Five of Pentacles

This morning's breakfast was nothing to get all excited about, so it's getting pushed out of the frame by this morning's card, which is so incredibly auspicious that it deserves the bulk of our attention.

Every day before I pull a card I have a question or issue in mind that I am looking for a fresh perspective on. I don't believe in divination or fortune telling. I think that what we perceive as "magic" or "supernatural" is really just the result of a shift in how we view something. This morning I wanted to meditate on those who are less fortunate that I am and how I can better serve my community.

With that said, let's talk about the Five of Pentacles, shall we?

Five of Pentacles / Worry (Trapped Between Two Worlds)

Pulling the Five of Pentacles on the heels of the one year anniversary of the Occupy Movement felt a little eerie. To quote directly from Crowley's interpretation of this card:

"The complete upset of the statically stabilized system. Now appear storm and stress.... A disturbance is a disturbance...The economic system has broken down, there is no more balance between the social orders."

Basically, what this card represents is the dark before the dawn and the realization that the answer to our troubles does not lie within existing boundaries. This card symbolizes fear, anxiety, poor health, poverty, shame at our financial insecurities, loneliness, and feeling excluded, but it also suggests that we have not been beaten and that there is a way out.

The Five of Pentacles directs us to re-imagine the world. (Another world is possible!!) It says that the old ways have grown stale and the foundations are rotting under our feet. We must build a bridge between the old world and the new. All of the fears and anxieties and feelings of isolation that we are experiencing during this time are the direct result of Spectacular life.

"The actual realization of real desires - that is to say, the abolition of all the pseudo needs and pseudo desires that the system manufactures daily in order to perpetuate its own power - cannot take place without the suppression and positive supersession of the commodity spectacle." - Strausbourg Situationists

"People rely on Causes because they haven't been able to make their own life a Cause sufficient unto itself" - Raoul Vaneigem

Make the betterment your everyday life your Cause. That means helping the people around you who cannot help themselves. Stop and talk to someone who is asking for money on the street - after all, they are a human being too, who feels isolated and scared. Let those around you know that they are not alone and that we can endeavor together to make a better future. I don't know what that future looks like and I don't have a simple answer as to how it will come into being, but I have faith that if we fight the commodification of our desires and continue to grow and learn from one another, we will find our way out of the darkness.

The Princess of Cups / Song to the Siren

Oh you sweet, sweet child.

I wish that I could hold the part of every one you that this card represents close to my heart.

The Princess of Cups is the little light inside that dares to hang on through all of the pressures of daily life, through all of the pain and the suffering, continuing to dream and have hope during our darkest hours.

She is, as Jodorowsky says, the "hesitation between the fear of being hurt and the desire to give all of myself".

In order for dreams to be made manifest, we must first have them. Release yourself from the need to please others. Cultivate relationships that are mutually beneficial and supportive. Help one another work through difficult challenges so that you may grow towards emotional calmness.

This is a card of new beginnings and of letting go. Take a moment to wish all who suffer the realization of their dreams some day.

                                          

Nine of Pentacles (Gain - or, Grip the Crown Like a Winner!)

The Nine of Pentacles is kind of like dancing in an opulent garden wearing only your underwear. There is a suggestion of decadence here and depending upon your attitude towards affluence, this may skew positive or negative.

Pentacles are typically symbolic of the material world and wealth. My own personal interpretation of the Nine of Pentacles is one of a rich connection to the natural world and a nurturing community. Wealth can take on many forms and a liberated understanding of abundance is befitting of the Nine of Pentacles, for she is not a shrewd businessman or miserly banker - the Nine of Pentacles is a refined lover of the sensual world.

We are cautioned against making an over-investment at work at the expense of having time to enjoy the company of those we love - our true treasures. We are also encouraged to be diplomatic in our dealings with others and to share the wealth!

Your friends would love to see you, to hug you, to break bread and laugh with you.

This card is screaming dinner party - who's in?

The Ace of Cups (There is No Greater Love)

No breakfast photo today - I was starting to bore myself. This is a good one, GUISE!

Man oh man, THIS CARD.

The Ace of Cups speaks to us of love, compassion, and creativity. This is our inner beehive: giving, building, conceiving, intuiting. This cards calls on us to offer ourselves up to others and promises that we will be rewarded with a cup that runs over with both emotional and spiritual fulfillment. This is love in its most brilliant incarnation: selfless and fearless.

As with the Two of Wands, the Ace of Cups encourages us to trust in our instincts and reminds us that love of the Other can only be reached through love of the Self. This is a time to give love on a new level - perhaps there is someone who needs forgiving (perhaps that person is yourself). Consider volunteering your time or skills.

Also a great time to embark on new creative endeavors. The Ace of Cups symbolizes conception and the awakening of the human spirit.

The Two of Wands

Oh shoot, we fancy this morning! 
 
Homemade tomato soup (in a bowl made some 13 or so years ago by James Coquia) with poached eggs on sprouted rye from Bar Tartine (thank you!) and the Two of Wands (Dominion).

Twos in the Tarot represent c

hoices and decisions. In the case of the Two of Wands, we stand poised to enter the fire and are faced with the choice to have confidence in ourselves and step outside of our comfort zones or to let our fears of the unknown hold us back.

The Two of Wands urges us to move forward. It tells us that we have come very far and have completed the work necessary to make a change with the long-term future in mind. Our instincts are wise and if we listen to them, they will guide us true in our explorations.

The Seven of Pentacles / No line at Tartine (Failure?)

This is a card that suggests material / financial struggles. Simply put, the Seven of Pentacles is a reminder that, in tough times, it is important to focus on what we have as opposed t

o what we lack. Exhibiting generosity - even when it seems we have very little to give - is key to one's success/happiness. We should beware placing too much focus on the overvaluation of material wealth.

Other economies exist outside of the dollar. Cultivate a different attitude towards success and failure. Find new ways to share what you have with others. Be open to accepting unorthodox methods of payment. :)

Poached egg, kale salad and the Prince of Swords

(Or, Tell Me Something I Don't Already Know / You're Not Helping):

Manifestation of mind and intellect. Full of plans and ideas which may confuse one another (produces ideas with speed but o

ften moves too fast to follow through or elaborate on them).

A private person who defends their inner space. Hard / impossible to get to know. Independent; may appear unemotional or cold.

"The Prince of Swords can throw himself head over heels into a scientific research, reaching highest levels within a short time and then throw everything away without further notice because something else appears more interesting at the moment."

Eggs, toast, tomatoes and Tarot.

Today, Le Chariot:

"When I incarnate in you, all setbacks become new starting lines, and ten thousand reasons for abandoning something are not equal to a single reason for continuing. I know fear, I know d

eath; they do not stop me. I am the force of action present in every living being, the triumph of nature. I know how to create, I know how to destroy, and I know how to conserve, and to do all this with the same irresistible energy. I am the very activity of the universe.

I advance toward all the dimensions of space, breaking the horizons until I reach my goal, which is the mask of the beginning. I also go backward, from void to void, from right to left, toward high and low, thrusting galaxies aside on my way until I dissolve in the appalling Absence, which is the Mother of the first cry that supports everything.

I am the triumph of unity within the crumbling of the worlds, I am the triumph of infinity within the cremation of the ultimate boundaries. I am the triumph of eternity; in my heart the gods vanish."

Sketch for Summer

In the Stillness of Remembering

The Hacienda

It's the first day of Spring and time for change.