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January 30 through February 5, 2023

The Gemini Moon will have us engaged in social and intellectual pursuits on Monday and Tuesday, as we search for creative ways to change up our routines and think outside of the box. If there’s anything you need to get done, however, do it now, as come Wednesday things will slow to a halt and the rest of the work week can be a bit ethereal, thanks to the Moon’s travels through Cancer. Use these days to reconnect with loved ones, restore order to your home, or practice the art of self-care. The weekend’s Leo Moon will bring out our generous sides, as we unite with others in a common goal or reach out to those in need. Sunday’s full Moon in Leo inspires a time of release, so clear out those closets and get things ready for the donation center, or journal to let go of the past and anything that is holding you back from living in the moment or moving forward.

Tarot as a Way of Mindfulness: 4 Ways the Cards Help You Find Spiritual Fulfillment, by Johannes Fiebig

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

We fell in love with the tarot in the early 1980s. Tarot became our profession then, and for decades we did lectures, workshops and seminars on the tarot. We also wrote many tarot books (mainly in Europe, but with increasing interest in the USA and Canada), which have been translated in numerous languages.

Our Story
In 1989, some years after becoming tarot professionals, we founded the Königsfurt publishing company, which specialized in tarot, dreams, fairy tales, and the interpretations of these topics based on cultural and psychological approaches, being devoted to the human potential movement and a down-to-earth spirituality.

In 2007, we sold the company and merged with AGM Urania. Since 2007, Evelin was the event manager and Johannes was the general manager of both Königsfurt-Urania and AGM Urania. For a long time, we had kind of three occupations: writing tarot books and doing tarot events; running the publishing companies; and living and growing with our two children (who are now long-since adults, living in Hamburg and Paris). We continue to live close to Kiel, a state capital city in Germany, at the Baltic Sea.

The Story of Tarot: The Way of Mindfulness
Since our beginnings, tarot has been a way of mindfulness (and a way to mindfulness) for us. When we retired in 2018, we asked ourselves: Why did we never make a book that had mindfulness as its main focus? So, we conceived and wrote Tarot: The Way of Mindfulness, initially a short and easy-reading introduction of our essentials that was published in German in 2019.

Some Core Content of the New Book
We, the authors, are committed to "emotional intelligence" and "spiritual consciousness" as a valuable and inevitable addition to all the technical know-how and practical routines we must learn for our life. And we know for sure by experience that a mindful practice of tarot card reading will support and train these emotional and spiritual capabilities.

Mindfulness means an astute, open acceptance of the moment. The tarot card read-ing may train the attentive perception and exploration of the moment.

You practice to see each tarot image (and for advanced users: to see each symbol and each detail) very carefully and without prejudice or preconception, to make a difference between the first and further glances of an image, between your spontaneous and your conscious understandings even of very touching motifs. Further, you train and develop your creative use of chance. Finally, you study the meaning of old and new concepts of some major mysteries of life (as birth, love, death, eternity, autonomy, responsibility, freedom, intention, fulfillment of talents, and many more subjects), and you practice the creation of personal questions and answers for these and other mysteries, puzzles and highlights of life.

Why Tarot Pictures May Lead to Mindfulness: Some Examples
1. Pictures are like doors. Waite and Smith conceived and designed symbolic pictures for the 78 cards. This was a visual revolution compared to the traditional tarot imagery, as everybody now could look and see by him/herself, and was not led to merely believe in doctrines anymore.

Waite knew pretty well what they did. In his accompanying books The Key and The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, he noted:

"The pictures are like doors which open into unexpected chambers, or like a turn in the open road with a wide prospect beyond." (London 1911, p. 169).

He knew it and he mentioned it in these remarkable sentences that they started a new chapter in the field of symbolism and of spiritual experience.

2. Mindful perception is required. The pictures of the tarot of Waite and Smith lead to unexpected encounters once and again, if you pay attention to them. They call for a careful perception of the images and a mindful understanding of its meanings and requested actions. Let us look on a few examples.

One of the most typical examples is the Six of Cups. It includes a double-face, which usually is not recognized at the first glance.

A double-face: The small woman looks away from the mannequin/dwarf (the yellow patch is her face, with an orange-red scarf on the left and right). Or she is also looking towards him (now the yellow is her hair, with her face to the left and the scarf to the right). Most people spontaneously only see one of the variants, either the attention or the avoidance. And that is for a reason.

This picture is about a return in the times of our personal childhood. The large dwarf and the little woman depict ourselves. It is a sign of spiritual maturity when as adults we succeed in being children again! And that means taking another look at the experiences that we had in childhood. We return to former crossroads (see the "X" cross within the picture). That gives us the opportunity to encounter now the missing part of the double-face of our personal history.

Those who, at first glance, see the forward facing version of her face first and foremost see and seek a "Yes," i.e. agreement in relationships and matters of feeling. They find it more difficult to say "No."

Woman Facing Forward on the Six of Cups from the Waite-Smith Tarot

Those who, at first glance, see the face that is looking away tend more towards a "No;" in other words: setting limits in relationships and matters of feeling. For them, it is saying "Yes" that they find more difficult.

Woman Facing Away on the Six of Cups from the Waite-Smith Tarot

In the end, both of these "points of view" belong to the image. And we need both: setting limits and establishing contacts, sympathy and detachment. Being free always to choose from both options No and Yes, also in emotional and intimate matters!

Sometimes we need this kind of a trip back to the future. This is the only card that shows a cup with flowers in them. So the theme of the card is a blooming spiritual existence. And for this we return to the realms of childhood and the adventure of youth.

