A New Tarot Deck
Topic: Tarot Card of the Day
I went to the WB bookstore yesterday, on my way to see my herb guy, and I bought myself a new tarot deck, The Enochian Tarot. It's not a traditional deck but I loved the images when I looked through the sample book at the store. I've looked at the case of tarot cards, every single time I've gone in that bookstore and no one has ever come to me to ask if I wanted the case open so I could see a deck. Except for yesterday. ha ha!

"One deck Shelley, you can only buy one deck!" I had to remind myself.

Buddy was quite knowledgeable about the decks he offered and we discussed the decks I currently own. The ones I use the most Robin Wood Tarot for writing; Universal Waite or Thoth for personal readings. From the samples, I was down to deciding between The Witches Tarot by Cannon Reed or The Enochian Tarot. Buddy told me that he had a few customers complain about the Enochian deck being too dark for them but somehow when I held it, I felt energy stream from the deck through my arms. It was the same way that I chose my rose quartz crystal.

I surfed the net to see what sites covered the deck and the reviews I've read have been about how hard the cards are to read. I found that interesting because I'm so used to connecting with the cards intuitively. I like to check other peoples interpretations of cards to see what they are saying, but these cards aren't traditional anyway.

Anyhow I pulled three cards last night, deciding that this deck would be solely for intuitive interpretation and got this out of them...

52. Aila - I saw as the circle of life. My connection to others and how I share myself with others.

43. AOGD - My subconscious thoughts coming to the forefront. Creating something out of nothing, creativity.

61. Saiinov - In the center of my own power. Full use of my mental resources. Expressing my unique creativity and talent.

As a whole, looking at the cards together, they look at what's outside of me and what's inside me and mixing it up (like in chemistry class - mixing everything in a beeker - I failed chemistry ha!) to create something unique.

Anyway, I was kind of chatty this morning! Now I'm hungry. ha ha!

EY

What's in my heart?
Topic: Another Entry
Saturday 11:32am

Upon thinking about my previous entry my thoughts bounced around:
What's in my heart? Leo is about heart. August has been a far calmer Leo time for me compared to July Leo. Hm! I should look at the New Millenium Being newsletter again for Leo to see what I get out of it.

I immediately opened it to the pages I've highlighted and read this:
- complete or clarify relationships
- a new perspective and commitment
- sustain only that which is in alignment with your path
- concentrate on your next step
- stay focused and eliminate all distractions
- examine your motivations and align your goals to match your heart's desires
- devote your available time and resources to working toward what you really want

And for the Leo New Moon tomorrow:
Follow our hearts at this new moon. Set aside time to be with yourself and examine
1 - What you are currently creating and what you wish to create?
2 - What kind of light are you shining? How can you shine your soul light a little brighter?
3 - What is the nature of your soul blueprint? How is it guiding you toward your spiritual destination?

Somehow this brings my thoughts to our paths, whether we consider it spiritual or otherwise. It's so funny how some people will insist that when our paths veer in different directions that they are on a path but we're no longer on a path. If I can say that I believe in anything at all, I can say that I believe that we are all on our own path period. Whatever we choose to call it. Mine is a spiritual path.
As I truly embrace this belief more and more, I also find that I am placing less and less demands on others. If we are all on our own paths, right now, who am I to say that someone should be obligated to me? I don't have the right to ask that of anyone. Nor does anyone have the right to ask it of me. Which is my permission to myself to hibernate or take a break from all the social interaction or participate in the social interactions.

EY

You can tell
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Saturday 10:34am 11Aug07

You can tell when my blogging time gets to be a bit too much for me because it starts to get a little too journaly. I find that I do go through cycles where I'm writing entries that I could have just put in my journal instead of on line. It's good to notice those cycles though. And even better not to beat myself up for them. It is just a cycle and eventually I'll move on to the next one.

I'm moving into hibernation mode a tad early this year. For my five days off I stayed close to home and now, with a few friend's show to see this weekend, I again want to stay close to home. There is a level of anticipation though with my early hibernation mode. The anticipation for that all consuming focus that's just around the corner. I feel an inner shift that I can't quite describe but I'm getting quiet. Maybe it's the voices, you know the ones, that tell you what you could do next. Or remind you of what you want. Or get you to sit still and meditate and connect with the magic in the air. Those voices.

