Today felt like another good day to bring out the Goddess cards and see what 
the Goddess may have to tell us. We’re getting ready to start another Mercury Retrograde cycle starting tomorrow and I was curious to see which Goddess would come through with messages for us the day before this fun and excitement started. As I’ve shared before, when I do the readings here, whether for the weekly tarotscopes or for the daily message reading, I shuffle and then fan the cards out. With a clairvoyant technique of seeing the cards I then pick the card or cards that want to come through. Today’s card, when I turned it face up, made me chuckle a little.
Changing Woman
Cycles
Here is the little bit of poetic reflection that corresponds with the card:
I am what comes round again and again
what can never die
I renew myself in the seasons
in the cycle of time
the great round
I bleed yet do not die
I keep my blood within and become wise
I dance the spiral
and keep changing.
Changing Woman has a really interesting story in the Navajo tradition and she is seen as one of the closest personifications of the cycles of the earth and Universe that has ever been created. When she was said to have grown from birth to puberty within four days, thus gaining her name of Changing Woman. She is also sometimes known as White Shell Woman or Turquoise Woman because of her changing colors and appearance when she goes through her various cycles. Changing Woman is said to be responsible for delivering to the Navajo people the Blessingway ceremony, a chanting ceremony for good luck and blessings that is performed for expectant mothers when they are nearing birth. Changing Woman is the personification of the cycles of the earth through birth at spring, maturing in the summer, growing old in the fall, dying in the winter, and being reborn again each spring. You can read a telling of her story on the First People site, a great site for legends of the Native American tribes.
The message of Changing Woman is that of honoring our cycles. Every cycle in our life has a meaning and purpose, even when that meaning or purpose seems to be cruel or unpleasant. We may not see the death of a loved one as a positive thing when we are in the moments of raw emotions but we know that in time we will be at peace with this cycle knowing that our loved one has found their own peace and is renewing to return to the cycle themselves. One of the big cycles that Changing Woman is connected to is the female cycles of menstruation and life change. When that time of the month comes, for many women, it comes as a curse and not a blessing. When a woman experiences her menstrual cycle, rather than taking up the patriarchal view of this being a time of being unclean, see it as a time of power because that is what it is, an expression of your physical power to give birth even though in this cycle you have not done so. Let it be a reminder that you have the ability to carry life and give birth. If you are a woman who is in her menopausal phase or who is approaching it with a bit of trepidation, see this as a cycle of holding this wise-blood within and growing in wisdom. While some societies may look upon an older woman and call her a “hag” look upon these women as “wise women” who have lived and experienced much and who now hold their wisdom within and share it with the right people.
The reason that I chuckled when pulling this card is that we are about to enter another cosmic cycle that we all often dread, the cycle of Mercury Retrograde. Sure, it’s not always the most convenient of times and it can be one giant headache for some of us, but it is a necessary cycle. So rather than work ourselves up into a frenzy about this cycle, let’s honor it. Mercury Retrograde may be looking for you to take a time out over these coming weeks and go inward. This isn’t a time for starting new plans so instead reflect on things that have ended before this cycle and see what ideas you may have deep within for new projects or new directions to take once this cycle has passed. Let this be a time for reflecting on your own wisdom and power within rather than working to send it outward. This particular Mercury Retrograde is in the sign of Virgo, so while you do your reflecting be aware of your self criticism and don’t be too harsh on yourself. With the perfectionist energy of Virgo it can be easy to drive yourself a bit batty while replaying things over and over in your head, looking for how you could have done things better. Instead, call on that lively and creative aspect of Virgo to help you plan for the future and know that this too shall pass.
Today’s Affirmation
“I accept and flow with the cycles within and around me.”
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