Today's Tarot: Nine of Cups (pleasure, joy, satisfaction)

Ah, the Happy Merchant. That's what I always think of when I see this card. This is someone who is just pleased as punch and has worked hard enough to be darned self-satisfied.

Today is a day not only to rest on your laurels but if you can, take the time to bathe in 'em. Wait, that might be scratchy. Never mind. Here, instead of bathing in your laurels, treat yourself to something wonderful. It might be a five-minute foot rub. It might be a frothing bubble bath while you drink a glass of wine and Mozart plays in the background. It might be a cone of your favorite ice cream, or a swim, or a walk in the sunshine.

Indulge. Pamper yourself (or better yet, get someone else to do it for you). You work your patootie off all the time, every day. There's nothing wrong with slowing down, even for a minute, and just taking a huge, deep breath, and patting yourself on the back for a job well done. Even if you aren't feeling particularly satisfied with how well you've been doing/working/living (for whatever reasons), I still encourage you to pat yourself on the back. The worst we have to deal with is the worst we have to deal with. Each life and each set of circumstances is entirely unique and that means that comparing our lives to anyone else's is not only futile but can be downright depressing. And what's the good in that?

So today, make yourself a promise. Work on you. walk in your shoes. Live your life and no one else's. If you must compete, do so only with yourself. And at the end of today (and every day) congratulate yourself on a job well done. Today, even if you end the day not have achieved or accomplished what you set out to achieve or accomplish, you will have done the very best you could for where you were and how you felt. That counts for a whole lot.

Today's Tarot: Knight of Swords (knowledgeable, decisive, opinionated)

Today's Tarot: Knight of Swords (knowledgeable, decisive, opinionated)

Knights in the deck are a funny lot. Regardless of whether or not their suit is active, they themselves act to fulfill the descriptions of their suits. While cups are about our emotions and rods are about our actions, swords are about our decisions and thinking. They call on us to think and then act decisively and logically on that thinking.

When we pull the Knight of Swords, he calls on us approach every situation from a logical perspective. Don't jump to conclusions. Don't make rash decisions. Be like the eagle or the red-tailed hawk. Head on up somewhere distant and get that bird's eye view. You have been, perhaps, lost in the details and not looking at the big picture. Now is the time to actively engage your mind and look at the lay of the land honestly and shrewdly.

Don't wait for someone or something else to make up your mind. You do it. Be certain and then act from that certainty. Be sure and then behave as if that perspective is the most expedient one for you to get what you want. And for heaven's sake, don't assume a thing, especially when it comes to other people's feelings or motivations.

Ultimately, we can't know what those feelings and motivations are unless they tell us and we can be certain that we can believe them (and that they truly know what they are feeling to begin with). Our capacity for self-delusion is monumental. Often, we will say we're okay with something when we're not. The thinking there appears to be that we are supposed to be okay with it and so we say we are. But, and this is a big but if we do that, then we are just opening a future can of worms which will come back and bite us on the butt. If you aren't okay with something, even if you don't know why, don't say that you are okay with it. The truth will come out and get its nasty, sticky mess all over everything. If you are honest and say decisively that you aren't okay with something, why then, even if you don't know why you aren't okay with it, at least the truth is out there and everyone knows it.

That is much, much better than the alternative. Clear, honest decisions will make for a longer term happiness. The murky of pretending you're okay will eventually kick your ass. The choice, as always, is yours.

Today's Tarot: Five of Cups (loss, regret, crying over spilled milk and what you can do about it)

Today's Tarot: Five of Cups (loss, regret, crying over spilled milk and what you can do about it)

The Cups are the suit of the emotions in the deck. Some are fantastic like the Ten (love of family, contentment, joy) and some, not so wonderful. The Five of Cups falls in the less than ideal batch. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we remain steadfastly focused on the negative. We hold on to regrets. We cling to our sadness because it's what we know. We wrap our sorrow around us like a prickly blanket and we don't shrug it off because it is either familiar, or it has sapped our energy to such an extent that we can't even rouse ourselves to take care of ourselves.

