The card drawn from my Thoth deck to guide us in 2012 is The Hanged Man. Suitably we have a major arcana card for this great year, which means that there are important spiritual lessons to be learned and applied by all of us – this will be a year of spiritual evolution. It also means that there are strong spiritual energies at work in all our lives and so at times it may feel as if things are out of our control.

In my Thoth deck, the card shows a man hanging upside down from an ankh, with nails in his hands and feet reminiscent of the Christ. He appears to be underwater and just beneath his head lies a coiled snake in a dark pit. At first sight the image can appear frightening, but the man appears to be relaxed, his expression peaceful, and his figure exudes a strength which belies his seemingly vulnerable position.

This surface duality sums up the inner power of this card. It tells us that when we surrender to the Divine, instead of trying to control things ourselves, we find peace. It tells us that when we let go of wanting things to be a certain way, miracles happen and we are stronger than before. The Hanged Man promises that we can see things from a totally new perspective – that our view of ourselves, life and the world can literally be turned on its head, and that this releases us to move forward in new and empowering ways.

In an everyday reading, The Hanged Man can point out that someone is stuck and has reached a stalemate with no possible escape. Usually, this is because they are hanging onto old and outdated beliefs or behaviour patterns that do not allow them to grow and develop. Or they are so set on wanting and achieving a certain outcome that they are trying to force their will on a situation against the natural flow and causing the blockage themselves. Once they face up to the reality of where they are, accept it and then let it go, they can see with new eyes and their situation is infused with the vital energy that has been released. This is what the world needs now; to see where it has become stuck and immobilised in old and unhealthy patterns of being and behaving, and to have the courage and the wisdom to let go of them.

However, as the crucifixion pose of the Hanged Man suggests, this change also involves some sacrifice. There will be some things, attitudes, and structures that we will all have to be prepared to lose to enable the new to emerge. As Jesus said, you cannot pour new wine into old wineskins, as we are finding currently as we try to patch up a failing and flawed financial system! So, we should all individually look at what we need to let go of that may be holding us back, where we have become rigid in our beliefs or expectations, closed off to new ideas and concepts.

We also need to accept that as human beings we don’t have all the answers, and this will be difficult for our political system is largely built around the personal power of certain individuals. This year calls for all of us to give the sacrifice of time – time to connect with our higher selves, for it is only there that we will find the inspiration and the wisdom to make the right choices for the future.

The Hanged Man says that things won’t happen overnight and we shouldn’t be impatient or force change this year. In a sense, we are in the important cocoon stage which allows the caterpillar to dissolve and be reformed as the beautiful butterfly. But if we align ourselves to the Divine and trust in that greater wisdom, then events will begin to unfold naturally and perfectly and effect a transformation that we can only yet dream of.

The Law of Giving by Belinda Paton

I’d already had the idea of writing about giving as it seems very appropriate for the time of year and then to confirm this was right, as often happens with me, I was told of an interesting comment someone had made: “I’m not giving any money away for nothing as it only leads to resentment.” What makes someone feel this way? It’s an interesting viewpoint and it’s obviously the result of real life experiences. But it made me wonder how this same person would respond to a gift of money, because it’s true that the best givers are also those who are best at receiving. And by “givers” I mean those who give with no expectations or conditions, because it sounds as if our disgruntled representative had only experienced the “strings attached” type of giving.

Personally, and as an independent, overactive Aries, I used to find it very hard to accept the gift of help from anyone, even when I really needed it. I would take on impossibly demanding tasks but if someone offered to help then, before I could even think, my mouth would automatically say “I’m fine thanks” or “I can manage”. Then as they walked away I would be squeaking to myself, “What did I say that for? There’s so much to do…..”

What was that about?! Well it was probably about lots of things: a dose of pride “Look how much I can do all on my own!”; a need to prove my own ability; an over-developed sense of duty and responsibility; a desire to please others; a drive to maintain autonomy…….

What finally persuaded me to change though, was the realisation that I was depriving a willing person of the joy of helping me and of showing their love and respect for me in this practical way. There’s a bit of reverse psychology for a pathological people pleaser! I also discovered that more often than not it was much more fun completing the task with some company and support. So I had also been voluntarily depriving myself of joy and pleasure, and that definitely pointed to an underlying self-esteem issue.

