Yoga And The Tarot Archetypes
When I’m not doing psychic readings, I enjoy engaging in activities that support a healthy lifestyle, such as Yoga and Herbalism. Although I spent many years training with Yoga masters from around the world and I am a certified Yoga instructor, I continue to learn more each time I get onto the mat.
While practicing the other day, I found myself thinking about the Tarot cards while in a particular yoga posture. It was the asana known as the Hero’s pose, or Virasana. The pose involves kneeling or sitting in between your bent legs.
As I was sitting in this stretch, I was wondering how the posture got its name, which comes from the Sanskrit word vira meaning ‘hero.’ It occurred to me that a hero was someone who had to think of someone else or others in that moment more than themselves. When we are pushed to our edge, in that moment of vulnerability, it makes us stronger. The same humility can be found in certain Yoga postures.
Then the Emperor card from the Tarot deck came to mind. The Emperor in a reading can show a ruler or leader who is strong, confident, and who guides others. Might there be an ancient connection with Yoga and the Tarot?
I then began to think of other Yoga postures and how they might correlate with the other Major Arcana cards in the Tarot.
The first that came up for me was The Hanged Man. This iconic card features a figure hanging upside down from a tree. Hanging from a tree in this way would certainly make one see the world from a different perspective. Interestingly, the headstand pose in Yoga, Sirsanasa, aims to create mental balance and physical poise. Continue reading
The Healing Power Of Herbs
Herbs have a potent healing power that can help us in every area of our life. For every dis-ease or ailment there is usually an herb specifically designed to cure it.
I was originally drawn to the study of herbalism years ago, in search of ways to improve my own health and well-being. After many years of my own research, I decided to take a course to become certified as a master clinical herbalist, which included studying the energetics of herbs and not just their medicinal uses.
There are thousands of herbs on the planet, however only around 600 are more widely used and generally recognized. Just like people, herbs have their own personalities and unique energies.
For example, a skinny person with dry skin and tendency towards lower body temperatures can be placed into a category of ‘cool-dry.’ They would be more susceptible to certain conditions both from the weather and climate they’re live in, as well as their core body temperature and mental-emotional state.
This type of individual might need some warming and lubricating herbs that will get their circulation going and energy flowing. Cardamom and Turmeric provide such warming qualities, while Licorice Root and Marshmallow are helpful to lubricate or provide moisture for someone who has very dry skin.
Herbal teas are one of my favorite methods for ingesting herbs for medicinal use. The other is tinctures.
For herbal teas, I have found maximum benefit by drawing the medicinal constituents out of the herb through herbal infusions and decoctions. Infusions are made from the flower or leaf of an herb, and typically involves boiling water and then turning off the burner, before adding your herbs into the water to steep for at least four hours. Personally, I like to leave them overnight in the water. For proportions, some herbal compendiums use ratios like 1:3, or parts, like one serving of herbs to three parts water.
Astral Travel To Your Favorite Destination
Traveling to sacred sites has always been something I love doing, ever since I was a young girl. There is something undeniably magical about visiting a spiritual place that has much lore or mystical history associated with it. Some of my favorite destinations include Mount Shasta in Northern California, Sedona in the Verde Valley of Arizona, and Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains in Peru.
These sacred sites are all home to powerful energy vortices and ley lines in the Earth’s electromagnetic field, containing more metaphysical energy than ordinary places. Visiting here feels as though you have stepped into a different dimension, or another place in time. Millions of people around the world travel to these locations in search of enlightenment and healing, gaining a broader perspective, raising their awareness, or simply to have a special spiritual experience.
With the advent of Covid-19, few people have had the luxury lately of air travel and long-distance trips. Many spiritual travelers are feeling frustrated and trapped. Some are going stir crazy not having the freedom to travel anywhere in the world. Even local excursions and short-distance trips are challenging these days. I enjoy traveling in the Mount Shasta area, for example, since it is not too far from where I live, but I am reluctant to stay over in a hotel during this time.
However, spirit recently reminded me that I could still travel to my favorite sacred sites by way of the astral realm. It made me think of the Celtic concept of the immram, which refers to the taking of a soul journey, a sacred pilgrimage, a wonder voyage to a sacred site where the soul needs to go. Spiritual seekers and metaphysicians have been taking these inner voyages on the astral plane through the ages.
We are not limited to the physical body or the mundane world. In the same way we can physically visit a physical place of interest, we can also journey there on the astral plane. Traveling in this way, we can journey anywhere we want to, while remaining in the physical comfort of our own home.
There Is Magic In Sending Yourself Flowers
I recently had a client who called in for a psychic reading, who told me that she had recently sent a bouquet of flowers to herself, and had it delivered to her at work.
At first I thought it odd, but then, after having some time to think about it, I realized what a brilliant idea it actually was. Such a simple, yet powerful act of self-love. How often do we do nice things for ourselves in this way?
We are often so consumed with other people’s attitude or behavior toward us, or seeking the love and approval of another, that we forget to love ourselves first. For once when we truly love ourselves, we can receive so much more of what we’re looking for from others, and we are also able to love others more, in a way that they too deserve.
My client who sent flowers to herself also told me that she found it oddly synchronistic that the very first bouquet she spotted, on the first floral website she visited, contained two flower varieties that were highly significant to her. These flowers represented happy moments she has shared with the man she loved, and also held for her a secret, intuitive message that she considered a sign.
It made me think of the basic principle of the Law of Attraction. The energy we put out, is what we ultimately get back. My client was not only sending love to herself with these flowers, she was also working a little bit of magical alchemy without even realizing it!