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By Judith Gayle | Political Waves

You can’t go back. It’s one of those absolutes. Once Pandora’s Box is open, it’s open. We can turn our memory back to people and places, emotions and events, cherishing or condemning what was, but what is happening now, at this moment, is the only game in town. Being present in the moment takes a lot of moxie.

Perhaps that’s why reality is so elusive. We all exist in the bubble of our cultural experience, our choices and connections, despite what’s going on in the larger platform. Unless something intrudes, that is, making the political personal. At this moment, with (seemingly) sudden awareness that the political has the ability to impact our little bubble, reality is rearing its ugly head.

Here’s hoping that your personal reality offered plenty of positive attributes this Equinox/Easter week, because unfortunately, everywhere we look political reality appears to be a bar brawl. Most of us think that’s because government has failed us, but my perspective includes watching people attempt to impose what was, upon what is.

There’s a lot of that going around, so if we’re all about deciding what no longer works, we’re going to have to look at establishment politics: neoliberalism gone toxic and unresponsive to the needs of the people. The fireworks defining our primary campaign mostly miss that larger point, except that the outliers are creating a way to assess those differences, so bless them (even You Know Who).

We’re essentially down to Cruz and Trump, with Donald having offended 49 percent of Republican women voters, but with Cruz dancing tippy-toed on scandal that may hamper him as well. Hillary has gone downright presidential, counting up all her super delegates and moving to the right with a big stick AND loud voice, while Bernie continues to be Bernie. He’s had a lot of practice. Not much has changed with Bernie in decades.

Jimmy Kimmel nailed the differences between Cruz and Trump this week with a faux-ad, and I don’t know who they got to mimic Romney’s voice but he’s spot on. Bless the comics, they’re on the job.

And I’m giving wee Senator Lindsey Graham kudos for being the only Republican I can think of who is painfully honest about his party meltdown, telling The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah he’s thrown his weight behind Ted Cruz, whom he abhors, because ” … he’s not Trump.”

Graham understands Cruz has little chance of winning, but he’s picked Ted’s brand of suicidal poison over Trump’s role as a loaded gun. Watch this really entertaining interview and the pool game afterward, if you missed it. It’s worth your time, just because of the ease with which Graham navigates what he perceives to be “unfriendly territory.” Do note where his jokes fall flat (because he’s not in his own bubble, where everyone understands the context). We so rarely have a chance to mix it up this way any more. I give Lindsey grudging approval for both grace under fire and sense of humor (not to mention skill at pool).

On the left, Sanders won Utah and Idaho on Super Tuesday, and Clinton took Arizona, although there were an enormous amount of disenfranchised voters in Maricopa county, where voters lined up in minority neighborhoods for as long as five hours to vote. Many gave up and went home. Election officials had reduced the polling places by 70 percent — from 200 to 60 — thanks to the Supreme Court decision that turned back federal protections for 16 states with histories of discrimination, Arizona being one. Ultimately, that will benefit conservatives, as illustrated in Phoenix, where 40 percent of voters are minority. In the largest city in Arizona, there was only one polling place for every 21,000 voters.

Changes to the Voting Rights Act, as well as state insistence on ID, has already created problems in North Carolina earlier this season, and we should expect more of them. That’s highly problematic to the democratic process, and puts liberal votes under fire. Seems as though we’ve spent a decade and more being well aware of voting discrepancies and unable to get a fix. That says something about the leadership in this nation, and it ain’t good. Here’s Bernie at a press conference, discussing voter suppression in AZ. It’s also interesting to hear something other than his stump speech, which rarely happens in media.

Hillary Clinton has already pivoted to campaign against Trump, while Democratic leadership has invited Bernie to bow out — even the Prez, it’s been reported — since Hillary has outdistanced him with delegates. The Dem establishment considers Hillary the safe bet, with connected politicians and supporters with big bucks at her back, but Bernie was never about playing it safe. Sanders backers want their vote counted, and Bernie has every intention of increasing supporters as he campaigns, giving the other half of the states the opportunity to decide their primary choice.

Bernie drew a crowd of over 10,000 in San Diego last week, where he told them, to thunderous applause, “What this campaign is about (is) asking the American people to think outside of the box and not think of the status quo today as the status quo we have to live in.”

