Do you still have old diaries ? When you re-read these records of your life story, do you recognise yourself in what you wrote down maybe decades ago?  I find old journals can hold surprising revelations, describing life lessons that had yet to reach their full potential at the time they were recorded, yet already sort of glimmered at the horizon of conscious awareness with thoughts and feelings that years later start to make sense.

Journaling I find, is like talking to a life coach, but then that life coach is you, yourself . It’s a process. While writing, I find my way through, forests, fields, seas and mountain ranges of words and sentences until at some point I find myself ‘out of the woods’ or ”on top of the world’, rescued from my sea of troubles.

Journaling is a very important part of the ritual of mid-winter contemplation. It’s a way of talking to oneself through writing. Giving titles to the dreams one has, helps to  become more aware of their meaning. Words and sentences are like magic in that sense.  They hold the ability to transport thoughts, feelings and intentions to higher levels of understanding

The gift of expressing oneself – either through painting, sculpting, dance,  song, sound or any other form of art  is a precious human trait and certainly there for a reason, going as far back as the times when humanity as we know it today was still in it’s early stages.  Art may well be among the oldest tricks in town to get in touch with the true essence of who one is.

The first written expressions ever found date back to roughly 3400 years B.C.  within Sumerian civilisation, a relatively short amount of time on the scale of human history.

In our present day and age, writing, using language is the main source awareness. Even more so it often supersedes, intuition or inspiration. But just like midwinter contemplation originates from ancient ways of looking at life, the written word also contains deeper meaning. Words have Soul and Spirit. The way we use them tells a lot about who we are.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

  On the right side of this blog you can also draw your own card and see what it summons up from within.

The post 6 of Tools: Journaling appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The Tarot of Marseille  the Nan Yar Who Am I cards are based on, depicts card number V as The Pope.
Seeing the Marseille Tarot came into the world at the end of medieval times, when the pope in Western Culture had been regarded as the representative of God on earth for more than a thousand years, the interpretation of this  Archetype as the spiritual aspect of life on earth makes sense.

As the interpretation of the Tarot changes throughout the ages; depending on the stage a culture is in and many other religious beliefs have found their way into the western world, we can nowadays see card number V: The Pope, as a representative of a more widely ranged set of spiritual components embedded in the way we look at life on the western material plane.

For some this will imply they begin to acknowledge a divine presence within themselves, while others will refer to the belief system they recognise themselves in, whether that’s Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Humanism, Gnosticism or any other belief system that represents the way one thinks and feels about the existial basics of life..

When this card comes your way, you might want to contemplate on questions outside the logistics of life, such as : Why Am I here? What is my purpose in life? What gives my life meaning? Or the biggest biggie of  the Western World since the first recorded ‘Know Thyself ‘ inscription on the temple of Apollo in ancient Delphi, indicated people started to wonder about themselves: Who am I?

And of course…what better place to explore ones spiritual components than in ones dreamworld?

V: The Pope, is the 5th card of the 22 Archetypes of the Major Arcana, also known as the Bigger Secret. These 22 cards are divided in a so called Nil-card – without a number – and 3 rows of 7 cards. In total this makes 22 cards of which 21 are divided in 3 layers:

• The first row of 7 , cards I – VII characterises the life traveller on the Material World.
• The second row of 7 cards VIII- XIV characterises the Soul Journey of the life traveller
• The third row of 7 cards reflect the Spiritual Facets the life traveller is gifted at the birth and remain part of the Eternal Journey – including the present life on earth, regardless whether the life traveller is aware of this.

Looking at these 3 categories, the archetype of the Pope, the 5th card (out of 7) characterises the life traveller in the material world.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

 Click on The Pope  to read more on its meaning

 On the right side of this blog you can also draw your own card and see what it summons up from within.

The post V: The Pope appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

While the numerology of the number 4 is all about balance, as written on the 4 of Insights card, it can also be a bit limiting, like is stated on the 4 of  Challenges when set patterns get the better of us; or even boring to an a certain extent, when we start doing things automatically without thinking, like described on the 4 of Gifts.