Strangely (or not really, considering the perfect balance of universal laws), the more I allowed myself to receive from people – help, compliments, gifts, prayers – then the more able I was to give freely and unconditionally to others. It was as if I needed to understand both sides of the equation for the energy to flow freely, and so the more I could receive the more I could give, and the more I gave the more I received. Simple and wonderful!

So it’s worth asking, as you choose and wrap your presents for others and prepare wonderful feasts for your firends and families, are you a good receiver?  If someone offers to pay for lunch, do you feel the need to reciprocate with “I’ll pay next time,” (rather than simply thanking them graciously)? If someone gives you a gift do you respond with, “You really shouldn’t have,” (rather than just being grateful for their generosity).  If someone compliments you do you immediately try to belittle your accomplishment with “it’s nothing,” or do you find it impossible to accept the praise with a “thank you,”?

If you said yes to any of these questions then I suggest you practise consciously the art of receiving over the coming festive period which will, of course, also allow you to do plenty of giving – but with a fuller and happier heart. May you give and receive in equal and overflowing measure!

Your personal lizard of fear

I love that poem by Marianne Williamson that begins “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

But what does that mean? How can we be afraid of our own strength and why would we avoid it? Our strengths can often be hidden in our weaknesses, covered over and cleverly disguised by past hurts and fears of being hurt again in the future. So we limit ourselves because of deep-rooted fears but the thing is most of us don’t know what those fears are and how they are directing our behaviour. If you don’t know what you’re dealing with how can you be strong enough to overcome it? The ancients used to say that you could gain power over an enemy by knowing its name, and that’s exactly what I’m going to talk about.

Fear is one of our oldest inbuilt responses from the days of having to kill for our food and risk being killed in the process. So fear is either worrying about not having enough of something, or of having that something taken away from you in an unpleasant way! Usually fear is there because somewhere along the way you’ve absorbed a certain idea or belief, untrue and unfounded, about the way life is. For example, “I’ll never have enough money”, “No one will ever love me,” “Everyone always ends up letting you down,” “When things go right for a bit I just know it’s all going to go wrong.”  Do any of these sound familiar to you? I know they do to me! Fear has nothing to do with current reality, but projects a belief into the future to make you afraid of what might happen. That’s why millionnaires can still feel financially insecure, and a man with an adoring, devoted wife can still feel unloved. It’s also why a lot of people are not living to their full potential or shining as brightly as they could.

Once you’ve identified what your fear sounds like, you have to recognise that it is not you and be able to detach yourself from it. In her fantastic book Steering by Starlight, Martha Beck suggests you see your fear as a little lizard character (the reptilian brain function!) and give it an apppropriate name. So if you have a belief that nothing ever works out for you, your lizard could be called Mona (a pun on Moaner)! A magical thing happens once you do this – you start to see the funny side of your fear when it kicks in, and it’s impossible to be scared to death while you’re laughing at something so ridiculous.

A really great way to know whether you’re acting from limiting fear or not is to learn how your body feels when it’s presented with it. So first of all remember a decision you made that you know was a good one for you and that made you happy. Go back, relive that choice and notice how it makes you feel. Your body should feel warm, relaxed and open. Now think of a decision you made, perhaps out of duty or because you thought it was the right thing to do, but that turned out to be bad for you. Relive that choice and notice how it makes you feel. Your body will automatically tense, contract or shrink in some way. Now focus on a decision that you have to make now and review each option in turn. How does your body respond to each alternative? The one that leaves you feeling most open, warm and relaxed is the one that will be the most authentic choice for you.

Recently my youngest son decided that he wasn’t enjoying his A level courses and wanted to look for alternatives, but also wanted to stay in our rural location. My own lizard kicked in immediately with “You’ll never find a job in this economic climate,” “You must have academic qualifications to get anywhere in the world,” and so on. I’m not proud but that’s how it was and thankfully he didn’t listen to me! Once I’d managed to tame my pesky reptile ( and had a good chuckle at it) we visited the job centre and the careers office and looked at the options for my wise young man. He was bored with all the study and the theory and loved the idea of getting down to something practical like carpentry, for which he’d always displayed a natural talent. A week later he was enrolled on a carpentry and joinery course at a college nearer home and had been offered an apprenticeship with a carpenter in the small town where we live.

Ahem! I rest my case. When you don’t act out of fear, miracles really can happen!

