Ashley, Author at Empowered Cardology

Oct 11 2022

Honoring Our Transitioned Ancestors Through Our Spiritual Path Spread

At this time of the year, many of us set aside time to honor our transitioned ancestors in a variety of ways and Cardology can be a beautiful tool to assist it!

Ancestors who were alive in our younger years who have since transitioned are still part of the energetic influence we have at play in our lives now.

I believe they are part of our SPS (Spiritual Path Spread – I’ll be using SPS in this post to refer to the Spiritual Path spread) energy now – because we can’t view the SPS as just a past/linear concept.

Here is my approach to this time and rituals of honoring my ancestors:

You will probably notice many of your relatives in your Life Path spread. (Or you are in theirs.)

My Grandfather and a cousin are my Pluto card.
But something else you can look at – especially at this time of the year when honoring ancestors — is anyone who has transitioned might now be in your SPS.

(Did you know you have a Spiritual path spread just like you have a Life Path spread?)

If we step away from viewing the SPS in a linear, past sense, anyone’s Birth card that is in your SPS is an energy influencing you in your life now and that can include those who have passed (whether they passed hundreds of years ago, or sometime during your current life.)

My Grandfather, no longer on this plane, is a 9♣, and while here on this plane, was not a part of my Life Path spread. However, in my SPS, the 9♣ is my Mars card.

Use the Spiritual Path spread chart here in this image to see what cards are in yours. Find your Birth card, then move to the left of it to find your SPS Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Uranus…etc.)

At this time of the year when I honor deceased ancestors, I take note of those whose Birth cards are in my SPS.

They are now an energetic influence in my life, maybe in a way that is very different than what they were when alive on this plane.
When I honor my Grandfather, I also honor my 9♣ in Mars. I look at the high side of that card and give thanks for its presence in my life, knowing that if I need it for anything (just like needing him for anything), it is there for me.

This recognition and honoring give this influence my energy.

Rituals produce energy. And gratitude is powerful. It sets up positive conditions for us.
For my 9♣ Grandfather, I honor him with the things of Mars – with fire, red stones and pictures of the greyhound dog as he was a Greyhound bus driver and the greyhound symbolizes loyalty and undying faith – another quality of the 9♣.

As well, I recognize anything I am grateful for or need from that 9♣ energy, such as taking action on being disciplined in my relationships and for higher knowledge and to look at my beliefs and determine if they are positive or negative and knowing when to let the negative ones go.

My two aunts and Grandmother were K♣. That is my Neptune card in my SPS.
I look at the high side of Neptune – which is to connect us to our Divine/Higher Self and the high side of the K♣ is to think at a higher level, enabling breaking outside my status quo so I can evolve, make progress and develop a better life. And to expand consciousness through leadership.

In honoring them and the high side of these cards, I feel I am also emphasizing the energy of them that WAS the high side and allowing it to heal family wounds.

If you do any ancestry work at this time, adding in the cards of your SPS that was the birth card of your relative can be a special and healing addition to your rituals, celebration or acknowledgment!

May 19 2021

The Big Story for 2021 – Saturn and Uranus – What Are Your Saturn and Uranus Cards Trying To Tell You?

If you follow astrology, you know that the big players for 2021 are Saturn and Uranus. They’re in a fight ring, one in each corner and we are watching this grand show play out. It’s a battle of change vs. the status quo.

I won’t go into all the astrological details; you can google it and many articles come up about it – like this one over at Big Sky Astrology: https://www.bigskyastrology.com/saturn-square-uranus-retrofitting/

The point of this post is to focus on the Saturn and Uranus cards of your personal Path spread.

Just like you have a Saturn and Uranus sign and house in your Natal chart, you have your Saturn and Uranus card(s).

Our Saturn card shows us where in life and in what way we’ll feel restrictions, limitations and have to really work at something in order to hone it.

