Monday, November 27, 2006

MAAT Tarot card of the Week- First quarter moon in Pisces 9 of Swords

MAAT Tarot card of the Week
9 of Swords
Planetary ruler Jupiter
Full Moon Gemini cycle (November 22-December 20) major card-Strength

First Quarter Moon in Pisces-Prophetic dreams, spirit contact and things that go bump in the night.

Now is the time when the creative power of the waxing moon is visiting the realms the deepest subconscious. The dark month before the winter solstice is the month when we tap into the collective subconscious. Our days are filled with memories of holidays gone by...cultural traditions as well as old family traditions and the memories of loved ones who have passed away fill our minds. We prepare gatherings to celebrate life and the power and mercy of the mysteries of the universe. The power of the sun continues to wane until the winter solstice all the while the moon's light remains the same and as the nights grow longer sleeping and dreaming become paramount. Become aware of your dreams if you keep a dream diary this will help you to record your dreams. Take note of long lost relations that pop into your head as well as your dreams as you prepare for the celebrations ahead. Listen for the wisdom of familiar voices as you continue the traditions they began... they are all gathered around you... the ones you know who have passed and the ones who you will know who are coming into being ...embrace the mystery.


Traditional tarot meaning nightmares, loss of sleep from stress


In a Reading: this card represents a significant dream, spiritual encounter or a dream that changes your view of reality. When seeking information about timing this card would represent the eternal, time overlapping into the timeless spiritual realm leaving an accessible doorway.

For a deeper understanding of Pisces Moon check out the other pisces moon phases,

The 4 of Wands (new moon) This new moon is the best time for planning and planting the seeds for the summer's garden. It is still winter yet our imaginations have merged with summer. The energy of the waxing moon is perfect for germinating seeds.

The 10 of cups(last quarter moon) This card represents a couples ability to weather any emotion. It represents dreams coming true and sunshine through the rain.

The Princess of Coins(full moon) This card represents the peri-menopausal woman her body is going through changes yet she still feels young. She is the woman at the cross-roads.

Temperance (Full Moon Cycle August 23-September 22)
The point where the summer is coming to a close and the
harvest has begun. She tells the story of the Legend of Ra and Isis.

Friday, November 24, 2006

MAAT Tarot Full Moon cycle of Gemini Nov 22 - Dec 21

Wednesday marked our entry into the full moon cycle of Gemini. Ruled by the planet Jupiter the planet of expansion, luck and even indulgence. The key phrase for Gemini is "I think". This is all very appropriate as we move into the darker shorter days before the Winter Solstice. Imagine for a moment how concerned our ancestors must have been as the daylight became shorter and shorter and in some latitudes disappeared entirely. This is when Strength would be essential as well as a good sense of how the cycles of nature progress. And here is where the twin symbolism comes into focus.

Early astronomers observed the heavens and watched as the morning stars would disappear into the sun and then a 'twin' star would appear in the early evening sky. The moon would also do this as day by day it became thinner and thinner in the early morning hours just before dawn and then would disappear into the sun in the eastern sky only for its 'twin' to appear in the early western sky during sunset. During the full moon cycle of Gemini it is the waning sun itself that disappears into the body of the Great Mother with the promise of a new waxing sun which would be born at Winter Solstice.

In the image of the Strength card we see the Egyptian twins (usually twin lions) Shu and Tufnut with the sky goddess Nut. Shu (the Egyptian Atlas) who often took the form of a man holds up the sky goddess Nut. The Sun was thought to have been devoured each night by Shu's twin sister Tufnut who took the form of a lion. In the image of Strength we see the sun being devoured by Tufnut as it heads toward point of Winter Solstice on the analemma (figure eight). In the story of Shu and Tufnut it is Shu that also takes the sun back from his sister each morning and places it back in the sky. This is really a beautiful metiphor for the relationship of these twins. the female twin in the darkest month takes the 'light' into her body (to protect it?) and her brother returns it to the sky (when the time is right?). I couldn't help but see images of the traditional images ofthe Herculean Strength in this Egyptian myth. Coupling this image with full moon cycle of Gemini seemed to be good fit with the idea of twins. As well as the use of lucky,expanding and indulgent Jupiter energies to get us through the darkest month of the year by focusing on preparations for the pending celebration of the sun's return.

This card also explores the 'Oneness' of all things, eternity, and being a part of another, soulmates, twinsouls and relationships that continue beyond time and space. All very appropriate for a month full of many cross cultural holiday traditions. Remembering the source for all family traditions whether great or small begins with single couples in love who combined their family traditions into their own.

Julie

Sunday, November 19, 2006

New Moon in Scorpio Monday November 20th

This year the last moon phase for the month of the Full moon in Taurus cycle is the new moon phase. This sets a tone for the need to tie up loose ends before moving forward to something new. The new moon phase symbolizes the point where something is ending and something new is just beginning, the moon literally becomes completely dark from our point of view as it merges with the sun and then slowly becomes visible again as it moves past the sun and begins to catch more and more light.

