A bird in the hand, or "let them eat cake"

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions... for some of you, life throws you an unexpected twist, and for others it's an unfortunate choice.

THE TAROT PARLOUR

Let's get real about the "perfect" life, and then let's finish our coffee

It's hot outside already, though it doesn't register any great number yet.  The desert sun seems to have an omnipotence about it, even in October.  And I'm lazy this morning.  I don't feel like hauling computer, camera, cards, etc., out to the front porch to tape a reading.  And I want to finish my coffee in the relative cool cave of my house.  

So here we are.

Today we look at the cards through the written word, which is actually more efficient and precise.

Actual photo, right now, that cup
of coffee I want to finish.

• Wheel of Fortune...

There's always that one person, sometimes that one irritating person, who just seems to ride the waves of life effortlessly, in a golden haze of success, without even trying.

The thing is, when this person does fall off the Wheel (and eventually they will), it hits them harder than the average person, the average Joe who knows what it's like to struggle, because they have never had to.

And the odd thing about this is that how they handle a glitch in their seemingly perfect blessed life will show you unabashedly, candidly, just what kind of person they REALLY are.  This is where revelations are born, this is where questions get answered and questions get birthed, this is where you get to acknowledge that you honestly and thoroughly know someone, or else you find yourself suddenly facing a stranger.

For those who handle real life glitches and dilemmas with grace, intelligence, and maturity, good for them.  They'll find their way back up on that Wheel, and soon, because they actually belong there.  It's their destiny,

But for those who flounder, whine, blame, make excuses, wallow in pity and anger, fall apart at the the first touch of Real Life... they will never ride that Wheel again, it's not theirs to mount.

Desert Reading ~ getting right to the point

 

The Tarot Parlour

From Casa Monteraine ~ Stop butting heads, it's time to compromise

 

There's a family situation here that needs to reach a compromise, that needs to reach a conclusion, that needs to find peace. 

The Tarot Parlour ~ 

http://tarotreadingswithamythystraine.blogspot.com 

The Witch's Corner ~ 

http://amythystraine.blogspot.com

Patron's Page ~ Aries, it's about time you find your voice

 

You can purchase this private unlisted video at this link:
https://amythystraine.blogspot.com/p/patrons-page.html

This is a reading for Aries. There's a LOT going on with Aries, and one of the most important things is that you're finally going to find your voice and work up enough nerve to confront an a**hole. 'Bout time, Aries. 

*note: the information in a tarot reading is relevant to you whenever you discover the reading. Spirit knows what you need to hear, and when.

Reconnect with Your Goddess Energy

 

Embrace  your goddess connection today...
purchase a copy of my book "The Spiritual Feminist".

"So many people throughout my life have told me who I am, what I must do, what I can't do, what I have to complete, and what I will never be able to accomplish, and then I met the Goddess." (From The Spiritual Feminist)

The Spiritual Feminist empowers today's modern woman through the Goddess, connecting her to ancient matriarchal divinity and spiritual practices which invoke this energy. It embraces the essence of womanhood in its entirety, through mental, physical, and spiritual affirmations, connecting personal energy and lives through the four elements--Earth, Air, Water, & Fire, with affirmations and invocations.

at Amazon

Is someone sabotaging my efforts?

 

Patron's Page/Video #2: Is someone sabotaging my efforts?...

 
If you feel that someone is setting you up, someone is passing along untrue gossip and tarnishing your romantic relationship or your job or your project, this reading is for you.

You can purchase this private unlisted reading @ the following link:

https://amythystraine.blogspot.com/p/patrons-page.html

Desert Reading ~ spinning your wheels

 

The Tarot Parlour

Desert Reading ~ finances, opportunities, decisions, manifestation

 

The Tarot Parlout

Relationships ~ You've got to crawl out of bed some time: Reality Check

 

Are you in the throes of a brand new relationship rife with passion and excitement, or do you know someone who is? There's a word of caution here. 

READINGS WITH AMYTHYST 

These are On-Camera videos, meaning we'll be face to face. The topics, and the readings, might be no nonsense, and may or may not include some pretty blunt assessments. 

