Tarot as a Transformational Tool

“It’s said that the shuffling of the cards is the earth, and the pattering of the cards is the rain, and the beating of the cards is the wind, and the pointing of the cards is the fire. That’s of the four suits. But the Greater Trumps, it’s said, are the meaning of all process and the measure of the everlasting dance.”

— Charles Williams

Photo; Susan in her consulting room.

We have entered Gemini season which is also my birthday month. So why I am I writing about my use of the Tarot and sharing this wonderful quote from Charles Williams that speaks of the deeply beautiful mysteries of the Tarot. Why because I am a Gemini and can have many passions, many deep interests, at the same time. We Geminis do, after all, take after Mercury, the god of information and learning and the traveller between the realms.  So I bring all my loves to my sessions, astrology, symbology, archetypes, and always Tarot.

I find that the Tarot is an essential tool no matter what type of session I am conducting. In the AstroTarot life reading most of the session is taken up with the interpretation and discussion of three charts, the birth chart, the progressed Moon chart and lastly the transit chart. In the last half an hour we draw a Tarot spread from either Osho Zen, Symbolon, or Rider-Waite decks. The cards will either address an issue that hasn’t yet come up in the session or deepen a discussion thread and point to its importance.

In the Thinking Session, my Thinker after thinking through many waves and pauses will often request information in the form of a small Tarot spread when their thinking comes to a definite stop. The thought-provoking symbols of the cards provide inspiration to the thinker and eases them into further journeying into the star fields of their own thoughts.

“The Fortune Teller” by Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870)

The sessions that I categorise under Soul Care at first glance do not look like candidates for Tarot. But the cards so densely packed with colour and symbols lend themselves beautifully to these sessions and I would not be without them. I may use the cards by inviting each person in a circle to choose a card and share a thought on how that card speaks to them, or finish a personal session with a three-card spread which often summarises the issues we have spoken about, or again in a soul companion session the client may ask for a full spread for guidance and we muse on the cards together.  

To enjoy Tarot in its many facets, choose a session and book!

Tilling the Soil of your Life

Since the last time since I last wrote to you we have moved from Aries whose fire animates life and arrived in the loamy, earth sign of Taurus who embodies and shapes life and teaches us all about the material world, from money and resources to food, anything we need physically to live, as well as the more subtle matters of values and worth. Taurus is also about the preservation of life and maintaining the status quo.

Right now though Uranus is in Taurus and this planet is about anything but preserving the status quo! Taurus doesn't like a lot of change because change creates uncertainty and instability but with Uranus in Taurus, the earth, our earth is on the move and we are being asked to leave behind our comfort zones and embrace the entirely new. For most of us the earth beneath our feet is very different than from a year ago! 

As Joseph Campbell says so articulately:

“if you will think of yourself as coming out of the earth, rather than having been thrown in here from somewhere else, you see that we are the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the eyes of the earth. And this is the voice of the earth."

This is something Greta Thunberg, the teenager activist, demonstrates so clearly with her connection with the earth and how her cry out to us all on behalf of the earth, our earth, which is asking us to move, to change, to reconnect, to hold ourselves open for Reality to impinge upon us. 

So how do we open to reality, prepare the soil of our life when we live a world where anything could happen, the extreme climate, the extreme economy, a world of noise and distraction that alienates and causes the anxiousness of people everywhere? In this very time of looking into the dark of not knowingness (if we're honest it is always a time of not knowing) this is the very time that we adopt the stance of what is important to us, an intention to practice, to respect and to live to the highest values.

What do I mean by this? Well if I use the example of meditation, it means that we intend to weave a container of practice. To do that we need to adopt the stance  – learn the practice, commit to the discipline and practice, be constantly curious as to what is going on in our practice so we can spot when we are going to sleep or not showing up with our whole self, maintain a posture of patience which is not expectation but a place of holding our stance trusting the Other will come to join us. There will be times of emptiness and despair but if one is able to hold the stance there may come a moment of complete surrender and in that surrender our world completely changes, sometimes on the outer, but always on the inner.

With Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn for this next while there will be work in preparing the soil for the new. We will be digging into the earth of our life and weeding out anything old, outdated and just plain mouldy and past its sell-by date. This work cannot be put off as the Saturn/Pluto/South Node combination in Capricorn is a symbol of evolving and changing times that demands to be taken seriously, in the world at large and within our personal worlds too.

