Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 4 Comments

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 5 Comments

Burning away the Past and Embracing the Present- Death, The Three of Swords and The Hierophant

We’re just over half way through February and I’m starting to see a pattern emerge in my daily draws. So far a third of my draws have been made up of three cards, Death, the Three of Swords and The Hierophant. To be exact it has gone Death, the Three of Swords, Death, The Hierophant, the Three of Swords and The Hierophant. Whenever instances like this take place I take note, for they usually have a strong meaning behind them.

image
Death – Shadowscapes Tarot

Since the last time I posted a few things have changed in my life. February the 3rds daily draw of Death was definitely fitting. I was going through a transition in the workplace, from acting manager of a store that was potentially closing down, to manager of a store which was now staying open. I had to make a decision as to whether this was where I wanted to be and allow all the past thoughts and fears to wash away. In a way, like the Phoenix on the card, who is death, rebirth and life encapsulated in one image, I was going through a rebirth. I needed to cleanse myself of the negative thoughts and feelings towards my job during that unstable period, so as to begin afresh under this new ownership.

Three of Swords
Three of Swords – Shadowscapes Tarot

Then came the Three of Swords on Feburary 7. Whenever this card comes to me I have a whole body reaction to it, it’s one of the only cards that does that to me. I think that subconsciously there is still a lingering link to my most recent heartbreak. I am so much better now than I was 6 or so months ago, but to be completely truthful I am not fully healed. The Swords have been removed, but the scars are definitely still there. I am still afraid of opening my heart back up. When this card first came to me I wasn’t 100% sure whether it was to do with that past situation or to do with my present. For recently a new person has entered my life, a person whom I really enjoy spending time with and who makes me feel happy inside. It wasn’t until the next day when I drew the Two of Swords, the card of conflict between heart and mind, that I began to think of the Three’s potential meaning. To be honest with myself previous to this draw I felt like I was split in two, half of me really wanted to pursue this budding relationship, to throw myself in completely, but the other half, the logical half, kept bringing up the fact that I had been planning on leaving the country in August (if not for good then for a long period of time). I was and have since been stuck in this conflict between what I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. And I fear that heartbreak may ensue, I’m just not sure whose heart it is that the Swan represents.

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 6 Comments

Taking a leap of Faith – The Fool

Ah Ms Shadowscapes, you always find a way to strengthen my belief in you, you cheeky thing. Before you begin to read this post, I would suggest that you read yesterday’s post for some background information! Ok, done? Good, we may begin :). So after yesterday’s rather appropriate visitation by the Seven of Pentacles I woke up this morning wondering what else I needed to learn or be informed of before I receive tomorrow’s news. So as I was shuffling the cards I kept the situation in my mind, rolling it around and allowing my thoughts to blend with my shuffle. Then I drew and what came up, well you wouldn’t believe it but it was The Fool. The Shadowscapes’ representation of The Fool has got to be one of my favourite cards in the deck, its energies completely jump out from the card with so much power, enthusiasm and vitality, it’s truly beautiful.

image
The Fool – Shadowscapes Tarot

The Fool is the first card in the deck, given the number Zero. Zero in fact, is not strictly a number, but represents the absence of a number and hence holds all numbers within itself. In this, we see it as representative of infinite possibilities. It also represents that there is no difference between possibility and reality. If all possibilities are open to you and like The Fool, you are open to all of them with a total emptiness of hopes and fears, then your reality is whatever you wish it to be. If you look at 0 closely, it resembles an egg, that from which life emerges! Everything is open to a being who is willing to go in any direction, who is completely free with a total openness to life. This is what The Fool represents.

As card Zero The Fool lies at the beginning of the Major Arcana, but also somewhat apart from it. Along with unlimited potential this card also stands for the fact that in any moment anything goes, she brings to mind the spontaneity inherent in every moment. She represents the fact that by living in the moment, with nothing expected and nothing planned, you will begin to feel uninhibited and carefree. In this she symbolises a complete faith that the universe is worthy of trust, that it is ok to let go of your fears, for if you trust in the flow of life then you will be protected and loved. This brings us to another aspect of The Fool, that of new beginnings or a change in direction. She will often come up when the querent is about to enter a new phase of their life, starting something new, or going on an adventure.

