The Moon moves into Cancer today, and stays there until Friday.
Looking at this transit through the lens of the Tarot, you might describe it as the High Priestess dressed in the clothing of the Charioteer. She’s left the safety of her pillars and veil, and has hit the road.
The Moon in Cancer, or the High Priestess dressed as the Charioteer, can be a powerful time of comfortable change and emotional resilience.
Knowledge gathered in silence has coalesced and it’s time to share without fear of being hurt.
Emotional loyalty, intuitive direction and strength of character can give you the resolve to go forward. Even into the unknown.
Try not to coddle yourself. You can only win if you have the courage to play to the end.
Today’s themes are balance and justice. It might be time to stand up or into your own authority by being strong, sure and most importantly, just. This isn’t the time to play around and think you’ll get away with not doing your share. On the other hand, if you do the work required, the Justice energy is happy to reward you.
Have you been playing fair? It’s not so much about the mundane rules as it is about the bigger universal justice. And it’s not necessarily about ‘work’ per se, but rather the energies that you’ve been putting out there. Are you speaking up for what you believe in? Are you taking responsibility for your own life? Do you help others as you might expect them to help you?
What you send out is what you’re likely to get back. This is karma in action and it’s generally quite profound. On days when the Justice card appears, the karmic force is typically more obvious than usual. Look around and see if you can find it.
Take time to rebalance yourself, and if possible, find some time to get out into nature. It usually puts things into perspective pretty fast. Think carefully about your next move. It’s what you’ve already done that has brought you to where you are now. What you do next will determine what you’ll be reaping in your future. Try to make it something good for everyone.
Celebrate with enthusiasm! Today is for fun and sharing. Friends are at the forefront, especially the ladies in your life.
Good times, good friends, good drink – it could be a pretty excellent day. Don’t be afraid to be happy and remember to let people know how much you like them.
Take delight in music, poetry, painting – this is a time of inspiration and creativity. Social interaction with others will be invigorating and fruitful.
Let yourself get carried away by laughter and joy. Seek out the beautiful within yourself and those around you. You won’t be disappointed if you do.
In complement to my Mother’s Day spread from May, for Father’s Day today we have a Father’s Day Spread.
It’s meant to be used in relation to your own father, or to anyone who has been an important model of stability, hard work, and personal authority in your life – even a woman.
The grand father in the Tarot is the Emperor.
At his best, he’s a character of strength, integrity, leadership, and power directed by love.
He knows what he wants, and does what’s necessary to attain it, especially in the name of protecting his home and his family.
Though fathers aren’t the only people who bear these traits, today we give thanks to those fathers who do, and to everyone else who takes on the role with honesty and compassion.
My own father has been a powerful, loving, and steadying influence in my life, keeping me on track and getting me to think and laugh along the way.
I’m very lucky and can’t thank him enough for everything he’s done. He’s the Emperor at his best.
So thank you Dad!! And to all the Dads out there, thank you!! Love and honour to you all!!!
Fathers’ Day Spread:
1. What have I learnt from my father?
2. How might I best incorporate that lesson into my life?
3. How might I acknowledge and or thank my father for this gift?
4. How can I get in touch with my own paternal nature?
5. How can I share the best of my paternal nature with others?
The Moon moves into Gemini today and will stay there until Tuesday.
From a Tarot perspective, this transit would be like the High Priestess is dressed as the Lovers’ Angel. She floats above the naked couple, blessing their sacred union.
The Moon in Gemini, or High Priestess dressed as the Lovers’ angel, can be an emotionally confusing time, one where internal conflicts arise in order to be reconciled.
But it can also be a time of clarity, honest communication and almost intuitive understanding about yourself and those around you.
Quiet faith teams up with commitment and the Angels approve of the whole thing.
Try to keep your emotions in line with your reason. Going too far either way could disturb a really nice balance.
Waiting and watching will probably be a bit of a preoccupation today. You’ve begun the process and have done all you can for the moment.
This might be a good time to review the steps you’ve taken so far. Make sure that you’ve got yourself balanced before the real journey begins.
Virtue is likely to be a key concept. Virtue here means being true to yourself within and between all your layers – mind, body and spirit.
Are your emotions in line with your thinking? Are you acting in a way that accurately reflects you’re beliefs and feelings? Explore these questions and relax. Your ship will arrive soon.
I’ve posted some videos demonstrating Yes/No Tarot spreads before, but the video below is a little bit different.