This cord cutting visualisation is brilliant for helping with all sorts of relationship difficulties and helps you to maintain your own energy. When we are having problems with other people, we often feel exhausted as our energy is being directed to these others through the energetic cords that connect us. This exercise restores your individuality and energy integrity, helping you to move on freely from relationships that have run their course, while removing blockages and unhealthy attachments from within ongoing relationships (don’t worry, it does not harm or end a relationship if you wish it to continue). The cord cutting exercise can be of most help when:

• You have become obsessed with someone and can’t stop thinking about them
• You are finding it hard to let go of or move on from an ex partner, friend or family member or someone dear to you who has passed over
• You are having difficulties within any relationship and cannot seem to communicate with the other person effectively
• You are feeling unduly influenced or pressured by someone

You may need to repeat this exercise more than once, so if you start to feel pulled back or unable to move just repeat it at regular intervals. Over time you will notice the cords diminishing and eventually vanishing altogether.

Cord cutting visualisation

Imagine that you are standing within a circle on the ground. Then draw another circle on the ground in front of you, touching yours but not overlapping it so that the two circles form a figure of eight. See that figure of eight lighting up and pulsing with an intense blue light running around it continually. Imagine the person you wish to clear energy with standing opposite you in the other circle.

Take your awareness to a viewpoint from which you can see both your figures from head to toe. Now ask your higher self and guides to show you where there are energy cords connecting you together. Allow some time for them to appear and be prepared to see anything – thick or thin cords, metal or stringy textures…….it could be anything. There may only be one or you may find many.

For each cord, starting with the one you feel is strongest:

• Ask your higher self and guides what you need to use to cut that particular cord – perhaps a pair of golden scissors, an axe, a chainsaw, a blow torch – do not be surprised by whatever comes to mind!
• Collect up all the bits and for the moment put them at your feet in your circle
• Ask if either of you need any healing where the cord was connected and visualise that happening in an appropriate way if it’s necessary. You may want to put an ointment on the wound, surround it in pink or another coloured light, or put a plaster on it!

When there are no more cords connecting you, if there is anything you need to ask your person to forgive you for then do so now. Also, if you feel you need to forgive them for hurting you in any way do that too (ask for help from your guides and angels if you don’t feel very forgiving!). Take this opportunity to say anything else to them that you’ve felt you wanted to but didn’t have the chance to. Then tell them that they are free to go and send them on their way with love.

Now look down at yourself and see what you’re wearing. To mark the change in energy I want you to take off the clothes you’re wearing and add them to the pile of cut cords at your feet. Ask your higher self and guides how you need to dispose of this rubbish. You may want to burn it on a bonfire, bury it in the ground, dissolve it in acid or throw it out of a plane!

When the cords have been completely destroyed, imagine an expanse of water in which you would really enjoy bathing (a lake, waterfall, the sea for example) and take a dip, washing away any negative or residual energy left behind.

When you feel clean and refreshed, you’ll notice a massive ancient tree in front of you by the edge of the water. It has a new garment hanging on its branches for you to put on. Make your way to the tree and put this garment on.

Sit with your back to the tree trunk for a while, absorbing the strength, peace and calm energy from this tree, knowing that you can return to it at any time in the future if you need to. When you feel ready, gradually allow yourself to return to normal consciousness.

On my daily walk with my dog Jester along the banks of the river Wye, I suddenly began to notice the occasional appearance of fantastic sculptures. They were of natural stones, balanced on top of each other in seemingly impossible ways that defied gravity. They were so expertly positioned, sometimes as one elegant monument and sometimes as a group, that they appeared to be floating on the surface on the water. They always just seemed to materialise out of thin air – one day there was nothing there and the next I would have to stop to marvel and usually gasp at the latest work of art.

I know the idea of being balanced can sound boring to some people, as if it dulls you in some way and makes you uninteresting. These stone pillars were a wonderful example of the true artistry of balance, and proof that it is far from boring. From a strong and sure balance point, as with the stones, you can appear to do the impossible and the extraordinary!

These unexpected treasures found along my path really brightened my day and lifted my heart. They reminded me of the simple beauty to be found in everyday, ordinary objects and of how those objects could be transformed into sublime sculptures when looked at in a different way, from a creative perspective. I always felt a welcome sense of magic and took a moment to send a heartfelt silent thank you to their creator.

