Dancing around issues and weighing up the pros and cons, we can leave uncertainty (5 of Cups) behind as we enter into the final month of the year.

The Ace of Wands awaits us at the threshold with her alchemy and verve – enticing us to make decisions that defy probability. The closer we place our decisions to our spiritual integrity, the more firey and freeing the outcome. Courage is being demanded of us here, and if we follow the Ace of Wands carefully, much boredom is avoided.

Towards the end of the second week of December sits Judgement. That probably sounds a bit too stern for what I’m feeling for this archetype. So I’ll mention that in the deck I’m currently using for this spread (Tarot of the Cat People by Karen Kuykendall*) the card usually called ‘Judgement’ is called ‘Rejuvenation’. That sounds more like it hey? Like perhaps we’ve got something to celebrate, and that maybe we’re heading in the right direction after all?

This card would most likely indicate that we have something powerful to do – something amazing to reach for that reasserts our capacity to stay real and grounded and expansive (It seems we have a lot to do before the end of the year!).

The Lovers and The Hermit are fussing around us all through the month. They’ll show us when to be around people and when to be in solitude. With the craziness of the festive season, it’s more important than usual to trust any instincts that arise about where we place ourselves. Going to events and meeting with people with whom we don’t feel aligned have not much more to offer us than a sad feeling of disconnection.

Taking us into the New Year is the Page of Wands. A true revolutionary, this archetype is very clear about breaking away from restlessness and confusion. Honouring the Page of Wands means honouring the part of us devoted to integrity and peace, and finding the courage to be prepared to stand alone at times with our experiential wisdom.

Still The High Priestess hovers in the background, gently pushing us in our truest directions. Next year she becomes much more visible. By illuminating the subtler aspects of our paths, we will have the capacity to create more inspiration, as we will have finally removed the blocks that test our patience.

The High Priestess works from the ground up, so the more of us committed to inviting grace and compassion in the world, the stronger the likelihood of witnessing empowering change in our communities.

*This deck (The Tarot of the Cat People) is very exciting! The fashion of the characters is outstanding! I was so impressed when first gazing upon this deck that I immediately jumped on google to find out how to contact her (Karen Kuykendall). Unfortunately she died before I even discovered her talent. Sad to find out, but blessed for the inspiration.

The King of Pentacles watches us with curiosity this November, as we walk away from his plans to keep us comfortably complacent in our acceptance of our material and societal world, as it is. We’ve collectively chosen another route to take for our happiness and the first archetype to greet us on this new path is the Queen of Swords.

The Queen of Swords will prep us for the journey ahead. She reminds us that this path we’ve chosen may not be the easiest of paths, and there will certainly be times when we wish we’d stayed slumbering in the court of the King of Pentacles, but the perseverance will ultimately pay off. There is a lot of work to do between now and the end of the year, and if there is anything in our lives that needs to be kicked up into the air so it can transform, finally – then this is the month to do it.

The Queen will help us say the unspoken, and pay such special attention to our dreams that they are bound to bear us fruit. The Moon steps forward of the Queen of Swords to take us for a brief sojourn into our depths. Here we are reminded of any hurts that haven’t yet reached an agreeable resolution so that we can be motivated to take to action what the Queen of Swords is talking about.

A timely meeting with the Death card will help us let go of any crap we like to make all kinds of fancy excuses and justifications about, before we step into the whirl of the Wheel of Fortune. This will help us put all things into perspective. There is a chance to see the bigger picture more clearly than ever this November. If we allow this to happen, we’re likely to enjoy what falls away and then what builds in place of the fallen. This doesn’t have to be a stressful time. Really. It doesn’t. This is an evolving time of great importance, not a time to get caught up in the disrupted mind states of others who project their arsenal into us.

The 5 of Wands means there could be a bit of argy-bargy happening around us, but if we go with the wisdom of the Wheel of Fortune we don’t have to get involved. If we just go about the business of making decisions that free us from limited states then surely we can just laugh at the occasional slip up we make rather than beating up ourselves.

The Wheel of Fortune will continue to rotate around us for some time, as we desperately need to be reminded of the importance of stating our causes, and then just allowing the outcome to flow – unrestrained. The High Priestess is still operating in the background, much like last month. She is a pulsating beacon inside all of us – calling attention to that unexplainable feeling that there is indeed a reason for our presence on this planet. That perhaps there is more for us all to do than just use up the Earth’s precious resources.

