Gaian Tarot Artist's Journal

Moving Day

2010-09-01T18:50:38-07:00

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally moved my blog to a WordPress site called Gaian Soul. I started my blog here on the Typepad platform in September 2003, and today I successfully moved all seven years of blog posts over there (in spite of Mercury Retrograde!).

I originally started this blog to have some company during the years I spent creating the Gaian Tarot. Now that the deck is finished and is making its way in the world, I decided I wanted to have a new site that would encompass my interest in Tarot but not be limited to it.

So I came up with the title “Gaian Soul,” and the tagline: “At the crossroads of Creativity, Nature and Spirituality is . . . Transformation.” And that pretty much sums up who I am and what I care about.

I invite you to take a look around the new site (yes, several areas are not quite done) and subscribe to my blog through email or RSS.

And if you haven’t already checked it out, I’d love for you to have some of my free stuff!

Please update your links and your RSS feeds to the new site. I won't be posting here anymore.

Thanks for coming along on this wonderful journey with me. I’m grateful for your company!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Setting Out

2010-09-01T06:00:00-07:00

Joanna Colbert

Serenity & Productivity: Living the Canoe Card

2010-08-31T13:17:18-07:00

Last week Craig and I took off for a canoe-camping trip in the North Cascades wilderness. It was probably the best vacation I can remember having in a long, long time. We whittled our needs and activities down to a basic few: pack up the gear, unpack the gear. Make meals, clean up meals. Paddle from one campsite to another. Enjoy Mama Gaia, enjoy each other. We were completely unplugged and out of cell phone range. We encountered only a handful of people on the remote north end of the lake. The weather couldn't have been finer. And so we sweetly paddled our way into that mythical land called Slow Time.

In the Gaian Tarot Circle, one of the threads in the discussion forum is about the Gaian Tarot's penchant for being literal in readings. (For example, someone who pulls the 4 of Water with its imagery of Chalice Well might "coincidentally" be planning a trip to Glastonbury, where the Well is located.) As I paddled for several hours each day at the lake last week, I would think about the Canoe (Chariot) card, and the meaning I assigned to it. I wrote this in the Gaian Tarot companion book:

When you get this card in a reading . . .

This is a time to stay focused on your path, and to exercise self-discipline as you work towards your goal. Set aside anything extraneous that would dis- tract you or keep you from completing your task. What is your goal? What do you want to accomplish? This may apply to your life in the everyday world — pursuing a course of study, a career goal, a fitness plan, a creative project. It may also apply to your inner life; perhaps you are in a recovery program or are healing from a trauma. Whatever it is, set your intention, take your first steps, and your guides and allies will be at your side to help you on your way. Be of great courage! No matter how hard it seems, you have what it takes to succeed.

However . . . what I discovered is that paddling a canoe is not always about being focused and self-disciplined and distraction-free. In fact, it can be a fine way to meander and flow and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. I found myself constantly distracted by colors, shapes and sounds as we paddled along: the intense underwater shades of jade and emerald; undulating, sinuous roots and branches; a raven's croak and chickaree's chatter. I was invariably distracted by Beauty.

Even though we had a destination in mind each day, it was up to us how long it took us to get there. (We paddled 2-4 hours each day.) I think that's true of any goal we might have. We don't have to kill ourselves with overwork in order to meet a business or personal goal; we can take a slower pace if we choose.

And yet . . . that daily practice of paddling made a huge difference by the fourth day. Each day my technique improved, and each day I found I had more upper body strength. On our last day on the lake, the wind suddenly came up, the clouds rolled in and raindrops started to fall. This change came abruptly. One moment we were admiring an osprey flying overhead and the next moment we were fighting to stay upright in the canoe. As we paddled northward, my focus narrowed: don't stop paddling, put your muscle into it, keep the spine straight and the hips loose, get around that point to calmer waters, don't capsize, stay alive! I discovered that fear is a great motivator for staying focused (although I can't say I recommend it).

When we made it back to landfall and unloaded our gear from the canoe, I felt as though I had passed a test with flying colors. I was frightened during that squall, but I didn't panic. "Be of great courage!" I wrote for the Canoe card. "No matter how hard it seems, you have what it takes to succeed."

And (we all know this, right?) it's that daily practice that helps us meet our goals. Just a little bit, every day. A little bit of exercise, a little bit of meditation, a little bit of creativity, a little bit of uninterrupted focused time will get us where we want to go.