In it, Nalani of Rebel Tarot entertainingly describes how to look at the energies of the cards themselves rather than using a particular spread to determine whether an answer is in the affirmative or not.
It might be a little confusing at first, but I like what she has to say. In fact, it’s exactly what I do when faced with a yes/no type question.
Typically the ‘positive’ cards mean yes, while the ‘negative’ cards mean no. But sometimes that’s too simplistic a system.
For instance, if someone asks ‘am I going to lose my house?’ and the very happy 4 of Wands appears, I would likely read that as ‘yes, things are going to work out all right with your housing situation’ rather than, ‘yes, you’re going to lose your home.’
It’s not always so obvious, and sometimes using a Tarot layout makes this type of reading easier. But take a look at what Rebel Tarot has to say and try it out for yourself.
What a wonderful day. You feel open and loving and willing to let the world know – at least if they ask. You might not feel like running out and embracing everyone you see, but there’s a sense of contentment and well-being that’s impossible to ignore.
This is an excellent time to enjoy and share. Be generous with your feelings. There’s really nothing to fear in letting people know you care.
Give as you can and laugh out loud as much as possible, even when you’re alone. It may have been some time since you’ve felt this good. Enjoy. You deserve it.
I just got a copy of the new Ghosts & Spirits Tarot by Lisa Hunt. Released by US Games, it features ghosts and spirits from around the world gathered from ancient myths, folklore, and literature.
Some of the ghosts and spirits found in the deck are sweet, but some are more than a little scary. Hunt’s artwork though, makes them all beautiful.
Finely detailed, soft and flowing, Hunt’s ethereal creatures magically float through each card and show us that the spirit world and our own share the same space.
The cards themselves are sturdy, and standard in size. The borders are unobtrusive and the titles for each card follow a mostly traditional RWS system.
The only two that have changed are the Hierophant who has become the High Priest, and the Devil who is simply called ‘Chains.’ There’s also an unnamed ‘bonus’ card.
But though the titles are familiar, as are many of the divinatory meanings listed in the accompanying booklet, this is not an RWS clone deck. The ghosts and spirits found within these 79 cards are telling a Tarot story, but they’re doing it in their own way.
Each card portrays a different spirit or ghost, visual representations of our unconscious fears and desires. And as Hunt says in the booklet, ‘all are part of an anthropological landscape and a relevant aspect of our humanity.’
The booklet describes a little about each of the characters in the cards and they’re certainly not cartoon Caspers. Some of these ghosts are scary!
Death and transformation are big themes in many of the cards, but the ideas aren’t meant simply to terrify. They’re meant to help us to uncover our shadows, and the areas in our lives where we resist transition to our own detriment.
To test-run the deck, I tried out the Realm of the Spirits Five-Card Spread at the back of the booklet. The reading turned out to be very insightful, and despite all the ghosts, quite uplifting.
I also asked the deck a question I ask most new decks I get – what do you like talking about most?
The card I got was the Nine of Pentacles representing the Hawaiian Menehune, tiny magical fey who live in forests and caves. It’s a delightful card, very pretty – a cavern of living crystals with little people all around.
Hunt describes the Menehune as nocturnal beings, with expertise in swimming, high-diving, and playing pranks on humans. But apparently they also have kind hearts and can be helpful when they feel like it.
The cave the Menehune are pictured in is rich in natural resources and in the spirits of both the past and the present. The enormous stalagmites all around represent the three levels of psyche merging into wholeness.
So according to this card, the Ghosts & Spirits Tarot isn’t as scary as some of the ghosts in it might suggest. It just wants to dive deep into the unconscious and bring some of the stuff that’s hidden down there up into the open.
Sometimes it’s frightening, and sometimes it’s unbelievably beautiful.
As a metaphor for working with the Ghosts & Spirits Tarot, this 9 of Pentacles is perfect. In fact, it’s a wonderful description of working with Tarot in general.
I especially like that it warns us to beware of the occasional prank. All my favourite decks have a mischievousness to them, and one full of spirits and ghosts can hardly be expected to play it straight.
I really like the Ghosts & Spirits Tarot and look forward to getting to know it some more. I wouldn’t recommend it to people seriously disturbed by the concept of death or the darker side of our psyches.
But for those who enjoy a swim in the unconscious, and who like a good ghost story, this is a deck definitely worth checking out.
