A Whale of a Dream

I woke up at 4:30 am on Monday. It was cold and I didn't want to be up yet. However, the comforter didn't seem comfortable either. I smoked some thought rings and watched them float. These thought rings are just that. They make my head spin just like it would in an amusement park; and then make me dizzy with pleasure followed by nausea. I dizzied myself to sleep.

I am on a sea shore. The weather isn't too sunny or too dull. Brij, DD, and Old Soul, and a woman with 2 children on lap (I did not recognize the woman or her children) are sitting on a bench. All of them have a completely neutral expression (maybe a hint of sad) on their faces. I come to the bench smiling and jokingly sit down between Brij and Old Soul. And then, we see the tail of this huge whale. Just glorious and magnificent. Whoosh Whoosh. And then the next moment, the whale is on the sandy beach. I look at her (no way to be sure). Her face looks cold. And then she swings her tail and hits our bench and we all fall into the water (The last part I know...I didn't see or feel the water) and I immediately (in the dream) think that these are emotional waters.


According to Jamie Sams and David Carson of the Medicine Cards, the whale is a record keeper and holds records and secrets as old as the earth itself. As I write this, the whale seems to be the keeper of the Native American equivalent of the Akashic records. When the whale comes to you, you are being asked to tap into these records, find your origins, and see your overall destiny. If your mind is so full of chatter clouds and you cannot access these records, then you might need to turn in to find your silence. In this silence, you must seek the Whale's song within you. And then who knows, you may connect to the very roots of history and maybe, just maybe, you may even connect to your own unique library of records.

I have always been ruled by my emotions. They mostly express joy but at times they are deep and dark. The Whale pushes me into my sea of emotions and reminds me that if I can relax and lose my chattering mind, I will not only survive the sea storms but also will dive deep into the understanding of the history of the earth and possibly, my own story.

Today, I talked to a Tree.

The card for today is EXPERIENCING (3 of Wands or Fire). This card has appeared a couple of times this week. So I listen. As I look out of the window, I see the synchronicity of this card with nature outside and as I look inside me, I see autumn there too. The colors of the fall are so pretty; the bronzes, the golds, the reds, the pinks, the oranges, and the yellows. The day seems just right for hiking so that is what we obey.

As I walked, I talked to myself and to the trees too. As tears rolled down my eyes, I asked the trees how they could they let go their pretty colorful leaves? Is it because they knew that fall must follow summer and if fall was here, one day spring would come too? Would this also be true in my life? Will I ever be so light and joyous again? At one point, I just ran and put my arms around an tree so enormous that it was comforting. My heart was pressed so tightly against the tree trunk: As it heard my heart beat, I heard its too. The tree told me that it doesn't think, it just does. When its pretty leaves can no longer bear the cold, they let go and become one with the earth. This earth then in turn replenishes the tree. In this way, the leaves continue to be a part of the tree. In the grand scheme of things, when you truly let go; you belong. But what of the pain, I ask? The tree replies that once you learn to let go of expectations, burdens, and illusions; you learn to let go of the pain too. I inhale deeply and as I exhale I begin the process of letting .....Sigh

By this time, I have relaxed my death grip on the tree. I thank my dear nature friend for its guidance. We have touched our souls and now its time to move on. Blessings to you, my dear tree. The tree smiles and blesses me too.

Clearing the Clouds

When life seems so complicated that I don't even know what to ask; ironically the best option is to ask the simplest (and most effective, imho) of questions. So,

Deck Deck on my writing desk
what does the universe want me to know right now?

Deck (aka the Universe): 2 of Air (2 of Swords) Schizophrenia

Ha, ask and you shall receive. Indeed. Thank you for hitting me with the obvious. This card has hazy nebulous clouds (not in this picture but in the corresponding card in the Osho Zen tarot deck ) that have clouded my judgement so much that I can't decide. A stalemate. My "no" nor my "yes" have any meaning because my "no" contains a teaspoon of "yes" and my "yes" contains a teaspoon of "no" stirred in it.
According to Osho, the way out of this lies not by playing mind games, or making a pro and con list, or letting your mind make more hazy clouds (the mind seems to excel at this cloud creating game) but in following your heart. What if you don't know what your heart wants, you ask (I hear, I hear). Then, says Osho, just jump and make a decision and then your heart will beat so fast that you shall know.

If we don't make a decision, our choices get worse. The clouds condense and freeze your heart or disperse and break your heart (3 of swords), this then leads to the slippery slope of procastination and we go deeper and deeper into more negative states. This path is so many hyperspace jumps away from the path of celebration and the path of totality.

May the universe bless me with the intuition to hear my heart and the strength to follow it!! May I have the decisiveness to use the two swords to kill the half "yeses" and half "no's"!! May I remember that my life is a dance of celebration not an awkward attempt to hold on to challenging situation!!

The Prince of Hearts

The Prince of hearts (of the gasp and swoon variety) raises his cup to adventure, love, and enchantment in the universe and in turn the universe toasts "Bon Voyage" to our royal traveler. This prince is devastatingly handsome, chivalrous, noble, and whatever else your disney coached princess heart can dream of. That I know.
But have you ever wondered what his cup might contain? Yes, it could be wine. But surely, our prince knows better than to drink and drive. Too cool for DUI. I can totally imagine that his cup contains this "Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai" from the faraway lands that he dreams of traveling. This chai contains a whiff of adventure, of fantastical creatures, of unfathomable treasures, of deep mysteries, and of hauntingly beautiful princesses. I also happen to know that his cup is made of the darkest and richest chocolate: the perfect aphrodisiac for his valentine. Maybe he is headed for your town tonite. So wear your most dazzling smile and your heart on your lacey sleeve and maybe, just maybe he will offer his cup of love to you.
Or better still, brew your own cup of caramel chai and dash off to your very own adventure. Bon Voyage!!