Since returning, I find myself recalling the vast expanses of calm, blue lake water and the sense of serenity I felt while I was there. It makes me think of the last stanza of Willie Yeats' poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree":

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

I realize that my task is to bring that deep reservoir of peace into my daily life. As I make my to-do lists and plan my creative projects, as I answer emails and package decks to ship out, as I work on SEO for my sites, as I run my errands and chop my veggies for dinner . . . I want to be that peaceful.

I want to be both peaceful and productive. (Perhaps that's the new meaning for the twin orcas in the Canoe card, for me.)

So I have a couple of new affirmations for this card:

Tranquility and productivity go hand in hand.

My daily practice of strengthening heart, mind and body keeps me serenely productive.

I am serenely, calmly, incredibly productive!

Blessed be.

Spirit Sunday: Leap and the Net Will Appear (the Fool)

2010-08-29T05:00:00-07:00

Joanna Colbert

Wordless Wednesday ~ Late Summer on the Beach

2010-08-25T05:09:00-07:00

Joanna Colbert

Spirit Sunday: We Have a Beautiful Mother

2010-08-22T06:14:00-07:00

Joanna Colbert

What We Did Last Saturday

2010-08-20T06:23:00-07:00

Joanna Colbert

The Gardener: A Business Vision (or, "Your Ideal Day")

2010-08-19T10:33:29-07:00

In the Gaian Tarot Circle, we’ve been studying one Gaian Major Arcana card a month. This month’s card is the Gardener (aka the Empress). Even though I created this card a few years back and know it intimately, I’m finding it has new and timely messages for me. A couple of nights ago, a group of us from the GTC had a conversation about the Gardener card on a teleseminar call.

The key insight that emerged for me during the call is that the Gardener card is my exact model for how I want my business to be. There's clearly been an enormous amount of work done — look Ma, no weeds! — but the Gardener has co-created with the nature spirits and with Mama Gaia Herself to create a lush, fertile, abundant garden. And . . . she is relaxed, happy, healthy, and enjoying the "fruits of her labors"! And she is pregnant with her next project . . .

I’m a Capricorn and a triple earth-sign to boot, so I have a tendency towards overwork and work-aholism. Sometimes I feel guilty for taking an entire weekend off. (I know, I know . . .) So I’m very excited to have this card as a model for how I want my business to be. Abundant, prolific, lots of hard work done . . . and I’m taking time to relax and enjoy it all. Oh yeah!

There’s nothing more powerful than a clear vision of how you want your life and your business to be. If you don’t know where you’re going, how can you possibly get there?

Many moons ago — well, back in the early 80’s — I read a book that had an enormous impact on my life. That book was Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want by Barbara Sher. I still have my original copy with all my notes scribbled in the margins. I don’t think I did all the exercises in the book, but the one I did do (more than once) is the “Ideal Day” exercise. This was incredibly powerful for me, because it allowed me to dream about what I really wanted for my life. Back in the early 80’s the highlights of my “Ideal Day” were:

Living in a beautiful home surrounded by trees and water
Working from home
Being a full-time “artist / teacher / writer / healer” (copied that directly from my scribbles in the margin of page 66!)
Being in a loving partnership
Being part of a community of like-minded people

I wrote that first “ideal day scenario” in the early 80’s and about ten years later, everything on the list was present in my life. Things have shape-shifted since then, but those elements are still present in my life, and in much more satisfying ways than they were in the beginning.

Today, I don’t think it would take me ten years to get there, because I know so much more about manifesting my dreams than I did in the early 80’s. Manifestation is partly mindset/spiritual practice and partly hands-on, practical know-how.

Why don’t you write your own “Ideal Day” scenario? Grab a copy of Wishcraft, or just follow a few simple steps:

Write in the first person.
Allow yourself to dream big — don’t censor yourself!
Begin with waking in the morning until you go to bed at night.
Describe a typical, ideal day in the life you want to have.
Where do you live? What do you eat? Who lives with you, if anyone?
What activities do you do throughout the day?
What sort of work do you do, and where do you do it?
What about leisure pursuits and spiritual practice?
What people are in your life?
Look in the mirror; what do you see? (Hint: radiant health!)
Engage all five senses: what do you see, smell, hear, touch, taste, throughout the day? Describe them in vivid detail.

I’d love to hear your comments about this exercise, and what comes up for you when you do it.

Blessed be.

(Affiliate link to Amazon below)

Wordless Wednesday ~ Fair Winds & Calm Seas

2010-08-18T05:07:00-07:00

Joanna Colbert

Spirit Sunday: She Carries Me

2010-08-15T06:28:28-07:00

Joanna Colbert