Tarotcast for Week of June 11, 2017

Julia Cameron Photography

The photographer Julia Margaret Cameron was born June 11, 1815 – 202 years ago. She started taking photographs late in life, at the age of 49. At the time, people accused her of slovenliness and bad photography. Instead of the hyper-realism expected in this budding art form, she used a soft focus, allowed her subjects to move, often portrayed them in legendary themes, and played with the development process. This is typical of air signs; they do their best work outside of pre-existing structures. To deal with air signs think about them like the wind – without boundaries. When you enjoy the wind the most is when it unexpectedly glides across your skin on a hot summers day.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – Three of Swords – Last week was about feeding your strength. That was preparation for this week. The Three of Swords’ lesson is about getting rid of or refusing to accept thoughts that hurt you emotionally. This week, watch out for your thoughts piercing others or for someone else being passive-aggressive with your heart. Your challenge is to dislodge or dodge the negative darts thrown at you.

STC135827 Portrait of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) (b/w photo) by Cameron, Julia Margaret (1815-79); black and white photograph; Private Collection; The Stapleton Collection; English, out of copyright

Taurus – Ace of Pentacles – You get back to work this week with the Ace of Pentacles. This is a great time to start a project, and get your hands dirty. The challenge with this card is that you have so many options that it is hard to pick just one. It is important that you pick just one.

Continue reading Tarotcast for Week of June 11, 2017

Tarotcast for Week of June 4, 2017

Hiroshi Shinno insects 01

These imaginary insects are made by the artist Hiroshi Shinno. He casts the outer petal-and-leaf like structures in resin, paints them with vibrant acrylic paint and then applies them to a brass base. Even though I have read how he does it I still wonder, how in the heck did he do these? They are the size of a leaf,. and you can see from the picture that some of the pieces are almost translucent. People are amazing. Or really, nature is so amazing that we in one of our highest forms of expression trying to copy it.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

*Aries – Strength – It is all about strength this week. Your challenge is to identify the things that make you stronger and feed them. If exercise makes you feel stronger, do it. If resting makes you stronger, get your eight hours and nap if you need to. If love makes you stronger, spend time with people who love you and who you love.

Taurus – Queen Of Cups – Last week, you practiced balancing work and play. Now, the Queen of Cups is begging you to add more play, by reconnecting with love and beauty. Your challenge is to spend as much time in the land of Ahhhhhh and Wow. The more your heart is open to the wonders in this land the more you will receive.

Gemini – Six of Swords – Last week, The Star heralded that your new year would be filled with the gifts of enlightenment and healing. This week the Six of Swords challenges you to get some solitude and think about the areas of your life where you want healing and enlightenment in the coming year. As always with this card, I advise you do this around water, and ocean, river, ha even a pool.

Cancer – Queen of Cups and Three of Pentacles – So remember that juggling you need to get better at? Well, you are still working at juggling this week. The Three of Pentacles is challenging you to add another ball to the two you have been working with. The Queen of Cups says that part of your balance problem is that you haven’t been working in enough fun, so this new ball needs to be fun. The key, and paradox, is that fun shouldn’t be work.

Leo – King of Pentacles – The King of Pentacles’ focus is on pushing projects forward. He is the doer of the deck. His lesson is to get hands on. This is not a week of the mind. The one challenge with this King is that when he does something he is on maximum drive, and this includes being lazy. Remember it is great to be driven, but don’t be extreme.

Virgo – Ace of Swords – The Ace of Swords is advising you to make a decision or to come to a new way of thought. The Aces always foretell a new beginning and this one starts in your mind. Your only challenge is to stay focused yet open.

 

Libra – Six of Wands – Another good week for you all with the Six of Wands. This card indicates victory and completion. The challenge is identifying and then focusing only on projects where the goal is easily attainable. Anything that does not fit into that category can wait, because those projects are too convoluted or blocked right now. Meaning no matter how hard you push, they just won’t get done anyway.

Scorpio – Five of Pentacles – This week you are missing resources that you need to move forward. For example, you can’t find anyone around to help you, you don’t have enough money to cover an expense, or that piece you need to finish the puzzle is nowhere to be found. The lesson to learn with the Five of Pentacles is that this is a short lived shortage – this too shall pass. The challenge is to fortify yourself with hope. Things will work out, just not this week. PS: You may also literally lose something – like car keys or credit card. So put your car keys in one place all this week.

Sagittarius – Ace of Wands – The Ace of Wands is wanting you to do something that brings awe and amazement into your life. This card advises that this activity or thing should be something new. The only challenge with this card for Sagittarians is that the combination creates a lot of fire energy, so be safe on your adventures. Buckle up and wear a helmet when required.

*Capricorn – Lovers – The Lovers is all about collaboration. Spend this week with others bouncing off ideas, and philosophizing about how to fix the world’s problems or how to make the divine manifest into the world. This week is big and lofty. To get your imagination and intellect to soar you will need partners. Also, realize you will have different partners for different things. So your challenge is to be fully focused and engaged with the person you are with at the moment.

