Today's Tarot: Five of Swords (Honor/Dishonor, Truth/Lies, Fact/Fiction)

Today, we have some decisions to make. Do we remain true to our ideals or do we bend them just enough to get what we ultimately think we want? Do we stay honest or do we tell little white lies that will grease wheels, smooth the road ahead, and keep the peace? Do we maintain our sense of honor or do we relinquish it for the sake of some purpose we've deemed higher?

Everyone has to answer these questions for themselves. They are tough. The more seductive road of greased wheels and easy solutions beckons. But do we actually get what we want in the end if we do that? Or is it a false resolution that only looks like blue skies and peaceful times?

I encourage you to be true to yourself today. Keep checking in with what you believe to be the right thing for you and then do that. It will be a fine line to walk, but in my opinion it's worth it. Even if it is tough to hear or speak the truth in the moment, in the end, we are all the better for it.

Conversely, if you are on the receiving end of someone else's malarky, be an eagle eye, get the lay of the land, and separate the truth from the lies. Know for yourself who's trying to pull the wool over your eyes and you will make the right and proper decisions for yourself.

It won't be easy. No one said it would be easy. In fact, in the moment, it might be excruciating to be honest and say and do what needs to be done and said. But in the long run, you will be satisfied with what you chose and your sense of integrity will flourish. You'll be able to look within and know you did well.

Today's Tarot: Page of Swords (Be honest, be conscientious, be mindful)

It starts with being honest with ourselves. In the end, that's most important. I find that my own capacity for pulling the wool over my own eyes can be quite vast. So, I constantly have to remind myself to assess where I am, what I am going through, what I want, and what I will do.

That's what the page of swords says to me. It says, "even if it sucks, tell yourself the truth." For example, if I try to deceive myself by telling myself that I am okay with something when I am actually not ok with it, it will absolutely come back to bite me on the butt. Something will happen and my position will come out and I won't have controlled the narrative, as it were. I won't have gotten to be honest with either myself or the other person/people involved when things first occurred and so later I would have to react to them finding out rather than initiate the conversation and be able to tell my point-of-view my way and in my time.

So, the most important thing is to tell it like it is both to yourself and to others. You can certainly use logic to describe it. You can be extremely detailed in the telling of it (whatever it is). But the crucial thing? Make it be the truth. Anything else will kick your butt into next Tuesday. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will do so.

You want to get out in front of it and not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes (yours or others') is the best way to do that. If the people to whom you tell the truth aren't equipped to hear it, that is not your problem. You can be tactful when you truth-speak to them, but you still have to tell them. In the end, you will likely regret being less than truthful but in the final analysis, you will never regret being honest.

Please note: I couldn't find an image of the Hanson-Roberts Tarot Page of Swords so I chose the card from one of my other favorite decks, The Ancestral Tarot. In that deck, the Pages are Princesses. 

Today's Tarot: Ace of Swords. (Beginnings, Truth, New Mindfulness)

Today's Tarot: Ace of Swords.

(Beginnings, Truth, New Mindfulness).

Oh man, I'm glad I pulled this card today. In my personal life, I've just had a couple of epiphanies that have led me to make sweeping changes in my life. They have been mostly internal but the external manifestations will come. This card epitomizes beginnings and so that's where I am, at my own beginning.

When I think of the Ace of Swords, I think of new truths. They can be challenging or downright frightening to face, but that moment when we stop fearing them and start seeing them revolutionizes our lives. That's what the card represents to me today. It is the paradigm shift to end all paradigm shifts. It's not the active Ace of Rods wherein you put the plan into motion. It is more the changing, opening, awakening of a new mindset that allows for the possibility of action, that makes room in the universe for the changes that will soon be made manifest. It is the mindset of, "If you can envision it, then eventually, you can create it."

It is the Platonic ideal of the breath of fresh air. The first clean, clear breath a pneumonia patient takes is a lifeline (if you have ever had pneumonia, you know exactly what I mean) and that is the Ace of Swords.

Treat today like the exciting opportunity it is. Allow yourself to awaken to seeing the possibilities for yourself and soon, you will see those very same possibilities at work in your life.