To thine own self be true

I am grateful for me!

I have enjoyed my thirty days of gratitude; it goes by in a flash. Normally this King irritates me, today though I think he reminds me to be true to myself and be grateful for me and my life.  I saw lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I am grateful for all the conveniences in my life. Super grateful that I get another day, for electricity, central heat, clean water, roof over my head, clothes, food, car, freedom of choices...and I realize the one constant in all those moments of gratitude, is me.  Yay Carolyn!  Today I am grateful for me, for the good, the really good, and the not so good, because every moment of everyday is about me experiencing the moment.



Rider Waite-Smith Tarot

Get up on the other side

A bit of R & R never hurt no one.

I feel a bit of a cold coming on.  Sniffles and Sneezes this morning.  Guess this card hints a taking a bit of time to rest and recuperate.  I also need to give myself some time for contemplation for the work I do.  I had a bit of snit yesterday at the office.  Another was trying to box me in and after twenty years in outside sales I chaffed at the power struggle.  Really I should not have let it bother me, but there you go.  I am very thankful that I don't have to do the nine-five routine, that I still have the flexibility in my schedule not to put up with office politics.  Still I am committed to make changes in my work life so I need to "give it a rest" and get on with things.  Thank goodness I have reached an age where I don't carry a grudge and can move on.  Life has much to offer so I will get up and get back to it, first though I think I will get back in my bed and take that extra 15 minutes. That sounds about right.

Choices

Shes got the whole world in her hand.

I had a long conversation with one my sisters last night. I am amazed at the difference in us.  My four sisters have always entertained a defeatish attitude.  One has grown out of that a bit, to acceptance because her sorrows will be justified in heaven.  Both of my brothers just went along for the ride.  I almost walked their paths but have worked hard not to succumb to the self-imposed misery.  Choices, like in this card, one wand at the ready and one wand anchored to the wall. Or is it anchored?  Maybe it is just a form tie in the foundation that will allow the wand to be placed.  Either way there are choices we make along the way.  My choice is not see that life is winding down but to look for the opportunities still available for me.  Yay!



Rider Waite-Smith Tarot

Turning Point

It takes a Village

When I view this card I almost always wonder what is the horse thinking.  He definitely is looking with intent back at the rider.  Victory does not belong just to the rider but also the horse and all those that help the man achieve his success.  This is a good reminder that things do not happen on their own.  When it comes to my day to day successes I need to recognize others' contributions.  Be grateful that I have the support of others along my way.  Appreciation goes a long way.    Thank you!

Home

Be it ever so humble.

Home lovely.  I was thinking on the word Home with the word OM within; OM the sound of the Universe, it's beginning middle, and end.  There is no place like H'om'e. I thought of this card coming home.  There I am sitting with the two dogs and my sister and her husband and family coming home from vacation.  I am oh so happy to be back in my home.  I am also very grateful for family.
I never before noticed that Pamela Coleman Smith's iconic glyph is in the upper right hand corner. In most of the cards it is placed near or at the bottom right. Shuffling through the cards I noticed several other cards that deviate from that position, none but the Ten of Pentacles is placed above. The ten features a pretty busy theme, still it might of been placed on the hindquarters of the unsuspecting pup.
Anyway, I am thankful for my own place.  Thankful for the people who choose me to be their representative when buying their home, which allows me to live in mine.

Rider Waite-Smith Tarot

Challenges

Woe is me

Sometimes a test is a good thing.  Everything is fine and dandy and then bing, we get a swat.  It can be a challenge to be grateful for such moments or occurrences.  With hindsight we can see that they set us on a different path. A choice we would have not considered but ended up being in our best interest or expanded our knowledge or our viewpoint.
Gratitude is the Abracadabra and can help make the best out of not so good situation

Brave New World

Pilgrims

Today I am thankful for those that crossed the Atlantic hundreds of years ago to start anew.  Not necessarily the Puritans that wanted to inflict their harsh brand of religious freedom, which had no freedoms at all.  My heritage is Irish and German, both cultures came to the Americas and ended up as indentured servants and had to brave a different kind of harshness and bigotry.  Still most managed to find and forge a new life and out of that I get to live a really good life and celebrate this day of Thanksgiving.  I am grateful to spend the day with family.

