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April 24 through April 30, 2023

After last week's excitement, we'll encounter some solace as the Moon drifts through Cancer Monday through Wednesday, giving us time to regroup, reorganize and tend to personal chores and obligations. The pace picks up again on Thursday when the Moon moves into Leo and restores our energy and drive. For the next few days, we can reset our goals and review our directions before we move forward, as with the Sun now in Taurus, it's time to take our ideas and put them into action! We'll also want to stop and look around to see how we can help others, as well as reconnecting with friends and family to make sure they are doing okay. Sunday is the perfect day to finish up our spring cleaning, as the Virgo Moon combines with the Taurus Sun and inspires a clearing out of clutter, garage sales, or gathering items to go in the donation bin. Even if you'd rather be taking it easy and relaxing, promise yourself you'll clean out or at least organize one area of your house; you'll be glad you did!

The Path of the Tarot Priestess, by Leeza Robertson

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Over the years, people have mistakenly thought I was a witch. You see, there are similarities to the practices of the witch and my personal work. But I have always known I am not a witch. Yet untangling practice, craft, and beliefs is not easy when the lineages of two very separate systems have been merged over time. Which is why I felt it so important to write Tarot Priestess and lay out the path of the Priestess.

You see, a priestess can be mistaken for a witch and a witch can be mistaken for a priestess. To the uninitiated, they can appear very similar. But they are not the same and their paths, though at times parallel, are very different. I have always been and will always be a priestess. The moment I walked my first labyrinth, I felt like I came home.

Yet my relationship to the goddess was not always harmonious, which is where the Tarot comes in—for it was through my tarot work that I started to drop my biased walls of belief and open myself up to building my own personal unique relationship with the goddess. It is this path, the lesson I myself learned, that I have filled in the pages of Tarot Priestess.

In many respects, you could say I queered the priestess path. I threw away the gender bias and rules and stripped it down. The path of the Tarot Priestess is inclusive, unique, and a safe space. It is here as a Tarot Priestess that you get to come to the feet of the goddess as you are. No boxes to fill. No lines to toe. No shoes to step into. Who you are is who you get to be.

The path of the Tarot Priestess is a journey of liberation, a way to explore your tarot practice as a form of devotion. This isn't about learning a new way to read tarot; no, this is about going deeper, wider, and further with the archetypal energy that the cards already have. To do this I have placed the priestess framework over the structure that tarot does so beautifully—marrying two processes so that they easily become one seamless path of self expression and personal exploration.

This all starts with the three Priestess Gateways of the Major Arcana. The Gateways are the three levels of initiation that we must go through to honor the goddess.

Gateway One: The Magician to the Chariot: Ritual and Ceremony
Gateway Two: Strength to Temperance: Pilgrimage, Initiation and Rites of Passage
Gateway Three: The Devil to the World: Reclaiming the Wild Shadow and Dancing in the light

The cards of the Major Arcana take us through the deep unfolding layers of what it means to be a spirit having a human experience, to be tethered to the goddess while exploring the gift of physical expression. Each time you draw one of these cards, you can see where along the path you are, which gateway you are in and what lessons the Goddess has in store for you.

Right now, pick up your tarot deck. Shuffle it and flip over cards until you come across a major arcana card. Which gateway does it belong to and which of the lessons jumps out at you?

While writing this article I did this exercise and the Chariot was the first major arcana card I came across. This is at the end of Gateway One; the lesson that jumped out was that of ceremony. More specifically, a ceremony honoring how far I have come ( movement is the chariot, it is a vehicle for travel) in the last year.

This simple exercise can lead me to a deeper understanding of my journey, one that has changed immensely in the last 12 months. For one thing, this time last year I had just finished the book this article is about (Tarot Priestess</em), now it is being sent out into the world.

I can take this card to my journal and ask the following questions;

• How did the path unfold for me over the last year?
• Do I feel my journey is complete? Perhaps not seeing as this card is only in gateway one.
• In what direction am I currently pointed?
• What gift did the goddess bestow upon me here in this gateway?
• What will I need to leave behind in order to move to the next gateway or temple
• If I were to reflect on the past year, what lesson would I say moved me the most?

You can use these questions for all the gateways along with card specific questions. Think about the card you have in front of you. What does its archetype mean to you? How curious can you be about that archetype and the energy it flows into your life? If it helps, write some keywords for your card and use those as starting points for your questions.

Next, you can explore what temple this gateway leads you to. Do this by picking your deck back up, giving it another shuffle, and flipping the cards over until you come across your first Ace. I landed on the Ace of Cups; this is the temple of water and the domain of the Priestesses of Avalon. What ace did you flip over first and what temple is the goddess asking you to explore?

In honor of your selected temple, consider getting flowers and candles in its colors to place on your altar to honor the goddess.
Cups: blue or white
Wands: red or orange
Swords: black or purple
Pentacles: green or yellow

Once you have your items on your altar, write a question you would like the goddess to help you with. Remember, it has to be in the temple you drew the Ace from. So for example, I drew the Ace of Cups. My question might be something like: "Goddess help me to create an overflow of love, happiness, or joy in my life."

For Swords it might be: "Goddess assist me gain clarity or focus around a particular problem or situation." For Wands you may think about inspiration or movement. Lastly Pentacles, which you could ask about health, money, or even growth.

Depending on the size of your candle, you may need to write your query as a short, concise ask (which is advised anyway). Then, light your candle and proclaim your request to the goddess. You might even think about opening up your journal and seeing if the Goddess has a message for you now that you have sent her a request.