If you have a personal question that you would like me to address anonymously in these videos, email me at: 

witch_of_endore@yahoo.com 

Include in the subject line: Readings with Amythyst Raine 

Purchase a private reading @ The Tarot Parlour

http://tarotreadingswithamythystraine... 

Visit my website: The Witch's Corner 

http://amythystraine.blogspot.com

What a fiasco!

 

THE TAROT PARLOUR

Readings with Amythyst

What are they all about?

 

My YouTube Channel Trailer

This is a run-down on the newest video playlists at my YouTube channel and just what kind of videos and readings you will find on them, along with a link to the playlist.  Some of these playlists are loaded with several videos, and other playlists are so new they may have one (or two, or three...) videos on them at this time.

• From Casa Monteraine Readings

These readings are usually spur of the moment readings taped with my phone, and they are On Camera readings, so we'll be face to face.  These readings are generally unedited, what you see is what you get... click HERE

• Desert Readings

These are tarot readings done off-camera, meaning you see the cards, not me. These readings are edited and often the topic or the tarot spread is chosen in advance... click HERE

• Animated Readings

Animated tarot readings are beautifully illustrated readings that run less than 2 minutes, are filled with tarot images, as well as your tarot message, and music... click HERE

• Patron's Page

These videos are private and unlisted on Youtube. You can purchase these videos for viewing at this link: 

https://amythystraine.blogspot.com/p/patrons-page.html 

On this page, you'll find private videos that are created exclusively for my paying patrons. These videos may include tarot readings, special information and previews on books and other upcoming projects, magical information and spells, as well as videos of my personal life and reflections -- only available to you, my paying patrons.

• Readings with Amythyst Raine

These are On-Camera videos, meaning we'll be face to face. The topics, and the readings, might be no nonsense, and may or may not include some pretty blunt assessments... click HERE

If you have a personal question that you would like me to address anonymously in these videos, email me at: 

witch_of_endore@yahoo.com 

Include in the subject line: Readings with Amythyst Raine

Relationships ~ Endings: Have a third party present

 

The most important message to come out of this reading today: If you are ending a relationship with someone who has been violent in the past, or someone who is emotionally unstable, or you are just not sure what kind of reaction this kind of devastating news will bring... DON'T DO THIS ALONE. Make sure a third party is with you, or a fourth, and a fifth.

If you need to return to the residence you shared with this person to retrieve belongings... DON'T GO ALONE. I do believe that most police forces will have an officer escort you to the residence if you are afraid, or if you feel unsafe.

For the rest of you... just because this relationship didn't work out, don't give up all hope of finding happiness. Breaking up, ending an old cycle, can be difficult and uncomfortable, but you will want to start a new cycle, a new phase of life, with a clean slate. This was a reading thick with relationship energy, and you'll find more advice and insights on this subject in this video.

READINGS WITH AMYTHYSYT RAINE...
Purchase your own private reading at my website: The Tarot Parlour
click HERE

I specialize in relationship readings.

Please click the "Like" button, and/or subscribe. If you don't do this for me, my videos will not come up for you (or anyone else). Feel free to share this video with friends and family, post it on your social media, website, or blog. Blessings and many thanks!! Amythyst

Pisces ~ You need to be more decisive with your decisions!

 
This was going to be a private paid patron video, but I thought that this reading was profound and there are people out there who really need to hear this. Pisces, stop flip-flopping!... watch this reading, you'll be struck with several pertinent "revelations"!

The Gray Witch's Grimoire ~ Best Seller!

 

Good morning, World!! Oh, my gosh!! What a way to start the day... I got an email this morning from my publisher, John Hunt Publishing (Moon Books):

Congratulations
on having sold 5,000+ copies of "The Gray Witch's Grimoire".  By most definitions, in most markets, this is where it starts being thought of as a “bestseller”.

Holy buckets! So, did you buy a copy yet? If no, here's an Amazon link...

click  HERE

From Casa Monteraine ~ Who's toying with whom?

 
An on-camera video tarot reading with Amythyst Raine... It looks like you have to get your true feelings and emotions straightened out and sorted before making a very important decision. Who's the player?

The Tarot Parlour

Desert Reading ~ What is this month going to bring?