Business as usual IS at question, isn’t it? Know anyone who thinks what’s going on now needs to continue well into the future? Know anyone who hasn’t got a long laundry list of things no longer working in their lives, or no longer promoting the public good? It’s starkly obvious that Democratic leadership in this country exists in its own bubble, meeting the demands of the plutocracy, misunderstanding the Sanders campaign, and underestimating the populism that drives it, much as the Pubs can’t figure out how they lost their mojo to the likes of Donald Trump.

On the right, citizens have been fed a line of rhetorical fantasy for over a decade and many of the Trump supporters are grabbing at Donald’s promises to fix everything (without explaining how). Part of that fix is to “make America great again,” which means to bolster the patriarchy of white males at the nation’s helm and reaffirm American exceptionalism by brute force.

Think of that as an infusion of testosterone and renewal of colonialism, both of which — if put to the public in those terms — would be considered anachronistic in the 21st century. But when suggested as a shield against terrorism and a hedge against all those things going bump in the night, fear erodes common sense. It may seem as though we’re only sorting out the difference between two political philosophies — two eventual polarized candidates — yet it is so much more: the choice we’re making is closer to the bone than we care to admit: who we are, what we wish to do with our considerable power as a nation and how we will be seen in the future.

As Mark Karlin, BuzzFlash editor, wrote recently, “… no empire has lasted forever. The great tectonic forces of domestic and international changes have given Donald Trump the opportunity to fan the embers of racism as the US empire erodes due to its excesses, exploitation, over expanded military conflicts and backlash.”

We know the left has delusional issues, as well. The idea that the people are pissed off enough to support and agitate for big change just isn’t registering with establishment politicians. Hillary Clinton’s commentary that we don’t need to make America great because it already is seems remarkably tone-deaf, given the enormous amount of energy from those demanding big changes in the status quo. The idea of actually shaking up the financial institutions to hold anyone accountable, or bringing scrutiny to bear on their incestuous interactions, simply cannot penetrate the thick walls of the neoliberal bubble.

Hillary’s speech at the AIPAC convention has been described by her aides as “muscular” — by me as “hawk, revisited” — and caused Glenn Greenwald to tweet his concern that no progressive has called her on it. I think most progressives expected it, even as her rhetoric as a candidate has attempted to clone Sanders’s call for cultural and financial equality. Clinton’s pivot toward a national election means coming back to center. Always good to remember that horses capable of changing their color at will only exist in Oz.

Now, this neoliberal business may be confusing to some, so let’s define it, as simplified over at Kos:

Neoliberalism is a free market economic philosophy that favors the deregulation of markets and industries, the diminution of taxes and tariffs, and the privatization of government functions, passing them over to private business.

Essentially it’s been proven that nothing much trickles down and that the free market is anything but free, yet the bubble that continues to encapsulate those memes is protected by the powerful .01 percent of the 1 percent and organizations like the Chamber of Commerce. Now that formerly untouchable topics like Social Security, media bias, and Big Pharma have been successfully addressed by the progressives, renegade capitalism can’t be all that surprised to find itself in the cross-hairs, yet the establishment simply turns its head and pretends everything is fine.

All of Washington D.C. is neoliberal, at this point — market driven, enamored with the private sector as an answer to national problems, and handsomely paid by the corporatocracy to keep everything on an even keel, which means no shake-ups in policy to hamper their profit margin. Our children believe that this is what government is. It’s no wonder they reject it.

Barack Obama took his family with him to Cuba this week, but he also took a couple of corporate representatives. Frankly, I think if anyone wants to know what Old Cuba is like, they better get permission to visit right away. I fear what a consumer society might do to a little island that sat out the corporate boom of the last 80 plus years.

Obama is a curious blend of liberal and neoliberal impulses, often discussed in think pieces. What stands out as telling are both his academic connection with the Chicago School of Economics and his selection of Clinton-administration alumni to fill most cabinet positions. The President seldom takes a path to the left without kicking some schmutz up behind him, as when he revoked the plan to allow Atlantic drilling, but allowed for 10 new leasing sites in the Gulf of Mexico and three off the Alaskan coast. Still, I applaud his measured international response, and calm assurance in the face of chaos, and I expect we’ll miss him when he’s gone.

Entrenched neoliberal politicos find themselves standing on the outside, perhaps still thinking they can ‘manage’ the progressive ire building against them. Maybe they should take a clue from the embattled Republicans, who once thought the same of their base. Hillary lost a good many Illinois votes recently because of her connection to Rahm Emanuel, a mayor who is uniformly hated by many in Chicago. A New Yorker article nails the problem:

“How will she manage a Party in which all the moral authority belongs to the left wing, in which Elizabeth Warren seems, in temperament and ideology, far closer to the median Democratic voter than Clinton does? She now faces a Party in which, if the example of Emanuel means anything, assertions of personal competence are not nearly enough.”

