Me and Tarot – How did it start?

The Soprafino is very special to me, as it represents a little family history:

My grandmother Elizza (1869 to 1956) had one and used to read with it. Remembering seeing this deck when I was a little girl and looking at the old worn out frayed cards together with my mother is ultimately, what later brought me to Tarot.

Today I have an ever growing circle of Tarot clients , that come for readings, I correspond with other Tarot enthusiasts on the Aeclectic Tarot forums and I deepen my personal knowledge about Tarot and reading images on an ongoing basis.

Every couple of months or so I pick out a new deck, expose myself to its imagery and see, where that leads.

I welcome you, to look over my shoulder  🙂

 

 

The haunted House Halloween reading

——–7——–

—-5——-6—–

3—————4

1————–2

——–8———

1 – The Skeletons in the Closet – The secrets you keep from others.

4 of Pentacles, the Spirits without a mouth to speak with!

How appropriate!

I do have quite a few secrets to keep from others –

Befitting the 4 of Pentacles – there are a few around finances, that – besides our tax people nobody needs to know about……

There are all the many many secrets that my patients and Tarot clients share with me – all strictly confidential….

There is the secret, that I am hiding a couple of chocolate bars for Peter, the chocolate addict, who would gobble them up in a minute – iffff he knew where I keep them… So he gets only half a bar now and then….

There is also a large big dark secret. My Spirits know and are in on it…

Peter knows and -although a bit shocked, approves…….

2 – The Rats in the Basement – The secrets you keep from yourself.

King of Swords – The headless Rider

Well, HE knows all my secrets, that I keep from myself!

All the stuff I forget all the time for example and why oh why is learning a new thing, a new technology sooo very difficult for me?

THAT secret I would love to know!

But – well, the headless Rider – can not think, – without a head.

So he has to use his gut instinct, his Horse’s wisdom and his heart……

3 – The Black Cat in the Parlor – What makes your claws come out?

7 of Swords – a Duppy = Lower World soulless ghost….

Well, yes, 7 of Swords points towards a few things that aggravate me: duplicity, betrayal, especially betrayal of confidence, but also some soulless beings, that pretend to be more -better and more important than they really are – the ”looook at me me me disease……”

4 – The Jack O Lantern in the Kitchen – What, or who, would you like to carve up with a knife?

7 of Pentacles

I just ran out of patience with “comb-over Caligula” and can not wait, until he is finallllly leaving that White House and falls into that open grave!

It will spell release for all of us!

5 – The Ghost in the Bedroom – What, or who, haunts your mind and thoughts?

Ace of Pentacles – Rübezahl!

Oh, I do like him – in my bedroom! 

He was sent out to count Rüben/ Turnips – and that is very good for falling asleep!

Counting the Stairs out of his Underworld domain is good for waking up in the morning.

6 – The Spider in the Bathroom – What totally creeps you out.

9 of Wands- Glam, the Vampire Walker

Well, this disembodied head talking and talking and talking and……

……loooooks rather like a guy I know from FB that talks and talks and talks about shamanism and how good he is and doing anything from NA Pipe ceremonies to Tibetan Buddhist prayer rituals and de-posessing you from / of dead Celtic fairies….

HE creeps me out.

My Lakota mentor called him “a little pompous ass…..”

7 – The Bats in the Attic – What drives you to the brink of madness.

The Magician – The Psychopomp

Well, what the Westerners call psychopomp work is actually a part of what I do – if the need arises…

What drives me mad these days is the inertia. My weak spot is patience.

Yes, I do have all the tools to help and I do some volunteer work, but the pandemic is gearing up again and shutting us down.

7 months of winter.

Counselings via phone and internet instead of in person….

Maddening….

8 – The Front Door – The way out of all this insanity ……… or maybe, the way in.

9 The Hermit – Dryad Woodland Spirits

Yes, I do see Dryads as Spirits of the land, Spirits of Place and being a Hermit these days is the way to stay healthy and safe, although a bit loneley. But The Woodland Spirits of my home, my place and their Medicine Energy will keep me company and for now that has to be enough.

….me as the Hermit …….

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Further thoughts

This was supposed to be a light hearted fun reading – but for me it nonetheless packed some punches. 

The 2 Mayors point towards longtime situations and overarching subjects in my life and the Magician and the headless hunter in me will have to struggle and to get used to a whole set of new tools and ways of doing things for the time being.

I am just glad, that the ancient Woodland Spirits will always stay the same! 

Full Moon Reading for August 2020

Sadly, instead of magical summer Full moon nights we are dealing with the tail end of some southern hurricane, torrential rains, high winds and intermittent thunder storms including tornado warnings for places a little further south. 

Friday night the Moon was almost full and I sat outside for a while, to drum and chant and say my Prayers- until She disappeared into the large Trees surrounding the house.

Saturday and Sunday it was raining, today, Monday it is gloomy and sticky but I have not given up on tonight….

 

Reading with the Greenwood Tarot

 

1 Now: Where are you right now?

6 of Arrows – Transition

The Spirit Boat!

A fiery red Sunset and a waning Moon

The boat travels into an uncertain future

I am its hesitant passenger.

In the distance the Isle of Apples is coming into view.

Something to look forward to…..

I do know the myths surrounding it, will these apply to me, now? Soon?

The boats bow figure, its Guardian is a white Swan!

In Siberian myth the Swan Maidens bring good fortune.

 

2 Grateful: What are you grateful for?

The Ancestor! 

I am always grateful for the advice and the guidance of my Ancestors and my Ancestral Guardians in Animal form. To honour them I drum and sing their individual chants for them every New Moon.

There are many other things I am grateful for – Too many to mention….

Every Being, every thing I know and experienced – goo or bad… They all are the teachers to who’s drum I dance.

 

 

3 Forgive: Where is forgiveness required?

Ace of Wands

Forgiveness is indeed the very Spark of Life!

I have to forgive myself

for not being as perfect as I would like

for not getting everything done that needs doing

for giving in to my ageing body’s aches and pains and how much they slow me down.

… the list is long and all encompassing……

As I remember to forgive myself I at the same time do forgive every other human and none human Being for their idiosyncrasies, lapses, quirks and shortcomings.

Forgiveness is a daily practice – and an encouragement to try and do better and kinder next day.

 

4 Shine: Where do you need to shine more brightly?

The Guardian

A scarrrrry looking friend, and beloved ally, that shows situations, how they really are.

Smelly, bloody, sick dark bare bones, no frills no happy go lucky New Age all will be well angle chorus…….

I am like him/ her – the Ancestor Bear Mother.

That raises the question:

Do I reallllly neeeeeed to shine more brightly??????

If I follow the guidance of my Ancestors and my Miahanits, if I practice humility , kindness and forgiveness – then I am just muddling along like a normal human Being should. Why and for whom do I need to shine more brightly?

For others? What benefit does fake light have – and do we not have enough of that these days????

This is a slippery slope into the dark dungeon of pretending to be more/ better, than I / we actually really are.

For others? What benefit does fake light have – and do we not have enough of that these days????

This is a slippery slope into the dark dungeon of pretending to be more/ better, than I / we actually really are.

My loved ones, my patients, acquaintances they trust me because of my authenticity – and the no nonsense – no pretence approach to life – my own and theirs -in counselings and mentoring……

Sure, there is room for improvement. I should watch my tongue as far as cynicism is concerned. I can think that – but I do not need to voice it.

 

 

5 Leave: What needs to be left behind?

10 of Wands- Responsibility

Yes, In the future I will have to leave at least half of this load of sticks behind and come back for them after a little rest – or another time altogether.

What I have to leave behind is the notion, that I can still do it all at once.

Getting older does that and I have to lighten the load.

In a very literal sense my back is crumbling. The news given by the x rays is not good.

My broken vertebra is just a blob of arthritic mush.

So – the sad reality is, that I have to leave my sense of being a healthy person behind.

 

 

6 Achieve: What are you capable of achieving?

The World Tree

I am sitting on a Fall coloured branch of my personal Tree of Life.

But the world can still be my Oyster, if I act sensibly, do not over-do it and keep a positive outlook.

I am capable of achieving, what I set as my goals.

They however have to be realistic and appropriate. No problems there.

A year from now I hope the World will be much brighter and healthier as a whole. Then I/ we will also have set new goals.

Until then it is a bit of a waiting game: Walk the labyrinth beneath the Tree. It will lead you/ me through the trying times we live in right now – and also back out.

Be careful, wait it out and do not loose your positive Energy.♥

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The 3 mayors  (Ancestor, Guardian and World Tree ) and where in the reading they appear, show me, that these things are “meant to be” and I am following the intended path.

The minors show things much more within my control and it is up to me to improve, as best as I can.

 

Full Moon Reading for July 2020

Greenwood Tarot

1 What long-term plans are calling you?

The Lovers

Yes, that is true!

My long term goal are not only mine, but ours!

In these trying times we both have to be secure is our love/ care of self and of each other.

Against our will and previous plans we are tossed into an early retirement, in which we just can not do and act as we would have liked and had foreseen.

But what we have is each other and – thinking about it, most of the mighty dreams we had, when we set out on this endeavour 33 years ago, came true.

The verdant green in the image reflects the wild crazzzy lush, green tropical home we live in – at least this time of year – and thanks to global warming……

Like the loving – and virile couple in the image we have to hold on to each other, our love and “The Dream”

 

2 What foundations do you need to lay to succeed?

8 of cups – in the Greenwood pointing towards REBIRTH

 

Abundant waters flow into the Shelia Na gig’s cauldron and from there into the/ our storage jars.

The bones of the old are being recycled and their strengths is in that brew. The brew that lays the foundation for our/ my re-birth is in that brew. I/ we worked hard and now – we will have to re- invent ourselves.

After the pandemic

• what do I want to do?
• Where and how much will I want to work?
• How will my personal plans and ideas jive with Peter’s?
• Will we want to rebirth Bearpaw Jewellery, our business?

  What about our idea of moving up north- for the summers- to escape the heat?

  It will all depend on, what the world, what Canada, what Ontario will look like. The foundation for the future is there, so is my, our willingness to re-invent ourselves, to be re-born.

Oh, I wish the time was NOW, not ?????? sometime next year or – whenever……

 

3 Where do you need to apply patience?

4 of Cups, – in the Greenwood called Boredom

Oh, how true is that one!

Patience always has been my weak spot – and the older I get, the more urgency I do feel within myself.

So to apply patience right now is especially hard.

Most of the things that kept me busy and fulfilled, that were fun and also challenging, that were – and that since I was a young adult were my calling – are put on hold right now- thanks to Mother Earth’s experiment as to how to reduce the world’s human population

(In the image the peacock was a symbol of death and he is drinking of the hemlock wine here….. The white Hind will live, but the peacock will die)

So the thinker is waiting – mulling over the points listed above – and then some.

Seeing him here in the image makes me think, that in a sense we are all “sitting ducks”– for this little virus –

We have to make patience our main virtue and follow all the imposed rules – and wait.

I am sooooo not good at waiting……

 

4- Where do you need to think BIGGER?

 

Well, leave it to me, to draw the Fool here!

But image wise this is an excellent allegory!

I am waaaaaaaaaiting (patiently or not so much) – like a Butterfly in a cocoon for the transformation = Rebirth to happen!

At some point in the probably still distant future my wings will be dry enough for lift of and virgin flight – into a transformed me and a changed life.

It would be foolish to hasten that process.

So: Patience!!!!!

Until then- I – we, the Lovers from card 1, can dream and imaging, what we could do.

The sky is the limit!

 

5 Where do you need support?

Death

The Ravens are circling the skeletal remains of the young Stag. There was so much promise, so much life in him – just a short while ago – Now, all is gone.

But the Ravens will live- and feed their young and rule the sky.

The wheel of life and death.

Living in and with Nature it is often harsh to experience, but true.

This very wheel of life and death right now is churning fast and loud and sooo many humans, mask-less and cocky, wielding bibles, banners, bikinis and beer are stumbling right into the open maw of the grist mill that recycles………

Where I need support right now, is with the waking nightmare of seeing it happen – every day. Experiencing how it grabs hold of clients of mine – and friends.

– Not so much here in Canada, where we personally just lost 4 people we know, among them an 21 year old…

But the heartbreak happens among my clients in the southern US……

 

….I had to stop writing here- It hurts and it would get too personal……

 

While the Ravens rise and dance in the storm clouds, I an reminded of the image of the Morrigane from last months reading. This reading continues along the same tract.

I am holding on to the fact, that in the Tarot Death stands for ENDINGS!

This too will end and until it does, I have to lean on to my support system – human and Spirits.

After – there will be a RE-BIRTH!

………Patience, even with tears in my eyes……

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I just re-read all my Full Moon readings from the last few months.

To me these readings feel like a direct continuations from one Full Moon to the next.

Recurring themes, for sure!

And ever so sloooowly I am making headway – kicking and screaming, bored and struggling with patience, but still!

 

Pfui!! I have forgotten to post my June Full Moon Reading!

Yes, well, and so here it is:

Late is better than never – and the July Full Moon reading will come right after!

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Celtic Wisdom Tarot:

Card 1:

X – the Spinner

The multicoloured Wheel of Fortune whirrls around the Tree of Life

After a few Full Moons of hard readings where the Wheel most definitely was grinding through the slush of the lowest, murkiest and most fetid of dredge pools, I now have the feeling, I am still dripping with its sludge but never mind, also slowly creaking back up into cleaner waters and fresh air.

 

Basically, I have to release most all of my previous life; what we did on a day to day basis, our work our way of being, what we do in free time and especially how I work in my community.

It is hard and I miss soooo much!

My ancestral pattern is to work and to serve, and being in close physical contact with people, our customers, other community leaders and most of all my patients.

Will I get used to the “new NOW”?

I am trying.

 

 

Card 2:

Woman of Knowledge

Here she is at the height of summer tending to her medicinal herbs.

The image is beautiful, but I am noting, that the Woman of Knowledge is alone.

She is not surrounded by her students and clients, teaching right there.

She is like me in my small herb garden…..

and like our town community garden, normally in bloom this time of year, now -utterly empty and overgrown with weeds……..

How am I ready to evolve?

I Will have to get used to the new Normal, to teaching and counselings as well as family encounters only happening via internet.

But zooming and sitting in Circle are just not the same – to me.

On a beautiful Full Moon I miss my people.

 

 

Card 3

Queen of Battle:

Here is Morrigan at sunset, leaving the battlefield behind, her Raven familiar perched on top of her staff.

She has a determined but also sad expression on her face.

Hard facts that can not be changed. The big battle is behind us, now we have to pick up the useful pieces and re-plant then in the gardens of our lives.

New things will come forth and we will get used to them.

Some will flourish and be for the better, others will wither and be carried away by Morrigan’s Raven.

The song the Morrigan sings is one of loss – but also one of resurrection.

Years ago I met her in a powerful vision.

I KNOW her songs.

 

Card 4 Dialogue of Art

Here the elderly couple sits by the river, talking about their future.

What to do next.

What to leave behind.

Their tower home is illuminated by a gentle Moon that reflects on the water.

They live on fertile ground.

I can see Peter and me in this 2 of cups image.

The elderly Lovers talking – if it is time to let go of what they build together, an important, central part of their life’s work.

We are sitting here, discussing if we let go of our business, of Bearpaw, which was thriving pre-Covid and which is now dormant.

We are both getting on in age and health issues are raising their ugly neck. Arthritis in the hands and back, cataracts… These are not good for sitting hunched over 8 hours a day creating minuscule jewellery treasures…..

