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  • Weekly Astrological Forecast for August 2 through August 8, 2021

    August 2 through August 8, 2021

    This week produces more talk than action, as Monday and Tuesday unfold under a socially-oriented Gemini Moon. Sharing ideas, spouting opinions and a high volume of google searches and youtube watching are the themes of the day, as we strive to learn something new or get our ideas confirmed. We'll be operating in slow motion as the Moon dances through Cancer Wednesday through Friday, where the most we'll be able to accomplish might be a good house cleaning or redecorating project. We'll need to focus on balance, as a tendency to people-please or give away something we need tends to prevail. So to use this energy more wisely, it's a great time to give to yourself and to go with the flow, rather than worrying about what you "should be doing" or how to get to chores and obligations. There will be plenty of time for that when the Moon moves into Leo on Saturday and revives our energy and focus. Sunday's Leo new Moon promises that we're ready to move into new ventures, projects, and cycles of attainment over the next two weeks, so get ready to rock and roll!

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  • 7 Ways to Develop Your Tarot Language

    Tarotcast

    7 Ways to Develop Your Tarot Language, by Nancy Antenucci

    (Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

    A wise high school teacher told us the secret to learning French was to think in French. That advice was a game-changer for me. Within time, I was speaking and even dreaming in French with an ease and flow.

    Every language shapes reality. Tarot is no exception. As a language, it reflects being human in a full spectrum from the mundane to the divine. To stay curious and open to a world of elements, great natural forces and our vast potential is to own the language of a true Magician.

    Following are 7 tips in creating Tarot as a second language.

    1. Think in Tarot.
      Tarot is a language of images. Learn the rhythms and power of non-verbal communication. Engage with the ways images speak daily. Watch commercials or movies without sound to strengthen skills in reading body language, colors, and symbols. Pay attention to where your focus is being directed when reading a magazine or looking through social media. Gain some basic art principles such as repetition, color, and design to expand your ability to perceive patterns.In addition to surfacing meaning from imagery, become more aware of the four elementsAir, Water, Earth, and Fire. These energies literally are the backbone of tarot and are expressed fully in the Minor Arcana. We are the elements. Air is Mind (Swords), Fire is Expression (Wands), Water is Feeling and Vision (Cups), and Earth is Sensation and Matter (Pentacles). A simple exercise is to sense what each person's major elemental nature is while standing in a checkout line. See yourself and others as these energies.

      Look for tarot everywhere—in church windows, music, poetry, or even clouds. You will find what you seek. Once while babysitting a creative young girl, she pointed to the sky and told me that the Empress was smiling. I looked up, and indeed the clouds seemed to form her shape. I realized back then that tarot on the cards is only one form of the wisdom they hold.

    2. Choose a Primary Deck.
      When one learns a language, it helps to stay within one system. Choose the one tarot deck that you will go to again and again as you practice and build your knowledge. A minimal amount of research into the three branches of tarot (the Rider-Waite, the Marseilles and the Thoth) would be helpful in understanding the origins of your primary tarot deck. All additional decks you might use in the future will be variations of the mastery of this primary deck, much like a musician playing other instruments after starting with the piano.
    3. Trust What You Sense.
      Initially treat tarot as if it were a new friend that speaks another language. When with them, it would be disruptive to pull out the translation book on the spot to know exactly what they are saying. Receive the messages as best as you can. Don't underestimate what you can gather by the cards' energy, gesture, and tone. Allow this kind of reciprocity to grow as you study the traditional meanings.In your initial phases with tarot, read immediately and intuitively. Act as if you know the message each card holds for you. Don't wait until you have some thorough understanding of all 78 cards. Your comfort in using your sense of the cards will actually create a base to contain the centuries old classical definitions.
    4. Find the Noun and Verb.
      As a novice, understanding another language requires the ability to get the jist of the message. The heart of any sentence is the noun and the verb. If you can understand who is active and what is happening, the rest will follow. There will be a lot to unpack in one card (much less a number of them together) that could be overwhelming. Stick with the basics of the main character and the action that is happening card by card. Pretend you are reading a grade school primer. Let go of trying to make sense of all the details.
    5. Allow Variation.
      Languages contain a myriad of ways to express and communicate a thought. As you learn to see the cards through your own creative authority, each card will accumulate different layers—your sense or experience of the card, its traditional meaning, the meaning from your deck's little white book, etc.Choose an overall pattern to serve as a basic layer, such as numerology, the elemental influence of each of the Minor Arcana, or correlations for all the Court Cards. Once you are have progressed into using spreads, stay true to the position of the spread and how it frames the card's meaning.

      During a reading, trust the layer that comes to surface. For instance, when reading the Empress card, I could speak of the traditional meaning (Mother, life force, and unconditional love), but the layer that surfaces is my earlier reflection of Empress as a force in our daily life if we just remember to look up. Trust that you are being guided. Traditional definitions are a strong and powerful dimension of the card yet just one layer during a reading. Remain open and curious, and don't attach to outcome. Let tarot and your curiosity lead you.