Saturn – as much as it might hurt and create our challenges – is what helps us better ourselves in regard to how disciplined and responsible we are. It can be the work (sometimes career) we end up doing in our life.

I always think of it as the stern P.E teacher that made us run the sand hills in Arizona where I grew up. Dang, that wasn’t fun! But it sure made us stronger.

Saturn brings structure and boundaries to our life. It can be the controlling, authoritarian energy we feel – keeping us in line – and it likes tradition, rules, and hard work.

Uranus, on the other hand is quite the opposite! It breaks the rules, seeks freedom, shakes things up and is rebellious. It starts revolutions and refuses to play by the rules.

Your Uranus card shows where and how in your life you’ll break the rules, be rebellious and it is the gift that helps you break free of the status quo that is keeping you from moving forward.

So, back to this 2021 battle in the sky of Saturn and Uranus-

Freedom vs. Restriction

Tradition vs. New Ways

Uranus shouts “I don’t want to anymore!”

Saturn walks in and says, “You better behave, now go to your room!”

We are feeling and watching this play out globally.

Mask, no mask.

Vaccine, no vaccine.

Traditional ways of making money, new ways of making money (or money not being the only motivating factor in our lives!)

The list goes on and somewhere in your personal life, you are feeling this tug, this battle between the old way and the new way.

So, how about a check in with your cards?

Pull up two chairs and invite your Saturn card and your Uranus card to have a seat.

They are facing each other. They both have something to say and they both have their position and what they are giving and doing for you.

But it might feel in conflict right now.

I’m a 6♣ and my Saturn card is the K♠ – holy schmoly! Yep, that K♠ is definitely the big daddy-o, King of Kings, can-be-a-bully-needs-to-master-and-be-responsible.

When he walked in and sat down in the chair, my plants stood at attention and my two dogs huddled in the corner.

My Uranus card is the 3♥ – when she walked in, she was dressed in bohemian paisley, with bright pink hair, dried paint still on her face and a joint propped on her ear.

Can you hear the conversation?

“What do you think you’re doing young lady?” asks the King.

“None of your effin biznaass old man…”

By now the dogs are trying to get out the door and I’m holding my breath.

I continue to watch and listen as they go back and forth…

And I know where this is playing out in my life. I’ve asked my wise council friends for help to sort this stuff out.

It’s even played out in regards to my actual father, as our Saturn card can reveal that energy in our lives.

The thing is, they both have their gifts for you.

Right now, it’s not about one winning over the other, its about showing you where that polarization or conflict is in your life.

— Where can I up expressing my creative, heartfelt desires (3♥) and be responsible, dedicated and a leader with it? (K♠)

–How can my rebellious nature break open some out-dated tradition that has served it’s time and is over in my life?

If these two cards kept talking, what conclusion would come about?

–Am I taking sides with one over the other?

–Am I gaining wisdom from both?

–Is one scared of the other?

–Are you being pulled to step out of your comfort zone in some area, but you’re afraid you don’t have what it takes to go there?

Your Saturn card actually gives you the strength to do it – are you letting that happen?

I challenge you to dress them up and play out this scenario.

Give your Saturn card life, make it a character that reveals this part of you.

Give your Uranus card a life and see what it looks like, what it needs and what it is helping you with.

Let them talk, or fight, or dance or whatever your particular cards would do and hear them out.

And I’d love to know what you learn about yourself!

Leave a comment and share! Or ask about your Saturn and Uranus card, or hop over to my Facebook page and let’s discuss!

Jan 07 2019

My Birth Card Says I Should Be Successful, How Come I’m Not?

Many Birth cards (and their life path) are deemed as very successful, very powerful, can achieve anything…

Yet, I’ve witnessed it over and over while doing readings. The person sitting across from me is one of those cards and when I tell them how fortunate their birth card is, they look at me with disdain. But, I’m NOT successful!

I experienced the same thing being a six of clubs. When I first read about my card and how successful it can be, I thought, what?!?! My life has been nothing but heartache and poverty!!

