UPDATE - On COVID-19

An update on COVID-19 (13th March 2020)

Whenever I am thinking about a situation or problem that needs solving I generally reach for my Tarot cards and start with a quick 3 card spread to see if anything comes to light. Usually it does, if I need more clarity I will try another spread to gain more insight on the problem/situation. So seeing as the UK government seems to be slowly reacting to COVID-19 and Boris is quite happy to listen to his experts I thought I would cast a quick 3 carder to see if it would enlighten me or certainly inspire me to think about the problem in a more logical and analytical manner. So have a look at this spread below and see just how it gave me some food for thought.

Introduction

How long will Covid-19 last and what can we do to halt its progress, longterm?

3 Card (Past, Present and Future) Spread.

Five of Clubs (Reversed)

The Past: Past events or influences that have played an important part in bringing about the current
situation, perhaps including those that brought one to the need for the question in the first place.
The effect of those events or influences on the present and how best we can use them to shape and
understand the future.

Upright: Indicates an agreement. It is a neutral card by itself. It simply means agreement: contracts,
commitments, transactions, etc.

Reversed: Trickery, complexity, involvement.

Two of Spades

The Present: Where the querent finds themselves at the present time. Opportunities and obstacles
in the current situation.

Upright: Signifies change. It’s the feeling of walking in one direction then suddenly you take a step
in another direction and continue on from there. This card deals with a definite change of course in
readings. Patience.

Reversed: The waiting is over. Stalemate ended. Beware of a new situation. The seeker, or someone
known to the seeker, may travel soon.

Ace of Hearts (Reversed)

The Future: Future events and fresh influences about to come into play that will operate in the near
future. Possible outcome of the situation. One's aspirations.

Upright: Focuses on the home. Another neutral card. The other cards surrounding the Ace of
Hearts will show you the actual feelings concerning “the home”.

Reversed: False hope, clouded joy, fulfillment delayed, false heart, unfaithfulness, false love,
change, alteration, sterility.

Personal Notes

This card has a lot to do with family and ‘home’ matters. It can also indicate problems or troubles
being relieved between loved ones. This card can also speak of good news to or from a family
member or possibly a marriage. It is said that if this card falls within the first three cards of any
spread it may indicate that the Inquirer is in an emotional or sensitive state of mind.

Conclusion and Outcome

I can see the past and present situations quite clearly, what matters is the final card (3). The Ace
of Hearts is telling us that if we stay at home for longer periods then the virus has nowhere to
go and the likelihood of it spreading is reduced dramatically. In turn this will delay the spread,
reduce infection and eventually the virus will die.

The logical way to solve this situation is to deploy our Armed Forces who are professional and
well organised. The plan would be to isolate area by area, as each area is clear then move on
to the next. Control is fundamental so we could addopte the same strategy that Italy has used
by restricting movement that is non essential and issuing travelling passes for movement around
the country for those who are clear and have important and necessary work to do.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO IS, TEST TEST TEST.

Setup military checkpoints outside major cities and large towns to supervise control over movement,
monitoring of clear areas and infected areas is paramount. Once everyone and everywhere is
clear a strict control of movement of people entering and leaving the country is vital to safeguard
the cleanup that has been done over the control period.

If this works then the strategy could be incorporated worldwide.

I know this all sounds a bit drastic but unless somebody can effectively and efficiently control and
monitor movement then we will not stop this virus in any other way.

Today's Oracle 13th March 2020

Cernunnos, Antlered god (Lord of the Animals)

God and guardian of the animal realm, Cernunnos' authority is heralded by wearing the antlers of the deer. He provides sustenance and protection for the animals under his care. His qualities are generosity and magnanimity.

Invoking the Qualities of Generosity and Magnanimity.

As Lord of the Animals, Cernunnos provides refuge, sustenance, and well- being for the animals of the great forests of Europe. Majestically portrayed on the Gundestrup Cauldron, the antlered Cernunnos sits cross-legged on the ground next to a great stag. Cernunnos also appears intimately allied with the mother goddesses, carrying cornucopiae and offering bowls of fruit and grain to animals. The sovereign Cernunnos signifies generosity and magnanimity toward those he protects.

As early as the fourth century B.C., Cernunnos appears in rock drawings from the Camonica Valley of northern Italy. Cernunnos's authority is heralded by his great antlers, signifying his lordship among the animals of the forest of Europe. Through the centuries, his symbols - antlers of a great stag, Celtic jewelry called torcs, and the ram-horned snake remained remarkably consistent. Drawn on cave walls by Iron Age Celts, he appears robed and standing, and arrayed with great antlers, torcs on both arms, and a ram-horned snake at his side. On the Gundestrup Cauldron, Cernunnos's portrayal is regal: he sits cross-legged on the ground like a hunter, grasping a tore in one hand and a ram-horned snake against his face in the other. He is surrounded by a bull, hound, boar, and otherworldly animals. A stag with identical antlers stands beside him, as though mirroring his image as an animal.

Extending his sovereignty to include imagery usually associated with the mother goddesses, Roman-Celtic statues of Cernunnos show him carrying abundant cornucopias, feeding animals, and offering grain or coins from a bag.'' Like the mother goddess, also common at this time, Cernunnos extends his protection to include the growth of crops and the health and well-being of animals and humans alike.

