Handle Planet: Moon -- How to utilize this?

[Noel Eastwood]

ahh my spiritual friend, it is good to see you branching out and back to your roots. I love tarot, I wish I had done a lot more tarot when I was younger, but I had mortgage, children, responsibilities, studies.... I have a small collection of decks and do a lot of meditating with them. I am writing a tarot course this year, but only up to number 14 out of 72 cards, oh me oh my, it will take me until 2030 to finish at this rate.

I am like you, Erie, I so love to start with the one card spread. That Mercurial mind of yours was right first time, Page of Swords. Mercury is saying that he is right there for you, sword drawn and ready to take on all comers. he is ready, bright and shining. Your Mercury is prepared, vigilant and brave. I like the dude

The other cards are saying that at times Mercury gets bored, that's when he can cause trouble.

What can you do with Mercury so he doesn't get bored and restless? Ask him, get our your cards, one card only - now interpret it, just the one card though. Then meditate with it and see what comes up.

I have drawn a card for you, and I will wait for you to do your reading and reply.

[Erriiieeee]

I asked Mercury what I could do to help placate his boredom, and restlessness.

I drew Pentacle Five once again. I've been drawing this card a lot lately.


There are two interpretations of it from what I understand: Loss/hardship through material, and fiscal matters. Finally, loss/hardship through isolation from the group. I'm leaning more towards the isolation. There are three people particularly that I really want to be in my new life in San Diego... so far trying to spend time with has proven impossible and I know it's taking a toll on my psychologically. There are others who wish to be in my life yet I don't seem to have a interest in them. Perhaps, I'm replaying a trauma?

Mercury IV is sequestrate to Chiron XI. Maybe the underlying restlessness, and boredom is a cover up for a psychic trauma I'm replaying over , over and again which now are personified by these three who seem to be obdurate in their ways.
I will try again in the morning to ask Mercury once more-- I have a rule that once I do a reading I let it sit, and will only redo it after a few hours have past, or the next day so it's unaffected by my bias. I was inclined to do the reading again but I know better!

[Noel Eastwood]

OK lets examine these cards, firstly a clear question is essential: what can I do to placate your boredom? Card: 5 Pentacles - grief, loss, suffering yet hope and friendship, perhaps feeling like a lost soul is only temporary and an illusion? The card I drew was XIV Temperance: do all things in moderation, in a state of calm and with an eye open for opportunities as well as consequences.

We know you are Mercury driven, he is a keen sword ever-ready to fight for you. But he gets bored and restless, he seeks experiences to swing his sword in battle and play. But his restlessness irritates and impacts negatively on you. We ask him, what can we do? He says. 'I feel grief at being absolutely useless, use me more!'

Temperance says, 'Slow down mate, all is well under God's blue sky, take a look around you and see what you have achieved. Grieve not for you have friends, you have opportunity, but go slowly. Don't expect all to be revealed today, or tomorrow. This is a slow path that you are walking for you have so much to undo and redo before you gain the next step.'

I think one path is the path you are on now, the path of study, action through your writing and lots of exercise and meditation. We both know that you won't be in harmony tomorrow, as much as we would like it, but rather tomorrow presents opportunities for you to take the next step forward.

Remember it is the journey, not the destination. "Keep doing," my spiritual warrior friend.

[Erriiieeee]

I've been keeping temperance in my mind as I go about my day. I'm asking Venus questions now and I'm using a new deck that's actually square. The Astrological Mandala by A.T.Mann

I asked Venus why she was lonely and I drew the Eight of Swords

In his book it means the love of variety, and change
The traditional tarot interpretations indicates being trapped by thoughts, and ideas--expectations perhaps?

I asked Venus why she was bored afterwards and drew Pentacle V reversed once again. Pentacle V keeps coming up in a lot of my meditations. What are your thoughts? What do I do with two different decks? Which one should I focus on?

Mercury's going insane with this esoteric enigma!

[Noel Eastwood]

Lol, the spiritual warrior seeks answers, but sometimes too many questions muddy the waters and no answers rise to the surface.

One thing I learned, the hard way, when I was doing a lot of tarot, was that too many questions just made me confused. Each draw just got sillier and way out of kilter. So, now I rarely do more than one card readings, they are the best. One card really forces you to examine every nuance of meaning, and drives you to take the card into your meditative space to allow your unconscious to work on it too. Sometimes the meaning only reveals itself days later.

Carl Jung once worked on a dream for 5 years before he realised what it meant. So even the great among us have to step back and allow spirit to work it' s magic in its own time.

So, one card only, per day. That means one question, per day.

What deck, now that's a really hard questions, ask Mercury which deck he prefers?

And remember, that means you have used up your question for the day

[Noel Eastwood]

and yes, I can see Mercury out of the corner of my eye. The sneaky fellow wanted to know more more more but only ended up tying himself, and you, into a knot.

Slow down Mercury, give the Spiritual Warrior a break!

[Erriiieeee]

The whole process has been strange! The first time I used the Golden Tarot deck I had weird feelings that I wasn't connecting with the cards. After a few readings I started connecting with the cards. The Astrological Mandala-- I bought it from another person used and when I tried doing a reading it seemed to connect but the gut feeling that it wasn't right was rather strong.

I thought about it, and when I used the Mandala Square Deck I was in the throes of my addiction. I think perhaps just for the sake of moving on I will keep the square deck wrapped up in my cloth for a while.

I didn't ask Mercury which deck it preferred-- I asked him why didn't he let Venus be freely affectionate.