Each picture of the Waite-Smith-Tarot tells umpteen stories. Here, the little woman's double face includes also the reference to a well-known ancient trick image showing a person that is a young woman on the front-side and on the back-side an old hag—or death. The old name for that kind of image, which dates from the Middle Ages, is Vanitas (emptiness, vanity).

Double Face on the Six of Cups from the Waite-Smith Tarot

3. Access to unexpected chambers. Another example of the symbolic richness of the Waite-Smith pictures: The foot of the woman on The Star is placed on the water surface. In the language of symbols, "water" means psyche, soul, and feelings. The "foot on the water" again provides a double meaning: Positive—the water supports (it is carrying), i.e. psyche and faith provide a basis and a "standpoint." Negative meaning—there is no access to feelings. One is not able to enter the water. As if the soul were frozen, unable to "take the plunge."

Foot on the Water on the Star from the Waite-Smith Tarot

4. "You real-eyes what you in-habit" (T.L.): The tarot cards support mindfulness, as the images need to be regarded mindfully. This is the only way to respect and recognize the richness of their existing visual content.

Then, you experience what and how you see. In your personal kind of view there is your personal uniqueness included, too, your difference, your specific understanding of the world, your personal access to it. This experience, this understanding is a core issue for any way to spiritual fulfillment. By the mindful tarot card use, you ease and enjoy to test and train this.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2022. All rights reserved.

I recently decided to meet my estranged father. I've had no relationship with him throughout my childhood and adolescence. I need desperately to find him so I can release and heal the anger, rejection and abandonment issues that have been blocking me from creating healthy relationships. Now that I have opened that door, fear and uncertainty are preventing me from having a relationship with this man. We are both Aquarians. Will this decision to not have a relationship with him have a negative effect on my romantic relationships with men and my ability to create happiness in life? Please help me - I would love to hear your insights.

Dreamchaser:

I want to thank you SO much for this question. In doing my own soul work and healing, I came across a concept that just blew me away. Here it is: When we are growing up, we are taught how to have a relationship with the opposite sex by the parent of that gender. For example, my father always held open doors, pulled out chairs, etc. I grew up believing that all men should treat all women in that manner. To this day, I will not open a door as long as a man is around.

On the flip side, my father was a workaholic and would often break promises because of work. From this I unconsciously began to believe that if I couldn't trust my father, I couldn't trust any man. As soon as I became conscious of that belief, I started to look back over my love life. I saw that I expected a man to let me down or hurt me because my father did. I did not have any example of "good" behavior from a man, and as a result, I did not expect it. If you can see the same thing and realize that your father should not be your model for all male behavior, then you can get past the baggage and issues that go along with that. (By the way, this works for ALL relationships, not just father/ daughter dynamics)

As for connecting with your father, I do not want you to romanticize some meeting where everything becomes instantly wonderful. I think you two can forge a new relationship, and you will have to start from scratch if there is to be any chance of you having any type of relationship with him.

Any negative feelings you are carrying are not going to be instantly erased. Forgiveness starts in our own souls. You do not have to meet this man to be able to forgive him. You just need to start looking back over experiences from your childhood. Take each experience and relive it, so to speak. Stop seeing it from small child eyes and start seeing it from a grown-up perspective. You will see that NONE of it was your fault, and you truly were powerless. Once you start to see your father and his behavior as human, then you can slowly start to forgive.

For example, my dad did not mean to hurt my feelings so badly by missing my events. He simply felt he was doing the right thing by working and providing for us. I can forgive his non-attendance NOW, because I see he felt he was doing what was right. When I was small, however, I felt that I was not important enough for Dad to make time. See? You do the same, and you will be able to forgive.

I wish you and your father a love-filled relationship from here on out.

*****

Astrea:

You are not your father. Your life was shaped without his influence. If you can meet him and take him for the person he has BECOME since you were conceived, you'll learn a few things. If nothing else, you'll learn about your own capacity for TOLERANCE. It'll be worth it to at least mmet him without fear.

As an Aquarius and a Dual Sign, I'm sure you've weighed all the pros and cons of meeting your estranged father. I don't think that avoiding him is going to affect your relationships with men throughout your life anymore than it already has. Meeting him and dealing with all the hurt and resentment you've felt all your life should actually FREE YOU from that. It's important to remember that everyone has issues and baggage. The men you might be involved with will have their share of that stuff too. Everyone is an INDIVIDUAL. Keep that in mind throughout this reconnection with Dad.

You seem like an open person who is able to take people for who they are. That open, accepting Aquarian attitude is something lots of us would love to master. Meeting Dad doesn't necessarily mean that you'll develop a deep, meaningful relationship with him, but you have to know some things, kiddo. You say you "desperately need to find him" to resolve some of the issues you have been carrying around with you since you were a little kid. Do that! Find him, meet him, THEN decide. Reconnecting with him carefully might not HELP, but it surely won't HURT you spiritually!

Remember that he too has a lot of guilt and fear coming into this. He doesn't have a clue who you are, either! It's going to take some courage on his part to hear some of the things you feel you need to say. You have to give him some credit for his willingness to even try, but since he's also an Aquarius, it shouldn't surprise you. Just remember, fear is useless. You can't eat it, wear it, or spend it. By talking to your Dad, however, you may develop a new relationship, and it could be GREAT!

Go ahead, open the door. Find out what he's like. NOT knowing is worse.

The idea of developing a relationship with someone like him is strange indeed, but it's the right thing to get to know him, hear his side of the story (there are always two!) and then make an EDUCATED decision about the place he can or can't have in your life. Your Spirit is STRONG, and you have Guides and Angels who will counsel you when that time comes. Remember, it takes about two years to really get to know a person, even a relative if you've had little or no involvement growing up.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.