His best-known image comes from Lady Charlotte Guest's rendering of "The Lady of the Fountain," included in her translation of the Mabinogion. Cernunnos appears as the potent Lord of the Animals:

"Sleep here tonight, and in the morning arise early, and take the road upwards through the valley until thou ... comest to a large sheltered glade with a mound in the centre. And thou wilt see a black man of great stature on the top of the mound. He is not smaller than two men of this world. He has but one foot, and one eye in the middle of his forehead. And he has a club of iron. .. . And he is not a comely man, but on the contrary he is exceedingly ill favoured; and he is the Woodward of that wood.
And thou wilt see a thousand wild animals grazing all around him....
And the next morning I arose ... and proceeded straight through the valley to that wood.... And there was I three times more astonished at the number of wild animals.... And the black man was there, sitting upon the top of the mound. Huge of stature as the man had told me....
Then I asked him what power he had over the animals.... And he took his club in his hand, and with it he struck a stag so great a blow that it brayed vehemently, and at his braying the animals came together, as numerous as the stars in the sky, so that it was difficult for me to find room in the glade to stand among them. There were serpents, and dragons and divers sorts of animals. And [the black man] looked at them, and bade them go and feed; and they bowed their heads, and did him homage as vassals to their lord."

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may not think of yourself as regal, as having a noble character; yet this capacity is developing within you. Others are already looking to you for strength, support, and guidance, even if you are not aware of your influence on them and your importance in their eyes. The "others" may be your children, employees, friends, partners, family, or neighbours. If you are not in a position of great external authority, your character is nonetheless leaving a strong impression on those around you. If your meditation has been strong, your spiritual maturity may be garnering such strength that it is beginning to show in your actions and presence.

Generosity comes from confidence and magnanimity from strength, an inner knowledge that life will always be filled up and replenished anew. More and more, your actions are spontaneous and unaffected. By responding to the needs of others unselfconsciously, you are participating in the natural urge of creation to increase in generosity and love.

Today's Oracle 12th March 2020

The Morrigán, the Raven goddess (Chaos)

The Morrigán signals the presence of sex, lovemaking, chaos, and often death to a particular way of being. Chaos clears the way for transformation. Often appearing in disguise, her qualities are confusion, chaos, destruction or death, and rapid change.

Invoking the Quality of Rapid Change.

The Morrigán presides at thresholds of change, namely conflict, life and death, and sexuality. On the eve of the battle, in the twilight between the armies, the Morrigán hails the victor in the shape of a great crow or raven, screaming encouragement to the favoured and death to foes. Voraciously sexual, her couplings with gods and heroes render protection and fertility to the land. Her presence signifies confusion, destruction, and, especially, rapid change.

After the Tuatha De Danann had defeated the Fomorians, a demon-like race inhabiting Ireland, and cleared away the slaughter, the Morrigán or Mórrígu (meaning the "Terrifying" or "Great Queen") proclaimed news of victory and peace to Ireland. Joined in a single voice, the ancestors, the rivers, the summits, and the sources of waters of Ireland demanded, "What is the news?"

"Peace up to heaven
Heaven down to earth
Earth beneath heaven
Strength in each
A cup very full
Full of honey
Mead in abundance
Summer in winter ...
Peace up to heaven ..."

Later in mythic history, in the Ulster Cycle and the Táin Bó Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) chronicling the great conflict between the provinces of Ulster and Connacht, the war goddesses Neamhain, Badhbh, and the Morrigán terrify the Connachtmen and "a hundred warriors died of fright ." Appearing as a great crow or raven, the Morrigán prophesies victory to the forces of Ulster and hides the deadly news from the forces of Connacht. The great hero of the conflict is Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster. Throughout the epic cycle, Cu Chulainn himself is hounded by the seductive and clever Morrigán, who both aids and ultimately defeats him. She attempts to seduce him, he spurns her, and she attacks him in revenge. She tricks him into breaking his geis, his sacred oath: Cú Chulainn eats the flesh of a dog, his namesake. Weakened, he goes into battle. Shortly thereafter, the Morrigán appears to him as the Washer at the Ford, washing blood from his tunic, a sure sign of approaching death:

"She was washing blood-stained clothes in the stream, moaning and sobbing all the time. As Cú Chulainn watched, she lifted the garment she was washing out of the water and he saw his own tunic in her hands. Blood poured from it into the stream and turned the water red."

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are approaching or are in the midst of rapid change. While the appearance of a goddess of war may appear sinister, she also clears the way for a new order once the chaos and confusion have passed. With greater spiritual maturity and experience, the presence of the Morrigán is welcomed. Following in her wake, you can quickly and even graciously rid yourself of attachments to material possessions, bankrupt relationships, and harmful or futile circumstances. This oracle is auspicious: great psychological and spiritual progress is possible. Success depends on your conscious participation, as the changes now in progress are inevitable and you cannot change them. However, by consciously observing and welcoming the changes, a new order will quickly appear, integrating remnants of your old life with new elements you never dreamed possible.

Casting this oracle may also signal the need to remain in a state of upheaval and bewilderment for a while longer. At present, no future direction can be clearly indicated, and the oracle cautions you to wait and ask again later.

Today's Oracle 11th March 2020

Oengus/Mabon (Youthful Champion, Son of Light)

Oengus is one of the Tuatha De Danann, son of a secret union between Daghdha and Bóinn, the river goddess. Falling in love with a girl he sees in a dream, Oengus finds her and heroically wins her. Oengus and his counterpart in the Welsh tradition, Mabon, represent the youthful championing of innocence, virtue, and love.

Invoking the Defence of Innocence, Love, and Virtue.

Oengus is the son of a secret union of Daghdha, the Good God, and Bóinn, the river goddess. Oengus sees a girl in a dream and falls in love with her. Though he finds her and her companions living in a lake, they are shape-shifters who transform into swans every other year. Unable to persuade the girl's father to allow him to wed her, he turns himself into a swan and they fly away together as swans. Oengus represents heroic love, innocence, virtue, and the overcoming of obstacles.

In Irish myth, Oengus is the heroic champion. Variously known as the son of the goddess or the son of light, Oengus is one of the Tuatha De Danann, a race of supernatural beings forced to dwell underground with the coming of the Celts to Ireland. In the mating of the river goddess, Bóinn, and the Good God, Daghdha, Oengus is conceived. In order to hide their secret union, Bóinn and Daghdha cause the sun to stand still in the heavens for nine months, giving the appearance that Oengus is conceived and born on the same day. Imbued with the armour of the sun, Oengus becomes a wondrous youth, the champion of love, innocence, and virtue.

