authenticity
Tarot Forecast December 2024: The Sun
This month the radiant Sun card shines brightly, promising clarity, joy, and renewed purpose. Its energy invites us to embrace growth, positivity, and authenticity, and encourages us to step into our power with confidence.
As the Sun illuminates every corner of your life, it brings the promise of new beginnings, breakthroughs, and upliftment in the coming month. This is a time to trust in your journey, to keep your heart open, and to embrace all that the universe has to offer.
The Sun card is a powerful symbol of positivity, joy and abundance. It represents the culmination of a journey, the achievement of goals, and the realization of dreams.
The card traditionally depicts a radiant sun shining brightly, illuminating a happy child playing freely in a field. This imagery conveys themes of innocence, vitality, and pure happiness.
The sun itself is a universal symbol of life, warmth and energy. It represents awareness, clarity and understanding. The child in the card symbolizes the pure and innocent spirit within each of us, reminding us to embrace our inner child and find joy in simple things. The field represents the material world, and the child’s playful nature suggests that we can find fulfillment and happiness in the physical realm.
The Sun card is generally interpreted as a sign of hope, encouragement, and success. It suggests that a time of joy, happiness, and fulfillment is on the horizon. The challenges and obstacles of the past have been overcome, and now it is time to bask in the warmth of the sun’s rays. The card encourages us to embrace our true selves, radiate our positive energy, and share our light with others.
The Self-Affirming Power Of Saying No
Are you the kind of person who has a hard time saying “no,” even when your heart isn’t in it?
Maybe you’re afraid of disappointing others, afraid they’ll distance themselves, or afraid they’ll stop liking you if you say no. Maybe your introverted side just wants to be liked and accepted by everyone, so you agree to things – even if it drains you.
I’ve experienced this myself and seen it happen to many people who come to me and ask, “How can I say no without feeling guilty?” or “If I don’t say yes, will I lose my connection with this person?
Saying “yes” out of fear, guilt, or obligation may be the easy way out in many situations, but it usually comes at a high cost to your personal and spiritual well-being.
Let’s acknowledge something important: You are enough just the way you are, and you are worthy of peace, joy and happiness. If someone truly values you, they’ll respect your boundaries, even if it means saying “no” once in a while.
On the other hand, if people cut you off because you set boundaries, they may not have been the healthiest presence in your life to begin with. True friends and meaningful relationships will respect your choices and understand your reasons without demanding constant explanations.
Over time, I’ve seen the toll that over-commitment takes. People who constantly say “yes” often end up feeling drained, overwhelmed, or even resentful. Some develop physical and mental health problems because they feel trapped by the constant need to please others. In some cases, burnout and depression set in, all because saying no felt like an impossible task.
How Pluto in Aquarius Will Shape Our Future
Today marks a momentous occasion in astrology, as the planet Pluto makes its long-awaited entry into the constellation of Aquarius. This powerful transit marks one of the most significant astrological events of our lifetime – a transformative two-decade journey that will last until 2044, setting the stage for profound changes in both our personal and collective lives.
Along with Uranus and Neptune, Pluto has a longer orbit and is therefore able to significantly affect the lives of entire generations. In fact, Pluto makes only a few major transits in the average person’s lifetime due to its very slow orbit around the Sun. It takes the planet about 248 years to complete a single orbit, so it passes through only a few signs in the course of a human lifetime.
Known as the planet of transformation, power and the subconscious, Pluto deeply influences social structures, collective beliefs and hidden desires. It is one of the most influential generational planets in the zodiac.
Pluto’s entry into Aquarius promises a period of profound evolution, reform, and rethinking of societal norms. This shift from the structured and hierarchical influence of Capricorn to the forward-thinking and humanitarian energy of Aquarius ushers in a new era in which old systems give way to more inclusive, progressive and visionary approaches.
Pluto was last in Aquarius from 1777 to 1798. Historically this was a period of significant social and technological change, including the American and French Revolutions and the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. The last time Pluto transited Aquarius, it sparked major shifts in power structures, political ideologies, and a focus on individual rights and collective freedoms – themes that are likely to resurface with Pluto re-entering Aquarius today.
Karmic Healing: Can You Handle The Truth?
In the famous courtroom drama A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson’s character, Colonel Jessup, exclaims in an iconic movie moment, “You can’t handle the truth!”
I suspect this scene has become legendary in movie history because it resonates so deeply with most people. On some level, many of us sometimes struggle to face the truth about ourselves and our lives.
Whether it’s difficult memories, unhealed wounds, failed relationships, or unspoken regrets, facing our truth can be challenging, even traumatic or overwhelming.
