Precognitive Blues, Part 3: Astrology, Card Divination, and Spirit Animals

If you’ve not read the first two parts, you can click through to Precognitive Blues, Part 1: Dreams, Warnings and Blessings and Precognitive Blues, Part 2: Guilt, Law of Attraction, and Meanings that Change Over Time. You don’t need to read these posts in order, but this one references the earlier posts, so I’ll link for context. At this point, I feel this will be the second last post in the series, but even with strong intuition and foresight, who really knows?! And when?

The most annoying and pressing question around suspected precognition is: how do I know what’s true?

Dreams can be symbolic, literal and/or both. So can signs and synchronicities. Even in retrospect, we cannot know the full meaning of any vision, dream, relationship or event, because life continues to radiate around and through us, backwards and forwards, breathing in and out until we die. After death, some kind of “life” continues — at least according to the various “dead” loved ones who appear in dreams or sessions and give credible warnings and advice. The Ancient Celts took life after death and reincarnation so seriously that you could legally carry a debt (even a financial one) into the afterlife. In a never-ending story, how can we establish the “ultimate” truth and meaning with any certainty?

That said, people who sometimes (or often) experience prophetic dreams and/or the clair’s, cannot just ignore their messages, because those messages tend to get more, not less insistent. Ignorance=ignore-ance. There are two types: the kind where you don’t know any better, or the kind where you pretend you don’t see what you see. Denial: where you try to convince yourself that you don’t know what you do know in your gut, your third eye and/or your heart of hearts. Willful ignorance precedes a rude awakening. How much more so with willful ignore-ance! See Precongitive Blues, Part 1 for details.

Using Astrology for Discernment:

“Astrology is a language. If you understand this language, the sky speaks to you.”
~ Dane Rudhyar

I find astrology a useful complement to precognitive dreams, synchronicities and intuitive feelings that the external world doesn’t seem to validate (yet). For some reason that no one can explain, the names of planets and asteroids turn out to synchronize with their mythology. They express in the chart like those archetypes. It’s eerie and mysterious, but consistent. I consider astrology so valuable in discernment that I now look up transits for any “big” dream, and sometimes even the little dreams. Seeing which heavenly bodies were doing what in the sky and relative to my chart provides extra clues about the level of dream or synchronicity. Sometimes a “little” dream or synchronicity reveals a bigger aha when placed in larger context.

Einstein said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” I tend to agree. In order to support discernment, it pays to listen to your intuition and feel into possible meanings before looking at transits or synastry.

Otherwise, you risk overriding and editing Divine or subconscious whispers with whatever your rational mind wants to use as its filter. Astrology offers a tool for integrating left and right brain awareness. As with any tool, be mindful how you use it. Look for patterns, and follow your instincts. Try not to force a preconceived idea — especially if you feel attached to that idea. Attachment tends to inhibit discernment, with astrology or otherwise. Curious attention to repeat patterns will serve you well.

I love using my intuition to launch an investigation and then feeling those inner ping’s when I recognize the validation. If I try to force something, I tend to feel more anxious, whereas even a shocking organic discovery brings inner calm and knowing. Here are some of the most useful precog astro tips I’ve found:

The Moon and Mercury

For dreams, I pay special attention to the Moon and Mercury (the messenger). Some of my favorite dreams happened to occur as the Moon crossed over my natal Mercury, but I also find Mercury transits bring powerful insights. For example, if Mercury transits natal Venus, during a dream or event, then that would tend to validate intuitive hits about love, money, creative arts, beauty, your body image, and/or romance. If Mercury transits natal Chiron, look through a healer’s lens.

North and South Node Transits

If a medium to fast transit aspects my North Node, I also pay extra attention, because any dream, relationship or unusual encounter that interacts with the North Node does so from a destiny level. Some astrologers claim the transiting Lunar Nodes do not affect us, but I find that the collective experience very much affects empathic people, along with those whose natal placements get triggered by the transiting North or South Node.

People we meet whose planets or Nodes trigger our own natal Nodes act like permanent Nodal transits for us. I often see such ties among best friends or soul mates. In my Michigan Staycation with Friends post, I mentioned how David’s friend Seth’s North Node conjuncts David’s Sun. They have one of those fated friendships that endures long times and distances apart yet continues to fit even as they change and grow. My sweet Faery Twin Tania Marie and I share North Node aspects. My North Node conjuncts Tania’s Ascendant and Mars, so she and I have a twin-like friendship that spans time, space, dreams, telepathy and life path.

Finding North Node connections in a friendship or event that seems important confirms your intuition. It doesn’t provide an exact roadmap, but it tends to underscore precognitive insights or suspicions. “Something” is up. You’re right to pay attention.

As a general rule, South Node addresses the past, where you’ve come from, while the North Node points to where your soul wants to go. Depending on the chart, this becomes more complex, though. Not everyone has a neutral, easy time embracing their soul’s intended life path! For a starting point, it helps to consider the basic challenges and gifts of the North and the South Node — in your own chart as well as the collective’s “now experience.” With exact birth times and a professional reading, you can get much more specific, but the basic rule of thumb is to follow your North Node’s intention and direction. Exercise caution with South Node connections that don’t also feature North Node movement.

I happen to be hypersensitive to anything coming anywhere near my North Node destiny point. That gets amplified by my overactive natal Pholus sextile North Node. Anything crossing over the North Node also ignites a “small thing, BIG EFFECT” process from Pholus. I feel especially tuned into Nodal impacts right now, because the transiting Nodes sit in exact opposition to my natal Nodes: South on North, North on South. In this case, I join the collective’s challenge to integrate soft, weepy, nurturing, caring Cancer with Capricorn’s tougher, more business-like sense of duty, leadership and commitment. Co-dependency runs strong on both ends of this continuum.

