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January 6 through January 12, 2025

The week starts out on a high note as the Moon travels through Aries on Monday and Tuesday, bringing our creative and determined spirit to life! Once it moves into Taurus on Wednesday, we can start putting our ideas into action. Mercury moves into Capricorn on Wednesday, and as the only planetary event of the week, turns our attention to work, security, family, and responsibility. As it joins the Sun in Capricorn it sets the stage for a year of prosperity, encouraging us to keep the focus on our goals for the next twelve months. Friday and Saturday the Moon will dance through Gemini, bringing out our social sides, encouraging greater communication, and providing more access to any information we’ve been seeking. We’ll all want to take advantage of Sunday’s Cancer Moon, taking the time to restore order to our personal surroundings and resting from a high activity week.

The Fullness of Shadow Work, by Christine Jette

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

When I finished the manuscript for Tarot Shadow Work in 1999, I didn't believe I could write one more thing about tarot and the shadow. I was wrong. Time has passed and I am able to revisit the book with a more objective viewpoint. I originally wrote that I used only the 22 cards of the Major Arcana because shadow work is a spiritual endeavor. While this is true, it's time for writer honesty: the concept of using 78 cards eluded me in the beginning. Four years later, I know how to use an entire tarot deck when doing shadow work and the Llewellyn Journal is the perfect place to share my expanded ideas on it.

Taking my cue from astrology, the Major Arcana cards represent the WHAT of shadow work, a description of the shadow and what its challenges and gifts entail. The Court Cards are the HOW and WHO of shadow work—how the shadow presents itself in personality development and whom we draw to us for our life lessons. The Minor Arcana depict the WHERE of shadow work, or in what department of life the shadow is operating.

The Major Arcana (Numbers 0-21), The Fool through the World, speak to you of both life lessons and life wisdom: those qualities being tested and developed, your gifts and challenges, karma and the reasons you are here. The twenty-two cards symbolize spiritual development and help you understand your place in the world. The "Greater Secrets" will point to the higher overview of life and give you insights into the "big picture." They will also hint at your healing potential and what lies in the shadows. (See the appendix in Tarot Shadow Work for more information.)

The Minor Arcana, or "lesser secrets," offer information along the planes of existence: Wands, spiritual creativity in everyday life; Cups, emotions and feelings; Swords, psychological well being/the mind; and, Pentacles, physical reality and the body. When the different suits shows up in a reading, ask yourself: What action can I take? (Wands) What am I feeling or dreaming about? (Cups) What am I thinking or what decision needs to be made? (Swords) Because Pentacles explore issues of food, housing, money, work, the body, and physical health, ask yourself: What do I value?

In life, there is no separation between body, emotion, mind, and spirit. It is impossible for something to happen to us without all four levels of existence being affected. It is likewise impossible to change without attending to these same four levels of being. Life does not fall neatly into categories. Because stress or concerns at any level affect all levels, the lines sometimes blur.

No other cards in the tarot deck have more interpretations than the Court Cards. Just pick up any three tarot books and compare. It's mind-boggling. We all have qualities that are traditionally associated with masculine and feminine ways of being. For instance, a woman can be competitive and a man can be nurturing. Be aware that the King and Knight can represent a woman and the Queen can symbolize a man. The gender or "occupation" of the court card is less important than the qualities it describes.

Pages can represent a child, but they also introduce the element of their suit, the willingness to change, risk, or learn something new. Pages can symbolize the catalyst needed for change and the child within us all. Pages also carry messages related to their suit: Telephone calls or significant e-mail (Page of Wands); important dreams (Page of Cups); written warnings (Page of Swords); and messages from your body, especially in the form of illness: What is your body trying to tell you (Page of Pentacles)?

Knights represent young adults or someone starting over, focusing on a specific task through their suit, be it creative (Wands), emotional (Cups), psychological (Swords) or physical (Pentacles). Our "knightly" qualities include being energetic, daring, headstrong and goal oriented. Knights show movement and action through their suits.

Queens are mature. They take their understanding of life inward and use this life wisdom to nurture others and encourage self-development through their specific suit. For example, the Queen of Cups nurtures the emotions. Because they are the embodiment of the feminine tradition of healing, Queens often represent healing in relationship to their suit. An example of this is the Queen of Pentacles symbolizing a natural healer. Our "queenly" qualities include sensitivity, fullness of expression, empathy, and personal, inner control.

