Temperance starts the first reading of the New Year telling us this is going to be a year of balance, moderation, patience, purpose, self-healing and realignment. Temperance is a big card. It brings in this sense of chemistry and potions. She mixes things that you wouldn’t think go together, and yet, they do. I think that she is in the Reversed position because maybe the shifts that are happening in your life right now are not anything that you could have expected. She comes in the reverse position really emphasize the message about self-healing and realignment. She is reminding us in this reading that we are walking alchemy. We are fully human and we are fully divine, not 50/50 we are 100% of each. We are fully both all the time even if we forget sometimes because of the human. Give yourself grace this year. Give yourself patience. Give yourself open curiosity. Give yourself courage to allow the universe, God, Krishna, or whoever you connect with to show you how beautiful the evolution of your life is. Sometimes things are going to hurt, that is also part of the experience of being human. It is not necessarily okay that you are going through something hard but it is. I hope this comes across in the tone that I would be saying this. This isn’t to make light or judge any hard thing that you are going through ever. Just remember that darkness gives us an opportunity to see where the light shines. The light is always there for you.
The King of Wands says if you allow yourself to embody the vibe of Temperance you will feel like the leader that you already are. You are inspiring to people and help them feel like they have the freedom to be exactly who they are supposed to be. You being fully yourself helps allow other people to do the same. That is why the most important work we can ever do is on ourselves. The 4 of Pentacles is also reversed saying that you are ready to move ahead. As you honor your true self through all of the feelings and connect with your wisdom you will know that it is time to move forward. You can do this. You have put in the time and the effort and you don’t have to feel so guarded. You are in a new place and can move with compassion and wisdom. You are coming into a time of moving in ways that are healthy and aligned with you instead of what’s easy or what you were once told to do. This is going to be a very expansive year and I am excited to watch the people I love, and myself, to grow and thrive. It’s time.
Changing Woman, or Estsanatlehi (self-renewing one) – as she is called by the Navajo and Apache – can change her age merely by walking into the horizon. White Shell Woman and Turquoise Woman are among her many names, which correspond to the changing colors of her dress as the seasons change. The Navajo say that she was found by Coyote, after being born of Darkness and Dawn on Spruce Mountain, with a blanket of clouds and rainbows, secured in her cradleboard by lightning and sunbeams. Her gifts to the people are Blessingway ceremonies, the seasons and food.
Changing Woman comes spinning into your life to tell you the way to wholeness for you lies in learning to honor your cycles. Menstrual cycles are an important aspect of being female. We bleed but do not die, and therefore can bring forth life. As we continue to dance our cycles, we reach the time of menopause when we leave our childbearing years behind and hold our blood within. We can then be a resource for our loved ones and community by becoming crones, which means “women of wisdom.”
Do you celebrate your menstruation and view it as time for you to go within? As a time to let go, let die, so the new can come? Or have you bought into the patriarchal view that it is a curse, something unclean, something to be hidden away? Does menopause automatically fill you with fear of becoming old and ugly, no longer valuable in a culture that adores youth? Do you feel invalidated in a society that urges women to hide their bleeding times, regulate their hormones by taking pills and postponing menopause through ERT (estrogen replacement therapy)?
Honoring your cycles also means honoring your own unique process, your own unique path in life. You may be in the midst of a particular life cycle that you need to surrender to and honor. Changing Woman says that wholeness is nurtured when we reclaim the power of our cycles by paying attention to them and celebrating them. By celebrating our cycles, we celebrate ourselves.
Hearth – Warmth, Light, Fire Energy
May your warmth take in the gazing flame upon the shivers they melt away.
Come, dear, and sit by the fire. Hearth comes to a reading when you are cold, rigid or perhaps seeing thigs only from a logical perspective. You are being guided to warm your soul and to experience life from the heart. Your emotions don’t care about logic or reason. The heart feels what it feels and in this situation your heart is wiser than your mind.
Listen to your inner knowing to guide you. You may feel conflicted. Your mind might be telling your to be more practical, more responsible, more sensible. This is your ego operating from a place of fear. Your soul knows what you need now and it is letting you know through what you feel. Allow this wisdom to be heard and that all will be well.