It’s that time again! Here’s my reading for the week! (I know I’m a few hours late with this. Sorry about that. Had a lot on my plate today)

Monday: Ace of Wands
Tuesday: Nine of Cups (reversed)
Wednesday: Ten of Swords
Thursday: King of Cups (reversed)
Friday: Ten of Wands (reversed)
Saturday: Knight of Wands
Sunday: Two of Pentacles (reversed)
Week: The King of Pentacles
Advice: Temperance (reversed)

Monday will start the week with a bang as a new opportunity of some sort will be placed on the table but Tuesday will end in disappointment and unrealized wishes. Wednesday will bring an end to something. Thursday I should watch out for someone not being upfront with their intentions or being emotionally manipulative. Friday I may need to take a look at everything on my plate and evaluate what I can and cannot handle as well as what I should and should not handle. Saturday will call on me to force my life forward. Sunday may need to sit down and have a solid look at my finances and make some cuts. The week as a whole will be very financially based and should help me further my stability in that department. My advice is to try to keep everything balanced and in perspective.

Well…today (or yesterday by technicality) was not such a good day. I do part time work for an after school care center. We look after a lot of children but there was one in specific that I was attached to. He’s a bit of a problem child so a lot of people write him off but I was quite found of him. Today, however, he was removed from our program. I was really bummed about this. I’ve spent a long time trying to look after this kid and having him removed feels a lot like loosing a big part of my life. I found relief in a somewhat unexpected place. A while ago I had resolved to start swimming daily as a form of exercise. I’m a water element (I’ll post more about this later) so I thought swimming would be better for me than a gym. I was pleasantly surprised by the effect that this activity had. After my stressful and highly emotional day swimming turned out to be almost like a form of active meditation. In retrospect many of the principles are the same. There is an emphasis on form and steady breaths are important. The sound of the water moving around you drowns out all else and I found myself effortlessly centered. I think this might be a great activity for anyone to try. It could probably work for other activities as well. My point is that mundane things that we might not even consider to be that beneficial emotionally can turn out to be highly spiritual. Who knows? Maybe a simple walk the park could solve more problems than you thought it could.

-Alice Rhane

It’s Monday again! That makes it time for my next weekly tarot card reading! I was highly pleased with the accuracy of last weeks spread. It definitely gave me some insight into how to handle myself. From my latest reading I’m nervous going into this week. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. A friend of mine suggested that I list out the cards that fell in the reading before my interpretation so here’s the newest batch:

Monday: Five of Swords (reversed)
Tuesday: The Tower (reversed)
Wednesday: Seven of Wands (reversed)
Thursday: Queen of Swords (reversed)
Friday: Six of Cups
Saturday: The Hierophant (reversed)
Sunday: Four of Swords
Summary: Ten of Wands
Advice: The Magician

Monday (today I suppose) is going to be a rough start to a rough week. I’ll likely be facing opposition that would be bad enough on it’s own, but it will probably also remind me of past conflicts and burns. I’ll have to be sure not to let past injury dictate how I handle this situation. This conflict will probably carry in to Tuesday when something is inevitably going to end. I can’t hold on to what I’ll loose…it won’t help anything. Whatever is leaving my life needs to leave. By Wednesday I’ll be overwhelmed. I’ll feel as if opposition comes from every side (perhaps even from myself) and I may feel hopeless but going into Thursday I’ll need to take a step back. I’ll likely be in an emotion defense mode: upset and aggressive. I’ll need to take a step back and evaluate the situation rationally. Friday will bring back something from my past. This should be a nice, positive break from the negativity. Saturday there will be lessons to be learned in doing things in ways that may not be by the book. I need the knowledge I can gain from this. Sunday will be a time of rest. From the sound of it I’m going to need it. In summary I’ll deal with a lot this coming week, both from my surroundings and myself. I may need to ask for help and I shouldn’t be afraid to. The advice the cards have given me is a comfort. I am strong and I have the skills to get through this coming challenge.


On a lighter note I was surfing the web and came across a very cute tarot deck. I love anime and one anime in particular that I am found of is Hetalia. It's a series built of short (usually around five minute) episodes that animate history by personifying countries as characters. The deck I found was based around Hetalia.