As a young man, Oengus dreams of a young girl he does not know. Upon awakening, he is passionately in love with her and sets out searching the countryside to find her. When at last he finds Caer ("Yew Berry"), she is living in a lake, a portal to the Otherworld. Caer and her girl companions are shape-shifters, and every other year, at the festival of Samhain, they turn into swans. All of them have lovely chains around their necks, except Caer's is made of gold. Though Oengus begs to marry Caer, her marriage signals the father's death and he adamantly refuses. Only at Samhain, when the thresholds between the worlds are as thin as veils, might he escape with her. Waiting until Samhain, Oengus turns himself into a swan and he and Caer fly away together, circling the lake three times to enchant the inhabitants to sleep for three nights and three days.

In the Welsh tradition, the youthful champion is the son of the Modron, the mother goddess. He is called Mabon, taken from his mother at the age of three days and held captive in a prison by Arthur for uncounted centuries. When, countless ages later, he is released, Mabon is older than any living creature. Of supernatural birth, he is destined to be a champion of the right and those on quest for the sake of love: Mabon's assistance allows Arthur and Culhwch to overtake Twrch Trwyth, a fierce wild boar, and to seize the scissors, razor, and comb between its ears. It is a quest within a quest, and only by securing this extraordinary prize can Culhwch wed Olwen, the object of his impassioned love.

Born of supernatural origins, Oengus and Mabon are prefigured champions, each a wondrous child, who has grown older to overcome the impossible.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are a champion of unpopular causes. You want to live honourably and honestly even if it costs you time and money. Pursuing honest work and maintaining faithful relationships are extremely important to you. Male or female, you are developing the noble character of a knight, striving from a sense of fidelity and virtue on behalf of everyone. In this matter, you are capable of great accomplishments, overcoming obstacles that would seem hopeless and fearful to most people.

Having drawn this oracle, you may also be facing a situation that tempts you away from virtuous actions and toward an easier and more convenient course. Do not mistake expediency for virtue. As with champions, you are being tested. Look closely at the situation, seeking to see the good, innocent, reliable, and honest. Any gain from acting cheaply or deceitfully will be temporary and vacuous. Rather than acting imprudently, act from a sense of principle. Whatever your age, the oracle promises you a youthful energy to champion an honourable cause, action, and outcome.

Today's Oracle 10th March 2020

Chambers in the Earth (Rhythms of the Otherworld)

Caves and subterranean chambers, natural or dug out of the ground, represent our desire to maintain an intimate connection to the Otherworld. Although our actions may seem slow or sluggish to others, steady progress is occurring in the rhythm common to the Otherworld.

Invoking a Slow and Rhythmical Course of Action.

Like their Neolithic and Bronze Age ancestors, the Iron Age Celts use caves and subterranean chambers for shelter, protection, and ritual. On the walls, they carve images of solar wheels and stag hunting, bringing the potency of the sun and the sacred hunt into the earth's interior chambers. These caves and chambers provide refuge from the harsh outer world and connection with the never-ending pulse of life within the earth's sacred interior, the sovereign mother goddess.

In the Valley of Camonica in the Alps of northern Italy, sacred rock carvings enhance the walls of natural caves. Largely composed of solar wheels, stag deer, and hunting scenes, these carvings transport the potency and virility of the sun, the stag, and the sacred hunt into the earth's interior. The rays of sun are depicted as immense antlers spreading like the branches of a tree. Cernunnos, the Lord of the Animals, has antlers flowering out of his head and wears a Celtic tore on each arm. Praying and dancing figures, penises erect, enclose around a stag. A solar figure appears as an arbiter between hunters.

Like many ancient cultures, the Iron Age Celts sought out caves and subterranean chambers for protection and shelter from weather, predators, and enemies. Within them they communicated with the Otherworld and dramatized the bringing and taking of life by depicting the fury of the hunt and the authority of the sun. Within the caves, the natural wombs of the earth, the mysteries of sexual union and fertility could be celebrated in intimate connection with the primal pulse of the sovereign mother goddess, the earth herself.

In later Celtic periods, mythological figures are thought to reside within famous tombs, especially in Ireland. The magnificent megalithic tombs at Newgrange, the Brú na Bóinne, in County Meath, are thought to have been constructed as the abode of the supernatural beings. In Irish literature, Newgrange is the dwelling place of the powerful god Daghdha, his wife, Bóinn, and son, Oengus. The kings of Tara sought to aggrandize their authority by claiming Newgrange and the nearby tombs at Dowth and Knowth as royal burial sites, even in the Christian period.

Hills, mountains, rocks, crevices, and caves are also favoured by leprechauns and faeries as dwelling places. As descendants of the people of the goddess Danu, the Tuatha De Danann, the faeries have long inhabited the underworld, the subterranean realm just below the ground, living within the ground and especially liking "faery mounds" apart from human habitation. Faeries and leprechauns often slip into the ground invisibly, as if the ground has swallowed them.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the resources and rhythms of nature, and especially the Otherworld, would provide steady continuity in some aspect of your life. Aside from earthquakes affecting the earth's surface, the rhythm or pulse of Mother Earth is largely slow, regular, dependable, and certain. Constancy and consistency bring success.

Your creative ideas and enthusiasm are like the rays of the sun. By stabilizing your ideas and energies in the steady and balanced rhythms common to the earth and the practical aspects of human life, you will complete important projects, build confidence, acquire continuity in relationships, and achieve balance between the creative forces of earth and sky. For now, do not be concerned if you feel that things are going too slowly. Having drawn this oracle, the constant rhythms of Mother Earth are bringing balance and certainty into your life.