The month of Full moon of Gemini cycle begins on Wednesday. For more information visit:
http://www.newmoontradingco.com/moon/fullmoongemini.htm

The Five of Swords is a tricky card that tells us, looks can be deceiving and sometimes people, places or things we trust can end up being unpredictable. This is a good card for warning us to keep our eyes open not everyone is playing by the rules. This is the time of the year when weather can also be unpredictable being unseasonably warm or cold. The surrounding landscape can do strange things too. For example our forsythia decided to bloom.

The moon in Scorpio beckons us to look into the unknown a little further... to connect with what we are attracted to. To do what we have always wanted to do. Sometimes what we are attracted to can be more than we bargained for, provoking us into new and greater awareness as well as personal growth.

For deeper insights into the lessons of Scorpio moon check into:

5 of Wands- last quarter moon in Scorpio with unraveling and resolving energies- The mock battle

Queen of Cups- full moon in Scorpio with complete and giving energies -the newly married wife

6 of Coins First -quarter moon in Scorpio with creative and developing energies- the gift

Have a great week,
Julie

Thursday, November 09, 2006

MAAT Tarot-Cards of the Week- 7 of Swords

Week of the last quarter moon in Leo

"The last quarter moon phase symbolizes the power of an acute awareness of ideals and high standards and the implementation of these standards into daily life. Disappointment can occur if these standards are not met."

7 of Swords

The 7 of swords shows us the many layers of being human. There is the self image and the image that the world perceives, the masks we wear to hide or protect ourselves from being hurt, or the masks we wear to project an image we would like the world to see. The mask of age that hides who we were in our youth. We have emotional layers and intellectual layers and there is the physical layer/body that is the container for our immortal soul, the physical body that is our vehicle so we can fulfill the tasks we choose to fulfill in a material world.

This card often warns against theft and speaks of protecting against theft. But if we are strong in the understanding of our self and what our needs are then death is the only real thief and even in death we find we are part of the greater whole. However, there are those who would steal our energy and time to fill their own emptiness. Their emptiness is due to the fact that they are themselves leaking energy and are not whole within themselves. They would seek your energy to fill themselves with, but of course this will not keep them full. As long as they are still leaking energy thus wasting your energy and more of theirs. It is up to you to have good boundaries and recognize a situation when you are encountering an energy vampire. Knowing what you are willing and not willing to give or do, will keep your energy and your self intact. You were not put here to work someone else's 'will'.

The 7 swords in this card represent the 7 main chakras of the human system which align with points on the body. Chakra means Wheel in Sanskrit. For more information on Chakras visit:

http://www.sacredcenters.com/chakras.html

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To go deeper into a better understanding of the Leo moon energies in MAAT Tarot. We can look to other Leo cards which are The Chariot full moon cycle of Leo. The King of Wands full moon in Leo. The 6 of Cups first quarter moon in Leo. And the 7 of Coins new moon in Leo.

The Chariot- speaks of polarity and the recognition of opposites; solar and lunar, male and female, yin and yang, right brained and left brained, even republican and democrat. It symbolizes polarity within the 'system'. Whether the system is a government, a community, a family, a mechanism or the greater universe itself. It is the polarity that keeps the system/the chariot moving.



King of Wands(full moon)-represents the politician, the fraternity brother, the poet, the statesmen, the writer. The man who with his words and his comrades creates change.

6 of Cups(first quarter moon)-represents emotional patterns we learn from our parents, our community, our environment, our childhood relationships and our traditions. These patterns for better or worse color our behavior flavor our expectations of self and others. These memories of emotional imprints can play a huge unconscious role in our adult life.

7 of Coins(new moon in Leo)-represents the sacred as we find it within ourselves and within others. This card helps us to understand that we are each a part of the divine and our work is sacred. It teaches about the seven sacred directions; east, south, west, north, above, below, and equally important the within.



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Other cards still in play this week...

Ace of Swords

The season of Autumn, the element of Fire, deconstruction, the harvest, the increasing darkness, and the journey within. It is with intense heat of Fire and great effort and patience that metal is extracted from the rock. The suit of Swords symbolizes this transformation. With heat, strength and skill the smith creates the tools that transform the lives of his people. These powerful tools are then used to transform life or destroy it. The suit of Swords in MAAT Tarot faces living with the bittersweet reality of our mortality. It is Love that gives us the pain of loss and Love that moves us to go beyond and face the fire of our own transformation. What is it that inspires us to look with in the rock for the prize within?

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Full Moon Cycle of Taurus

Death

Planetary ruler Pluto

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Tuesday October 31st

Samhain/Halloween

Judgment


to purchase the 7 of Swords original painting

http://www.newmoontradingco.com/pips.htm

This article may be reproduced for the purpose of personal or group study of the MAAT Tarot.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Post election day Blues...two steps forward one step back

Well I read a very good article from one of my yahoo lists and thought I would share it here.
At least some people are speaking up!! Thanks Sam Harris keep up the good work!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15566391/site/newsweek/

A Dissent: The Case Against Faith

By Sam Harris
Newsweek
Nov. 13, 2006 issue - Despite a full century of scientific insights attesting to the antiquity of life and the greater antiquity of the Earth, more than half the American population believes that the entire cosmos was created 6,000 years ago. This is, incidentally, about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue. Those with the power to elect presidents and congressmen-and many who themselves get elected-believe that dinosaurs lived two by two upon Noah's Ark, that light from distant galaxies was created en route to the Earth and that the first members of our species were fashioned out of dirt and divine breath, in a garden with a talking snake, by the hand of an invisible God.