This is a Capricorn time of being responsible, of showing up for our life, of doing the hard work of tilling the soil, of waiting for that new birth whilst living with the difficulties these planets often bring. Perhaps a flare up of serious illness such as my household just experienced, or perhaps tending to a relationship that no longer feels nurturing or showing up for work that puts money on the table for food but does not feed your heart. These times can feel like you are treading a treadmill and when that happens there are two things I find I can do to lighten what can sometimes feel like a toil but which is such a necessary toil.
 
The first is I turn to the practice of gratitude, praying thanks for the love that braids itself into all our lives, almost despite ourselves. The love for a child, the love for a shared story with a husband, the love we give to each person as we tend to each other by doing what we do whether doctoring, counselling, mothering, cooking a meal that is shared, being part of the natural weave and web of love and life that the earth so lovingly includes us all in.

Taurus is also about pleasure, sensuality, taste, touch, and abundant flowering and so I practice giving gratitude each day for each particular thing that has been beautiful, loving or uplifting that day as well as for each thing that enables my life, the breath that moves through me, that glass of water, the plate of food, revelling in the Taurean love of nature as I feel my foot on the earth, my hand in the garden bed as a tiny jewelled sunbird sips from a bright orange flower cup.

As I am a lifelong student (and I suspect all of you are too), the second for me is to inspire myself with an arena of learning that is meaningful to me, to enhance my own learning with that which inspires me to wisdom and truth with a capital T. I am surrounded by colleagues and friends who are well into their seventies and eighties and are still studying, still enriching their lives with deep learning and so I see this as a vibrant, lifegiving, forever practice for all of us! 

I have been surprised when studies I have adored and thought just to be for me turned out to be seen as something of value by others. I am thinking of my studies of Tarot, Astrology, Jungian thought, mysticism, and the power of silence that inspires thinking, which I have inhaled with delight, particularly in those long down times of recovering from relapses of illness, and out of which has come my own synthesis which I now offer in Transfomational Guidance consultations. These consultations are imbued with my passion and love for my work.

I adopted a stance of knowing deeply that learning to find the golden threads in all the beautiful symbolic languages is life-enhancing. Life came along and danced with that and created an opportunity for me to share with others. My earth flowered and I now live with the joy of being with people as they explore the earth of themselves and how they are being called to live on this precious planet.

I would love to hear from you!

Whether just to say hello,

or to inquire about booking a session with me,

or to book in right now! 

Please feel free to browse my website for more information on my work and I would also love your feedback on either the website or the mailer.
 

Sending you all prayer bells of love, courage, connection, heart-warmth and joy,

Susan ♥ 

Life is the flower for which love is the honey

I am very moved by my daughter’s beautiful and inspiring painting which she has called Sting of betrayal. It reflects her experience of living with excruciatingly painful cluster headaches, one of the most painful conditions known to mankind.  The bees at the eye and the mouth, the sting of impossible pain in the eye, the sting at the mouth being silenced and brought to halt by the illness together with the expressive eyes of the girl hurts my heart.
 
But there is another level of the painting that I itch to interpret and share with you. These interpretations are of course mine and may not be shared by my daughter although she will be reading these thoughts of mine. The warm yellow and brown colours, the bees and the honeycomb provoke thoughts of healing. Throughout time bees and honey have been used for their healing properties, bee sting therapy is an alternative therapy modality, honey has antiseptic and antibacterial properties used to this day in the healing of wounds and propolis from the honeycomb eases and heals the skin. This suggests exploring avenues of healing and ways to manage and be with the pain.  Of course astrology is a healing tool too.  I am not a medical astrologer but my experience has taught me that the birth chart is a matrix of possibilities and potentials that can be a powerful tool in exploring yourself and your illness. Right now Jupiter, the planet of wisdom and education, has moved into Sagittarius, a sign that shapes how we see the world, how we make meaning. So this may be an ideal time to explore the potential to lift yourself from the sting of betrayal, from the feeling of fear and desolation, away from feeling a victim of the illness to managing the symptoms, exploring and researching the best treatments, to learning to “see” yourself and your reactions when ill and in pain, and how best to nurture yourself.