Meanwhile, a supremely confident Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who has taken advantage of her position on several fronts in recent years, now finds herself with a robust primary challenger, her first ever.

My uber-religious Bagger Representative recently made a statement — I saw it on TV and my jaw dropped! — that “Washington today needs to be run like a business.” Granted, her family gets huge farm subsidies, and she makes money as an author as well as her (fat) salary in the House (for doing next to nothing), but how does she rationalize that statement with her flag-waving patriotism and culture war mentality? Feels awfully “Trumpish” to me, don’t you think? It’s a neoliberal way of looking at the world, not a religious one.

Last but not least, this week I signed a petition asking that another of my congressional rep’s — this one even more religious, if possible — not vote for a bill that “prohibits the state from imposing penalties on individuals and religious entities who refuse to participate in same sex marriage ceremonies due to sincerely held religious beliefs.” This is mostly a brouhaha about wedding cakes, etc.

The petition reads:

Pro-discrimination bills, like SJR39, have no place in Missouri. Community leaders and business leaders across the state have joined Missourians like me in condemning this anti-LGBT legislation because  discrimination against any Missourian is wrong.

Please do not vote to deny people their civil rights. Discrimination has no place in our state — and not only is discrimination wrong, but it’s bad for business. Please stop SJR39 so that discrimination isn’t enshrined into our Missouri Constitution. Thank you for your service.

Sincerely,

I got this reply, from his iPhone:

An old 1971 Song had these lyrics;

And the sign said “Long-haired freaky people need not apply”

I believe this should apply to anyone who wants to put up a Sign to protect their Business.

I’ve written him back and thanked him for his candor, considering how easily he might have ignored my request, but he had a point to make, obviously.

I had one too. I suggested that it’s been 3,500 years since Deuteronomy was inscribed and 45 since that lyric hit the air, which makes him 3,545 years behind the times. And while little spots on the map may continue to reflect his kind of regressive bias, they can’t hold up forever, any more than the Constitution of the United States can any longer be interpreted as an inflexible, unchanging, ‘dead’ document.

I added that those unwilling to bend will break, and signed it “your long-haired freaky constituent, unrepresented in Missouri.”

Times change, and so does the status quo — in point of fact, it already has. The public’s mind has opened on too many levels to close again, unless by extreme measures, and I think we’re wise enough now to see those coming. If the people still focused on keeping their bubbles intact, the status quo on an even keel, would just relax their grip a bit, look around and smell the (fair market) coffee, we could get on with this shift a good deal less painfully.

Holiday blessings to you all from the Pea Patch.

Like it or not, Easter is part of western culture. It’s easy not to like this particular holiday because of how it has been co-opted by the dominant paradigm to become almost indistinguishable from its origins. There is enough to like, however, to consider reclaiming this coming Sunday on your own terms.

Astrologers can find something to like about Easter because of how its date is determined. Basically, it’s the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the vernal equinox.

This year, because a Libra Full Moon took place on March 23 (less than four days after the Sun entered Aries to precipitate the vernal equinox on March 19 or 20, depending on your time zone), Easter is coming earlier than usual. Since the Full Moon this week was also a lunar eclipse, there is reason to look more closely at whatever comes with the territory.

After all, eclipses do serve to emphasize things, if nothing else. This year, Easter is undeniably one of those things.

Another thing to like about Easter is how its theme embraces optimism. For many of us, the personal experience goes back to childhood contemplations of how it was paradoxical to call the Friday before Easter “good,” when you consider what is purported to have happened on that day nearly two thousand years ago.

Furthering the paradox to our times, optimism has been co-opted in much the same way Easter has. The phenomenon goes back to the Great Bad Actor: Ronald Reagan. Either Reagan or (more likely) one of his neo-conservative puppet masters hit on the idea of staking out optimism as their own. Even as transparently disingenuous as that strategy was, it worked well enough.

Ever since Reagan, both authentically progressive political movements and politicians have had to labor (whether rightly or wrongly) with the albatross of cynicism around their necks. Now that the neo-conservatives have finally soiled their own nest enough to reveal themselves for what they are, optimism is ripe for reclaiming, just like Easter.

Hence, in a very real sense, you are living at a time when your culture and civilization are ripe for re-definition. That’s a big deal. As with most big things, it’s probably best to start small — with yourself.