    6. Have a Practice Partner.
      Ideally you would speak to another person fluent in tarot language. The greatest benefit of attending tarot conferences and meet-ups is to be immersed with other tarot speakers. Outside of gatherings, however, find another tarot curious friend to go on this journey with you. Design certain time and goals with lots of readings for yourself and each other from the very beginning. Don't worry about making mistakes and share all discoveries.Listening to other readers is helpful. Many YouTube tarot readers have developed a specific tarot vernacular. For example, a card is often defined by its clarifying card. The card at the bottom is an overview. There are developed definitions given for astrological collectives such as:
      Lovers: Twin Flames
      Moon: Secrets
      High Priestess: Holding secrets from someone
      Page of Swords: Cyber stalker
      Page of Cups: An apology
      Kings and Queens of the same suit: Divine partners
      6 of Cups: Soulmate
      Knight of Pentacles: Very slow
      3 of Wands: Long distance

      Stay open to all interpretations and reading styles as you study and experiment with your own reading style. Keep in mind, though, that there is no one right way.

    7. Play.
      Creativity happens when one feels safe and relaxed. Follow your curiosity as you explore and find ways to know each card. Use your cards in various states of being, such as when you are content, tired, bored or sexy to uncover different perceptions. What you bring to the card is as important as what you receive from it. Pretend that you have been taught how to divine in other incarnations, all you need to do in this one is remember. Allow tarot to shape your reality.

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

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  • Double Vision: Terrified of Dying after Mom Passed Away

    My mom passed away about four months ago. It was very sudden. Since then, I have developed an obsessive fear of dying. Every day, I think I'm going to die. I'm only 22 years old but I think I'm going to have a heart attack or seizure. I fear that I'm going to suffocate and die a painful death or suddenly just stop breathing. Maybe my heart will suddenly stop beating. Sometimes I wonder if I am already dead and I have to shake myself to make sure I can still function. I have been put on anxiety and depression medication to help me cope. I'm writing to you in hopes that you can somehow help me. Thank you.

    Yolie

    Susyn:

    When we experience the loss of a loved one, especially a parent, it touches us on every level of our existence. Because the passing of your mother was very sudden, you ran smack into the reality that we are powerless over when, where, and under what circumstance our time on earth will end. The type of shock you are in can defy all attempts at reason; even people who are young and healthy often suffer from an immobilizing fear of dying.

    One thing to note is that as we grieve, we go through certain stages. Many of them can be tracked by time, which makes it easier to know what to expect next. For example, when a loved one dies or we lose someone in our life we cared deeply for through something like divorce or the breakup of a relationship, the cycles we move through typically last about three months each. It appears that you entered the second cycle of this transition about a month ago, which may be when your fear and feelings of depression began to grow.

    The first three months of a loss are about managing. As we walk through the shock, trying to bring the deceased's affairs into order and awaken each day surprised to realize they are gone, we are in a state of animated suspension. About the time we arrive at the three-month mark, the reality of our loss sinks in, which can make it difficult to concentrate, keep up with daily obligations, and feel anything but sadness or despair.

    At the six-month mark of a loss, the pain becomes more manageable. The loss does not diminish but we should be able to return to a sense of normalcy. Also note that between the three and six-month cycle, an urge to create typically arises. Because we have been reminded that our lives here on earth are short and could be over at any time, projects and ideas we've put on the back burner will start to demand expression.

    As you near this stage of your grieving cycle, I encourage you to find a creative project you can immerse yourself in. If nothing comes to mind, you may want to start gathering pictures and memories of your mother and work to create a DVD or album that somehow honors her life. This is one of the most healing activities you can take up.

    On a final note, your concerns about dying have nothing to do with reality. They are centered in the fact that the experience with your mother has naturally traumatized you on a deep level. If you still feel you need professional help, I recommend finding a therapist who specializes in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, which is ideal for clearing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), which is essentially what you are experiencing.

    *****

    Oceania:

    I'm so sorry for the unexpected loss of your mom. Your obsession about dying a horrible death is your way of staying close to her and avoiding grief. Grieving can be intensely painful, but it's temporary. Time heals emotional wounds just as it heals physical wounds! There's no stopping the healing process, though we CAN manage to slow it down.

    When we avoid grief, we sentence ourselves to chronic low-grade unhappiness. Anxiety and depression are two ways of NOT feeling. During depression, we shut down our emotions; with anxiety, we transform them into general nervousness. We worry about everything and anything, especially hypotheticals, to avoid experiencing emotions like anger or sadness over a specific event that has occurred.

    Your fears about the future have a common theme: loss of control. I think your mother's death caught you unaware, and that this led you to dread unexpected change. Of course, we would all be wise to remember to expect the unexpected in life.

    Once you allow yourself to wail and sob over the loss of your mom, you'll begin to heal. Allowing yourself to feel angry over your powerlessness will help you feel stronger. Survivors sometimes feel guilty about living life to the fullest when their loved one can't do the same, but you will honor your mother's memory by embracing your ongoing gift of life and making the most of it.

    In my experience, the first three months of grieving are the hardest. Once you turn that corner, things should begin to lighten up. Waves of grief come less frequently and with less intensity then. The first year without a loved one is particularly poignant as you face each season and holiday without them. Since you're still in the thick of this, I recommend you find a grief support group, for it's helpful to be with people who understand how you are feeling.

    In the documentary The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, the following metaphor for life is presented: Picture a river becoming a waterfall, then continuing as a river when it hits bottom. As the river tumbles over the edge of the cliff, it separates into a spray of tiny droplets. These drops of water are like our individual egos, feeling separate as we pass through life. Death is ONLY the death of our ego as we rejoin the river and become something greater again.

    You have lost your mother in the physical realm, but she's waiting just around the corner and remains alive and well in your heart and mind. One quality of grief is that it feels like it will never end, but I assure you it will. One day you'll feel good as new again - perhaps even better.

    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.

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