Spiritual consult ...

As a practitioner, I have been reading the tarot for many years now. Seldom, have I ever used them as spiritual guidance for myself because I have always felt that I am far "too close" to the matter at hand. But, lately an issue has arisen in my life that was so crutial that the need for comfirmation was strong!

I usually do my best to go with my "gut"  feelings or inner voice which, if I am smart, I will follow them. Although sometimes it is extremely difficult to see our way through a given situation and we sometimes find that further spiritual advice is needed. I will say here in this post the very same thing that I tell all of my clients for whom I read, and that is that the cards are merely a tool used as a method of guidance or personal confirmation of something that deep inside of us we are or may already be aware of! They can also be considered a type of warning as to what will happen if we continue on a path which we know in our hearts to be wrong or disasterous in the end.

Of course, we can not change our past, our present is exactly that, but we do have much control over our future outcomes. By listening to both our instincts and the cards, we have the choice to make an informed, although not always easy in some cases, decision. In my case, the cards served to strongly confirm my fears. On the other hand; however, by doing so they helped give me the clarity which I was so lacking in order to see my problem through.

I also did something else which I very rarely do and that is perform another reading in regards to the same issue using my same deck. Interestingly enough and yet not surprisingly, the reading came up with the same accuracy and warnings that the first did. Even though the cards were not exactly the same, the cards which had showed up from the rest of the deck held the very same types of warnings and where very clear! In other words, the reading itself had NOT changed. 

I personally still do not prefer to perform readings on myself. I find it difficult to keep my emotions in check just long enough to be able to maintain a clear head,  but I do realize that there are times when it may be necessary to do so.

The dark side of Pisces?

Okay, I am the Sun sign of Pisces and this post is merely my personal observation and experience with living as one. Now, we all know that Pisces symbol depicts two fish swimming in opposite directions. I find this to be quite interesting given that much of what we read in modern astrology books describes us as sensitive, compassionate, selfless, nurturing,  romantic, sensual, etc. The flip side of that coin; however, is the not so sweet stuff. Characteristics such as escapism through fantasy or alcohol/drugs, insecurity, neediness, prown to major bouts of depression, to name a few.

What we rarely read about, and I am being totally honest here, is the fact that we Pisces can be just as ruthless and vengeful as any other sign, perhaps even more so! Most people find this somewhat surprising and fairly hard to believe, but anyone who has been on the other end of a scorned or violated Pisces knows this only too well to be true. It seems to me that there a two different types of Pisces ~ the ones who get even (and believe me when I say "even" I mean think nothing of hitting you where it hurts the most), and the ones who more often than not simply choose to cut their losses and just walk away licking their wounds.

Perhaps it is our strong emotional side, a state of being that generally seems to take over much of our logic at times, that causes this extreme behavior? I, myself, have been known in the past of standing on both sides of that coin!  Now, please don't get me wrong, for the most part, I feel that my sign of Pisces is a pretty positive sign overall and I am not in any way trying to make us sound bad because we are truly NOT! But, just like any other sign, we are far from perfect and do have our faults. After all, we are only human!

Lesson learned ...

Happy Saturday my friends! I hope everyone had a blessed Ostara and Beltane holiday! I was so very busy that I barely could find the time to celebrate either. Now, next weekend it will be Mother's Day already ~ time sure flies!

What have I been up to? Well, I am still walking that uphill battle of the bulge .... I mean literally speaking. I grew very tired and bored of using the Skier machine every night for 20 minutes, and so I decided that since it has been so beautiful out so far this Spring I would walk the back country roads where I live for 45 minutes a day. Love it!!! I always did love to go for long walks and when I walk it is always more like a run.

However, since trying to lose weight, I have learned a few things other than the fact that it is extremely hard to do in your 40's (I am 49 years old). Apparently if you do not eat enough on a daily basis to get atleast up to1200 calories in your system, your body goes into a sort of panic mode where any little bit of food you do take into you automatically gets stored as FAT! It is our body's mechanism/way of surviving. And, when you reach my age gals,  (unless of course you are extremely blessed with good genes) peri-menapause decides where to store it ~ ALL in your abdomenal area! UGH!! Talk about difficut to lose! The only thing you can really seem to do besides dieting is sit-ups or scrunches ~ a lot of them!!!

While we are on the subject of dieting, there are certain foods you must avoid a this age. Among them are rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and anything with sugar or startch in them. It is also a good idea to cut out soda and iced tea as well. Gotta kind of wonder if there is anything left you can have that you really enjoy. But, as long as I see some results and I do my best to lose the weight healthy, I suppose that I can live with it. ;)

Anyway, here are my results thus far at 150 pounds ...

Easy? No way in Hades!!! But, eventhough it isn't everything, will power can take you far enough to give you some encouragement to follow through. Here's hoping!