This is a monthly tarot spread, and this is the first reading I've done in a month, since I was first hit with Covid fever.  This was so much fun to do!! I missed it.  I hope that you enjoy this video and that you find something in it to take away with you.

The Tarot Parlour

Forever Engagements ~ It's a thing!

So, in November 2020, my Significant Other and I announced our engagement on Facebook.  This event came complete with pretty new rings and a proposal, an answer, and the slipping of a gorgeous white sapphire ring on my appropriate finger.  

Even though we had and have no immediate plans to choose a wedding date and are thrilled and happy with our status as is, the adrenalin rush was no less, and the happiness was all engulfing and heady.

At this time, we had been together officially since December 2018, and we had done big huge over-the-top things that couples do.  We had sold our Nebraska houses and bought a home in Arizona, which came complete with flying trips down south to view houses and several over the road truck trips to haul our belongings to our new house.  We were a couple in the adventure of a life time.

And then the calls and texts started coming in.

First, from his family.  We were dismayed when we realized that not everyone shared our positive happy feelings about our new status.  Best I can describe it, because I did not speak with them, my SO said... "They got all weird."  There was the feeling of great trepidations, warnings, dire predictions, etc.

Next, his childhood friend and classmate started texting my SO.  They were trying to nail him down on a wedding date, along with lots of questions.  (I'm pretty sure I was spared details.) What really irked me was my SO's feeling that he had to give these people an explanation, explaining that we have no plans to set a wedding date at this time, that it seemed much more dignified at our age to introduce each other as a fiancé, rather than a "girlfriend/boyfriend".  For me, this belittled our announcement and our happy day and reduced it to something else.  I don't know why my SO simply couldn't have said, "We haven't set a date yet."

I guess our situation didn't seem strange to me because I had an Aunt who was engaged to her Significant Other for 40 years.  He proposed and bought her a beautiful ring.  They never moved in together, they kept their respective homes.  But they were inseparable none-the-less, from their 40s into their 80s.  When my Aunt died in a nursing home of Louey Body Dementia, her beloved finance died just weeks later, heartbroken I'm sure.

For my SO and me, as a couple who have several relationships and divorces between us, as a couple in our 60s who have done this before, we agreed that an engaged status was the thing for us.  It highlights to the world, to friends and family, that we are serious and committed to each other.  It highlights the love and respect we have for each other.  It confirms that our futures are entwined, and we face the world together.

The link here is the Source for the following post.  Follow it and you'll find more informative well-written articles:  click  HERE

In certain parts of America, the word fiancé does not mean what it used to. I first became aware of this when I was reporting a story in a small town in Wisconsin a couple of years ago and “Bug” Smith, a 50-year-old man who worked as a machinist introduced me to his “fiancée.” I was about to say “Congratulations!” but something stopped me. Their union did not have the air of expectant change about it. From their domestic surroundings, it looked like they lived basically as a married couple already, his boots next to hers by the front door, pictures of kids above the mantel. I later found out they’d been living together for 15 years and had two children.

Since then I have come across this phenomenon dozens of times, almost always in working-class couples, and usually younger ones. Someone will introduce me to his or her fiancé. But what they mean is more like my “steady lady” or my “steady man.” It could mean the person they are living with, or the father or mother of their child. It could also just mean the person they’ve been dating for a long time. It could be that they only use that title in the presence of outsiders (i.e., me) because it gives an official, respectable status to a relationship that’s otherwise amorphous. It could mean that someone has actually proposed, or bought a ring, but usually not. But what it definitively does not mean is that they are choosing a wedding date or checking out venues or pricing caterers or otherwise making any kind of concrete plans for marriage. In many parts of America, fiancé has become a permanent relationship status (permanent, that is, until it’s not).

The aspiration for marriage won’t die in America, even though fewer people are getting married or think they can afford to get married. People no longer think of a wedding as a milestone that happens somewhere between high school and having children. They think of marriage as what sociologists call a “capstone”—that is, something they earn after many other things are in place in their lives, like a good job or a nice house. But they might never get the good job or the nice house. “We intended to get hitched,” Bug Smith told me. “But we just kept finding other things to do with the money. Fixed the porch, got a new engine.” Smith and many others get lost in a free-floating longing for marriage that never gets fulfilled but finds temporary home in the liberal use of the term fiancé. (I once had a guy tell me that he and his girlfriend were “married.” Then he pointed to his chest and added: “Married, in my heart.” Which means that, technically speaking, they weren’t married.)