Having drawn this oracle, you may feel that a particular quality needs to be solidified to become a more permanent part of your nature. If so, inquire of the oracles once again.

Today's Oracle 9th March 2020

Tír na nÓg (Blessed Isle to the West)

The Tír na nÓg is one of many blessed and magical isles to the west. It is the land of the forever young, revelling in beauty, merriment, and harmony. Its qualities are joy, pleasure, peace, and blessing.

Invoking the Qualities of Harmony, Peace, and Blessing.

The blessed isles lie off the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, as if to follow . - the sun in its homeward path. At the coming of the Celts to Ireland, the ancient Tuatha De Danann take shelter there. In The Voyage of Bran, Bran and his men wander the seas in search of the Island of Women, a land revelling in harmony, beautiful women, and merriment. In the Fionn Cycle, the young champion Oisín and the princess Niamh of the Golden Hair ride on the sea as if it were a plain to Tir na nÓg, the Land of the Forever Young.

The sanctity of islands to the west harkens back to a mythic time. Dozens of lake islands and islands off the coasts of Scotland and Ireland are revered as sites of homage and pilgrimage, associated with monasteries and abbeys in our time. The prospect of enchanted islands, beckoning the youthful and the adventurous, appearing and disappearing from sight, riding on shining pedestals to glisten in the sun, singing with music to sweeten the air, and bestowing gifts on the virtuous and forsaken has long inspired the Celtic imagination. "West of the sun," for example, is the island of Iona, St. Columba's (Colm Cille) holy strand.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are becoming more aware of the simple and delightful pleasures of living. The blessings of a land "flowing with milk and honey" in your own terms are coming into your life. Long-held tensions, grudges, hurts, and fears are losing their hold on you. Personal and professional conflicts are being resolved. Harmony and contentment are replacing disappointment and loss. Your life's work is beginning to manifest in clear and concrete ways.

True paradise is a state of grace. No one can give you joy or take it away. No circumstance can deprive you of your dignity or value. No dream come true is necessarily better than the delight and opportunity to dream. No accord, contract, job, relationship, possession, privilege, or status is better than your inmost vision of yourself, the paradise of being fully content and satisfied. In the Celtic imagination, such a blessing is westward, in the direction of the sun's journey homeward, inward to itself, deep within the pleasures of being fabulously alive.

Today's Oracle 8th March 2020

Faeries of Music, Dance, and the Performing Arts

Faeries love to dance, sing, and play music, and sometimes gift musicians (especially fiddlers and pipers) with great talent in fiddling or piping. Their presence brings talents and resources in the pleasures of dancing, singing, and music.

Invoking Talents and Resources.

The faeries are known to love music and dance for a night and a day or even longer. Great musicians, particularly pipers and fiddlers, are inspired by overhearing faery music, happening upon a faery wedding and learning the tunes, or encountering a faery who strokes the strings of a fiddle, forever enchanting it with tunes. So beautiful is faery music that an inspired musician will always be in demand to play and never again be poor.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the spirit world wishes to gift you with talent and creative inspiration. You may even feel as though you have acquired an invisible companion, a kind of muse from the spirit world to guide and inspire you. You may feel gifted by insight or sudden talent, as if inspired from an imperceivable, spiritual source. Music and poetry may seem to be coming out of thin air. If illuminating ideas seem to arise in your mind as easily as air fills your lungs, you are being inspired by the breath of the spirit world.

It is important to be gracious and generous to yourself during special times of inspiration and creativity. For some people, such times can lead to over stimulation and intense activity. Others become drowsy or drift from one thing to another. Still others feel lost or confused. Like prayer and meditation, times of inspiration require personal nurture and constancy. Be mindful of nourishing yourself with nutritious food, sufficient rest and sleep, healthy exercise, and supportive companionship. By acquiring regular habits of work and relaxation, creative inspiration will become a natural, routine part of your life.

Today's Oracle 7th March 2020

Green Man (Renewal of the Earth)

The face and features of the Green Man are formed of leaves. He represents the masculine role in sexual coupling and fertility and the flowering of life and talent. Progress is uncluttered and easy. His qualities are innocence, success, and easy progress.

Invoking Innocence, Easy Progress, and Success.

In conveying the fertility of the forest and plants to people and livestock, the Green Man is the consort of the mother goddess, assisting in the greening of spring and summer and the fruitfulness of the earth. The Green Man's face and features are formed of leaves and vines. Deriving his prowess from the earth, he represents the masculine role in sexual coupling, fertility, and the flowering of human life and talent. He signifies innocence, easy progress, and success, especially in initiating new activities.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting youthful, zestful energy into your life. In the manner of the greening of spring, easy progress is ahead of you. Ideas and actions will seem innocent and spontaneous.

However, your success is limited by natural circumstances beyond your control. Though appearing in many guises through the centuries, the Green Man is always younger and less experienced than the mother goddess, the sovereign Mother Earth. This youthful innocence can accomplish many ends, but you will need greater strength, confidence, and maturity to fully accomplish your goals. By accepting the limits of the situation, you will find much personal satisfaction and ready success. On the other hand, if you overextend your energy or ambition or brashly push ahead, the situation may turn from success to disappointment, and even ridicule.

The Bohemian Arcana

The Bohemian Arcana - Major Trumps

Using the Ramses Tarot of Eternity card deck, here is a presentation of the Major Arcana. The deck is very colourful and the pictures are of Egyptian peoples in the times of the Pharos. The card numbering is different from the Rider Waite deck and stays with the theme of Worth who wrote "The Tarot of the Bohemians".

Today's Oracle 6th March 2020

Charioteer / The Chariot (Rescue from Danger)

The charioteer is a loyal companion who comes quickly to rescue us from danger. While the warrior fights, the charioteer keeps the chariot slightly apart from the fray, helping the warrior make a hasty retreat. The charioteer's qualities are trustworthiness and loyalty.

