new birth year.

 

Pisces
The Scars We Carry by Eva Camacho

King of Wands – The energy this King brings is manifesting creativity and passion.  This King heralds this is the time to create many aspects of your world. The challenge is picking the ones that bring you joy and then scheduling them into your life.  This energy advises that work is fine, but you must have things in your life that stimulate you at every level.

 

May light be on you, around you, and within you,

Nina