This is embarrassing. But add to this comedy of false certainties the fact that 44 percent of Americans are confident that Jesus will return to Earth sometime in the next 50 years, and you will glimpse the terrible liability of this sort of thinking. Given the most common interpretation of Biblical prophecy, it is not an exaggeration to say that nearly half the American population is eagerly anticipating the end of the world. It should be clear that this faith-based nihilism provides its adherents with absolutely no incentive to build a sustainable civilization-economically, environmentally or geopolitically. Some of these people are lunatics, of course, but they are not the lunatic fringe. We are talking about the explicit views of Christian ministers who have congregations numbering in the tens of thousands. These are some of the most influential, politically connected and well-funded people in our society.

It is, of course, taboo to criticize a person's religious beliefs. The problem, however, is that much of what people believe in the name of religion is intrinsically divisive, unreasonable and incompatible with genuine morality. One of the worst things about religion is that it tends to separate questions of right and wrong from the living reality of human and animal suffering. Consequently, religious people will devote immense energy to so-called moral problems-such as gay marriage-where no real suffering is at issue, and they will happily contribute to the surplus of human misery if it serves their religious beliefs.

A case in point: embryonic-stem-cell research is one of the most promising developments in the last century of medicine. It could offer therapeutic breakthroughs for every human ailment (for the simple reason that stem cells can become any tissue in the human body), including diabetes, Parkinson's disease, severe burns, etc. In July, President George W. Bush used his first veto to deny federal funding to this research. He did this on the basis of his religious faith. Like millions of other Americans, President Bush believes that "human life starts at the moment of conception." Specifically, he believes that there is a soul in every 3-day-old human embryo, and the interests of one soul-the soul of a little girl with burns over 75 percent of her body, for instance-cannot trump the interests of another soul, even if that soul happens to live inside a petri dish. Here, as ever, religious dogmatism impedes genuine wisdom and compassion.

A 3-day-old human embryo is a collection of 150 cells called a blastocyst. There are, for the sake of comparison, more than 100,000 cells in the brain of a fly. The embryos that are destroyed in stem-cell research do not have brains, or even neurons. Consequently, there is no reason to believe they can suffer their destruction in any way at all. The truth is that President Bush's unjustified religious beliefs about the human soul are, at this very moment, prolonging the scarcely endurable misery of tens of millions of human beings.

Given our status as a superpower, our material wealth and the continuous advancements in our technology, it seems safe to say that the president of the United States has more power and responsibility than any person in history. It is worth noting, therefore, that we have elected a president who seems to imagine that whenever he closes his eyes in the Oval Office-wondering whether to go to war or not to go to war, for instance-his intuitions have been vetted by the Creator of the universe. Speaking to a small group of supporters in 1999, Bush reportedly said, "I believe God wants me to be president." Believing that God has delivered you unto the presidency really seems to entail the belief that you cannot make any catastrophic mistakes while in office. One question we might want to collectively ponder in the future: do we really want to hand the tiller of civilization to a person who thinks this way?

© 2006 MSNBC.com

Friday, November 03, 2006

Card of the Week -Princess of Swords

Week of the Full Moon in Taurus
"The full moon phase indicates generosity and the need to give to others. There is an intuitive objective understanding of the self and others."

Princess of Swords
Planetary ruler Pluto(the now defunct ruler of the underworld too?;-))

The full moon known in these parts as the Hunter's Moon. It is the time of the year when the white tail deer goes into the 'rut'. They are active at night with the light of the moon and then become hungry during the middle of the day which causes them to come into the sights of the hunter.
Before there were hunting regulations... and you have to go way back almost to hunter gather societies for this sort of freedom. You would be hunting for your food and you would pretty much be living on what you were skilled enough to catch and kill. There would be a bit of mystery to the hunt as you never would know what was going to offer itself to you. You might leave a bit of bait out to lure in hungry prey. You would have to be very in tune with the behaviors of the animals. What skills or senses you lacked may have been enhanced with the use of hunting animals like dogs or falcons.
When the Princess of Swords comes up in your spread you may want to ask yourself. What am I on the hunt for? Does my hunt stem from an actual need?
What skills do I have to assist me on my hunt. What friends can I bring along to assist me. Will I show gratitude for what I am given. What is my bait to draw in what I need? How will I preserve my quarry and who will I share my prize with?
Have a good week,
Julie

for more information visit:
http://www.newmoontradingco.com/moon/fullmoontaurus.htm

See vintage Julie 30 years of painting evolution 1976-2006
a project for Mercury retrograde...
http://www.newmoontradingco.com/new/vintagejulieindex.htm