Remember that the roots of both the word “Easter” and its associated practices predate Peeps and even Christianity. Long before marshmallow and chocolate, there was the mystery represented by real, everyday eggs. Way back before a corporate church there was an observation that life on Earth continuously (and miraculously) renews. Predating even that corrupt fascist enterprise known as the Roman Empire, people noticed that bunny rabbits as a (loosely defined) species managed to survive extensive predation by reproducing like, well… bunnies.

So take a cue from the astrology that is currently presenting our times in bold-faced italics. Reclaim optimism from those who have hidden their agenda behind it. Then, go further. Do as children have already been doing for so long. Dispense with the manipulative façade of doctrine and cut to the chase of sweet things by reclaiming Easter on your own terms, to be celebrated in your own way. This could indeed be the start of something big. And to think that it could begin with you is to be thinking more clearly than perhaps ever before.

Offered In Service

By Amanda Painter

As I write this on Wednesday, the Libra Full Moon and penumbral lunar eclipse was exact only a few hours ago, with the early Libra Moon opposing the early Aries Sun. So it’s a little early for me to be able to assess the full effect of this eclipse. What I can do is comment on some of the energy that led up to and underscored the eclipse, and look ahead to a related aspect pattern that’s exact tomorrow.

As Len Wallick noted regarding the attacks on the Brussels airport and metro station Tuesday (and ISIL attacks in several Muslim countries the last year or tow), we are not living in easy times. My condolences and empathy go out to everyone who’s been affected.

Violence of this sort can make one feel powerless — but we do have the power of choice in how we respond to what is going on around us.After all, yesterday’s eclipse occurred very early along the Aries-Libra axis, making it an Aries Point event.

As you likely know, the Aries Point is known for intersecting global or political events with your personal experience. Yet, you don’t have to know anybody personally affected by terrorist attacks to have had a noticeable encounter with the eclipse’s energy. On a more personal scale, I’ve noticed a number of themes to what’s been going on around me in the days and hours leading up to 8:01 am EDT on Wednesday (the Full Moon and eclipse).

These include: the need to take leadership or authority in interpersonal interactions; various forms of personal crisis and loss; collaborative creative opportunity appearing out of the blue; complete dismantling and restructuring of a workplace; technical glitches involving communication devices (Mercury is not retrograde — it’s direct — but it did conjoin the Sun Wednesday); rearrangement of priorities; questions about Self in relationship, vulnerability/intimacy and commitment/devotion; and taking individual-level action in the face of global injustice or group difficulty.

If none of those themes speak to you, think back over the last 48 hours (or even the last week) and see what catches your attention. You might simply need to shift perspective or get a little distance from yesterday to recognize a theme.

So what’s next? In part, that depends on you, the choices you make in response to whatever you have recently experienced, and whether you apply your insights to your next encounters.

Astrologically, the Jupiter-Saturn square I mentioned with the eclipse continues to feature prominently as we approach the weekend. That’s because Venus in Pisces is moving into alignment with Jupiter and Saturn, creating a T-square.

In other words, Venus in mid-Pisces will oppose retrograde Jupiter in Virgo at 7:58 am EDT (11:58 UTC) on Friday. Then Venus will square Saturn in Sagittarius at 12:48 pm EDT (16:48 UTC). In astrology, that counts as one event, and one aspect pattern. Just before Venus makes those contacts, Saturn stations retrograde at 6:01 am EDT Friday (10:01 UTC).

With this trio of planets, we have an image of intuitive feelings, receptiveness and idealism (Venus) on one side of a teeter-totter, trying to balance with what may be an overreliance on past facts and old plans or self-criticism (Jupiter is retrograde, therefore oriented inwardly or on the past). And the point upon which they are trying to balance is retrograde Saturn — an image of looking to past beliefs (religious, moral or spiritual) for some kind of structure or foundation to rely on, rather than looking squarely at the present situation or context.

Since Venus is the only planet of the three in direct motion, one way through any interpersonal conflict or inner tension you encounter is to remember your empathy. Sometimes “all you need is love.”

At other times — such as when the sky is so dominated by planets in dreamy, sensitive Pisces — it helps to engage the multi-faceted talents of your brain in full, conscious awareness of the present moment’s many layers.

A little-known asteroid called Itokawa is in Gemini in the exact same degree as Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. Itokawa therefore turns the T-square into a grand square in the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces), which is more stable than a T-square.