Set a timer for two minutes, pick up a pen, and just write whatever floats through your mind. Some of it might make perfect sense, while some of it might seem like nonsense. Who knows, you might even be blessed with an immediate solution or answer to your question! The goddess does work quickly. Once your timer goes off, you can either let your candle burn all the way down if it is safe to do so, or blow it out and repeat your ritual again and again until your candle is burned all the way down or you get the resolution you were seeking.

Each of the temples have a different initiation, healing, lesson, and gift for you. Each temple has its own goddess. Whichever one you landed on you can guarantee the goddess has called you there for a reason. There are no mistakes along the Tarot Priestess path. The cards you draw will always be deliberate, strategic, and beneficial. The points of discovery the Goddess has laid out for you is intentional.

There is no limit to how deep, far, or wide you take your work with the cards, the gateways, or the temples. Tarot Priestess is a devotional framework, a map to assist you along your own Priestess path. May you walk it with your heart wide open and your head held high.

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

Did I smell an angel? I was recently diagnosed with cancer, so I have been doing a lot of praying and talking to the night stars, hoping that I won't be taken from my children. My most recent scan showed that my cancer hasn't spread, and the doctors are now hopeful that they can cure it, not just treat it. I am so grateful that tonight I said thank you to the stars again, at which point I suddenly got a wonderful strong smell of clean washing, flowers and baby talcum powder. I had a tingling feeling on the back of my head. I was on my own and this happened outside on a cold wintry night, so I can't explain it any other way. This has never happened to me before. I'm a Virgo.

Susyn:

Spirits and guardian angels often make their presence known through smell; it's one of the most frequent methods they use. All of our senses become more acute when we experience a loss or face the threat of physical death. Since being diagnosed with cancer, you are likely to notice that all of your physical senses are more acute. This also activates our extra-sensory perception, which would make it easier to perceive the messages your guardian angels and Spirit send you.

The first time I encountered this phenomenon was when my grandmother passed. Immediately before her funeral, the distinct smell of apples came to me. My grandmother and I used to spend hours peeling fruit from her orchard, and I will never forget how the smell of apple crisp filled the house. I experienced familiar scents that seemed to come out of nowhere when my husband and mother passed away as well.

Since there are no smells specifically related to your angels and spirit guides, they surrounded you with three scents that sent very clear messages. The aroma related to freshly laundered clothing is a sign that your body is being washed clean and the cancer eliminated. The flower scents represent springtime and rebirth, the promise of a new beginning and blossoming potential. In the cycle of life, nothing dies; it merely takes on a different form. This is a wonderful indication that your optimum health is returning.

One of your most powerful prayers during this challenge is that you not be taken from your children. The scent of talcum powder is often connected with babies, so I feel this is reassurance from your angels that you will be there to watch your children grow and prosper.

Because of the life-threatening illness from which you are recovering, there will be more signs and changes to come. Once we encounter such a situation, our psychic abilities come to life and our connection to the spirit world becomes much stronger. In fact, along with the medical action you have taken to address this issue, your spiritual awareness, meditation under the stars and increased prayer are working in tandem to promote greater well-being on every level.

As you gain some distance from this challenge and start to see the bigger picture, you will be able to see the cancer as a blessing that opened your eyes to the important things in your life and revealed how much spiritual strength you possess. It is a wonderful paradox that we learn the most from our difficulties, and that, in the end, they tend to bring us the greatest gifts.

*****

Oceania:

There could also be a medical explanation for your experience. There is a mild form of epilepsy called simple partial seizure that does not involve loss of consciousness but is characterized by a smell, another sense memory or by a physical sensation like tingling or jerking, which could explain your experience. It's also possible you experienced momentary brain activity related to your cancer or your treatment. If the phantosmia or tingling persist, you can discuss your symptoms with your oncologist to see if there is any cause for concern.

That idea aside, you've been reaching out to the powers that be to affirm that you'd like to watch your children grow up. The good news you received about your cancer may be a reflection of your strong desire to live.

Your prayers and talks with the stars have become a spiritual ritual for you. Stars are a good choice, for they symbolize angels, departed loved ones, and enlightenment from beyond. When we routinely make time for the sacred in our busy lives, we reduce our stress and bolster our immune systems. We can also touch upon or enter an altered state of consciousness where we experience peace and a connection to all that is. Your rituals may well have contributed to the containment of your cancer.

I recommend that everyone engage in a daily spiritual routine because it can lead to health, serenity and the development of intuition. It could simply be a few minutes of deep breathing or more formal meditation. It could include yoga, spiritual readings and written or verbal affirmations. Such practices help us tap into wisdom both within and without and help us live with greater presence, clarity and purpose.

I don't think you smelled an angel. There's a phenomenon called phantosmia, also known as olfactory hallucination or phantom smell, in which a specific scent memory is triggered for no apparent reason. The memory of scents are stored in our brains, just as sights and sounds are, and can be triggered unexpectedly. I can recall being washed over by various scent memories from childhood in recent years: the smell of Play-doh, my grandmother's ginger cookies baking, and vinyl from a costume I wore in a dance recital.

In your state of joy and gratitude, you were washed over by scents associated with your children or with being a mother: clean laundry, baby powder and flowers. It may have been the intensity of your emotions that stirred these memories of several precious everyday things one could easily take for granted.

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.