December Solstice Reading for December 21, 2017

New Light © Open Portal Tarot

Question:  How does this Solstice support the Heart?

Summary of Interpretation:  This Solstice supports the Heart’s mastery of old imprinting contained in the ego and new superpowers discovered through seeking, questing and regular spiritual practice.  The Heart astutely holds the reins on what can be informative about the conditioning from the overculture, while reclining without resistance under the auspices of ancient wisdom.  This puts the Heart in a place to move forward as if carried forth on a devoted, enlightened creature, and to be a fertile womb for seeds from cosmic sources.  The overall aura generated would feel golden – rare and adding value to any situation.  Choices in favor of leaping forward with courage and inspiration as if propelled from behind, and in favor of any material wealth that can be generated through the Heart’s gifts will be choices that allow the central mastery to show up in an Earthly way.

In the Northern Hemisphere, a shift is happening such that more sunlight will fall on the region daily until the next Solstice.  Therefore, setting intentions that would culminate in an expansion of Self during this solstice will create inner vessels for the incremental increases of daily energy.  Intentions accompanied by daily prayerwork/practice call the Sun’s Qi into the vessels and then the Heart would have the fuel for expansion.

Blessings.

 

 

September Equinox Reading for September 22, 2017

September Equinox © Open Portal Tarot

Question;  How does this Equinox support the Heart?

Summary of Interpretation:  This Equinox supports the Heart’s overall powers of moving forward in material life by casting out the mental habits that are currently preventing the next step of closeness with deeper sacred powers.  It is the closeness with sacred powers and the quest to align them with the environment that is the main focus, but when mental focus on existential survival or isolated progress take too much energy from one’s total organism, then that energy drain becomes an obstacle to questing deeply.  The autumn in the Northern Hemisphere is a time of both harvest and letting go, so the Tarot has identified what mental drains to let go (old battles, restlessness, unreconciled duality) to make room for the harvest that the Heart orchestrates through feminine dynamics (love, beauty, fecundity, receptivity, patient cultivation, nutrition, organization, health).

Blessings.

Full Moon will be on July 9, 2017 at 12:06 AM Eastern Time

Waxing Moon © Open Portal Tarot

The Moon will be full in Capricorn, opposite the Sun in Cancer.

To find the time of the Full Moon in your time zone, click here.

To read an explanation of this Full Moon’s attributes by Shamanic practitioner Lena Stevens and astrologer Patricia Liles,  click here.

June 2017 Solstice Reading

Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon © Open Portal Tarot

June Solstice 2017

June Solstice will be on June 21, 2017 at 12:24 AM Eastern Time (EDT).  The Sun will enter the sign of Cancer at that time.

To find the Solstice time in your zone, click here.

Question:  How does the June Solstice support the Heart?

Summary of Interpretation:  The Sun as the Great Giver in our solar system teams up with long-term companions Pluto and Mars to move us forward through transformation that has been ongoing, and into a free and strangely energized, Eagle-like state.  With the Sun’s help, it becomes very timely to “step up” to shifts that have been masterfully orchestrated and to allow Solar explosions and blasting winds to fuel the motion.

Explanation:  In celebrating a Solstice, we honor the Sun’s shifting light pattern, and renew the Heart’s connection to it.  The images in the Tarot spread serve as messengers from the Great Giver to the Heart.  This spread additionally features a cooperative connection between Mars and Pluto, giving the Heart the experience of “rising from the ashes” and “stepping it up” on an emotional level and in the area of risk-taking.

Atu XIII is the central card, with its Scorpionic images of death and rebirth (scorpion, snake, eagle, fish, skeleton).  The skeleton is actually stirring up the bottom of the ocean, where decaying matter is going to bubble up to new life.  This activity more closely resembles the activity of Pluto/Hades in the underworld than the Grim Reaper/Saturn announcing that time is up.  The skeleton wears an eagle crown, for the way his consciousness takes flight.  Utilizing the rotten fish and decaying matter is crucial to the experience of ascension, because the real-life decomposition that it represents was willfully chosen (the scorpion commits suicide in grave situations), with the eventual liberation in mind as the light at the end of the tunnel (eagle in flight).  This Solstice period is supporting that dawn of light.  Sometimes, Pluto, as one of the transpersonal, outer planets creates experiences for people that they only partially feel in a personal way.  They may be shocked, stunned, surprised, or “spaced out,” but the majority of the processing of the experience happens beyond the ego’s radar.  However, Mars as one of the personal planets collaborates with Pluto in Atu XIII, and brings the experiences to a level where they are felt closely.  What previously putrefied in life was probably painful, but  now there is a viscerally triumphant feeling of passionately moving on to new horizons.

The cards to the left and right of the center contribute a few variations on the mobilizing ability of Mars.  The 4 of Cups shows four very expensive golden cups being filled unequally.  The red of Mars particularly colors the cups which are not being generously filled.  This is a signal to appeal to Mars as an ally to move one’s focus from the splendor of the cups to the quality of the wine.  In other words, allow the Sun and Mars to support the Heart in moving to a higher, more consistent level of joy. 

