Recently we have been advising you to go inside to search for answers to problems and to shift your perspective to help make the changes you wish to see in your life. Today’s “throwback video” offers a few tools to aid you in this inner work:
“Tools of the Trade” A Commentary from Richard
November 15, 2012 — RichardIn this week’s Video Message and Exploration Rosemary speaks to different tools for inner work and ways to seek inner guidance. This follows the theme from last week as well; inner work during this time of transition, transformation, growth, evolution is critical to maintain balance, resolve and direction. And last week in my commentary I wrote about one of my main tools in my tool box, The Artist’s Way page writing. But this in one of many approaches I use to gain guidance and to confirm I am on the right path.
I have probably used just about all of the tools Rosemary mentions from dowsing with a pendulum (I even make them) to using cards and the I Ching for divination. I draw a couple of cards each day to both set the tone for the day and to gain some insight on the energies. I am currently using the Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue and a tarot deck by Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris along with The Crowley Tarot handbook by Akron and Hajo Banzhaf. I draw a card from each deck and consider both the individual messages and the integrated message from the two. The Virtue deck brings in a light perspective and is almost always positive in the messages it delivers. The Crowley deck is darker and gives me a more nuanced and shadowy perspective on the day. I enjoy combining these and deriving a sense of what might be in store for me. I am frequently rewarded and never disappointed in these cards’ guidance!
I use the I Ching to determine the energies for the month ahead. I cast a Gua (6-lines, two tri-grams) shortly after each new moon (I just cast a Gua yesterday for the new moon in Scorpio). I use the 50 yarrow stalk method (I even harvested and cut my own stalks from a patch of yarrow I grew in Colorado). I thoroughly enjoy the meditative approach to deriving each Yao (line) for the Gua. Again my focus while doing the work is to look for the patterns and energies ahead for the month. The I Ching is a highly intuitive tool and reminds me a lot of dream interpretation work. I treat the Gua as a map and the names, ideographs, decisions and commentaries as symbols and hints for the journey ahead. It is both fun and entertaining as well as deep and meaningful. Maybe at some point in further writings I’ll share my Guas for the months (moonths) and what I see as the way ahead.
Rosemary concludes her exploration and discussion with the use of alters. Yes, I have one, I always have one. I even have a method I use to take part of my alter with me when I travel. I have been using some of the same components, especially an old piece of leather I use as an alter cloth and wrap for my portable bundle of objects for years. The significance for me in using an alter is the passive grounding energy it brings to my inner work. My writing, drawing cards, casting I Ching Guas are all active methods using tools to gain inner insight. My alter just is; it represents my ground of being. The objects and symbols I choose are parts of me, from knuckle bones to stones, from crystals to statues and fetishes, from element representations to pictures, these are all bits and particles of who I am. They hold space and hold me in that space.
And as Rosemary requested I have included here a picture of my current alter configuration…it may appear to you to be a bit messy and cluttered; maybe that’s how my life is right now! (And maybe its state is pointing the way to some external work I need to do!)
What tools do you use for seeking inner guidance? I’d love to hear your answers; please comment!
Mystic Messages 
“You Have Been Brainwashed!” a commentary from Richard
December 13, 2012 — RichardBrainwashed? Yes, by one of the most powerful forces in my life (no, not Rosemary): my own ego!
As I have mentioned before part of my daily practice is to draw a couple of cards from my favorite decks to divine a sense of the energies of the day. One of my decks is the Crowley Tarot Deck and I use The Crowley Tarot by Akron and Hajo Banzhaf to continue to deepen my understanding of the cards. Today (Thursday) I drew the XVI of Trumps, The Tower. (I’ve included its image here). And my first reaction was: how cool to bring up this image of “destruction” as
I sit to write about brainwashing, its power and destructive potential and how to re-program from the brainwashing; in other words, destroy its impact and bring in the new images of self that are needed at this time!
This is 2012, and I am writing this on 12/12/12. Rosemary led a meditation today at 12:00 noon Eastern time, to activate and anchor the emerging energies of transformation as we draw near the Winter Solstice of 2012. What better time to let go of the old structures, the old energies, the old beliefs, the old brainwashing, those stories we’ve been telling ourselves for years, that may no longer hold any truth or power for us or over us.
And so I draw this card with its Tower, this burning, toppling structure that is an empty shell holding nothing for me as I move into the new energies at the end of 2012. Here are phrases from the guide book: “destruction of form…upheaval of values”, “enlightenment … that strikes like lightning and destroys … rigid ideas”, “overcoming one’s self”, “breaking open encrustations.” Wow, sounds like deprogramming to me!
The ego holds our beliefs, especially about ourselves. It is a wonderful friend, protecting us from both physical and emotional harm. It can also be our worst enemy holding us back when we are called to speak our truth, holding us to old beliefs when we receive new information that would help us grow, develop, evolve! The ego protects us but also holds us prisoner locked away in our tower. It is time for my tower to tumble!
And so I seek to burn down the current structures of my life, to sabotage my own ego, to break free of the bonds that fetter and hold me frozen in a place of safety but with little progress.
How? I will write more about my process and what is coming to me for tomorrow’s post. Meanwhile I continue all of my practices, which I have described in earlier posts. They serve me well and help me through the ego-generated blocks that no longer serve me. My practices are the “fire and kindling” I use to burn my imprisoning tower down.
Towers, so too brainwashing, can be good and bad. We need structures in our lives to hold us safe and help us hold the energy of the time; but when they impede our progress we need to burn them to the ground!
Burn your prisons down!
Oh, and happy New Moon (3:42 am EST, 12/13/12)! What better time to bring in the new energies of progress and transformation!