The eyes in the painting call my attention and I find it fascinating that I come from a family where a person in each generation has suffered with a painful condition that effects an eye. My father with trigeminal neuralgia, myself with optic neuritis, a symptom of multiple sclerosis,  and my daughter with cluster headaches. Patterns can be found when looking at the charts of families and in our case I am wondering what we are meant to “see”.

Bees are also a symbol of wisdom and sweetness and create the gold of honey. Many spiritual traditions use the bee and honey to express the deep wisdom of love and connection. In the Sufi poet Rumi's words “Your soul has become an invisible bee. We don't see it working, but there's the full honeycomb!” The experience of being ground down by pain and living with uncomfortable symptoms humbles one. We start to notice the baboon holding a baby to it's bosom with a withered limb, the rosebush that has battled the drought yet manages to open one deep red rose, the evening tide that still rolls onto the beach no matter how polluted the waters have become. We begin to understand that Illness is part of the human condition and, wider than that, of all of life. The mystery of that acceptance allows us to see the web of life and love of which we are all part of. As Victor Hugo tells us “Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”

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Book a Transformational Guidance session of Depth Astrology and Tarot with me by clicking this link.

If you live with an illness and long for an opportunity to speak honestly and frankly of your experience book yourself in for a chat with me.

The holiday season is almost upon us so a reminder that gift vouchers are available should you wish to gift a session to a friend.

I am open for bookings until I close for the holiday season on the 13th Dec for a month.

As I will not be sending another blog out this year I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families happy holidays!

Blessings and Love

Susan

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A huge thank you to my wonderfully talented daughter, Nicky Campbell, for allowing me to use her work in this posting. I love you to the moon and back!

Image Credits:

Sting of betrayal  by Nicky Campbell  2018 Watercolour on A3 cold press

Hope by Nicky Campbell 2015 Watercolour

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“Hope” is the thing with feathers -That perches in the soul -And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -Emily Dickinson

Venus turns retrograde in Scorpio - Relationships are crucial right now.

Image Credit: Bed of Roses by Victor Nizovtsev

Venus has turned retrograde in Scorpio (October 5th to November 16th) and we have begun our 40 day journey into the underworld, the dark places in our psyche, as the planet of love and relating dives deep into Scorpio’s emotional waters. It’s a time of reflection, an opportunity to assess what we love and what we value. Relationships are crucial right now. We need to investigate deeply how we negotiate, accommodate, understand, and relate to one another. How do we treat and respect each other?

Scorpio, a sign that is about passion, sexuality and power, the emotional underpinnings that motivate us, the drama we can fill our relationships with. So we are looking at the deeper or hidden side of relationships right now. This is a journey of looking at how we negotiate intimacy, how we are cherished, and who we cherish. A broken heart is a heart that is soft and open to those we love and the journey to that greater loving heart means looking at the power and toxicity in our relationships, and to heal, transform or find the courage to release partnerships that are not working. Are we rising to the challenge of moving from co-dependant to interdependent that these times call for?

This is also a passage where Venus becomes a warrior exposing secrets and collusion around sexual and gender politics and we have seen this vividly in the news as the feminine power within us all challenges the patriarchal rigidity and blindness in our society. This is a time to re-asses our core values to become wider and more inclusive.

When I see photos or a documentary such as Earthrise of the earth from space I am reminded so strongly that our home is so beautiful, so small, and home to us all. Our relationships to each other and to life around us are vital as our societal values are written into law. Perhaps this retrograde could nudge a move to a change of heart and a healthier relationship to the feminine and the earth.

DESTINY is a verb!

“There comes a time when each of us is faced with the fact that DESTINY is a verb, not a noun - a journey, not a destination.-Robert Ohotto ”

I so agree with Robert. We may have been born with a certain fate as regards the colour of our eyes, the country our parents live in, what century it is and indeed what constellations are in our birth chart but how we shape that raw material into the sails of destiny is what our life's work is. My Transformational Guidance sessions are all about finding that verb of destiny.

To celebrate your journey and the equinox coming up on the 23rd of Sept I am offering a 10% discount on all sessions untill mid-October 2018! Quote the coupon reference "equinox" when booking.

Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.

