Silly Picture Of The Week

Synchronized Napping

Silly Picture Of The Week

Shadow and Calliope snuggle on the bed. Yes, the rest of her is under his head!

Silly Picture Of The Week

Fast becoming best buddies!

Silly Picture Of The Week

Shadow and Calliope say hello.

Jung And The Tarot

Tarot cards are not supernatural, all-powerful oracles or guided by sentient or malevolent entities. The cards are simply are a tool and like any other tool, they can be very

The Star And The Emperor's Shadow

Once upon a time, in a land very far from here, there lived the Star.The Star radiated with her own inner beauty and had the gifts of pleasure in nature, reasoned intuition and of shining hope. Those who experienced difficulties or were depressed or unwell traveled from far and wide to ask the Star for healing. There was something about her twinkling light that drew them out of themselves and up into a higher plane, because as we all know, with our eyes heavenward, we no longer feel the distress of earthly woes.

One day, while filling her shiny silver pitcher with water at the tranquil pond of hope, a small band of the Emperor's Knights happened to come upon her while riding their horses back from battle and were struck by her ethereal and somewhat other-worldly presence. All the harshness and density of their everyday lives seemed to slip away and they began to feel uplifted and blessed to be in her company. One Knight, so taken by her radiance, dismounted his big black horse and approached the Star.

"What are you doing maiden?" he asked and the Star answered simply with the beautiful clear voice of a soprano "I am filling my pitcher from which I renew joy and hope to my garden." The Knight's grief and despair that had overwhelmed him from the many battles he seen, instantly vanished and a sense of hope, enlightenment and great happiness filled him. He became filled with purpose and that knew he must tell the Emperor of the inspiration and enlightenment that he had found when hearing the maiden speak.

Now the Emperor who was short and pudgy, hard and aggressive and prone to sudden fits of irrational rage, had become very disenchanted with life after claiming the throne from his controlling and very rigid father (who recently had met with a sudden and untimely end during a jousting exhibition in which he arrogantly bragged of his military prowess.) The Emperor had long ago given up his sense of wonder and adventure and had become entrenched in stubbornness and took great pleasure in choosing domination over  balanced authority when dealing with his subjects.

When hearing his Knight's tale, a plan began to take shape in the shadow recesses of the Emperor's brain and he went to bed that night plotting of just how he might possibly squelch these silly, nonsensical, fluffy bunny qualities that his Knight had claimed that the Star possessed. After all, he couldn't let this maiden influence his subjects in such a manor, giving them hope and confidence in themselves, challenging his heavy handed control. "There must be a way to stop it...but how?" he grumbled.

(part two next Thursday)

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."-Albert Einstein

Silly Picture Of The Week

I think we need a bigger bed with Shadow around!

Tarot Shadow Work- Hidden Treasures

This week I'm going to give one example of Shadow Play that will help in unlocking those long forgotten shadows. In the previous Shadow Exercises, I identified my Shadows and how I might recover them in the Star of Discovery and Star of Recovery spread.  Now, let's try some make believe...

Imagine a large treasure chest, big enough to hold all your  special treasures. Visualize what this treasure chest might look like...describe it as detailed as you can. This chest will represent you as your present self, how you present yourself to the world...the perfect you. Locate a box big enough to hold the eleven cards that were used in the two Discovery spreads. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be grandiose...a simple shoebox or something approximately the same size will do.

Now, decorate the outside however you wish to symbolize the "you" that you show the world. Try to include all your hobbies or talents as you decorate, try to make it as personal as you can. Place the eleven tarot cards inside the box and picture them as the toys (Shadows) that you hide from the world. These cards now symbolize the shadow treasures that can be found hiding in the dark. Mix all the cards up like you are stirring a pot, and repeat the words "I want my Shadow back" as you do so, in a manner that resembles a stubborn child deminding his toys back.

Draw one card from your treasure chest and look at it...this is the hidden treasure you want back...the lost part of you that wants to come home. What card have you drawn...? What part of your lost self do you want back now? Looking at this card, how does it differ from the decorated treasure chest outside? When looking at this card, realize that this is the disowned part of you, if you want your power back, then you must lay claim to the Shadow that blocks it. What is the gift that lays in the dark?

This week I am going to do this exercise and see what card  I pull that I will be reclaiming. What gift do I have that has been hiding in the dark...? Tune in next week!

Tarot Shadow Work

Other Shadow Work Exercises

In the book, after The Star Of Discovery exercise , there are a few things that can be done before embarking on the next step "In The Shadow Of The Star." One such activity is to visualize your shadow. If you are artistic you could draw your shadow, if you like to express yourself in words, try writing a poem or short story about your shadow.

If you could describe your shadow, what would you say about it...? What would it look like....? Would it have a voice...? Shadows are most often the opposite of our own self image....they can be negative and represent those qualities we we have been taught to ignore...we may have even been told that certain subjects are forbidden or must not be expressed.

Another activity mentioned in the Shadow Work book is to watch a sunrise and sunset...Go outside in a quiet place and sit as the day begins to fade away and become night. Watch the sun as it slowly sinks beyond the horizon and the stars light the sky. Try the same exercize at the dawn...watch how the sky becomes illuminated and the orangish purple hues give way the the morning as the sun peeks up from the distance.

Sit and feel the warmth on your face... the birds starting to chirp and other sounds of nature starting it's day. When you see the opposites of the sun rising and setting again... what other opposites are you able to accept...? What opposites do you find that you try to resist...? Now, time to do these exercises myself before I head into the next step in The Star Of Discovery.