Invoking the Qualities of Trustworthiness and Loyalty.

A chariot and team of horses pull the sun across the sky. In the blessed isles, golden chariots seem to rise "with the tide towards the sun." The charioteer's art is to stand loyal to the champion in the heat of battle. Withdrawing the war chariot slightly apart from the fray, the charioteer stands ready to rescue the champion if the battle presses too dangerously. The charioteer's qualities are intense personal loyalty and trustworthiness, especially amid the fervour of turmoil and change.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting loyal companionship and good counsel. Perhaps you are in a leadership role and you need discerning yet supportive feedback. Perhaps your endeavours are risky and you need cautious and discriminating advice. Perhaps your life is so out of control or in transition that you temporarily need to have a trustworthy person make decisions on your behalf. Perhaps it is sufficient just knowing that others are available to assist you, even if you rarely call on them. just talking things through with someone sincerely interested in your welfare can be greatly stabilizing and heartening.

The charioteer's great strength is his or her trustworthiness and readiness to help. The more stressed. your situation, the more important is reliable counsel and the loyalty of comrades and friends. Choose your confidants wisely, based on their personal qualities, and then seek their counsel, support, and assistance.

Today's Oracle 5th March 2020

Lap Dog, Hound of the goddess (Intimacy with Self)

The lap dog brings healing and renewal to the inmost self. Old habits and traumas may resolve effortlessly. The lap dog's presence signifies an auspicious time to bring loving attention to our deep emotional and spiritual natures.

Invoking the Quality of Loving Attention.

The hound of the goddess conveys gentle companionship to the innermost promptings of the human spirit. Unlike the harrowing hound of hell in Mediterranean mythology, the Celtic hound is kind and helpful, usually sitting at the goddess's feet, resting in her lap, gazing adoringly, or even nursing from her breasts. Associated with the regenerative powers of the Otherworld, the lap dog brings healing and loving attention to our deep emotional and spiritual natures.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are attracting the benevolent forces of the spirit world to transform your life from within. It is a graced and auspicious time to heal and strengthen the inmost self. Old, deep wounds may be soothed and resolved without trauma or even conscious attention. Harmful patterns and habits may dissolve effortlessly. Troublesome relationships may clear up, slip away easily, or clear up in healthier and more beneficial ways.

You have only to let the changes occur naturally. You are asked to trust, allowing changes to unfold freely. The natural cycle of death and regeneration are working quietly on your behalf. Try not to interfere through over activity, thinking too much, wallowing in your troubles or insecurities, or planning the rest of your life. Taking time to meditate and not hurrying may give more spaciousness to the process of change.

Drawing this oracle suggests that the spirit world is now working in a very personal way to assist you. It is as if you are getting a little extra attention right now. Positive changes are already moving within you.

Today's Oracle 4th March 2020

Faeries of Mischief and Play

Faeries are mischievous, playful, and like to poke fun at human seriousness. They favour mischief and merrymaking. Their presence brings playfulness, frolic, mischief, humour, laughter, and fun into life.

Invoking the Qualities of Laughter, humour, and Fun.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, watch out for fun. Laughter and humour are great medicines. Laughter soothes the spirit and ignites the body with ecstasy. Cutting deftly to the quick, laughing at yourself shatters incrimination and morbid introspection. In strained or new circumstances, humour breaks the ice, because people love to laugh deeply where spirits meet gently, without formalities. Laughter and playfulness have a natural buoyancy that joins easily to joy.

Where is the laughter and fun in your life? How long has it been since you laughed so hard your sides ached? When did you last laugh at yourself? Are you taking anything so seriously that it distorts the fullness of your life? Is the humour of the human condition escaping your notice? The faeries of mischief and humour poke fun at human seriousness so as to bring us more joy. Drawing this oracle suggests that you are approaching the frontier of laughter, merriment, and fun.
The faeries find humans curiously earnest and somber, and therefore pleasantly amusing. By playing tricks on us, they offset our seriousness with their mischief and humour. They're unusually fond of confounding humans with merry pranks, unexplainable movement and swapping of objects, and fiddlin' merry dance tunes beneath the house. The faeries' presence brings playfulness, frolic, folly, synchronicity, laughter, and fun.

Today's Oracle 3rd March 2020

Hazel (The Divining Rod)

The hazel is the wood used for divination in everyday life and specifically in divining for water beneath the ground. Because of its purity, the hazel lends guidance and direction to the affairs of life. Its presence signals a time of reflection and concentration.

Invoking Concentration and Reflection.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, the presence of the hazel tree directs you to the natural world for instruction. The hazel usually brings clarity by encouraging you to seek the inner meaning of events, relations, and situations. Looking at the surface of events will not help. However, calm reflection may reveal an inner meaning, significance, pattern, or growth that is not apparent on the surface of things. You may find yourself drawn into a period of quiet reflection, rather than activity and planning. The hazel will gently support your reflection, meditation, concentration, or prayer. Since the hazel tree encourages deep serenity and quietude, it may be an especially auspicious time for taking a vacation alone or going on retreat.

A hazel tree, and especially the hazelnut, signify the search of the inner world for guidance concerning your everyday affairs. Its signals are often found in nature. Like a Celtic hermit, you might look for guidance from the actions of the birds and creatures around you. The sudden appearance of certain animals and their habits and qualities, for example, may direct you to aspects of your own nature important to your personal development. Seek quietude, then wait and watch.

Today's Oracle 2nd March 2020

Hammer god (Scepter of Authority and Choice)

The Hammer God is primarily a tribal father god, wielding his hammer or mallet as a symbol of authority and command. He is mature and kindly, yet his presence signifies the need to consider options wisely and make sound, discriminating decisions.