The Mystical Magical Toolbox for Manifestation and Mindfulness

"The Manifestation Part"

I recently attended a "Creative Visualization" workshop at my friend Erien's meditation center also fondly known as the Lighthouse. Everything that was said in the workshop reminded me of the Magician. The Magician is the master of creative visualization. Literally speaking, he " visualizes to create". The Magician is also the master of manifestation. Have I connected all the dots from "creative visualization" to "manifestation"? Almost. The four missing dots are the Magician's magical tools: magic cup, wand, sword, and coin.
In this workshop, I meditated and visualized what I wished to create. And then with Erien's help, I framed a personal mantra that embodied my creation. (That mantra is so important that it gets its own post).
My mantra is :

"I empower myself to empower others through tarot."

But now, I need to use the magician's tools. I have to align my cup (heart), sword (mind), wand (actions), and coin (resources) to this mantra in order to manifest my creation. I look at these magical tools and these are the questions that they ask me.

1. Master Cup :
Do you feel strongly about this creation?
Does it involve helping yourself and others?

2. Master Sword :
Is it crystal clear, concise and precise?

3. Master Wand :
What actions are you taking to bring about this creation?

4. Master Coin :
What resources (time, money etc) are you using to create?

I ask and answer these questions in an endless loop and have seen my feelings grow more positive and strong and deep; my goals get more aligned to my heart's desire; my actions becoming more energetic and diverse; and discovering many new and old resources that could help me manifest my mantra.

"The Mindfulness Part"

Now I see this magical toolbox available to me everywhere and try to make it work for me. When I am cooking, I see the cup energy in my feelings about food and cooking and the people for whom I cook and the liquid ingredients of cooking (oil, vinegar, water, soy sauce); I see the wand energy in my actions of chopping, stirring, and heating, in my creativity, the fire which cooks my food; I see the sword energy in my knife, the aroma of the food, the precise menus I make for my guests; I see the coin energy in the resources I use to cook my food (the pots and pans), the food itself (the bread, the fruits, and vegetables), the entire kitchen itself which is nothing but the land I cook in, and finally the coins I use to buy my groceries etc. As I become more aware of this toolbox, the more mindful I become.

Whenever you ask for this toolbox, it magically appears . So use it whether you want to manifest something special or you just want to be more mindful.

P.S. My toolbox is sparkly and colorful. Now go find yours.

Enchanted

When I was a little girl, I always had three wishes on the tip of my tongue because you never know when you would meet a fairy. I was always prepared for my fairy encounter. I had the most enjoyable and pleasant time anticipating this fairy encounter (the fairy in my fantasy looked like a cross between a Disney princess and Tinker bell). I would wear my fairy meeting dress (everyone knows that fairies like lacy, frilly, pretty dresses in pastel shades especially pink. I used to call it my Pari (fairy) dress and had several of those) and would have my play tea set in the garden and would spend many hours daydreaming and having virtual play dates with the most beautiful of fairies.

A blog post by my friend, Polymathicus, revived this memory for me. This luminous memory was like a memory fairy wand that touched so many aspects of my life. I looked at my current favorite dress ( a lovely pink, lilac, and green dress from Saks Fifth Avenue) and it was so conceptually similar to my fairy dresses. I goggled and saw wonderful fairy themed jewellery, and wonderful mushrooms and flowers themed bath and kitchen products, and butterfly chairs and flowery tables. I looked out of our patio and saw a setting fit for watching the fairies. So I cleaned our patio and got some delightful furniture from Ikea and now it has become my favorite place. During the day as I sip my chocolate, I watch squirrels and cardinals, robins and blue jays and when I am lucky deers too. I even do mystical fairy readings that have been so accurate and so incredibly sweet. I got the mystical faerie tarot deck which so fits into my current state of mind and seems to belong to my patio. Here's a link if you want to see it yourself http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/mystic-faerie/
(Created by Linda Ravenscroft and text by Barbara Moore)

The colors of this deck are so subtle and seem in complete harmony with the faerie world. The borders of the cards seem to me as windows from which I can watch their world and learn their ways. Conversely, when the light is just right and when they are requested, the faeries also can peek into our life and guide us. This deck is truly enchantingly endearing.

At night, from my patio, I can see the dense forests and fireflies and stars twinkling and inviting me into this world. And when I hold this deck in my hand I seem to have discovered my portal to their world.

And, I Think To Myself What A Wonderful World (Ten of Cups)

After my wedding, many rainbows ago, as we were decorating our home, the first painting I put up was titled "Thanks and Praises" (by Bernard Stanley Hoyles). The painting mirrored my feelings ---I felt like thanking and praising every force and person in the universe who had brought us together as man and wife. I remember humming "And I think to myself what a wonderful world" as I was preparing lunch. Everything seemed wonderfully beautiful and I was happy, creative, and content --- a classic
Ten of cups feeling. (Also note that this post is overflowing with the word "feeling" which is not surprising considering it is a "cup" card and there are 10 of them in this one). This feeling of productive contentment is very different from the heady delirious feeling of falling head over heels in love.

The above mentioned song seems to so completely capture the rainbow-hued happiness of this tarot card. Everyone would like to sip contentment from this cup; so here's the song and the card. Hold this picture in your heart and hum the song as you walk/cook/live and let this feeling fill you. Now excuse me, I have a song to sing.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD - 24/04/1968

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah