Tarot Tuesday February 11, 2020

Welcome to another Tarot Tuesday. Today I’ve felt a bit inspired to change things up a little bit. I’m going to be using a deck that I have been working with mainly for readings that I have been doing for myself. When I was working with it today I felt that I should do a reading for everyone, and who am I not to follow my intuition.

So here is today’s card pull I am using the Dreams of Gaia Tarot Deck by Ravynne Phelan. I will be doing a three-card pull and only pulling more for clarification. If you like this deck you can get it for yourself. Just click on the picture below.

What does the Universe need me to share?

First Card is the Queen of Fire:
Keywords: Warm, Vibrant, Sexual, Sensual, Independence, Primal, Expansive, Energetic
Key Phrases:
Be optimistic and enthusiastic
Engage and stimulate all senses
Give your full attention
Be focused and confident
Take pleasure in life
Don’t second guess yourself
Avoid pretty behavior

Meaning: The Queen of Fire is a strong and powerful woman. She is someone who is not afraid to go after that which she desires most. She is focused, and determined, and very optimistic. Those around her find her charismatic and engaging. Her warm and expansive nature draws people to her like moths to a flame.

She is also a very primal, sensual woman. She engages her senses in all that she does. She is the type of person who will always look you in the eye, will reach out and touch your hand, and listen closely, giving you all of her attention. She savors life like it is a glass of fine wine or velvety dark chocolate. She is vibrant, alive, and unforgettable. She has the power to change your life in the moment you first meet her.

Her independent nature makes her a natural leader, not a follower. Her confident and self-assured manner has her achieving all that she sets her mind to, and because she is so embracing and kind, and not interested in competing with anyone, she is loved by many. A natural extrovert, she loves being the center of attention, but she also gives her attention in equal measure.

When the Queen of Fire appears in your reading, she is asking you to be optimistic and positive. Now it is time to focus on the pleasures of life and enjoying what you do. Be bold, and be daring. Be fearless. Now is not the time to second guess yourself or allow doubts to prevent you from acting upon an idea or plan that you know will bring positive change and growth to your life.

She also suggests that you seek out a Queen of Fire type if you need help. She has a vast network of friends and associates, and she is only too happy to point you in the right direction if you are looking for aid. Don’t be afraid to ask for her guidance. This Queen is the kind of person who takes just as much delight in another’s success as she does in her own.

The Queen of Fire symbolizes living a full life and being fully present in every moment. Live a sensory life. Stimulate your senses. All of them. See. Hear. Listen. Touch. Taste. Your senses are a true gift. Put them to use.

Second Card is the Four of Water:
Keywords: Confidence, Awareness, Self-Acceptance, Forgiving, Self-Belief, Deserving, Receptive, Consequences
Key Phrases:
You are beautiful
Be aware of weaknesses, but focus on strengths
Mistake - an opportunity to learn
Let go of the ideal of perfection
Love yourself for who you are
Happiness at another’s expense
The emotional cost of your actions

Meaning: The Four of Water stands before you with quiet confidence and awareness. Despite his scarred appearance, he sees only beauty when he looks at his reflection. A gentle smile curves his lips, as he regards himself with kindness and understanding.

He has many weaknesses, and during his lifetime has made many mistakes, and yet he chooses to see the lessons he has learned and forgive himself, instead of holding on to feelings of shame, regret, and guilt. Every scar makes him more beautiful, and every mistake presents him the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to become wiser.

Life all of us, he has many strengths to balance out his weaknesses, and it is these strengths on which we choose to focus. He believes he is deserving of both love and happiness, and, even when life offers an experience that scars, he refuses to allow hurt or disappointment to erode his self-belief or close his heart.

This does not mean that he is blind to his flaws. Rather, he accepts them for what they are - parts of a whole that is imperfect and perfect at the same time.

The Four of Water arrives in your reading to ask whether you look at yourself with less love than you should. Do you see only your flaws and imperfections and feel as if you should apologize for having them, instead seeing them as something that gives you depth and character? Those flaws and scars and imperfections are aspects of your nature that make you truly beautiful. You would shine like the sun if you would accept them and forgive them and allow them to simply be a part of who you are.

It is time to let go of the idea that to be perfect is to without flaw. Stop looking for the perfect relationship, the perfect idea or creation, the perfect career, or the perfect opportunity. Every relationship, every idea or creation, every career path, and every opportunity has flaws, imperfections, and the potential to fail or go awry. Realize that perfection is a paradoxical state that exists only when there is peaceful acceptance and unconditional love for those scars, weaknesses, and flaws. Perfection is only achieved in seeing, accepting, and loving the flaws, knowing that they are an undeniable, necessary part of the beautiful, magical whole.

The Four of Water comes to ask that you release any feelings of inadequacy or discomfort. You are, in this moment, everything you are meant to be, and so much more. Love yourself without condition.

