Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

"Trapped in Paradise!"

Some faraway, online friends have recently asked me why we decided to move off the island.  "But you loved it so much," they say.  Yup, we did. 

Well, I could say it's because Craig's Pluto in Virgo is conjunct my own South Node.  An astrologer told me many years ago that he'll always be dropping bombs on my comfort zones . . . with the corollary, of course, of pushing me — kicking and screaming at times — towards growth and my destiny (North Node in Pisces in the 10th).

Or I could say that our decision to move last August coincided with the onset of Saturn in Virgo squaring my Moon in Taurus (translation:  complete restructuring of one's home life).  And that transit ends in May, when we'll be nice and settled in at Cedar Hills House.

But astrology, like Tarot, only points out the timing of opportunities and challenges in our lives.  It's up to us what we do with the bundle of energy that's available to us during those transits and progressions. 

Baby Girl has Arrived!

My wonderful Capricorn granddaughter decided to come a week early!   She was born this morning at 6:27 AM EST in Maine . . .  my son Steve called me about 4:30 AM our time.  I am ecstatically happy as you can imagine . . . Mama and baby girl both doing very very well and Dad is pretty much beside himself with happiness.    She was a little over 6 pounds and 19 inches.  They have narrowed their name choices down to Cora or Grace, and will choose in the next couple of days.

I already ran her chart and she is a Cap Sun, Pisces Moon and Cap Rising (yay!!!) with lots of planets in Cap and Aquarius in her first house.   Her Venus is in Sag (like mine) -- this little girl and I are going to get along just fine.  And with that Pisces Moon, she is already part of the Mermaid Clan!  Oh and she is a 5/5 (Hierophant) in Tarot Life Cards  . . .

Jenn's parents will be driving down from New Brunswick to Maine tomorrow and I will arrive on Tuesday morning as planned. I'm disappointed I was not there for the birth but I also think it's lovely that the 3 of them have a couple of days to themselves before the grandfolks arrive.  I plan to cook and clean and take good care of all three of them while I'm there.   Yes I'll be making green smoothies for everyone!

I am offering up great prayers of gratitude to All That Is, and thanking you for sharing our joy . . .

New Moon Tarot Reading (a new spread)

(Warning:  long post ahead)

Last weekend while I was working on the Guardian of Air, I listened to some back episodes of the Tarot Connection podcast.   My favorites were the interviews with my friend James Wells (who recently visited my little island). He spoke on The Art of the Powerful Question and Energizing the Tarot Session.  I was also thinking about the upcoming New Moon and found myself jotting down notes as I worked on the art and listened to the podcasts.

New Moon in Aries

And yet another New Moon, another trip around the lunar wheel, another chance to begin again.

I love New Moons.

This particular New Moon is colored by fiery red Aries, that passionate sign that calls us to wake up and get moving. Action!  I've started walking with my neighbor Colleen early in the morning, even in the mist and the rain.  I feel a bit like a slug from the hibernation of the winter, and the movement feels good.  Since this new moon is also a solar eclipse, I’m going to pay attention to the intuitive, "lunar" murmurings that may be "eclipsing" my more rational way of thinking. 

I often track the New Moons through my astrological chart, and this one, at 8.35 degrees of Aries, falls in my 11th house of friends and social groups, conjunct my natal Jupiter.  That seems to indicate a theme:   my sense of self (Aries) is being expanded (Jupiter) in social groups (11th house).   I suppose it is not surprising, then, that I plan to travel to New York during this lunation to attend the Tarot School's Readers Studio.  I'm really looking forward to seeing all my Tarot friends.  I'll be traveling up to Portland, Maine to visit my son and daughter-in-law, too.

Meanwhile . . . I am very close to posting the Gaian Tarot Two's. The last one, the Two of Earth, is proving to be the most challenging of the four to finish as I work to get the expression on one of the faces just right.   My dad has needed extra attention from me this past week, and I had a nightmare fixing the code on my newest website design — otherwise I would have been done by now.

So the Aries New Moon is coming along right on time, to energize me, get me moving, and send me those flashes of insight and brilliance this eclipse promises.

A Watery Lunation

Yesterday it rained all day as we moved into the lunation of the Pisces New Moon. I was painting the waterfall in my “Two of Water” Gaian Tarot card when I remembered that it was ten years ago, at the Pisces New Moon of 1996, that I had my fish tattoo done in ritual space.  It was the way I claimed my “mermaid self” as my progressed sun moved into Pisces, after a lifetime of being a triple earth sign. 

I read the essays at Mooncircles.com each New Moon — this month, the nugget I pulled out of Dana Gerhardt’s article was this:

“The necessity this month is to calm your spirit, see your dream, and raise your faith.”

This dovetails nicely with the first three of Christina Baldwin’s "Seven Whispers":  “Maintain peace of mind. Move at the pace of guidance.  Practice certainty of purpose.”

I was also touched by Sarah Jones’ essay on the Turtles of Mystery.  I liked it so much, in fact, that I forwarded it to my Scorpio son, who has called himself “Turtle” since he was about 14.  It may be too woo-woo for him, but that’s OK.  Someday, I would love to see sea turtles hatching on a Mexican beach.

