Self-love’s Ace of Cups

Egret lands, folds outstretched wings

Heart rests between flights.

I wrote this tarot haiku years ago after watching an egret sail into view, land beside the bay, and fold his outstretched wings onto his back. The feathered beauty of that moment was so peaceful; I thought about how we extend love to our lovers, children, and friends. And what about self-love? Might it feel like that sweet soft folding of one’s wings onto one’s back for a moment of rest between flights? What do love and self-love look like for you, especially during times of duress?

Come rest between flights with me for a heart-based experiential tour of tarot’s aces to provide inspiration and restoration despite transition/s (your personal transition, and the collective transitions we are all facing: physical, racial, environmental).

Ace of Windmills by Tania Pryputniewicz

Tarot for Transition: Tarot Journaling for Joy. During times of transition and uncertainty, we can lose our connection to our inner compass and find ourselves feeling overwhelmed. We will explore just one aspect of our lives at a time in relation to the transitions we are facing, using the lens of the four tarot aces: The Heart (love and dreams: Ace of Cups), The Hands (wealth and manifestation: Ace of Disks), The Will (inspiration and direction: Ace of Wands), and The Mind (vision and knowledge: Ace of Swords). We will walk through some simple tools for daily connection to the tarot through journaling, taking our “tarot eyes” into our surroundings, and celebrating the path forward as inspired by the energy of the four elements. No prior knowledge of the tarot is necessary. We meet four consecutive Saturdays. Cost for this 4-Part Webinar Series offered by Antioch University’s Inspiration to Publication program:  $99

Saturday October 17, 2020: 10 am PST / 1:00 pm ET
Saturday October 24: 10 am PST  / 1:00 pm ET
Saturday October 31: 10 am PST  / 1:00 pm ET (Halloween)
Saturday November 7th: 10 am PST  / 1:00 pm ET

For full details and to sign up visit: Tarot for Transition

Please feel free to use the contact form on my website if you have questions or you can also visit my Heart’s Compass Tarot Facebook page and IM me there as well.

*The haiku at the top of the post is part of my Heart’ Compass Tarot workbook forthcoming from Two Fine Crows Books in February 2021, a book that will help you tarot journal to discover your personal symbols for use in meditation and the creation of your own tarot cards, with additional playsheets for creating your own layouts, writing tarot haiku and more. Other chapters include example tarot card artwork created by students and tarot-inspired poetry and essays.

Photo by Robyn Beattie

*Photo of both the wings and this heart trivet resting in the cloud of wedding veil is by my poetry movie collaborator Robyn Beattie.This post

*The Ace of Windmills also appears in the forthcoming tarot workbook; it is my personal ace of swords (suit of air, the mind) created alongside my students. It represents my commitment to overcoming adversity, using the winds of adversity (air, anxiety) to create new work (art, poetry, and writing). How do you experience the ace of swords? What is your suit of air? We explore questions like this in Tarot for Transition. To see more tarot improvisations in color, visit heartscompasstarot on IG.

Additional links of interest:

This post on Antioch’s inspiration2publication blog explains the structure of the tarot:

Using the Tarot as a Visual Prompt for Journaling

Tarot Journaling example: Three Views of Marriage

My long-term Tarot for Two buddy Mary Allen converses with me here about tarot on our podcast we started three years ago; we are gearing up to break the tarot silence again and record a new one this week. But in the meantime, we have covered:

How does the tarot work?

What do we do with the bad cards?

Is it just a deck of cards?

The Hanged One

The Empress

Access them all here: Tarot for Two Podcasts