Yet, from a spiritual perspective, facing and owning our truth is one of the most powerful steps we can take on our path to karmic healing and soul growth.
Our soul journey is a karmic balancing act in which the energy we put out into the world eventually comes back to us. When we hide from our truth – whether through denial, justification or avoidance – we accumulate karmic debt.
Like a heavy boulder that we carrry around, karmic debt hinders our soul growth and spiritual progress. On the other hand, when we consciously choose to face our truth, we release this burden and open ourselves to healing, growth, fulfillment and inner peace.
Denial is our most common response to unpleasant truths. We tend to avoid acknowledging aspects of ourselves that we find unattractive, justify our negative behaviors, and make excuses for our bad choices and failures in order to protect our fragile human egos. However, these “untruths” build up over time. By avoiding them, we create layers of illusion that distance us from who we really are and cloud our understanding of our soul purpose and the divine spark within.
Embrace Who You Are And Shine Your Light!
We all come to this planet with our own unique gifts. Just as no one on this planet has the same fingerprint as you, no one has your unique personality, talents and life purpose. Sure, some of us may look alike, but our soul essence and life purpose is completely unique from one person to the next.
And in a world that often emphasizes conformity and sameness, it’s also important to remember this spiritual truth: Your uniqueness is not a quirk; it’s your superpower!
I often feel sad when I see young people on social media copying each other or trying to be just like everyone else. Of course, they want to fit in and be accepted, and they fear being rejected by their peers. Unfortunately, this struggle is not limited to the younger generation. It seems that many adults are also caught up in the senseless hamster wheel of imitation and keeping up with the Joneses.
I once asked a girl who was imitating her friend why she wanted to be a copy of someone else. I reminded her, “You are gifted and a very talented artist. At first she was taken aback, but after a few moments I felt a spark of understanding in her. Then she looked at me and said, “Oh my God, you’re so right!” She, like so many others, needed a reminder of her inherent worth and unique individuality.
Each of us comes to this planet to share our special light in our own unique way. If more children were told from a young age how special they are and had their gifts nurtured by their parents and teachers, perhaps we would live in a much safer, happier and more compassionate world. Instead, I see so many folks yearning to fit in rather than embracing their individual paths and personal gifts.
The Essential Spiritual Practice Of Self-Love
The first person each of us is meant to love is ourselves. But somewhere along the way, many of us forget or overlook this essential form of love.
In a world that tends to reward judgment and criticism while valuing perfectionism and material success, many of us become estranged from our own worth and divine essence by falling into these societal patterns of self-judgment and negativity.
To make matters worse, what most people caught in this web of self-criticism do not realize is that unconditional self-love is the very foundation of our soul journey in this lifetime. In fact, it is the essential spiritual practice for a more joyful, deeply meaningful existence and a cornerstone of our spiritual evolution.
We often find ourselves caught up in self-doubt, judgment, and the pursuit of external validation. These patterns hinder our connection to our true essence and limit our ability to radiate divine love and compassion. Embracing unconditional self-love frees us from these limitations and allows us to step into our authentic power.
This journey begins with self-awareness and compassion. By observing our thoughts and feelings without judgment, we can identify the limiting beliefs and negative self-talk that have shaped our perception of ourselves. With gentle understanding, we can release these self-imposed chains and replace them with affirmations of self-worth and acceptance. When we practice self-compassion, we create a safe space for ourselves to heal and grow, embracing our imperfections as part of our unique journey.
How To Embrace Your Shadow Self
Most people tend to shy away from acknowledging their dark or “shadow” side when it comes to spirituality.
In fact, the tendency to avoid the uncomfortable aspects of the self is due in large part to our religious or spiritual background. Throughout history, most traditions have encouraged people to suppress, deny, or transcend their human flaws and shortcomings in favor of higher ideals such as purity, salvation, or enlightenment.
This reluctance to face the shadow within continues to this day, with modern spiritual and metaphysical communities often favoring light, love, and positivity while largely ignoring the messy, difficult, and painful aspects of the human experience.
But by avoiding the shadow within, we deny ourselves the opportunity for a deeper understanding of our soul’s purpose and untapped possibilities for personal and spiritual growth.
According to Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist who pioneered the concept of the “shadow” in psychology, “one is not enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” Enlightenment isn’t about avoiding the shadow. Instead, it’s about facing it and integrating it into our being.
When we face the shadow within, we reclaim parts of ourselves that hold immense power, creativity, and insight. By delving into the deeper truths of our shadow selves, we can unravel the unconscious patterns that dictate our lives, allowing for true healing, transformation, and enlightenment.