Invoking the Qualities of Wise and Just Decisions.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you need to make wise and careful decisions regarding your own resources and activities, and perhaps those affecting a large number of people, such as your extended family or community. Others are looking to you for guidance, leadership, and support.

You must consider the situation perspicaciously, carefully examining the circumstances and options, as well as the possible outcomes of your present actions. You may need to be very patient, waiting for information to form a discernible pattern. Only then can you make prudent decisions. The fatherly presence of the Hammer God signals an auspicious opportunity to better your own circumstances and the circumstances of those for whom you are responsible. If you take sufficient time and care to listen to all sides of the discussion and weigh all the possible outcomes, you will not only be successful but garner the esteem of your family and community.

Today's Oracle 1st March 2020

Cauldron of the Otherworld (Alchemy)

The brewing cauldron symbolizes the goddess's powers of replenishment in everyday life. In the brewing of earth's elements, alchemy and medicine are formed. The cauldron conveys healing to the body and emotions, and wisdom to actions. Lost aspects of the self may be returned.

Invoking Healing and Replenishing the Spirit.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are likely to attract the return of health, vitality, and optimism to your life. If you have been feeling weary, ill, or depressed, you are likely to feel more active, energetic, confident, and cheerful in the weeks ahead. The brewing cauldron signifies the potential to heal and replenish your emotional and spiritual well-being.

Spiritually, the presence of the brewing cauldron signals the return of elements of your essential nature that have been lost through harmful, neglectful, or wrong actions in the past. In the days and weeks ahead, you may recall personal qualities and hopes long abandoned. Some may have been cast off in childhood by trauma or disappointments. Others may have been left undeveloped, or discarded as impractical, ridiculous, frivolous, or childish. Still others may have been corrupted through lies and self-deceit. Having drawn this oracle, some of these qualities and hopes may now be returning to you.

Today's Oracle 29th February 2020

Ram-horned Snake (Shape-shifting)

The ram-horned serpent signifies the capacity to change form, consciousness, or action spontaneously and quickly. Close to the earth and in touch with what is needed, the ram-horned serpent freely changes action, mood, form, and consciousness.

Invoking the Quality of Shape-Shifting.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are urged to bring shape-shifting to some aspect of your life. A present situation may invite a change in attitude, action, or rearrangement of relationships, plans, logistics, or details. Depending on the situation, the changes may be crucial to many people or subtle, perceivable only to you. By sensing the opportune moment, spontaneous shifts in action, consciousness, and outward appearance may occur quickly and effortlessly. Making the same change later may require more time and effort. By shape-shifting now, you will begin to strengthen your capacity to shape-shift when the right circumstances occur in the future.

With practice and increased sensitivity, you can develop the skill of shape-shifting. From a spiritual perspective, as the boundaries between the realms of this middle world and the spirit world grow thinner, the extraordinary qualities of the animals and plants around you may become your expert teachers.

Coronavid19 in March 2020

Astrology for March 2020

Here is a brief outlook for the month of March 2020 and Coronavid19:-

Highlights

• Relationships need to be clarified.
• Circumstances are changing every moment and so are peoples needs.
• New ideas, relationships need to be setup to solve the growing problem of Coronavid19.
• Closer cooperation between countries and health organisations.
• More positive measures need to be put into place quickly.
• The blame-game needs to stop and reduce conflicts that just side-track the future dynamics.
• It is now becoming so obvious that control is lacking in certain contaminated areas that the threat will escalate quite rapidly over the next few weeks.
• By the middle to the end of March the situation could be quite severe.

Today's Oracle 28th February 2020

Mermaids and Selkies (Water)

Mermaids and Selkies are female enchantresses of the seas. Often marrying human men, they eventually return to the sea. They signify the qualities of femininity, longing, beauty, and wonder in life.

Invoking the Qualities of Longing and Wonder.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are called to re-invoke or re-enchant some aspect of your life with longing and wonder. In some way you may be feeling bored, tamed, captured by circumstance, or disenchanted with some aspect of your life. You may be longing for the unfamiliar, the enigmatic, the mysterious, and the yet-to-be-discovered aspects of life. You might wish to seek inspiration from the unknown and unexplored aspects of your life. Male or female, the depths of your femininity, especially its more exotic qualities, may be longing for attention and exploration. You may be unusually attracted to beauty. You are encouraged to explore the mysterious aspects of your life, to puzzle over unknowns without trying to analyse them, and to allow bewilderment and wonder to be your guides. The mermaid's allure is her mystery from the depths of the sea.

Today's Oracle 27th February 2020

Water Horses (Magical Encounters)

Water horses, are magical horses riding over the seas or appearing from the depths of inland lochs. Water horses appear magically and swiftly. Their presence signifies masculine strength and beauty.

Invoking the Union of Strength and Beauty.

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are called to renew some aspect of your life with the joining of beauty and strength. Perhaps your life now feels too familiar, routine, conforming, or emotionally flat. Your daily activities may lack spontaneity and vigour. Male or female, the depths of your masculinity may long for opportunities to explore new strengths and capacities. You may wish to express your outward authority, mastery, and leadership in tender and gracious ways. If so, new challenges and experiences may be drawing close. Your judgment and skill will be tested. Opportunities to explore the unknown may enter your life. By joining beauty to strength, you have the opportunity to break out of the overly familiar and experience vigorous and harmonious ways of living and acting.

Coronavirus

Coronavirus Outbreaks

Over the past few months, like everybody else in the world, I am very concerned about the Coronavirus becoming a pandemic, which in basic terms infects the whole world, so I have added a link to a website which keeps people informed with the day to day updates, statistics and bulletins on where, who, how many people have contracted the virus so far.
For the past week or two when news reports tell of any new outbreaks and of course, tragically, the deaths too, if the reports give information on any deaths, they tend to be elderly people around the age of 80 years old. So this information prompted me to have a look at some statistics...