So, letting go of it all is just a matter of time.

But, how much time do we have?

How much does it hurt!

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This reading puts into plain sight, how drastically my/ our life has changed in the last 4 month.

I am sad and uncertain as to how to proceed.

Something new is coming and all will be different.

Full Moon Reading for May 2020

In our Lunar tarot reading group we were given a nice spread, very befitting for May.

However, My needs are more based on science and facts these days(no wonder there….)

So I decided to participate with the Science Tarot despite the fact that this deck is usually packing quite realistic punch and does not reallllly lend itself to a flower based spread.

So, here it goes:

The layout of the spread is as follows:

Flower Moon Spread

 

            7

4                    6

            1

3                     5

            2

1. My deepest desires

2. What disconnect me from them?

3. What is my feminine essence?

4. How can she fully bloom?

5. What is my masculine essence?

6. How can he fully bloom?

7. Sacred union to bring deepest desires to fruition

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To clarify some of the cards, I will post some book descriptions, but my interpretations of the images are not based solely on that, as you will see.

Science Tarot Full Moon Reading for May 

Reality and not a Flower in sight:

1 My deepest desires

14 = Tolerance of Uncertainty (Temperance)

 

OK, I do not think, I need to write another word – THIS hits the nail on the desired head!

In these times I/ we all have to accept and learn to live with uncertainty. A diverse group of scientist – and pseudo-scientists and yellow haired idiots are each professing us their personal version of the covitous Elephant in the room. Nobody has the complete picture. This is our new normal for right now.

I will not blindfoldedly run around just because someone says the economy has to start up again!

I will miss out on trips to the “snowy mountains, mighty rivers and green pastures. (my desire to travel this year)

I do believe in science and therefore have to cloister myself away for people and even loved ones until a save and working vaccine is in my body.

Luckily for me, my “cloister” is a 106 acre intact biosphere and will keep me busy and entertained and – hopefully well balanced and well tempered.

 

2 What disconnect me from them?

20 Natural Selection = Judgement

 

Oh well, it could not have been spelled out any clearer!

Mother Earth has recognized Homo Sapience as a parasite and has send us a little gift- to reduce numbers and give herself and all other living Beings a bit of a break – and some cleaner air…..

Bummer only, that, with my age and nasty arrhythmia I am not the list of creatures favoured by this natural selection, that little Covid provides.

So yes, see above, scratch travel plans, scratch shamanic teaching circles, scratch get togethers with friends, scratch going to wallmart for more Raccoon food – Sorry, Cassey ♥

 

3 What is my feminine essence?

8 of Magnifying Glass (Pentacles)

Drift

Oh shittt, yes, things are drifting apart slowly, but visibly.

(never mind “social distancing and the rift of world views so evident these days)

Nothing indeed feels solid right now. And actually, that should be OK, We as a species can not go on like we have, things HAVE to change. All my motherly Nature loving instincts agree with that wholeheartedly. Every night I do pray and ask for protection and Life for “ALL THE WILD ONES” all the wild Animals, the plants and places that are their homes and food…….

To me, in the depts of my ageing female body I feel, that these prayers have been answered – although in a way, that throws me for a heck of a loop.

8 of Pentacles is often seen as the “Lord of prudence” and dedication to work and craftsmanship.

Today, dedication to finding a new way forward is more what is needed, the old “craftsmanship” was, what got us into this mess…..(the old dragon)

May all this come back together in a different, more healthy , more sustainable way! Please!

 

 

4 How can she fully bloom?

Jabir Ibn Hayyan – Abu Musa Knight of Pentacles

 

He is a guy after my heart! A scientist, that away from all the belief systems of his times sat in his study and investigated what is realllly going on and how things really and naturally are. So Jabir tells me to pull myself together, stop jammering since passion and emotions will not help much in this situation. What I need is to bring forth all my tried and tested endurance, my pragmatism, my consistency and – patience – the one thing that is soooo hard for me!

 

 

5 What is my masculine essence?

5 of Magnifying Glass – Pentacles

OOOOOH NOOOOOH I am going to hide under the table and see, ifff that helps…..

The name of the card is “CATASTROPHE”

Stuff is burning and smouldering and a loooooong green tail of some monster is ….???

Well, it is not so bad. Not at all!

This is a good catastrophe!♥

The card shows the moment, that everything changes, the moment Oxygen came onto the early Earth.

OK, old life forms were unable to survive in this brand new oxygen rich environment. But, it was the beginning of something new, Something, that eventually culminated in us – (Tarot Cards and all)

So my masculine essence is waiting for that big bang and change. It is / will be scarrry, all new things are and since I am a life form that is OK with oxygen, I just hope, I will thrive in this brave new world.

 

6 How can he fully bloom?

7 of Scalpels (knifes)

Chaos Theory

Well, you all know that huuuuuuge beautiful Flower, that just blooms every 10 years or so, and everyone is waiting for it to open.

And then one night she does just that – and stinks to high heaven…….

THAT is how he will bloom!

My card is sooo much prettier – with the beautiful Butterflies who’s wing beat sets the whirlwind into motion.

But just imagine away the Butterfly and ad a Bat – and a Pangolin – and some dirty cages stacked in a busy smelly wet market and you have it.

Chaos Theory.

Maybe only Chaos can rip us out of this rut we are in and my masculine side is OK with that – Scarrrred shitttles, but also stepping up to the plate – as the “Lord of unstable Efforts” would do.

Do not take what does not belong to you. Leave the Bats, Pangolins and the other Wild Ones alone – -or else!!!!!!!

Chaos Theory becomes Chaos Reality!

 

7 Sacred union to bring deepest desires to fruition

10 Schrödinger’s Cat. (Wheel of Fortune)

So, is she dead or not? Am I dead or not – well, see, iff I will get C-19 I am Schrödinger’s Cat already!

We all are. We are also playing the Schrödinger’s Cat game with the living Earth, our home!

Are you OK with that?

I am not!

My deepest desire is to grab the poor pussycat and run away……

But where is there to run?

The Wheel is on a down turn, that is for sure.

What will happen to Schrödinger’s Cat when it comes back up?

 

To answer this question, I pulled yet another card:

10 of Scalpels

Uncertanty

As to what the answer is, the opinions are divided:

The large sword severed the World globe, the green nature globe and also  the living cell apart and is now ramming down onto the multicoloured Egg.

Will that shatter as well – or will it hatch a new chicken?

The 10 of Swords also points to an end of the mind games!

A year from now, we may have an idea about that.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

So this reading took me from “Tolerance of Uncertainty” to just plain Uncertainty.

I will have to live with that for a while yet and again – be patient.

Change takes time and things/ concepts have to be left behind.

Judgement, as to what is left and what will continue will be made in due time.

 

 

Tarot of the Origins- Full Moon reading April 2020:

Planting Moon: Lunar  Reading for April 2020

1 What does my mind need for healing and balance
2 What does my body need for healing and balance
3 What does my soul need for healing and balance
4 What self care act am I being call to take
5 What is my major lesson right now?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

We are here in total isolation in the middle of the Canadian bush.

Besides my husband Peter I have not seen another human Being in 3 weeks.

Our internet connection is extremely spotty and VERY slow, so Skype or Face Timing with anyone is out of the question. The telephone does not work at all, there yet again is water in the 60+ year old lines and the whole system is “fried” no repairs are scheduled until mid May.

Sometimes – depending on the wind directions, our cell phone works….. nice – eh?

On the other hand, the Waterfowl are returning: Ducks and Geese honk and quack in the ice free puddles of the marsh below the living room window. Otters and Mink are busy slithering around. The Wolves are gone, following the migrating Deer. Our Bear is still asleep – but the Raccoons are out of hibernation.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Tarot of the Origins:

1 What does my mind need for healing and balance.

8 of Swords

An Aurox is skewered with 8 lances. Beneath in a hunting pit a blood drenched hunter screams in frustration. He will not be alive, when this prey is eaten by the group for whom he gave his life during this hunt.

Honestly, I do not see much of Healing and Balance in this card 😦

Well, it is the 8 of Swords, so yes, it is a problem of the mind and how I see things.

There should be a way backwards, retracing my mental steps to untangle this mind web, But with the pandemic in full swing and we in the 3^rd week of our isolation here, going back feels more like denial of the situation – and denial in this is a lance through the lungs waiting to happen.

I am held in the hole right now, by the fact, that I/ we lost 2 Elders to the virus.

We are upset and in mourning.

We are held in said bloody hole, because our business – being deemed none essential, is

not providing any income and since market and craft shows are all cancelled – it looks grim……

More strings of even more personal nature tie up our free will, our options and capture or attention in a vice grip.

Sleep, an option out, is bloody rare and nightmares dance before closed eyes…..

2 What does my body need for healing and balance

2 of Blood –

Live versus Death is the 2 of Swords

Which way to chose?

That is no question: I will always chose Life!

Take a deep breath and move forward/ scratch that – Stay home and DO NOT GO OUT

3 What does my soul need for healing and balance

XII Hanged Man – here called

Sacrifice

Yes, we already have sacrificed a lot!

Still, the sacrificial spear looms large right over us, ready to come down and claim the victim/ the offering.

My worries are with many of my patients.

A lot of them are in the fragile stages of recovery – not only from lung cancer, chemo and other debilitating illnesses, but also from a slue of mental ailments, depression, suicidal thoughts, fears and – due to the circumstances – out of control OCD

Due to the virtually collapsed internet I can not reach anyone and also can not be reached.

For my own soul I need to hope and pray, that most of them will get through this OK.

There are a few things I can do, to improve communication.

Tomorrow I will go to town with the laptop and cell phone and hope to be able to reach most of them and send e- mails etc. -providing the wifi in town still is OK. I will also be able to send this reading……

4 What self care act am I being call to take

IX The Hermit

The Hermit sits in the empty eye socket of a giant skull. The bones of Ancestors are strewn about.

Yes, I feel like an insignificant midget in all of this. And I am OK, being just that.

This being a Mayor Arcana yet again shows me, that there is little I can do.

Actually, being the Hermit is exactly the RIGHT THING TO DO!

May all be hermits these days – and may all be safe!

5 What is my major lesson right now?

XIII Death

Well, what else did you expect?

A giant ancient behemoth of a Beast with a pokey horn has impaled the puny little human right where he is most vulnerable.

Instead of protecting his privates, his covering enabled the monster to take hold and throw him for a hell of a loop.

What better image for a nasty little virus throwing humanity and all its fancy civilization into thin air?!!

Death shows us all, how fragile we are.

The ancient Earth has recognized humans as the viruses most threatening to her and is tossing us back into our place.

We will survive this.

Many of us.

But will we learn anything?

Will we act differently?

Sadly, I doubt it.

Will we eventually kill the ancient Rhino (Earth Mother) ?

I am more worried than ever….

For HER!

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3 Mayors out of 5 cards tell the tale of few choices and little wiggle room.

Keep unhelpful thoughts out of my mind and take care of my physical body.

Keep it out of the viruses wandering ways by accepting to be stuck for a while.

Covid 19 – A Tarot Reading on March 29 2020

Morning reading Sunday, March 29 2020 Ontario, Canada

My new Light Seer’s Tarot

Card 1: The World today:

4- the Emperor

There he sits, the very world being his couch – couch potato – He holds a pawn –to remind even the very last one of us, that right now we are all pawns in the giant virus chess game.

I can even see the virus itself floating on the breeze, touching his elbow – but ultimately floating by and up into the light of day to find yet another victim.

Yes, the whole world is ordered to sit around and wait this one out. So I am sitting around as well, hoping the virus passes me by.

The Ram skull that hangs above my Emperor reminds me of what’s at stake if I do not follow this stern edict. And also of the cornucopia of losses we all will have to overcome.

 

Card 2: Me in this world:

Knight of Pentacles.

A beautiful green meadow is strewn with all kinds of temptingly beautiful pentacles, symbolizing all the nice and fun things we wanted to do this year, our travels, trips to see friends, our plans for our business and a multitude of other projects. My Knight in the image walks on past all of these temptations. His riderless horse, follows him, all decked out in beautiful trim…. It reminds me of our motor home, all packed and ready to go…..- nowhere this year….

But my knight carries 1 large ornate pentacle disk on his back, as he walks across a flat green meadow. That pentacle to me today represents the one big treasure e have: our huge wild wide land, 106 acre of wilderness to roam around in ,get busy and do all the things we wanted to do and never got around to. We are soooo lucky, compared to others, cooped up in a small apartment in a high riser with 2 restless kids and a dog……

The tempting pentacles that I am glancing back at will be there, when times are different. For now I need the practical stoic pragmatism of my KoP to face the facts and win the battle over my mopey mood and my own “what if” worries and walk the green grass beneath my feet.

 

Outcome:

The Devil!

Oh yes, there he is! Mr Virus personified!!

The naked truth holding us all, emperor and Knight, you and me on a bunch of strings like a puppet.

Do you see the hair!! All out, like the spiky monster they show us on TV every ten minutes!

The very Devil we are all starring into the eyes, the one we have to avoid.

The other Devil we have to fight is within us, the Devil of fear on the one side and the “Devil may care” attitude on the other. Those are the very strings that tether the lifeless puppet in his hand.

Apropos TV: TV is another personification of this Devil!

Toooooo much sensationalist information!

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Dear Devil!

For now you will reign over me

But in year’s time, I will be free!

Wolf Moon reading for January 2020

Wolf Moon reading for January 2020

1 Myself: This is a significator that can be chosen intentionally or drawn with the rest of your reading.

While shuffling the thick card stock, there were 2 “jumpers”, so these cards seem to have the needed message:

Strength and the 2 of Cups!

The Strength cards show me a young woman , her face half human half Lion. She has a fragile young lamb on her lap.

Her hand exits the image and may just flow seamlessly into the one hand shown on the 2 of cups.

Yes, the Energy most important in the foreseeable future will be my inner strengths and using it to aid and give loving comfort to my life partner Peter, while he and his brothers face difficult and uncomfortable decisions.

Make our love and lifelong partnership a source of energy he can rely on and also feed my own sad soul in the process.

2 What are my ego’s motives?

Temperance

Before me is this deck’s temperance angel, a young redheaded male in a tank top work pants and hiking boots!?!!

His body keeps apart the Sun and Moon orbiting around him.

Well, whatever my ego’s motives – in important decisions he – (aptly named Johny Controlletty) just does not get ANY votes or input.

Over the many years working in/ with shamanism he is used to not being invited to the party. He, in the illustrious company of my paternal Clan Guardian gets to watch over my physical body, while I journey and do my work. He gets to have some input in stuff, when our money making business is concerned and in a few other mundane things, but over the years, especially since completing the Blade Wheel Teachings, he got used to being on a very short leash.

If it was for him I would sit on the couch vegging out with a book….

But – well, maybe later…..for an hour or so…..

Temperance is a good card archetypal image for the state of this.

3 What does my instinct tell me?

The Wheel (of Fortune)

A young blond haired lady balances in 1 unlaced boot on top of the wheel mandala.

For how long?

I KNOW, this will not last long and any moment that wheel will move, dislodge her and she will take a Tower- like tumble.

Dark clouds are approaching and a storm is lurking beneath my wheel.

Yes, true!

Any moment the phone can ring and Peter / we will get the sadly anticipated bad news about Elisabeth.

How much longer we can keep her precariously balanced amidst a wobbly and unsafe situation?

