nothing linear

When you have the privilege and heartache of accompanying someone to the door of passage, time is something else entirely. It's a universe - it's endless, it's infinite, its all around. 

Time as guide and ally – a portal into endless eternity. 

calling our energy home

There’s a sense that the person you love is made of time and is being returned to another time - an infinite time. The realization of what this vessel that each of us is, becomes all prevalent. 

8.8 oracle reading

Aquarian Tarot three card draw.

seven cups, The Sun, two cups

Seven of Cups Reversed Meaning

Reversed, the Seven of Cups suggests the fog is beginning to lift. You may be narrowing your options, committing to one path, or realizing that a previous fantasy doesn't fit who you are anymore. Good job, babe!

Alternatively, this reversal can point to emotional paralysis, decision fatigue, or a refusal to make a choice at all. Is it possible you're actively refusing to see clearly? If you're waiting for a "perfect" option that doesn't exist, the card says, "Choose something. You can course-correct later, but not if you stay stuck in analysis mode."

Seven of Cups Advice Position

Just because you can imagine it doesn't mean it's meant for you. Sift the fantasy from the truth, the want from the why. What does your heart actually need - not just crave, but require - to feel nourished? Make decisions from that place. And remember clarity is a form of care and respect.

The Sun Reversed Meaning

When The Sun shows up reversed, your light might feel dimmed. But don't worry - it's still there. This card can point to self-doubt, burnout, or joy that feels just out of reach. Maybe you're not celebrating your wins. Maybe you're waiting for the "perfect" conditions before allowing yourself to be happy.

This reversal can also reflect unrealistic optimism, the choice to ignore problems in the name of "good vibes only." The message here? Be honest about what's blocking your brightness, but don't forget it still lives inside you.

Even a cloudy day doesn't cancel the sun. It's just waiting to come back out.

The Sun Advice Position

Let yourself feel good. Celebrate your growth. Share your success. The Sun wants you to embody joy, not as a reward for perfection, but as a practice. This is a reminder that genuine confidence isn't based on ego -- it's all about alignment.

Whatever you're working on or dreaming of, this card means you're probably on the right track. Keep going. Keep glowing.

Two of Cups Reversed Meaning

Reversed, the Two of Cups can suggest imbalance, misalignment, or connection that's out of sync. Maybe one person's leaning in while the other's leaning out, or maybe the emotional labor is only going one way. This isn't always a breakup card, but it is a "let's get some clarity" card. Something needs recalibration.

A reversal might also point to inner disharmony that's impacting your outer relationships. Are you abandoning yourself to maintain closeness? Are you avoiding hard conversations for fear of rocking the boat? Take this as a gentle push toward truth, even if that truth comes with growing pains.

Two of Cups Advice Position

Meet others where you want to be met. Offer the truth of who you are and be brave enough to receive the same in return. Real connection doesn't require performance, only presence. Choose the people who choose you back. And if you're still waiting for that? Start by choosing yourself.

empty & open

Many religious or spiritual practices believe that the hand that comes empty, leaves empty. This can either mean, not entering a place of worship empty handed or that we come into this world with nothing and leave it with nothing. 

Advent season 2024 started on December 1 - with the first Sunday of Advent celebrating hope. The first Advent candle symbolizes a shining light in anticipation of the coming of Christ. 

hope shines bright this first Sunday of Advent

It is usually a purple candle called the Prophecy Candle - representing God's forgiveness of humanity's sins. Purple is traditionally the most important of the Advent candle colors - reflected in liturgical garments used for vestments. It is associated with prayer, contemplation, repentance, and hope. 

An apt way to close the year - hope in a time of transformation. How best to manage times of radical change? We find hope through accumulated years of observation and wisdom gathered from times. cultures and people all over the world. 

Through our shared experience we collect tips, timing and tools for navigating life. There is solace in not taking it all too personally - in knowing we are moved and moving with the rhythm and flow of ever spiraling change. 

Inevitable and divinely orchestrated - an eternal dance, an unfolding revelation, an illuminating liberation. At times unsettling - in its release, we are forever changed. 