As I studied my Life Path cards, I began to see where and why I was not succeeding and what was getting in my way – then I worked at changing those issues!

There are many factors that create the life we are experiencing. We can be a Leo and hate being in the spotlight or be a Pisces and not like being near water even though those might be known as typical for those two signs.

As with Astrology and Numerology, there are two sides to every card – a low side and a high side.

We can be living the low side and missing out on all the positive gifts that card (and it’s path) has for us.

Here are 3 reasons why you might have a positive birth card, but are not yet experiencing that success!

When you first learn that you have a birth card, you only know about that one card. That card might be a powerful card (such as an 8, 10 or Court card), but the cards of the Life path (the 12 cards that are to the left of your birth card) tell the whole story. As I shared in my post about the 10 of diamonds (known as the Most Blessed card), the cards of the 10 of diamonds Life Path aren’t all easy cards. One has to utilize and work through the issues of those cards in it’s Life Path that aren’t easy in order to experience the success or power of that birth card.

2. Your Life Path might have a difficult number of years, then finish with the more successful, powerful cards. Each card in your path represents a time frame- a number of years- and speaks to the energy of those years. One might have a difficult childhood, then enter years of ease and success. For many, those years of hardship set up the rest of their lives because they never move past the pain, failures or hardships and believe that is all their life will be.

I’m reminded of the celebrity Bobby Bones. He is a 6 of spades/ 8 of diamonds. He had a very rough childhood of poverty, but never stopped dreaming of being a radio host and using that to escape the extreme poverty. The 6 of spades path has a Queen of hearts as their Mercury card that speaks to their early childhood of a heavy influence from a female (he was raised by his mom and grandmother) with possible addiction issues (his mom was an addict).

It can be a childhood of extreme addiction, fears/phobias and/or constant escapism into a fantasy world that one really never comes out of (on the low side). Bobby did escape, but many 6 of spades let those early issues rule their entire lives, even though the 6 of spades has a very successful life path as their middle years are spent with the cards of the Crown line!

3. Where does your birth card sit in the Solar Spread? You might have a powerful/successful birth card, but the combined energies of where it sits in the Solar spread speaks to how that card can be powerful OR get stuck. As with the 10 of diamonds, which sits at Jupiter and Jupiter (Jupiter is the most benevolent planet and is why it is called the Most Blessed card), an abundance of Jupiter can lead to gluttony, over extension, ignoring negative realities, pretense and being pompous.

The King of Spades – the most successful card in the deck – sits at Saturn and the Sun (or Crown line). Those planets have a combination of restrictions/responsibility (Saturn) and Identity/ego (Sun). It is either an energy of hard-working, responsible, disciplined with a strong sense of purpose OR an exaggerated feeling of failure, having to be responsible for everyone 24/7 and that life is nothing BUT hard work, struggles and barriers.

Each of us (and each card) has a duality – that low side we can be, or the high side we can be. We can discover where our strengths are and tap into that. We can see where our weaknesses can be so we can see if that is why we feel stuck or as if we aren’t the powerful, successful person we want to be.

In the same sense that a person born into wealth doesn’t guarantee happiness or success, a successful/powerful card isn’t a guarantee of an easy-peasy, powerful, abundant life. Each card has its gifts, potentials, and difficulties to overcome, but in the overcoming of those difficulties, a more powerful, stronger and expanded Self is created.

To me, that is empowerment.

To take what you are given and choose to not play the victim. Instead, grow, overcome and be victorious as the Divine being that you are!

Oct 31 2018

Ten of Diamonds – The Most Blessed Card

The Ten of Diamonds is called The Most Blessed Card…but just how blessed is blessed and what exactly does that mean? What is it like to BE the most blessed?