Will she fall – – or do we eventually have to pull her down into the black abyss she so fears –

– for her own safety and our peace of mind……

4 What are my fears?

2 of Pentacles

The card shows me a vision in grey and red, dusk over a field in a snow storm holding in balance (yet again ) a red leather satchel of tangible reality and a translucent pentacle orb of Energy.

ME

Me, juggling, balancing the Tonal and the Nagual

The Earth-based everyday reality

and the Spirit Energy that fuels my shamanic work and through me as the conduit – my patients.

Fears:

how long can I do this?

I am getting older and what used to be easy is now getting hard…

Especially the Everyday stuff around Bearpaw.

This however is another thing, that may change in the foreseeable future.

However, drawing this card now shows me that FOR NOW the struggle will continue…..

5 What is hidden from view?

The Tower

Yea, there it is !

And it is TRUE!

We Know, it is coming – this year?? next??

3 years? I do not think so and the Spirits voted for 2 years.

Then Everything will change!

But, as seen in the card, the Squirrel does not have to worry about the nuts he stashed. His den is fine and the Lightning slashing down will only regenerate the tiered Earth.

We are fearfully hoping for that lightning to come.

6 What is my guiding light showing me?

Well, The guiding light was seen in the previous card.

The Hanged Man

just shows me the current situation.

Of course it is nerve wracking for the whole family to be “in limbo”

My person in the card image looks relatively comfortable in this situation,

well, she is 30 years younger too…..

What is greater, the strain on her muscles or her patience?????

– Hang in there –

– just a little longer –

how long??

That is the Question.

 

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The picture I put here shows the 3 brothers and their beloved mom already more Spirit than sentient Being….

Our local Anishinaabe call the January Moon Mnido Giziz, Spirit Moon, because in the cold up here many an Elder and many a baby return to the Spirit world.

The term Wolf Moon is more of a modern times adaptation of NA practices from the Central US.

I personally like both expressions, because Wolf is my paternal Clan Guardian and our land is full of fresh Wolf tracks in the snow.

In my Siberian culture the Ee’ren Börü the Wolf is the one that communicates with the 8 Sisters of the Pleiades and he will bring lost Souls home to Umai Ee’ne in the Sky World.

Drawing 4 mayors in a 6 card reading shows me, that monumental forces are at work, largely out of our control.

The 2 Minors are both twos, speaking of dualities that need uniting and balancing.

I/ we will have to use all our loving and our creativity to walk along this path.

Sacred Days of Yule reading 2019

It is a little late to post this reading – but I will do it anyway- so it does not get lost in the catacombs of my ooooold computer……

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Sacred Days of Yule reading 2019

I will use my new Herbcrafter’s Tarot but instead of the Tarot card meaning I want to put my emphasis more onto the Herb, that is featured on the card, see, what it can teach me and if at all possible, use it that day.

1. Mother Night of Dreams: – Dec 20th This card reminds us to look for a particular message in our dreams tonight. The ancients believed that our dreams on this night foretold some of the important events in the coming year.

Hija of Earth – Linden – Tilia

The Princess of the Earth is building a fence, to create some boundary, limiting the growth of the Sage in the little garden. Some things are very good for us, but they tend to take over. Sometimes my shamanic work and duties take over – especially on and around the Winter Solstice. The Hija will help me to set the necessary boundaries, so I also have a little time and energy left to actually celebrate my birthday tomorrow. 

Linden – Basswood Flower tea is a good one to brew right now, it has diuretic and antispasmodic properties nd will help me with my cramping lower back muscles. Tea de Tilia also would help with coughs and colds and sore throats, reason enough for me to brew a pot for tomorrow’s gathering in town, where for sure some are suffering with a cold.

Of the Crafting an other workings with Linden, that are mentioned in my little Herbcrafter’s Tarot book I can not do any   Harvesting fresh Linden leaves , building a wattle fence or relaxing under a linden Tree is not in the cards – It is not a hot summer’s day, but – 15 C outside and a foot of snow is on the ground.

I am very curious, what I will dream tonight…..  

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Dreams:

There is a huuuuuug big blocky immovable Gothic cabinet with ornate trim, sitting in the middle of -? everything, waiting for me to move it – to Nytasha’s new house.??!!!!

I know however, she does not want that monster – and I am not capable to move it even an inch.

This huge immovable thing is a symbol for all the things I have to do today. However, I also do know, this huge thing is full of gifts for everybody that I know and everyone, that will come to the gathering in town……

Then, there is the short dream, just before I wake up: I am seeing my Birthday table, lovingly prepared by Peter. On it is a paper bag. It is moving. Something alive is in there!! I hurry to grab the bag and check:

It is a life Screech Owl!

I open the bag, then the sliding door and the little Owl flies outside – and is free!

Then I wake up. Yes, like always there is a beautiful B-day table set up – we love doing that for each other! There is also a paper gift – containing a bag – from the WWF = World Wildlife Fund Canada, with a poster of a Saw Whet Owl and a certificate, that Peter in my name symbolically adopted a Saw Whet Owl with a generous donation and also ordered the little plush Owl for me. I unwrap it and cry like a baby…….

Later I quickly pull my card for the day:

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2. Yule – Winter Solstice: – Dec 21st This card shows us how best to connect to the Light within and without – it symbolizes the Birth of the Sun.

The Emperor – Hemlock Tree

Hmmmmm….. everything soooo square, so orderly… so VERY unlike me!

I have hardly time to enjoy the beautiful Birthday table, with all kinds of Owls and a few nicely wrapped presents!♥

But I have to be the emperor today , to get all my stufffff in one row, to get to all my town/ community commitments on time, not dawdle or chat or eat too much delicious food and cookies.

Then back home and get ready for our Family Solstice Ceremony and fun.

I also have to power through the nasty and partially debilitating back pain, that befell me after I moved the wrong way – again…..

The day did not turn out nice and orderly like the image on my card of the day, it was chaotic, crazzzy and hard and also full of fun and LOVE. Late in the evening

I managed to get a handful of needles from our Hemlock Tree close to the house and brew a cup of the vitamin rich tea.

 

3. The Time of Beth: – Dec 22nd This card points to the inner blocks and resistance that is holding us back from following our dreams.

10 of Air – Alfaalfa

Yes, leave it to me to pull “the back-pain card” today – deservedly so!

Although this 10 of Air shows me a scythe looming high above a blooming Alfalfa field.

But in my experience with Alfalfa it is too lat for this harvest, the plants need to be taken before they bloom, to give the best nutritional value to man and beast alike.

So this card shows me an opportunity missed….

 

Yes, I have reached my physical limit and have to miss out on a few fun things today, (thank you back pain…) But this is the time to become quiet, still, listen deep inside and honour the stillness and also the darkness, that nests the first new light.

This is not an inner block or resistance that is holding me in place, but a physical one – and so I am able to goo deeply inside, to find my own inner light and nourish that. 

Having the time to just  do THAT actually IS my dream – for now. Other dreams of the Soul will need the stillness and quiet to come to light.

We do have 2 bails of Alfalfa stored up and ready to distribute to the suffering wildlife her on our land, when the winter is at its harshest. But this is not for today, where we are facing a +4 Centigrade “heatwave”

This nourishment for our Wild Ones I traded with a local farmer for doing a Blessing of his barns and his stables, cows, chickens, goats, dogs and all……

I will however need to grow some sprouts for us on the windowsills in the living room.

May the Sun enliven the seed……

 

 

4. Hopi Time of Renewal Dec 23rd This card indicates the best way for us to seek purification and renewal, and to build tolerance for others.

Well, yet again I do have some problems with the cultural appropriation of the wording of this day’s card theme:

Soyal is a very sacred ceremony always held on the day of the actual Winter Solstice, is not public and has little to do with >> to seek purification and renewal, and to build tolerance for others.

That being said I will just draw my card for the day:

 

2 of Waters – Mallow

I think it is the 2 of waters, the card, that shows us, how well 2 people, 2 emotions, 2 concepts flow together, that lets me object to mixing the concepts of Tarot and Soyal…..

anyway…..

Back to my card, that shows me a summery scene, mallow in full bloom almost overgrowing a white marble bird bath that is frequented by Hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds are often associated with love, because we humans looooove them. Hummingbirds are actually fiercely competitive and when it comes to the here depicted Ruby throated ones, they will kill each other in fights over food sources and males after mating will chase their partners form feeders and flowers of their territories. But we love them and so look right past that. We also love marshmallows, that originally were mad from ground mallow root and sugar.

Today, it’s just sugar….

Mallow is excellent for soothing inflamed mucus membranes and helps with a sore throat when taken as a tea.

What I take away from this card here today is being aware of contradictions and be tolerant, when I stumble over them, especially when I see, that the “perpetrators mean well and most likely had no idea…….

Teach others, so they can become teachers……

The Hopi Katsinam that are returning to the villages on Soyal are teachers too!

 

5. Feast of Mothers, : – Dec 24th This card shows how we can connect with the spirits of our ancestors for communion and to ask for wisdom and guidance.

10 of Earth – Horsetail

All 10s reflect on past accomplishments and a cycle, that is ending, a new one soon to begin.

10 of Earth is an invitation to rest, after all, that can be done is complete. Re-charge!

That is, what I will do over the next few days.

Horsetail is a living fossil, a plant who’s family is around since over 100 million years!

A lot has changed since then, not all for the better – thanks to human greed and environmental destruction.

In all cultures Horsetail is / was used as a diuretic, to replenish missing silica and other trace elements in the human body and as well, as a mulch, that re-fertilizes depleted soil.

(30 years ago, after we build our log home, I mixed Horsetail under the building sand around the house, to help with soil quality.)

These days I  mix Horsetail into Essiac preparations for some of my cancer patients.

 

From a web site that is smarter than me:

Horsetail contains silicon,potassium, aluminium,manganese, saponins, phytosterols, phenolic acids, cafeic acids, alkaloids, and tannins. Fifteen types of bioflavonoids are also present. These bioflavonoids are believed to be responsible for horsetail’s strong diuretic action. The high silicon content of the herb strengthens connective tissue, ligaments, bones, hair, and fingernails.

As my card of the day I am aware of the fact, that one cycle has now ended and a new one is beginning.

The Healing Wisdom of the living Earth is just as old as the mighty ancestors of the horsetail plants growing on our land. My life is but a fleeting blip in this vastness. I am merely stumbling in the foot prints of the millions healers before me.

I can be sure, that all my Siberian Ancestors used Horsetail and many other plants in the very same way that I do today. 

In the Trance I hear the chants that go with certain plants and whole cures.

Some of these I manage to “bring across” and use them with my patients.

In humility I am sending them greetings across space and time

 

6. Festival of Life, : – Dec 25th This card shows us how to connect directly with Spirit.

9 – The Hermit – Usnea – and an an Owl feather♥

First I need to say, that I am ALWAYS connected to Owl feather!♥ Spirit.  The Spirit World is a part of me and I am a part of the Spirit world – and at the appropriate times a conduit for it into people with less established  connections…….

 

My card shows me a wisdom nest / knowledge reef made from Usnea decorated with Rose Hips, crystals, feathers and Pine cones. In its middle is a bees wax candle. In front of the it a right wing Owl feather is placed.

This is an image / a significance that very much resonates with my heart and also with how I outwardly show and honour my ever-present connection with Spirit/ the Spirit World..

Owl feathers feature prominently, since 2 of my Miahanits (Animal Spirit Guides) are Owls. I use Usnia regularly in healing rituals with patients and also have it placed on my personal Altar. Usnea grows on our property and we always make a point of collecting windblown pieces of it when walking through our bush.

Rose Hips are precious to me as well, they are the main Medicine Plant of one of my female NA teachers. She has long gone to the Ancestors, but Rose Hips always remind me of her in a loving way.

The Tarot Hermit is a good card for me today, as for us the hectic festivities are over since Dec. 22 and now I can BE the Hermit for a while.

 I can build a little nest with all the things I love, snuggle into it – and rest, meditate and reflect on wisdom received.

 

7. Yuletide: – Dec 26th This card shows us how to express nurturance, to attend to our families and to express the protective energy within us towards others.

12 The hanged Man – Burdock

This card very poignantly expresses, the current situation in our family:

We are all hung up, suffering long term and – like the burrs from Burdock, stuck – in the situation and also to each other.

With one remaining eye filled with confusion, uncertainty, wariness and doubt Elisabeth is looking into the 3. year of her Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Stubbornly sticking to the protective residence, where she lives but is not receiving the now sadly very necessary care.

Are we going to betray her trust and break the promise given in healthy times, not to sell her home on the Island during her life time – in order to re- finance her stay at one of the better care homes? Or are we going to share the financial burden of caring for her in a cheaper unit?

That would mean, none of us can afford to retire and we all will have to “tighten our belts” for the next ?? 5 years…

We are all hanging in suspension, tiered and in pain ourselves and yet forced to make a decision soon.

The taste of Burdock is harsh.

In the shamanic Medicine of my Siberian Tribe Burdock is seen as a protection from Albis = evil spirits bringing disease.

Which way shall I turn this talisman?

Towards the 3 brothers so they are protected from the stress and the workloads coming upon then the next years?

Towards Elisabeth, so her befuddles mind does not find out what predicament we are in?

Towards the Spirits, asking for help??

– that they may loosen the fragile hold she has on life

– – and so release her and her 3 sons????

8. Birth of Freyja: – Dec 27th This card points to issues of love, luck, artistic and creative expression and female wisdom.

This morning I pulled

5 the Lovers – Hawthorn

Only now, much later, writing about my card of the day do I realize, that the theme of the day IS issues of Love and artistry and creativity!♥

My heart goes out to my husband Peter ♥ (need not say more…. 

We do have several Hawthorn/ Whitethorn Trees on our land and love to see them bloom in spring. It is food for the Bees and later when the berries are ripe, for many species of our local wildlife. We have to watch out, however, that Bears do nor wreck the Trees trying to climb up after the fruit and break the branches.

I do use hawthorn flower petals that dropped off the Tree for Magic work , but although the fruit is excellent for heart conditions, we leave them for the Wild Ones, because exact dosage is a problem and I honestly prefer people take their daily dose of Digitalis prescribed by a physician.

Heart meds are nothing to play around with.

Quote:

“It is not known whether Hawthorn is safe when used long-term. In some people, it can cause nausea, stomach upset, fatigue, sweating, headache, dizziness, palpitations, nosebleeds, insomnia, agitation, and other problems.”

 

However Hawthorn berry preserve is delicious and I can get it on our farmer’s market.

Hawthorn wood in Siberia was / is?? used for making stakes to “keep the undead in their graves” Luckily I have not found any of these floating around!

Hawthorn wood is very hard and durable and does not burn easy, making good tool handles and also is great for making pipes!

 

The 2 interwoven Hawthorn reefs, one blooming, one carrying fruit that are on my card remind me of all the years gone by, since we, young and full of blossoms and promise came to this wild land , stuck together through thorny times, overcame heartaches and triumphs, bore an abundance of creative fruit and are now, in our nether years, are looking back on the vines that bind and on the bounty the Spirits allotted to us.

 

9. Feast of Alcyone: – Dec 28th This card gives us a personal inner message – one that speaks directly to our heart and spirit.

9 of Earth – Apple

Alcyone is the Greek name of the brightest / youngest star of the Pleiades, Also called the 7 Sisters. In Siberia we do have 8 Sisters, 7 who live at home and one, who lives over here, above the “Land to the east of the waters = North America……..

My card shows me a kitchen table, with a basket full of red Apples, a hand cranked Apple peeler, a string of Apple slices hung up to dry and several Apples cut open, revealing the 5 pointed star pattern of the seed core.

