Here's Your Sign! The Universe and It's Sense of Humor.

 I often use signs as a way to figure things out and what I should be focusing on. 

One specific time I asked for a sign, is a time I will never forget, as well as is just another piece that shows how the Universe has a sense of humor.

I was living 22 miles from work, not a big deal distance wise, right? HOWEVER... this was 22 miles of mountain roads, meaning that it took me an hour to go the distance. Doing that 5 days a week was really getting to me. I am not a morning person and getting up at 6am to be at work and drop my daughter off at school was draining me, and putting a load on my already 'over worked' truck. While I loved my peaceful mountain top, it just was not worth it anymore.... but at the same time, I was conflicted due to several things that were a benefit to the mountain. SO.... one morning, on my way to work I asked for a sign.

"Should I start hunting for a house in town; show me a white bird." The second I said it I thought, 'Oh that is so dumb!' 

Why? Because 'town' is coastal and the coast is full of species of birds that are white. I had a really good odds that I would see a white bird. But, the 'rule' is, when you ask for a sign you ask with the first thing that comes to your mind and you don't change it.... so, 'oh well'... I would just have to roll with it.

I drove for 30 minutes, no white birds. 45 minutes, no white birds. Hit the coastal road with 7 miles left to go. Drove past the bay, the marshes... no white birds. Just as I was about to exit a big truck sped past me. On the back window was one of those cut out decals; you know, like the one's that are white and have the dad, mom and kids... and maybe pets. 

The decal was.... a white Woody Woodpecker, holding a sign... and that sign said.... 

"Here's Your Sign"

I was laughing the rest of the way to work, I was laughing off and on all day long. Its been well over 10 years since that happened and it still makes me laugh.

But, I did start house hunting and the first house I applied for, I got. And this is in an area that rentals are pretty slim pickings.

How Traditional is My Take of Tarot?

I asked myself one day, "Am I a Tarot purest?"
This was after reading a comment someone had made about 'not needing a book to learn to read tarot and to just look at the pictures and say what comes to mind'.

My knee jerk reaction to such comments, "Um, No." But I don't want to sound like a know it all or snob so I reflected upon that moment and my reaction.

So first, to understand where I am coming from, it might be helpful to know a little bit about how I came to tarot. I did NOT come by way of the traditional Rider Waite Smith deck. At the time, I did not even know it existed. I actually started back in 1991 with The Native American Tarot by Magda Weck Gonzalez and J. A. Gonzalez; published by U.S. Games (not affiliated, just sharing the link). I chose this deck because I very much relate to and identify with the culture in both philosophy and spirituality. This inclination I have for the Native ways has been with me from very early on in my life. I was that kid that had no clue the goings on in the story of a black and white western movie, but I was rooting for the Natives. Watching westerns turned into reading books. I learned and continue to learn as much as I can and have had the honor to be invited and introduced to ceremonies and rituals.

So when I picked up this deck, study came easy. All the stories and traditions used to create the cards were all things I was already very familiar with.
I knew NOTHING about tarot as a whole. I did not know that there were so many decks already on the market. I was a complete noob and totally in the dark. But then this thing called the internet happened. Being the occult nerd that I am, the first thing I did when I got plugged into the WWW, I searched ‘Tarot’ and that was when I found the Aeclectic Tarot Forums. A whole new world of tarot opened up to me and where I was a dabbler in the cards, Tarot became a serious study.
 
So having come this far in my tarot journey and seeing everything out there in the tarot learning circles and groups, I will make it ‘official’  and state it here and now about my perspective and approach to tarot...
I am a bit of a tarot purist but I am also an artist.
HUH? Let me explain. Be prepared, I am going to take the long way to get there....
 
There is a saying that you must first learn the rules if you want to break them.  One of the rules for life supposedly given to us by the Dali Lama. But for sure Pablo Picassio said,
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
And then there was my mom who taught me, ‘Rules are meant to be bent’.
 
‘They’ Say ~
Start with the Rider Waite Smith deck  - I say, “Only if you like it.”
 
