6 of Wands - "You're Gonna Hear Me Roar!"

                                                         “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing 

                                                              through the fire Cause I am a champion 

                                                                  and you’re gonna hear me ROAR”

                              

                                                                                                                   by Dr. Luke and Bonnie McKee

The zen version of tarot's Six of Wands
OSHO Zen Tarot©, illustrations by Deva Padma
a superior deck and a must have!

In life we should all have our own theme music – nice, snappy, up tempo numbers that pull us out of the doldrums and gets us moving again.  The same should be true of tarot cards.  Take the Six of Wands from the OSHO Zen Tarot deck for example. (see: OSHO Zen Tarot blog) It’s a great theme card – sort of “Rocky” meets “Life of Pi” (without the “Yo,  Adrian,” or the 3.14).  Nothing says leadership, acclaim and victory like riding a tiger through streamers of confetti.  I like pairing up OSHO’s Six of Wands with Katy Perry’s song, “Roar.” It’s particularly useful during breakups, or worst yet, when you’ve let someone’s opinion of you (even your own) become your reality.  

Wands are elemental fire and represent action and creativity. 

Beyond Illusion or #20 Judgment
seeing past the illusion easily pulls us to our higher self
OSHO Zen Tarot© illustrated by Deva Padma

In Wands, you don’t sit back and imagine a pretty picture, you get out your easel and paint one.  The Six proclaims victory over the confusion and conflict depicted in the Five of Wands.  Six is the turning point of the suit where you’ve become strong enough in your sense of self to accept that your actions have consequences and that one of those consequences can be conflict. “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” The Six tells us to triumph over our detractors, even if those detractors are ourselves.  The card tells us to lead and if other people follow, that’s great, but if they don’t, then we must continue to celebrate our triumph over our own insecurities and claim our place center stage in our own lives. Once we’ve learned this lesson, we are ready to move on to the Seven of Wands, defending our territory and holding on to our convictions. 

Celebration, or three of Cups
a truly wonderful depiction from
OSHO Zen Tarot© illustrated by
Deva Padma

We all get the blues from time to time and we all fall prey to listening to the negative downloads from the big cloudplayer in our head. It doesn’t take much of a funk to decide the glass is half empty and that not only does it have a hole in the bottom, but there’s a chip in the rim as well.  When this happens, don’t simply wait for things to get better.  Take a proactive stance.  Select a tarot card that’s image gets your mental and emotional juices flowing.  Use it as a focal point for a meditation or keep it handy to look at all day.  Select a theme song – something that is personally uplifting to you.  Make it your anthem. Play it fifteen times in a row if necessary until you not only feel the happiness and success portrayed by the song, but you become it as well.

LADY ORACLE

Thanks to Katy Perry for her inspiration check out her official "Roar" video on You Tube!

visit me at www.ladyoracle.net

Belly Dance and the Three of Cups

( A re-post from 2012 to celebrate the dancer in all of us. Be Brilliant! )

There are several cards that represent celebration in tarot.  My favorite is the Three of Cups.  It is usually depicted with three women toasting life.  Sometimes, in certain decks, they are shown dancing and that’s my favorite depiction of all.

Yesterday there was a belly dance swap meet in the garden of the Empress and I was there.  Every year, my teacher, Wedad, who has been dancing since the 70’s, opens her backyard to the Portland belly dance community.  We bring food to share, as well as baubles and bangles to sell, or trade.  There’s more than two acres of yard - highly unusual in an urban setting.  There are apple and plum trees, logan and black berries, as well as a wonderful blend of native foliage that forms an amazing backdrop for the oriental carpets laid out on the ground.  We dance on the carpets, if so inclined.  Imagine.  Belly dancing on the earth in front of friends - just as the dance has been performed for more than 7,000 years.

In tarot the Empress carries an abundant, nurturing energy. 

My favorite 3 of Cups for obvious reasons
"OSHO Zen Tarot"© by Deva Pama

She gives peace and gentle guidance.  Sitting in her garden eases stress and fosters acts of creativity within you.  Yesterday, sitting and talking with some of my favorite women in the world nourished my soul.  We clapped in time to the dancers’ music, trilled our tongues in the traditional zaghareet of the middle east that shows our joy in, and approval of, the dancers movements.  Sunlight filtered through the trees, reflecting off brightly-colored baladi and khaleeji dresses.  If you didn’t bring a costume, no worries.  Women handed you scarves and skirts from the pile of things they’d brought with them to sell.  We were transported to distant places and times; to Bedouin campfires, to Ghawazee dancers performing in Egypt and the Ouled Nail coming down from the Moroccan hills to earn their dowries by dancing on street corners.   

The Empress, fertility, abundance
from RWCS by US Games®

At one time or another my teacher has taught all the women who assembled in her garden.  We frequently dance together in shows, or at workshops, but it’s in her garden where we ground and strengthen as women as well as dancers.  Yesterday we shared stories of our families, our childhoods, as well as our dance experiences.  We became the women in the Three of Cups, celebrating our lives through both words and the rhythms of our dances.   

In 7,000 years the form and content of belly dancing has changed, but its underlying root structure remains constant. The dance still connects dancers to the earth and to the energy of all the dancers who’ve come before them.  Belly dance, like the Three of Cups is a celebration of life. 

LADY ORACLE

PS: The dancer taking the stage in the first photo is Lady Oracle herself at "Saqra's Showcase".