Above in the Shadowscapes representation we see a young woman who has travelled far, called to this high pinnacle by a unknown voice, standing tippy toed in a posture of complete openness and faith. What I like about this image is that unlike the RWS image below, she carries no belongings with her. Rather she stands completely open and free, ready to set out on this new beginning. She is dressed in a loose wrap of white cloth, a symbol of purity of being, and if you look at both the flow of the dress and the light around her it looks like the outline of a bird in flight :). All that holds her up from the iminent fall are the doves who have wrapped her in red ribbons of faith and folly, red being the colour of passion and the senses. Doves in and of themselves are a symbol of faith, and here represent her belief and trust in the world. Her faith will hold her up and her passion will keep her going!

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 4 Comments

Hearing and Heeding a Call – Judgement

So far this month I have drawn a card each day, 21 cards as of yet, and I am starting to see a pattern emerging. For the first two weeks or so I was pulling a lot of Pentacles. The King of Pentacles and Queen of Pentacles actually came up four days in a row, going King, Queen, Queen, King. I found this quite intriguing because I have been feeling a real lack of connection with my surroundings, maybe they were trying to tell me to get back in touch. The plethora of pentacles ended however and since I have been pulling Major after Major. Ten Majors in total with two repeats, The High Priestess and Judgement. Today in fact my card for the day was Judgement, which I feel to be quite apropos this being my first card post in a while.

Judgement is an interesting card, with themes that maybe seem on the surface to be in juxtaposition. The name itself has quite negative connotations, for when do we ever really feel that being judged is anything but negative. Whether this stems from the fear instilled in us at Sunday School that the ‘Day of Judgement’ will come and only the ‘saintly few’ will be brought up to heaven, or maybe as a result of bullying at school, a feeling of judging eyes always upon us, most of us link the word judgement to a negative feeling. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and in fact the card Judgement is quite a positive one.

Judgement is the second to last card in the Major Arcana, and if you split the cards into three lines of seven it is situated in the third line representative of the release of archetypal energies and development of spiritual awareness. First we break free from The Devil’s chains, from our attachment to the physical world and belief that nothing exists beyond personal desires. Next we come upon The Tower and experience a shattering of illusions, one which alters our perceptions of materialism and releases our repressed energies. Then we journey through the three forms of light and experience beginning with the inner revelation of  The Star, through the mysterious unconscious energy of The Moon and finally into the conscious warmth of The Sun. Once we have had our experience with The Sun we realise that we are in fact part of the whole, come out reborn and find a sense of our inner and outer having merged with Judgement. Feeling reborn, finding absolution, making a judgement on our past life, and hearing and heeding a call. These are all represented by Judgement.

image
Judgement – The Radiant Rider Waite Tarot

In the RWS depiction to the left we see an angel, usually said to be the archangel Gabriel, blowing a trumpet and awakening the dead below, ready to send those worthy up to heaven. Here we have, in my option, the most symbolically ‘Christian’ card in the whole deck, easily linked to the ‘Day of Judgement’. Now of course when we conciously link it to that, negative connotations are plentiful, but when you actually look at the card, no one looks fearful, in fact they look joyous, arms stretched open towards the angel in the sky! This to me links the trumpet blow not to an apocalyptic end of the world, but to a spiritual awakening, a change in conciousness. Which in fact is an important aspect of this card.

image
Judgement – Shadowscapes Tarot

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 1 Comment

A Willing Surrender to an Experience or Situation – The Hanged Man

I’ve been in a weird place over the last week or so, getting stuck in overthinking and worry. It’s funny, because nothing overly bad has happened, in fact there have been some really positive things that have occurred! But these positive possibilities have also been laced with downfalls, which I think is the main reason why I’ve been a bit stuck! The day before last I drew Strength, which is the card that the Tarot keeps sending me when I’m feeling at a loss. Ever since it came up as my major tool for this coming birth year in my New Years Spread, it has popped up as a reminder every time I’m feeling a bit weak! And then yesterday I drew The Sun, as if the Tarot was trying to tell me not to worry, all will be ok!  But I was still feeling frazzled, stuck in this cycle of thought centred on a situation I really have little control over! So today while drawing a card I decided to ask the deck outright what I need to do to get out of this energy, and what was her suggestion, The Hanged Man of course :P.