There are so many other options out there. I am not at all attracted to the art of the original RWS deck, yes, I can appreciate it as an artist, but it's not in my taste. I’m also, as you may already know, not religious nor have I ever been. So this deck is not for me and if it’s not for you or anyone else, do not feel pressured into getting the deck because you feel that is what you need in order to be skilled at tarot.
 
‘They’ Say ~
You don’t need a book, just lay the cards out and use your intuition. - I say, “Do you really want to learn Tarot?”
Sure a picture is worth 1,000 words and with the gestalt approach you will find meaning in your cards. But that is not really learning how to read Tarot.
 
WITH THAT SAID ~
It’s a fact that one can come up with some fantastic insights when approaching the cards by just looking at them and never opening a book about tarot cards and their meanings. However, if you want to learn tarot, you are going to need to do some studying.
 
Tarot is built with a structure that is rooted in symbolism that is ages old. So when I say I am a tarot purist, I am talking about using the cards with the structure that they come with.
 

The suit of cups is focused on emotional parts of life. To apply some material definition such as finding employment, or some legal aspect like a court case would not be fitting. Those meanings belong to the suit of pentacles for material things and the suit of swords for the mental (legal) things.
Also worth mentioning is that knowing this structure makes learning the individual meanings of the cards a whole lot easier.
 
If you learn this structure and use a deck that is expressive with it’s imagery and is inline with the RWS tradition, you will find that you can read just about any deck. Some will be a little more difficult. Those that lack illustrated pips, those with limited scenery, those that stray from the traditional, and those that are of the ‘other tarot tradition’. By other tarot tradition, I mean those decks that are modeled after the Marseilles or Thoth decks.
 
But… I am not that snobby of a tarot purist. As an artist, I get that such things evolve. What was once a tradition known by few has become a fascination of the many and more and more independent and unique decks are being created and published. I’m sure there are over a dozen in development on kickstarter as I write this.
 
Now, while I am a strong proponent for knowing the bones of tarot, I also strongly encourage the intuitive aspect. For many, the psychic side is the harder 'study' compared to learning the card meanings. But the hard part in the psychic study is not so much learning as it's totally natural, it is trusting and discerning those impressions. Now, with that said,  I had occasional clairaudient impressions as a child but when I started using the cards, my clair changed to clairvoyant, clairsentient and claircognizant and one reading when it was a clairalience experience, have not had another since.

If you take up a serious study of the cards learn the symbolism on a universal level and work within the perimeters of the system, you will find that the cards in combination with your intuition makes from some readings that will give you goosebumps... I am still in awe of how Spirit communicates when I start shuffling cards.






11:11 Are You an 11er?

It is amazing the number of people who have 11:11 specifically makes its way into their lives.Some recognize it to represent something significant, but do not know what that is yet they know it means something. Some will make a wish, some think it's just a sign saying all is OK. Some will encounter the number and disregard it or say it is nothing, just random. They might say that is is something in the mind that makes one notice it more often and it is nothing supernatural or magical.
 There is another group of people who believe that they know what the number represents and have sent their beliefs out into the world. Some of those thoughts; the number is a ‘gateway’ number or a function of humanities spiritual evolution, a message from angels, a DNA activation code. 
I fall into the category of knowing that it is significant, yet I do not know what it means. When I come across the number, I feel that it is telling me that I am doing things right in life, I’m on the right track so to speak. I have also come across the idea that it is a number that is presented to all the light-worker/healers upon the earth at this time. With my personal experience, I can sort of resonate with this. I have always been there to help one who is hurt, being physical, emotional or spiritual.
One, of the many things I have found regarding 11:11, here is one that I really like


I first encountered the number 1111 when I was 11, imagine that! I joined a scout troop and that was our troop’s number. It meant nothing to me at the time. I also am a child of the dawning of the digital age. My first digital wristwatch I got for Christmas when I was about 9 or 10. I probably saw 11:11 back then, but did not connect with it since I had no use for knowing time at that age. To this day I still do not wear a watch.


