The Magician

The Magician is the card we turn to next.  It’s been bothering me that I haven’t written for a couple of weeks and today as I wait for one daughter to wake up and the other to come home from a sleep over, I decided it was time to resume my journey.

Imagine my surprise when delving into various books to get some understanding of The Magician, I suddenly realised the reason for the delay in proceeding!  As sure as eggs is eggs, I wasn’t meant to write anything until now …. now that I have even more understanding of what’s happening around me.

The Magician card as you can see illustrated here has each of the minor arcana suites at his disposal, he can create what he will.  He is standing in a fruitful picture of gold and flowers – bountiful.  This is a time for those who are about to be rewarded for the expertise and effort they have put into specialised training.  Never could this be more true for me.  For 6 years I have been working to get to where I am, practising, honing my skills, learning new ones and all the time knowing that the day would come when I could trust that the work I do is not by me alone!  By that I mean to fully accept that when I am in my flow of working with clients I am merely the conduit through which their change can happen.

It’s like magic!  The Magician calls upon all sorts of skills – learning, adaptability, communication, observation, callibration, self confidence and willingness to take action towards an outcome.

As you know from my first writing of The Fool I received some awesome news that day and the opportunity is getting bigger and bigger day by day.  This weekend I was told of an even bigger leap for this project which will be announced tomorrow.   The guys behind it are true Magicians with a vision and belief which will improve the lives of so many – take a look at Talking2Minds to see what I mean.  The charity has been set up to eradicate the symptoms of PTSD for service personnnel and their families.

In addition to that, I’ve been working with Tom Evans, The Bookwright and have now got two books in the pipeline, one is a self help book and the other a spiritual book – both addressing relationships and taken from different starting points.

The Magician is providing me with the ability to teach what I have learned, and encouraging me to learn more – both of which I do gladly.   If I stop learning and adding to my skill set, I feel as though I’m drying up, I feel as I’m not feeding an essential part of me.  If I don’t teach what I already know then my knowledge and expertise is wasted, it’s almost as if the universe is saying what’s the point in giving you more when you aren’t sharing what you already have.   It’s time for me therefore to step up and be more accessible to a wider audience.

The Fool Part III

More feedback on The Fool has been received via telephone calls, emails and on Twitter and Facebook.

‘Is The Fool not also wise?’

‘I love the fool as its very much like my sun sign Sagittarius. Takes the leap first and then realises what the consequences are as the journey unfolds but the faith usually makes it worth the risk and brings its own gifts.’

‘The Fool is who you want to be in life, it is both the starting point and the ending – with a lot of learning in between!’

I love all the feedback I’m getting.  As you start to become more and more aware of things around you, the coincidences start to ramp up.  I was lead to an excellent blog post yesterday about Subjective Reality.   Then as I drove over the hill on my way to the bank, I saw a line of sheep crossing a field.  It’s not something new to me, but every time it strikes me as most peculiar why sheep walk in a single file on the one track when they have a whole field to traverse.

The Fool is not one to blindly go where everyone else does, he sees the whole field and chooses where he wants to head and for what reason.  There is discernment and choice.

Relating with what and who you want to, often takes courage to begin with.  It might mean breaking ties with people who prefer to follow  rules and norms without much curiosity.  It doesn’t of course mean that they are right or wrong, it might mean that they just find it easier, less stressful, not worth their time or whatever else it might mean.

The Fool, by choosing to think for themselves, daring to be different, can be ridiculed by those who find it easier and less onerous than to have original thought.   To start with it might feel a bit lonely – well it did for me, and then I found new friends and people who were on the same wavelength.

I believe The Fool is our natural state of being.  What have your first steps been in embracing The Fool in your life?

The Fool Part II

Oh yes, fools fall in love .. they fall in love because birds sing so gay, and the rain falls from up above 🙂

As sure as eggs is eggs, folk fall in love.  I would counter it is the antithesis of the fool who doesn’t let themselves fall in love for fear of being hurt, the fear of being rejected, the fear of not being good enough.

The Tarot Fool, as we have already found out is very much the person who is willing to accept innocence, to stride forward with trust and knowing that all will be fine.  When you know that you don’t depend on another to bring you happiness, you too will be able to fall in love.

