Each week I pull cards to inspire contemplative / personal development practice for readers of the blog as a group using the Gaian Tarot.  (If you want to read more about the process, check out Sacred Practices of the Gaian Tarot: The 3 P’s).You are invited to use the cards below to inspire your practice, and, if you like, share your reflections in the comments.  You are also free to draw your own cards.

PATH: Use Pile 1 / Majors and Aces to pull a card for the question: What sacred path would best serve the group this week? THE CANOE invites us to walk this week on pathways of …

• Focused determination in moving toward your goals.
• Drawing on your awareness and abilities in both the rational and intuitive realms, the earthy and the spiritual worlds, the masculine and feminine perspectives.
• Being on the journey.

PRACTICE: Use Pile 2 / numbered cards for this question: What contemplative practice will best serve us to move along this pathway this week? EIGHT OF EARTH invites us to practices such as …

• Drumming (There is a community drum circle that meets across the hall from me one Sunday a month and just listening from across the hall I am inspired in body, mind, and spirit!)
• Seek out a mentor or teacher who can help you learn something new or go deeper into an ability or gift you already have.  You might have one session or sign up for on-going mentorship.
• Seek out a place in nature that is as removed as possible from human sounds.  Find a place where you can be alone and quiet.  Listen to the beating of your own heart and then shift to listen to the noises of the natural world.  Can you hear nature’s heart beat?  What does your hearts being together guide you to do?

POSTURE: Use Pile 3 / People cards for a question such as: What attitudes and behaviors will be most helpful to me in undertaking this practice?  EXPLORER OF EARTH invites you to follow your path and practices with attitudes of ….

• Patient movement.
• Fierce attentiveness.
• Living close to the heart of nature.

OVERALL MUSINGS:  So our path this week invites movement but the practices and attitudes encouraged are about grounding.  They seem to be opposite energies, but the Canoe, too, contains the wisdom of bringing together seemingly opposites to harness their creative tensions for forward movement.  To move forward – especially if we are dropped into the white water rapids of sudden change – we need to have ready supports such as practices, connecting to earth, or an ability to re-focus on what is important to re-ground ourselves.

I also see a beautiful thread running through this week in the accompaniment of protectors in these cards: wisdom animals journey with the canoeist; the father is there for his daughter (or is it vice versa); and the white buck (is it real or a spirit animal?) stands with our young explorer.  You are not alone this week.  The Greater Than surrounds you.