Named after a Japanese rocket scientist with Renaissance-man interests, Itokawa seems to indicate one of the qualities you might find useful right now: the ability to hold more than one truth in mind at once.

How you integrate those truths is up to you. None of us is alone in our experience of the current astrology; yet sometimes we act that way, forgetting to consider another person’s reality alongside our own. If you can broaden your mind’s scope in a way that is not destructive, and can side-step both rigidity and sentimentality to find your way to empathy and mindfulness, you’ll be well on your way to parlaying yesterday’s eclipse into a useful new pattern.

By Amanda Moreno

For me, this eclipse season has been a big tangle of all kinds of inertia, revving up some deep inner voice that loves to tell me I’m lazy, even after a full day’s work. I’ll admit, though, I found myself frequently sitting in my home office on a big, overstuffed chair, just scrolling through Facebook or looking for something mindless to watch — the act of deciding which show to choose being no match for my inertia bubble.

Therefore, I decided to use this past weekend for deep spring equinox cleaning purposes. Time to liven up my space, clear it out, do my quarterly altar re-build, and make way for the moment when the inertia will lift (it will, won’t it?).

As part of my space-cleansing and blessing, I decided I wanted to play the music of Krishna Das through my three-day process. I needed something without words I can understand in order to enable a sense of devotional presence, and I love this music’s ability to allow for release at the same time as I’m filled with some kind of divine presence — a sense of complexity, life and hope.

Aside from being the ultimate form of medicine for my soul and an integral part of my spirituality, music is perhaps my primary memory-trigger. My relationships with certain songs and albums are some of the most long-standing in my life. I’m aware that I’m a very scent-oriented rememberer as well, but music plucks on my heartstrings in a way that makes me sigh or gasp audibly to process whatever strand of feeling is moving through.

As I pushed ‘play’ on a Krishna Das album this weekend, a gasp did escape. Followed by a cringe. Suddenly, I was doubled over in pain. I realized, then, why I have been avoiding Krishna Das: it was the music that got me through the first half of last year. As I was going through major transformation — including the dissolution of an incredibly intense and important relationship, a plunge into deep, permeating doubt surrounding my place on the path of a healer, and an accompaniment of body woes to go with it all — I used this music as a cocoon of constant prayer.

I can remember days when I would be vigilant about having my earphones in before I left the house, knowing how acutely sensitive my whole being was to everything around me — most specifically other people’s energy — and how painful half-hour bus rides had become because of it. I was learning about energetic boundaries because I absolutely had to, rather than out of the curiosity that had fueled my previous studies.

I was being asked to let it all move through me, rather than shielding against it or allowing it to become lodged within, and I was constantly over-stimulated. As I walked to the bus stop, I would begin to visualize whatever mantra the music was putting forth (this one specifically comes to mind) as words swirling around my field. I would change the colors and the speed according to my intuition. This practice gave me something to focus on, to learn from, and cushioned me enough to gather my composure for whatever job or event I was headed to.

In the past few days, as I’ve let that music back in, I’ve been fascinated with just how powerfully it takes me back to that time in my life in visceral, full-body memory. It’s not painful anymore, but I am so intrigued by the way it feels. It feels as if whispers of joy and pain and sorrow are funneling through my veins, out of my heart, and into my body in a loosening process, hopefully facilitating more letting go. It feels healing, but also totally shocking.

This process has also reminded me of just how enchanted and magical that period of my life felt. Of all the things I’ve gone through in my life, it was one of the most painful and challenging, but there was a constant sense of the sacred — even when I wanted to give up on it. The music played a large part in that; but there was also so much ritual and ceremony, so much focusing on astrology as a tool of guidance and timing, and such a strong group of healers and mentors around me.

Looking back on it now, I think I can attribute to that period of time what I’m experiencing lately as a return to trusting the universe.

I remember doing a ritual at the ocean about a year ago. I left the house where I was staying with a Krishna Das song in my head, allowing the mantra to repeat over and over, and walked out onto the beach, towards the ocean, surrounded by guides. I performed the ritual I’d created from within that container, and at the end had a quick little conversation with Grandmother Ocean.

I pretty much just gave my gratitude for her constant healing presence in my life, and let her know I was going to leave in a few minutes, adding that although I wasn’t expecting any sign or recognition, if she wanted to send one to let me know she’d heard, that would be great.

I immediately looked over and saw three deer playing in the surf. Tears and laughter ensued.