Venusian Values

Even though I knew about the approaching Venus transit of June 8, I wasn't too excited about it. My mind is just elsewhere these days. But this morning I woke about 4 AM and decided to catch up on a little blog-reading. Sage at Goddessing reminded me that the pentacle, that 5-pointed star so beloved of witches and Tarotists, is a "two-dimensional plot of the eight-year Venus cycle." Right, I had known that, and forgot!

There appears to be quite a bit of conversation in the astrological community about this Venus transit -- the Wild Hunt blog has some great links -- and what it might portend for the future. If it is true that this transit is ushering in an eight-year cycle of "new consciousness for a renewed world," as Sage says, I gratefully celebrate it. I do find it interesting that the mainstream media is focused on the death of Ronald Reagan and eulogizing him just as this transit occurs. Can it be a case of "out with the old, in with the new?" That'd be just fine with me. (I appreciate Kim Antieau's remarks about Reagan over at the Furious Spinner.)

It's been my habit for the past few years to be aware of my actions and thoughts on the day of an eclipse, ever since I heard that Tibetan Buddhists spend the day of an eclipse in intense prayer for the planet. My understanding is that they believe that all actions are multiplied a thousand times over on the day of an eclipse (I can't remember at this point where I heard that -- if I'm wrong, please let me know). At any rate, it seems a fine idea to have spent the day of a rare Venus/Sun transit honoring Venus and her values.

Sedna swims around in my 12th House

The folks at AstroDienst have published a provisional ephemeris for Sedna, so we can all find out where she lives in our natal charts. It turns out that she may live in my chart at 23 degrees of Aries in the 12th house of spirituality, the past and the unconscious. I'm not sure how much emphasis I can ascribe to the Aries tone, as I have that in common with everyone who was born between the late 1800's and Oct 1967, when Sedna moved into Taurus. But I do like the idea of Sedna swimming around in my 12th house, way down deep.

If I were to ascribe an astrological theme to Sedna, it would be something like this: death & transformation, guardianship of the natural world, ecological balance, the shadow. Similar in some ways to Pluto/Scorpio, but female . . . definitely an epiphany of the Goddess. The life/death/life nature Estes speaks of, which is the need to embrace and integrate a holistic, cyclical view of life rather than the linear patriarchal way of thinking.

So . . . Sedna — dark mermaid Goddess, the principle of regeneration, embracing the shadow, ecological balance and guardianship of natural resources — is significant to my spiritual path (12th house), and I express this with a strong sense of self and as a leader and pioneer (Aries).

Mmmm. Interesting.

Thank you, Sage of Goddessing, for mentioning my take on Sedna in your blog. I'm honored!

A few days into the Piscean Lunation . . .

(See Wheel of the Year Tarot Spread entry.)

Date of New Moon: 2-20-04
Sign & Degree: 1 Pisces (compassion, dreams, spirituality, fantasies)
Aspect to personal planets: Conjunct North Node! (destiny)
House in my chart: 10th – career, public self
Card: Seer (Page) of Cups
Comments on card: New love, art, emotions, dreams, visions. Being a novice, a beginner, being open and willing to takes risks.
Charm: Bride & Groom
Comments on charm:
Partnership commitment. Coming together of two diverse things or people. Very similar to the Lovers card.

What lesson do I need to learn this lunation?

I'm writing this early on in the lunation, so we'll see how it unfolds as the month progresses.

I find it quite intriguing that, with this New Moon conjunct my North Node of destiny in my 10th house of career and public persona, that the very first thing I did (on Saturday Feb 21) was give my workshop on "Sacred Play with Tarot Cards" at the 12th Annual Women of Wisdom Conference in Seattle. The workshop was full, as most of my workshops there have been, and was a lot of fun with a great group of women. I don't do much teaching anymore, and the workshop reminded me of how good I am at it and how much I love doing it. I came home fired up with all kinds of ideas for new workshops and classes, and began to think seriously again about putting myself out there to do professional readings (something else I've done only occasionally over the last few years). Ah ha — but there's that Piscean swimmer coming in, saying "ooohhh that would be so fun to do, let's veer off a bit from working on art and plan Tarot workshops and readings instead . . ." Hmmm . . . let's get that fish back on course!

Musings on the Aquarian Lunation

(See Wheel of the Year Tarot Spread entry.)

Date of New Moon: 1-21-04
Sign & Degree: 1 Aquarius - eccentricity, rebel, innovative, groups, community & social causes
Aspect to personal planets: none
House in my chart: 9th – philosophy & religion, travel, higher education, expanding your horizons, publishing, legal activities.
Card: 5 of Wands
Comments on card:
Test yourself against another; conflict of passion; anger; tried in the fire.
Facing a challenge, standing up for yourself and fighting for what you want.
From Thomson, Pictures from the Heart: ". . . frustration or anxiety regarding one's creative expression; initial act of construction or organization; concerns about working with others; scattered energy needing more focus. . ."

Asteroid Gaea

I just discovered that the asteroid Gaea sits in my natal chart at 12 degrees Capricorn, right in between my Sun (conscious self/personality) at 16 Cap and my Juno (commitments) at 8 Cap!

I just have to laugh. Astrological translation: Gaia, the Earth Mother (whom I am honoring through my Gaian Tarot) is intrinsic (conjunction) to the basic core of my identity (Sun) and to my commitments and committed relationships (Juno).