Alicon Star Sister’s Magic manifested in physical form!

This image is well chosen for the 9 of Earth, it speaks of success, achieved through knowledge skilfully applied and also of being reasonably frugal and preserving the gifts of the Earth bestowed upon a person.

The card in a way sums up, how I feel about my life right now.

The harvest is in, in terms of material gifts and also a wide abundance of Spiritual gifts.

I am glad and a little proud, but also a little exhausted after all the effort.

All I need now is

a little time to savour this abundance,

be a little playful and creative with it all

be a little careful not to let anything go to waste

and be VERY generous in sharing these abundant gifts openheartedly with others.

 

10. Day of Nymphs – Dec 29th This card encourages us to connect to our playful side, our inner child and how best to cultivate this aspect of ourselves.

8 of Earth – Turmeric

Yes I can see the playful aspect in the image before me:

A big plastic pot full of mushed up Turmeric root, a large cooking pot on the stove, holding a garment in the hot sud to be dyed, other pieces of clothing awaiting the process in a wicker basket. The window is open and the laundry line is full of cloths already dyed. The yellowish ochre colours Turmeric produces speak of optimism and new beginnings. Afresh breeze blows through an old cloth hamper!

Dying stuff is fun!

To let out my playful side I do not have to be silly or do silly meaningless things, there are more than enough activities that are creative and allow my inner child to come out to play. These days I also finally have the time to do that. I have a list of fun stuff that I had to put off during the last 2 month and this list now has advanced to “project status”

 

The 8of Earth is often called “the Lord of Prudence” and is associated with craftsmanship and dedication to a particular task. Honestly, I have enough of “crafting”( – making jewellery for a living does that to you) but that does not mean, that I do not have a few creative projects on the back burner.

Yesterday I was overcome with joy, when I finallllly accomplished one of them and had the finished project in hand.

A fresh breeze blowing through my heart!

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Turmeric is a main ingredient in Curry

Its active ingredient is called Curcumin is a cooking herb known for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and analgesic properties. It may help to relieve numbness and tingling in your hands and feet. …

Like all herbs, curcumin has serious side effects, when overdosed.

Turmeric’s volatile oil is of pink colour. Isn’t that fun!?

11. Day of Rest: – Dec 30th This card shows us how to walk our path in a relaxed and confident way….with the ability to deal with stressful situations in a philosophical, detached way.

4 of Air – Lavender

Yes, today is absolutely a 4 of Air day: Outside ice-rain is falling, driven by a brisk east wind, caking roads and highways, tree branches and hydro lines (Canadian English for electricity is “hydro” )

The lights in the house are flickering ….

Nobody is going anywhere today and nobody is doing anything in our house. Even our fox is sliding around on the iced over remnants of snow and it is funny to watch her, as she is trying to dig her sharp claws into the slippery mess – with little success.

Otherwise we are cuddled up in cozy blankets by the stove, hot chocolate at our sides, a book in hand.

Rest!

The world is sliding by without us and we enjoy that!

2 hours later I am at my poooooter to write up my entry of the day: My 4 of Air card looks Very different to my world outside right now. The image shows me a Lavender field in the summer breeze being harvested. A large flat basket filled with fresh plants, croques, gloves and scythe laid aside point to the herbcrafter probably having gone for a snooze under a nearby Tree.

Here I have no fresh lavender in sight, but I have a wonderful high concentrate of lavender essential oil and daub a drop each onto my wrists. The smell dances into my nose while I am typing.

I use Lavender to “smudge” women, that are on their Moon time , when we have ceremonies. All others have the regular smudge. It is a Siberian way and quite a few local Anishinaabe have adopted my practice! Isn’t that strange – and wonderful?!

In my patients I also use lavender oil to treat “overflush” of candida dermatitis and to effectively get rid of toenail fungus.

Fresh lavender in a pillow helps people fall asleep.

Lavender has countless other applications……

 

12. New Year’s Eve, Hogmanay – Dec 31st This card shows us how to release the old and let in the new.

This relates to both our external lives and our inner being.

6 of Earth- Pine

What a wonderful card for the end of a cycle and the end of this reading!

6 of Earth speaks of generosity, giving back to the community and in the image of the card also of burning all, that is old and no longer serves us well and sending wishes and Prayers out into the Universe, just as we did on our Yule log on the Winter Solstice!.

Pine to me is special.

I live in Pine – in a log home made of huuuuuge raw Pine logs.

It is situated beneath a very large majestic Pine Tree and surrounded by quite a few more.

I am sitting on a Pine chair and am writing on a Pine table….

Pine to me is a wonderful provider, especially for all the Wild Ones, I share my home and our land with. Giving back and sharing our abundance with our Wild neighbours is especially important on a day like today with a snow storm roaring around the log house and making life hard for them. So our bird feeders are full, the alfalfa hey is out beneath the Spruce trees, got the young Moose to find and the Fox and out Marten also have a few treats on the lower deck.

We took a piece out of this Pine forest, but we are also giving back in a way, that keeps the Wild Ones wild but help them and make a safe haven for them in the ever encroaching urban world.

I am thankful for all I have and I am today finalllly pain free and letting go of the nasty back pain. It took 10 days to heal – now ceremoniously it gets banished.

No snow shovelling for me tomorrow. I also have acknowledge my physical limitations and adjust my daily life accordingly.

May the new calendar year bless us all with good fortune, health, love and joy ♥

 

 

Full Moon Reading

Using my Greenwood Tarot

I did pull my cards yesterday:

We had the first frost tonight.

But this morning is glorious!

Warm sun and after breakfast outside on the deck I pulled out the cards.

I had brought out a few crystals to hold down my spread cloth, but just after THIS picture was taken, the wind picked up and I had to shove the table back behind the shelter of the log wall.

What I noticed right away: It seemed very serendipitous, that I had brought out the Deer Antler I found in Yellowstone Nat. Park this spring – (also to hold in place the cloth) but there it was/ is right above the mighty antlers of Ellen of the Ways in her Animal form!

Hugs and Blessings to my friend Chesca!♥

Another noticeable thing is, that there are the Strawberry plants in the lower left of the Ellen Card.

I am sitting right beneath a hanging pot of Strawberries and the very last of them for this year is trying to ripen in the sun.

There are 2 extra cards on the spread.

I chose them from among the images, because these 2 most directly resemble 2 relevant dreams I had recently – one this morning before waking; which in turn prompted me to lay out the cards now.

Dreams have their very own images and trying to interpret them using Tarot cards usually muddles the dream message, as ANOTHER to us MORE FAMILLIAR IMMAGE is now introduced into the dream’s flow of images.

I did interpret my dreams independently from this reading and their messages to me are very poiniant and relevant. I will not share the dreams here.

Over at the book club – Jung week 3 I am trying to show participants, how dream interpretation works and why one has to stay with the dream’s images and also not use dream interpretation books, that someone else wrote assuming things about general Western society………

THEN, after you interpret your dream, it is good to also do a nice reading like this one about it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

 

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Here now is my reading:

Card 1: A message that has been wanting to come through in your dreams:

Here I see the Ancestors and the Guardian Spirits have set up a Healing Circle for the living human they are protecting. Loving and renewing energy flows out of the hooves of the Antlered Spirit Guide into that person.

One of my Ancestral Guardian Spirit is a Siberian Reindeer. (my great grandmother Ulali was a Reindeer herder…..)

The scene at the card is night. So maybe this is a healing dream much like the one I had 2 weeks ago. I am very moved, just looking at it. I feel loved and protected and very thankful!

7 of Stones: Healing!

Yes, it is true, the healer needs a good portion of healing herself. I had the first of my relevant dreams in mid August, which is always a VERY busy time for me. Our company, Bearpaw Jewellery is in full swing, markets and show are at their busiest and countless orders need to be filled. Also, August seems to be THE month, when all our psychiatrists and mental health care workers take their holidays and quite a few people find themselves without their safety net.

Then all of a sudden, they remember that I live out here in the bush, just a phone call away…..

Also, all kinds of my wealthier shamanic clients are up here for the summer and want to see me……

As well, I had 2 of my students of shamanism up here to learn and although one is quite good at helping with patients, he needs a lot of guidance and the other one doe not interact with patients yet.

Yes, well, I am not getting any younger and at August has always been exhausting and was even more so this year. The healing and rest prescribed by the card is coming now, when things have slowed down and I have more time for myself.

Card 2: Why is it important to hear and understand this message.

Well if you read about my first card, this is quite self explanatory. I neeeeed to slow down and take more time out.

Here Ellen of the Ways in her Animal form is resting in the grass. Next to her a Strawberry plant with 3 ripe Strawberries. Strawberry is the “leader of the “Fruit People”, the ones that nourish. Strawberry also

is the Fruit that we use in ceremonies in the Longhouse. Strawberry juice is the welcome drink given to all, at the beginning of our Socials and ceremonial days.

3 is significant to me – standing for the 3 shamanic realms – Upper – Middle world and Lower realm….

In the Greenwood Ellen stands for the Queen of Arrows. She is creative, engaging and gets things done.

But here – I see her taking “Time out”

The heart between her Antlers speaks of self love = pamper yourself a little…..before you get cracking again….

I also notice how perfect her posture is, how nice and straight her back is –

Mine hurts like hell.

I have to do my stretches – Right now!!

OK That feels better…….

Card 3 :Your core gift your special Strengths or ability (or ways you can understand and tap into it.)

Leave it to me to pull the Seer here!

Well, that about says it all.

In the Greenwood the Seer stands for the HP. And depicts a shaman cloaked with / By a human sized Owl Spirit, her Guardian and surrounded by the Living Beings of the forest.

When I sit here, typing on my pooooooter, it sounds so pompous, but in essence, that is what I am and what I do. My gift is “seeing” That is why it is soooo busy especially in August.

I have extensively written elsewhere about my work with patients and also Tarot clients so I will not fill this reading with it yet again. Suffice to mention, that there are 2 Owl Spirits I am working with. One is a very powerful Healing Spirit, that is the one that guides me with these patients. The other one is a little “Kauz” that was given to me by Umai E’ene (Mother of ALL) for my own mental well being and protection…… It is not lost on me, that the Owl is mantling the back of the Seer.

The Seer holds a crystal torch – the Guiding Light of the Spirits.

Without it I am just an elderly woman living in the bush.

Card 4 : How you can balance the spiritual and the mundane in your life.

7 of Wands – clearance.

Each time I pull this card a quote from ?? someone pops into my mind:

After enlightenment, chop wood and fetch water!

That is, what it boils down to. Often literally!

No sooner have I halfway come out of trance, told the patient, what i saw, discussed it with him/ her and eventually hugged her good bye, that Peter comes in and says, “I chopped all the wood, there are 10 wheelbarrow loads waiting for you to pile into the woodshed……

And off I go….. back in the mundane world – ifff such a thing existed for me.

Everything is always interwoven. While I take to the manual task I have time to think. Go over the session just past, and in the semi-darkness of our wood shed the Spirits find me and – more pointers are given……. I then have to remember them and maybe write them down or phone the client later…. And I have to pile the wood – before it gets dark.

Then I have to go inside, at the family Altar in the living room give thanks for the recent insights, Clear my head and go make the salad for dinner……

maybe ad a Strawberry or 2, if we have them….. or just “ad the Strawberry Spirit if we do not….. See, if Peter notices…?

Spiritual versus mundane

Spirit and ritual I get that – mundane?? every day ordinary routine

Spirit and ritual ARE within my ordinary life and everyday routine and everything I do and think and what not….. It is not extraordinary either. It just is, what is and what happens….

There is no mundane….. there is just – life.

Card 5: What to prioritize next (where to go from here)

Well, forward of course….

My card is the 9 of Arrows. – Dedication

This is another one of Chesca’s paintings, that prove, that she KNEW the trance from her own experiences!

The flirring drops of living light melting into bowstring melodies guide this practitioner towards the next steps of her journey.

The 9 Swan feathers point me towards one of our Siberian myth about the Pleiades, that at times transform into the benevolent Swan Sisters, that then come down from the Sky world to help the people.

In all these years, my dedication to my work has never faltered. At the beginning it was hard and nobody knew anything about shamanic ways. I was sooooo young….

Now everyone knows everything about it – the internet is fulllllll of it….

But can they actually DO it?

Can they SEE the cancer cells hiding in the liver of a young mother?

Can they SEE the hands on the abuser on the body of the child, now, that she is a middle-aged alcoholic?

My dedication to help and mentor leads me away from the humdrum of all the different social media platforms and blogs – into my inner heart and my willingness to again and again walk / float / fly the trance – to help where I can.

 

How the Raven got black: Siberian legend

Card of the Day for Friday September 6

10 of Clubs

The image on the card shows me, that it  is dark.

The full Moon is high in the sky, 2 Ravens sit in the branches of a dead tree. One is pure white, the other black. 2 more ravens are seen flying of – again one silver white, one black. A Haida Raven design is depicted on a medallion.

 

Did you know, that Ravens were all pure white in the beginning?

Our Siberian legends – from Tuva and from the Amur region are similar to the legends of the Haida and Tsimshian People of Canada’s West Coast. For millennia boats went back and forth along toe ice flows from here to there, heavy with the gifts of the Sea and the legends of the people.

The Card is reminding me of the Siberian legend of the Silver Raven:

The world was dark. A nasty Khan had taken Yölle, the Sun and put it into a big heavy felt bag, to warm up his yurt and his feet, when he sleeps. The Animals debated, who should go and rescue the Sun. They picked Karakoruk, the Raven, He could sing so beautiful, to entrance the Khan and steal the sun.

Yes, Karakoruk managed to sing the Khan into a verrrrry deeeeep sleep and stuck his white beak into the felt bag to retrieve the Sun. But the Sun had burned the inside of the bag. It was full of suds and Raven got the suds and ash all over himself. He also breathed in some suds while carrying the Sun in his beak back out of the yurt and into the world. Since then Karakoruk is all black and can not sing anymore. But Yölle, the Sun is back where she belongs, dancing through the sky with her little brother the Moon.

Very rarely, once in a while, there is a white Raven send down by the siblings, coming to remind Karakoruk, what his true nature is.

 

10 of clubs:

One circle closes, but another begins with promises of riches and well being.

The Ravens are “singing”

Fall has come.

Full moon Reading July 2019

Buck Moon Spread

 

1. What is my strength?
2. How can I show it to the world?
3. Where have I grown?
4. What is my heart telling me?
5. How can I open myself up to healing?

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Important dates for this moon cycle:

New Moon: July 2nd

First Quarter: July 9th

Full Moon: July 16th

Last Quarter: July 24^th

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When I pulled my cards today I am a little perplexed, because several of them are the ones I did pull for the Summer solstice reading we did here.

The other, the Bat, is one that showed up 3 times during last week, in my 3 card daily draws, always as “the challenge”

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1 What is my strength?

Hero of cups

There he is again, my friend, the little Mouse, together with the Dandelion and the Sea Kelp ♥

While I have a very special and close relationship with Mice and with Dandelions, Sea Kelp here to me represents the unknown and unexpected, that the hero in me will have to conquer.

My Strengths is like the Beings in this card, all the things known, experienced and survived in my life so far. I m using them all, good and bad to make the very Best for me personally, for my loved ones and for the people i work with and mentor.

This time right now is, when the Hero of Stones within me will need to use all his/ her capacity for endurance, for consistency and pragmatism, use a methodical tried and tested approach in solving several upcoming high stress and tension situations.

2 How can I show my Strength to the world?

Queen of Stones – again!

