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Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Athena and The Teacher
Time is continuing to play tricks acting like Coyote with me. My Friday, when I like to draw oracle cards for the weekend, dissolved into activities and dinner with friends. Today has been similar, the morning dissolving into procrastination and dabbling with the iPad. Then I finally took some action and drew two cards.
I drew Athena from the Dr. Doreen Virtue Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards. Her tag line is Inner Wisdom, and her short advice is: “You know what to do. Trust your inner wisdom, and take appropriate action without delay.” Right! In other words, stop procrastinating and get on with your day! I get that. She goes on to say that this “inner wisdom” is right there; “to access this wisdom, you must quiet your mind. Surrender all worries and other concerns to the loving and almighty power of the universe. Close your eyes, and note the thoughts and feelings that come streaming into your consciousness. If you like you can ask me to give you a signal that you’ve heard your inner wisdom correctly.” The first meaning of the card that Dr. Virtue offers is “Stop procrastinating.” OK, I get the message!
So, instead of writing this blog I moved on to my to-do list which had garden work at the top . I needed to get the pond back in action which meant getting filter material for the pump and the normal spring cleanup stuff plus some new plants – a lily for Rosemary! It felt good to get on with the day and get that task completed. Our water-fall is flowing and falling again and the new plants seem happy.
And this is one of the many reasons I draw these cards; they get me going because they reinforce what I already know. I knew I was procrastinating; I knew what I needed and wanted to do; and I knew it had to be done today. The card gave me that little extra boost to get on with it! Thanks, Athena, Greek Goddess, daughter of Zeus. Although Athena is a warrior goddess, she does battle with wits instead of weapons.” She is a diplomat; we need more like her in our world!
The Grandmother Card I drew from the Megan Garcia deck is The Teacher of the Clan Elders. She say: “We have learned from the records of those who have walked before us, and we continue to preserve the understanding. We pass to the next generation the teachings of our ancestors. We see in our her-story/his-story the truths we need to continue as Humans. We challenge, communicate, and guide others on a path of discovery of themselves.”
And just as Athena advises, Grandmother says we need to walk the path of self-discovery. It is all inside for us to know, to learn and to reveal. Yes, I procrastinated this morning avoiding the simple tasks put on a list to get done. That was a small thing. I also procrastinate reaching for that inner wisdom; and when I do reach for it I hold it inside, or I write it in my journal, locking it away again. And I avoid the role of “teacher.” A true teacher elicits the inner wisdom of others. It is our combined inner wisdom which will save us, will show us the “truths we need to continue as Humans.”
So, as I conclude this post, I realize I am still procrastinating. I am avoiding my “writing chair” and my meditation cushion. I will devote more time to these “spaces” over this long weekend.
How will you go about seeking and sharing your Inner Wisdom?
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Abundantia and Grammie Freedom
Happy Monday! Since I ended last week with Oracle Cards I thought it would be good to begin this week with some new guidance. For the weekend the cards from Friday suggested rest and quiet time. And since I wasn’t feeling my best physically I did just that. In fact we canceled plans for Friday evening and Sunday afternoon so we could take it easy.
Then I got an email “astronote” from our friend, Chris Largent, who shed some “light” on what’s going on in the sky! It seems we are still being impacted by the old Mercury retrograde which left us on May 11 but is still having some influence. Here is what he offers about the rest of the month:
“Greetings, everyone!
“For those of you who noticed the overwhelm of the last ten days or so, it’s clear that this is one retrograde shadow that is almost like the retrograde itself! As planets move into Gemini now, collective consciousness should feel lighter – and so will demands and tensions. So, I hope we all get plenty of rest and prepare for a lighter time.
“The good news is:
(1) the retrograde shadow ends just before Memorial Day (and is fading everyday between now and then),
(2) aspects symbolizing enthusiasm, optimism, and sudden opportunities and insights come into play the end of this month through the summer, and
(3) most of us have trained for these times on some other level of consciousness, according to various elders – so we can make the best of our struggles (and we all hope that this is true!).
“One cautionary note (and what would astronotes be in this era without at least one of these annoying things): there may be sudden releases of energy at the end of the month, coinciding with Memorial Day weekend, so in addition to my usual ‘please drive carefully’ note, I will add ‘please drive VERY carefully and deliberately and keep an eye on others on the road.’
“I hope you have a productive week and a great holiday weekend!
Chris”
Note that you can subscribe to Astronotes and contact Chris through the following email address:
ideahse@aol.com
And now to the cards for the week:
As you might guess Abundantia brings Prosperity. She says: “The universe is pouring its abundance out to you. Be open to receiving.” I like this card! But I do take careful note of the “receiving” part of the message. And to receive we have to recognize, be open, listen, watch, wait, and then, accept. Dr. Doreen Virtue goes on to have Abundantia say: “I’ve heard your prayers, worries, and affirmations…expect unforseen windfalls and gifts. Notice the new ideas, feelings, and visions within you. This guidance gives you clear direction about actions to take in conjunction with my assistance. Together, we’re unstoppable!”