I think about this card a lot because it was my mom’s birth card. I also know several other 10 of diamonds. When I look at their lives, I don’t really see a life that is super blessed. My mom’s wasn’t a pleasant journey, for sure. She died when she was 45 and the years leading up to her death were spent alone, in a chair, paralyzed and unable to talk.

So, let’s dig in and take a look at this card, shall we?

The reason it is called The Most Blessed card is because it sits in the very center of the Solar Spread at Jupiter and Jupiter.

I call Jupiter Santa Claus because it is the benevolent, prosperous, happy, expansive and BIG planet. Jupiter teaches us that life is good, to have faith and is the lifter of spirits.

Ten cards are, at their core, all about success…and mean, “lots of…” Lots of love and creativity (hearts) lots of ideas and knowledge (clubs), lots of financial rewards (diamonds) and lots of work and wisdom (spades).

Tens also represent the Ace going from the self to the Divine. It’s a masculine energy.
Here is where being a 10 of diamonds can actually be a difficult path for some – the abundance of masculine energy.

The Life spread of the 10 of diamonds has:
Moon – 10♥
Mercury – 8♠
Venus – A♥
Mars – A♦
Jupiter – Q♦
Saturn – 5♥
Uranus – 3♣
Neptune – 3♠
Pluto – 9♥

There are two 10’s and two Aces in the Life Spread. Aces and Tens are masculine and this life path has a lot of masculine energy.

And how about Jupiter? A few facts: Not only is it the biggest planet, it reigns over four moons the size of Mercury way out there in it’s own domain, radiating a massive amount of energy. Jupiter isn’t a warring energy like Mars, it is radiating out in a big way, sending the energy of faith; faith that life is worth living and is good.

Let’s go back to Santa Claus and the metaphor of delivering gifts – leaving them in secret, to be discovered…and accepted. That’s Jupiter. Sending out gifts, leaving them on our doorstep – but, we have to open the door and receive them.
Masculine energy isn’t known for receiving- that is feminine.

Faith is also about receiving. The faith that Jupiter wants to give us isn’t the religious kind. It’s not about faith that God exists or living in blind faith the way most religions demand. It’s the natural faith in the existence of good, of happiness, of joy, of abundance. That as divine beings living a human experience, we, at our core, are meant to live with good, happiness, joy and abundance.

The diamonds suit doesn’t only represent money or finances, but the world (reality) we are building based on what we value. If we value loyalty, we build (create) a reality of loyalty.
The ten of diamonds is success at building lots of (what we value), but to do that, we have to believe in that success; to have faith that it is possible. We have to be open to receive the gifts, the good, the happiness, the joy and the abundance that the Universe wants to deliver to us.

So, it seems like a contradiction, right? To have a card that is so masculine need to be open to receiving (feminine).

That is the life path of the ten of diamonds person. To learn to be more open, to receiving, to seeing life as good and worthwhile. To use all that masculine energy to radiate out (like Jupiter) joy and expansiveness.

Is it that easy? NO.

Looking back at the cards in the spread of the ten of diamonds, we see a lot of uneven numbers, which indicates a not-so-easy life.
The only even numbered card is the 8 of spades. While that card is one of will-power and can indicate power in material accomplishment, the low-side is to be overly focused on material accomplishment and to use that power as abuse. Being in the Mercury position, it can indicate having a parent or childhood where someone was materialistic or made work the focus, or was abusive/controlling.
The eight is also a masculine energy and more akin to a warring energy.

A five as a Saturn card creates challenges because fives are an unstable, restless and sometimes chaotic energy.
They have two 3 cards – the cards of a lot of creative energy that can overwhelm and cause one to always seek variety or be stuck, unable to make a decision or stick to any one thing.
A 9 in pluto speaks to issues of loss and needing to transform with endings.
Sounds awful, right? How can a difficult spread be the path of the most blessed card?

It seems contradictory until we look at what the 10 of diamonds person came to do and BE (and teach all of us) about HOW we can achieve the blessings the Universe has for us.