One day, I can’t remember the exact time but I know it was quiet and I was the only person around, I actually caught sight of the guerilla artist. He was quietly and methodically going about his task – picking up stones, weighing them, examining them and then carefully placing them. I held my breath as I watched for a while, but I was surprised to find that I didn’t want to interrupt his work. I felt that to introduce myself, to speak to this man may break the spell somehow and he had clearly taken pains not to be noticed. It wasn’t about that for him. So I walked on, sending him my wordless thanks as usual.

Recently a very beautiful river stone configuration appeared by the old town bridge, shown in the photograph here, which prompted me to write this article. I am grateful to my unknown artist for the joy and grace he conveys to all from the generosity and expressiveness of his own heart.

This latest offering has made me think about what I could do to bring joy to people’s lives, not neccessarily as part of my work, for reward or recognition, but just because I know it will shine a little unexpected light into the lives of those whom I may never meet but who will appreciate it all the more.

What about you? What could you do? You don’t have to be a gifted or talented artist or have special skills; as we have seen here, the most simple things when given attention and focus and a bit of imagination become truly magical.

The answer of course is yes, and most of who Lady Capulet is in my performance comes across in her reactions and facial expressions. We are now more than ever a society of words, particularly with the prevalence of texting, tweeting and ever-changing Facebook statuses! But we can lose so much substance without body language, expressions and someone’s physical energy to refer to. This silent conversing can tell us so much about who someone really is and the true meaning behind their words. I have noticed an increase in people feeling inadvertently insulted or put down by comments they’ve received in an email or a text and I can understand why. When you have just the words to go on you tend to take them purely at face value, when actually the inference behind them can be anything but what is actually being said. As every sarcasm and irony-loving Brit will know!

So that was lesson number one – the vital importance of non-verbal communication. I dearly hope that with the growth of instant virtual chatting we don’t lose these more intuitive methods of relating through gestures and expressions. When it really comes down to it, reading “I love you” in an email or text doesn’t hold half as much warmth as an all-embracing hug, or a warm and sympathetic glance from a pair of understanding eyes.

So on to lesson number two.I had a telling conversation during the rehearsal of the classic “rebellious daughter” scene with the actors playing my husband Lord Capulet and my daughter Juliet. I have two sons so I have never experienced the mother/daughter dynamic from the maternal point of view, and was lucky enough to have a wonderfully close relationship with my own mother so there wasn’t much personal experience I could carry over into this more spiky partnership. My Juliet filled me in on some of the difficulties and challenges from her experience, and we all swopped stories about our own parents, their relationships and how that affected us as children. What was fascinating was that all of us could see (and the oldest of us is approaching 70) that we still modified our adult behaviour and reactions according to our childhood experiences. The child in all of us was still to some extent caught up in past events and it was that child that responded to current crises, not the adults we are now. In my spirit release work I know and understand the importance of inner child work to facilitate wholeness and harmony in someone, but the far-reaching implications of this have never been so clearly presented to me in the course of one conversation.

In the end I think connecting these two vital concepts together brought me to what I feel is a sensible and rounded portrayal of Lady Capulet. She was being faced, in the shape of her own daughter, with the mistakes and mistreatment she herself had suffered at the same age and it was extremely difficult to stomach.The child she had been was at odds with the adult she had become and this meant that what she said was often only half the story. Her body language, how she said things, and when and why she didn’t say them at all, were the true keys to making sense of this sad and frustrated woman.

If you’d like to know more about spirit release work (encompassing inner child healing) you can read about it on my healing page.

If you’d like to catch me as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, we are touring mid Wales through to the beginning of September and you can find the dates and times on the Willow Globe website.

Falling by Leona De Lioncourt

I’m in danger of sounding like I do nothing but watch TV, but I won’t apologise for watching another excellent TV programme – The Wonders of the Universe.

The subject was gravity, and Dr Brian Cox completely blew me away with this simple explanation of a complex force. Gravity means that absolutely everything is falling into everything else, irresistibly and continually following the curves of space time created by the pulls from all the stars, planets and galaxies in the universe. Gravity is by its very nature both creative and destructive. It creates by pulling and holding together the necessary elements for life, but ultimately it destroys too, compressing things down and exerting impossible pressure that eventually crushes to death.