Plus I notice that I've been feeling under the weather far more frequently than normal. Of course it's my body's way of telling me to slow down. Get in touch. Be silent. Listen. If I'm quiet enough, the answers will tumble out of me or toward me or something.

I've got books piled up around the apartment. Books I want to read. Books I want to study. Books that remind me of that passion that blocks out the junk of life, like the power struggles. That passion that steps me outside of the woulda, coulda, shoulda's and into the now and what there is that is good. There is a lot that is good.

I'm feeling nervous about the fall television line up because I don't actually want to tape anything this season. Or not much, anyhow. I'm nervous because, even though I dropped a lot of shows last year compared to the year before, I'm feeling not antagonistic but it's like the television is coming to an end for me. Or more aptly, it needs to.

That's it! The early hibernation mode and the inner voices that are getting louder, and the funny feelings toward the television are all about the question, what am I willing to give up in order to realize my dreams? And it brings me to the simplest realization that it's about change, it's time to make some changes in my life, again. And not a moment too soon either, tomorrow is the new moon, a prime opportunity to start anew.

It's time to make changes and it's time to listen. Sweep away the distractions that seem like a good idea at the time. Listen to my body and slow down. Ask myself , again and again, "what do I want? How do I feel? Where do I want to go?"

My friend Jojo and I discussed her current situation, last week. For the first time, for as long as I've known her, she talked about moving back to her home town. I didn't say that I would miss her tremendously. I didn't say, don't worry everything will work out and you won't have to go home. I didn't say anything that might sway her to consider staying in Toronto. I told her, "you have to do what is the best for you. What is going to soothe your heart? What is going to make you feel better about your life?"

Now, most of my friends would say, 'that's you Shelley, that's the kind of advice you give all of us.' As if it's an easy thing for me to do. On the contrary, inside I'm thinking, 'how am I going to survive not having access to this person in my day to day life?' What the fuck am I going to do?

But over the last few days, with the guilt tripping I often do when I don't have the energy to be the all giving supporter, it's slowly dawning on me. I also have to do what is best for me. What is going to soothe my life? What is going to make me feel better? So I miss a few friend's shows this go round. If I'm the friend that gives that kind of advice to everyone, I need to give it to myself as well.

I'm not the person that I used to be, who dropped everything for everyone. Or who shows up for every single performance and every single reading and party and function. But that is still a big aspect of who I am to people. I like to support people, for sure, but I need to feel free to give myself permission to support myself first.
And the people that I give my support to wholeheartedly will have to understand that in return. And I really have to learn how to stop guilt tripping myself about it, when I don't have it to give. That's the big one.

EY

Awaken the Giant
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Tuesday 3:42pm 7Aug07

It's really muggy and it always amazes me how much more muggy it can be when it rains. You always think the rain will bring the reprieve and are always surprised that it seems to produce the opposite. Oh well! I still have another day off work before I have to face the world again.

Little Miss Zelda is a year old today. She's still pretty small, thankfully. But is the runt of the litter so I don't expect that she'll grow much more. And like a Leo, she is the Queen of the castle.

I haven't totally done the 5 hours straight of writing but have been also using my 5 hours doing some reading pertaining to my writing and motivation and getting and keeping the mindset. It seems that the mention of Anthony Robbins book, Awaken the Giant Within, keeps coming up in my reading. Of course I happen to own it. No surprise. So I've pulled that out and have started reading it again.

It's true that everything is about the way we think about things. Believing we can accomplish what we set out to do. Believing in ourselves. Believing that if you put in the work, something positive will follow. We do get bombarded with all kinds of crap that tells us that we're not enough. Just watch a television show and sit through the commercials. Enough already. We, I, have to find a way to build ourselves up and feel strong and capable and okay exactly as we are.