A SCREENSHOT FROM THE WEBSITE

These statistics are partly based on some actual (ages 70-80 plus) and possible percentages. I have not heard or seen reported anyone dying under these ages, unless they have certain health problems which you can lookup on the website I've linked to.

This does raise a certain and rather obvious point here. The world is becoming over populated and we are living longer, other factors are affecting the whole world, such as climate change, plastic in our oceans, deforestation, I could go on forever listing the atrocities the human race has inflicted on the world as a whole but I am not writing this to gripe about it. No! I am just drawing the facts to peoples attention and would like some feedback as to what you might think the reasons are why this virus has suddenly appeared and is predominantly attacking the elderly folk of our world.

Today's Oracle 26th February 2020

Epona, the Horse goddess (Safe Passage)

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you are bringing protection and guidance into the current circumstances of your life. Epona can help to bring comfort to frayed nerves, companionship in dangerous or stressful situations, stamina and patience to endure and go the extra mile, and guidance in the otherworldly aspects of your passage. Her protection supports safe passage to the other side of the journey.

Epona is always seen in the company of her mare. During transition and change, you are urged to seek out the company of friends and others you trust and avoid the company of malevolent speakers or nay-sayers. Amid transition, you are unusually sensitive to others - even if you are not consciously aware of it, you can absorb their negative feelings and thoughts. On the other hand, sensitive times are excellent times to listen to the counsel and cautions of others, if they come from a generous heart. Trust your inner knowing to guide you amid choices, but avoid overtaxing yourself by taking in the thoughts of those you don't trust anyway. Be vigilant about the company you keep and you will receive the right guidance and kindly support.

Epona's authority to guide the otherworldly aspects of transition can assist you to stay connected to the spirit at work in your life, especially during times of great change and opportunity. Ask for guidance. Watch for shifting feelings, yearnings, or perceptions, notably things that seem especially alive or dead to you now. Look for emerging patterns seeking to be woven into your life. Trust that transitions can be times of great opportunity.

Reflections

Reflections in a Tarot Reading

Whenever you do a Tarot reading, you have to look at the past to reveal the future. I sometimes wonder though when I see these Tarot readers advertising a 1 card reading to clients. Yes, as a meditating card you can use just one card but surely not for a clients reading, even if it is FREE. How do you get, past, present and future from 1 card? The answer is, you can't! That's why somebody had this amazing idea to invent, "The 3 Card" spread. Of course I'm being cynical about it so stop doing it. Give the client the facts and stop being lazy or tight. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Why do we look at the past to reflect or reveal the future? Well I have to say it's just logical, it's part of human nature to look back in time and history just so that we can understand the rights and wrongs that people have made in the past and make sure we don't make the same mistakes that others have. It also helps us to learn by our own past history and rectify any of the bad choices we may have made along our chosen paths. You see now, the terminology that I have been using has been written into the Tarot along with its symbolism.

The Fools Journey is an excellent example of how we have to choose the correct paths to tread throughout our own individual life's journey. Life is too short and precarious to gamble with and like the old knight who guards the Holy Grail, says to Indiana Jones "to choose wisely" when he looks at all the chalice's to choose from. History is the book of life and a proficient reader can determine the outcome accurately from the scrutinising of any and all cards that are positioned in the past places of a spread. If you take a look at my, Psychic Celtic Cross spread you will see that I describe some of the positions of the cards as both, recent past and distant past and allows me to gather enough factual information just like glue. This in turn with the present positioned cards give me the tools and resources to construct a professional and accurate reading.

That my dear friends and colleagues is why we all need to reflect on the past.

Even Enki of the Anunnaki realised he had to look at the past to see what would become of his and the human race's future...

'Counseling' with the Tarot

Counseling with the use of Tarot

When I first started out on my Tarot journey I really expected to be telling people their fortunes till one client who I had read for previously asked for another reading. When I arrived at the client's home, the client said to me, "I don't want a reading but can I have a talk with you over a cup of tea or something?" I wasn't sure what they were going to talk to me about and was quite unprepared for this type of situation. I said I would have a chat and a drink and see if I might be able to give them some kind of advice or at least reassurance with the problem or situation.

I sat myself at the kitchen table while the client made the drinks, chatting generally while doing so but not about their question at hand. Once the drinks were ready the client brought them to the table and sat down facing me. The client explained what the situation was and asked if I had any advice but stated quite clearly that any advice would be between the two of us and strictly confidential.

I listened to the client without interruption and once they had finished I said that there was nothing that I could think of or suggest to help them out. At that point I asked the client if they would oblige me and let me consult my cards. The client said that a reading would not help or assist in solving the problem. I said that it was not going to be a reading as such, more of a consultation with my cards to see if they could give me some kind of inspiration or insight. The client agreed and asked if I wanted another drink. Another drink would be fine I said as I started to shuffle my cards and concentrate on the client's problem.

After a good 10 to 15 minuets of laying cards in different spreads and really seeing nothing I remembered a spread that someone showed me a few years previously and one that I had never used before during a client reading. It was simple and straightforward and was called the "Multi Question" spread, were you lay the first card, which is the question/issue/focus and then underneath on a second row lay another card which you call, the first issue. The first issue card does not answer the question but may give you some clues or indications. If it doesn't then you lay another card along side and to the right, calling this card the second issue and so on, laying down consecutive cards. By the time I had reached card 6, issue 5 that is. I had a complete picture and answers for the client.

This is the Spread I used but not the cards.

I explained the cards in detail and how they came to certain answers etc. The client's face turned from a grey, worried frown to bright and very happy one. The relief just seemed to fall of their shoulders as I explained further.

