I feel such a beautiful energy today and I hope that somehow I can share it in this post with you.
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The meditation today is short but very uplifting and power-filled!
A most interesting tarot reading for this week. Sometimes it seems like I see some of the same cards over and over, but I trust the process. I randomly pull them, so there is no manipulation on my part. The Universe brings the message we need to hear.
I feel that the Seven of Pentacles applies to all of us who write our stories, or any other creative endeavors. It shows you understand the value of putting in time and energy now for longer-term rewards and have a strong desire to invest in sustainable results. You are not looking for quick wins (but wouldn’t we all love a quick win?). You also want to make sure you are putting your attention on the right areas instead of wasting time and effort on tasks that will not deliver any value. Sometimes we need to step back from day-to-day operations and take a look at the bigger picture. If you have been working hard or putting extra effort into something challenging and important for the last few months, the endeavor or project is near its culmination. Rest assured, your hard work will pay off. You are likely to see financial or other tangible rewards for all of your hard work.
The Page of Pentacles brings a message of new beginnings, as does the Ace. When the Page of Pentacles appears in a Tarot reading, you are tapping into your ability to manifest a personal goal or dream, or the start of a new educational experience. You are excited about the possibilities and potential of what you put your mind to, knowing you can create whatever you want with focused intention and action. This Page does not specify the fulfillment of dreams as much as the initial motivation and energy to begin the process of turning those dreams into reality.
The Ace of Swords seems to show up often for us. It marks a wave of new energy from the intellectual realms. You may be on the verge of a significant breakthrough or a new way of thinking that allows you to view the world with clear eyes. Or, you may have a sudden realization or conscious understanding about an issue that has been troubling you and can finally see the path ahead of you. Meditate regularly to clear away the mental chatter and make the most of this intellectual potential.
My overall take on this reading is that while we may be nearing the end of one project, there are new ones on the horizon with strong energy and inspiration behind them. Your thoughts?
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs comes Reckless Girls, a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake, and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indications, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.
But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.
When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.
MY REVIEW:
I received a complimentary ARC of this book through NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press.
I picked this book up after a recommendation from another reader, and I was not disappointed. As the blurb says, Nico and Lux are hired to sail two women, Brittany and Amma, to Meroe, a remote deserted island, for an adventure on Nico’s boat, The Susannah.
But when they arrive in paradise, they find they are not alone. There is a luxury catamaran already anchored with two occupants, Jake and Eliza.
At first, things are wonderful. The six people get along great and are soon best of friends, sharing the beauty of the island, extravagant meals courtesy of Jake and Eliza, and hours of swimming, drinking, sunning, and exploring.
The island, once used as a staging area during World War II, has a dark history. A ship’s crew trapped there had to resort to eating the bodies of the dead in order to survive. When the men were finally rescued, out of 32, there were only 8 still alive.
This is the first hint of foreboding in the story. But that part of the island’s history was so long ago, none of the characters pay much attention to the legend that the island is haunted, even though they discover the abandoned airstrip, along with a human skull.
Each character in the story has baggage, which the author does a great job of revealing in bits and pieces throughout the story. Nico and Jake have one thing in common. They both come from extremely wealthy families. Brittany and Amma appear to have grief in common. And Lux is dealing with her own grief after the death of her mother from cancer. The biggest mystery is Eliza who is the epitome of perfection.
However, the arrival of another man, Robbie, starts the decline of all the relationships. There is something sinister about him and Lux has a confrontation that leaves her rattled and shaken. It isn’t until he disappears that Nico and Jake find their radios smashed and the group now cut off from any communication with the outside world. Boundaries are crossed and trust destroyed.
And that’s just the beginning of the mounting tension.
I like how the author shifts between timelines throughout the story, giving the reader glimpses into each character’s past. These are done in snippets, so there is never info dump and never so much told that the reader has the whole picture.
It isn’t until the end of the story that everything becomes crystal clear with a string of dead bodies left behind. The book comes to a satisfying, if somewhat jaw-dropping conclusion, and is a quick entertaining read.
This is an intricately woven psychological thriller that will be released in January 2022. If you love a story that transports you to a beautiful dream location, standing out in stark contrast to deadly motives, you will devour this story as I did. Thank you, Mae Clair, for recommending it!
As we wind up this journey through the individual runes, because this rune is included in my personal set, I want to include it here, but WYRD is not a part of the original Elder Futhark script.
