Abundance, Gratitude and the Joyous Heart

Candles, crystals and tarot cards - now that is joyful!
Corrine Kenner's and John J. Blumen's "Wizards Tarot"©
in the foreground

When we practice the abundant life, we strive to stay focused and positive on the people and things that makes us feel abundant.  We are told that it is essential to explore gratitude as we meditate on abundance and prosperity.  Today, in my meditation practice, I focused on gratitude.  Often when I do, I’m moved to tears as I count the blessings in my life.  Today I wasn’t and at first I didn’t understand why.

I love meditation.  It’s where I go for Divine connection, inspiration and comfort.  Today my feelings of gratitude, while they were sincerely meant, lacked the emotion, the elation that I often feel as I recount my blessings. My gratitude lacked the ‘kick-start,’ if you will.  I wondered why my expressions of thankfulness rang hollow until a realized that I was not in joy.  Joy, or rather a joyous heart is an intrinsic part of gratitude and therefore vital to the process of manifesting abundance in your life.  

Joy opens us to experiences.  Our hearts become accepting 

3 of Cups - celebration
from "Tarot of the Pagan Cats"©
by Lola Airaghi and Magdelina Messina

of pure possibility when we are in joy. Joy takes us away from negative projections and judgments about ourselves and others that confine and limit us.  In joy, we focus on the moment where life is lived in its entirety.  Within the present moment we can recount all that we are and hold dear without effort.  Joy links us to our Creator.  Joy allows us to examine the fullness of our gratitude and within that moment of actualization, we hold the creative force of the entire Universe in our hands. 

We all have moments, days, months, etc. when we are not happy.  I realized today that joy is different from happiness.  Joy is force all its own and not dependent on a happy state of mind.  I propose to you that true joy in the moment is not an emotion, but an energy field of its own.  As such, we can tap into joy, use it and direct it to power our meditative and creative processes.  Manifesting if a multitiered process.  Today i believe I reached another tier.

LADY ORACLE

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend."

Melody Beattie - writer

For more thoughts on the workings of gratitude, please click this link and follow it to "The Moment Is Now"  our online radio show!

Abundance, Prosperity and the Garden of the Empress

RWCS #3, The Empress

It's lush and green outside and every weed in my garden has taken a self-actualization seminar.   I can still find evidence of former order, or as much order as I ever allow in my garden.  There's the promise of fragrant summer blooms and for now there's enough for me.  We are approaching the end of April and Earth's miraculous transformation from the colder months to the warmer months will be complete.  At least in this hemisphere.  Let's mark the coming of May 1st and a waxing moon cycle with a visit to the Empress' garden.

The Empress is card number three in the Major Arcana.   She, herself, is lush and filled with sensual pleasure - life-giving Mother Earth who sustains her children by connecting them to the natural world.  And although her world has rules and order, it can never be as tightly controlled as the finite world of her male counterpart, the Emperor.  Where the Emperor demands  adherence to rules, the Empress is wildly abandoned in her acts of creation.  Her garden is a riot of colors and textures that stir the senses.

Are you seeking to create a new project, to manifest a more

"The Goddess Tarot"© Kris Waldress
#3, Fertility - The Empress

abundant life?  Then spend some time with the Empress.  Allow her natural fertility to spark your creative drive.  During the waxing moon, we concentrate on what we want to expand into our reality.  Take time to walk in the park or work in your yard and allow the Earth's natural, life-affirming rhythm center you.  Be the sponge.  Use your senses to take in everything around you.  Now, create.  What fires your soul?  Music, dance, sewing, cooking, wine making? You decide.  Allow nature's flow to energize your creativity.  Discover your passion for being alive at this time of year.  It's been a long winter.  Allow yourself to bloom.  Your roots run deep into the earth and you are never too old.

"Steampunk Tarot"© Ally Fell and
Barbara Moore, #3 TheEmpress

We often think of abundance and prosperity solely in terms of material success.  Today take a minute to recognize the bounty you have in your life that's not tied to the material.  Feel gratitude for the abundance of family, friends, ideas, knowledge, and for your connection to Source.  This is the "new" time of year and what better way to make a new start, than to commit to yourself.


LADY ORACLE