Third Card is Perception:
Keywords: Perception, Understanding, World View, Opinion of Self, Clarity, Objectivity
Key Phrases:
Perception shapes your world view
Understand what your senses tell you
Knowledge and understanding are limited
Change perception cannot be unchanged
Is your perception clouded?
Take the high ground
Seek a new perspective
Challenge your perception
Who influences your perception?
Do you have all the facts?
Represent yourself honestly
Watch for false perception

Meaning: Perception, the fifth of the influence cards, pertains to the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to understand what we sense and experience. When the Perception card appears in your reading, it symbolizes an opportunity or need to look at how you analyze and interpret your experiences, and how your interpretation than influences your choices and ability to see and weigh options and opportunities.

Our lives are built upon the foundations laid by our perception. How we perceive the world and those around us influences our ability to learn, our understanding of cause and effect, our ability to see and weigh our options, and to make decisions. There is no area of our life that is not influenced by our perception. Our lives can be empowered and fulfilled because how we perceive our reality gives us confidence. Or our lives can be destroyed in an instant. If our idea of what is real is revealed to be a lie, and our perception is shattered.

Our perception can be accurate and precise. It can also be false and founded in misinformation, or imagination. Our knowledge - the knowledge we possess that is born of eduction, study, and practical application - can increase our perceptiveness. However, our knowledge can be limited; it can be inaccurate and flawed. For example, our knowledge of other people is limited by the fact that we only know what they reveal to us, and then we process and analyze that information by making comparisons to ourselves. However, they are not us. They might be like us in some ways, but completely different in more ways. We do not know their innermost thoughts and feelings, so what we know of them is often based on little fact and a lot of assumption.

Have you ever heard the story of the six blind men and the elephant? They each stand before the elephant. The first man stands at the elephant’s head, his hands upon the elephant’s trunk. Because of the way the elephant’s trunk is shaped and feels moving beneath his hands, he believes that the elephant itself is like a snake. The second man stands at the elephant’s tusk. Because of the way its tapered shape and pointed end feels beneath his hands, the second man believes that the elephant is like a spear. The third man stands at the elephant’s ear. Because of the way it is shaped and feels flat and waving from side to side, he believes that the elephant is like a fan. The fourth man sands at the elephant’s leg. Because of the thickness and strength of the elephant’s leg, he believes the elephant is like a tree. The fifth man stands at the elephant’s side, and when he feels the mighty expanse, he believes that the elephant is like a wall. Finally, the sixth man stands at the elephant’s tail, and because of the it feels, he believes that the elephant is like a rope.

With six totally disparate opinions, based upon the information each blind man possessed, the men fall into conflict. Each believes he is right and the others are wrong. The blind men begin to war with each other, so fixated on their own beliefs that they are willing to inflict harm.

Suddenly, a sighted man comes upon them, and shouts for them to cease. He asks them why they are fighting, and so each of the blind men tells him the tale. The sighted man looks at the elephant and then to th blind men before him. He says, “But you are all right. The elephant’s trunk is like a snake. The elephant’s tusk is like a spear. The elephant’s ear is like a fan. The elephant’s let is like a tree trunk, his side like a wall, and the tail like a rope. But you are also wrong, because each of the parts you have touched are all just parts of the whole elephant.”

Each of the blind men then circles the elephant, touching the other parts. With the new information, the new and multiple perspectives offered, each is willing to concede that he has been both correct and incorrect at the same time. Their increased perception, born of multiple perspectives, has finally allowed them to ‘see’ the whole elephant…the big picture.

Our perception can shift and alter and be enhanced in a heartbeat, once new information, born of a different perspective, is provided. Once it is altered, it cannot be restored to what it was. Having touched all the parts of the elephant, the blind men could no longer hold fast to their original opinions.

Even if what we believe to be truth is revealed to be an illusion, and what we once perceived to be an illusion is revealed to be truth, there is no reset button for our perception. Our perception of what is simply changes and alters as our awareness increases.

Every change to our perception changes our reality, and every change to our reality influences the choices we make.

This is exactly why I love these cards. They ring with a truth that needs to be said. What I am getting from this reading is that we need to enjoy our lives, as they are. That our perception of what is, isn’t always reality. So be careful how you judge your self as we are our own worst critics. Find the passion of just being. Your flaws and all. Forgive yourself and anyone else that may need it. It’s okay you may not have had the whole of what was going on. Don’t jump to conclusions until you have the whole of it.

For myself, I felt like this hit home. I have always been to hard on myself. In the past year I have started to work with gratitude and it has been amazing. As with my writing I have started back into it but I get stuck because I can start to pick at it and have even felt that I should junk what I have. Which is crazy as I’ve written a whole novel and just need to do rewrites on it.

Are you to hard on yourself? Do you not enjoy your life enough? Is your perception like that of the blind man or the one with sight?

I hope that this reading has been helpful to you all. Please let me know if it has impacted you in any way. I’d love to hear from you. While doing this reading I am was listening to Spotify playlist A Discovery of Witches - All Souls. You can find me on Spotify under amrauthor. I hope you enjoy the music.

May your stars shine brightly upon you.