When I was 12, my mom told me about something that started with her fiancé. He was waiting with his brother for a table at a cafe, he looked at his digital watch and saw that it was 11:11. He made a comment about how often he sees 11:11. His brother mentions that he had been seeing the number quite often as well. They thought it odd and left it at that. My mom’s fiancé came home that night and told my mother about the number and the conversation with his brother. That is when it all started for her. She started to see the number quite often and when she told me the story, I started to ‘recognize’ the number.This sort of supports the idea that it is something in the mind, power of suggestion. The idea that it is mentioned to someone and subconsciously they start to be drawn to it. This does not fully apply in my experience. I was wearing this number before the time aspect was presented to me. That is why I say recognize, because the number came to me before I noticed it to be something more common among others.I was no longer in girl scouts so I had not connected my old troop number to this yet, that would come several years later when getting ready for a move and I had to pack the things in my closet. I was quite in awe that day and that sparked and even deeper curiosity on a personal level.
 The number 11:11 would show itself very often. There would be times when I was in no need to know the time, yet, I was drawn to look at the clock. Again one could say that it was a subconscious thing, but try to use that logic for the times when I would be driving along the highway and a billboard clock would say 11:11. I also worked at a business and the address was 1111. Then there are the ticket numbers, the receipts, the flight number....

...and on and on.

How is this explained?

One could say, it’s just a number, like 3:33 or 5:55, when in reference to time, and these same numbers can be repeated in other things for certain individuals. I do not see other patterned numbers at such volume as I do 11:11. What I have found is, that even though people do see these repeated numbers, it is 11:11 specifically that gets the most attention and is the most often seen and talked about. I have ventured into a few ‘spiritual’ communities in www world, and the number seems to be discussed more than any other multiple digit number with the possible exception of 666.
 

I am not surprised that the first time I ‘connected’ to 11:11 was when I was 11. It may have been 1 year 11 months and 1 day, from that first encounter to the second, for all I know and if it was, I would not doubt it. The patterns that are presented to us are amazing when you look for them. To this day I still see the number, quite often. I am always running into other people who also have a connection to this number.

Long ago, my mother sent me an email with the time-stamp of. . . . .11:11. I emailed her back and told her - look there is the 11:11, she emailed back a comment and that time stamp was 1:11, not quite the same, but it goes on. I emailed her back, again, pointing out the time, again, she replied again, at 2:22. Since then, there have been other emails that are time stamped 11:11 between us.

So while it may not be just 11:11, it still hold something over the other numbers. But these other numbers and patterns that people notice are just as valid, they just have something different to it. People who notice these numbers will say that it is meaningful to them, even if they do not know what it means. 
At this moment in my life I cannot say what the 11:11 phenomena is about. There are some things that seem to make more sense to me than others. But I have not come to any solid knowing of what 11:11 means as a whole. It may be possible that all of these theories have some truth to them, none of the theories have a premise that is malicious or detrimental to any persons peace of mind or physical liberties.

Of all the many things that I have found that 'explain' 11:11, this is one I really can appreciate 

The 11:11 Universal and Spiritual Laws of the Cosmos

The Owl Takes Flight

I have been working on reinventing my 'home business'. I have been working under the web ID of 'DragonsMoon'. It is the name of my Etsy shop. and my Facebook page and my Twitter page In that shop I sold both my art and my readings but I felt the time came for a change.

The name 'DragonsMoon' was a bit of a forced decision. I had to come up with something and so I just picked the two things that I really love, Dragons and the Moon. I like it, but it never grew well as a 'business' name. Under A Magic Moon is the name of my blog that I have had for many years. The name is fitting to everything I do. All that I do happens under a magic moon, my inspiration & my intuition. So it was decided that I would make my web 'home' Under a Magic Moon. Not the blog, but a new website that is currently under construction.
The new Under a Magic Moon is the home of The Dragon's Cave which is to represent my art studio and Owl Ka Myst ~ where I offer my tarot readings.

One part of my website is already live and available for viewing, part of Owl Ka Myst Tarot.
This is where one finds out about the tarot workshops and can view sample readings. These pages are a bit in the works as well. But one has to start someplace.
I have also gotten my new Facebook page up for the Tarot side.

Hope to see you around cyberland.