And also I am thankful for canned, molded cranberry gelatin.  My Mother served it every year and no Thanksgiving table is complete without it.  Tradition.

Tis the Season

Bell Ringers, a thankless job/opportunity.

The bell ringers are out.  I came out of store yesterday and dropped a dollar in kettle, at this time of year I try to do the same most places I see one.  The attendant said "Merry Christmas" and I smiled and said and "Happy Thanksgiving" then I turned back and said 'thank you' for doing this and the young man, said "you know I have been doing this for a couple of years and no one says thank you, I usually do."  I pondered on this  during the evening.  This is my month of gratitude, but I will say 'thank you' from now on to the all the 'Ringers.'  I did it for a few years with my Sister before my legs gave out and the hour flew by.
 A bit of Kindness and Gratitude goes a long way.  Happy Pre-Thanksgiving!

I Am

Thankful

Alpha Canis Majoris

Sirius: The brightest star visible in Earth's sky.

The Dog Star, Sirius silly, not the Moon.  Although canines howl at the Moon and for that matter so do I.
I went out last night and admired the night sky.  I am house sitting at my sisters home, which is fairly rural and the Stars are much more visible without the light pollution of city where I live.
Thank goodness I took the time to go out and admire the Stars and the deep darkness of the night. Maybe all those lights are Planets and Stars and maybe they are points of lights made by our Ancestors as they took their celestial place.
A perfect night sky but then again, the sky is always perfect.

Gone to the dogs

Dog sitting and oh house tending too
'

I moved out to my sister's home yesterday.  Her husband's family all gathered together to take a cruise. I didn't bring any my decks so I been out looking at decks on-line.  Here is a pretty good similarity to one of the two dogs that I am hanging out with this week.  Cassie is an old gal who has lots of health and physical challenges.  She hasn't many days left in this next year.  I love this girl even if it means I have to get up 4/5 times a night.  She has brought a lot of joy to my life when I visit the family and she kept me company when I had to live here 5 years ago during recovery.  I am glad I have the opportunity to tend to her as she tended to me.  Doggie friends are the best, and thankfully I have had some good ones through the years. Wooof.....

In and Out

We all knew this to be true

Last night on the national evening news we were told that NASA has discovered the Earth breathes.  I wonder how much they spent on that to tell us what we already knew. Duh.  The Trees have been doing that all along.  And Thank Goodness I might add.  Still as they document more and more all the peoples will realized Planet Earth and all of us our one complete living system.  Each Planet is a "Living Being"  and then things will rapidly get better for us all.  Here's to Breath

Color me

Shades and hues of this and that

Here is a Fun Fact, by the time they turn ten years old, American children use up approximately 720 crayons each, with blue being their favorite color.  The crayon scent is one of the most recognized, after peanut butter and coffee. 
Hours spent playing with our colors.  I have some crayons in my coloring box even now.  I don't do much in coloring books because I am not around small children.  I do have a coloring book my niece gave years ago during recovery and I still do a picture here and there, and I don't get upset with myself when I color outside of the lines. 
And Aqua Blue is my favorite color.
I am not sure if this card is about colors, charkras, or having a light bulb moment.  Just color me happy today.
Thank You!

Grin and bear it

This card reminds of the great bear adventure in our area last year.

What a cute card.  Last year there was a black bear that mosied through the area.  She/he was not a normal sighting, in fact a hundred years since one was spotted around here.  I appreciate the unexpected and the unusual; something new and interesting to make Life a bit more enjoyable.  Thank you for all the wonderful diversity that Mother Earth presents to us.

artwork -Sue Lion

Grounding

A DAY IN THE LIFE

"Woke up, fell out of bed
  Dragged a comb across my head
  Found my downstairs and drank a cup
  And looking up I noticed I was late..."

