In my Intuitive Beginnings Tarot Class, I often refer to the minor arcana cards as the day-to-day challenges and opportunities that we face.  They are not the grand, life altering moments that are better represented by the majors.  Yet, when you think about it, they are just as powerful.  Getting a new job, getting married, moving, etc. are all amazingly important events in our lives.  At the same time, if we do not live each day to it’s fullest and take time to appreciate things like going to work each day and waking up next to our love, then the big shiny moments in life quickly lose their luster.

Not every day can hold the promise of a truly epic moment.  Nor do I really want it too.  We need the mundane to help us appreciate the amazing.  We need to celebrate the small victories and grieve the minor heartbreaks so that we are prepared when something major arcana-worthy happens.  For the last month or so, I have been on the verge of a Death/Chariot/Emperor moment.  I can see it on the horizon and have been preparing for it mentally, emotionally and physically.  Yet I cannot make it happen as it lies just out of my control.  So what do I do in the mean time?  How do I keep myself engaged and productive while I watch this life altering shift slide slowly towards me?  This is where those minor arcana cards come in very strong for me.  I asked the Spiral Tarot this same question and got the Ace of Pentacles as a response. 

This Ace shows a woman represented as a flowering tree.  Her hands reach up to support the leaves and flowers while her feet are anchored in a large pentacle on the ground.  There are peacocks in her branches and she herself has flowery plumage streaming off of her.  She is growth, she is strength, she is fertility.  For me, this card shows the bounty of a seed that was planted long ago.  It also shows me that from this one seed, there are many more new seeds that are sprouting forth and ready to be planted themselves. 

There is a call for me to realize that even though what I have been working hard for is finally blossoming, there is still so much more to do.  By setting this change in motion, I have awakened a number of smaller challenges and opportunities along the way.  I need to appreciate the beauty of what I have created and not lose sight of the new opportunities that have been presented as a result of it. 

Each day is an opportunity to plant a new seed.  The roots we have set in the ground from previous intentions and actions are always producing new fruits for us and new seeds to plant.  As with any plant, not every fruit is good and not every seed will grow.  It is up to us to constantly care for our intentions, trim out that which no longer serves us and plant only that which will help nourish our goals.  The healthiest fruits produce the healthiest seeds and by focusing on the most benevolent outcomes for all my intentions I can set the seeds for even greater events in the future.

I hope to be able to announce that my major arcana moment has come by next week.  Until then, I will be patient and persistent with planting new seeds and setting new intentions to grow.

Due to some recent experiences, I am moved to write a little bit about psychic/energetic attacks.  I want to give you all an overview of how I see them manifesting, how to avoid them and what to do for yourself to prevent and dispel them.  Everyone has, at one time or another, felt the effects of an energetic attack whether they describe it as such or not.  It is a very real thing and can be very troubling if it is misunderstood and mishandled.  They are also very preventable and, in many cases, easy to block or remove.

First let’s look at what an attack is.  In my opinion, a psychic or energetic attack is the projection of a negative thought-form onto another person.  It is willing or wishing that something bad would happen to them.  It is harboring a deep jealousy or anger towards someone.  It is something that we have probably all done to someone at some point in our lives without even thinking about it.  Psychic attacks are not always from “evil” people or just those with malicious intentions.  They can come from truly caring souls that just have a moment of pain or anger and find themselves in a place that is darker than they normally dwell in.  The really challenging thing is that there is often collateral damage associated with these attacks.  When a negative thought-form is projected out towards a person, place or even an event, there are often unintended victims that feel the effects as well.  For example, if an individual felt slighted by not being invited to an event and began fostering negative thoughts towards the event hosts and/or the event itself, there is a very good chance that anyone associated with that event will feel the effects of that attack.   The individual may only be harboring negativity towards the hosts but the guests may end up feeling the energy just as strongly.

So, how do you know if you are being attacked.  Well that is a very personal thing for each person and can vary from situation to situation.  However, I can say that if you are finding yourself thinking in ways that seem unusual to you, experiencing pain or discomfort for no particular reason or a combination of these, it’s time to start checking in with your guides and angels.  In my recent experience, I was kept awake for several hours with very negative thoughts about past relationships and all the things I had done wrong.  ”So what?” you ask.  “Everybody has those times of reflection.”  Well, yes they do.  But that is not a normal thought pattern for me.  I think back on my past here and there, but I don’t lose sleep or beat myself up about it.  I also began feeling pain in a place that has not given me any concern for quite some time.  That is what got me thinking about what was really going on.