It made me really think about our experience of life. Perhaps on some deeply subconscious level we are aware of this falling, and it makes us uncomfortable as it is beyond our control. Is that why we often feel a need to organise and structure our lives so rigidly and neatly? Is that us fighting the inevitable? And then that set me to thinking about the way we use the word “falling” in day-to-day language. Isn’t it interesting that we describe entering physical, mental and emotional conditions as “falling” too? We fall in love, fall asleep, fall apart. Again, giving that sense of inevitability, that we can’t control these things but despite our best efforts they happens to us. It also suggests the microcosm/macrocosm in action; these personal everyday experiences are reflecting a greater universal pattern of truth. I wonder if we knew that when we coined the phrases…..

People often dream of falling when they’re going through a challenging situation (loss of a job, caring for many dependants, studying for exams). Again, it usually indicates subconscious feelings of being out of control, hurtling towards a potentially disastrous end and not being able to do anything to stop it. At the same time we are also drawn to the excitement and exhiliration of falling. You only have to look at the popularity of roller-coaster and funfair rides to see that. There’s that thing where a fall can stop time for you, where you become intensely present in the moment and a second seems to last a lifetime. It’s almost as if we catch up with ourselves in the process of falling to such an extent that we can stand outside of it. We feel light and free from our physical bodies.  It’s a sanitised fall to a certain extent – we’re securely strapped in, the ride is of a specified length and we know where we’ll get off. Oh how we wish sometimes that everything in life was like that! The monster of control raises its ugly head again.

So if we are in a constant state of falling, as the universe shows us we are along with everything else that exists within it, then why be scared? There is nothing we can do about it, so why don’t we just enjoy the drop? Images come into my head now of free-fall skydivers, somersaulting and tumbling freely through the air while whooping and laughing with joy. They know that inevitably they’re going to touch down on the ground but my goodness they’re going to enjoy the ride while it lasts. Instead of tensing up and worrying about hitting the ground we can just enjoy the process and revel in the exhiliration. When I was training for parascending we were taught to relax the body and give at the knees when our feet touched the ground – this prevents injury because you’re not resisting the fall, you’re moving with the flow of energy.

Gravity encourages us to let go and give in to the wonderful rush that is the fall of life, knowing that the certainty of reaching the end is also the promise of a new beginning.

In the first one, we saw Hali who lives in Cherrapunji, India where they have the highest rainfall in the world, leading to problems with heavily swollen rivers that still needed to be crossed safely by the villagers. Any human structure put in place would simply be washed away by the ferocious current and probably take half the river bank with it. The amazing answer from Hali, passed down to him by his ancestors, was to plant a strangler fig tree on the banks of the river at the crossing point. Over time, as the tree grew, this man painstakingly teased, trained and weaved the roots to grow across the river, forming a natural, living bridge. At the same time, the strong knotted root system of the tree which was carefully tended and protected by Hali held the soil of the river bank together and insured against erosion.

The result was one of the most beautiful and magical structures I have ever seen, a stunning collaboration between man and nature that was seamless – it was hard to see where the tree ended and where Hali’s contribution began. It brought tears to my eyes and images to my mind of Lothlorien, Tolkien’s Elvish paradise. Even more striking about this story was that no bridge formed in this way could be built in one lifetime so Hali would never see his work completed. Instead, he was training his niece to carry on the project after he had gone. Somehow, this made the bridge seem more achingly beautiful as it also represented the universal cycle of death and the surety of the continuation of life. I felt sad for our soul-less concrete and steel structures that would go up in a tiny fraction of the time but certainly wouldn’t survive here for even one lifetime. There are more than one valuable lessons encapsulated in this true story.

The second featured a father who had to take his two children on an amazing school run – a six-day trek down the frozen Zanskar river in the Himalayas. It is extremely dangerous as in places the ice is treacherously thin and could crack at any moment, and avalanches occur regularly. As I watched the children follow in their father’s footsteps, literally because otherwise they could fall into the icy water which would mean almost certain death, it made me think how valuable an experience this was for them. Now I’m not condoning deliberately taking children into life-threatening situations, but on that journey those children had to face and overcome their fear, place absolute trust in their parent while observing proof of his wisdom, show resilience and determination to overcome challenges, and have total respect for the strength of the natural forces at work around them. What a fabulous education for their future lives, sadly lacking in our Western social structure, and that’s all before they got to school! Which they did safely, I’m very happy to say.

