I’ve decided to change things up a bit for my daily card readings.  In the past I had pulled the same card from two different decks and comparing them.  That’s grown a bit stale for me so instead I will now be doing a weekly spread pulling a card for each day of the week on Monday (but I will only turn one card over at a time).  Then I will use a second deck to pull a daily card that can serve as a modifier to the first.

So my card for today from the weekly spread is the Sage of Money & the Material World reversed.  In a traditional deck this would be the King of Pentacles.  This accurately reflects my financial situation at this time – I’m broke.  Things will turn around shortly but I’m waiting for some checks to clear and until they do I’m in very tight financial straits.  Not fun by any means (it is frustrating to have so little control over one’s financial situation even if it’s only for a day).  On the other hand at least I know it’s a temporary situation (well for now anyway).

The image for this card shows an older, bearded man wearing a turban.  He expression seems sharp but piercing, as though he can see through your personal bullshit and find the truths we often hide from ourselves.  I have a sense that he is telling me that I could have avoided this situation if I took a more practical, planned approach to my finances.  I sometimes go in mini-binges and spend money for things I don’t need but that behavior comes back to bite me on the ass later in the month.  I’m getting better about this but sometimes I still struggle with it.  His clear-eyed, somewhat stern gaze is calling me to task because I know better and I know I know better.

The Tarot of the Secret Forest 2 of Wands shows a white owl in flight near a dark tree.  The owl appears to be landing or has her claws extended to grasp something (perhaps prey?).  For some reason this image reminds me of the human soul and how it needs to soar free and seek inspiration and beauty in the world so it can thrive.  The owl seems almost ghostly, a messenger from the Otherworld seeking to remind me that my spirit doesn’t need possessions to soar.

The combined message I get from these two cards is that I need to stop focusing on “things” and buying stuff.  My spirit doesn’t need them to be happy.  Instead I need to focus on feeling my soul, allowing it to spread it wings and fly free.  I need to tap into my creative side and allow it to feed, to seek those dark somewhat scary places within myself and see what it can find.  It’s not true that whoever has the most toys wins.  Instead the truth is that whoever gets the most joy our of their lives wins.  In fact I think the most stuff we have, the more these things start to own us instead of the other way around.  It’s time to lighten up and let go of some stuff.  I’ve already started this process but perhaps it’s time to expand it into other areas as well.

Instead of clinging to old habits such as soothing myself with stuff, I need to tap into that joy and allow it to spread its glorious wings throughout my life.  It’s about loving what I do and who I am not doing things to make money so I can distract myself from my unhappiness by buying stuff (or eating stuff for that matter).