Kings are also mature, but they project their maturity outward in the form of leadership through their suit. They take charge and give advice: Creative or spiritual advice (King of Wands); emotional advice (King of Cups); psychological or intellectual advice (King of Swords); and, practical advice about the everyday world (King of Pentacles, especially in the area of finances or work.) Our "kingly" qualities include being capable and in control, with an air of authority, leadership, and worldliness.

So how do you use the entire deck in shadow work? It's simple. Separate your deck into three stacks: the 22 Majors, 40 Minors and 16 Court Cards. Do a star layout, or any other activity in Tarot Shadow Work using Majors only, as described in the book. Look at your shadow layout or activity and select one card that puzzles or bothers you, or one that you especially like. Pull that card out of the layout.

Now think of the Minor and Court Cards as the cards to use for more information. Shuffle your Minor Card stack. As you shuffle, concentrate on WHERE, or what department of life, this particular Major card is operating. For example, you have chosen The Fool from the shadow layout because you know you allow others to take advantage of you and have decided that now this needs the most work. The minor card that turns up is the Ten of Wands.

You first decide if the Ten of Wands describes the challenge of the shadow or the gift of the shadow. In other words, does the card feel negative or positive? Hint: If you like the card, it probably represents a gift of shadow work, something to keep and nurture. If it feels negative, for instance being reversed, it means it is a lesson to be learned, something to improve or work on. You realize that it depicts the challenge of the shadow: others take advantage of you because you are unable to say no and you take on too much responsibility as a result.

As you shuffle the Court Card stack, concentrate on HOW the shadow presents itself in your personality. You can also think about the people in your life and why they might be there. Remember, the Court Cards are always a reflection of you—you draw the people to you that you need for your life wisdom. So it doesn't matter if the Court Card describes someone else. The card is still about you and your need to have those qualities in your life for good or ill. Randomly select one Court Card. First decide if it represents the shadow's challenge or the shadow's gift. Does it feel negative or positive to you?

Continuing with our example, you have drawn the Queen of Pentacles. At first you think, oh, great, the smothering mother card. After some thought, you decide she symbolizes the shadow's gift after all: Yes, you have been taken advantage of because of your need to nurture (rescue) others; but the answer is still in the Queen of Pentacles—if you start saying no and allow others to learn self-responsibility. Then they are able to find their own way, and you are free of the martyr's shadow.

You can use the Minor and Court Cards for more information on any shadow star layout, single card in a layout, or any tarot activity in the book. Using the entire deck helps pinpoint both strengths and challenges of doing shadow work. Think of it as your magnifying mirror for a better reflection of you. And for goodness sake, trust your intuition when deciding if a card feels negative or positive. Only you can know that. To review, ask the following questions when doing shadow work with the entire deck:

* For Major Arcana cards: WHAT shadow is this card describing? Does this card symbolize the challenge of shadow work or the reward for facing the shadow, the gift of shadow work?

* For Minor Arcana Cards: WHERE or in what department of life is this card operating? (Physical, financial, emotional, psychological, legal, creative or spiritual pursuits, etc., according to its suit.) Is this card a challenge (something that needs work) or something to keep and nurture—my strength or talent?

* For Court Cards: HOW does the shadow present itself in my personality development? HOW do other people see me? HOW do I see myself? WHO have I drawn into my life for soul development? Does this card describe the shadow's challenge or gift?

For me, shadow work and its resultant soul development are meaningless if not viewed through the lens of everyday living. Divinity lies in the details of life. The magic of shadow work doesn't come from the tarot cards—the magic comes from our willingness to change. If we ascribe to the philosophy of "as above, so below," then who we are and what we do is spirituality in action—not "out there" somewhere, but in us, here and now. May you find joy in the shadows.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2003. All rights reserved.