This is a powerful message for any week; and I also notice the Moon is filling waxing to fullness on Thursday. This is an expansive period; I also take note of point (2) by Chris as we move into this expansive period of “enthusiasm, optimism, and sudden opportunities and insights.” These will be coming from Abundantia; watch and wait and listen for them. The ideas, feelings, insights, visions are all inside; bring them out. It might be a very good time to meditate and journal. Watch your dreams as well and ponder the messages coming from your unconscious mind.
And Abundantia’s message this week is reinforced by Grandmother Card, Grammie Freedom who is the “Guide of Promise” for the whole deck of Grandmothers! I’ve scanned in her image today because she is so beautiful and full of promise from so many directions and sources. Here is her message:
“You heard the voices calling from very far,
You heard the voices calling from distant star.
You heard the voices calling…
“You came as Freedom Child.
You sang your song,
You wrote your story,
You saw your vision,
You built your shield,
You made your dolls,
You became your dream,
“‘You are the patchquilt of your heart. You are the heart and spark of our Grandmothers.’
“Namasté” And thank you Megan Garcia, for your beautiful images and Grandmother messages!
Call and response. We call and the Universe answers with abundance. When the Universe calls it is up to us to respond in kind!
Blessings for an awesome week!
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Sige and Dancing Fire
As I drew oracle cards today I was thinking about and toward the weekend. The intention I held was to have an active one, to get some things done that have been hanging over my head, to be upbeat and energetic! Interestingly the Goddess Guidance Oracle card I drew for this intention is Sige: “Quiet Time”! The words Dr. Virtue has her say are: “Take some quiet time alone to rest, meditate, and contemplate.” What? Quite time, rest? I had every intention to get motivated. Why did I draw this card?
Sige is the gnostic goddess of the Great Silence, the void from which the creation blew into existence. “Sige reminds us that words create duality, and that in silence, we find our true origin and self.” The creation, the Universe, is telling me to move into the silence to find my center, to re-balance and get grounded, alone, in non-dual time. All those things that need to be addressed: they’ll be there on the other side of this silence. All the planned activities, the weekend events, the “fun” to be had: this is not the time. Do I take this advice and close down for a day or two this weekend? Or do I push through and ignore my own intuitive guidance from these cards?
The strange thing is I am not feeling completely up to par today. Low energy, low spirit, low motivation is pressing down on me. Is this why I drew the card in the first place? Is the Universe telling me to slow down and take it easy? How often do we allow ourselves to do this? How often do we simply “close the door on life” for a while to find our center?
My Grandmother card today is: Dancing Fire of Woman’s Lodge. She says: “I am full of energy and ideas. They named me Dancing Fire because of my spontaneity. My motto is, ‘it is not where the journey is taking you, it is how you are taking the journey.'” Wait a minute! How does this reinforce or amplify on Sige? Sige say to be quiet and rest. Dancing Fire says she is full of energy and ideas. Yes, but she also says “it is how you are taking the journey.” The journey can certainly be an inward one. Am I being told to slow down and consider where I am? Is it suggested that I move inwardly and just be with myself for some time? I can do this with energy, with purpose, with plenty of ideas! But I can also do this in silence.
How often do you take time for just yourself? Do you travel inward to ask the hard questions? Do you assess in silence when you reach some point in life that requires centering and balance. I don’t do this often enough. Too often I simply bull-doze through issues to get through them, to get to the other side. I think maybe, for at least part of this weekend, I’ll take some time to just be with the issues, the to-do list, the actions needing attention. They won’t go anywhere; they’ll be there Monday. They are more patient that I am!
Sige says “Shhh, dearest one. Quiet you mind. Breathe and let go of words, worry and plans.” I think I will…
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Yemanya and Mother Earth
What is your intention for the week? Do you wake up in the morning and ask yourself this question for each day? Do you spend a moment considering the day’s potential and wonder what it is that will make it special? I hope you do. This is a much better way to begin than with a worry or a concern; a fear or some other source of stress you may be facing about the day or week.
One way to do this is to shift into the intuitive mind on first awakening. This could include recalling a dream and writing it down. Another way is to reach for a tool; maybe it is as simple as drifting into meditation on the question: “what does this day hold for me; what is mine to do?” Or it could be more active, for example, reaching for an oracle deck and drawing a card to set an intention. Shifting from sleep state to awake state is a critical moment in the day and can set the tone for the entire day. It is good to be intentional about this shift.
My intention for this day is to be productive and for the week it is to consider purchasing an Apple iPad. Then just before I drew cards from the Goddess Guidance Oracle deck and the Grandmothers deck I glanced at yet another headline on the oil disaster in the Gulf. The cards speak to all of these points that were bouncing around in my mind as I drew them.