Photo by Jan Sikes
The blank rune known as WYRD, is a totally modern addition to the Futhark system, although the concept it represents was certainly well known to the rune-using peoples.
This is a rune of total trust and should be taken as exciting evidence of your most immediate contact with your own true destiny.
WYRD is the cosmic power of fate and is closely akin to the idea expressed by the Sanskrit word, Karma. We must always accept responsibility for our own actions, be they good or bad.
When this rune appears in a reading, you may be certain that something unexpected is going to come to you. Whether this is something is positive or negative depends on what you warrant by virtue of your past behavior.
Having no number and no symbol makes WYRD in effect a non-rune. The concept expressed by it is neither concrete nor of this world. WYRD operates through a completely separate dimension than that of the other runes and can often indicate the matter in question is in the lap of the gods.
The blank Rune is said to represent the highest possibilities of human endeavor.
Always look to the runes around WYRD for clues to its meaning, especially the ones following it.
And that’s a wrap. I will slowly start exploring doing rune readings, but that will change the Tarot Readings on Mondays, so we’ll see how this comes together.
I sincerely appreciate everyone who has tagged along on this Rune journey!
If you’d like to look back on any of the rune posts, here is a list.
A quick birthday recap before I move on. The scheduled hot air balloon ride didn’t happen due to the wind. As it turned out, it was for the best as the day was full of activities, family, friends, and fun. My daughters scheduled a lake cruise and 25 people came to help celebrate my day. And, there was a magician! That was super fun! A wonderful celebration of 70 years on this earth! The first photo below is of me and my two incredible daughters. They even had T-shirts made for everyone. The birthday cake was like a travel back through time with all the photos attached to it. The boat was the Sapphire Moon on Lake Ray Hubbard off I-30 in Rockwall.
Birthday Cookies
My big sister, Linda Broday, got to come down to help me celebrate and that is us in the top left photo.
And last but not least is the wine glass the girls got for me. It was almost as big as me. 🙂
I am blessed beyond measure and want to offer a huge thank you to all who took the time to send birthday wishes.
My new motto for the next decade –
Live Life and Forget Your Age!
I will return next Monday with my regular post, but I do want to include this meditation because we are still under the big influence of the August Full Blue Moon. And if you missed Joan Hall’s post on the August moon, here is the LINK.
The full moon is a great time to release what is no longer serving you.
Today’s Rune is the last one in the Elder Futhark Script. There is one more that is considered a modern addition and even though some of the rune sets don’t include it, mine does. So, I will cover it next week.
Anyway, today’s Rune is Othala (oh-thee-lah).
Photo by Jan Sikes
As the final rune of the Elder Futhark, Othala is the rune of heritage and speaks to what we come into this world with, in terms of who we are born to and raised by. This rune may refer to the literal inheritance of land or other property, but most often it is about the intangible things we inherit from our family origin. No matter how we may resemble or differ from the rest of our family, and no matter how far from home we have traveled or how independently we have established ourselves, all of us carry traits, beliefs, habits, and influences from our family of origin.
When Othala comes up in a reading, it may indicate that the aspect of your current situation is related to your background, perhaps unconscious beliefs you absorbed as a child, or some other element that shaped your upbringing.
Othala is often associated with wealth, not moveable wealth, such as cattle, but ancestral wealth in the form of land. In some cultures, land may not be sold, but instead, is always passed down, keeping a strong foundation of community, families, clans, and cultural traditions rooted in place.
If you live close to your extended family, Othala may suggest that you lean on them for emotional or material support in a challenging matter, or you could be called upon to provide support to a family member in need. Of course, this can also apply if you live further away, although in this case, the rune could be nudging you to check in with your people back home.
In many readings, Othala points to a tension between the traditions you inherited and the current way you’re approaching your life.
It can also represent maintaining a status quo – the way things have always been done. In an ever-changing world, it’s up to you to distinguish between what is useful to hold on to and what needs to be discarded so that you can live and grow in your own authenticity on the physical, emotional, and spiritual levels.
Reversed, Othala often points to conflict and disharmony with family. Patience and careful observance are recommended with as much emotional detachment as possible. Othala in the reversed position can also indicate feeling alone, isolated from family or community.
The birthdates associated with this rune are May 29th to June 14th.
It’s Monday! And the start of my birthday week! I am embracing all of it!
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I chose this image because one of my birthday events is a ride in a hot air balloon!
