Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

Brigid's Season: 5th Annual Cyberspace Poetry Slam

 Photo:  My Imbolc / Candlemas / Brigid altar

I heard about this from Beth Owl and a few other folks. Somehow I missed out on it the last few years, but this time, I'm in.  Spread the word!

WHAT: A Bloggers (Silent) Poetry Reading

WHEN: Anytime February 2, 2010

WHERE: Your blog

WHY: To celebrate the Feast of Brigid, aka Groundhog Day

HOW: Select a poem you like - by a favorite poet or one of your own - to post February 2nd.

RSVP: If you plan to publish, feel free to leave a comment and link on this post. Last year when the call went out there was more poetry in cyberspace than I could keep track of. So, link to whoever you hear about this from and a mighty web of poetry will be spun.

Spread the word!

Explorer of Fire - Gaian Tarot Card of the Week

 What do we most need to know for the coming week?

Explorer of Fire

 

Whoosh!  Another Explorer, just like last week.  Only this one is playing with fire. Energy, creativity, passion, all spinning around to create unearthly beauty.

Hmmm . . .  I have to say I have no idea how this card will manifest in my life this coming week.  I’m still partly incapacitated by a lingering cough, and I will be focused on meeting my Llewellyn deadline by turning in the book manuscript and the art files.  I’m also finishing up the book production for the GT Limited Edition companion book.   Not very firey activities . . . Ah, but excitement is firey, isn’t it?  And I’m still quite excited about inching ever so much closer to releasing the deck and book, as well as all the wonderful ideas that came up during my business retreat.   Well it will be fun to see what comes up this week!

Here’s what I wrote about this card for the Gaian Tarot companion book:

When you get this card in a reading . . . 

Someone is playing with fire. What fast-paced, high-energy situations are being ignited? Taking risks energizes. This is a chance to entertain and dazzle. Share your enthusiasm and let the sparks fly. Creativity and eroticism can revitalize something that has become stale.

The Explorer inspires others by taking a bold stand.  She is willing to ignore possible danger, moving quickly and fearlessly on important issues that she is passionate about. Be bold! Now is the time to take courageous action.

What does this card say to you, dear Readers?

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise!

I made this digital vision board last spring when we were in the midst of our housing crisis and uncertain as to whether or not we’d be able to stay in our home.  Of the three affirmations, one has completely come true:  “I live in a beautiful home that I can afford.” (If I were to write this affirmation today, I would reframe it a bit more positively. But it’s true that we were able to buy Rainbow Cottage for monthly payments that are reasonable, and that’s what I had in mind when I wrote that affirmation.)  

Another one of the affirmations continues to manifest in my life: “Money comes to me easily and frequently.”  Can’t remember where I heard that one, but I like it! When I make a new vision board, I’m going to add this one I recently heard from my marketing coach Elizabeth: “I am resourceful and can create the money for the things I want.”

I just realized that while I included images of healthy eating, losing weight and doing yoga, I didn’t include a separate affirmation for it, and that’s the area where I’m still having trouble. The more work I do on my money issues, the more my health issues rise up to stare me in the face, wanting their fair share of attention. It’s true that while I continued to eat in a healthy way all year, I let my exercise program completely slide while I worked such long hours over the last six months or so. I’ve been dealing with a chronic cough for several months and have recently been through a series of tests that ruled out flu, bronchitis, pneumonia, sinus infection and pulmonary emboli. The new diagnosis is GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease) — apparently 40% of all chronic coughs are GERD-related — and it can be controlled through medication or, guess what? Weight loss. So . . . I’m getting back on the wagon with exercise. The biggest myth for me to bust is that I don’t have time for it. I also need to get over grieving the loss of my favorite places to walk on the island. 

The center affirmation wraps it all up:  I am Healthy, Wealthy and Wise!

Explorer or Earth - Gaian Tarot Card of the Week

 What do we most need to know for the coming week?

Explorer of Earth 

This card is, of course, my version of the Knight of Pentacles.  So one way to look at this card is ask myself:  How am I exploring the realm of finances and/or health?  And (no surprise!) those are the two areas of my life that are “up” for me this week.  In finances, I continue to work on my business plan for 2010 and to work on healing some of my money mindset issues. I’m tracking my daily income and blessing the checks that I write. I continue to ponder ways to heal the “money/spirituality split” that was discussed so thoroughly in the comments in my last post. As for health issues, I’m joyfully drinking a green smoothie a day and am addressing a persistent cough I’ve had for a couple of months. A medical procedure I'm having tomorrow should give us some more insight into that. 

Here’s the commentary I wrote on this card for the Gaian Tarot companion book:

When you get this card in a reading . . . 