Life is full of stress from every direction and sometimes it’s nice to get away from it for a while. A lot of people turn to things like cigarettes (a vice I will admit myself guilty of) but today I’d like to share my experiences of something a bit healthier. I mentioned in my previous post that I’ve been trying to learn about meditation as of late. I must admit my expectations where pretty low. I’m the type of girl who always has a lot of excess noise in her head, so I will admit I wasn’t expecting to be able to shut myself up. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the whole experience was for me…and hey, if I can do it ANYONE can do it. The effects are great! It’s an amazingly calming experience and it’ll put all your worries in perspective. If nothing else it’s a great right before bed activity that will put you in a calm mood to sleep and keep your dreams in check.

Since this has been such a great experience I figured I’d share a few checkpoints here. In my research I’ve come across a lot of different methods and tricks. I’m only going to list what I’ve tried and liked here, but if you like this then there’s a lot of good literature out there with other methods that might be better for you. The best book I found was the Meditation Bible by Madonna Gauding. It’s got a lot of different techniques so there’s something in there for everybody.

This is a very basic meditation checklist:

1. Find a quiet and comfortable place. If you have good posture you can get away with something like sitting on a pillow (though you can buy special cushions for this if your serious about it) but if your like me and slouching is your norm you might want something with back support. I use my couch. Really any place is ok as long as you’re comfy. The same goes for clothes. Anything goes as long as your comfortable, however most people find loose fitting and soft clothes the be best.

2. Sit comfortably with your back as strait as possible. If you can sit cross-legged for long periods of time that’s best (it aligns your body) but if you can’t it’s all right to sit however you feel best sitting. Keep your chin parallel to the floor and rest your hands palm up on you knees. Relax.

3. Breath through your nose. I’ve fond that it’s best to keep my mouth slightly open with my tongue touching the palate at the top of my mouth. That’s not as important as long as you’re breathing through your nose. You can breath deeper for longer spans of time this way without worrying about your mouth drying out. Breathe in deeply and count to ten as you release your breath.

4. Concentrate only on your breath and the counts. Try to keep all other thoughts out of your mind. If you do think about something else recognize it as a thought and forget it. Simply concentrate on your breath.

With all that I’ve just written this may sound more complicated then it is. Basically in summary: be comfortable, sit strait, breathe deep, and don’t think. Some people find the process easier with music. If you want to try that anything that calms you and won’t be distracting will work. As a side note it might be good to set some kind of timer while your meditating. The first time I tried it I decided on about a ten-minute session. When I came out of my mediation and looked at the clock after what I thought felt like about ten minutes I found that forty-five minutes had passed. Just something to keep in mind.

-Alice Rhane

Today some friends and I went by our local pagan store. Unfortunately we did not have much time before it closed but we still had great fun there. I picked up another hematite ring. Hematite is a very helpful (and budget friendly) stone. It serves the purpose of absorbing and holding your stress and when the stone has taken as much as it can hold it will break. I also picked up a little chunk of Lapis Lazuli. Aside from being an eye catching and beautiful stone to make jewelry from or simply to keep around Lapis Lazuli is also excellent for aiding in meditation. (Which I’ve been trying to get into lately…)

On another note: It's Monday! Every Monday I'll be doing a weekly tarot card reading for myself and posting it here. I'll tell you what kind of insights I've gained for the week. Eventually I'll be posting some of my friends readings as well. (With their consent of course!) So here goes nothing!

Overall the week is going to require a lot of introspection and self motivation and the advice given for the week as a whole is to not let that get me down. The cards suggest I work on keeping up my confidence because other people may be down on me. Today sets in motion a choice for me and splits me on two sides. Tomorrow this is going to throw me off and maybe rock my stability a bit but by Wednesday I should be back on. Wednesday I may be asked to sacrifice something for someone else and I will be glad to do it however moving into Thursday I need to remember and recognize that sacrifice and be sure to consider what I no longer have in my plans. Friday a situation will crop up that may require me to act based on what I know to be right rather than popular opinion. This may cause some commotion in the people around me but I need to stick to my guns and my own inner strength. As long as I do that I should be able to work everything out by Saturday. Sunday something new in my life will begin to move and I'll have to have the strength to keep up.

-Alice Rhane