Could I have been sent a more suitable card? I don’t think so! The Hanged Man is all about letting go, and not in a forced way, but as a surrender or acceptance. It asks us to give up our hold on control, to surrender to our experiences, to be open and vulnerable and to end the constant stuggle that for so many of us is self-imposed! And I think it is this that is most important for me to take away from today’s card! Life is already hard enough, without imposing any other hardships upon ourselves! The Hanged Man also tells us that sometimes, in order to really see a situation for what it is/has to offer, we may need to suspend action, pause for a moment to reflect, and take the time to just simply be present. And if this doesn’t work then we might just need to take a real leaf out of this man’s book and reverse our view of the world.

The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man – Shadowscapes Tarot

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 1 Comment

A Choice That Makes Your Heart Glad – The Lovers

First I must apologise for my lack of posts over the last five days, life has been a little crazy of late, and while I have still been drawing cards I just haven’t been overly compelled to write anything. This could also have something to do with the fact that I have predominantly been drawing cards that I have already wrote a bit on, but I think it is mostly due to a lack of motivation and the stress at work taking it’s toll. Today however I felt my drive begin to return as I shuffled my deck and drew The Lovers.

The Lovers is one of those cards that you may have heard of even if you have never seen a Tarot Deck in your life. It is often misconcieved as nothing more than the card of true love, but it is so much more than that. While The Lovers does represent a relationship based on the deepest love, it doesn’t always have to be a sexual relationship. At it’s base it represents the force that attracts two entities to one another, whether these be people, events or ideas. It is about establishing bonds, and forming a kinship, about experiencing desire in all its forms, making love and responding to a situation with passion. The other side of The Lovers, that is not as often shown in popular culture, is about choice, about establishing your own personal beliefs and determining what it is that you value.

The Lovers - Shadowscapes Tarot
The Lovers – Shadowscapes Tarot

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 1 Comment

Creating Order and Stability – The Emperor

I love it when I draw a card that I have never drawn before! It gives me an opportunity to not only learn something new but to also become more acquainted with an aspect of the Tarot I am a little less versed in. Today I was lucky in drawing The Emperor, for not only have I yet to draw him in my daily draws, but he has also never come up in any of the readings I have done!

The Emperor is card number four in the Major Arcana and is usually paired with The Empress as the two major archetypes of Feminine and Masculine parental energies. They represent parents in their archetypal forms. While The Empress can represent Mothering qualities, The Emperor is said to represent those qualities we link to Fathering. Protecting and Defending, providing Security and Comfort, emphasising Structure and standing out as an Authority figure. Now of course these qualities are not purely ‘Masculine’ or related to a ‘male father figure’, but being established during traditional times when the sex roles were stricter, The Emperor is usually seen in this way. He represents Structure, creating Order out of chaos, Regulating and other such systematic qualities to balance out the free-flowing, loving energies of The Empress. And while The Empress signifies the natural world, The Emperor caries with him the wider significance of the social world, the laws of society and the powers that enforce them.

The traditional representation of The Emperor is that of a stern looking older male, wearing a red robe over a suit of armour, sitting upon a rigid throne. His posture and position epitomises stability, and his confident direct gaze speaks of authority. When I look at this card I see someone who knows his place in that world, someone in a position of strength where they are able to exert their control and establish structure and stability. In The Fool’s Journey, the Fool comes across The Emperor and his associated energies around early childhood, after leaving the protective nurturing arms of his/her mother. He comes across structure and order when he begins to learn more about the world around him. And at some point he comes across rules and the people in authority who enforce them. At first he finds it frustrating and restricting having only experienced the flowing love of The Empress. But eventually he comes to terms with these qualities and comes to understand their importance.