There were other times, with other animal friends sending clear and direct messages of recognition and support. As I’ve reflected on all of this, there is some sense of longing for that level of connection and meaning — although I’ve no desire to return to that state and am quite enjoying my current life. There will be time for more plunges, I’m sure.

This eclipse window has felt so intimately connected to the one that occurred around this time last year. It makes sense that these themes would arise, and that the memories feel like they come from ten years ago…or just yesterday. Whatever the case, I am forever humbled by the power of music to evoke memory, to heal and hold, and to remain a constant ally. It’s quite the blessing, and I need to remind myself more often what a potent form of medication it can be.

By Sarah Taylor

Full disclosure: I am writing with a bad head-cold and at the tail-end of a family emergency (which has passed, but continues to leave its mark). So today I am going to be brief — and for some reason, that feels fitting for a mid-ish-week reading that falls the day before a lunar eclipse. The cards reflect this timing, too. I am holding trust that you get everything you need.

The foundation to this reading is held by the card on the left: the Three of Swords. “Mourning.”

Something has been — well, if not lost, then it had the quality of confusion, an over-involvement by unwanted parties, or a compromise that has left its sting. You know that saying, “Too many cooks spoil the broth”? This broth — a hope, an idea, a belief pinned to your vision board — has indeed been at the mercy of one too many cooks.

Often, in cases like this, a swift, tactical maneouvre to extricate yourself from the immediate ensnarement and clashing of words is the best shot you have at restoring a sense of balance.

And, my goodness, it seems you’ve achieved that. The Three of Swords could have felt like a fleeting moment in the greater scheme of your life — a small scuffle, a minor “yikes!” (or a big “OUCH!” ) — but its effect is greater than that. The Three of Swords has paved the way for your current situation: the Ten of Cups. Haindl titles this card “Success,” yet it’s success of a very specific kind. As the final card of its suit, a Ten represents a fulfillment; the success refers to the coming together of disparate parts of yourself. It is an inner family reunion, where love has been the currency that has enabled you to return those disparate parts to the fold — the sanctum of your heart.

You’ve experienced complications that arise when you step into the complexity of interrelatedness; you now understand the wholeness that comes from that, as paradoxical as it may seem. In some way, you’d been working behind the scenes from yourself, contemplating the matter of love and what it actually means (and no, it’s not what you find in the movies). You have found your version of it — the one that works for you, right here, right now.

This is a place that no-one else can touch; it is dependent on no-one other than you. You have tended it — possibly with the kind of care that you weren’t able to offer yourself until recently — and enriched it so that it beats at your centre.

Time to move forward. This is as good as it gets for now. You may find you come around again and revisit what you’ve just been through in a different form, but it will never be the same — because you aren’t the same.

And as if to emphasise this moving on, the figure of the Princess of Swords in the final card — represented by the Ancient Egyptian goddess Isis — looks away from the two cards to her left, and greets what will be shifting into life, as yet unseen by you. As the Princess, you have the Ten of Cups at your back; as do you the Three of Swords. Your own Sword — your agility with ideas, words, and your laying down of the law in your life — is tempered with that beating heart.

“As mother [of Horus] and wife [of Osiris], as the heroine of the battle against Set [Osiris’s brother], Isis represented love, courage, and devotion. Pictures often showed her feeding her infant Horus, a scene like the Christian Madonna and Child.” [Rachel Pollack, The Haindl Tarot: The Minor Arcana]

Love, courage, and devotion. As the Princess of Swords, your wisdom is focussed on nurturance — your own, as well as toward other people, and other things.

You are learning what ‘motherhood’ really means (and, again, it is not the stuff of movies). The mother is the heart-centred custodian of life. She is the wisdom that springs from that. She is clear-sighted in her commitment to it. She is earth, she is family, she is intuition. She underpins all things.

Isis is associated with both the Sun and the Moon — perfect timing given this reading marks the second of two eclipses. This not only anchors it into your psyche and the collective: it also gives you an indication of timing and what will be ushered in by the new cycle that is now being birthed.

Resonating as you are with the archetype of the mother, you are perfectly positioned to know what to do, and how to be, in the form she takes in your life.

Astrology/Elemental correspondences: Three of Swords (Saturn in Libra), Ten of Cups (Mars in Pisces), Princess of Swords (the earthy aspect of air)

If you want to experiment with tarot cards and don’t have any, we provide a free tarot spread generator using the Celtic Wings spread, which is based on the traditional Celtic Cross spread. This article explains how to use the spread.