What a fun ride! I've just completed the self-guided Alternative Tarot Course with the lovely Beth Maiden who joyfully shares the tarot through a lens of self-care, intuition and storytelling.
For me, this colorful, interactive journey of 78 cards speaks to the heart with its modern perspective, freeing us from traditional and limited tarot interpretations (white, straight, hierarchical) and helps frame and empower events in our own lives. I've found this art form to be another incredible tool for self-growth and transformation.
What I especially enjoyed in the course were the exercises and weekly spreads that explored our inner world and allow us to strengthen and hear soul messages through symbols, imagery, numbers, lunar cycles and synchronicities. Connecting with our higher selves through journaling practices is also highlighted.
Often, when I sign up for a program, I rarely adhere to the prompts or follow through on the writing assignments (it can feel "homework-y" and mandated), preferring instead to move along and take in more content. However, I made a promise to myself this time to fill up as many journals as I needed and to really sink into and find joy and flow in the exercises.
What a difference it has made! Putting pencil to paper solidifies the connection and really helps to weave together the story more coherently. As much as I resisted, I've seen bigger shifts as a result.
Below is an exercise called I Am designed to release us from the confines of our mind and as Beth says "give the card a voice, a spirit. We allow it to introduce itself to us, via our intuition."
We embody the essence of the card and speak from its heart. So please join me in becoming the 8 of Cups. Feel free to write out a few sentences that come up for you before reading my ideas.
I am...
I am leaving this version of myself behind as I walk boldly toward a brighter future, one step at a time.
I am letting go of what no longer serves me and allow the elements to transmute the energies into those that match my highest potential.
I am gifting the waters with a courageous flame to represent the emotional strength of my decision. A flame that holds the story of my past but no longer defines me.
I am proud of who I am becoming.
Mother Nature and Universal Wisdom hold me gently as I trust in this act of radical self-love.
A brave new world awaits.
I find myself becoming this character even more now, three months after writing out the initial exercise. In fact, we are all being gently (or for some, more forcefully) nudged by the Universe to release, let go, and dissolve old paradigms, ways of being, stories, wounds, habits, energies, and relationships within ourselves and the world.
Just today, Elizabeth April, a Clairvoyant and Psychic who seems to be perfectly attuned to the universal energies, mentioned the growing pains we are experiencing now and for several years to come, as we transition into higher levels of consciousness.
We are shedding old layers of ourselves.
As she shared, "We are shedding an emotional layer, trauma layer, physical layer, toxic layer and old neuro pathways." Whew, that's a lot!
Holding you in love and support as we shed layers and release the outdated. Let's be like the 8 of Cups and walk bravely ahead as we beckon a brighter future for ourselves.
xx Kristin