Mantis .'s Blog, page 2

The Moon and Ace of Wands: a Torch for the Darkness

The Moon and the Ace of Wands are quite a curious combination, but a potent one nonetheless. The Moon, on one hand, possesses mysterious, shifting, and soft energies; and the Ace of Wands on the other hand is like a blazing torch of passion and pure spirit. Together, what do they represent? Well, consider that The Moon often invites us to keep following our path, even through the darkness; and to brave the inner world of our fears, particularly as they refer to a great Unknown in our journey. Th...

2 of Swords: at Peace with Our Choices

The Two of Swords, among other wonderful meanings, Invites us to find comfort in doing the right thing and making aligned choices for our lives even if that path presents difficulties, and even if we must make choices that scare us. Often in life, particularly when faced with challenging situations, we must choose a path that is filled with uncertainty. In these scenarios, no choice is an easy choice. However, if we do nothing, we may remain in the same type of conundrum for a long time, and eve...

Bending with the Wind: a Resilience Practice

I have been undergoing deep lessons in finding freedom and resilience by opening up to and embracing what arises, no matter how tragically difficult it may be. I have found that when I retract in the face of the events of life, the tendrils of fear grow deep inside, making their later removal much more difficult. Instead of retracting, I have been practicing opening up completely, feeling the weight of the emotions fully, letting the fear completely wash over me. I have found that if you mindful...

9 of Cups: the Miraculous Nexus of Comfort, Discomfort, Desire and Surrender

At the surface level, the 9 of Cups relates to wishes, desire, and comfort. But as we dive deeper into its energy, we understand that this card tests the boundaries between our comfort and discomfort, while we revisit our practice of  setting our intentions for manifestation. Being a Number 9 card in the Cups suit, it refers to an advanced, deep understanding of the realm of the Water element.  It invites us into a heightened practice of emotional acceptance of the present reality, while leaving...

The Portal to Decentering

I have practiced enough of “centering” myself. But lately I have been practicing de-centering, and have learned that both are important practices that connect me with two sides of the same metaphysical coin. You see, when we center ourselves, we may still be very much immersed in the self as a separate entity. But what if I touched the center not within my own self, but instead communed with the center of life and the universe themselves? After all, the whole of existence does not revolve aroun...

Dragonfly, Spirit and Impermanence

Dragonflies are messengers of the spiritual realm. They connect us with Spirit, with the souls that are beyond the earth realm, and with impermanence itself. When my grandma passed a couple of years ago, in late May, is when the backyard is our old house would be filled with these large crimson or blue dragonflies. I saw them as a hello from the Beyond. Here in the new place there is no standing water and I don’t see dragonflies. After being sad about that for a second, I opened my phone and thi...

Two of Cups: Leaning into Our Connections as a Way Back to Center

The Two of Cups is a gentle invitation, a whisper from the Divine, calling on us to lean into our connections as a basis for balance, harmony, and stability in our lives, no matter what we may be going through. The nature of these connections is manifold, and may manifest in our lives in a variety of ways, depending on what the day brings. Knowing that our emotions and our heart color our reality immensely; and knowing that the Number 2 relates to duality, connection, balance and harmony; the Tw...

The End of A Journey of Mind. A Reading for Humanity!

Every so often, we come to the end of a way of thinking, reaching the end of a road made up of mind and thought. As we live, we go through different iterations of ourselves, and pass through varying methods of relating to reality, to our own being, and to others. The 8 of Swords and 10 of Swords in a reading announce that a closing is near. The present way of thinking about the world is reaching its fulfillment, and we no longer fit in its paradigms. The current state of our mind is ripe for dea...

8 of Pentacles and the Zen of Work: Chopping Wood and Carrying Water

There is something “zen” about working, toiling, and creating things here on the Earth plane. Anything that is worthwhile and beautiful takes, if not time and effort, at least skills that were earned over the months and years. A Zen saying goes, “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.” No matter our level of spiritual and evolutionary growth, we wisely give our energy to our individual wood chopping and water carrying. We learn, we develo...

Coming Home to Peace: the Body-mind Gateway

I remember reading somewhere that our default state is peace. If we are not at peace in this moment, what the fuck is up? Mind you—I’m not talking about peace that is at odds with the waves of thought and emotion that roll in any given day of this human existence. We naturally experience anger, we worry, we become sad, we feel the pain of trauma. But, underlying all that commotion, there is quietude and stillness. My attitude towards my own difficult emotions and thoughts has been greatly transf...