That last happens to me because of my thyroid. It's not an emotional source but the results are the same. I get too fatigued to do the self-care that would make me feel better.

The Five of Cups hearkens something similar. If you get to a place of such sorrow that you can't lift a hand in your own defense, it's gone too far. Sure, we can all cry over spilled milk. We've all been there and with the possible exception of the Dalai Lama, we've all done it. We've all hung on to our regrets. And what has it gotten us besides more time spent regretting our actions, our feelings, our thoughts? Really, it hasn't brought anything new into our lives. We tend to get the feedback that we've screwed up pretty quickly. The consequences tend to be immediate or if they aren't, we still internally sense that something is off. What the Five of Cups tells us is that we are still right in that moment before we say, "screw this," get up and free ourselves from the binding, cloying parts of our sorrow.

The time we spend regretting what we did or didn't do, did or didn't say, did or didn't think is much better spent on self-care and self-love. It will have a better outcome than any sort of self-flagellation. I read somewhere that depression is anger turned inward. I think that is one of the best definitions of depression that I have ever read. The insidious thing is that depression seduces us into thinking that it belongs in our hearts. And it doesn't. There is another path, but in the moments when we are saturated with those depressed feelings, we don't see them.

If you look at the card, the figure is focusing on the cups whose wine has spilled. He is lost in the sadness and regret of whatever happened to turn those cups on their sides. There are two perfectly good and full cups just behind him, but he doesn't see them. Or, if he did see them at one point, he didn't and isn't focusing on them. Whatever good thirst-quenching liquid they contain is lost to him because he can only see the spilled wine.

This brings me to today. Today is a good day to look up, look around, do a handstand and try to see things from a different perspective. If you are finding yourself stuck in a pattern of depression, sadness, or regret, stop, take a moment and count. your. blessings. Everyone gets depressed. Research shows that those who are most successful in life take the depression, deal with it and tell it to go take a hike. They remain positive. They don't let themselves get sucked into the whirlpool of sadness. One of the best ways to avoid that emotional drain is to keep focusing in on the positives that you haven't seen or have ignored. They will help you put one foot in front of the other and before you know it, you'll be walking, skipping, and running toward your bliss.

Today's Tarot: Hierophant (learning, knowledge, information)

Learn and then do. Know and then act. Find out and then react. The Hierophant can be a tough taskmaster. He calls on us to know before we act. That can really cramp your style when all you want to do is jump in and get going. But, often when we do that, instead of coming up with the goose that laid the golden egg, we end up with egg on our faces.

Today isn't the day to take a leap. Instead, today is the day to step back and observe. Note what is going on inside and out. If there is something you don't know, look it up, wait for the information to become available. Ask questions. Study. Seek. Intuit. Know.

If you leap off the cliff before you know whether the water is welcoming or whether there are jagged rocks on which you'll dash yourself, you are taking an unnecessary chance. Many days, I will say, it's worth it. Go for it. Roll the dice. Play the game. Leap. Today, not so much.

At the very least, today I ask you to know your own motivations. Know yourself. Know what you want, need, and desire. If it's a secret want, at least be honest with yourself about it. It does us no good whatsoever to lie to ourselves but oh we can be good at it. Our powers of rationalization kick our own butts all the time. If you see yourself rationalizing, stop. Step back and figure out why you are making excuses for yourself or for others around you. There is information for you even in that place of pulling the wool over your own eyes. Something is making you do it. Figure out what that something is and you will be most of the way to fixing it.

I tell my students to "know the rules before you break them." Never has this been more true than it is today.

Today's Tarot: Seven of Cups (wishes, dreams, options)

Today's Tarot: Seven of Cups

(Dreams, options, wishes)

The seven of cups is one of my favorite cards with one caveat and it's that old chestnut, "be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it."

