This is a slightly tinkered with photo of me that a dear magickal friend, Mani Navasothy (who is the Editor and Founder of Gaian Times, an e magazine that I contribute to) took on Samhain/Halloween at the side of the River Thames. We had just completed a public ritual to commemorate the Night of All Souls. We had remembered our ancestors and also written a list of personal issues things that we wanted to leave behind and burned them in a little fire bowl as is standard ritual for Samhain. This night marks the end of the old year in the celtic calendar so it is like making New Year Resolutions but you write down what you do not want to carry with you into the next cycle. The burning of the list is a psychological mechanism for convincing the mind that you have destroyed  and left the issues in the past. The Thames was a suitable venue for a Samhain ritual as it can double as the River Styx, which in mythology is the river that separates the world of the living from the realm of the dead/passed over.  I was wearing a hat as it was cold and a black velvet cape which I was glad of because it got rather chilly and drizzly.( Someone told me I look like Jack the Ripper and another, Michael Jackson) In the original photo I was holding a carved pumpkin. The magazine is coming out on 21st November (it is free by the way so just go to the website. I think back editions are still available too)

The picture of me holding the globe made me think of the tarot card The Two of Wands.

It is a card that tells you that it is time to direct power into making plans into a reality by being a little bold and focussed. It is demanding action. The character in the card has a small globe in his hand, which represents his world and he is looking out at a landscape. He can broaden his horizons and impact more of the world if he gets himself out there. We put limits on ourselves. Often this is a comfort thing. We are used to our little world and the way things are. We might have the potential to go further but it would involve hard work, more work, leaving our comfort zone and branching out into unfamiliar territory.

It is the next card up from the Ace Of Wands so the ideas are formed into plans. You are holding your new world in your hand, it is in your grasp and it is now tangible. All you have to do is take a step outwards.

What do you think the character in the card does? Does he take a step out into the world and expand his prospects or does he just turn round and put the globe on his desk and think that it is too much effort at this time?

I am at that stage where I can make some of my plans become real in the world. Eighteen months to a year ago, everything was at the Ace Of Wands stage. I had some ideas. I had a little notebook and I wrote that I was going to gradually make it all a reality. I have started working on the details and I will soon be in the position of the character in the card and I intend to step out into the world.

Remember, every minute of your life you are creating your future. You do literally hold your world in your hands. You have just as much right to make your plans a reality as anyone else. It is humans who place limits on themselves and other people. The Universe, the Sun, Water, Stars etc regard us equally. Sit down in your office, which will be in the room behind the character on this card and just write down a few words about what you would like to create for yourself. The world and nature is creating all of the time. That is what it does. You have the power to create within you. If you are creating something, no matter how small, a poem, a book, a community project, a new recipe, a new look for you or your house, a new window box etc – you are aligning yourself with nature’s forces. It loves creating and it is likely to give you a helping hand by bringing more ideas and opportunities into your life.

Do not limit your horizons. This is your life, your time on this planet. Do not let anyone tell you or make you feel otherwise.

Rose Dixon