I am grateful I get another day.  I got up and got dressed on my own.  Poured my own cereal drank a cup of tea, and on with my day.  Thank You.  Don't know what about this card made me thing of the Beatles song A DAY IN THE LIFE,  maybe just the awareness of a new day, a good day, a day in my life.  The tree reminds me if I have one of those days when I start out, falling out of bed and everything runs amiss, I can go find a place by or beneath a tree and take a moment to calm and ground myself and bring my world back in perspective.


EARTH MAGIC Oracle Cards -Steven D Farmer

Instinct

BS detector

What a wonderful creature the wolf is.  I have admired them my whole life. Mother Nature is a really great gal to give us such diversity of life here on Planet Earth.  I am ever so grateful for all that is available.  Still there are times that I have to be on guard because not all is what it can appear.  Like the wolf I have a keen sense of what is right and wrong, or at least my perception of right or wrong.  I am ever so grateful for my instincts.  Most of time my intuition and gut feelings are right on track, and as I have matured through the years, do not dismiss them.

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck."
Sage wisdom

EARTH Magic Oracle Cards - Steve D Farmer

Emergence

Sense of Self

I have been thinking and reflecting on this card and it comes to me for all the things I am grateful for the first and foremost should be me.  I don't often put myself at the top of list, really if you think about it that is where we belong, at the top of our list.  So for today I will keep myself in consideration throughout the whole of the day.  Grateful for all the things I do for me for me.

"And if I asked you to name all the the things that you love, how long would it take for your to name yourself?" -Unknown





EARTH Magic Oracle Cards - Steven D Farmer

Reflection

The woods so dark and deep

I can appreciate the deep silence of this woodland.  A place to reflect where I have been, where I am at, and what lies ahead. No distractions here.  The woods are just as beautiful in the winter as they are throughout the rest of year.  Thank goodness for the changing of the Season.  Sure the cold is challenging, but I wouldn't want to miss the trees and their fabulous Fall foliage, nor their announcement of Spring when their buds and leaves burst forth.  






EARTH Magic Oracle Cards - Steven D Farmer

Be it ever so humble

Ollie Ollie Oxen Free

When I was a little girl we used to play hide and go seek, and when the seeker gave up we used to call "Ollie Ollie come in free"  although the original was 'oxen free' as above.  We played hide and seek between our yard and the neighbor's across the street.  Usually involved seven or eight of us, sometimes a couple more.  Climbing the trees was not an allowed hiding place, too difficult in the dark for the seeker to find you.  Home base was safety.  Even today home is the safe place.  There have been a few days when I come home I say out-loud "Ollie Ollie Carolyn's home free."  There is no place like home.  Familiar, comfort, safety, protection.
Thank goodness for home.  Be it ever so humble there is no place like home.  Go ahead click your heels together...


Fairy Tarot

Kindred

Thank goodness for friends

This afternoon I am going over to this Queen's home.  Several of us are having lunch at her place and we are going to go over health care plans for the upcoming year.  There will be four of us for lunch and we are going to compare policies of The National Health Care.  Now this gal does not need to find insurance, she has hers taken care of but the other three of us having BC/BS which dropped out, have to find new coverage.  Just like this Queen she is helping out and feeding us and offering encouragement while we get things sorted out.
Friends are the best and I am glad and grateful for them.




Fairy Tarot Cards

Happy Dance

Those moments of pure joy when your feet start to tap and before you know it you are up and moving and grooving.

"Gratitude is a powerful manifesting energy in the Universe, helping you gracefully dance with the magical light-footedness of the fairies.  Taking time to say "thank you" to your family, coworkers, the fairies, and God creates a circular flow that brings even more abundance. Every day give thanks for something in your life. You can do it aloud or just in your prayers."  -directly quoted from the booklet
FAIRY Tarot Cards







Doreen Virtue & Radleigh Valentine
Illustrations by Howard David Johnson

Self Interest

Having confidence in oneself.