The meditation I chose to share today is a quick chakra realignment. It’s always good to keep them activated and open.
The Tarot reading this week, as always, is absolutely amazing. Remember I pull these cards randomly so I never know what they are until I turn them over.
Photo by Jan Sikes 8-16-21
The Five of Pentacles depicts hard times, especially when it comes to work and career. It may leave you feeling isolated and alone. Just like the two people in the card, you feel as if you have been left out in the cold. You may wonder, “Why is no one coming to help me!?” It may appear as if no one cares anymore. However, since the windows in the church are lit up, help is nearby; but you are too focused on your problems to notice. You may be waiting for someone to come and help you when really, you need to be proactive and ask for help.
But coming out of that temporary period, the Four of Pentacles is indicative of saving money and being conservative. The Four of Pentacles typically accompanies a scarcity mindset, especially with money and material possessions. Instead of spending your cash and enjoying a comfortable lifestyle, you are choosing to stockpile your finances, for fear you might lose it all or someone else might take it away. Your budget may be so conservative or strict that it cuts out many of life’s pleasures, including travel, social occasions, gifts, or fun activities – but for what purpose? Money works best when it can flow and exchange, not when it is being stashed away. The broader lesson with the Four of Pentacles is to honor and respect money and wealth but don’t become so attached that you lose sight of what’s most important to you: friends, family, happiness, and love.
Then comes the Magician with a dramatic flourish as a master manifestor. The Magician brings you the tools, resources, and energy you need to make your dreams come true. Seriously, everything you need right now is at your fingertips. You have the spiritual (fire), physical (earth), mental (air), and emotional (water) resources to manifest your desires. And when you combine them with the energy of the spiritual and earthly realms, you will become a manifestation powerhouse! The key is to bring these tools together synergistically so that the impact of what you create is greater than the separate parts. This is alchemy at its best! When you are clear about your ‘what’ and your ‘why’, the Magician calls on you to take inspired action. You will need focused attention and intense concentration to bring your goals to fruition. Focus on the ONE thing that will move you towards your goal
So, it’s almost as if it’s an answer to prayer. When we suffer loss or scarcity, it creates fear and a desire to hoard what we have. But the Magician is telling us to use the magic at our fingertips to create our own abundance using the skills, knowledge, and capabilities we have gathered along life’s path. We can do this!
The Dragon Oracle Card is SO beautiful and fits perfectly with the reading!
Alexander Pope lived in the Augustian Era and was obviously a deep thinker and a poet. But those words he wrote in the 1600s still ring true today.
Are there mistakes you’ve made in your life that continue to haunt you, cause tears and anguish, and you wish with all your heart you could get a do-over?
For me, there is. And just when I think I’ve let go and forgiven myself, up it jumps again and I start all over with the process. So, maybe it will help to voice one of the mistakes that I continually feel heavy guilt for. Maybe in sharing it, I can be done.
During the twenty-five years that Rick and I were married, he worked tirelessly to create a home. Of course, I worked alongside him, but it was through his vision, perseverance, and hard manual labor, we managed to put together quite a compound where people gathered, where music was played, and where dreams were nurtured.
By the time he passed away, we owned over two acres of land with three houses, an antiques store, a music store, recording studio and eight outbuildings. He built a native rock patio, one rock at a time, and created cactus beds out of discarded telephone poles.
None of it was fancy. All of it was real.
Why am I going down this rabbit hole? Because it is one of my biggest regrets that leaves me with an overwhelming feeling of guilt.
When Rick passed away, I was totally lost. I understood that I was not capable of maintaining this compound we’d built. It required constant care. I had no family there. It was his family. And, his oldest son, who was a heroine addict, began coming daily asking for money. I had to move. Fear can be a big motivator.
I transferred my job with the State of Texas to where my oldest daughter lived and closed up the house by October, after Rick died in May.
Bear with me. I’m getting to the mistake and guilt.
Eventually, it became apparent to me I was never moving back to our home and I needed to put it on the real estate market. Mistake #1 – going with a local realtor. I should have gone with an established realtor in a bigger town. Mistake #2 – changing realtors and still staying with someone local. Mistake #3 – eventually renting one of the houses out (that’s a whole other story) and Mistake #4 – eventually losing the property by taking an offer for whatever the bank would accept to pay off the loan.
After all those years of hard work, blood, sweat, tears and love, I lost the property without making even a dime in the transfer. Rick would not have wanted that for me.