Since back from Yellowstone NP where we saw a mother Grizzly with her 3 cubs close up this card has come up in almost every reading.

Here again the key notion is groundednes and protection, and trust in self.

In my recent Summer Solstice reading she was the last card of the spread, standing for groundednes and here she is again , the message still being relevant, especially in our hectic summer season and even more so in a few upcoming situations, that by their nature will be hectic and stressful. Good to know and see is, that the mighty She Bear since time immemorial also is the symbol of healing and preventing diseases as well as guarding against unfavourable influences. ( in Siberia with my Ada’s People E’eren Adik guards the Eastern Door against Albis = disease Spirits and against other “nastys”

3 Where have I grown?

4 of Wands

Here I am looking at a Wildcat kitten playing in the ferns already turned reddish brown by the first frosty nights of late fall. The kitten has encountered her very first Vole and shows curiosity and the body language is already that of the grown cat, the hunter, but the mind of this kitten is still focused on play and exploration.

The Vole senses, that there is no imminent danger – yet – and stands up to his arch enemy. What a bold move!

The 4 of Wands to me is a time of quiet before the storm….

Because of upcoming situations alluded to before and too private to share here, I find this card very befitting. I very well may have to stand up to a very formidable foe, that could take my life. But for right now i am supposed to relax and maybe even play a little in the autumn sun.

Here in terms of growth I can only say that I need all the advice I so often give to others and use it on myself.

4. What is my heart telling me?

3 of Stones:

A Doe stands in the meadow, beneath a shady Tree. There are 2 ?? Cowbirds pecking Fleas and Ticks from her head and neck. She patiently waits , holds still while being so cured of he ills.

This is easy to interpret as, “Let me pick dark thoughts out of your silly head – so you do not worry so much!

This, more than anything else I neeeeeeeeed to hear right now!

My heart also is telling me, that I have friends, that will help and that in a time of trial I will not walk alone.

5 How can I open myself up to healing?

Hero of Blades:

A night scene where a large Bat is hunting amid a swarm of moths.

Bat is the Symbol of life and death.

A Nasty custom in Britain was, to nail a dead Bat up over the entrance of the house to prevent disease from entering. I would need a charm like that, but would NEVER do something like that to any Animal.

I could use the Bat as a Guide to immortality and the land of the fairies. That would be a good shamanic journey to go on.

All the moths point towards Spirits of Ancestors. The ones the Bat eats will be re-born here in our world. What dies here will live in the Spirit World. What dies in the Spirit World will be born here as a squeaky healthy little baby Mouse, Fawn, Bird … Whatever…..

A very comforting thought.

The Hero of Blades in the RWS rushes headlong into the unknown.

He is brave!

I will need his bravery!

My tales with the Anieth Nature Tarot:

I have now worked and done my daily 3 card draws with this deck – basically since last September.

For the first few months I largely ignored the card meanings/ lwb and web site promptings that the deck creator A.E. Stone gave.

I do love Animals and most Animals depicted here have a distinct myth based meaning derived from my Siberian tribal upbringing/ teachings and a mix of the local albeit Canadian Native lore and also my rather limited knowledge of the Celtic / reconstructed Druidic meanings of said Animals and plants. 

I had found THE VERY BEST wooden Box for the deck, carved and with a Fox motive finely embroidered on silk.

At first, I had a small booklet to write notes into,which fitted into the box with the deck, but now, this little thing is just – toooo little:

Quite often I found myself looking up the Ogham meanings of the Trees and also searching for the use and meanings of the European plants in books and on the net.

Finally I decided, that I should put all the “stuff” in one place, into a large ring binder, that I can lug around, when we are travelling in our motor home and the internet is not available.

This is still a work in progress and a little gets added every day.

For right now, the binder is simple and ugly, but knowing myself, there will come a day, when I will grab some Fox and Wolf fur, some Owl feathers, maybe make a nice Wolf out of Sterling Silver and decorate it – in the fashion of my Greenwood binder 

 

Summer Solstice Reading 2019

This is a reading done over the 12 days around the Summer Solstice. 1 card is drawn for each day.

We did this as a group reading circle at “Tarot Tea and Me”, a forum, where I am a member.

https://www.thetarotforum.com/

I like, that the daily promptings are multicultural and aid in making us aware of this special time of the year.

Here is the suggested layout:

——–2——–

—-1——3——

–12———4—-

11————-5-

-10———–6—

—9——–7—–

——–8———

1. Birth of the Muses – June 14: This card shows how our inspiration and creativity is manifesting.

2. Vestalia – June 15: An ancient Roman festival dedicated to Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. This card shows us our hearth, the fire at the center of our life and home, and how to tend to it.

3. Night of the Teardrop – June 16: Remembrance of the tears of Isis causing the Nile River to overflow. This card shows what our emotions are telling us at this time.

4. Juno, Goddess of Fertility and Union – June 17: Celebrating the ancient Roman goddess for whom the month of June is named. This card shows us an area of fertile growth in our lives.

5. Festival of Strawberries – June 18: As the strawberries ripen, this card shows us the sweetness in our lives.

6. Oak King – June 19: A dedication to the Oak King, who is now near the height of his power in his battle with the Holly King. This card shows us our strength.

7. Scrying – June 20: In the tradition of scrying at the time of Midsummer, this card shows us a blessing to come.

8. Summer Solstice – June 21: We are at the height of the sun’s power, the longest day, in the Northern Hemisphere; OR, if you are joining from the Southern Hemisphere, this day is the turning point for the days to get longer. This card shows us how to shine our own light like the Sun.

9. Honey Moon – June 22: This card shows us how to release anxieties or worries, how to enjoy ourselves in this moment.

10. Saint John’s Eve – June 23: Like the herbs traditionally gathered on St. John’s Eve, this card shows what protects or heals us.

11. Guru Purnima – June 24: Indian festival of expressing gratitude to teachers. This card reminds us of a lesson we have learned, or an experience or person that has taught us something, that we should remember and have gratitude for as we move forward.

12. Parvati, Earth Mother – June 25: The card shows us how to ground ourselves and how to connect with the earth’s abundance.

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Here now is my reading with the Anieth Nature Tarot

1. Birth of the Muses – June 14: This card shows how our inspiration and creativity is manifesting.

 

1 The Magician

The card shows me a Peregrine Falcon soaring through a partially cloudy sky, high above the green valley that is rimmed by rather pointy breast- like snow-capped mountains. Instantaneously this image takes me back to a wonder- filled sunny early spring day in Grand Teaton National Park, just a scant month ago. The mountains just as – teat- like, pointy, snow capped and spring just barely arriving in the valleys with all the wild Animals , especially the Birds eagerly awaiting the snow melt and the night time temperatures to rise above freezing.

It is a time of high anticipation, high expectation, of fecundity and joy.

Life renews itself. Magic is still possible.

Now I am expected to join in, in the frenzy, in the re- creating and in the hustle and bustle of building a new nest for the summer to lay its eggs into.

Coming back home to rainy, Mosquito soaked Ontario, where going outside without the black veil of my Mosquito jacket is just not possible, is putting a heavy damper on this exuberance.

This time of year we are more house-bound than in Winter’s – 40 C.

We are supposed to be creative – in the downstairs workshop making lots and lots of new pieces of jewellery. And we do.

BUT: Nothing is “new” We have to restrain our creativity and first and foremost re- make all the hundreds of tried tested and $$$ true designs I am expected to have ready for sale by the time this reading concludes.

Only then we are free to experiment and go free and do / dabble with new ideas and new designs. Life experience and 35 years in the business has taught us, that only very few of these new ones will ever sell. Our loves and tastes are quite different from “what sells these days”

there are the few free soaring human Peregrine Falcons, that will appreciate them and also have a valid Visa card.

I do have quite a few nice ideas inspired by our latest trip – many of them I may make- and just keep – or give away to friends….

The Magician is the card of “making it happen,” using all the tools of the trade (the cobbler)

My Falcon on my card is looking at me with eyes, that tell me : “Go get cracking, the time is NOW, the sky is relatively clear. Iffff you dwaddle, you will end up in a wall of clouds…..”

We do not have Peregrine Falcons here, but we do have a Merlin nesting on our property. He is hunting small Birds – unfortunately right at our Bird feeders.

My Magician is a dangerous one….. Birds beware!

Things can happen FAST!

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2. Vestalia – June 15: An ancient Roman festival dedicated to Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth. This card shows us our hearth, the fire at the center of our life and home, and how to tend to it.

 

2 of Wands

This card shows me 2 Wolves, on laying down one standing by its side, both howling.

The Wolves are shown on short brown vegetation, above them a clear blue sky shows a fire red cloud out of which the first snowflakes are falling. A late autumn sunset.

Wolves do sleep during the day and wake at just about this time of day, stretch, then howl to initiate it communal hunt.

To me these two look like a mated pair.

This image is very auspicious : Not only am I of the Wolf Clan – from my Siberian tribal father;s side (Ee’ren Börü is our Clan Guardian)I also do have a Wolf as one of my main personal Medicine Guardians and protectors. 

 

Keeping the Hearth Fire going:

Do not laugh, I am having out hearth = stove going in the living room, right NOW, on June 15. It is cold and rainy outside and damp in the house and having to do a reading about Hearth Fires – I started it up!

 

Yes, and here are 2 Wolves on this card!

How do they relate to the way I do tend my Hearth Fire, the centre of my home and life?

Being indigenous Siberian, following the shamanic world view of my people and working as a practising shaman in our community, communicating with Spirits, my personal Spirit Guardians and finding the ones of my clients and patients and communicating with them, asking for advice and how to help/ mentor a person in need, is essentially what I do.

It informs my path of service to others and also my artwork and the jewellery pieces my husband and me create in order to make a living. All are all inspired by this shamanic worldview….

 

Now, this being the 2 of Wands I am reminded of clarity, of purpose, of passionate intent, but also of reliable instincts in all situations and pre-planning actions, especially in business.

 

Yes, 2 Wolves = 2 people! 

We have to work together, hunt together = make a living and do it by communicating well with each other and with others. Yes, like the Wolves on my card, we are in the autumn of our lives, not as fast as we once were, but we can also howl for some help and a younger generation of feisty Wolves will lend us a hand.

 

How do I tend to this precious hearth Fire to keep it well lit?

Daily meditation, drumming, walks in nature, where once in a while I get to see a wild Wolf – We have them living on our property (and sometimes pooooping in front of the door of our log home….)

What I could do better, is eat a bit healthier and go to sleep earlier.

But tell a Wolf to sleep at night and be awake early in the morning and you will get snarrrrrled at.

I do snarl – vigorously! 

I have the predator with the growly voice and the sharp teeth living inside me and also sometimes coming out of his den.

I therefore have to keep him in check.

The older I get, the harder this gets.

So I have to try and avoid getting into situations, where that predator gets provoked.

Luckily, I manage just that – most of the time…..

…………………………………………………………………………….

 

 

3. Night of the Teardrop – June 16: Remembrance of the tears of Isis causing the Nile River to overflow. This card shows what our emotions are telling us at this time.

 

Hero of Cups (Knight of Cubs)

The card shows me one of the lakes of the misty fen that once existed somewhere near the East cost of England.- – – Sadly it is now long been drained and in its place is now s shopping mall and a paved parking lot, carefully ditched, so that the last little bit of water can drain off into a metal culvert …….

– – -But In the realm of the Anieth Tarot the world is still beautiful and pristine and before me a Green Frog sits on a Lily Pad, right next to the brilliantly gleaming white Waterlily.

That is the thing with emotions. They depend on what you are thinking right now!

Thoughts create the mood that sets our emotions. But this also works the other way round:

What we feel and how we feel informs our thought patterns.

 

Just reading and therefore thinking/ concentrating on the sentence” Remembrance of the tears of Isis causing the Nile River to overflow. “ can set a sad, glooooomy tone, evoking all the many memories of tears, tough times and hardships we have experienced. It will remind me of all the loved ones, friends and patients I had over the years, that walked into the mists of the Otherworld, that is shown in the background of my card image.

What I always tell my patients is “Do not belief everything you think” and “Keep your dysfunctional thought patterns in check”

Think something different!

Like, I see Omakaki, the Frog, who is a Spirit of the South of the Medicine Wheel, here is Canada and with my people in Siberia. He is is charge of the weather and of green things to grow. So to me today Omakaki is in charge of my feelings and I have decided to concentrate on the fact, that it is NOT raining today, finally, that the sun is out, that in the pond I see outside my living room window the first Waterlilies are coming up and I am surrounded by green growing things.

All good stuff!

Go Kermit! You are my hero!

.

 

4 Juno, Goddess of Fertility and Union – June 17: Celebrating the ancient Roman goddess for whom the month of June is named. This card shows us an area of fertile growth in our lives.

 

Hero of Stones

Oh! There are 2 of my heroes on this card!

Both show the Knight of Pentacle’s qualities of endurance and consistency as well as being seen quite a bit as a / hero/ anti- hero in larger modern society. It is The Mouse, sitting in front of a few Acorns, some are undoubtedly gnawed open, others she is in the process of burying them for later consumption in tougher (winter) times.

She is the hero , because some of them she will forget and they will grow into new Oak trees.

 

The other hero here is a blooming Dandelion plant in all its splendour right behind my rodent.

A hero, because, this is a powerful Healing Plant and main food item for many a herbivore the world over, also a providor of Vitamin C and delicious in a spring salad.

I do have NO idea, WHY people these days hate this plant soooo much and go after it with any plant poison they get their fingers on…..

there is yet another Plant on this picture – I can not identify it. It loooooks a bit like a Potato Plant, but this being neolithic Europe, there were none of them there yet.

So I will chalk this one up as one of the many unknown heroes that exist upon this Earth and without which we would NOT exist…..

 

To both of my Known heroes I have a powerful spiritual connection:

Mouse is a main food for Owl, and 2 of my personal Medicine Guardian are Owls. I am fascinated by Mice and could watch them for hours. But I am also known for catching the ones invading my log house in life traps, and – most of the year, transporting them at least 3 km away from home before letting them go – but also in the dark of Winter calling in one of the Barred Owls that live on our property and feeding them a life mouse. They know the call, they know the drill – come and sit in the Tree across from the upper deck and I toss out the mouse and you either be quick and catch it in mid- air or when it hits the snow…..

Dinner time for the physical representations of my Medicine Guardian…..

 

Dandelions: When I was 18 and in RN training and at the same time was learning about the shamanic Medicine ways of my Inde’ teacher Haoko SV, he told me, to draw myself as I see myself and – I drew a Dandelion popping up in the middle of cracking concrete between the high-rises of the 3 clinic buildings I had worked in so far……

Today of course I use Dandelion as a healing plant – and in salads….

But they are also the reason our Black Bear shows up at dawn, to graze on them this time of year.

 

So, since the card image reminds me of all these things, what is the message regarding fertile growth in my life right now?

 

The unknown hero speaks to me of continuing to learn, grow and explore. That there is sooooo much I have no idea about.

Both of my known heroes are very fertile, so, right now, if I am worrrrried about the economy and us being able to sell all the jewellery we are currently producing, =making any money this year, I can STOP that right now!

Come fall I will have enough nuts to dig away for Winter and all our Jewellery pieces will, like Dandelion seeds be blown away in all 4 directions, there to be admired and to seed us new customers.

There is also the fact, that over the years I have buried quite a few nuts in safe places and they now grew into nice Oak Trees…..

But there also is the fact, that I have in my many hidey holes put away quite a few “treasures”, over the years, received as gifts and Medicine Offerings form friends and clients and they now only have oooooold Energy and I have to dig them up and see, that they, like Dandelion seeds be dispersed into the 4 directions.

