Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

Moving Day

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally moved my blog to a WordPress site called Gaian Soul.  I started my blog here on the Typepad platform in September 2003, and today I successfully moved all seven years of blog posts over there (in spite of Mercury Retrograde!). 

I originally started this blog to have some company during the years I spent creating the Gaian Tarot. Now that the deck is finished and is making its way in the world, I decided I wanted to have a new site that would encompass my interest in Tarot but not be limited to it.

So I came up with the title “Gaian Soul,” and the tagline: “At the crossroads of Creativity, Nature and Spirituality is . . . Transformation.”  And that pretty much sums up who I am and what I care about.

I invite you to take a look around the new site (yes, several areas are not quite done) and subscribe to my blog through email or RSS.

And if you haven’t already checked it out, I’d love for you to have some of my free stuff!

Please update your links and your RSS feeds to the new site. I won't be posting here anymore. 

Thanks for coming along on this wonderful journey with me.  I’m grateful for your company!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Setting Out

Serenity & Productivity: Living the Canoe Card

Last week Craig and I took off for a canoe-camping trip in the North Cascades wilderness. It was probably the best vacation I can remember having in a long, long time. We whittled our needs and activities down to a basic few: pack up the gear, unpack the gear. Make meals, clean up meals. Paddle from one campsite to another. Enjoy Mama Gaia, enjoy each other. We were completely unplugged and out of cell phone range. We encountered only a handful of people on the remote north end of the lake. The weather couldn't have been finer. And so we sweetly paddled our way into that mythical land called Slow Time.

In the Gaian Tarot Circle, one of the threads in the discussion forum is about the Gaian Tarot's penchant for being literal in readings. (For example, someone who pulls the 4 of Water with its imagery of Chalice Well might "coincidentally" be planning a trip to Glastonbury, where the Well is located.) As I paddled for several hours each day at the lake last week, I would think about the Canoe (Chariot) card, and the meaning I assigned to it.  I wrote this in the Gaian Tarot companion book:

When you get this card in a reading . . .

This is a time to stay focused on your path, and to exercise self-discipline as you work towards your goal. Set aside anything extraneous that would dis- tract you or keep you from completing your task. What is your goal? What do you want to accomplish? This may apply to your life in the everyday world — pursuing a course of study, a career goal, a fitness plan, a creative project. It may also apply to your inner life; perhaps you are in a recovery program or are healing from a trauma. Whatever it is, set your intention, take your first steps, and your guides and allies will be at your side to help you on your way. Be of great courage! No matter how hard it seems, you have what it takes to succeed.

However . . . what I discovered is that paddling a canoe is not always about being focused and self-disciplined and distraction-free. In fact, it can be a fine way to meander and flow and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. I found myself constantly distracted by colors, shapes and sounds as we paddled along: the intense underwater shades of jade and emerald; undulating, sinuous roots and branches; a raven's croak and chickaree's chatter. I was invariably distracted by Beauty.
 

Spirit Sunday: Leap and the Net Will Appear (the Fool)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Late Summer on the Beach

 

Spirit Sunday: We Have a Beautiful Mother

What We Did Last Saturday

The Gardener: A Business Vision (or, "Your Ideal Day")

In the Gaian Tarot Circle, we’ve been studying one Gaian Major Arcana card a month. This month’s card is the Gardener (aka the Empress).  Even though I created this card a few years back and know it intimately, I’m finding it has new and timely messages for me. A couple of nights ago, a group of us from the GTC had a conversation about the Gardener card on a teleseminar call. 

 

The key insight that emerged for me during the call is that the Gardener card is my exact model for how I want my business to be.  There's clearly been an enormous amount of work done — look Ma, no weeds! — but the Gardener has co-created with the nature spirits and with Mama Gaia Herself to create a lush, fertile, abundant garden.  And . . . she is relaxed, happy, healthy, and enjoying the "fruits of her labors"!  And she is pregnant with her next project . . .

I’m a Capricorn and a triple earth-sign to boot, so I have a tendency towards overwork and work-aholism.  Sometimes I feel guilty for taking an entire weekend off.  (I know, I know . . .)  So I’m very excited to have this card as a model for how I want my business to be.  Abundant, prolific, lots of hard work done . . . and I’m taking time to relax and enjoy it all.  Oh yeah!

There’s nothing more powerful than a clear vision of how you want your life and your business to be.  If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you possibly get there?

Many moons ago — well, back in the early 80’s — I read a book that had an enormous impact on my life.  That book was Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want by Barbara Sher. I still have my original copy with all my notes scribbled in the margins. I don’t think I did all the exercises in the book, but the one I did do (more than once) is the “Ideal Day” exercise. This was incredibly powerful for me, because it allowed me to dream about what I really wanted for my life.  Back in the early 80’s the highlights of my “Ideal Day” were: 

Wordless Wednesday ~ Fair Winds & Calm Seas

 

Spirit Sunday: She Carries Me