The card shows up when we have options (and sometimes don't even know what those are) and we will eventually need to make decisions, but for the moment, we are still in the dreaming and wishing phase rather than the choosing a path phase. The trouble here is that if we choose blindly, or if we don't have all the information, we end up going in the wrong direction or just running in circles.

While that can be fun, it's not terribly efficient if you're trying to get things done.

So, here's the mission. If you want to indulge in some wishful thinking, by all means, spend a little time in La La land. It is healthy and fun and will even bring you ideas from far flung corners. And those ideas might just change everything.

However, when it comes time to choose among your options and start making those decisions, make sure you have all the information before you embark on a path. If you know exactly what you want, you will walk with purpose and your heart will feel lighter (even if you are a little scared of going for whatever it is you're going for). Fear is fine. It's a sign of change. But when you choose toward your highest good, underneath the fear is excitement and dare I say it, joy. 

It's a knife edge but if we are going to live authentically, it's the only way.

I am reminded of the amazing Anais Nin quote: "And then the day came when the pain of staying tight in a bud became greater than the pain it took to blossom."

Choose among your options toward your highest good and you will blossom.

Self-Care, Self-Love, & Patience

This week's cards rock, on toast, with sugar-free, all natural jam.

The first card: Two of Cups. This card is all about connection, sharing, a soul-to-soul union. If the past comes calling (and by "the past," I mean an old lover/partner/boyfriend/girlfriend/snookly, and that person gave you warm fuzzies and you parted on good terms with love in your hearts, then by all means, consider giving it another go. If not, why then stay on the lookout this week for someone who will trip your "Universe Is Smiling On This Union" switch. Be careful not to jump guns, but seriously, this could be a beautiful foray into a whole new dimension in love.

If that "holy crap, how am I going to handle all this love coming at me" thing doesn't happen, then it's really time to look deep into your soul and see what you need to feel loved, cared for and joyful. Need a foot rub? go get one, or heck find directions on how to give yourself an at home foot spa treatment. In fact, here are some now: http://skincare.about.com/od/caringforyourfeet/ht/footspa.htm. Take the time to decide what you need and then do a wee bit of research and you will move toward that goal.

Tuesday, especially, you will want to practice self-care. If someone starts giving you grief, walk away. Don't engage. They aren't worth it. You deserve better and you know it.

The second card: Queen of Cups. Self-love in all its glory. What does it take to get us to go deep inside and find that small, secret, scared part of ourselves and then nurture it (which by the way is a revolutionary act)? What do we need in order to show ourselves compassion? How far down the road of stress and unhappiness do we need to get before we cut ourselves some slack? This is your mission should you choose to accept it.

This week: Be Kind To Yourself. Love yourself. Give yourself frequent breaks (particularly if you live in the really hot parts of the world. It's brutal out there and we have shorter fuses when nature is being extreme). Drink deeply from life's well, this week. Spend time in repose. Allow yourself to feel, really feel, what's going on inside. Figure out your needs and try to meet the ones you can meet. You might not be able to meet them all right now, but that doesn't mean you won't. And this way, you will at the very least have a set of needs identified. Once you have that, the rest becomes all about finding new and creative ways both to love yourself and to move forward on your path. Oh, and creativity plays a big role here. Be unapologetic about what you create. You are the artist of your own life and don't you forget it. Oh and for you artistic, creative types, now would be a great time to break out your old copy of Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" (or check it out from your library) and work through the book. You will be delighted that you did.

The third card: Temperance. "Be patient" is one of the worst things you can say to me. WTH?? I want it (whatever it is) and I want it now. The need for patience makes me want to tear out my own hair. I chafe about it. I gnaw and gnash over it. I am not good at it. And you know what? This week, the universe just doesn't give a flying rat's butt. This week (and perhaps longer, darn it) it's all about patience. Things come when they do. And it's our job to get over ourselves, sit down, hush up, and wait for the signal. We will know it when we see it. And it will come.