By following the pulsating feelings inside of us, we’re more likely to make decisions that nourish us. From there, we can feel our way into an understanding that there is much more for us to offer this life than what we previously thought – and that that is a wonderfully gratifying thing to apply into our daily lives.

This month of October is brought to you by The Devil and The Magician. Watch as they go head-to-head, trying to beat the other into submission! The Knight of Cups is the mediator between the two (elected by Justice and The High Priestess), there to help The Devil and The Magician realise there is no fight to be won, rather a treaty to be entered into.

Sound familiar? How often do we humans get all wound up in our craving to be “right”, when in fact there is no real fight going on with anyone – just the one happening inside our own heads? The Devil wants us to doubt our abilities and support networks, whilst The Magician wants us to revel in self-assuredness and believe that everyone is here to greet our ideas with a meaningful nod of the head.

If the Knight of Cups is going to get it’s way (and it would be ideal if it did), we would still have our moments of inspiration (Magician) followed by sudden doubt (Devil) – but there would be more of a balance between the two: We have a healthy awareness of our talents, yet also a healthy awareness that if there is indeed a god, we certainly are not it. This way we get to relate to people in a somewhat more even way.

Around the 14^th/15^th of October we’re going to be hanging out with the Ace of Wands, so any neurosis we’re still spinning around with will start to bore us as we look at what a wakeup call from the Ace of Wands can do. So what can the Ace of Wands do?

It can shine a light on our future and inspire enough hope to leave us feeling clearer and more excited. If we still feel a bit pooped after the whole Devil vs. Magician battle followed by the Knight of Cups intervention (and who wouldn’t?), a sparky archetype like the Ace of Wands can help remind us why we have such a strong need for happiness, and how we can approach that need in a conscious way.

Once we’ve walked with the Ace of Wands for a bit we can open the door to greet Justice and The High Priestess, who are sneakily running the whole show this month. We could ask them why we had to wade through the discomfort of meaningful growth before we could meet up with them, and they would no doubt reply that we have to earn their audience. They certainly do not appear just because we ask them to.

These two are completely opposite to The Devil and The Magician in that they work to dissolve the ego (as opposed to expand) with every breath. Just because Justice and The High Priestess have let us in, we cannot assume that we have “made it”. We are still in the cycle of life, and will once more part company with them soon (and no doubt eventually meet up again with ye good ol’ devil).

So how to take advantage of this window of time when we get to know aspects of ourselves that have a strong calling to see things clearly? Justice and The High Priestess show us how to deal with sudden changes in tempo. Whether work suddenly gets very busy or slow; or we find a huge amount of friends gathering around us, or hardly any at all – these archetypes show us how to just let life be life without trying to plant some deep and meaningful reason onto it.

These changes will be different for us all, depending on how we are to best learn what our innate gifts are, and how we can share them in a way that honours firstly our own emotional health, and then the emotional health of the global community. To support others in their growth is such a wonderful gift, and if we’re growing well this month, we’re likely to see all kinds of creative ways in which we can contribute to joy in the lives of the people we share this planet with.

We have every right to be feeling really good about ourselves. We’re learning how to make peace with ourselves more frequently (2 Cups), we’re growing in confidence of our own intuition (2 Wands) and we’re preparing ourselves for the 3 Wands. Taking a turn with the 3 Wands is bound to leave us feeling excited about what we have to share with the world.

What exciting little ideas full of possibility have we been swirling around in our brains (tossed between doubt and hope), awaiting the right time for them to be flung (or slipped) into the world with gay abandon?

The 2 and 3 Wands want to talk about expansion, and they love nothing more than a good hearty leap into our future to drag back into the present a sweet life that we are perfectly capable of maintaining right now.

We do still need a bit of help though. August was really strange, and it’s possible that we deliberately threw away some vital teachings during this time (“Why do I always have to be calm and amenable? Why don’t I just get angry?”).

So in comes the beloved High Priestess and her colleague the 9 of Wands, paving the way for the Page of Swords, to reacquaint us with a somewhat more beneficial and efficient way to get our lives running with satiny smoothness… More efficient than whatever it was we were trying to work with in August, anyway.

