One hundred and thirty seven years ago today Margret Williams was born.  Forty one years later she wrote her famous book The Velveteen Rabbit.  Most of her children’s books center around toys coming to life and conveying human emotions.  She wasn’t the first to do this; there was Steadfast Toy Solider by Hans Christian(1838) Anderson or a couple years earlier than her book the Raggedy Ann(1922) stories by Johnny Gruelle.

It is interesting that Margret’s and Hans’ stories are the ones that have held up through time.  Their commonality is that they are sentimental but sad stories.  Both toys are forgotten, thrown out, and die.  However through the alchemy of love are transformed into something else.  It is interesting that both these authors chose inanimate objects to tell this story instead of their living counterparts.  Maybe these tales and ones like them ask a deeper question – what makes us real?

My favorite part of her story is the exchange between the Velveteen Bunny and the Skin Horse.  You can read the entire exchange as you read down the forecasts. I have added its parts sequentially at the end of each forecast – for fun and contemplation.  They may or may not add to your reality.  😉

P.S. Please share.  Also, I have put up another quote to download for your vision board.  Enjoy.

 

Aries – Ten of Rods

The Ten of Rods say you are carrying too much at one time.  Sometimes we take on more than we should because we think or believe we should handle more.  Whether that choice is to prove something to yourself or old mental baggage that someone has loaded on you, you do not at this time need to take on so much responsibility.    The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.

 

*Taurus – Hermit

Last week the Star challenge you  to not hide the suffering and sorrow of the world when, so in the Star’s simplest form asked you to stand and say “you are not alone” or in its complex form to help find positive solutions. This week you pulled the Hermit card that still continues the theme of healing.  The Hermit advises you need some alone time. Your mind needs solitude to heal your own wounds before going out in the world.  However, you are also challenged when you are with people who you are bringing that healing message to others.  He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else.

 

*Gemini – Temperance

Last week the Emperor challenged you to focus on one thing until completion or at least as far as you can get until moving to the next task at hand.  The practice of focus and determination is needed this week with the Temperance card.  Temperance challenges you to add a sense of attunement to the mix.   In its simplest form this can pan out as you needing to adjust to the volume of sound you live in, or it can be a complex as attuning your subconscious with your conscious thought.  For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

 

Cancer – Two of Cups

Relationships are the theme this week with the Two of Cups.  The focus is nurturing and enjoying your close relationships.  Make time to spend with love ones and let them know how much you care.  The challenge is realizing that your true partners do the same for you. “What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

 

Leo – Nine of Cups

Happy Birth-month Leo.  The Nine of Cups, contentment, is your focus this week.  The challenge is not only to strive for it but also to realize and breathe it in when you are in the midst of it.“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

 

Virgo – Three of Wands

This your wind down month to your birthday and this week the Three of Wands wants you to do a bit of future tripping on what you want the universe to bring to you.   Find time this week to do some imagining and planning.  “Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

 

*Libra – World

The World is the card of opportunity.  This week doors will open for you.  Your challenges are picking which door, walking through and if you don’t like it walk back out.  The lesson is seeing that walking in and back out isn’t a failure but an adventure. “Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

 

*Scorpio – Empress

The Empress is the card of nurturing and growing yourself, others and projects.    The Empress in her simple form is weeding and tending to what is already in process around you.  In its complex form it is about planting the seeds you want to sprout up in nine to ten months from now.  “Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

 

Sagittarius – Six of Cups

The Six of Cups advise you that something in your history needs to be brought into the future but with the innocent inquiry of a child.  If you have forgotten how to see the world as a youngster, get on the floor and play.  “It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.

 

Capricorn – Ace of Pentacles

The Ace of Pentacles advises that this is a good time to start projects, but to realize it is just in the seed phase. Your challenge with this card is realizing anything you start will take time and energy to grow. So don’t start anything this week unless you are willing to see it through.  Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

 

Aquarius – Six of Pentacles

Last week Temperance challenged you to create more balance in your life.   The “balance” theme continues this week with the Six of Pentacles.  This card advises you to be aware of the ripple effect of karma in your life.  Know that all the positive you put out there you will get three-fold back but that works for the bad stuff too. “I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

 

Pisces – Four of Cups

The past two weeks have been a bit heavy for you all with Justice challenged you to have faith that the long view will be fair and the Lovers challenged you to look at who you are partnering with.  This week the energy level takes a step down, which can spin you into a bit of a depression.  The challenge is seeing this depression stems from disenchantment and the cure is to re-align your expectations around more practical matters. “The Boy’s Uncle made me Real,” he said. “That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”

 

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

Nina