One of my comments last month was that astrologically the signs indicated we were all in for one hell of a ride. This has certainly been true for me and my large family as uncomfortable secrets have been revealed, old hurts exposed, the younger generation calling out the older, and family traditions being questioned.

As intense and uncomfortable all this is, if we can face into the hard truths and call ourselves into integrity and the responsibility that requires we change our choices, we can shine our torches into the dark corners of our psyches where greed, passions, ignorance, intolerance, collusion, and disrespect for the other lie, and clear it all out,. This is the work of the eyes, and work that both on the personal and the collective we are all being called to do right now.

Only once the work of the eyes is done is the passage to the heart clear and we can begin the heart-work. This too is hard work. But it is work infused with wonder and awe as you find the images imprisoned in your heart and the way, appropriate only to you, that will allow those images to dance in your life bringing a thread of love, tenderness and truth to your life no matter the chaos of the world around you.

I invite you to explore your journey in a Transformational Guidance session with me.

Either a Foundation session or a Follow up session if we have already spent time together.

Much love

Susan

It is a time of discrimination and choice.

Right now is a dizzy rush of events both here on earth and cosmologically in the skies. Amongst the many interesting astrological constellations is that from August 7th to 19th six planets (Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) will be retrograde all at the same time. A planet is said to be retrograde when it appears to move backwards through the sky. Having these six planets all reversing at once is extraordinary — and it offers an unusual opportunity to revisit areas of your life. We will each get a chance to investigate the areas they rule. At the same time there will be three eclipses back-to-back beginning mid-July and ending mid-August. Eclipses are associated with change and the word ‘eclipse’ means to block out the light, to obscure. So it is a time of exploring the darker areas in your psyche and working to bring them into the light.

From Ghana the Akan word of Sankofa means We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward, so we can understand why and how we came to be who we are.  We could use this time to apply the concept of Sankofa. On a global scale the talk by Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela lecture in Johannesburg beautifully explored a wide sweep of our global past, saying that we, the human race, are on the edge of answering an important question as to what future we choose and reminded us of the importance of choosing love.  As it is in the macro, so it is in the micro. These astrological movements are suggesting in the words of Mark Nepo that the work of repairing the world is endless and beautiful. And since we are the world, we are here to repair ourselves.

This is gonna be one hell of a ride!.. as one well known astrologer has commented. But we can ease the ride for ourselves by knowing what to let go of and what to keep, what must die and what could be born if we gave it enough care. It is a time of discrimination and allowing ourselves a proper exploration of the areas where these planets fall in our charts so we plot a course to our true north no matter the chaos around us.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery says in one of my favourite quotes “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’’Knowledge of ourselves allows us to begin to see with the heart.

I invite you to explore the intersection of now with me in either a follow up session if we have already spent time together or in a foundation session if you haven’t yet experienced a session. You can book a session by clicking this link.

May you experience each of your days as a blessing.

Much love

Susan

A possibility of a greater appreciation and enlightenment around our earth.

These beautiful photographs were taken in the mountains the morning after the first rains of the season by my friend Judith, an intrepid hiker. She sent them to me so I could share in the magic of the water pouring off the mountains, a real treat for the earth after a dry summer of drought.

Uranus has just moved into Taurus for a seven year period and one of the possibilities for this period is that a new force in our very earth awakens. Something wild, disruptive and exciting requiring we change our relationship to nature and the environment.

Judith's photographs show earth welcoming water, shaping itself to receive this gift that falls from the skies. But notice how it is the light that falls into love with the water flowing through rock basins, stream tickling the tree roots, turning tree bark into an incandescent blue light show and illuminating a flower into an orange flame dancing with the raindrops.

The eye that took the photographs is part of this love fest. To me this relationship of water to earth, light to the wonders of the earth, and the human who is there in relationship so experiencing this glory, is the possibility, the hope, the light that Uranus in Taurus is offering. A new ecological perspective with a greater appreciation and enlightenment around our earth, a perspective that understands that all is alive and filled with light and love.

Many thanks to Judith Hapgood for her photographs and allowing me to share them with you!

Being empowered is making the optimal choices in the present weather storms of life.

Learn how to live graciously in these wild, challenging and interesting times. Want to know more? Book a consultation with me!