What’s the next step then?  For me, it’s talking with my guides to see what the heck is happening.  This can be done by just talking with them if you have made that connection or by using a pendulum, muscle testing or any method of quick Spirit communication that works for you.  I recommend staring by asking if the feelings you are having are for your highest good.  Sometimes we need painful experiences to help us grow.  But not all pain involves growth and not all growth involves pain.  Then ask a series of questions about whether or not the pain or thoughts are of a mental, physical, emotional or spiritual nature.  Leave the question of this experience being an attack to a last resort.  Sort out all possibilities first and then look into that option.  The reason for this is simple when you think about it.  If you constantly jump to the idea that every pain, bad thought, etc. is an attack, you are doing nothing more than opening yourself up to actually being attacked.  It’s almost like you are asking the Universe to send an attack just to satisfy your incessant asking about it. 

Alright then, you have narrowed out every possible option and your guides/angels/intuition are telling you that there is some sort of energetic arrow stuck in your butt.  What do you do to remove it?  Enlist the help of any and all spiritual helpers that you work with.  Upon identifying this attack, I called in Arch Angel Michael to immediately cut any negative cords that were attached to me.  I also called in Arch Angel Raphael to heal the places where the cords were attached.  This is a practice that involves holding these intentions and allowing them to work until you feel the shift in energy.  It took at least a good 10-15 minutes for me to really feel like the cords had been fully cut and were not reattaching.  Following that, work with the angels, your guides and Spirit to shield yourself in white light for protection.  Lastly, take the high road and send love to whomever sent you the negative energy.  It is amazingly easy to get pissed off that somebody just started slinging daggers at you and messed with you energy.  However, that reaction only serves to lower your vibration and increase the possibility of you sending the same kind of attack back at them.  You can effectively think of that in terms of an energetic nuclear war.  No one wins…everybody loses.  So, please, just don’t do it.  Be the light worker that you are and send love back on the heels of those cords that were cut and help the person to raise their vibration a bit.

Attacks happen, we all get hit here and there. But, there are a few things that can help us prevent and avoid them.  First is that whole golden rule thing.  Yeah, “do unto other as you would have them do unto you”.  That thing…  Living our lives with a thought of how our actions affect the lives of others is a key to preventing and avoiding many attacks.  However, sometimes people just get mad at you regardless of what you have or have not done.  You also may find that you are an innocent bystander caught in somebody else’s energetic battle.  Guilty by association or just caught in the crossfire; either way you are getting hit when you had nothing to do with what caused the attack in the first place.  This is where daily shielding comes in.  Everyday you must work to build and strengthen your energetic shield from negativity.  Do not use your shield to block out all energy as that will only cut you off from the love and support you need to survive.  Instead work to create an intricate filter system in it that prevents any and all negativity from getting through but still lets love pass freely through.  

It is my hope that by posting this, someone might be able to better deal with an attack that they are facing.  I encourage you to share stories here of how you dispel attacks when you feel them and how you know when it is happening.

…understood the difference between “love” and “like”.

…understood that we can love even those that we do not like.

…smiled more.

…believed in all those things we have always been told were imaginary.

…said ”I love you!” to ourselves every morning.

…believed in ourselves.

…believed in others.

…worked hard for things we wanted and were appreciative of them when we got them.

…understood that every one of us is special and because of that, none of us is “special”. 

…walked our talk everyday.

…stood up for what we believed in.

…could all accept that we are not all going to agree on everything.

…sent our love and healing thoughts to all those that need it with no thought of needing it returned to us.

…were all strong enough to say “No!” to those who attempt to undermine our rights.

…allowed each other to approach God/Spirit/Source from our own perspectives. 

 …ate less.

…cared for our bodies more.

…cried more openly.

…laughed louder.

…actually stopped to smell the roses.

…danced like nobody was watching.

…sang at the top of our lungs every chance we could get.

…stopped caring who was “winning”.

…celebrated each other’s strengths.

…experienced less reality TV and more reality.

To be continued…

These are just a few of the thoughts that have been running around my head the past week or so.  They are challenges for me and for all of us as well.  I welcome and encourage you to add your own statements here and share with us all what positive outlooks you think about.