Aquarius – Four of Wands – The Four of Wands’ lesson is around making a happy home. This card asks you to ponder, how do you make your home a happy place for you? Do you need to make food and invite loved ones over? To curl up on the couch, turn off all electronics and read for a day? Change the color palette? Remember to follow your heart, because your home is where your heart is.

Pisces – Knight of Wands and Two of Pentacles – The Two of Pentacles is back to remind you need more balance in your life. And the Knight of Wands is saying that your imbalance stems from you neglecting your creativity. Your challenge this week is to not only juggle work and family. Now you have to add “me time” in or you are going to lose your balance.

 

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

Nina

Tarotcast for the Week of May 28, 2017

embroidery

I grew up in the seventies when crafting was a big thing. Every summer we would pick a craft – macramé, leather work, making candles, making glasses out of wine bottles, or making pictures with things from the sea. My Mom’s big thing was ceramics and my Dad’s was making things out of leather. My grandmother did needle work but she gravitated more towards knitting. And as a kid I tried everything, but nothing really stuck until I got my first embroidery kit of a terrier’s face with one thread color and one stitch. I liked that embroidery added a silky texture and dimension to a picture. But what really amazed me was that something I used to fix the holes in my pants had the potential to become art.

Crafting in general has now had a resurgence with the DIY movement. And even though embroidery has had an high-art face since the seventies, it is now being recognized by museums and collectors as fine art instead of just arts and crafts. The images above and below represent artists of two generations, four countries and both sexes that use embroidery with photos in their art work. Maria Ikonomopoulou from the Netherlands, Julie Cockburn from the UK, Laura Mckellar from Australia, and Jose Romussi from Chile.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – Ace of Pentacles – The Ace of Pentacles continues to call you to action. As with all Aces, this marks a new beginnings. This week this card is challenging you to begin manifesting something new into your life. This can be as simple as spending time in your garden planting flowers, herbs or veggies, or making something in your workshop.

Taurus – Seven of Pentacles – This week the Seven of Pentacles advises you to dig in and get some work done. However, the challenge is all work and no play makes Jack/Jill not happy. Spend this week honing your skill at focusing on what you are doing: when at work – work, and when at home – play.
Continue reading Tarotcast for the Week of May 28, 2017

Tarotcast for week of May 21, 2017

San FRancisco Twins

Happy Birthday month Gemini!

I was lucky enough to see the San Francisco Twins many times when I lived there in the 80s and 90’s. Marian and Vivian Brown where identical twins born in Kalamazoo Michigan. They moved to San Francisco in the 70’s to get away from the hot summers and cold winters. They were icons in the San Francisco scene.

The first time I saw them was when I was walking around the Nob Hill area. I looked across the street and caught a glimpse of two ladies identically clad arm and arm walking down the street. Each time I saw them they were always dressed to the nines with big smiles on their faces, which ended up spreading to mine. That love of life and flair was one of the reason I moved to San Francisco. Not only the scenery had character but so did the people. This is a theme with Gemini to show your unique self.   Funny that uniqueness can be more evident where there are two of them.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – Nine of Pentacles – The last couple of weeks you have been in your mind. This week shifts you to action. The Nine of Pentacles advises you to find a quiet nook and work. The challenge with this card is to find contentment in what you are doing. If you really can’t find satisfaction, then this is a hint that you are not doing something right, so you can change it.

Taurus – Six of Wands – Last week, The Lovers and Six of Pentacles’ lessons were about collaboration and the give and take of relationships. This week you got another six so the theme of cause and effect continues. The challenge this week is for every act of kindness you receive you should give one in return. Or even better start the good vibe trend yourself.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of May 21, 2017

Tarotcast for week of May 14, 2017

Happy Birthday Taurus! Taurus is generally represented as the most stable and the most stubborn of the astrological signs. However, I am friends with them because they enjoy being silly. A prime example of a silly Taurus is Edward Lear, born May 12, 1812. Edward, was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author, and poet. He is best remembered for his nonsense poem Owl and The Pussycat. He also popularized limericks, was the first major bird artist to draw from living birds instead of just their preserved skins, and he was a prolific landscape artist. Also, he was known to introduce himself as “Mr Abebika kratoponoko Prizzikalo Kattefello Ablegorabalus Ableborinto phashyph” or “Chakonoton the Cozovex Dossi Fossi Sini Tomentilla Coronilla Polentilla Battledore & Shuttlecock Derry down Derry Dumps” which he based on a game from Aldiborontiphoskyphorniostikos.