When practiced as the art of observation however, as described on the 4 of Tools it can lead to a very balanced outlook on life. Like with all other  numbers, the number 4 is open to many different interpretations.

What do you associate the  number  4 with? What role does it play in your daily life? Does it ever occur in your dreams?

Suppose the 4 of insights was your inspiration card for this 4th night of the midwinter contemplation; what would it mirror for you?

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

 Draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from within you.

 To read more on its meaning, the 4 of Insights.

The post 4 of Insights: Balance appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The third card of the 12 day challenge of the winter solstice contemplation, explains a bit more about the 3 of Tools:  a cord of the minor arcana, also known as the lesser secret, that mirror your stand in daily life.

While the 22 cards of the major arcana – also known as the bigger secret- mirror the universal human characteristics each and everyone is born with; the minor arcana depicts how these characteristics are applied by each an everyone of us in a unique way in daily life. There are as many unique applications, as there are over  8 billion people in this world today.

With 3, as the number of creation and Tools as the suit of 14 cards that depict the worldly tools at our disposal to explore the material world, the 3 of Tools, with ‘dreams’ as its key word, plays an important part during the winter solstice contemplations.

Next to asking yourself what this card reflects in relation to your  explorations in daily life. the 3 of Tools also reminds you to explore your dreams to see what messages they might bring from the spiritual world or even your own deeper knowing.

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Of course you can also draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from within.

 To read more on its meaning, click the 3 of Tools.

The post 3 of Tools: Dreams appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

The Popess, the card carrying the roman numeral II, is all about the wisdom we all carry within as life-travellers on earth. She comes right after card I: the Illusionist. While the Illusionist can still paint a different picture diverting things from what they really are, the inner wisdom wisdom card characterised by the archetype of the Popess signifies what we know to be true deep down inside. Our intuition – no mattere how doubtful one is  at times about its properties – is hardly ever wrong.

The Popess is card number II  of  the row of 7 cards that are all related to the material plane. Within that physical reality she mirrors the characteristics of inner knowing and is closely connected to the realms of our dreamworlds.

Suppose this were your card to reflect on and take with you in your dreams.; what would it summon up for you?

 to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual click here. 

Of course you can also draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it summons up from within.

 Click on  the card of the pope’s to read more on its meaning.

The post II: The Popess, Inner Wisdom appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.

What does the word potential summon up for you when you look back at 2024? Which Challenges came your way? Did they come for a reason? What did they have to tell you? How did you respond ? Which position did you take? What change did they encompass?

Yesterday, December 21st, I chose my first Nan Yar card in a series of 12 in the coming days, to contemplate on the experiences that came my way in 2024. By doing so I follow  a midwinter ritual originating from ancient times, when people were still highly connected to the natural world and abided by a  354-day moon calendar rather than a solar year 0f 365 (and a bit) days, leaving 12 days unaccounted for.

The card that I chose,  1 of Challenges , reminds me of my birthright to create my own life story.

Taking this awareness with me into sleep during the first winter solstice night resulted in a vivid dream in which I moved into a new spacious house with lots of windows with different views and lots and lots of bookcases filled with books. Also many people were helping me with this big move which made me feel supported and safe. What if this were your dream? What would it tell you?

The colour ‘Challenges’  (swords in the Tarot) in the Nan Yar interpretation is all about the development of the I-consciousness, the higher Self or spiritual part we all carry within, regardless of beliefs.

The number 1  in the Nan Yar interpretation is seen as the number of Potential.

Suppose this were your card to reflect on and take with you in your dreams.; what would it summon up for you?

Click here to read more on how to practice the winter solstice contemplation ritual

and the cosmic phenomenon that lies at the root it.

And of course you can also draw your own card on the right side of this blog and see what it reflects for you

 Click on  the card to read more about the 1 of challenges.

To an insightful midwinter contemplation

Ingrid

The post 1 of Challenges: Potential appeared first on EN Energycounseling.nl.