Fall in love safe in the knowledge that no-one can hurt you, you have more lessons to learn from each person you choose to be with.  Surrendering to the wonder and spectacle of on an open heart.  No requirement for you to change, strong in knowing who you are.

Then it is easy to fall in love, just like rain falls and birds sing.

The Fool

Part 1 of my exploration into things Tarot and relationships – relationships in whatever guise they appear as I work through this.

The Fool feels like a wonderful card to me.  As I sat and studied it, some words/meanings came to me, let me share them:

• derision, unpreparedness
• envied, carefree
• devil may care, very present
• flamboyant, individual, light, determined, open, welcoming, trust

Last night as I took my girls back to their father’s, I realised that today (tomorrow then) was going to be a very important day to me.  I was going public with a journey.

As I woke up, I heard the rain falling, the copper beech dripped fat droplets, the sky was grey, the air was light, I felt rested.

The only fixture in my diary after so many weeks of holiday was one client at 10am.  I was calm, relaxed and looking forward to a day to catch up with emails and admin.  I was ready to prepare a workshop I’d mooted back in July.

I’m very used to taking life as it comes, with an ability to whistle as I work and this summer has taught me to take much more time to being than doing.  I reckon The Fool, takes a lot of time to being – he looks like he saunters with a bit of a spring in his step, wandering along a path knowing that whatever comes up he can handle it.  He travels light, he has the love of his dog, he has a self assured way about him.

Flexibility is enormously important to me, how do you feel about being flexible?  How do you feel about wandering with an aim, but not necessarily an outcome in mind?

At 9.54am I had a phone call.  This was no ordinary phone call, this was an M&S phone call (UK readers will understand that).  I was offered an opportunity which hadn’t even been on my radar, I couldn’t have seen it coming even if I’d tried!

I whistled a bit louder then, and carried on with my day, taking in my stride the news.

As The Fool meets relationships head on, I wonder how often we can meet someone new and keep strong to ourselves while at the same time embracing and encompassing someone else into our lives?  There are times when we might have to make some tweaks, some adjustments, but how often do people stop in their tracks when someone or something new comes into their lives?

I believe in my understanding of The Fool that this card represents an individuality which probably means you have to strike out and follow your own truths.  I believe that by doing so, you will meet and get opportunities which otherwise wouldn’t be open to you.  The Fool is a bit of a leader but doesn’t want to be seen as such – and yes, I can see the similarities!

Today The Fool has represented a culmination of my last 5 years of believing in what I do, persevering along my path and not allowing myself to be drawn back to live a life I don’t enjoy in order to escape what had become the toughest time in my life.

Growing pains

I started this blog a month ago to help me explore further those things which still elude me and to give me a place to express how I am growing.  Already it’s shown itself to be a place of vulnerabilty, honesty and truth – things I want to continue to reveal.  Nobody can sit on a pedestal and I want to be very open in what I’m learning, the struggles, the joys and the realisations.

Recently through some challenging times I’ve been ‘given’ some new ideas, ways forward, opportunities – none of which were on the radar a month ago.

I feel my blog needs to create the sense of growth that I’m experiencing – up till now I notice the main word in my cloud is Perseverance.  I’d like for that to be one of the words as it sure as hell is important and yet much more is too.

An area I’ve touched but not delved deeply into is the Tarot and my intention (please note intention!) is to start exploring the Major Arcana, one card at a time until I feel I’ve got some real understanding.  I would like to invite anyone and everyone to come and join me in what I believe might be a rather different exploration.

I’ll be looking at the Tarot from the perspective of relationships, and obviously it will all be part of my own journey.  I’m looking for criticism and feedback, opinions, clarity and help – and I’m also trusting what I find will be inspiration for others.

I’m already very curious about what I’m going to find out and it takes me all my time to pace myself.  As a person, I’m naturally very spontaneous and quick – I’m changing that today.  I intend to take as much time as is needed to pay attention to what is coming through.  Some of the cards, I’m aware will be easier and quicker than others, yet I want to pay each and everyone the same attention.

I want to draw help from fairytales, metaphors, nursery rhymes, songs and nature – all the things which surround me and try to tell me what I’m missing.  On Friday this week, I’m meeting up with Amy Palko who is helping me to drill down from only photographing the big picture and teaching me how to take photos macro style.

This is your invitation to join in and see what you see, feel what you feel and know what you know with each and every step … subscribe now by email or reader and join the party!