If they are living the low side of their life spread, there are issues of power, restlessness, selfishness and issues with their love life.

I don’t know a lot about my mom, because she never shared her feelings. She was gregarious and everyone loved her (she was an Aquarius). She did have a lot of masculine energy, being into the outdoors, horses (she was a barrel racer) and breeding/raising/showing collies.
She wasn’t motherly, nurturing or a homemaker and wanted to be a veterinarian, but sadly was told as a woman she couldn’t do that.

As an Aquarius and with the 5 of hearts in Saturn, she needed personal freedom and that was taken away from her by my father.

The saving grace and ‘balancing’ energies for the 10 of diamonds is the three Queens in their life spread. They have the Queen of diamonds as their Jupiter card. This card shows where their blessings will come from. The Q of diamonds knows how to make money, but she uses it to be of service to her community. (Another feminine aspect)

The Karma Cards of the 10 of diamonds are Queens

The Karma cards of the 10 of diamonds are: First Karma card – Queen of Clubs. This card shows what they need to learn and achieve in this life, which is to trust and use their intuition. This means they have to be open to receiving those psychic messages.

Their second Karma card is the Queen of Spades. This is a gift from a past life and it indicated a life of self-mastery via inner wisdom and tapping into that feminine aspect.

This speaks to the 10 of diamonds person needing to balance all that masculine energy and being open to receive.

All of the life paths represented by each card have their low side, regardless of how easy or successful the life path is meant to be.
I know mine felt very unsuccessful until I learned to live the high (and beneficial ) aspects of being a 6♣.

What I love about Cardology is what it teaches us about life as divine beings living a human life.

While masculine energy is important and necessary to keep us moving forward and expanding (Jupiter wants us to reach out, seek and expand!) we can’t ignore the importance of the feminine – to being open to receiving, to going inward to master our reality, not in selfishness, but to tap into our heart/divine wisdom to create the successful life we desire.

The 10 of Diamonds life path beautifully represents how we need to balance the masculine and feminine. We need to assert and reach out, to expand and BE all we want to be. We also need to be open to receiving the bounty the Universe CAN and WANTS to supply us.

The 10 cards reflect the Universe ( each card does) and they reveal that the Universe is “Lots of…”, and chooses success. The 10 of diamonds represents the lots of joy and goodness that life really is comprised of, but when we act in a selfish, overly-independent, prideful, controlling way, forego our creativity and only focus on material gains and not our inner self-mastery, life can feel joyless, difficult and lonely.

I can’t speak to why my mom and my father chose to be together in this life. He was her Uranus and Neptune card and was a big part in her experiencing abuse, control/power issues and he stood in the way of others caring for/giving to her. I wish I could peek behind the curtain and understand why she lived such a short life that was unhappy, but knowing more about the 10 of diamonds life path helps me see that she was here to learn to receive, to experience how to balance the masculine and feminine, to nurture and be nurtured.

The Ten of Diamonds is most blessed because it represents all the potential, prosperity, and success that we as humans can achieve – but we have to understand that it isn’t gained by closing ourselves off or aggressively forcing it. A balance of masculine & feminine is needed as well as the faith that it is all possible!

Do you know any 10 of diamonds? What has their life been like?

When you have the 10 0f diamonds in your forecast (or spread) ask what is holding you back from your blessings – is it that you don’t believe it can happen or are you trying to force it all by yourself?

Sep 27 2018

Cardology vs. Tarot vs. Oracle Cards

Is Cardology Like Tarot? Oracle cards?

How is it different?

As a weekly Reader at a metaphysical store in Asheville, many times someone will sit across from me and expect to experience something similar to a Tarot reading. Granted, all Tarot readers have their own style and way of reading and even how they interact with the client, but for the most part, they do a spread of cards and start talking about what they see. Sometimes the client shares what is going on, sometimes they sit quietly and see if what they came to talk about is indeed the topic the Reader focuses on.