May we all glide gently through this holiday season - buoyed by hope and comfort in the ebb and flow of that which is so much bigger than ourselves. 

Over and over – always has always will, no matter what. 

passion & drive

Art has always been a powerful tool for social and political change. In our backwater banana republic corruption ruled long before the birth of our nation. For the rest of us not born to the 1% our only recourse is to get creative while working ourselves to the max.  

From the earliest cave paintings to contemporary Street Art, artists have used their work to express their views on society and the world around them. Escape artists that we are, dreaming big, wild, bold was our means of opening up a bigger, wider, braver world than that most of us were born into. 

Giant Picnic at the US-Mexico border wall - Tecate, Mexico & California

Typically created in response to social or political issues, the bane of our brutalized existence - we protest, rebel, revolt. Better to be bathed in blood than buried in deep, dark silence. 

republic vs democracy

November 5 is a double whammy personally. It is voting day in the USA - my alternative homeland. And back in the island of my birth - Cinco de Noviembre marks a defining time in our nationalistic history. 

A golf buddy of my dad once hilariously claimed, "high tech, low tech - basta abtik!" That is the famous Bisaya mindset encapsulated in a nutshell. Blast them with bravado, coated in self-deprecating charm. Abtik is a Bisaya term that means all of these - agile, nimble, spry, quick. 

historical holiday celebration

Alive, agile, active, audacious. Definitely not one to sit back and be passive or invisible in the background. Bold, brazen, blatant, brave. You get the gist - no need to complete our alphabet. 

festival of light & life

As we celebrate All Hallows Eve and the veils between worlds thin - folks around the world, according to varying practices, beliefs and cultures - prepare altars for our ancestors. This is important work that has been passed on through generations. 

Now more than ever, we can all use that supportive energy - as we recall and honor our ancestors who have paved the way and supported our survival. I celebrate an accumulation of 38 years - from when I first started my shamanic practice and apprenticeship all those years ago. 

clay diya lamps - © Uma Shankar sharma

It is also the festival of Diwali (Deepavali) - when myriad little clay lamps (diyas) light the way to remove darkness from the face of the earth. The dharma of fire illuminates wherever it falls - giving light and warmth. 

loss & life

Saviors and superheroes doom us all - by putting all agency on one individual, reinforce how things are, glossing over real problems by taking it all on themselves. It is an unrealistic delusion of comfort and safety - instead of a society that collectively decides what best serves them.   

We need to explore frontiers beyond techno utopias and dystopias more carefully. Discuss a few fundamental aspects around the potential of technology in the world that we believe can enable or disrupt. Crucially this involves imagining and delivering together - so technology is built in collaboration with society. 

working on wholeness & wellbeing

Loss of home or lifestyle, loss of relationship, trust or homeland - these too can cause crippling grief. Loss of health, or a job, or anything integral to our stability, one's heart or connectedness to a sense of identity. 

Grief can be many things, and the processes of grief can be long lasting, very painful and remain similar and even as difficult as experiencing loss in the form of death. 

Defining what utopias and dystopias entail - not just something that's happens in a society. Like anything of value - technology and knowledge can be double-edged swords, depending on who wields it and how it gets applied. 

Author Ted Chiang in addressing technology, intelligence, and life - warns us that we might all be doomed if we don’t listen. It’s a final fling outward and upward to whoever might be listening, and it elevates our human story into beauty. 

His story, The Great Silence explores the search and humanistic need for communication. The parrot says that they don’t blame humans for causing their extinction - They just weren’t paying attention. The bitter truth is human narrators and characters are limited in language and communication by their own issues, beliefs, preferences. 

The Great Silence, a short story by Ted Chiang

Dominant cultures often favor themselves first and foremost, restricting and limiting options and solutions - dooming others to sad realizations and undebatable fates. For example, English being the dominant global language via the internet has caused many other dialects and languages to fall into disuse. 

For the survival of a disappearing minority or unsupported community - looking for a social structure which offers workable ways of addressing problems is imperative. 

Create a way of dealing - one that is consciously healthier and more constructive. And address people's concerns, issues, and complaints with better responsibly and accountably.