In the meantime, while fiancés are waiting for marriage, life goes on. People live together for longer periods. They have kids: Among Americans without a college degree, 58 percent of first time births happen outside marriage. People share huge life events with each other even though they’re not married, and yet the culture hasn’t adjusted by producing any new terms to describe these novel attachments or arrangements. Describing someone as “the guy I’m living with” or “the mother of my child” might be accurate but it’s not all that efficient, and a little clinical. Girlfriend or boyfriend belittles the relationship, and partner feels like something people in New York and San Francisco say, so fiancé fills in the gap. It conveys at least the correct level of emotional attachment, which is: something like spouse but not quite.

Mostly this is a class phenomenon. College-educated women flirt with not getting married, provide fodder for lots of movies about the glories of single life, but eventually they get married (even in the movies); among college graduates, only 12 percent of first time births happen outside marriage. But there’s a trickle-down effect. Everyone watches the same movies, so everyone has inherited the idea that marriage should be really special, maybe lavish, definitely worth waiting for, as Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas argue in Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage. But since many can’t afford that fancy wedding and don’t want to go “downtown”—a term women in the book use to describe a marriage on the cheap—they just stay engaged.

“I’ve seen it among poorer couples,” says Edin. “They’re willing to get engaged but not sure they are ‘ready’ for marriage. Engagement is not a promise to marry, but rather an indication that they are thinking about it. Perhaps an indication of the high bar for marriage across classes, plus a way of gaining some ‘official’ status without the confines and expectations of marriage.” In her new book, Doing the Best I Can, co-written with Timothy Nelson, Edin tells a story about Lavelle and Big Toya (the mother of Lavelle’s child). Lavelle asks Big Toya to marry him, but she turns him down flat, because she doesn’t want to lose “her freedom, her food stamps or her subsidized apartment.” But he persuades her to let him call her his fiancée anyway. She knows she will never marry him, but that title cements the relationship enough that she will now travel to Camden so he can visit with his daughter.

Sociologists Wendy Manning and Pamela Smock, who study changing family demographics, told me that they, too, made the mistake of assuming couples who said they were engaged were making plans to get married. But when they asked follow-up questions for a large qualitative study they recently conducted with young adults on “Cohabitation and Marriage in America,” they realized that wasn’t true. Instead the term engaged, for couples of all races, seemed to be a kind of placeholder, “a way to keep the relationship going without actually making the move to marry,” says Manning. Smock says she noticed that couples use the term fiancé or engaged in a “flexible” way, that is, when dealing with authorities on the phone, or in a social setting where they might want to “own” the person more or seem like more of an “official couple.”

David Lapp, a research fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, a pro-marriage think-tank, is doing research on working-class couples in Ohio. When he asked one guy he interviewed what he called his pregnant girlfriend, the guy said: “It depends on who I’m with.” When he and his girlfriend were with what he called “professional people”—like at a car dealership looking for a car, or with a potential landlord—she’s his fiancée, although he’s never actually asked her to marry him. Otherwise, she’s his girlfriend. As he explained it to Lapp, he calls her his fiancée in front of professional people because if people see them as married, there’s the perception that they’re more respectable and less liable to party and abuse alcohol and drugs.

If anything, the liberal use of fiancé is devaluing the old term girlfriend. In the ’60s, being a girlfriend was an official status, like getting promoted to two-star general. You would get pinned, or get the letter jacket, or some other visible mark of distinction when a guy “decided” you were his girlfriend. But now being a girlfriend or boyfriend can mean anything or nothing. So if you’re really truly the girlfriend or boyfriend, you’re the fiancé.