Cardology is more similar to Astrology or even Numerology in that it focuses on what you have going on currently in your blueprint. (Your yearly forecast)

It is a system that is based on your birthday and is unique to you, not a random draw. (I don’t believe tarot draws are random- my distinction is on a forecast verses a spread draw in the moment.)

That said, the playing cards can be used in so many ways, just like tarot or oracle cards can.

When I do a reading at Raven & Crone, I pull up the client’s current forecast (and I can look forward or backwards in years for further insights) and I do a 3-card spread to go along with it.

This lets me see what energies are at play in their lives and typically what they are dealing with is evident in their forecast. The 3-card draw lets me give them specific insights into what they are needing in that moment.

This is one of the many reasons I love Cardology. The forecast can show the broad generalities, while a spread in the moment can pinpoint specifics.

When using the playing deck as divination, first insights (intuitive guidance) is important.

When I learned to read the Tarot, I was taught to use the first thing in the images that popped out at me. Especially with all the beautifully illustrated decks out today, the overload of imagery can be…well…an overload and hard to narrow the focus of the meaning of the card.

How can you interpret a card that just has a number and a suit? is a common question when one begins to delve into using the cards.

Of course, each card has a basic meaning just like each tarot card does, but without images to pull from, does each card only mean that basic interpretation?

No. It has its low side, its high side, where it sits in the Earth spread and where it sits in the Spiritual spread.

As a Reader, just as you intuitively feel what symbol or part of the tarot card image to focus on, it is the same when reading the playing deck.

A Queen of Hearts can be about being a Mother, it can be about romance, great sex, sensuality, taking care of and nurturing yourself or over-indulging in fantasies or an addiction.

So when that card shows up-what do I focus on for the client?

Obviously, I take into account the other cards and their forecast because it invariably connects and I can see the whole picture at play, but I might clearly see when that Q♥ pops up that the client needs to take care of and nurture themselves and that is what I will talk about.

The deck can be used just like any Oracle deck

Before I knew about the Forecasting system of Cardology, I would draw a card each morning and journal about its basic meaning and how that applied to my life. I noticed a pattern emerging. I was dealing with issues around stability, loyalty and faithfulness and for days on end, I would draw a 4 card. I even got so sick of drawing a 4 card that I threw the whole deck on the floor in anger and guess what? All the cards landed face down accept one – a four card.

That happened many times during the years that I used the cards as divination. I needed to truly understand the card, work on that situation in my life, change an erroneous belief and THEN that card would stop showing up!

I’ve used the cards as an oracle game

One of my favorite things to do is to use the dice from Rory’s Story Cubes.

I do this when I feel I need to take action on something but I’m unclear on what ‘to do.’ While I have the whole collection, for inquiring on an action, I use the Action cubes.

I randomly pick a cube from the Action cubes (from a bag, so I’m not seeing them) and toss it onto my printed sheet of the Earth Spread and see where it lands.

This has given me such cool insights!

This kind of divination puts our creativity function in gear.

I asked the question: What can I DO to help increase my finances?

I drew a cube and tossed it on the sheet for the Earth spread.

You can see what cube and where it landed.

I laughed when I saw the results. The cube was an image of someone taking another by the hand and leading them. The card it landed on was the 2 of hearts – the card of heart connection.

It said to me to put more time into one-on-one and Coaching/Readings work as that allows me to make deep connections and work closely with others.

Our brains will make connections where connections don’t seem likely and come up with an answer for us.

In the same way that you can ‘play’ with tarot cards with creative spreads, you can incorporate most anything and play with the regular deck for unique and creative divination. Even drawing an oracle card to go along with a regular deck draw for an added layer of understanding.

Of course now when I play any regular card games (I’m a lover of Canasta!), it is hard for me to just see the cards as cards…I always see a story playing out!

I love learning how other readers work with the cards.

Do you have a creative way to work with the cards? Please share with me!