Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Light & the Shadow

For this week I am using Alta's Light & Shadow Spread from Aeclectic. I have had a motivation issue with readings simply because it has been increasingly difficult to come up with a query each week. Lately I have been preoccupied with my job situation, as my previous readings have shown.

But allow me to set that aside for now and focus on this excellent general reading for today.

Here is the spread:

 5
 4 1 2
 3

  1.  Significator
  2.  The Light 
  3.  How you sometimes move into the shadow.
  4.  The Shadow
  5.  How you can move further into the light.

(Click to enlarge)

My Significator was King of Swords for this reading. It is the combination of my ascendant Leo and my sun sign Cancer (because Fire and Water make Air).

3 of Swords as "The Light" is a bit confusing, but if I look at it as "strength in adversity" then it make a little more sense. When I was in school, I had a teacher tell me there is such a thing as "good stress." I didn't know what he meant until later in life. This card is a bit like that. "When the going get tough, the tough get going." Sorry for all these clichés, but somehow they seem apt for this card in this position.

My King of Wands represents my passion and hotheadedness. This is the Leo side of my personality that I must take care not to allow to take over. I have my Moon in Leo and she is square with Mars in Scorpio. I have a tendency to wear my heart on my sleeve, and to react instead of act on issues that face me.

II High Priestess as the shadow means that there is still some little voice inside my head that plants that seed of doubt. This is the "what if" or the "not yet" phenomena that can be the destroyer of worlds and of confidence. The self-doubt of self-discovery seems to be a paradox, but how can I improve myself unless I can identify my shortcomings to begin with?

7 of Chalices answers this question nicely! This is a card of choice, obviously, but also that of spiritual perfection. I realize that perfection is a 10-letter word for insanity, and am reminded that it is about spiritual progress, not spiritual perfection. The Shadow of the II High Priestess is there to whisper in my ear, "Your best isn't good enough" because she is all about Perfection with a capital "P."

Card images © Lo Scarabeo ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Used by Permission