How closely acquainted are you with your soul? How about your spirit? The following reading is part of a personal project of mine. I want to get down to the nitty gritty of just what my spirit and soul are all about. I want to build a closer relationship between these two bedfellows. In certain traditions, the spirit can only relate to the higher self through the soul. And the soul is that which glues spirit to the body. We have to go down before we go up.
I’m not overly invested in any particular tradition. Here’s what I know about how I work: There’s a part of me that is conscious of itself and this world it inhabits, it makes decisions, it thinks things, it observes feelings happening, it makes plans and decisions, it gets off on knowing shit. There is another part of me that observes my conscious self. It speaks and thinks in dreamscapes and feeling tones, in images and symbols and emotional flow. It inhabits a world that is not concrete or material yet is indescribably tangible. It possesses an unconscious drive that steers the conscious side of me.
I’m calling these two Spirit and Soul. My mission is to get to know them intimately.
This spread adapted from Camelia Elias.
SPIRIT
- Who speaks when my spirit speaks? (The conscious mind – my awareness of being here now – including my ego which is very good at telling me how things should and shouldn’t be)
Death – My conscious mind speaks with the understanding that it is facing its end. Death comes to us all. It feels it’s own finite nature. It is here on the mundane but only temporarily. It has work to do, but is it going about its task mindlessly or is it conscious of what it is doing? It’s power is destructive. It is feared by others. It is harvesting those who have fallen. Taking what it needs.
My spirit mind is conscious of what it has lost and what it has yet to lose. Does this set me up for scarcity? Or is my spirit highly discriminating? Sorting the wheat from the chaff.
3+4. How do I listen when the spirit speaks?
6 of coins & Emperor
I listen through the filter of mundane scarcity, obstacles I face here on earth. Not enough money, not enough health, not enough security. But there is a power to create through The Emperor, to actually make something manifest. Death weilds a scythe while the Emperor holds a staff and orb. Transmuting the power of destruction into the power of creation – to a symbol of power. What do I destroy that I can use for my own gain. What is dead that has taught me lessons? What do I know to do in what situation? The eagle on the shield rhymes with the eagle on the world. There is cross pollination here. Look to air, freedom, travel, clarity and perception as the traits that the emperor would use. His building blocks. Mars needs Air.
All the other cards look to THE EMPEROR. They are there to serve him. I am meant to create and control and bring order to this world. To my world.
Step up and take control of your life woman!
SOUL
- Who speaks when my soul speaks? (The soul is the unconscious mind in the sense of dream language that discloses the deepest and strongest drives and desires. ).
The World – my unconscious mind is the anima mundi. It is whole and complete, the dreamer and the dream, the dancer. Hermaphrodite. Jesus & the Magdelene united. Whole complete, embodied, beyond polarity, 4 aspects of man emodied in one complete being. My unconscious mind is connected to this truth. To this wholeness. FULLNESS
5+6. How do I listen when the soul speaks?
The Magician and The Queen Of Coins
I can listen to my unconscious/soul through ritual magic. Feeding my altar, using it to get to know my soul, my deep knowing. Set up a table, put on it things that represent THE WORLD. Make my altar central. More central to my life.
The Queen of Coins holds my coin in her hand. She has the last coin that raises it from 6 to 7. From obstacles and scarcity to magic and creation. She holds it lightly. It is precious, but no big thing. Easily held and controlled and created. She nurtures and holds dominion over the way I turn up in world. It all passes through her. She is my imagination. I must feed my imagination in order to manifest these things in the world. Create an internal unconscious image of abundance. Easy abundance. She gives it to the magician who works his magic and passes it on to the Emperor who then wracks up all the money. Does The Emperor notice who feeds him or he trapped in his world?
- How do I integrate the two, so I won’t lose my balance?
3 of Wands
A dedication and drive towards wedding the two and creating a new united force is needed.
Every card contains a magic wand. And method of delivery. My soul has done the work it is time for your spirit to catch up. This is why you are here. Fecundity. You must wed the two and make babies!
3 is the magic number. Go forth and mutiply.
I am the creation of your imagination. New burst of spirit. New fire under your tail.
Death’s Scythe – cuts away what is no longer needed
World Wands – Channels the above and below
Emperor’s Staff – Power and rank and order
Magician’s Wands – Creates Magic on this plane and directs it to where it is needed
Queen’s Staff – Power of the feminine – creating, understanding wisdom, nurturing, survival.
Give it all up to The Emperor and let him get on with the job of creating something that will be put out there in the world. Everyone is serving him. He’s got to get off his ass and get on the job.