The Knight of Wands on the right similarly sports a lot of Mars-like swirling red together with swirling gold, attributed to the Sun. The Knight’s horse is rearing up as if to reach a higher level.  His torch is ablaze with the potential to burn down obstacles.  The Knight is also blown forward by an explosion.  As a Solstice message to the Heart, this speaks of taking bigger risks, allowing the winds of change to carry one forward, and being more concerned with the learning gathered in the moments of truth than the concern to map out the whole journey all the way to the horizon.  The new life bubbling up in Atu XIII can be created step by step, with the help of time and energy released from the past now available.

A death and rebirth activity (Tibetan death ritual):  Lie on your back, outdoors if possible.  Ground into Mother Earth.  Imagine the wind blowing away your skin, then flesh, then muscles, then arteries and tendons, then organs, then anything remaining besides the bones.  Imagine an ancestor ally coming to rebuild you.  Imagine the ancestor ally re-creating the physiological matter of your body, in the way that is perfectly structured to accomplish your new life.  Every cell is programed to live the new life successfully.  Imagine the ancestor ally endowing your new body with many gifts.  Thank the ancestor and give him/her a gift.  Meditate and breathe a while to integrate the experience.  Record images and dreams that occur to you over the next 1-2 days.  Meditate on the image of this Tarot spread throughout the Solstice period to solidify the intention to claim its gifts.

Blessings.

December Solstice 2016

March Equinox 2017

June Solstice 2017

June Solstice will be on June 21, 2017

Helios and Earth Rejoice © Open Portal Tarot

June Solstice will be on June 21, 2017 at 12:24 AM Eastern Time (EDT).  The Sun will enter the sign of Cancer at that time.

It will be Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.

To find the Solstice time in your zone, click here.

Full Moon Reading for June 9, 2017

Full Moon through Cattails © Open Portal Tarot

To find the time of the Full Moon in your time zone, click here.

The Micromoon is full in Sagittarius, opposite the Sun in Gemini.

Question:  How does this Micromoon support the Heart?

Summary of Interpretation: This is a time for the Heart to reach through the dimensions to shape reality in a way that conforms to its gifts, and to train the mind to entertain the possibility that the Heart’s gifts are about to manifest.

Expansion and Practice Points: The central card is Atu II which is about being the master of unseen energies at play in the physical world, the way the Moon re-directs light energy from the Sun to the darkened side of the Earth. In the image, a priestess figure sits on her throne between two pillars inscribed with ancestral knowledge.  She makes herself a vessel by wearing the crescent moon crown and lifting her arms in invocation.  With the motion of her arms, she alters the web of existence which should be linear and of a single dimension in form.  By the will of the priestess, the web takes on more dimensions and incorporates the shape of a heart — the heart of the priestess.  The camel in the card further demonstrates heart wisdom because it alludes to the Hebrew letter Gimel, which in further studies is a lesson of giving kindness to those in need.  The bow on the lap of the priestess is not so much a weapon as it is a three stringed harp.  The song of the harp invites journeying through the dimensions with imagination.  In the context of the spread, the Micromoon within this lunar cycle offers to support the Heart’s ability to reach beyond the physical world into other energy pools, and shape that which the Heart took this life form to shape.

To the left and the right of Atu II there are the 2 of Swords and the 4 of Swords standing supportively like the pillars in Atu II, and not interfering.  In the Tarot, very few planets are happy in the Swords suit because intellectual processes resist transforming limitations.  However, here we have the majority of happy Swords cards appearing in the spread for this lunar cycle.  The Moon is in Libra in the 2 of Swords, and Jupiter is in Libra in the 4 of Swords.  As the images suggest, the weapons of battle come together to enforce fairness, expansion, equality, and making good decisions after much consideration.  It might feel like the mind thinks the very best plan of action is to manifest the Heart’s gifts.  Make hay while the Sun shines!

There is a definite sense of “get going” to this spread, as if there is not a moment to lose.  If one were to support the Heart with practices aligned with this Micromoon spread, one could utilize the following:  1) Find or play Tom Tom drumming, and with the sacred intention of viewing the Heart’s gifts, ask for a guide and go on a visualization drum journey.  Visualize the Heart’s dreams.  If the attention wanders, focus on Atu II during the drum journey and make notes of images and ideas that come up.  2) Meditate on the image of this spread regularly and ask for support for the Heart’s dreams.  Make a list of what takes up space in one’s life without being from the Heart.  3) Appeal to the Moon, to one’s spiritual allies and to one’s guardian angels for power to manifest the Heart’s dreams.  If the mind becomes resistant, remind it to be fair to the work the Heart has to do while it has a short human life.

A Starting Point Prayer to Develop as the Work Unfolds:

Mother Moon, we thank you for your light and beauty, and for offering to teach us to see and work extra-dimensionally for the good of all.  We hope to be worthy students of your lessons during this cycle.  Spirits of the East, we thank you for teaching us to hold a space of visions and the unknown while we invite new life.  Spirits of the South, we thank you for mobilizing support for whatever seeds we plant on your beautiful, fecund, fertile ground.  Spirits of the West, we thank you for the ancestral knowledge that will be woven into the dreaming we are doing to master the lesson of Atu II.  Spirits of the North, thank you for awaiting our words of sacred intention and for surrounding them with a positive ripple effect when we have uttered them.  Father Sky, thank you for all the beautiful celestial bodies and the water-giving clouds you house.  We love the otherworldly feelings we have when we gaze at you.  Mother Earth, thank you for your vast beauty and variety, for giving us our bodies and supporting our lives, and thank you for being the source of sustenance for whatever we dream.

Blessed be.