In The Marriage Go-Round, sociologist Andrew Cherlin describes our dysfunctional relationship with marriage. Americans have unusually high marriage and divorce rates, because we are culturally attached to both old-fashioned commitment and to individual freedom. Other countries have solved this dilemma by letting go of the marriage ideal, allowing people, for example, to live together and still be considered a family, by the state and by their neighbors. Even by the guy at the car dealership, who doesn’t trust them any less for not having a signed marriage license. With 10 more years of fake fiancés, maybe we’ll get there, too.

Tarot Flirts with Astrology ~ The Planets

 
I'm BACK!!  If anyone has noticed my absence and lack of new posts or social media activity, I've been sick with my second bout of Covid, from around August 17th to now, October 3rd.  This is just my third day in a row of consistently feeling "normal".  The symptoms of this virus tend to hang on, and I was beginning to think I might be a "long hauler".  It's hideous.  Get vaccinated, and wear a mask in public places.  Believe me, you don't want my experience.  Here's a link to my Facebook post update:  click  HERE

To purchase your copy of this book @ Amazon

click  HERE

The following blog post is an excerpt from the book above.  This book will help the newbie to tarot lay solid ground work for a successful connection with the cards; and this book will open vistas to ideas, connections, and intuitive inspiration for those more experienced with tarot reading.

Throughout this book, you'll find plenty of empty pages so you can write your own notes at the end of various sections.  When you get ready to lay the ground work for tarot spreads, you'll find a reading all set up for you and space to write your own interpretation. 

The Ultimate Tarot Guide: For Your Personal Tarot Journey highlights intuitive reading, unique and personal interpretations, and the ability to think outside the box.

• Sun

The Sun is filled with healing and hope, warmth and the promise of growth. It’s imbued with masculine energy and is closely connected to the god.

As it pertains to tarot ~ for clients male issues often come to the forefront, their health, happiness, fulfillment, optimism for the future. But it’s energy is also all encompassing for everyone. You’ll find an abundance of strength, unwavering support, and ridiculous amounts of in-your-face positive energy. The future can only be looking up, and if healing is needed in some aspect of your life, you’ll know it’s coming up with the Sun.

1. Day of the Week: Sunday
2. Color: yellow, gold
3. Herbs: angelica, bay, carnation, cedar, chamomile, eyebright, frankincense, ginseng, goldenseal, juniper, marigold mistletoe, peony pineapple, rosemary, St. John’s Wort, sandalwood, sunflower, tea, witch hazel
4. Stones: amber, carnelian, diamond, sunstone, tiger’s-eye, topaz (yellow)
5. Element: Fire
6. Energies: magick for the god, male health issues, passion, healing, spiritual connection, transformation, relationship issues

• Moon

The Moon embodies the pagan goddess in paramount magical waves of silver energy. All three aspects of her, maiden, mother, and crone.

As it pertains to tarot ~ All feminine aspects rise to the surface. Women’s issues become relevant and the focus is on health, embracing natural gifts, healing, and expanding our energy and magick to the universe and beyond. Femininity becomes divine. But there is another side to this planet, the dark side. Deception and hidden motives will be revealed. Shadows will be illuminated, warnings given, gray areas of life highlighted. In this aspect, the Moon becomes a friendly enemy. As a look out or scout, the Moon will give a warning cry.

1. Day of the week: Monday
2. Color: silver, blue, gray
3. Herbs: bladderwrack, calamus, camellia, clematis, club moss, dulse, gardenia, grape, passion flower, jasmine, lily, lotus, moonflower, moonwort, myrrh, poppy, sandalwood, willow
4. Stones: aquamarine, chalcedony moonstone, mother-of-pearl, sapphire, quartz (clear)
5. Element: Water
6. Energies: magick for the goddess, healing, visions, dreams, intuition, divination, clairvoyance, women’s issues, motherhood, fertility

• Earth

The Earth embodies our connection to the physical plane and embraces our materialistic existence.

As it pertains to tarot ~ Sometimes this planet’s energy is a much needed anchor, grounding or re-grounding us to reality, to our bodies and the life lessons we learn from it, to the energy of other living things around us, whether plant or animal. The Earth helps us to retain a connection with our ancestors, our traditions, and our lineage with humanity.

