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Ah Life, you little bugger you!!

Life is interesting isn’t it? At times you feel as if each day is a lifetime in itself. And then at other times you sit down and think wow, where has the year gone? I can’t believe it has been 30 months since I last wrote a blog post! That’s two and a half years. Woah that feels like a long time between posts! Looking back at my blog I am disappointed in myself for letting it fall into such disrepair, this was a real passion of mine, and something I feel I was good at, but life gets in the way sometimes.

As those of you who read my blog when I was consistently posting will know, my workplace was going through some changes when I last posted back in February 2016. And since then life has been hectic to say the least! Don’t get me wrong, some amazing things have happened, like meeting my partner Phillip, travelling with him, learning more about myself as a human being and even juggling both full time work and two full time theatre shows 😊. But overall, taking on the position of Manager at my workplace, and in turn moving into a more stressful full time position has left little time for me to follow my passions. And for that I apologise to you all!

The first year flew by in an instant, however for most of 2017 there was a real niggling feeling somewhere inside me telling me that something was not right! That what was consuming most of my time was not fulfilling my soul. And after much thought on the subject I have decided to recommit to this blog, and to you, my loyal readers 😊. Because throughout the past two years the one constant form of peace in an otherwise unfulfilled day to day, apart from of course my beautiful partner Phillip who fills my life with love and happiness, and my family and friends who are always there when I need them, has been the 78 life changing revelations that are the Tarot Cards. Yes, although my blogging has fallen by the wayside I have still been pulling a card a day, and even doing some readings for Phillip and my family.

So my commitment to you now is that from today forth The Fox and The Otter will no longer be a neglected afterthought, but rather a place where I can once again develop my skills in the Tarot, while hopefully helping those of you who are also learning, with the hopes of one day developing this into a career. My long term goal is to be able to use the skills I am strengthening within myself and blending those with the power of the Tarot to help guide people who may feel lost or simply in need of some guidance and to inspire you all to live a fulfilled life where you, and not the drudgery of the day to day, are in the driver’s seat of your life!

And with that, I am going to leave you with a card to ponder, The Chariot…

The Chariot - The Wild Unknown
The Chariot – The Wild Unknown

Be like the horse in this card, powerful and in control of your life. Don’t let anyone or anything throw the reins around your neck and steer you into something that does not fulfill your soul’s calling. Rather run free into the warming sun and manifest the world you wish to live in ❤️.

Until next time,

Live well xx

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Appraising the Results of your Efforts – The Seven of Pentacles

Late last night I received an email from HR with regards to the takeover of the company I work for. As you know, the last month or so has been quite stressful as a result of this takeover and the potential of my store no longer being in business. In the email it said that all transferring employees would recieve a new contract by email on Monday the 25th and that any staff not transferring to the new entity due to a closure would be told personally on Monday. Freaking frightening right?! So now the state of limbo has been intensified over the first full weekend off I’ve had in a long time. Not fair I say! But I guess at least now I know the date on which I find out my fate. Anyways, as I was shuffling my cards this morning obviously this was playing on my mind, and when I turned over the card for today I was both shocked and pleasantly surprised, for it was the Seven of Pentacles.

To me the Seven of Pentacles represents a time where we are appraising the results of our efforts. It’s a time-out card where, after a rush of activity, we have time to sit back and assess the fruits of our labours, quite often also suggesting a reward coming our way! So assessment is a key to this card. When we are busy, working hard towards a goal, we can sometimes get so caught up that we actually forget why and what we are working towards. The Seven may appear when it is required for us to stop and ask “am I still on track?” “Is this what I really want?” In this the Seven also represents being at a crossroads, for it is so very easy to continue with our routines, even if they are not overly fulfilling. The Seven may appear when it is time to consider a direction change, it may be asking us to start questioning our choices and ponder the alternatives.

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Seven of Pentacles – Radiant Rider Waite Tarot

To the left we see the RWS representation of the Seven of Pentacles. Here we see a young man resting on his hoe, appraising the results of his harvest. His work has resulted in lush greenery and the Pentacles are blossoming :). He has put in the effort required and is about to recieve reward for his hard work. He stands back, appraising his efforts and admiring his handiwork. That satisfying feeling that comes with success. But if you look closely, that look of appraisal could be construed as a realisation that what he worked so hard for is in fact not what he wanted. If this is the case then the Seven suggests a direction change, presenting the fact that you are never committed to a certain path and change is always possible.

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Seven of Pentacles – Shadowscapes Tarot

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Let Go of Control and Possessiveness, and Soar Free from Your Cage – Four of Pentacles

It’s been quite some time since drawing a card from the Pentacles suit in my daily draws, the last time was on the 30th of September. I went through the whole of October without drawing one daily Pentacle! Today however, the drought has ended. The Four of Pentacles came to me today, which is interesting, because I don’t feel much of a connection with the card, and being the first Pentacle drawn in a long time I thought it would have been a different card to end the drought. But, it must have come up for a reason, so here we go, the Four of Pentacles…

Four of Pentacles - Shadowscapes Tarot
Four of Pentacles – Shadowscapes Tarot

The Four of Pentacles is all about Control and a desire to Possess. As you can see in the card above, we have the classical image of a gold-hungry dragon, coiled so very tightly around his hoard of gold. You can picture him lashing out fork tongued hissing, “Mine, my preeecciooous, stay away”, declaring ownership and endeavouring to prevent the Chameleons above from getting near his possessions. He is constantly on guard, worried that at any sign of weakness the Chameleons will swoop in and steal his gold. This is what happens when you become so concerned with your material possessions, so much so that they actually become a cage of limitations instead of something which should bring you pleasure and stability. You may be financially well off, and feel stable both financially and emotionally, but this is only because you are equating emotional security with money. This card portrays one of the biggest pitfalls of prosperity, the temptation and tendency to value money much higher than its true worth.

The Fours in Tarot are symbolic of structure and stability, and in this case this is a false sense of structure and stability that comes from a dependence on material comforts and security. A mindset of procuring as much as you can so as to feel safe and stable. The being in this card has created himself a type of protective layer out of Pentacles that he believes will prevent him from encountering any hardship. However, this is also blocking any form of change from occurring, which can in turn exclude others as the need for personal security takes over, making for a very lonely way of living! I like how Stephanie has made it look as if this way of living is leeching the dragon’s individuality and that his resistance to change is in fact making him indistinguishable from the gold which he holds so dear.

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