I drew Yemanya from the Goddess Guidance deck by Dr. Doreen Virtue. Yemanya’s message is “Golden Opportunity: Important doors are opening for you right now. Walk through them.” This is always a good message to receive; it is reinforcement to keep moving in the positive direction chosen. Yemanya goes on to say: “Like the ocean, life moves in waves and tides. Timing is everything, so when an opportunity presents itself, you must dive in at that moment.” This is also a good message to receive and consider under a waxing moon. Last week we passed through the cycle from Old Moon to New Moon. Under the Old Moon we let go of those things not serving us and to make room for the new coming into our lives. Just as the Moon empties and fills, we must empty and fill ourselves; and the Moon drives the tides; dive into that tide as it rises and presents itself as the opportunity to flow!
Yemanya is an African and Brazilian Goddess who created the sea. Dr. Virtue says: “Since the sea is the root of Earth Life, Yemanya’s connection to it makes her a very powerful and nurturing mother goddess.” Is anyone surprised that I drew a Goddess card connected to the sea as I was thinking about the Gulf? What are we doing to these Mothers; the Sea Mother and the Earth Mother? Will we now learn the lesson we missed in the 70s during that OPEC generated oil crisis? This is the opportunity; this is the open door that we must step through. Some lessons are very hard to accept and very long in the learning. But this one is clear and it is now immediate.
The Grandmother card always seems to reinforce the Goddess card. Today I drew Mother Earth of the Clan of Gifting. She say: “As your Elder Mother I invite you to enjoy the bounty, sustenance and support of me. Partake of the riches of my fertile land, enjoy my forests, and be flowing like my rivers and oceans. Harvest the food of my plants and see the beauty of my flowers. To honor me is to understand our interdependence and to respect all forms of life. The Clan of Gifting reminds us that we each have gifts of abundance that we can share for the benefit of future generations.”
Through the gift of Yemanya the Sea gave birth to Earth Life. Mother Earth gifts us with life and abundance. And our opportunity is to give of our own abundance for the benefit of the future. How often do we consider our own gifts and our own opportunities as gifts for future generations? It is time to “remember forward” and take today’s opportunities as lessons so there might be a future generation to carry us forward.
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Kuan Yin and Woman Connecting Time and Space
We are in the final “death throes” of the old Moon; she dies and is reborn tonight at 7:04 Mountain Time. She will remain hidden from us for three days in her newness; she will be residing in the Underworld during that time. Watch for her in the early evening as she reappears over the western horizon as a shy, barely-there sliver of silver.
In these final hours of the old Moon it is not too late to throw out “stuff” that no longer serves you. The “stuff” can be material things, but it is more often things like old habits, old thinking, old practices, old emotions, old “recordings in our heads” that replay messages that no longer serve. Some of mine are: “I don’t have time for that” and “I’m not good enough to do that.” Clear away the old to make room for the new.
As I drew cards today my intention was to set the energy for this New Moon in Taurus. Kuan Yin is the Goddess of Compassion. The words Dr. Doreen Virtue has her say are: “Release judgments about yourself and others, and focus on the love and light that is within everyone.” Judgment is always a good thing to release…what better time to do so than at this very moment as the moon wanes to nothingness. Let the judgments go into that void; let them fall into the Sun as the Moon does as it goes conjunct with the Sun and disappears in Her brilliance, the brilliance of Sekhmet whom we met in Tuesday’s post. Dr. Virtue focuses the message of Kuan Yin on the self first and then others. She says Kuan Yin helps us to “release guilt and shame to Heaven for healing and transmutation” – yes, let the old Moon have it and transmute it in the fires of the Sun. She also says “don’t be so hard on yourself or others; release perfectionistic tendencies.” This is particularly good for me to hear and perhaps many men who struggle with doing the right thing, being all that we are called to be in this very complex time of transition we are living through. Let go of getting it perfect and realize you are doing the best you can under the circumstances.
From the Grandmothers I drew Woman Connecting Time and Space of Woman’s Lodge. I have included the picture of this Woman to bring alive the image of this connection. She says: “I live in the Mystery. I am trusting of the unseen world, but I have difficulty with the seen world. I joined the lodge knowing that in joining with other women we could bridge these two worlds and become balanced and whole in both.” One of the things we are called to do is to let go of our fear. As the Moon goes dark she descends into the Underworld, the Mystery; she does not fear! All will be well; she will return; the cycles of birth and life and death are repeated throughout the “seen world” just as they are repeated in our own experiences. Growth in consciousness is part of the cycle of life. Connecting time and space is an expansion of consciousness. And it is a reminder of our vertical connection between the Earth (Time) and Heaven (Space). As humans we stand at the intersection of immanence and transcendence. And we are called to balance in this position.