In the Tarot, this idea of not resisting what is happening around you but being in a state of receiving is represented by the Hanged Man card. In my Thoth deck, it shows a man hanging upside down under water, totally surrendering to the watery flow and giving in to his destiny. This card will often come up when someone feels stuck and unable to move forward. When we want things to change we can so easily push too hard to try and make it happen (to our carefully thought-out exact requirements of course), instead of taking a step back to allow things to develop and unfold in their own perfect time. In effect, we then create a stalemate for ourselves as our resistance to the current situation just creates more resistance and so that’s exactly what we experience. It’s important to remember when the Hanged Man shows up that although it might appear that nothing is happening on the surface or externally, underneath and internally valuable progress is being made as new concepts and ideas are being absorbed and digested so that you can adopt a fresh approach to the situation later. The precious time out is only for a short while and it gives you essential clarity to make the right moves later.

As always with me, it’s a great start to work physically and for me dancing is a wonderful way to get into this flow state. At the moment I am focusing on belly dancing, and this gorgeously feminine and sinuous style of dancing has been so helpful in helping me to relax my need. Your body will tell you the most profound truths about where and how you are inflexible, stiff or not allowing full potential of movement in your life as well as your dancing. Settling into and following the shifting rhythms of the music teaches you to adapt, to be alert to the need for change but to flow effortlessly as you allow your body to respond to what you hear. I love seeing women of all ages, shapes and sizes celebrating their inner Goddess, and the variety that each brings to the dance. No one moves in quite the same way, and everyone has their own particular style.

Even the process of a class – warm-up, dance, cool-down and quiet relaxation – illustrates the important cycle of doing and then resting, actively creating and then integrating and letting go of the energy ready to create something new the next time. What a fantastic metaphor for life. And what’s more it makes you feel and look great! As Stephen Batchelor said, “A path is…….carved from commitment and opened up by letting go. It entails both doing something and allowing something to happen.”

As I was searching for an image to go with this article, I clicked on a web picture of the Hanged Man. The computer hung in suspense for a while and then returned a blank page with the error message “The connection has timed out”. Talk about external events reflecting internal realities! I guess even a computer needs to let go sometimes……

Given the current political and economic situation, the subtitle of this card “Oppression”  seems particularly apt but it is not a card of doom and resignation. Rather, it asks you to take action (for wands are the suit of action) to end situations in which you feel restricted or put upon in any way that restricts your freedom. As a society, perhaps we are being asked to question any oppressive authority under which we find ourselves and indeed we can already see this happening. It’s important to do this in a controlled and calm way though – fiery wands energy allowed to get out of hand can be dangerous and destructive.

This card can also represent a situation in which an individual has taken on an overwhelming amount of work and responsibility…….how does that apply to you? Do you allow yourself enough relaxation time? Do you set yourself impossibly demanding goals to achieve? Well then this year is one for being a little more easy on yourself and perhaps slowing down a bit when it comes to “doing” and exercising a bit more “being” instead. I also see this card as representing our planet too, the earth struggling under the damaging demands being placed on her by ever more greedy consumers.  She may well say enough is enough more strongly than ever over the coming months.

This aspect of the ten of wands also suggests people slogging away under their own steam and refusing to delegate or share the burden with others.  It is important in 2011 for us to be more aware of working as a community and within teams, so that the tasks and the authority are shared equally. At the same time, you should look to see where you may be preventing someone else from facing up to their own responsibilities by helping them too often or doing too much for them. In the end, although a kind heart may be tempted to do so, it is not helpful to prevent a capable soul from taking control of their own lives by keeping them dependent on you.

It is also possible to hold yourself back, for example by not expressing your true feelings or by not following through on a dream. This year, ask yourself why that is? Are you scared of what people may think of you if you speak your truth? Or what might happen as a result? Do you doubt that you can achieve what you really want to do and so are settling for a situation in which you feel frustrated and unfulfilled? If it’s not appropriate to express your feelings openly to the other people involved  (and only you can be the judge of that!) then you can always write them out of your system on a piece of paper which can then be safely destroyed in the most satisfying way (burned, buried, ripped up into tiny pieces). Now is the time to free yourself to do what you really want to do, and also to acknowledge any areas where you’re doing something that isn’t healthy for you, that drains and blocks rather than fills you with energy.

The number ten takes us to the end of a cycle in the Tarot and therefore also back to the beginning to start something new. What needs to end in your life in 2011 so that you can make a new beginning, and express the full wonder of the beautiful being that you are alongside your companions on this life journey?