Since that meeting I have used my cards along with astrology data, sometimes for business clients, to solve many issues that required a different approach other than a Tarot reading. Some businesses don't think it looks very professional having a Tarot reader trying to predict the future of their next super product and so I am classed as a consultant and advisor. Me personally, I don't care what they call me or what label they attach, just as long as I can provide a professional and exclusive service for my client to use now and in the future.

Today's Oracle 25th February 2020

Presence of Ancestors

Card used from the Celtic Oracles deck

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, your ancestors are wishing to support and accompany your actions. Regardless of what you might think of their actions when they were alive, they survived to give progeny, and their good fortune and favour are a part of your inheritance. In former times, when the attention to ancestors was cultivated and the veils between life and death seemed thinner, it was quite possible to feel much akin to those you had never met.

Now is a fine time to explore your ancestral roots or your extended family. You may find unexpected links in your personality and life history with those who have gone before you. You may wish to chart your genealogy, reconnect with members of your extended family, or visit the homeland of your ancestors.

Having drawn this particular oracle, one (or several) of your ancestors may wish to guide you and forward your well-being. You might feel that some invisible presence is accompanying you and pointing the way. An approaching danger may suddenly veer off course and pass you by. New stories may unexpectedly enter the storytelling life of your community, family, or your own life tale, adding new elements to a well-known tale. Your intuition may seem unusually alert, highlighting the colours and circumstances around you and making them crystal clear, distinguishable, and memorable. Guidance comes in many forms. Be alert.

Is our planet fighting back? 🌍

Is our planet fighting back? 🌍

I wrote this in April 2011

Chaos theory is a field of study in applied mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions; an effect which is popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. Small differences in initial conditions (such as those due to rounding errors in numerical computation) yield widely diverging outcomes for chaotic systems, rendering long-term prediction impossible in general.[1] This happens even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future behavior is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved.[2] In other words, the deterministic nature of these systems does not make them predictable.[3][4] This behavior is known as deterministic chaos, or simply chaos.

Chaotic behavior can be observed in many natural systems, such as the weather.

The above article is from Wikipedia, (Link – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory)

I’m not a scientist, economist, biologist, or philosopher and yet I can sense something BIG is going to happen soon to our planet and more than likely its inhabitants too. With worldwide communication becoming ever more instantaneous and with instant access to everything and anyone, we have enabled ourselves to become a global community, and yet we are unable to act like one, especially in the more developed countries.

Materialism, selfishness, and greed has superseded compassion, regard for each other, and dignity and so maybe, just maybe the planet that we all share and inhabit is starting to feel this wave of destruction heading its way and is fighting back.

It’s as if all the unrest in Africa and the Middle East have become the butterfly’s wings and the earthquakes in Japan, the tornadoes in America just might be the effects of those wings fluttering to the point of destruction of the whole planet.

I’m not a doom and gloom merchant, I’m just a realist. If what I can feel and sense from all the news reports and television coverage day in and day out, something has to give very soon.

Today in February 2020

Wild fires in the USA and Australia, the corona virus epidemic, floods in the UK, deforestation, plastic pollution, wild animals decreasing rapidly, it keeps happening over and over.

All we seem to care about is our next iPhone or Big Mac meal.

I'm ashamed to be a human being.

Original Article written in 2011

Today's Oracle 24th February 2020

The Pooka

Card used from the Celtic Oracles deck

IF YOU ARE DRAWN TO THIS ORACLE, you may expect the unexpected. Tricksters are natural shape-shifters, so the Pooka might show up suddenly in many guises, as unforeseen events, unanticipated circumstances, unique people, or abrupt changes in direction. The Pooka's signaling characteristics are its sudden appearance (as if from nowhere), feeling tricked into doing something you wouldn't ordinarily do (against your better judgment), and perhaps being shaken by a series of seemingly dangerous or reckless events. Despite their unlikely appearance, these unsettling experiences may awaken you to new choices and opportunities. When you least expect it, the Pooka has the pesky habit of picking you up and "dumping" you into new circumstances.

The Pooka is the trickster or prankster of the Celtic world, making mischief with unsuspecting people especially when they feel lost or tired. While the Pooka may frighten and disorient, no one is harmed. Without the Pooka's intervention, you might not have been able to see clearly the circumstances now before you.

FREE INTERACTIVE READING

A Sample reading

Client reading #217

Background:

This reading was for a female client who came to me on the advice of her best friend who had also been to see me several months previously.

She was in a 3 year relationship with her boyfriend and both had good steady jobs. They dearly loved each other and talked frequently about marriage and starting a family. She told me that they were both very happy and satisfied within the relationship but she was having moments of doubt and confusion.

I started with a quick focus spread to see if there was something glaringly obvious that I could work with and then elaborate further with a larger and more insightful spread.

The next step will show the focus spread to give you some ideas on how this reading came to its conclusion.

The cards came out in the following order:

Focus card - The Lovers, Gemini, major card.

Head card - The Hanged Man, Neptune, major card.

Basis - 2 of Cups, Venus in Cancer, minor card.

Past - King of Cups, Cancer, court card.

Future - Death, Scorpio, major card.

These cards did not reflect what the client had just told me?

I was sure that there was some sort of conflict but needed further proof of this so decided to ask if I could have his and her date, time and place of birth so I could look up their birth data in my ephemeris and found the evidence that was required for my confirmation. He was a Scorpio and she was Cancer, but also, he had, (Moon in Scorpio) and she had (Venus in Cancer) which now confirmed to me an underlying conflict between the two.

He was a very jealous character and had become quite unpredictable at times especially his emotional outbursts which lead to the uncertainty she had been feeling and which caused her some considerable anxiety at times. This may not be the long term relationship that she had wanted so needed some clarity on the whole situation. She was very satisfied with the whole reading after I had explained the cards and birth data in detail. The reading lasted approximately 90 minutes.