I love to cast astrology charts for folks I meet. I also love to read Tarot cards. I have studied both, in detail, with professionals and amateurs alike. What I know about both astrology and tarot is that they function, for me, like a black mirror, a bottomless pool, allowing me to see beyond chart circle, beyond the myriad of designs on a card, into the heart of any issue. The result will always remain subjective, after all I am the reader, but the fodder for the reading is directed from person who was curious about a personal failing or success, a puzzling issue, or unfolding event which is troubling.
What I know after years of reading is that I can only see what the person wishes me to see, because we are all in control, whether consciously or not, of our destiny. At the outset of any reading, I inform my clients that I am not a fortune-teller. If an opportunity to gain money is part of the reading then so be it, but the term is outdated and misleading. What I most hope to do is explore the individual strengths and focus points which can help the client choose a path that will bring about the most happiness or success and the least pain and suffering, because we have an abundance of all of those things in life.
Just to be clear, reading charts and cards is not my profession. They are tools I have used over the years to help others, which is my true calling. Reading charts and cards while working as a professional in health care are not mutually exclusive actions any more than being an interfaith minister prevents me from counselling troubled and abused women to terminate unwanted pregnancies or walk away from abusive relationships. Learning to be non-judgemental and open to all options are a necessities. The opportunity to read for others has been as rewarding as it is challenging. There is a need to strive to do better, learn more, understand the fine details of any reading, but after so many years, this is a fruitless exercise.All that is needed is a willing, open heart and mind, then listening to the inner voice which always tells the truth. When I was able to separate that inner voice from my own need to do everything right, the process was more rewarding for my clients. At the end of the day, something was absent from the process which I could not identify. So for the past little while, I have had to backtrack a bit because I needed answers.
For years, I have led or supported women’s wellness groups. In those group settings, I always brought some idea, which I read about or researched and introduced the concept into the group. Vision boards, puzzles, music, tarot cards with different themes (the homemaker got it when I brought the Housewives Tarot deck for her). Out of those experiences, the women evolved and grew and so did I.
One of the most interesting activities which became part of our open chat time was the introduction of the mandala from any one of numerous patterns that I have collected over the years. Talking while colouring allows the mind to work unconsciously filling in details to suit our own taste. Everyone had the same pattern but each individual used a wide array of colours to decorate the spaces. Each design yielded a range of responses. The beauty of each and the creativity of the women stuck with me over the years since the initial group activity.
At the back of all my efforts over the years has been the need to study. The wonderful AIHT (American Institute of Holistic Theology) has been a constant prop at my back prodding me to continue to learn, partly for my own good and partly for opening my consciousness to the idea of limitless possibilities. I have been blessed to receive my degree in Divinity, complete the requirements for Ordination, complete my requirements for entry into the Masters program even if it has taken me years, because learning is a journey which has no destination other than those self-imposed limits.
This year, I am determined to finish the Masters course in Holistic Theology. One of my electives is a study of the Mandala, a gift I gave myself unknowingly. While I draw my lovely Mandala as part of the course assignment, I remember and realize how beautiful is this ancient tool for individualizing and opening the doors to my own inner voice and healing journey. Mandala meditation is not separate and apart from astrology or even tarot cards because elements of both are included in all modalities. Creating a personal mandala goes beyond the restrictions of charts and the formulae of tarot cards to open the individual unconscious to a spiritual compass. The words, spiritual compass came to me as I stared at one of the interesting icons gracing the Sanctuary which is the home of my hearth ministry.
No thought is ever original. I would like to lay claim to the idea but others have also seen the directional light. Google says so. However, I choose to use my compass in a way that honours my astrology and tarot and leaves much of its interpretation to the individual. More about this journey next post.
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The Spiritual Compass
Posted in Comments, Musings, tagged @womenzpace, creemore, discover the path, sanctuary, spiritual compass on March 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »
The Spiritual Compass
Some years ago, when I was buying everything that I could see, but not really understanding why I would ‘need’ a particular object, I found that over the years the knick-knacks, which I purchased or found in different corners of this wonderful country of ours, have become very useful as I’ve grown older. Many objects that I purchased on faith, have justified my faith. I realize that part of what I needed to do was to put together or synthesize my trinket world and my concrete world in a way that made sense. After much internal struggle this past year, I was able to finally recreate a little sanctuary to replace the space that I had in Singhampton. Above all, I did not want to lose the energy which helped to build that original space nor a vision of the benefit of a having a small quiet corner in the midst of a busy world.
Rediscovering objects that I saved over the years has enabled me to look at life and look at what look at what I can now make useful, not just to myself but also to others who utilize @womenzpace now open at Discover the Path. The compass, which hangs in the window, is fashioned from metal and stained-glass. It serves as a reminder to me every single day that life is full of points of light and dark, soft and sharp. All of these things meld together to create our own guideposts to choosing paths for living life when we hit the inevitable crossroads. However, the compass is so much more than points. Attention to its non verbal message helped me to realize that I could add some non specific cues for each of the sixteen points and to this end, I have started working on a draft of the way in which I hope our visitors, meditators and healers will find a helpful resource, which can be individualized, in the search for balance.
We all have a spiritual compass. Our great difficulty is determining how that spiritual compass can be utilized to make our lives better. The complexity of a compass should provide an understanding of the self within the self and how each aspect of the self can serve the other.
A compass, like so many other tools or events in the daily life, can point or drag you in many directions. Life is circular and while we may sometimes feel that we are walking in a straight line through an endless desert, truth is that we will wander out of it, encounter an oasis of peace and beauty before entering yet another period of desolation. It’s always a circular path. That give us hope, which is heartening, because we know there is change ahead. A wheel/circle has 360 points on it and each of those points can certainly impact your life in some way. Moving degree to degree won’t necessarily make you feel like you have exited a prescribed route, but when you look back from time to time, you will see where you have been, what you have experienced and know that there is a future which is different. In my mind, there is a great need to create some grouping. It has been done with Astrology for millennia.
Personally, I created groups or sections in the compass in which I can identify tools or find cues in the visual circle of our life which will will help us to utilize the best of a particular grouping by choosing from a portfolio of elements, senses, and energies. Our goal is to help the individual realize all that nature has to offer in terms of foundation, color, feeling, sensation, sight and sound needed to support health and well-being every day.
Moving forward, we are looking at this spiritual compass as a template for our present and our future and we offer anyone interested a chance to frame their own compass in ways which are meaningful to them.
I am posting a picture of its beauty. I have no idea who is the creator but will remain eternally thankful for its inspiration in helping me to define and concretize the mission of the Sanctuary @womenzpace
Spiritual Compass
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