Wow, two biggies in the same day – and reversed yet.  How fun!  Okay, smart aleck-ness aside, I found it interesting to draw these two cards the day after Thanksgiving.  Yesterday my focus was on food and family.  Today I’m getting the sense that my focus needs to be on me.

The High Priestess reversed has shown up for me several times since I’ve begun using this deck.  I find her sweet, caring, concerned face sitting atop a pancake syrup bottle to be quite quirky and adorable.  In her reversed state I think she’s reminding me that I need to look deep within myself to find the answers I seek.  Once I find them I’ll be able to add more sweetness and richness to my life.  She also speaks to me of concern and kindness.  This process isn’t an endurance run or triathlon, it’s a lifelong process.  The only way to win is to do the work.  Getting to the finish line first defeats the purpose if I haven’t fully absorbed the lessons learned along the way.

I have a tendency to be very goal oriented – when I wrote papers for school I sometimes took shortcuts i in order to complete assignments.  I never cheated but there were definitely times when I short-changed myself.  I always received excellent marks on my assignments so my work was fine but I know there was information I missed because I was rushing.  I don’t want to replicate this process when it comes to my life and how I want to live it from this point forward.

Instead of The Tower’s usual meaning, this image gives me a different sense of this card.  It shows a woman trapped in a 4-tiered gelatin mold.  She seems happy enough but is she truly happy?  Perhaps she just hasn’t explored the possibilities of life beyond the gelatin mold.  Or maybe she’s starting to see that there is life beyond the gelatin mold and is happy because she can finally start to free herself and explore that potential?

In my case, I’m well aware of life beyond the gentle but firm trap of the gelatin mold.  In my case it’s the prison of family obligation.  I love the people for whom I care and don’t want to see anything happen to them but I’m well aware of just what a prison that creates for me.  I think the reversed Tower is letting me know that I need to keep my sights on the fact that eventually this situation will change.  It will be painful and an adjustment but not really a surprise.  So I need to start working on what the newly released me will do with my time and energy.  The only way I’ll know that is to spend some time chatting with my inner High Priestess.  Mrs. Butterworth’s – take me away!!