The Explorer of Earth experiences her spirituality in her body and in her relationship with the earth. Although she is very realistic and practical, she is also very intuitive. This is a time to connect to the Great Mystery (God/dess) by spending time in Nature. The Explorer's spirituality is pragmatic, focused on the “how” of spiritual teachings, rather than the “why.”

She has made an art of green, sustainable living, and has much to teach about the spiritual rewards of choosing simplicity. Follow her example and be cautious at this time with your money, spending it wisely and tracking its inflow and outgo. Repair and recycle what you can, rather than making new purchases. This is a time for finding pleasure in the rewards of hard work, especially if you are doing what comes easily and naturally to you. She also reminds us that staying fit and eating a wholesome diet are the best kind of health care.

What does this card say to you, dear Readers?

The Shape of Things to Come

When I picked Elizabeth up from her hotel yesterday morning, I said: Shall we go say Hi to Mama Ocean? So we did.

It turns out that the Star card was an excellent omen for this week, at least for the first two days of my business retreat. Elizabeth and I both felt as though we were “downloading” information directly from the Muse at times.  I think I might have chosen a more electric, fiery card to represent the last two days though, as I am still fairly buzzing with excitement over what we planned out for 2010 and beyond.  

I’m not quite ready to go into details, but I will tell you that I am going to be making a major shift in my business life.  I am going to phase out my web design business and start doing a lot more teaching.  Those of you who know me from this blog (which I started in 2004) may not be aware that I spent most of the 90’s making my living from teaching classes and workshops in the Northwest on Goddess spirituality and the Tarot. I’ve taught in living rooms, bookstores and conference centers. When I moved to the island in 2000, I stopped teaching partly because of logistics (the ferry/transportation issue) and partly because I was ready for new challenges, which included creating the Gaian Tarot.  

Card of the Week: the Star

 What a lovely antidote to last week's 9 of Air!  This card speaks to me of wonder, inspiration, magic and hope.

I may be able to write more about it in a few days, but right now I'm dashing out the door to pick up my marketing coach Elizabeth Genco Purvis from her Fairhaven hotel — we're going on a business/marketing retreat for the next couple of days. Yes, I expect to be inspired, and to emerge with a plan!  :-)

Child of Water, revised redux

 I listened to you :-)   I made Gracie a little smaller and put her feet in the water.  It's better, yes?

Revised Child of Water: Grandbaby Gracie

 I think I mentioned before that I decided to revise certain cards where I used a purchased stock photo as the main photo reference, because I'm concerned grey areas in the contract with the stock photo company. I'm playing it safe. Besides, my granddaughter Grace had not been born when I painted the Children a few years ago. This is based on a photo I took of her last spring, when she was about 16 months old. I transplanted her from a sandy beach in Maine to a rocky Northwestern beach.  

Today is my birthday, and next Tuesday is Gracie's second birthday.  Happy Birthday to us Cappies!  :-D

Hope you like the new Child of Water.

9 of Air - Gaian Tarot Card of the Week

What do we most need to know for the coming week?

9 of Air

Well I have to admit I’m not too thrilled to see this card today. Interesting that my friend Beth Owl’s Daughter pulled the infamous 3 of Swords for her card of the week today, and here I am with another heartbreak/grief card, the 9 of Swords/Air. We were both tempted to put the card back and pull another!

Still, the important thing to note is not so much the storm of emotions in the card, but how we deal with them. In the card, the woman is releasing her grief and despair into the earth, where it is grounded and transformed. She gathers strength from the earth and the knowledge that She Who Watches “has her back,” and is able to move on. The affirmation I wrote for this card is: I allow the Mother to heal my sorrow as I open my heart in compassion to others. 

What does this card say to you, dear Readers?

Reflecting on 2009: What Goes Down Must Come Up

(Warning: this is a long post, but it’s a juicy one.)

This is the story of how my personal experience of 2009 began in near-disaster and ended in something resembling triumph. Today I reread my blog posts for the whole year, month by month, to see what kind of theme I might discover. What a doozy of a year! It was a Wheel of Fortune year for me, in Tarot parlance, and there were indeed dramatic ups and downs. 

I signed a contract with Llewellyn in December 2008 for the Gaian Tarot, and I had a whole year to finish the deck and book. This gave me some breathing room, or so I thought. In January there was a lot of drama in my family with an elderly cousin who went missing, and more drama around our finances and housing situation. The recession hurt Craig and I badly because of our investment in the real estate market (we owned two houses when the recession hit, with a legal commitment to buy a third. The two houses were for sale for months, with no takers). We were sliding towards foreclosure on one of the houses, as well as possibly losing the house we were living in. Several of my posts in January had to do with finding ways to keep one’s equilibrium and peace of mind during difficult times. (For those of you who have asked: a year later, the police are still investigating my cousin’s disappearance.)