I gazed at the moon and stilled my mind for a bit before heading into my room to begin the read. I pictured the planetary symbols, then I pictured Mercuries face, then Venus's face-- then both together looking at each other. I imagined myself asking them a question-- no words, just the mouth movements.

The card I pulled was Knight of Swords (Reversed)

I meditated on the card, and I saw the five clouds funnel the tip of the sword but since it was downwards it looked more like the clouds weighed the sword down..kept it from aiming in any other direction.

This reversed Knight is incredibly impatient, impulsive and bursting with energy. This person has so much energy but so little direction that this results in them making rash decisions and pulling down others with them. Their thoughts are scattered and all over the place. They are likely to be very disorganised, flippant and unpredictable. If you encounter this type of person, you need to be very wary and make sure that you do not get caught up in all the hype and energy that surrounds them. It will be easily done for this person is a greater talker and is full of ideas and thoughts about future opportunities. Do not get sucked in to their whirlwind of activity and energy!

The reversed Knight of Swords can also suggest that you need to slow down otherwise you are at risk of serious burn-out and exhaustion. You want to be involved in everything but you are not succeeding at anything due to this scattered thought and energy. As such, you are spinning your wheels and accomplishing very little but growing more and more tired by the day. Take some time out so that you can first ground yourself, gather your thoughts and focus on only the top priorities.

I got both these interpretations from the BiddyTarot website because the booklet seemed really incomplete. So Mercury's impatient, capricious, and filled with anxious energy. Perhaps he has an ideal of who I should be associating with. I always have a problem where I feel sorry for my lonesome self only to find myself shying away from those who wish to be part of my life. I seem to be on an eternal quest to win the validation of those who won't give it to me.

The second interpretation reminds me of your draw of Temperance. Patience, and patience gaah! I hate all this waiting. Mercury seems to over power gentle venus which prevents me from being able to connect with just about everyone. What are your thoughts?

[Noel Eastwood]

I like that you did a short meditation before asking and then drawing the card. Going outside, looking at the Moon, that's a beautiful meditation to still the mind in preparation for your divination.

Remember, the key to harnessing divination tools, like tarot, is you. It's your skill, it is your mind that connects to the universe and draws the card, or twirls the pendulum or throws the bones or spills the chicken guts. It is your practice of meditation, routine, ritual, training... that creates the outcome you seek.

I never use reversed cards, if I can't draw the correct answer with 78 options available, then I refuse to shake them up and be given 78 x 2 choices. I think 78 choices is enough for me. Is this arrogance? Not at all, I am setting boundaries for my unconscious and psyche. This is how I set my parameters, 78 cards and that's it. I inspire myself to draw the correct cards from these limits I set upon myself and my psyche.

Knight of Swords, Reversed, again we see Swords appear, definitely a Mercury card, intellect - he is sharp and brave, insightful and daring, Reversed he is dull and sluggish, he swings his sword/mind but misses his target. Mercury is saying that if you engage too strongly with Venus then he is fearful that he/you will become sluggish and dull.

Mercury doesn't want Venus to usurp his throne of control, Mercury Rules Erie, NOT Venus!

I think you have now seen Mercury as his naked and selfish self. Here he has told you exactly what he fears, he doesn't want to lose control, it's his mind that creates your world, you are his creation.

How do you negotiate with an archetype that is as powerful in your chart/psyche, as Mercury? If you have downloaded and read my ebook on using the astrology archetypes in meditation, you will have seen how I had to negotiate with Saturn and Jupiter. It took insight and then regular negotiations to get Saturn to ease up on Jupiter, it was ruining my life.

You have done extremely well Erie, my spiritual warrior friend, you have finally made Mercury reveal his true self, his motivations and his fears. Now to see if he will work with you to modify and mollify his vice-like grip on your psyche. I am sure you can find a few points that he may compromise on.

[Erriiieeee]

The words you wrote... they were so poignant as I felt all my bones yearning... just hopeless yearning with nothing that could placate that vacancy. I often feel that I've accepted that I'm not smart in order to be able to connect with people. If there's one thing that hurts me the most is when I feel isolated, or when I am alienating people. Maybe that's why I have a yearning to cling to Venus in my psyche. Since we've been talking I've been trying to connect to people on an intellectual level which keeps Mercury busy, and pleased.

Lilith has reflected the fact that I have a vacancy within that is filled with either expressing myself, or when I'm riding the intoxicating waves of infatuation. Often I feel that when I express myself that no one looks, nor cares that I do so-- maybe that's why I try to deny Mercuries needs.

Thank you so much, this is really helping me deal with the turmoil inside by promoting awareness. I'm going to do more meditations, and will update you on what happens when I try to mediate the two disparate archetypes.

[Noel Eastwood]

Erie, sometimes Mercury is not very smart and gives you conflicting insights. He will try to engage people at HIS level, not THEIRS. The first lesson in communications is to find out what turns the other on, and then engage with 'their' interests. Mercury doesn't really know much about communications, just about keeping the mind active. He needs some training.

First thing to do is get Dale Carnegie's book, "How to win friends and influence People". It is the best book on communications I have EVER read. Get it, and I mean it, you should be able to borrow it from your library. I listen to the audio book version every now and then to remind me how to communicate properly - at 'their' level, not mine. I am sure Mercury will be interested, in fact in am certain that he will be very interested in it.

But communication is not just words, its also Venus. So, you have a task ahead of you to reconcile both archetypes within you. In meditation imagine them standing together, ask them to join hands with you, in a circle, and to balance and harmonise with you and each other, within your psyche. Do this several times a day, and see what happens.

Do not give them an option, you are the Emperor, the CEO of your psyche, they are your support staff, direct them.