  
                                                                       

 

 

5. Festival of Strawberries – June 18: As the strawberries ripen, this card shows us the sweetness in our lives.

 

XXI Completeon: (The World)

My card shows me a serene picture: Snow capped mountains in the background, Trees and Shrubs, , the rocky edge of a silty glacial river, the big boulders so typical for this landscape, a tall Conifer and beneath huddled together in a peaceful snuggle 2 Otters, sound asleep. They know, their world is perfect and there is no immediate danger around.

How sweet indeed.

(Homo Greedfinger take it all over, smash it to bits and build luxury condos has not arrived on the scene- yet….)

 

I am also thinking of Nigig, the Otter being the Midewewin Medicine symbol of love, friendship and the medicine teachings of the South. I know, Otters were revered by the Celts and there are pages to read in the Celtic Animal Oracle books.

The mighty Pine Tree as well carries much significance in all cultures around the world, too much to list it all here.

Here in Central Ontario the wild Strawberries are still barely blooming and it will be another 5 weeks, until they bear fruit.

Strawberries are seen as the leaders of the Plants by the People of the Longhouse, as it is the first fruit of the year.

But supermarkets are full of hothouse Strawberries and the ones grown in warmer climates.

I shall be tempted to buy some later in town, to intensify my sense of the card theme of today and the feeling of sweetness and peace in my life.

 

This being the World card in my deck I see, that the 2 Otters in the image are cuddling while their bodies, interwoven, are forming the infinity symbol.

I wish, their infinity would last.

 

Sweetness in my life most of all,comes from Peter, my Otter, to snuggle with and all the little things he does for me, Like the thermos full of coffee I find when I stumble out of bed in the morning, the little notes he leaves, when he left the house to do errands, plow snow or go for an early morning canoe trip.

His sweetness will be re-given in time by me – in the form of bringing home some chocolate for him – and those Strawberries, when I head to town later.

Sweetness in any relationship has to be worked at, cultivated and so become “second nature” but still recognized and acknowledged.

It is the glue, it is a food source for love.

It counts double in tough times.

                       

 

 

 

 

 

6 Oak King – June 19: A dedication to the Oak King, who is now near the height of his power in his battle with the Holly King. This card shows us our strength.

 

Oh! Isn’t that a coincidence!

I pulled “Strength” from the deck!

The card shows me a beautiful adult Lynx perched on the slanting limb of a large Tree.

The Lynx is looking down on something/ someone beyond the rim of the image. The closer I looooook at the tree, the more convinced I am, that this IS AN OAK TREE! (please correct me, if I am wrong)

Because I live a bit too far south to be in Lynx habitat, we do not have one in the area. But the Siberian Lynx was my father’s personal Medicine Guardian Animal and so is very special to me. A Lynx in our worldview sees everything, but says nothing, is a keeper of secrets. (My dad made his living as a spy, often deep under cover….)

 

This card is pulled for a Wednesday, our weekly Farmer’s Market day and it shows me, that today I can show my strength by staying aloof, staying out and above the usual squabbling, that goes on at the Market. “Observe, but do not engage” is the message. I will heed that, as I head off into a busy day.

……………………………………………………………………….

Coming home in late afternoon – with all my strength having ebbed into exhaustion,I am looking back at this card and have to grin: It has served me very well, to head and aether to its advice. There yet again was a huuuuge trara created by another vendor, who …. never mind….

My sharp claws were all out and I was in striking position, but decided to keep my inner cat out of this pointless hissssyfit, stay well away and let poor Peter, who is a marked board member handle this….

Strength is to know, when to enter the fight and when not to, when to retreat or simply not engage at all.

Oak Tree also showed me, that we are there for the long term and not just for the here and now. Oak Trees weather many storms.

Strange, looking back at the question/ prompting of this day I read the word “battle”

Well, this is, what that was. I stayed out of it and while it was going on, I made good hay!

 

 

 

7 Scrying – June 20: In the tradition of scrying at the time of Midsummer, this card shows us a blessing to come.

 

3 of Stones

A Doe stands in the meadow, beneath a shady Tree. There are 2 ?? Cowbirds pecking Fleas and Ticks from her head and neck. She patiently waits , holds still while being so cured of he ills.

 

When I drew this image, I almost started to cry.

I woke up with a splitting shitttt migraine and head and neck muscles all stiff and painful.

The weather – yet again – and the piece of chocolate I could not resist yesterday evening….

So now I will just sit somewhere quiet, close my eyes and delve deeply into the image of the card, become the Doe and let my Bird friends help me get rid of the pests…..

…………………………………………………..

 

Migraine and trance are kissing cousins.

During migraine attacks it is easier to go into deep theta trance, to “journey, not where I want to go , but where the Spirits take me………

 

 

 

 

8 Summer Solstice – June 21: We are at the height of the sun’s power, the longest day, in the Northern Hemisphere; OR, if you are joining from the Southern Hemisphere, this day is the turning point for the days to get longer. This card shows us how to shine our own light like the Sun.

 

3 of Cups

The card shows me a Snipe with 2 of her chicks at a somewhat rocky lake shore.

In the foreground I see a profusion of blue flowers, that remind me of Forgetmenots.

Snipes are rare these days. I am glad, this one is teaching her chicks how to forage and everything else they need to know.

It definitely is in teaching and mentoring, that I can shine my own light. I used to teach Native Studies in all kinds of schools in Central Ontario. I am retired from that now, and at times I miss it. I also used to teach about shamanism and shamanic pathways in my home, in health care settings in the community and at Pow Wows.

Then I ended up getting/ having tooooo many clients and patients, some of them ridiculously wealthy and VERY needy…… They managed to “eat up” all my time and energy and also all my “Medicine Energy” and I had to make a change……

Today I still do teach- on a more individual level.

This card today reminds me, to go back to the tings I really love doing and am very good at and share that light with my community.

 

 

 

9 Honey Moon – June 22: 

This card shows us how to release anxieties or worries, how to enjoy ourselves in this moment. 

 

5 of Blades:

In the card image a large Irish Wolfhound has just treed a Marten and is now rearing up on the Tree trunk, barking in dismay, that this fiend has escaped his jaws.

Or – the other way around:

A clever feisty Marten has just out-tricked the Wolfhound by escaping into the Trees, his rightful element.

That’s the ting with anxieties:

I depends, how you look at things.

Fears are really unpleasant scary things that one wishes not to happen.

BUT: by concentrating on the fear, one gives it energy and “mind space” and it is as if one is actually praying for something one does not want to happen and therefore giving it room to exist.

Everyone has fears and anxieties. Me too. But I also have a keen radar for when they creep in and nip them in the but.

My favourite saying: Do not belief everything you think banishes them or at least cuts them down to size.

Then I can go ahead and concentrate on the things that give me joy.

Right now, sitting in the sun, (in the Mosquito tent mind you! ) and read a good book about the Jeffers Petroglyphs, that we visited on our trip.

 

 

 

10. Saint John’s Eve – June 23: Like the herbs traditionally gathered on St. John’s Eve, this card shows what protects or heals us.

 

10 of Stones

“Looking Back Bear”

 

I was transfixed by what I immediately perceived, when I revealed this card and so I did a shamanic journey deep into this image this morning:

It somehow transported me back into a strange, yet familiar place, almost as if the Anieth Tarot came to life and i was now in the realm of way back when…….

There was – like a movie – set to”fast forward” a barrage of images flying past, telling me a story.

This Bear was taken from the wild and his mother by the early humans of the Bear clan, to be raised and tamed used as a “performing Bear” at trade fair gatherings to get ??? money or its equivalent coveted back then. The Bear’s owner was a young man, himself being trained by his father in how to raise and train up a dancing Bear. It involved cruelty and punishment, withholding food from the animal and lots of other terrrrrrible images I do not wish to elaborate on here. Suffice to say however, that the Bear tried to comply but also managed to soften the heart of the young man and arouse his compassion. They in spite of all became friends and the Bear willingly performed, not needing any harsh treatment.

 

But he also grew up and became dangerous – to other humans, protecting and defending his human keeper – ?? from some drunken rowdies??

So as it was custom back then, when a dancing Bear got to this age, and dangerous, he was to be sacrificed to the Spring Goddess in a kind of Bear festival/ ritual.

The young man was to do the honour of killing his friend.

He agonized over this, thinking better him than someone else… or – maybe not…..

The night before the festival – and it was the time the Rowan Trees have their Berries, red like the blood of the Bear, he crated up his friend and pulled the crate deep into the forest. He told his friend, what was supposed to happen and that he better run away deep into the forest and never show himself again. He hoped the Animal would understand any of what he was saying. He had no idea, that the Bear, like all Animals then and now can grasp “pre-verbal imagery = the pictures you have in your head before or while you speak.

The Bear understood, he would never see his human friend again.

The young man then opened the cage and the Bear stepped out. No shackles, no nose twist ring, no collar. Free! He stepped forward, took a few steps, he reared up, then, he looked back.

The sadness of Endings in his eyes, not yet grasping the concept of new beginnings and freedom – with all its thrills and its burdens.

The shamanic journey froze – right there right at the image on the card.

I was deeply moved!

 

So this is protection and healing in its highest form.

 

I could now go on here and tell you, that cuicum-polar = around the world in the northern hemisphere, from Finland to Siberia to Japan the British isles, Bear in Neanderthal times, paleolithic, archaic and also into neolithic times until today among the Native Americans and at home in Siberia Bear is the bringer of Healing Medicine, the teacher of which herbs to use for what illness and also what chants to use during curing ceremonies.

I myself put my patients onto a Bear fur,drum over them and sing such Bear healing chants….

But, when my migraines are bad or my back is “shut” yet again, I myself become the patient, curl up on my Bear fur and receive healing and visions – like the one today.

 

 

11. Guru Purnima – June 24: Indian festival of expressing gratitude to teachers. This card reminds us of a lesson we have learned, or an experience or person that has taught us something, that we should remember and have gratitude for as we move forward.

 

Oh, another Eagle, soaring high above the wild landscape, above rivers and valleys and snow capped mountains!

It is the Emperor!

This image immediately reminds me of my beloved teacher, Ed McGaa, who’s Oglala Lakota name was Eagle Man. And soar, fly high he did:

 

Ed, Eagle Man McGaa was born on the Pin Ridge Reservation in SD as a member of the Oglala Lakota. He served in the Marines in Korea and as a fighter pilot in the Vietnam War, flying 110 combat missions, receiving 8 Air medals and 2 Crosses of Gallantry and aDistinguished Flying Cross.

Ed held a bachelor’s degree  and a law degree from the University of South Dakota. He participated in 6 Sun Dance ceremony with Frank Fools Crow. Later in life he wrote books and led workshops on ecology, the environment, sacred sites and Native and world spirituality.

Ed was very proud of being a veteran and a Sun Dancer.

I first met Ed in Pine Ridge, during a Sun Dance ceremony, when he received an Eagle feather from a Golden Eagle, that I had found next to the road, shot by white farmer…..

I had given it to Arvol Looking Horse and Leonard Crow Dog and they gave feathers to Frank Fools Crow to give to the dancers.

It is a looooong and convoluted story, not suitable for a reading here on this site…..

Ed and I became lifelong friends and he was one of my mentors.

Sadly he returned to his Spirit home almost 2 years ago. He was in his mid 80. and still teaching and sharp as an Eagle.♥

The things I learned from him are too many to mention here. Most of all he encouraged me to use my own tribal/ family heritage in my shamanic work with my clients.- – I was soooo young back then…..

Yes, I do miss ED! And my heart is full of gratitude towards him and towards all my teachers.

May wisdom and Ed’s no nonsense attitude always soar as high as the Eagle in this image!

………………………………………..

 

A picture of me and ED:

https://shamanicdrumm.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/ed-mcgaa-eagle-man-fly-well-♥/

 

 

 

 

12. Parvati, Earth Mother – June 25: The card shows us how to ground ourselves and how to connect with the earth’s abundance.

 

Queen of Stones

This card shows me the Queen of Stones in the form of a Brown Bear sow with 3 young cubs at her side. She is sitting besides a bush, half as tall as her, in the background are the tall deciduous Trees at the edge of the forest.

 

This card reminds me soooo much of the Mother Grizzly with her 3 small cubs, that we watched in Yellowstone National Park a little over a month ago.

She was serene and confident in her strength and supremacy and did not get nervous or distracted, but just kept on grazing on the very first grasses of the season, that had sprouted right beside the busy road. She did not even glance at the hoards of photographers, jostling for prime spots to set up their tripods a mere 10 feet away.

 

The She- Bear here on my card looks to be the very mother of abundance, with her 3 cubs and by being surrounded by so much green. As she sits there her attention is fixed on me!

Am I grounded? Right now, yes.

When I am getting hectic and flustered I have learned to first take a deep breath, maybe more than one, if need be, maybe even close my eyes for a moment. If I still feel the hectic swirling around and through me, I visualize my Owl Guardian flying down from a Tree, landing on the ground and “melting into becoming just a brownish lump of Earth and Moss on the ground.

That always does it.

 

Abundance for us is usually clad in hectic.: A booth full of eager customers, all short of time, each needing advice, having questions, wanting to have a chat with me, just needing me to wrap up their purchases quickly. Some being annoyed that things take a little longer ….

That is, when I need grounding most.

That Is, when I need the steadfast plotting away, even the stoicism of the Queen of Stones.

But then that abundance translates into us having time off later, to nurture ourselves!

Time to just sit – within Nature, right at home on our and – or go on another amazing trip to visit Grizzly moms in the wild.

Summer is the time of abundance, of green, of growth, of new things to grow up, in Nature – and within all of us!

***********************************************************************************

 

 

 

---

 

 

Eurocentric shaman images

As I mentioned in my last post, right now I am doing my daily draws with the Mystical Shaman Oracle.

I quite like and respect the artist, Colette Baron-Reid, but am extremely sceptical about the other listed creators, Alberto Villoldo and his partner Marcela Lobos and their extremely expensive brand of shamanism and ways of teaching ……. ( over the last few years I have encountered quite a few long time “students” of their four winds program, that had spend upwards of $10 000 to $40 000 and never learned to effectively go into a deep trance / shamanic journey, that not even ever had seen, encountered a Guardian Being in trance. In flights of fantasy and imagination – maybe – but we all can do that, right!? 🙂

Now, working with this deck that has their brand of new age shamanism at its base, I am quite dismayed, that I am stumbling again and again onto a few sad peculiarities:

Reading the accompanying text with each image, I am getting the over all sense, that this deck is more of a “sweet affirmations/ you are magical, wonderful and most special” kind of a deck…. “

Users are instructed to only read the VERY positive message, when the image is upright and disregard the Medicine- teaching part. Only read that, when the card is reverse.

But the teaching, lovingly sweeeeeeet cautionary paragraph would sooo much round out the picture and give a balance, a teaching so very much needed.

To achieve Balance is VERY important in shamanism!

The images on the cards and so the accompanying text in the book are decidedly Eurocentric!

There are mostly Caucasian female faces adorned with elaborate headdresses/ garbs made up out of a profusion of feathers and animal shapes, that blend into each other. Most have a rather theatrical look. (See Heart of Sky)

 

When even the “Pachamama” card showed me a white lady – with a distinctive roman nose – I started loooooooking through the deck trying to find – indigenous faces, my Brothers and Sisters with black skin, an Asian face…..

Nothing!?