The High Priestess shows up regularly, hey?  Most months, in fact.  Being frequently reminded of our intuition is clearly vital for us right now.  Why?  Because we’re not enlightened, and there are millions of people living on this very planet who are terrorised daily by bombs, violence, racism, homophobia and misogyny.

We’ve got a long way to go, and the sooner we walk with our intuition, allowing a wider path for peace to flow through our lives, the better off we’ll all be.

The 9 of Wands gives us the much-needed stamina and patience that are required for any kind of High Priestess undertaking.  Following after these two is the Page of Swords, jumpstarting us into action, full of courage and hope that we’re not too late to save ourselves from our own bullshit.

The Star watches us from afar – as stars do – throwing us the blessings that we desperately need.  She knows we are strong, but she also knows that sometimes we despair at all the insanity we see and feel.  Let’s bow to her blessings so we can always stay true to the ways in which we make our own parts of the world more beautiful.

Apparently we’re under the impression, collectively, that we’ve had enough of The Strength card. We’ve taken a stand, made wild and wonderful decisions, and now it’s time to move on.

Move on to what exactly? Ah, the 7 of Swords. Hmmm. There’s a rather delicate balance going on here between cockiness and humility; and abundance and fear of lack. How do we maintain the certainty of our gut instincts without getting too caught up in the comments of the worldwide adjudicators (i.e. anyone in our midst who is watching us and isn’t entirely convinced that we know what the hell we’re doing)?

Do we get overly audacious and I-told-you-so or do we start to fear that perhaps the adjudicators are correct, and we should take our rightful places in the doghouse? Or do we take the balanced approach and just drink a cup of herbal tea and feel that warm tug on our hearts, pulling us in the direction of our most exciting ideals.

The 9 of Pentacles thinks it would be a great idea if we would just hang on a bit and see how the month unfolds, and notice all the hidden bounties of abundance that keep bumping into our heads whenever we stop worrying about the unknown. The 9 of Pentacles loves nothing more than to assure us we’re on track and that we’re right to trust that snuggly feeling inside.

And once we’ve stopped listening to the naysayers (including ourselves) we can have one more fumbling with the 5 of Cups (“oh… I dunno…isn’t all this change going to be kinda painful?”) before we connect with Temperance around the 14^th/15^th August. Phew. Sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle to reach the wise and mysterious Temperance, but she’s always worth it.

For in her company, no matter how many fears arise about…well, anything really… they pale in comparison to the growing strength of our intuition. Whilst she could shape our lives to look somewhat like The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” video clip for a couple of weeks, she keeps us curious about the intricacies of life.

Here also, under her guidance, we can start to love the feel of following our dreams so much that we could become unstoppable forces for the good of all beings!

All we’ve got waiting for us as the month draws to a close is the Death card. Oh. *Sigh*. No, no it’s good… really! The Death archetype means we’re really going to do all this wonderful growth that we’ve been crapping on about for so long. Even if we tried to hide under a rock, Death would seek us out and deliver the best and most vital solutions we can choose for ourselves. So what are we waiting for?

Yellow Submarine Video Clip

After four and a half years doing tarot readings on Saturdays and Sundays at Phoenix Rising Books I have made the decision to move all my business to Pure Botanicals in Newtown, where I have been tarot reading on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, for nearly four years.

Whilst I am sad to leave Phoenix, as it has been a wonderful workplace, I am excited about working from my own permanent, dedicated tarot room (which I will be decorating accordingly!). My working week will change to Monday to Thursday (11am to 6pm Mon-Wed; 11am to 6:30pm Thurs), allowing myself the opportunity to experience weekends without working – something I haven’t done since I was 15 years old!

So, my last weekend at Phoenix Rising Books will be Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th of August 2009. I will be attending a 10-day Vipassana Meditation Course from the 26th August, and will be back at work at Pure Botanicals on Tuesday the 8th September. My new Monday to Thursday timetable will commence on Monday the 14th September.

Thank you to all who have supported my business thus far, you are giving me the opportunity to make bigger leaps towards my dreams. And of course a huge thank you to Sue Sharpe and the team at Phoenix Rising Books – you have all contributed to a very fulfilling time in my life, full of learning and support and fun.