My name is Christine. My husband (a Virgo) and I (a Libra) work together, and I have been feeling like he and one of our coworkers are getting closer than they should. When I ask him about it, he says he loves me and I am the only one. Do you think I could be imagining this? I also think that this coworker has a very negative energy or influence on me, based on her statements and the overall feeling that I get from her. Right before I began noticing this closeness between them, I had a dream about them. In the dream, he admitted to their closeness, but he didn't stay with her. He left her behind and followed me. Do you think that I am subconsciously looking for things since I had this dream, or do you think this dream was a warning to get my relationship back on track?

Christine

Dreamchaser:

Christine, you all work together. He can't pull a fast one with you in the same place. I agree that her energy towards you is negative in many ways, but I think that she is reacting to how you treat her. She did not come in treating you that way. You need to check YOUR actions and energies toward her. The more paranoid you get about her and your husband, the more negative your energy towards her becomes. If you come from a place of love and light, she will as well.

Not every dream we have at night is prophetic. I think the majority of our dreams are ways for us to work through our fears, doubts, issues, etc. You are afraid (and always have been) that you are going to lose your husband. You never did believe that this life you are leading is the life that you are really supposed to be living. You feel in many ways like you are an imposter to the throne, so to speak. That is because of your own issues, not only from your childhood in this lifetime, but from prior lifetimes as well.

As a result, you have in some ways started to manifest a way to make what you think really SHOULD be come to pass. This dream was simply trying to help you work through those fears.

Your husband and this woman ARE friends. They get along with each other very well. There is nothing wrong with your husband having friends, Christine. The reason you are not included in that group is because of the "bad energy" between you and this woman.

You also know that your marriage is not on the best ground right now. You two have some marital issues that need to be looked at and dealt with. Your husband is NOT happy. It doesn't take one of us to tell you that. He doesn't want to separate from you. He doesn't want to leave you. You are the only one for him. Nevertheless, he is not happy, and if a new life came along that looked better, he may just take a chance on it.

I strongly advise you to get marital counseling from someone reputable as soon as possible. I think you can work through your individual issues and then you can work on the relationship. All hope has not been lost - this marriage can absolutely be saved.

Your husband and this woman are not the problem. They really are just friends. She is what it took to shake you into action. Please address the issues in your marriage. You yourself said, "Do you think this dream was a warning to get my relationship back on track?" Christine, a relationship should never be OFF track. Of course I think it is a sign for you to work on things. So get to it, woman!

I wish you a happy love life!

*****

Astrea:

You are NOT imagining things. That coworker is as negative toward you as she can be. She doesn't like you, and she wants to break up your marriage. Without her birthday, I can't be sure if she is doing it because she really WANTS your husband or not. My psychic feeling is that she is the type of person who gets a kick out of tearing up other people's lives. There ARE some people whose sole purpose is to randomly attack the happiness of others.

Earth Signs, while easily flattered by people who flirt and pay attention to them, rarely cheat on their spouses. I believe that your husband is innocent, and probably doesn't realize how much he's playing into her aims by paying attention to her and harmlessly flirting BACK. I do NOT see him doing anything with that other girl! It would be SO BENEATH a Virgo to cheat on a spouse. It rarely happens, even in the easiest of situations.

Fortunately, you are right there at work with them to keep your eye on both of them. As long as you stay on top of this and point out to him that she would just be using him, he will see this woman for what she is, and steer clear! He doesn't want to mess up your marriage over some little fling. He's serious when he says that you can trust him. He means it.

Virgos DETEST being accused of things they aren't doing. Be careful not to back your husband into a corner where he feels he has to do something to prove you right or wrong. In all the years I've been reading, I've spoken to SO MANY PEOPLE who strayed in their marriages because they were already being accused of doing it, so they figured they might as well do it. Don't let this happen to YOU. Your best defense is to try to ignore this woman. Unless you two play along with her, she'll eventually get bored and quit.

Of course, since that dream upset you so much, you are now consciously looking for things to substantiate your suspicions about your husband and that other woman. I have no doubt that she is "after" your husband, but from his birth date and what he's said to you about this, I know he would NEVER be unfaithful to you. She would go for it, however. She doesn't like you, she feels threatened by you at work (she's probably not very good at her job), and she loves to make trouble for others.

Fortunately, people like her move on when they don't get what they want. She'll find another victim soon and begin to leave your husband alone. In the mean time, don't let your very active and creative Libra imagination get the best of you. This won't last too much longer, so ride it out!

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.