I am a day or two late with these greetings – Happy Ostara to one and all.
Ostara dawned as anything BUT Spring like in my neck of the woods, with snow showers and biting cold, but days have warmed up nicely since. The days are growing longer (I’ve been able to run outside after work) and warmer and neighbors are starting to tend gardens that have been barren too long. This is the time, traditionally, to seek a fresh start. Pitch the clutter, renew your spirit & celebrate the spring goddess Ostara.
Ostara, whose name means “shining or rising towards the Sun,” is celebrated on Spring Equinox. At this time of year abundance reigns and fertility – bet you guessed that with all the eggs & bunny rabbits!
Spring cleaning is well underway here and I am working on selling some items we’ve never used on ebay. Swords are the suit of the season and I’ll be rededicating my study, wearing mossy greens and lilacs and choosing my words with care.

I am a blessed woman.  During my sophomore year of college I met a lady who was destined to become one of my dearest friends and her mother is one of the greatest astrologers I have ever  met. Her mother, who I call Mom, explained the rule of the New Moon Wishes.

Every month on the new moon write out 10 wishes and post them in a spot you can see them. I tack mine to the corkboard above my alter, but a plain slip of paper on your alter, clipped to the fridge or even the bathroom mirror works. As in all things, be creative and sincere – and focus. Intent is everything!

At the next New Moon give a prayer of thanks for your answered wishes and list 10 new wishes for the new cycle. One thing I happen to notice is that while some wishes aren’t granted, I gain persepctive during the moon cycle and often adjust / change / rethink some desires and I say a prayer of thanks for those things that I changed course on.

I miss celebrating Full Moon with a group.  I am actually surprised how deeply I miss it, but the reality is I do and I miss being in the groove of such rhythm and celebration.

So, for the February Full Moon (yes, I know I’m late with this post) I celebrated with myself.

I decided to keep things simple, light a candle and keep lighting it most nights of this fm to fm cycle. I also pulled a Major Arcana card to meditate on, learn from this cycle. This is something I’d been feeling the pull to do for a while, immerse myself in single card meditations.

I used a deck I love, The Inner Child Cards; this is a beautiful deck with bright colors and some fairy tale themes. So, the randomly pulled card: Strength. In this deck the depiction is Beauty and the Beast; every time I look at the card I hear the song from the 1991 animated movie – “… tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, beauty and the best…” It’s so persistent I’ve thought about looking up the exact lyrics and / or downloading the tune onto my iPod.

The first lesson I’ve had is quite a literal one; stop wasting time and get back my strength. In November I started to slack off BIG.TIME with my exercise routine which include lifting weights. I am making moves to reclaim gym time, because lifting heavy weights makes me feel stronger – inside the gym and out. When I started to slack off I was squatting 135 to 145 pounds for 3 or 4 sets every time out. My strength has plummeted and I’m down to 95 to 105 pound range, but I’ve been told the strength comes back quickly.

I also need to get my strength up and get my courage going to send out a grad school application.

The Beauty and the Beast theme also suggests I gather strength where my marriage is concerned and kick myself into gear. Yep, all of this insight in a mere week since Full Moon. Thankfully, I’ve got three more weeks to learn and implement.

I was away on business, but now I’m back.

Some photos for your enjoyment… musings when I’m over the jet lag.

Dear Guides, Guardians and Angels,

Thank you for watching over me and ensuring my safe return home. I appreciate it!

with love,

JTP

I have been feeling the urge to add another Tarot Deck to the family and have finally found one that sings to my heat: The Housewives Tarot.

I am a fan of the Housewives calendars, note cards and assorted merchandise and once I laid eyes on this deck I knew it was the one. That’s the funny thing about tarot decks – the first time you lay eyes on the deck is like the first kiss with a skilled lover; you KNOW you’ve made the right match.

Martini glasses stand in for the suit of cups, brooms for wands, a wood paneled station wagon is the Chariot,  a bathroom scale is Judgement and Dun.can Hin.es Devil’s Food cake is, you guessed it, the Devil himself.

I promise a full review once we get to know each other a little better.

Over the years I’ve heard it said that one should never read Tarot for him/herself because it’s bad luck and will bring misfortune. That just is not true, on any level.

More accurately truthful is that reading for oneself compromises the integrity of a reading. The three ingredients of a good reading are the questioner or querent, the deck, and the reader who above all else should maintain objectivity. That third item is the tough one when reading for yourself – if you happen to be capable of such blunt force direct honestly with self, then you’re set. Often a tough call for mere mortals, such as myself.

I am honest enough to admit that I have been known to call a ‘re-do’ when reading for myself if the card(s) I pull don’t indicate the outcome I was wishing / hoping / lusting after. A ‘re-do’ can quickly turn into 2 of 3 or 3 of 5 and quicker than I can say ‘ holy moly cannoli’ even I have to laugh and just pack it in.

The time honored alternative would be to call a reader you know and respect and book a reading – either paying them outright or swap readings or arrange another method of barter.

A method I’ve been working with lately is choosing an insight card each week; you could do this daily if that suits you better and keeping the energy in mind as the week progresses. So far this has been beneficial for me in terms of keeping on track with broader themes and letting go of some of my tendencies to control and nitpick.

I wish I’d found these three weeks ago before I sent out our Christmas cards.

This Etsy shop owner transformed the Marseilles Tarot into Christmas Greetings! I especially love the Fool and the Angel and might just order some and hold onto them for 2009.

Hibiscus Wreath from Hawaii

Mele Kalikimaka

Shinnen omedeto

Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo

Feliz Navidad

Glædelig Jul og godt nytår

Joyeux Noël

Merry Christmas

Proving it’s the thought that counts; the language spoken doesn’t matter.

The post that follows is not mine. I found it on another site tonight while reading some blogs I keep up with; strange I never noticed the link on the sidebar before tonight. I am dedicated to raising awareness and funds for Breast Cancer research / outreach.  I fundraised with the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this year and am planning to do Race for the Cure in 2009. The original author meant for this to be a viral post campaign, to get the word out – so I’m cross posting it here to spread it to a new audience.

Thanks for reading.

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We hear a lot about breast cancer these days. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, and there are millions living with it in the U.S. today alone. But did you know that there is more than one type of breast cancer?

I didn’t. I thought that breast cancer was all the same. I figured that if I did my monthly breast self-exams, and found no lump, I’d be fine.

Oops. It turns out that you don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Six weeks ago, I went to my OB/GYN because my breast felt funny. It was red, hot, inflamed, and the skin looked…funny. But there was no lump, so I wasn’t worried. I should have been. After a round of antibiotics didn’t clear up the inflammation, my doctor sent me to a breast specialist and did a skin punch biopsy. That test showed that I have inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors have never seen it before and consider it rare. “Rare” or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d’orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you’re concerned and want to come in to rule it out.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It’s not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we’re pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It’s important not to miss this one.

Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it’s trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known before six weeks ago.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.

P.S. Feel free to steal this post too. I’d be happy for anyone in the blogosphere to take it and put it on their site, no questions asked. Dress it up, dress it down, let it run around the place barefoot. I don’t care. But I want the word to get out. I don’t want another young mom — or old man — or anyone in between — to have to stare at this thing on their chest and wonder, is it mastitis? Is it a rash? Am I overreacting? This cancer moves FAST, and early detection and treatment is critical for survival.

Thank you.