And that, my friends, is a guilt I carry, a burden I bear.
So, how to let go? It’s water under the bridge. I cannot go back and do it all over.
I know that Rick forgives me. Forgiving myself is the hardest. Just when I think I’ve managed to move past it all and let go, it comes back.
Today, I found a meditation on forgiving yourself and once again, feel as though I can let go and move on without any more guilt.
Does that mean it’s gone for good?
I certainly hope so.
The only purpose in sharing any of this is to encourage you to forgive yourself for mistakes you may have made. Anytime the guilt tries to come back around, stop. Cancel it and think of something good and positive about yourself. At least that’s what I’m going to try.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and any methods you’ve found for forgiving yourself for mistakes.
We are just two away from finishing the study of each rune in The Elder Futhark Script. This rune, Dagaz (dah-gahz) symbolizes daylight, success, hope, breakthrough, transformation, and balance.
Photo by Jan Sikes
Dagaz is considered to be a very beneficial sign in any reading. It is associated with the contrasting blessing of midsummer when days are long and the sun is at its height of power.
Increase, growth, prosperity, strength, good health, and general well-being are indicated by this rune. You may experience an unexpected successful outcome concerning a problem or project you’ve been working on. You are encouraged to remain optimistic and to keep your focus on the light as positive new developments unfold.
Dagaz is also known as the “dawn” rune and as such represents new hope and an emerging from darkness into light. There is a related aspect of protection to Dagaz, as daylight is considered a protective force, guiding us out of danger and onto the right path. In a reading, the message from this rune can be that you are out of harm’s way now, so you can rejoice in safety and look forward to new openings and opportunities.
As the first light of dawn breaks through the dark of night, this rune also represents a breakthrough of insight or inspiration, whether on an artistic, creative level or in terms of spiritual enlightenment. Divine light is guiding you along your path and you are making steady progress.
The symmetrical shape of Dagaz represents a balance between opposing energies – light and dark, up and down, movement and stagnation. Depending on how it is placed in a reading, it can be a reminder to seek more balance in life in general.
Alternatively, Dagaz can point to a major transformation or fundamental change in your life. Some have compared the rune’s shape to the wings of a butterfly. The rune can be a reminder of the positive results of necessary transformation.
Dagaz has no reversed meaning.
The birthdates associated with Dagaz are June 14th to June 29th.
Welcome to the start of a powerful new week. We are in the middle of the Lions Gate Portal activation and that is the focus for today’s post. What is the Lions Gate?
The Lion’s Gate portal is the opening of a rare window between the spiritual and physical worlds. While it takes place annually from July 28-August 12, the Lion’s Gate portal is considered officially activated on August 8, which this year is also accompanied by a New Moon. So in the aspect of this amazing window, here we go!
Created in Canva by Jan Sikes
The meditation I chose for today is short, but powerful and takes you on a guided journey through the Lions Gate Portal.
The Tarot Reading for this week is raw and honest.
Photo by Jan Sikes 8-9-21
The Emperor comes from the Major Arcana and is considered the father of the Tarot deck. The Emperor suggests that you are adopting this fatherly role (regardless of whether you are male or female), providing for your family, and protecting and defending your loved ones. You may be the breadwinner or the ‘rock’ for those who rely on your stability and security. It can also reflect a system bound by rules and regulations or a powerful leader. Perhaps you are most comfortable in a leadership role, sharing the wisdom you’ve gained through life.
The Ten of Wands notes that you are taking on an extra burden, a heavier workload, or greater responsibility. Even though it is weighing you down and making things tougher for you, you understand it is only temporary, so you are willing to put in the hard work now to accomplish your goal and reap the rewards later. Sometimes we unconsciously take on extra burdens in life and may find ourselves exhausted or burnt out. The good news is that the number 10 represents the completion of a cycle and this will pass.
The Eight of Swords is a warning card. Don’t allow yourself to fall into the victim mentality where you feel trapped and hopeless. It can also be a warning that your thoughts and beliefs are no longer serving you. However, this card offers hope. The water pooled at the woman’s feet represents intuition. She has the ability to remove the loose bindings and blindfold. It’s a choice.
So, the takeaway from all of this for me is that we are in a period of time where we may find ourselves needing to rely on a system with rules and regulations to bear the burden of extra hard work and not allow ourselves to fall into a victim mentality.
Writing and Music 
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