Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 4 Comments

Subdue the Lion Within – Strength

I was quite pleased to see Strength yesterday as my daily draw! When I did my birthday reading, Strength was one of the two cards that came up in position of the energies I should focus on during the year ahead. Having it come up yesterday was a good opportunity to spend some more time contemplating it’s meaning :).

Strength - Shadowscapes Tarot
Strength – Shadowscapes Tarot

What I love most about this depiction of Strength, that you may have gathered from my birthday reading, is that there are so many examples of different types of strength. There is the more obvious example of beastial strength of body in the Lion, but there is also the Bamboo’s hidden strength through flexibility. There is the strength of cunning and strategy of the Cats, one of which seems to be tempting those birds below it closer with a bell on a string, and the other has one paw upon one of the Lion’s, possibly suggesting the strength of cooperation or of combining different forms of strength. Then there is the Bridge itself which is beginning to crack, possibly representative of the mortal quality of this man made strength, at some point it will erode and turn to dust, and below it the Acorn, representative of the steady strength of something so small that will one day grow to be gigantic. And then there is the inner strength called forth when protecting those you love, represented by the Swan. The Swan also represents the transformative power of the Woman’s form of strength. The ability to use calm control to soothe a difficult situation, turning something potentially ugly into something more pleasant. And that to me is what this card epitomises, using persuasion and patience to calm the rougher, harder animal instincts that we can sometimes fall prey to. The demonstration of the power of love and compassion, showing that aggression and anger will not solve everything. This is true inner strength, perserverance and composure, the ability to endure any of life’s obstacles with an unparalleled inner calm!

Wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 7 Comments

Follow Your Guiding Light – The Hermit

There comes a time in everyone’s life where we ask, “Is this all there is? Where we wonder, “What would life be like if I wasn’t here, in this situation? Why can’t my life be more like his or hers?” Where we begin to question all the common place things around us that previously went without question. And in my opinion, this is getting worse as we progress through this technological age. Like never before we have the ability to see into other people’s lives, to be connected with so many different people, and in turn have the opportunity to see so many different ways of living, that we undoubtedly start to compare our lives to others. And often this has a touch of envy as an accompaniment. We want for more and more and get stuck in a vicious circle of comparison and consumption. But there is a way out of this, and I see it in today’s card of the day, The Hermit.

The Hermit - Shadowscapes Tarot
The Hermit – Shadowscapes Tarot

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 2 Comments

A Serene Contented Embrace – The Ten of Cups

This morning when I woke up I was still thinking about yesterday’s draw. So I decided I would ask another question for my daily draw today. I grabbed my deck, started shuffling and asked “What is the possible outcome if I choose to follow yesterday’s advice and buy my one way ticket to France?”. What was the Shadowscapes’ answer you ask? The Ten of Cups!!! I don’t think I have words to describe what happened when I turned over this card. It was as if everything was falling into place, I was speechless, happy and excited, but overall speechless.

Ten of Cups - Shadowscapes Tarot
Ten of Cups – Shadowscapes Tarot

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter

Explore Your Horizons – The Three of Wands

Last night I started French language classes again. I studied French for about half of the year last year but unfortunately I stopped due to various reasons. I had been thinking about starting up again for awhile now and I finally did last night :). I’ve always loved the French language and since I was very young I’ve had this romantic idea of what it would be like to live in Europe. So my plan is to use these classes to build a stronger foundation before I go over next year, which is still in the planning stages but definitely something I feel I need to do as soon as possible. Today when I awoke from my slumber I was full of thoughts of how great it’s going to be when I finally get there, but also a wee bit of trepidation, as in order to do what I wish to do I must sacrifice a few things in my life currently that bring with them a great deal of stability. So as I usually do as a part of my pre shower ritual, I grabbed my Shadowscapes deck, shuffled and drew a card. And out came the Three of Wands. I giggled to myself when this came out. How apropos :).

Three of Wands - Shadowscapes Tarot
Three of Wands – Shadowscapes Tarot

The Three of Wands is all about exploring the unknown, going on an adventure and leaving the secure behind, expanding your horizons through study, travel or experience, as well as taking a long view of a situation and demonstrating leadership. So when this card came to me today all I could do was smile :).

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter

Deception Breeds Distrust – The Seven of Swords

Over the last week or so I have been feeling a return of the sadness and loneliness that shrouded me during the middle months of this year. It’s been hard because I haven’t been keeping to myself, I’ve been seeing friends whenever I can, and filling my other days spending time with family, work, gym, and tarot. So it has been frustrating to feel these energies come back into my life. I thought that I was finally moving on. This morning when I woke up I felt an immense sadness permeate through my body, and when I grabbed my deck for my daily card draw I asked ‘what do I need to learn today to help me through these energies?’. And what came up, why the Seven of Swords. I sat there staring at the card like, what the hell!! Traditionally the Seven of Swords represents things such as theft, deception, betrayal, a preference for a ‘lone-wolf’ style of living, shirking responsibility or running away from a situation, and various other things among those themes. So why was it coming to me today?

Seven of Swords - Shadowscapes Tarot
Seven of Swords – Shadowscapes Tarot

Before getting into the possible reason, I think I might just talk about the Shadowscapes’ depiction of the Seven of Swords. Here we see an impish looking creature staring down at a sword he has stolen from the Swan Guardian. Although the Seven can suggest a tangible material theft, as we see in the card what is stolen is in the form of a Sword, so it may also be intangible. A thought, perception, confidence or freedom. He is smiling, gleeful with the thought that he has gotten away with his deception without reprimand. Unbeknownst to him however, the Swan is watching him with one eye over her shoulder. I see this as representative of the fact that more often than not what we may think we have gotten away with often comes back to bite us.

Wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 2 Comments

Every Hero is a Villain in Somebody’s Eyes – The Five of Swords.

I like to think of myself as the type of person that will do anything to fight for what they believe in. And while doing so I strive to follow a code of ethics with a basis of do good and good will be dealt back to you. As time passes however, and with a little bit of help from today’s card of the day, the Five of Swords, I am starting to realise that everyone’s perception of right and wrong is different. What might be seen as the right thing to do for one person could be construed as wrong by someone else. And this makes me think of the interplay in other fields of life. In the case of this card, one person’s victory, and all the glory and honour that comes with it, is another person’s defeat, mired with dissatifaction, pain and sometimes utter devastation.

Traditionally the Five of Swords represents a victory tinged with defeat. Self-Interest, discord, dishonour, betrayal. The classic image is that of one man in the forefront staring at his conquered enemies, who are skulking off in the background, in possession of five swords. To me this clearly shows a victor and the defeated. However the sky is cloudy, which symbolises that it isn’t a clean cut victory, all is not well despite the fact that the battle seems to have concluded.

Five of Swords - Shadowscapes Tarot
Five of Swords – Shadowscapes Tarot

In the Shadowscapes card however I struggle to see this represented. This is probably one of the few cards in the deck that I dont see a clear cut representation of the traditional meanings. Now of course these meanings can be inferred if you know what the card traditionally represents but I don’t think it is clearly evident through its image. The feeling that most overwhelms me when I look at this card is Isolation! Often when we fight for what we think is right there is a chance that we will hurt those around us and as a result isolate ourselves from them. Once the conflict is over you may try to rectify the situation but those who were hurt in the line of fire may be less inclined to heal the severed relationship. So to me one of the biggest things this depiction shows is that it is very important to establish whether your view or opinion is important enough to put your relationships in the firing line. For wherever there is victory, there is defeat.

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter

You have the Power, Harness It – The Magician

Ever felt powerless? Like you can’t accomplish anything, or that you need the help of others to get to where you wish to be? Well today’s daily draw is here to tell you that you that you have the power! The Magician. Card number one of the Major Arcana. A new beginning, a new life cycle. Embracing power, taking conscious action, concentrating your energies, using your will. This is what The Magician has to offer.

The Magician - Shadowscapes Tarot
The Magician – Shadowscapes Tarot

I love, love, love the Shadowscapes version of The Magician. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find the more traditional representations to be quite lifeless and stagnant. Which is the opposite of what the card should be. Here however, I can feel the energy he is willing into existence seep from the card, and it is as if he could spring to action with a moments notice. There is also a real Shamanistic feel to this card which I love. A real earthy active energy.

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 4 Comments

The Dreamer and The Builder – The Seven of Cups

Dreams and Desires! We all have them, some of us choose to act upon them, while others put them aside for the more safe option. I’d like to say that I am of the first persuasion! I’ve always thought that life is best when your doing something you love. When I was at university I decided to go against what my brain was telling me, leave my Psychology degree and pursue a degree in Acting. For that is my dream. And for five or so years I followed that dream, and it made me a very happy man. But there are always times in life where we hit a roadblock and have to put our dream on hold. Why all this talk of dreams you ask, well today I drew the Seven of Cups, the card of Dreams and Desires.

Traditionally the Seven of Cups stands for wishful thinking, a plethora of options or choices before us, illusion, and imagination. Usually what we see are seven cups filled with both positive and negative wishes. The old saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ comes to mind when I look at the Rider-Waite-Smith card. But when I look at the Shadowscapes card, which is the deck I drew from, I see something different.

Seven of Cups - Shadowscapes Tarot
Seven of Cups – Shadowscapes Tarot

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter

A Race Against the Onrush – The Five of Wands

Today I drew the Five of Wands, which represents Conflict, Tension, Competition and Disagreement. When I think of these words, they usually have negative connotations, but after thinking more about them, I have realised that there are also positives to these qualities.

Five of Wands - Shadowscapes Tarot
Five of Wands – Shadowscapes Tarot

For me, the Five of Wands represents those times where you feel like everything in the world is against you. Your alarm doesn’t go off in the morning so you wake up running late, you turn the shower on and there’s no hot water, you get to the pantry and realise you forgot to buy cereal, so instead you have toast, and then you drop it on your shirt. You get to the train station to find out the train’s been cancelled, and then you finally get to work and your boss tells you you weren’t even rostered on. Nothing is going right, everything just keeps piling up until you just want to scream. This is the Five of Wands.

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 4 Comments

A Birthday Blessing

Today is my birthday 🎉, and instead of doing a daily card I decided that I would give myself a bigger challenge and in turn learn a little more about myself and the year to come. So I popped over to Little Red Tarot, my go to for all things tarot related and decided that I would do Beth’s New Years Spread, for your birthday is truly the beginning of a personal New Year 😃. And as you can see Cosmo decided he would like to help out 😊

Birthday Reading

While there are 10 cards in the picture above this is actually a 5 position spread. Beth constructed it with the interactions between cards in mind, how their energies support each other or if they show any tension/conflict.

wait, you’re missing out if you stop now. Click here to continue reading