I am fascinated with the fountain of ideas and thoughts that are bursting forth from the fairy out front.  Sometimes I have the advantage and sometimes not.  Clearly today I may have the upper-hand in a situation.  The lesson for me today is to use that advantage or gift or snowballs for the right reason, even if others don't agree with my choice.
I am so grateful for having choices.  Not all do.  There are many places in the world that you are told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  Thankfully I get to choose most of my days. 



The Fairy Tarot Cards

Companions

Ancestors, Angels. Guardians, Guides

I am grateful for those that help me along my way.
Thank you.

"No (wo)man is an island entire of itself. "
  Poem - John Donne

H2O

Water: a clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid

What a boring dimensionless description of something so vital and essential to us all.  Water, I take it for granted most of the time.  I turn on the tap - water.  Grab a bottle from the fridge - water. Flush the toilet, wash the dishes, take a shower, walk in the rain -Water.  Not all are so lucky to live with the abundant supply I take for granted.  I give no thought that I am seventy-five percent water, not sure how clear, colorless, odorless my liquid content is.  That is something to think about.
For today and hopefully for most of my days I will really pay attention to all the wonderful ways water is a part of my life, and each and every time say, "Thank You"

Promise

Hope springs eternal

The Fairy has opened the Chalice Well, releasing hope and magic.  Brings to mind wishing wells; to this day I will stop pull a coin from pocket or purse, close my eyes, think of my wish and toss my coin in hoping for my wish to come true.  At sixty I still believe, and that is something to be grateful for.  I haven't lost my connection to magic, possibilities, and the promise of wonderment.
'Find a penny pick it up and all day long you have good luck' and if I happen to come upon a wishing well and have my lucky penny with me, all kinds of wonderful are available to me.

Go ahead, make a wish!


The Fairy Tarot - Doreen and Radleigh Valentine
Artwork by Howard David Johnson

Best Laid Plans

Even the best laid plans can often go awry.

Yesterday I drew Justice, and it was placed as card eight in the majors, when usually and correctly I might say would be in position eleven.  So here is card twelve, so it might seem things are in order.  I was fascinated by the Sword of Truth yesterday that made an appearance, and here I believe I am asked to look again at that sword from a different perspective. Last night I was working on my business projection and realized I probably will never really be able to retire, that's the truth of justice yesterday but today I can re-view the situation with a different light and maybe a bit of humor.  Cause we all know, the best laid plans...
I am grateful for today and blessed to be in the here and now and know that tomorrow will take care of tomorrow.

The Fairy Tarot

Wonderment

Glass have full or have empty?

Freedom of Choice.  That is a wonderment that not all people get to enjoy.  For the most part I get to decide what is right or wrong for me.  There are rules in any society that must be upheld and I am okay with that.  So many choices that I take for granted that others will never enjoy, for that I am grateful that I am alive in the here and now.
Today I will take the time to really pay attention to the blessings that are right in front me.






Fairy Tarot Cards

Reading, writing, and arithmetic

Learn all that you can, cause they can't take that away from you.

One of the things I am most grateful for is learning to read.  Ah the written word, it can teach much, inform just about everything, and take you just about anywhere. 
Nothing better than to immerse myself in the written word and let the pages turn and take me on an adventure, mystery, murder, mayhem, magics, travel, arrival, discovery.

"Nourish the mind like you would nourish your body.  The mind cannot survive on junk food." Jim Rohn





Fariy Tarot Cards - Doreen Virtue & Radleigh Valentine

Start

Two years ago I started this blog.  I began with the month of November doing thirty days of Gratitude, as a part of my healing journey.  Appreciation and gratitude helps me focus on all that is good and wonderful, and, what we focus on expands.  So I am grateful that I began blogging and have the opportunity to correspond with some really amazing people.  Thank you for being a part of my life and my journey.