1. Day of the week: all seven
2. Colors: green, brown
3. Herbs: barley, beet, corn, cotton, fern, honeysuckle, mugwort, oats, oleander, patchouli, potato, primrose, rhubarb, tulip, turnip, vervain, wheat
4. Stones: agate (green), agate (moss), coal, emerald, hematite, jasper (brown), jasper (green), malachite, Peridot, salt, tourmaline (black), tourmaline (green)
5. Element: all four
6. Energies: grounding, healing your inner self, connecting with ancestors, fertility, expansion, overcoming impossible odds, durability

• Mars

Mars embodies the spirit of the warrior and pushes us with a merciless shove forward to stand our ground and fight our battles.

As it pertains to tarot ~ Mars commands us to be strong, relentlessly thrusting the sword and spear in our shaky uncertain hands, forcing us to take a stand, face an enemy, make a point. It shines brilliance and shameless illumination on the-principle-of-the-thing. The energy of this planet demands that we dig deep and discover within ourselves integrity and potential.

1. Day of the week: Tuesday
2. Color: orange
3. Herbs: allspice, basil, blood root, cactus, chili pepper, dragon’s blood, garlic, ginger, holly, horseradish, mustard, nettle, onion, pepper, pine, radish, snapdragon, thistle, tobacco, wormwood
4. Stones: bloodstone, garnet, jasper (red), ruby, tourmaline (red)
5. Element: Fire
6. Energies: defensive magick, regaining lost territory, assertion, resolving disagreement, successfully handling disruption, goals

• Mercury

Mercury connects us to the magic of communication and ethereal creativity.

As it pertains to tarot ~ This planet salvages lost ideas, unspoken thoughts, and words ripped from our lips by the winds of uncertainty and hesitation. Mercury has the ability to reconnect us with loved ones, ideas, and most importantly, it reconnects us to ourselves. This planet highlights and plugs into the inter-connectedness of the human psyche.

1. Day of the week: Wednesday
2. Color: silver, yellow
3. Herbs: almond, bracken, caraway, clover, dill, fennel, flax, lavender, lemongrass, mandrake, marjoram, mint, papyrus, parley, pistachio, senna, slippery elm, wax plant
4. Stones: agate, jasper (mottled), citrine, topaz (yellow), amber
5. Element: Air
6. Energies: creativity-- writing, painting, sculpting, music, etc.; creativity, mental issues, learning energy, summoning spirits

• Jupiter

Jupiter is all about expansion and growth, making more of something, or making it bigger.

As it pertains to tarot ~ Jupiter likes to speed up the process. This planet is all about developing and building on your ideas, your plan, your potential. It’s bigger-than-life energy will take us beyond our modest dreams, and ideas, and visions, elevating us and our efforts to new planes of success and growth. Things are going to happen when this planet is involved, and they usually happen in a big way.

1. Day of the week: Thursday
2. Color: purple
3. Herbs: anise, borage, cinquefoil, clove, dandelion, dill, fig, honeysuckle, hyssop, liverwort, maple, meadowsweet, mint, nutmeg, patchouli, sage, star anise
4. Stones: aventurine, amethyst, mystic topaz, jasper (brown), peridot, malachite, tourmaline (green)
5. Element: Earth
6. Energies: magick for expansion and growth, money and legal issues, employment, abundance, material opportunities

• Venus

Venus embodies love, healthy sexuality, romance, physical beauty, and the love of beautiful things in our lives, whether it be our surroundings, or the things we fill this space with.

As it pertains to tarot ~ Venus is all our fairy tales and dreams come to life, with a healthy dose of reality thrown in. Hopeless romantics will never give up on finding the perfect mate, and this planet will make sure this pursuit will have a promising, if not perfect, ending. We chase physical beauty the same way we chase love, and Venus will address this timeless pursuit as well, often redefining this attribute for us.

1. Day of the week: Friday
2. Color: pink, green
3. Herbs: African violet, apple, apricot, aster, barley, birch, bleeding heart, cardamom, catnip, columbine, crocus, cyclamen, foxglove, geranium, goldenrod, heather, hibiscus, hyacinth, iris, larkspur, lilac, magnolia, willow
4. Stones: blue lace agate, moonstone, selenite, crystal quartz, chalcedony, rose quartz
5. Element: Water
6. Energies: magick for love and romance, sex, lust, passion, fidelity, beauty, resolving relationship issues, friendship

• Saturn

Saturn is full of dark and sometimes dangerous energy, and this is the very energy we have to be brave enough to utilize if life calls us to it.