Well, there are , What I call, “the special 4”

The Seer wears lots of ?? face paint and has straight black hair – a Could he reallllly be Native American or – just look as if?

The Luminous Warrior has darker skin and an Afro – maybe he has and African grandmother!

The Child looks a bit like me, when I was young- Is she from Siberia? But she has VERY blue eyes…??

The person on the Journey card finally fits the bill of not being European!

Yaaaaaay!

Then in the text I again and again I encounter the new age shaman catch phrases “co- creating”

Like in “go and co-create the world with —????”

In traditional shamanic societies, or at least the way I was raised in the ways of my father’s tribal ways, The shaman serves!!!

Serves the tribe at the behest of the Spirits that have chosen her/ him to work through, to us e as a tool = their tool . The shaman/ healer/ Kham/ serves the tribe under the tutelage and direction of the Spirits. He or she does so in reverence and in humility to the very best of her abilities for the benefit of the Clan. My great grandma Ulali did, so did her daughter gran Aniani, so do I today.

All I co-create is the mess in my living room, (which I have to tidy up because another client is coming…)

Another catch phrase is “ We are the stewards of this Earth and all its Beings”

NO!!!!! We are not!!!!

We are a part of creation, not more special then an Earwig larva!!!!

This catch phrase reeks of the christian notion that God gave man the rule over the Earth and all the Creatures and Plants on it.

 

Oh well, I am starting to rant now…. Sorrrry!

Time to co- create the balance, that is needed in my living room. 🙂

 

Returning into the Chrysalis

Over the last few years I have been teaching a friend /student to read Tarot.

To follow an old tradition, I gave her her very first deck, one that I had been reading with for years 🙂

Since then she acquired a few more decks, both Tarot and Oracle.

So now, we can swap decks, she picks something from my collection, that she is interested in and explores it for a while, but also has something to share, that I have not seen.

This is, how I got the chance to look at and work with the Mystical Shaman Oracle.

I quite like and respect the artist, Colette Baron-Reid, but am extremely sceptical about the other listed creators, Alberto Villoldo and his partner Marcela Lobos and their extremely expensive brand of shamanism and ways of teaching …….

Anyway.

Since Colette Baron-Reid’s images are quite “intense and evocative”(-as well as very beautiful ♥) I decided, that instead of my daily draw of 3 cards I would just chose one or two and work with them.

So this morning it was this one:

 

 

I was expecting clients with a lot of physical as well as emotional problems today, but a Soul retrieval is not, what they need – or are ready for today.

However, as I was looking at the image, in a meditative state, one of my main Miahanits/ Medicine Guardian Animals “said”

“Parkinson’s disease is when a person is returning back into a chrysalis. At the endpoint of this path he will re-emerge in the Otherworld.”

To me this is a stunning metaphor for this harsh disease process.

It also turned out to be exactly the process, that one of my clients will have to witness, while guiding and caring for her young son who is afflicted with this disease.

Exploring the Nature of Anieth Nature Tarot

As previously mentioned, my newest deck is the Anieth Nature Deck by A.R. Stone.

There seems to have been a whole world created around the times, landscape, peoples, lore and legends of neolithic and bronze age Europe, that one can explore via graphic novels at www.anieth.com

I have not read any of these, I leave that up to you – but, for now, this deck somehow fits into that world. It only shows the wildlife from back then and the magnificent landscape, now destroyed and buried beneath the concrete of English cities and towns, the fens and forests that are now shopping malls and paved parking lots, monoculture fields and industrial complexes.

The artwork is beautiful, ethereal and realistic at the same time. The Animals are depicted meticulously realistic and at the same time show their Power, beauty and their character.

As a Tarot deck, the chosen images do not follow the RWS or Thoth or Greenwood systems, but follow a different viewpoint of Tarot, unique to the deck’s creators.

Sometimes that is a bit perplexing, as for example, when as Xll the Hanged Man you meet a Wren singing in an Oak Tree in summer (OK, I get that!) BUT you then find the 3 of Wands depicting a Blackbird hanging on 1 leg upside down in typical Hanged Man position in the branches of another Tree!??- – Then checking the lwb under 3 of Wands you will find a small paragraph about cooperation, virtue, intention, alignment of emotions to a common goal with others, and the joy of a new venture!?? Yes that is W3, but does not fit at all with the image on the card.

Most all the descriptions in the lwb fit with RWS reading styles and sometimes even mention people….

There is not 1 person in the whole deck!

Also, I would not mind, finding out, Why XX Judgement is called Nemesis and shows a Willow with brown leaves back-lit by bright to pale yellow light- ??? Is that sun in late November after the first frost or is that fire??? But then there are no flames, no red, no smoke….

Maybe I am just a bit slow, catching on, since the Chariot – here called the Vehicle, shows me a large Snail exploring a Vine leave….

For now I have decided to find my own personal meanings for these beautiful images.

It will do me good, to brush up on my knowledge of the pre-Celtic /European meanings of the Animals as well as the lore and legends featuring them.

I will use my take on the Animal image, the landscape / flora they appear in and then also ad the traditional card meanings of the Tarot.

Let’s see, where that gets me.

 

 

 

Hurricane Florence – What a reading for this day!

Today my new Deck, the Anieth Nature Tarot arrived in the mail 🙂
First I had a quick look through the cards:

All Animals and also plants on the courts, beautiful artwork!

Then I decided to do a short reading for the day with it.
As previously mentioned, we were planning to travel down to the Outer Banks of the Carolina’s about 3 weeks from now, so we are watching hurricane Florence with great concern, hoping for little damage to the campgrounds we already booked.
So I did a 3 card spread about the situation there and how it will affect our plans.
After shuffling, this is what cam up:
Card 1 – Today main concerns: 4 of Stones
Card 2 – the problem/ Challenge: XVI The Storm
Card 3 – the outcome/ advice: XIV Compassion

When I loooooooked at the images of the cards I drew, I was speechless!
Card 1 shows a She-Wolf with her cubs marooned on a small island surrounded by water! A peaceful scene, but still, is there more dry land nearby?
Her being a predator, I know she will find lots of food for herself and her cubs, but will the waters rise even further and where can she go then?
Card 2 needed just 1 look: The Words “the Storm said it all! Here it is lightning, so that will blow over soon, but the danger is still there.
Card 3 is another water scene, this time with a Swan and her signets.

Peaceful again, a habitat restored – But signets hatch in spring, so it will be a while until this recovery will happen.

My sense of the situation when looking at the cards: Wolf is my Clan Guardian and the She-wolf is protecting her cubs. I have to protect my assets and not travel into a nasty situation, that will take a while to resolve.
= We need to change plans!

The Two Wolves Oracle

This weekend, when we visited my friend Anne and her husband, Anne surprised me with the most amazing gift: A little self created oracle deck;

The Two Wolves

Anne is a professional paper artist, a book maker, who has won quite a few awards and prizes for her sometimes whimsical, always spiritually inspiring work and we are counting us lucky, to own a few of her pieces.

So there I was at her home, Ravenstone, unwrapping a small wooden box, created by her husband Gault and hand painted by Anne.

Inside appeared a tiny booklet about the oracle, its Orizomegami cover created by yet another artist friend of mine, Bonnie Bishop.

 

 

The inspiration for the deck cam to Anne through the well known Native American Medicine story of the Two Wolves:

Anne created 26 square cards, one for each letter of the Alphabet. On one side they feature the pastel coloured silhouette of a Wolf and an inspirational parable, however, on the reverse side each card the colour scheme is black and grey and the 3 words starting with the same letter point out an aspect of the shadow side of the human condition.

I am enchanted with my new oracle and am using it for a 1 card morning meditations, reflecting on both sides of the card I draw.

Wolf is my Clan Guardian Animal from my fathers Siberian ancestry side – I am of the Börü Clan.

Personally, I do feel, I have to also feed the dark Wolf inside me, just a little, just sometimes…..

He is feisty, outspoken, tenacious and takes no shit…..

Without him being a part of me, I would not be alive today, I would not have made it through the years of beatings, torture and deprivation in the christian orphanage I was stuck into at age 9.

It was then, that he came, fed me and also fed the white Wolf, his twin.

So we all survived……

Today I am aware of his shadow and also what havoc he can wreck.

He is a predator.

But, so is the white Wolf…..

Iffff that one became a glutton – from getting all the food – that would turn his fur black…..!!

So, I guess, both my inner Wolves have grey shaggy fur and although they squabble quite often, they support each other – and me.

Discovering Linestrider:

Some people carefully research a Tarot deck before they purchase it. They look at all on line scans and card images, read all reviews and ask questions on about the deck on the Tarot forums.

I am not such a researcher. If I feel, a deck could be interesting and give me new perspectives, if it has a certain “something” that can not be captured in words, I take a chance and go for it, To use it as a further stepping stone on my Tarot journey.

Also, I like to be surprised.

I like to discover something new and unexpected.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I had waited for a year, until the Linestrider finally ended up on my b-day table. I think, over this long time, just the name, Linestrider, someone, who walks between realms and realities conjured up quite a bit mystique within me.

So; how did the deck stack up to THAT kind of EXPECTATION?

Well, it certainly was fun and surprising.

With this deck, I did not first loook at all the cards and read the book, I just shuffled and started doing my daily draws. That alone provided a daily surprise.

Usually I do draw 3 cards each morning:

• theme of the day
• challenges
• a Guardian/ advice

For a particular problem/ challenge, that the day brings, I may also draw the good old 2 card stand-by Card of the day/ issue and the crossing card.

So that gives me between 3 and 5 brand new card images to explore, read about and mull over every day. A good half hour, sometimes more.

I can only do this kind of thing in the deep of winter, when we have less work, are less pressed for time , when things are quiet.

With Linestrider I enjoyed this journey.

There were quite a few surprises, being confronted with an unknown image in a reading.

Some of the images I looooved and rejoiced with, some of them left me baffled and a bit taken aback.

Some images showed up again and again – just to prove their point. (6 of Wands, I am looking at you!)

That one is not one of my favourite images. Somehow it always reminds me of the neoclassical art of the former Soviet Union 😦 The 4 Knights evoke similar mildly unsavoury emotions. There are a few other images that triggered that gut feeling in me.

Then there is “the thing with the hands”

Some of Siolo’s images look all fine to me, others, she just did not get the hands right! They look either too large, or crippled or at least severely arthritic and inflamed. (Poor Emperor and Empress! And a Chariot with Carpal tunnel syndrome!? )

I think this comes from me, when I see my shamanic clients and pain from inflammation “shimmers” red in their aura……

But no idea, when and how poor justice broke her fingers……

Well, on to happier observations:

Of course I looove all the animal images! 🙂

The 9 of Wands, the squabbling Dogs in the 5 of wands, the Goat accosted by peers turned rivals in the 7 of wands, The Hermit, the Hierophant, too many to name them all:)

There were also a few cards, where for me personally the image sort of cancelled out the meaning of the card: The 4 of Wands Shows 2 Hares arranged in a circle among foliage. Keywords Siolo gives are happiness, family, unity. All good for a 4 of wands. Just all I am reminded of when I see this image is 2 mad March hares fighting in a circle, like the old Celts also showed in their knot artwork. Ad to that with Justice and her broken finger and I had much to think about that reading.It helped me to be extra careful, when cleaning ice out of the spindle of our snow tractor. My fingers stayed intact…:)

The 3 of Wands shows 2 Harts in front of 3 staked wands. One Animal is standing, its antlers too mighty to fit between the wands, the other is laying down, resting.

In readings every time I interpreted that as WAIT! Do not move forward, you will encounter obstacles. And each time this was dead on right!

But it is just about the opposite of the moving forward, expansion, cooperation message of the 3 of Wands……

Over the last 6 weeks, the readings I did with Linestrider were accurate and to the point, even with card images, that made me cringe a bit.

So will Linestrider break into the ranks of my few lustrous all time favourite “go to” decks?

Sadly, NO.

It however is a good workable deck and I am a fan of Silo’s book which talks a lot about the different correspondences between cards.

Waiting for the Linestrider Tarot

It was exactly a year ago.

We were in Barrie- a larger town 100 km south of us, to deliver some post x-mas orders and to also do some shopping. Of course we visited the Chapters book store 🙂

There, among all the Doreen V. decks I spotted the Linestrider Tarot!

I had no clue about this deck, but the name and description on the box intrigued me.

Should I????

Well, I gave the deck to Peter, saying something like”Oh looook, here is something for me to wrap up sometime!” He is always looking for things I would like and has a little stash in his (not so secret) cupboard.

Somehow I had hoped, I would get the deck for Valentine’s day, about a month away.

But NO.

Valentine’s day came and went, Peter making preparations to leave the very next day for a 3 week trip the Europe, to see his ageing mother.

Shortly after he came back home we were preparing for our 3 month travel into the Southwestern US and coming home from that our tourist/ summer season was in full swing and we were scrambling to keep Bearpaw Jewellery up and well supplied with treasures as well as keep all my shamanic patients and Tarot clients happy…..

Then some more travelling – and some more of the above….

So the year went.

I sometimes thought about the deck waiting for me – or was I waiting for it?

The word Linestrider I found very evocative. I am a line strider of sorts. One foot in the mundane and oftentimes hectic world of 2017/18 (aren’t we all…) The other of my feet however is firmly planted in the world of shamanic and Ancestor Spirits, the ways and traditions of my Siberian tribal upbringing, lore and teachings, the teachings of my Native American mentors and Elders and my work as a shaman with indigenous as well Anglo, Hispanic and lately also Hindu and Buddhist clients.

Would this deck be filled with images, that speak and reflect my current experiences?

My Birthday was coming:)

I resisted even looking at scans, pictures or reviews of the deck – I wanted to be surprised.

Finally!:D

My B-day is on the Winter Solstice and that is always a very busy day when I have several engagements / Solstice teachings and Prayers as well as a Winter Solstice celebration to either host or attend to…….

No time for deck discoveries.

But it was there!

Right on our breakfast table with a few other pressies still nicely wrapped up:)

It took another few days, until things finally calmed down and while others were stuffing themselves with Turkey I finallllly had time to open my present and explore the Linestrider.

Is anyone else here working/ reading with this deck?

What are your thoughts?

I will share mine in subsequent posts.

Of heavy rains and missing Owls:

Reading exercise for August 22^nd

It is rather late in the day for my daily draw, but here we go:

While I shuffle I am thinking:

“For today, with the torrential rains and all our plans for outside work having fallen into a the proverbial water puddle, I should draw a Water card”

Sure enough, for my card of the day I pull the

8 of Swords –

Now, remember, in this deck Swords are Water. And here they are all sharp and pointy in a circle surrounded by the signs of the waxing and waning Moon, pointing into a water-world that has much the same colouration as the Kawpakwakog Creek outside my living room window.

Yes, I am hemmed in on all sides by the rain and the wet weather. The Moons feel like time – time running away fast. Sooooo much to do and being stuck inside due to the weather.

Well, that is my RWS feel of the card anyway.

The LWB card blip instructs me to read it as:

– Crisis, – yes, for all our farmers, who now definitely are loosing the hay and gran harvests as well as other crops bad news,

– Fatality, (hope not!!!!)

– Treason – well, I can not worrrrry about other people’s nasty behaviour, can I? I am not planning on any treasonous actions today….

Card 2 of my reading is my “challenge of the day”

Again, I feel I should draw a Water card

But NO, the Sun comes up!

At least in the reading 🙂

Yes, it is actually true. All is well here, ifffff not being able to cut and pile our winter wood today and not being able to spread a truck load of gravel over a new parking lot is our biggest, most pressing problems, we are doing fine. These are just inconveniences in a all around sunny life.