See you all in the next chapter!

:-) Sarah

Pure Botanicals

322 King St Newtown (50m from Newtown Station, next to The Bank Hotel)

Ph. (02) 9034 0555

www.purebotanicals.com.au

Oh my goodness what do we have here? Surprisingly we don’t have The Tower for the 3^rd month in a row (wouldn’t THAT have been something?)… although personally I reckon it’s skulking in the wings, just watching to see what we do next for curiosities sake… don’t worry no plans of insidiousness…

We have, instead, The Lovers! Now what on earth did we do to invite this helpful archetype in? We must have been doing some thinking and probably even some growing! With this archetype arriving it symbolises a new journey where we are more aligned than usual in our day-to-day lives. Here we can explore our mind, body and spiritual needs all in the same context. This kind of opening is bound to make us feel good and prepare us for… The 6 Swords (oh… do we have to?). Is there some renewed activity happening in the area most likely labelled: “Family”? Some strange emotions resurfacing that we desperately want to behave differently with but don’t quite know how?

This doesn’t mean we’ll be suffering of course…there’s just a kind of collective attention being paid here, resulting in more correspondence, dialogue (with others or with ourselves) and memories. With the 2 Pentacles and Knight of Wands we can rest assured that this time will bring balance and understanding, with some “a-ha!” moments thrown in for good measure.

Besides, we’ve got the 3 Swords looking after us. Whilst not the most endearing of chaperones – it will help us see clearly what is working in our life and what isn’t. So by the month’s end we’re unlikely to be stubbornly dragging around dead ideas or relationships; or complaining about certain people or situations when we jolly well know what a privilege it is to have them around!

And if you’re not convinced by my positive outlook about a card that has on it a bleeding heart being pierced by three swords, then look no further than the Page of Cups. This one likes to take time out so as to feel better about being alive. Self-loving is it’s forte, and having it walk along beside us means we can experience these growth spurts with a sense of wonder, curiosity, and thankfully – relief.

Oh we’re in for such an exciting month, you(se) and me. I know that might sound a little over-optimistic, especially with The Tower sitting there awaiting us just beyond the 8/9^th May… but really I reckon it can be! What’s The Tower after all? An archetype that will swirl us into much needed change and land us smack bang on the path that will serve us best.

Yes, yes, I am aware that this change happens with little to no bedside manner whatsoever – but at least we are relieved of our misery-inducing anaesthetising delusions (for a little while!).

Preparing us for The Tower are the Ace and Two of Cups. They allow us to breathe in our last bit of fresh air before we enter the shifting zone. By immersing us in our emotions and reminding us of how vital balance is in our life, we can meet The Tower with courage and integrity.

We don’t have to be taken by surprise here, and if we pay attention to our intuition, The Tower doesn’t have to be so rough with us. Think of it as a surly mother who quickly drags you off the road by your hair. Sure, it hurt, but it’s likely that being smashed by that passing semi trailer would have hurt more.

With more awareness we can be safer (in mind, body and spirit) without having abrupt changes to enforce this life affirming need. And if you’re still worried about that badly-publicised Tower (don’t believe the doomsayers!!) at least you’ll get to play with The Fool and The Moon directly after.

The Fool says, “Where do you want to go today? If your heart says ‘Yes!’ I’ll take you there”, and The Moon says “But only if you meditate first”. They’re such a winning pair – one says “do”, the other “reflect”. Balancing the two means we can face bigger decisions this month with the knowledge that when we look after ourselves we can face any situation with integrity.

The King of Wands is sitting on top of those two, slightly bemused, knowing that there’s bound to be at least one point this month, when despite all our hard work we go “What the f^%* is going on??!”…or perhaps just a subtly confused “…huh?”.

Best not to get too stuck on these moments…they will pass, as they always do and the King of Wands will be a good reminder to just move with our like-minded peoples and avoid the bullshit. No need for it really. When was there ever a need for it?

So lets allow the Knight of Pentacles to sweep us through this month, reminding us that when we’re stuck – there’s always someone stuck-er, and if we can find the volition to give more of ourselves (only if we’ve got the volition mind you!) we’re likely to free ourselves from the self-imposed mire we were squatting in.