Monday Mutterings: Daily Tarot Draw

I haven't posted my daily tarot drawing in quite a bit and I found this one a bit alarming/amusing.

Today, I pulled the Empress card.  I must preface this with the fact that I've never drawn this card before.  The Empress represents the Great Mother or Nature herself.  She is mother to all.  In the Robin Wood tarot, she is depicted as a very pregnant woman turning a spinning wheel.  The spinning wheel is often used to symbolize time or the Wheel of the Year.  On the tree behind her is a carved sign of the female.  Essentially, this is a fertility card.

Perhaps this card has nothing to do with me (I hope not!).  Since it is Mother Nature, perhaps it has to do with the change of season or the new holiday or the full moon coming.  I'm not really sure.  I just really hope she's not for me.  I have no plans for children (unless they have fur) now or ever.  I'm not really the "mommy type."  *sigh*  I'll have to do some further readings tonight.  I'm not happy about this card.  Maybe one of you has an idea?

Post-Beltane Reflections

This past Saturday I attended my first (large) Pagan group gathering.  A friend of mine was selling her wares at the craft/show portion of the gathering.  I unfortunately did not get to dance around the maypole because I had to proctor the SATs that morning.  Perhaps next year.  I was excited to feel such positive energy from the majority of the people there and I did not really know any of them beyond my small group of friends.

The ritual was wonderful.  Janet and Stewart Farrar, author's of the Witches' Bible, acted as High Priest and Priestess.  I could not of asked for a better Beltane gift.  Now, I did not get as emotional during the ritual as many of the other women there, as I have no interest in conceiving ever anytime in the near future.  I felt the magically energy around me during the ritual, but I could barely hear Janet or Stewart speaking.  Maybe it was because I was directly behind the drums or maybe it was for another reason (I wasn't meant to hear it).  I'm not sure if it was just the drums because my friends were also right behind them and could hear perfectly.  I'm more of the mind that I'm not ready to hear the words of a fertility ritual yet.  Let's just say, I wasn't rubbing the maypole for any reason.  I danced around it, but I dare not touch it.


I hope everyone had an amazing Beltane.  I'm still reeling from all the energy sprang from such a large group.  I never knew magic could feel that powerful.

Monday Mutterings: Teaching Shakespeare

A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women's fashion;
An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling,
Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth;
A man in hue, all 'hues' in his controlling,
Much steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth.
And for a woman wert thou first created;
Till Nature, as she wrought thee, fell a-doting,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick'd thee out for women's pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love's use their treasure.

- Sonnet 20 (my personal favorite)

Tomorrow, I begin teaching Romeo and Juliet to my demonic beloved freshman.  I know all most of them will never really have the love affair that I do with The Bard.  I've always been facinated by his use of pagan metaphors/allusions despite him being a Catholic.  I guess part of it is pagan/Greek/Roman references in Elizabethian literature is the same as The Family Guy using references to James Woods and Back to the Future.  They're essentially pop culture references of the time.  However, England had such strict laws about witchcraft until the mid-twentieth century, so it's quite remarkable how he was able to get away with so much.

I was thinking that while I'm teaching Romeo and Juliet I can bring in some horror stories tales of my teaching the play.  I could write my own soap opera/dramady about my teaching experiences.  So many television show ideas could be made with what I hear in the hallways or see in my classroom.  I have an insane interesting bunch this year.  I can only wait till I hand them foam swords.  I just hope that this stormy weather passes soon because I like to take them outside to act out the play.  Cross your fingers for me!

Monday Mutterings: Tarot

Last week I began doing (almost) daily tarot readings for myself.  The Domestic Witch's focus for this week is on the Hearth and Home.  This means that we should bring focus into the things we truly have a strong passion for.

Tarot is something that I began doing as a teenager and recently it has come back to my life.  Reading the cards was something that always came easily to me, especially since the decks I've always used have pictoral expressions of meaning.  Up until last week, I used the Universal Waite deck, but I purchased the Robin Wood deck on Amazon.  Immediately I had a strong connection to my new deck.  I've used the Robin Wood deck (most of my friends have it) and it has interested me for a long time.  I really have no idea why I've waited so long to purchase it.  Now, even though I'm pretty good at getting the meanings from just the cards themselves, I do like to have a reference.  At the suggestion of a friend, I purchased the book Tarot: Plain and Simple by Anthony Louis.  Anyone who is interested in tarot, beginner or not, should have this book.

I did not do a full week of readings, but the ones I did do were pretty interesting.  I will share one of them with you along with the weekly draw card.

My weekly draw card was Temperance.  This card is a card of balance.  The angel's wings in this deck are yellow which denotes illumination or inspiration.  However, in other deck's the angel's wings are red, the color of passion.  The angel is able to stand with one foot in the water, which usually is some connection to either travel or change.  From this card I knew that this week would possible involve me helping my life become more balanced or that focus for the week would be creating some form of harmony in my life.

On Thursday morning,  I drew the Six of Pentacles.  This card displays a nobleman holding the scales (which are balanced) and handing out coins to others.  This is a balanced man who has gained this through his devotion to charity/the needs of others less fortunate than himself.  The pentacles suit also tends to indicate some form of financial gain for myself or someone close to me.





Every card I drew last week had something that indicated a form of balance coming into my life or the lives of loved ones.  Interestingly enough, many things occurred that followed along with this theme: 1) I found out that I will be graduating from Grad School earlier than expected; 2) My husband and I found out we will be getting much more back on our tax return this year; 3) My raise came through; 4) My first coven meeting went very well and brought a needed pagan connection into my life; 5) Several friends became engaged this week.

I'm interested to see what this week's card will say!

A very special Monday Mutterings: A Blog Photo Tag Game

So, I was tagged by The Wizardess Epi from Go Out Beneath the Naked Night.  I think this is a cute blog game.

Now we need to play photo tag!

Here are the rules:

Open your first photo file

Scroll to the 10th photo

Post the photo and tell the story behind it

Tag five more people

This is a picture of the reflection of our Christmas/Yule tree (it depends on if you ask my mother or me what the tree is for) in the living room window.  My husband actually took this particular photo.  It was the first big snow storm here in New York and he wanted to catch the snow with the reflection of the lights in the window.  I really love this picture and I wish I took it.

Now for the tagging!!!



I am tagging Confessions of a Crafty Witch because I love reading about her new creations.

I am tagging The Domestic Witch because of her honest posts about her personal life.

I am tagging Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom because she inspired me to start this blog.

I am tagging A Pagan Tapestry because I love her rituals.

and finally . . .

I am tagging eWitch because of love the concept of their blog.

Have fun continuing the game!

Mundane Monday Mutterings

Parent/Teacher conferences are this evening.  My district holds them three times during the school year and this year, the last night lands in the beginning of March.  I should be an expert at these by now, but my stomach still forms into knots.

I will keep repeating my mantra: You will get through this.  You are a good teacher. 

Just keep me in your thoughts for some extra positive energy.