The LWB card blip reads

– completion of an enterprise – no for the above mentioned tasks, but YES for our over all life plan: we are snug and save and approaching our sunny retirement. Looooong hard work has paid of!

– full results, rewards– ditto – see above

– promotion – neeeeaa – rather not!! 🙂

– inheritance – well, hopefully not in the next ten years – Peter’s mom is 89 and still quite fit and happy

Card 3 is my Advice for the day and or outcome card.

I pull the 5 of Chalices.

The card has a happy feel 🙂

A large green pentagram and 5 happy cups surrounded by Birds and Butterflies.

This is pretty much exactly a Picard design of the 5 of Cups

The LWB card blip reads:

– Inheritance – again???

– Patrimony to protect – well, I am not taking this one all too literal…

However from the notes found on the internet about how Picard prescribes the pips to look like, I find out in dismay, that my card lacks 1 essential image: In the centre of the green Pentagram, there is supposed to be a small Owl!

Panic- button!!

AN OWL IS MISSING!

(for those of you, who know me, they KNOW, how much Owls mean to me….

Now I will drop EVERYTHING and draw a little Owl into the card:)

The Crystal Tarot by Elisabetta Trevisan

 

This sumptuous treasure is the generous gift from a member – via the “I don’t love you anymore” thread on the Cartomancy forum. It arrived today in my wilderness cabin, securely packed in a very sturdy grey box, that is sure to get re-used in our household.

The deck is also known as the Tarocchi de Vetro

It could not have come at a better time, after yet another thunder storm and deluge this morning I was recuperating from one of my nasty weather triggered migraines, but just sitting there and looking at the stunningly beautiful images made my woes evaporate and fill me with joy 🙂

The mayors and courts are stunning and I was glad, that I had the time to look closely at each and every one.

Favourites?

When I just saw the Fool, I KNEW, I would love this deck.

The HP the muted colours fitted exactly how I felt this morning. Having to sit still, among the dark greens and blooming sunflowers around me. Migraines make me see everything quite a bit pixelated and that too is reflected in the image.

Temperance with vessels reminding me of Mayan pottery:)

Knave of Wands with his oversized shepherd’s staff.

Is the Queen of pentacles pregnant?

So much to see and discover!

Of course I read the deck review written by our own Le Fanu.

Excellent, thank you!

https://mycuriouscabinet.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/elizabeth-trevisans-crystal-tarot/

 

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Since I am so taken by this new deck it had to have a nice pouch/ bag. I love going into my basket with bags, pull them all out and match one of them to the mood, I perceive the deck to have.

This one wanted to have a green embroidered brocade bag embellished with gold thread.

But then i remembered all the many unused gold and diamond pins and blouse needles I still have from my sister Mausi. They languish in a dark cabinet, because I only wear jewellery made by Peter and me. So I decided to see, what it would look like, to put a little something onto this bag and so give some usage to the antique jewellery Mausi used to collect.

There were 2 pieces, that volunteered for this job:

One a small pin featuring the ivory carving of a lady set in red gold with2 small diamonds, reminding me of a young female page. The other is a blouse needle, diamond encrusted stem, topped with a large grey cultured pearl also encrusted with tiny diamonds 🙂 I chose this one, because it looks a bit like the wand/ sceptre of a king.

 

Thus “blinged out” it was time to shuffle the deck and get ready to do my first reading with this deck.

Solstice Reading Card 12: Cheater or not?

12. Parvati, Earth Mother – June 25:

The card shows us how to ground ourselves and how to connect with the earth’s abundance.

---

Page of Stones, the Wren

So there is an old hollowed out Tree stump, overgrown with lush green moss. It seems to be the ideal nesting cavity, because 2 Birds seem to be competing for it:

A tiny Goldcrest,

the truly smallest Bird in all of Britain and a Wren, a Bird often assumed to be the smallest one. Wrens are a bit of an imposture. In the olden times the Goldcrest – due to its crest was called the King of all Birds – until a myth arose, giving this title to the cheating Wren. The tale goes somewhat like this: There was a contest amongst the Birds, which one could fly the highest up into the sky. Well, the Eagle could and soared above all other Birds – until a tiny Wren crawled out among his feathers and fluttered right above the Eagle’s head.

Rascal that! It stole 2 Birds their title of honour.

Today I am settled with this cheater.

So how can he connect me with my reverence for the beautiful and merciful sacred Earth Mother that shows mercy and patience and still continues to provide for all her living creatures including us greedy destructive self centred human beings?

Oh I am soooo aware of the continually escalating havoc humans wreck in our environment and the plight we unleash upon all other living Beings, that, in reality, are kin to us, but are loosing their habitat, the clean water, Earth’s lifeblood and that so slowly dying out.

Humans are cheaters, like the Wren. Pretending to do something, giving lip-service.

I could go on here, but this is just a Tarot reading…..

You all KNOW, what is at stake!

No the Wren is no the ideal Being, to connect me to the abundance of Mother Earth and a deeper understanding of environmental issues.

Or is it?

The Wren does, what Wrens do, following their own nature.

It is just a Bird, a cute one at that. I saw Cactus Wrens and Canyon Wrens in the wild this spring 🙂

The legend it is, that speaks of the cheater.

Humans? Are we cheaters? Are we not ultimately cheating ourselves?

Is THAT our true nature?

Pages are students.

When will humans be ready to learn AND follow their hard lessons?

Solstice Reading day 11 Tough teachers

11. Guru Purnima – June 24:

Indian festival of expressing gratitude to teachers.

This card reminds us of a lesson we have learned, or an experience or person that has taught us something, that we should remember and have gratitude for as we move forward.

Death

Blue stands for truth

the card is blue. In its centre rests the partially de-fleshed skull of a Deer.

A Crow, the Guardian and teacher of the Sacred Law – cause and effect just ripped of another morsel of decaying flesh. Other Crows are circling.

Yes, death IS my most important teacher

In my life i had at least 5 full blown near death experiences.

The first one, when I was less than 3 years old. Diphtheria and the long journey into flirrrrring light, where a lovely lady, later identified as Umai E’ene lovingly hugged me – and send me back to battle for just one more breath – and one more after that…..

Then the one in the orphanage, after all my welts – from the beating had infected my heart valve…

The last NDE was in1999 when I was without vitals for 19 minutes and yet again sen back in a lifeless body with cracked ribs and burn marks on my chest from all the CPR performed at Scottsdale, AZ hospital……

Death and me, we dance a dance.

Around my patients, many of whom are sick with terminal cancer or the like……

Often I win a few months or even years from him for them.

But in the end we both know, Death will win.

Has to –

It is the Sacred Law.

A month ago on New Moon I did a shamanic “Kamlani” (a Siberian Spirit calling/ healing session the way my People do them) for one of my beloved human teachers. Pleading for a few more years, drumming away the blue shimmering cancer cells in his common bile duct…..

Cancer cells = Death cells do not like the combination of heat, vibrations of a certain kind and the drum is the oldest weapon we have to – just bust Death cells…..

OK, they also do not like certain chemicals – drugs – and certain herbal combinations – like Essiac….

Death taught me a lot.

Death at times can be a good friend to those he visites.

Some hope for him to finally come….

Some see him as a short-cut out of life – – ??

Him and me, we will dance together again – soon……

Solstice reading card 10 Bear Medicine

10. Saint John’s Eve – June 23:

Like the herbs traditionally gathered on St. John’s Eve, this card shows what protects or heals us.

The Guardian = there is no “Devil” in the Greenwood Tarot.

The skeletal Spirit of a long extinct Cave Bear rises growling at the entrance of her fiery cave, barring entrance to anyone who does not have the right combination of gumption, humility and knowledge to make it past her into the sanctum of the deep and honest Self.

She is the pompous ass and big ego eater and every aspiring shaman will get confronted and rejected by her over and over and over again. (They are all on Facebook, writing about their wondrous feats – in case you wondered.)

If you make it past her, she will protect you, from them, and ultimately from yourself.

How I got past her the very first time, many decades ago is a looong story…..

For me and my People in Siberia Ee’ren Adik the bear is the Guardian of the Eastern Door – the one leading into the future, where among all the nice stuff also all the “albis” lurk, the disease spirits a Medicine person must battle with.

Here in Canada, Ma-qua the Bear is the one who teaches you about strengths, goodness and knowledge of self – Bear also teaches healing with herbs and guides shamans and healers when working with patients.

I treat my patients while they are resting on a large Bear fur…….

I find it very auspicious seeing, that herbs were gathered on this day.

I DO have quite a beef with christian saints appropriating ancient old traditions and giving them a christian whitewash and could write 5 pages on that.

The Summer Solstice was and is the special time, when northern European pre-christian People used to gather their healing herbs and put them up for winter use!!

Today “Bayan Adik” is growling at me for running myself ragged and also seeing to it, that I get another day of rest. To make it easier for me the electricity came back on and – good or bad – 2 of my clients for Tarot readings cancelled on me today, citing the nasty thunderstorm weather we are still having as a reason.

So I am resting in my Bear Cave today, waiting, until I have some more meat and some fur on my bare bones again.

I will need that tomorrow!

Solstice reading day 9: Tarot Card Advice

9. Honey Moon – June 22:

This card shows us how to release anxieties or worries, how to enjoy ourselves in this moment.

4 of Arrows

YES!!

I sooooo need that!

A huge Butterfly hovers protectively over a person reclining amids t4 staked arrows.

Is he/ she on a shamanic journey/ altered state of consciousness or merely sleeping, maybe dreaming?

I should opt for the former – with my line of work and all, this card often prompts me to journey, in order to uncover causes an solutions to problems, but today, honestly – I am opting for sleeping.

I have soooooooo much to do and sooooo much stuff is piling up, but after drawing this card early in the morning I opted to crawl back to bed for a while and take it easy today.

The pile of stuff to do will be there tomorrow.

Solstice reading card 8: Burning up Energy

8. Summer Solstice – June 21:

We are at the height of the sun’s power, the longest day, in the Northern Hemisphere.

This card shows us how to shine our own light like the Sun. 

2 of Wands

Well, the card sure looks like a Sun Person. I often see one of my Ancestor Guides like this with light and Medicine Energy radiating from her ethereal body.

In this card the Spirit Person is standing between the 2 wands, which also emanate light and fiery energy outward. The ground is illuminated by what looks like “Saint Johannes Fire” and the sparkling stars compete with an army of Fireflies.

How beautiful and energetic it looks!

The Summer Solstice in Canada is also National Aboriginal Day and many celebrations are taking place everywhere. Normally on the Summer solstice I am teaching and holding ceremony, but this year I knew, that Peter was away and it being a Wednesday and thereby Farmer’s Market day, I opted to just go to the Market. My friend, who is Native, her daughter and I greeted customers with “Happy Summer Solstice and happy National Aboriginal Day” and so raised awareness….

I had been up at 4.30 and watched the dawn rise, but here we had no sun. It was a dark morning, threatening rain, but by noon the sun came out and the temperature quickly climbed to seasonal.

I pulled this card of the day well after I got home, had completed my new routine of starting the generator and a million other mundane but necessary things. When I looked at the image, it made me take a deep breath. How beautiful and celebratory it is!

I was soooo exhausted, but it brought the light of the Solstice into my heart in a very visceral way.

 

Solstice reading card 7: My lucky number

7 Scrying – June 20:

In the tradition of scrying at the time of Midsummer, this card shows us a blessing to come. 

Five of Stones.

A person is sitting just inside the protective arch of a cave entrance while multiple lightning bolts from all sides speak of “heavy weather”. Nonetheless the person has managed to light a small fire, not so much for warmth but rather for comfort. The person is in a reflective mood, looking pensively into the flames.

I too am in a reflective mood today.

This morning I realized, I just barely dodged a bullet without even knowing about it.

I am sooooo lucky!

I went on a bit of a “recognizance” drive this morning, further down our bush road to find out, where actually the damage is, that all the Ontario electricity company trucks, vans and personnel carriers, helicopters and 18-wheelers loaded with hydro electric poles are headed.(= “Hydro” for us Canadians is the word used for electricity)

What I discovered is a scene of utter devastation just barely 1 mile away from my home: A micro- burst had hit there and over a 14 km radius thousands of Trees were down = cut off at a height of about 6 feet, thrown asunder onto the small cottage community at leach Lake 2 km away from here, obliterated several cottages and literally buried the road and all other infrastructure, electric poles, telephone lines and electricity lines.

The work crews can not even get to the downed lines right now, because the road is impassable…..

I had known, that storm had caused nasty damage, but not, that it was THIS BAD.

I am soooooooo lucky!!!!

I SAW the thing roaring across our property,past my house, even took a few pictures and then saw the Trees whipping in circular motion in the fury of the mini-tornado!

I am sooooo lucky, nothing happened to me or our house!

After talking to the fore-man of the various work crews and some cottages, that saw their dream on the lake shattered to pieces I crawled home to m little problem and resolved to shut up and stop wailing about not having “hydro” for a few days…..

Then, tending to my rattling generator I drew my card of the day for this spread, stared in disbelief at the image – and started to cry.

Yes, I am in a pensive mood.

Yes, I am safe from the storm.

I am soooooo lucky!

Solstice reading day 6: Of Sticks and Strengths

6. Oak King – June 19:

A dedication to the Oak King, who is now near the height of his power in his battle with the Holly King.

This card shows us our strength. 

Well, DO YOU SEE ME?

Here I am!!

wielding a big stick at –

• well, at Ontario Hydro for not turning our electricity back on before Tuesday evening,
• at Xplorenet in New Brunswick, whom one has to phone to get an internet up-link repaired when it is busted by lightning and who have a 9 1/2 hour waiting line to take your call and then a 5 day wait until someone comes out here to fix it…..
• and at Peter, for being on “vacation” and currently visiting all kinds of friends and relatives and eating nice food, while I have to eat whatever came half thawed out of my freezers…..
• Grumble!!!!!

  Well, now to my other strengths – other than growling menacingly:

  Yes, I CAN deal with it all.

  It is a bit exhausting, but I manage. I always do. Stuff like quiet meditation will have to smoulder on the back-burner, but I have a lot of resilience to deal with all the little nasty stuff life throws at me/ us in our daily life.

  At times I have to reach a little deeper into my back pocket to find it and pull it out.

  For example, I have good people skills and with a few phone calls i managed to circumvent all the work order waiting lists and procedures at Xplorenet and have someone come up from Barrie right away. I knew someone who knows someone who knows someone who is / was a patient of mine and was glad to do me a little favour…..

  I got all my wildlife sorted: 2 Raccoon mothers, one not very healthy,, poor thing –  are getting medical care and their food and water on 2 DIFFERENT sides of the house, so that the growling and bite-fights stop. The Mother Bear, that comes around in late afternoon – 2 small cubs in toe, sadly gets none of the cat kibbles but I put some of the stuff from the freezer, that was “out over 24 hours” into the bush close to her day-bed for her, where only she can go and all the Coon- caboodle can not…..

  I am even up to snuff with my jewellery orders! 🙂

  when my strengths alone is not enough or I need the finesse of others, I know, when to call for help and I do.

  For right now, all my sticks are sorted and I can let my guard down a little…..

  Hey man! I am even learning something: How to use our new fancy cell phone for more than just calling people! 🙂

  I now can show off a brand spanking new app telling me about Ontario Hydro power outages and another one that has a tornado warning system.

  I just respectfully hope, that I will never need to use either of them…..