The Emperor - Shadowscapes Tarot
The Emperor – Shadowscapes Tarot

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 2 Comments

The Festival and The Hermit

Yesterday I went to the Adelaide Vegan Festival. It was an absolutely lovely day, full of friends, fun and Vegan scrumptiousness :). It was the first day I’ve spent out in the Spring sun since Spring began, and being as light skinned as I am I was scrambling for shade anywhere I could find it. I got to enjoy so many Vegan delicacies, and ran into a few people I haven’t seen for quite some time which was a blessing. I even got my hair wrapped, which I’ve wanted to do for so long and got the most beautiful complement from a stranger, who said my eyes were mesmerising and reminded her of her most treasured childhood marble :). All in all it was a lovely day!

Post Vegan Festival
Post Vegan Festival, with my hair wrap 🙂

Today when I woke up however I was feeling a little drained, originally I thought it was from all the sun but I think it may have also had something to do with running into a few people whom affect my emotions in a negative way. This realisation didn’t come to my mind until later today, and I believe it has something to do with the card I drew this morning :). Today’s Daily Draw was my new Tarot Stalker, The Hermit.

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 2 Comments

The Consequences of Your Actions are at Hand – Justice

Today I drew card number 11 of the Major Arcana, Justice. Previous to finding the Shadowscapes Deck I never really had much of a connection with this card, but as soon as I saw Stephanie’s interpretation everything changed.

Justice - Shadowscapes Tarot
Justice – Shadowscapes Tarot

In the Shadowscapes card we see, in my opinion, a much less stark version of Justice. When I look at the RWS Justice I feel like she is judging every movement I make, that she would be harsh and unfriendly. Where as here I feel a real sense of impartiality and fairness. The Justice card to me stands for a time when the consequences of your actions are at hand. You have made various decisions in your past, and whether for good or for ill they are affecting your present. It asks you to strive to come to terms with cause and effect, to accept the results that you create and see how you have chosen your situation. To me this is really about assuming responsibility for your actions, acknowledging the truth and admitting involvement even in situations you may be ashamed of or feel as if you are the party missing out! Which I have to admit can be quite a hard thing to do!! Justice also represents preparing for a decision by weighing all sides of the issue, balancing all factors and then preparing a path for the future. And of course all things justice itself, insisting on fairness, seeking equality and acting ethically.

In the card above we see the Egyptian Goddess Ma’at. Ma’at was the goddess of truth and justice. In Egyptian mythology when death claimed a soul it would be sent to Ma’at who would then weigh the heart of the deceased, which was thought to be where the soul resides, against a feather. If the heart was lighter or equal to the feather it meant that the person had lived a virtuous life and they would go onto the afterlife, but if the soul was left wanting, the heart would be consumed by the demon goddess Ammit, and they would be forever trapped in the underworld. This brings to mind a real sense of Karmic justice, which I feel is important in the Shadowscapes interpretation.

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

Posted on by thefoxandtheotter · 5 Comments

Be Careful, Things Are Not Always As They Seem – The Moon

Today I drew The Moon. The beautiful and mysterious queen of the night. Traditionally The Moon represents fear, illusions, bewilderment, and imagination. There is often a contrast presented between the light of the moon and that of the sun. In sun light everything is familiar and understandable whereas the light of the moon is dim and mysterious and things are not always as they seem when under moonlight.

The Moon - Shadowscapes Tarot
The Moon – Shadowscapes Tarot

I absolutely adore the Shadowscapes Moon. It epitomises everything I think about the card in a haunting yet mesmerising way. The Moon to me is about a situation in flux, being enveloped in an energy of uncertainty that can either be dangerous or reveal to you an inner truth that was previously hidden. The Moon itself is ever changing, waxing and waning through its cycles and hence when this card comes up it can often indicate a situation that is changing. And while the moon reflects light, it is also shadowy, concealing as much as it reveals.

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