The nonsense world has no comprehensive system of logic, although it implies that there is a mysterious one just beyond our grasp. Even though the nonsense world has strange creatures and fantasy destinations, it does not follow the fantasy moral norms of good versus evil or happily ever after. And even though it makes us think the way riddles do, it has no answers, or like jokes it can make us laugh but there is no punch line. This genre is most easily recognizable by using various techniques like misuse of grammar or faulty cause and effect to balance meaning and lack of meaning. So, I have begun reading the news and tweets coming out of the White House as nonsense literature. It has improved my mood, though not my sense of reality.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – Nine of Swords – More mind “fullness” this week with the Nine of Swords. This card is about worries. With all the thinking you have been doing during the past three weeks, it’s no wonder your brain is over-worked! Your challenge from the Nine of Swords is to get Zen with your thoughts. Your brain needs the rest. Find solutions for the things you can and let the rest go.

*Taurus – Six of Pentacles and The Lovers – Finally, the big card for your birthday month and the coming year – The Lovers, and with it the Six of Pentacles. The Lovers’ lessons are around collaboration and the give and take of relationships. And to reiterate that you got the Six of Pentacles, whose lesson is that what you give out, you receive back in threefold. The advice for this coming year is to really look at the relationships you want in your life and enhance the positive you are giving to them, because you will get it back threefold. The only challenge is that negative energy works that way too. So, be aware that negative in is three times negative out.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of May 14, 2017

Tarotcast for week of May 7, 2017

There are many hidden heroes in our history and lives. Nurses are one of them. Nurses are the backbone, heart and hands of medical institutions.

Mary Mahoney is one of the heroes hidden in history. She was born May 7, 1845, and in 1879 became the first African American to graduate from nursing. She was one of the first African American nurses accepted into the national nursing association in 1896; however, by the early 1900’s they had stopped admitting minorities. So Mary co-founded National Association of Colored Graduated Nurses, which accepted all nurses no matter skin tone into their ranks. She believed that in order to challenge discrimination against minorities one must be the best in their field. Mary became so respected in the white community that she had received private-duty nursing requests from patients all along the eastern coast. She not only raised awareness that healing can be given and received regardless of skin color, but she exalted the position of nurses in general.

I find that most nurses are amazingly caring people, in spite of having one of the hardest jobs. Nurses see just as many patients as doctors and see them more often while the patient is in care, are more hands-on than doctors, and bring daily comfort. One personal example: I was crying in a hallway after a doctor had just informed me that I might have ovarian cancer and I would have to wait days to get an ultrasound. The nurse hugged me, snuck me into her office and got me an ultrasound appointment that day. Seeing my anxiety she went the extra mile for me. I never saw again but she still will always have my gratitude.

May 12th is International Nursing Day. Acknowledge a nurse this week.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

Aries – King of Swords – This week, the focus is still your mind. The past two weeks have been about changing your perspective/mind. This week the King of Swords advises that it is time to make decisions. The challenge with this card is now that you are more certain of your goals, you have to be vigilant about being too bossy to obtain them. Remember, you do know a lot – but you can always learn more.

Taurus – Six of Wands – There will be powerful insights, accomplishments, and good news this week. The Six of Wands challenges you to acknowledge your hard work. Just take a second and look at all you have accomplished so far. Pretty impressive, right? That contemplation should give you enough energy to continue for the next 4 months. Keep it up.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of May 7, 2017

Tarotcast for week of April 30th, 2017

Cassini Saturn space probe

Cassini is a space probe that was launched in 1997. Its mission is to take pictures of Saturn, its moons and its rings. On April 27 Cassini started its final chapter, to dive between the rings and the planet, finally plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15, 2017. Real time data from the initial dive is helping scientists and engineers protect the spacecraft on the 21 trips through the rings of dust, rocks and ice formed from ancient meteor impacts. As Cassini flies through the rings not only will it teach us about the debris but also how to protect itself.

When I was a child, Saturn was my favorite planet. I used to draw it all the time. Now as I learn more about Saturn in astrology, its status as my favorite has been challenged. In astrology, Saturn is the planet of restrictions and limitations. Some astrologers even think that it represents karmic lessons from past lives.

Throughout our childhoods we are impacted by our surroundings with little control. This aspect of our experience creates the bad self talk that is in our minds, or our debris. Each time we dive into this detritus we become better at protecting ourselves, we get a better view of ourselves, and what is limiting us. Eventually, we become like Saturn. We can never fully discard the flotsam and jetsam of childhood but we can get it far enough away from us to make a beautiful, unique planet.

P.S. Remember, signs with * it’s a big week for you.

*Aries – Justice – Justice is the big sister of the Ace of Swords, your card from last week. This means you have another week to change your mind. Justice is here as a reinforcement to the Ace of Swords, because this is either a major mind shift or you didn’t take last week’s tarotcast seriously. So to repeat: you can change your mind by learning something new, changing an old thought, or changing your stance on something. With any of these choices you will gain a new perspective on how you think.

Taurus – Page of Swords – The Page of Swords advises that the best use of your time this week is as an investigator. Spend this week asking questions, learning about others’ thoughts and ideas, and doing research. You can learn a lot by asking questions and listening, or even just listening. This week, keep your thoughts to yourself.
Continue reading Tarotcast for week of April 30th, 2017

intentions are the children of desire and the grandparents of destiny