HOPE: Hope is the offering that carries us forward into the darkness, unbowed and unbroken, despite the knowledge of the true challenges which face us. Hope allows us to see the beauty and exquisite shifts and changes within the natural world without becoming frightened of what they are omens of, the winter of the soul. When this card comes to you, you are asked to be receptive to hope, and to allow its gentle, uplifting sweetness to bring joy and comfort into the days that grow cold. Hope will allow you to be realistic, but to also stay present and without fear, which can cripple and inhibit our pleasure in the turning of the wheel of the year.
As your life moves into a time that will bring some challenges, you are given the gift of hope, which will stay with you, helping you to see the gifts in the moments in which others will allow the challenge to steal the meaning from them. Allow the changes to take place, and treasure all the time you can spend with loved ones and with the natural world, and give yourself the time to relish the ever-changing world all about you. Reach out and take the gift of hope, carry it within your heart, and let it warm you, even as the days become harsher, even as people grow cold. Know that this time is impermanent, and that all will change, again and again. You are within a beautiful time that will not last externally, but the offering of its beauty will stay alive in your energy for all time. Give yourself time in nature, observe the changes, and watch others as they change, too.
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MEMORIES OF THE FORGOTTEN SELF: When did you forget all of who you are, dear one? When did you begin to believe what others say is true of you and turn away from the quiet certainty of the internal voice, the voice of your soul, calling you back to remember all of who you were? Did it become too difficult? Did it seem that others perhaps knew more than you, more than the ancient self who has traveled with you for millennia? Can you now see that it is impossible for another to know you better that the voice of your own immortal soul knows you? At whatever time it was that the voice of your soul was smothered, it never was quiet, and it found its way through the labyrinth of self-doubt and fear until it rose up within you.
It is with you now, the forgotten self, urging you to remember, showing you scenes of who you once were in this lifetime, the visions you had as a child, the times your stood firm in your own trust and belief in yourself. It will first whisper to you of the truths of the soul, sharing the secrets of who you are reviving memories and dreams of other times and within this lifetime. Then that voice will grow stronger, showing you moment after moment, until you, bright soul, finally remember. And at that moment, which is coming for you, your own voice and the voice of your soul will entwine as one, and you will no longer be who others feel you should be. You will incarnate again, in this lifetime, as the once-forgotten self, now remembered and alive and present.