So that's where I'm at. Loving being home and having the opportunity to focus on my wants for more than just a couple of days. Happy to have a break from the daily power struggles and grateful to remind myself that the life I'm living now was once a dream. I always wanted to have my own place. I talked about it all the time. And now I surround myself with way too many books and music and cats and I can eat cookies for dinner if I want to (something my child self promised that my adult self would do) and I can laze in my bed or write until all hours and more and more.

Sometimes it's the time out that gives us the opportunity to be grateful for the little things. When I'm in the quagmire of chaos next week, I hope that I can take a moment to remind myself that I am living my childhood dream and keep stomping forward towards my adult dream. That's all I can ask.

EY

And Me
Topic: Another Entry
9:35am Saturday 4Aug07

With my power struggling frustrations of the last couple weeks and my newest affirmation, I basically came home each day and rewrote my goals to have a more serious focused sense of urgency. Back in the day when I was more worried about work I would have gone out and found another job (and that's not totally out of the question) but these days I feel it's more about my passion. And not in a Tour de France doping scandals cheating kind of passion. Had to add that in.

I've given myself a new weekend goal of five hours of writing before I can go outside to play. If I'm a lazy ass and it takes me all day to get those 5 hours done, well, it sucks to be me.

I am going to get back into checking out the classifieds in the Saturday Star just to see what's out there. You never know, I could end up finding a job that enables me to write more. You have to always be on the lookout in order to be prepared.

I went for a beer Wednesday night because I knew I needed to just sit for a minute before I came home. My plan was to come home and call Montreal to talk to my male bestfriend and chat and laugh. I'm always guaranteed that he will make me laugh. But somehow Wednesday at the bar turned out to be just what I needed. Bartender boy handed me a slice of blueberry pie the moment I came in. Blueberry pie is my favorite. Especially since the blueberry pie craving of 1999 when I ate at least a half a pie for about three months. But I digress.

I chatted with one regular until she left then slid down the bar and chatted with another regular. I had my mingle on. My golfer buddy who is also from Montreal sauntered in and I ended up sitting with him at his table and told him my power struggle story and we flipped back and forth between that and discussing our passions and talking about wasted time and energy and the lack of money and how it can get you so down about yourself and on and on. Everytime it looked like I might be leaving, he bought me another beer. He totally was my surrogate best friend and saved me the long distance call.

And with all that, I'm reminded, that even when it feels like shit is pouring down on you and making you feel stinky, there are sweet little miracles that happen too. People that come out of the woodwork who really hear what you are saying rather than steamrolling you with all their interests. And men! Can I just say that I have seen three of the best looking men I've ever seen in my life and have had conversations with them. That's always a pleasant surprise. A miracle really.

One of the hot men sent me on my way to work yesterday with a spring in my step. I ran into him at the depanneur and he approached me and looked at me like he could have sucked all the meat off my bones. ha ha! It was a nice feeling because he'd remembered me from four years ago and he wasn't looking at me in a gross dirty way and he didn't push it. He told me I looked great then gave my whole body the perusal that spoke volumes. Ah what the heck, yelled volumes. and I liked it. I tell you some guys know how to make you feel like a desirable woman wtihout pushing limits.

And in passing I mentioned to Jojo that I didn't know if I'd make it out over the last couple nights because I was feeling spent and needed to come home and lick my wounds. My girl, kept the contact on high, "do you need me? do you need anything? what can I do for you that'll help?"
And she called me last night when I got home just to make sure that being alone was what I really needed. I promised that I'd be better today and would go and see her (after my five hours of writing of course). Which guarantees a big squishy hug that cracks a few of my bones. ha ha! But it's needed and greatly appreciated.

With the shit storm, It's so nice to know that I have some good supportive people around me.

Anyhow, it's Caribana weekend and I don't quite feel up to the rollerblade over to Jamieson nor the crowds. But it's beautiful weather and my AC has taken the humidity out of my apartment and my cats are nuts but funny and I'm off for 5 days. That's 25 hours of writing, if not more.

Hmm. And I'm craving chicken wings again. I made chicken wings two times this week and am planning to make some more today. ha ha.

EY