As it pertains to tarot ~ The sweet taste of revenge often cloys in our mouth when this planet appears. The very idea makes many of us uncomfortable, some of us still enveloped in archaic and conservative modes of consciousness. But from the black depths of the universe, as well as the murky corners of our minds, we realize that there is a time and a place and a reason for Saturn’s darkness. Hopefully not all of us will have need of it, but do not fear it, and do not flinch from it, should it come up in your life.

1. Day of the week: Saturday
2. Color: black
3. Herbs: amaranth, beet, belladonna, boneset, comfrey, fumitory, hellebore, hemlock, hemp, ivy, knot weed, mimosa, morning glory, mullein, quince, skullcap, slippery elm, tamarisk, wolf’s bane
4. Stones: jet, onyx, apache tear, obsidian, tourmaline (black), coal, hematite
5. Element: Earth, Fire
6. Energies: protection, hexing/cursing, retribution, dark magick, revealing truth

• Neptune

Neptune hangs on tenaciously to reality for dear life, constantly bombarded by delusions and addictions.

As it pertains to tarot ~ The dark side is dangerously close to the surface when Neptune appears. It can encompass the diffused hazy world of drug addiction and mental illness. The energy of Neptune, if broken like a wild horse, tamed, and put to good use, can be a startling illumination of incredible awe inspiring intuition and insight. There’s a very thin line between genius and insanity. Neptune takes us there.

1. Day of the week ~ Thursday
2. Colors ~ green, blue, lavender
3. Herbs ~ bulrush, lobelia, morning glory, night-blooming jasmine, pine, reed, reed canary grass, water lily
4. Stones ~ coral, aquamarine, platinum, neptunium
5. Element ~ Water
6. Energies ~ dissolving boundaries, expanding upon ideas, changing established rules, intuition, idealism, sacrifice, glamour, illusion, evolution and decay

• Uranus

Uranus digs it’s stubborn heels into the soul of the individualist, celebrating eccentricity and rebellion.

As it pertains to tarot ~ This planet lets us know that we’re in up to our necks if we’re dealing with its energy. Getting anything done, like convincing the hoards that we have a good idea, or progressing at any acceptable rate with whatever we’re plunging into, is going to be a long difficult painful process. The energy of Uranus is maddening in it’s inability to compromise. It’s cursed with the ability to turn a blind eye, to avoid conflict at any cost, or to avoid assertion on every level. The lazy-ass energy of Uranus will lay, inert, at our feet.

1. Day of the week ~ Tuesday, Saturday
2. Colors ~ red
3. Herbs ~ hot herbs: cayenne pepper, jalapenos; blood root; hemlock; belladonna
4. Stones ~ red stones: jasper, garnet, ruby
5. Element ~ Fire
6. Energies ~ originality, eccentricity, sensuality, perversions, daring, idealism, conflict

• Pluto

Pluto comes streaking in with incredible force to destroy everything in its path. Everything in it’s wake seems to be touched by its terrible energy. We stand amidst ground zero, and we wail, we moan, we beat our chest, only to open our eyes and look around in profound wonder and amazement. All the crap is gone. The slate is clean. We can begin again.

As it pertains to tarot ~ This planet has much the same effect on us and our lives as the major arcana card The Tower. They share much of the same destructive and disruptive tendencies. However, Pluto is more discernible. It’s more apt to leave what we need and wipe out what was getting in our way.

1. Day of the week ~ Saturday
2. Colors ~ black
3. Herbs ~ angelica, black snake root, cinnamon, clove, dill, dragon’s blood, mustard, onion, shallot, thistle, peppermint, tobacco, wormwood
4. Stones ~ black stones: onyx, hematite, obsidian
5. Element ~ Fire
6. Energies ~ destruction, renewal, enlightenment, research, clearing, burning off, polar opposites, criminals, inspirational gurus