So, as we go into the New Moon energy be compassionate toward, first, yourself, and then others; see the light inside you reflected in the presence of others. And remember we are all standing on this balance point between the physical world of time and the metaphysical world of mystery- utter expansiveness and deepest void.
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Sulis and White Lamb Woman
I love these oracle card days; I get so much information from the cards which are always telling me what I need to hear. I hope they are useful for you as well. My intention when I draw them is to seek and offer sound advice for the days going forward.
Today I thought about Thursday being the “new Friday” as the weekend approaches; and both cards I drew are about renewal! And as we are still in a Mercury retrograde period, until May 11 it is a great time to rest and relax. My good friend and astrologer, Chris Largent, has this to say about this time: “If we all hang in there until Tuesday at about 6:30 pm (actually 6:27 pm EDT), the Mercury retrograde will be over. So, let’s try not to react too much (and stay away from people who trigger us), AND let’s also get plenty of rest and play (in the ancient world, cultures often just took these times off – what an idea, eh?). And please keep in mind that this is a good time for reflection and contemplation. So, if we slow things down as often as we can – if only for a few minutes – and treat ourselves to something relaxing, this could be a rewarding time (astrologers have to say things like that in times that are a pain in the neck).”
Sulis, a “Celtic Sun Goddess who oversees bodies of water associated with healing”, says: “Spend time near bodies of water, such as a lake, river, or the ocean, to recharge your batteries.” Water is both a purifying agent and the element that holds our emotions. Dr. Doreen Virtue writes: “Water can wash away sadness, pain, and the ill effects of suffering. Engage in purification rituals involving water more often, and you’ll experience an uplifting in your spirit and outlook.”
Grandmother White Lamb Woman is of the Lodge of Dirctions North. She says: “I was born from White Fire with wisdom, grace and abundance. I offer clarity so your spirit may be restored and renewed.” She is a beauty with smooth, unblemished features and dressed in a lovely robe of white angora wool and a headdress of white and black striped feathers. To gaze on her countenance is to feel the relaxation and peace of restoration.
As the weekend approaches consider taking time to relax and rejuvenate. If you are near water take time, even a few moments, to meditate and let go of any disturbing emotions – let the water wash them away. Or soak in a tub and purify both body and spirit as Sulis and White Lamb Woman sooth away any stress or pain. And while Mercury is retrograde do this as often and as much as you can!
Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards: Pele and Winter Birch
It’s Tuesday in beautiful Colorado; the sun is high and bright, the temperature is predicted to approach 80, and the wind is blowing to keep things cool. I’ve set aside the day to get out in the garden and tend to the newly greening and growing life of “new Summer” now that we have celebrated Beltane!
But first I drew two cards for the day to get in touch with the Goddess energies influencing our times. I am so glad to be getting back to this regular practice and to share it in this way. As Rosemary mentioned in her comment on my first post of Goddess Card work last Friday, using divination cards is a wonderful way to get in touch with the intuitive, Higher Self. And while I am drawing these cards and interpreting their meaning within my own context, do know that my intention is to gain and offer guidance for all of us, not just for me.
That said, today’s Goddess Card from the Doreen Virtue deck is Pele, Divine Passion. Pele is the Hawaiian Goddess of volcanoes. Dr. Virtue says: “She shows us that fire can purify, release us from the old to make way for the new, and ignite our passions.” And Pele’s admonition is: “Be honest with yourself: What is your heart’s true desire?” This is wonderful advice for these times of change. We are out of time; we can no longer procrastinate and wander aimlessly through our lives. Find your purpose, find your passion (they are completely interrelated) and live them! This begins with being passionate about yourself. You are important; you have a unique purpose in this lifetime. Call on Pele to burn up the old, wandering self and ignite your inner fires; get in touch with your Higher Self and love that person entrusted with this purpose.
Today’s Grandmother Card is Winter Birch of Woman’s Lodge. She offers her strength to support us in our purpose and passion: “No matter how great the burden or how difficult the task, my flexibility enables me to shoulder the load and bounce back. This has been of value for some of the others who had difficulty letting go of rules and judgments.” Yes, strength to let go of other people’s rules and judgments! With the coming changes the old rules don’t apply; other peoples judgments do not pertain; remain flexible and strong knowing the burdens given to us are never too much, can not break us as we move into our purpose and passion.
Note on the Grandmother Cards: the actual title is Grandmothers by Megan Garcia, published by Books Beyond Borders, copyright 1995; the ISBN: 1-883862-06-X. I offer all this information because the deck is out of print but is available if you search for it; I got mine in new condition from Powell Books several years ago. I’ve included here a scan of the image of Winter Birch of Woman’s Lodge so you get a sense of their style and beauty. I will scan others from time to time if their images seem important to the reading.
Men and The Goddess 