Reviewing how key dreams, relationships and meetings affect friends and clients over the long haul validates the importance of North Node connections in general, though. If you feel at a loss of which way to turn, discovering and honoring your North Node will get you back on track. You can use the North Node as a filter for precognitive guidance. If it pushes you towards living the North Node, then that tends to validate the message. If you want to crawl back into South Node patterns and comfort zone, then there’s a good chance you’re deluding yourself or heading in the wrong direction. (I’ll cover the Trickster in Precognitive Blues, Part 4.)

Outer Planets and Their Messages

I’ve had eye popping dreams and synchronicities when some of the longer cycled planets (Neptune, Uranus, Pluto) change signs or direction. Exploring transits at the time of older precognitive dreams has given me much greater context for the shorter “came true” aspects, as well as insights into potential longer term, bigger picture implications. When others or I have a funny feeling — good or bad — about a future point in time, a look at transits offers clarity on what sorts of energies will be in play at that time.

Often, this preparation allows us to consciously engage a challenge and turn it into an opportunity. I’ve long sensed such windows on the intuitive level, but astrology gives my left brain a pacifier so it stops screaming, “This is crazy talk!” In addition to the Outer Planets and Chiron insights below, I find asteroid and Centaur placements freakishly precise. The more you study astrology, the more you recognize life as a cosmic symphony called Synchronicity.

Pluto tends to dredge up subconscious fears, blocks, resentments, and repressed desires. Pluto is relentless. Resistance is futile. If Pluto’s involved in any way, then your dreams and synchronicities will continue to pummel you until you deal with them. Pluto destroys whatever stands in the way of transformation or transmutation. Think of the phoenix rising from its own ashes, a death and rebirth cycle.

Pluto also wants you to find a new balance of power, freeing you from oppression and victimization. Persephone gets whisked into Hades, raped and her innocence destroyed, but she emerges a Queen. She embraces the cycles of life and death. When she returns from the depths, she brings the Sun and warmth and tender buds.

Pluto rules the Underworld, Chthonic Realm, the Shadow, the heavy hand of destiny, primal Nature, and the deepest subconscious and soul needs. I love Pluto, but only because I embrace that realm enough to find and excavate its hidden gems. The Lord of the Underworld offers strength, grit and a powerful chance to “Know Thyself.” Pluto transits last between 2-4 years depending on retrogrades. Any dreams during that time period will likely bring key insights of required changes. I find extra relevance to dreams when a transiting aspect goes exact or when Pluto goes retrograde or direct.

Neptune is the planet of dreams and dreamers. Neptune casts a spell or Faerie Glamour over everything, so beware of any literal interpretations when Neptune appears! Loss, sacrifice, ideal love and addictions can also surface through dreams during a Neptune transit. Depending on the transit, a long held daydream or relationship might disintegrate, only to find a truer replacement once you recognize the original distortion.

As a general rule, I love the beauty, harmony and inspiration of Neptune’s influence, but I exercise extreme caution for myself or reading for others regarding Neptune. In retrospect, I was Don Quixote while Neptune conjuncted my natal Moon! Yes, I had a brain injury and no rational side, but, oh, my. Although “right” in the much bigger picture, my blurry details and unquestioned faith led me down some dangerous paths. If I knew then what I know now, I would have taken Neptune’s manna with at least a little salt!

I feel Neptune’s influence on others like a giant Fool Card from the Tarot. When I see them happily skipping off a cliff, I bark warnings at them like the dog. Unheeded warnings: yet I know such folly often leads to higher truth if they survive the fall.

Fool Card from the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

Uranus draws attention to where we long for freedom and fateful liberation. Uranus acts like a lightning strike, with your intuition as the rod. As I mentioned in Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Clairsentience and Claircognizance, people with strong Uranus in the natal chart (i.e. on the angles, conjunct Sun, chart ruler, etc.) tend to experience high levels of claircognizance.

Claircognizance refers to knowing the future or the hidden truth without any evidence or clues to lead you there. You just know what you know. While this comes naturally to some people, others experience claircognizance during key Uranus transits or when Uranus changes signs. I pay attention to Uranian insights, because they arrive in a detached flash of insight. Whereas Neptune and Pluto wallow in emotions, Uranus operates in a more universal way.

He’s also what Timothy Glenn calls “The Cosmic Weirdo,” so Uranus can urge us to become more authentic, to throw off society’s upside down values and restrictions. Uranus takes 84 years to orbit the Sun, so age 42 or thereabouts brings the Uranus Opposition, aka “Midlife Crisis.” If you’re having dreams of annoyance, slavery, feeling trapped or imprisoned, those dreams offer insights into how limited you feel and what you can do to free yourself. Pay attention! Uranus transits tend to bring external Tower Card type events that force change on us if we fail to heed the warnings.

Chiron, the Wounded Healer, as a predictive influence:

After analyzing the astrology across decades of recorded dreams, I can now confirm that Chiron brings important messages about how we can stop repeating past traumas in future events. Chiron reveals where and how we want to grow beyond our core wounds. Many therapists and healers begin their helping professions during a key Chiron transit. I also see Chiron again and again in relationship synastry. Exploring Chiron aspects between charts or at key moments adds nuance to intuition or feelings about a relationship or situation.

Chiron in aspect to the Nodes hints at past life or early childhood patterns that we can consciously shift and turn to wisdom, instead of battering old wounds. No one likes heartbreak. Recognizing Chiron’s influence in dreams can save a lot of future pain — healing us before a new relationship, helping us to process upcoming deaths, births or separation. We don’t need to know why Chiron shows up, but in retrospect, I find it wise to listen when he does. The Centaur Chiron became an amazing healer, teacher and guide. We can access this healing ahead of time through dreams and visions, allowing us to operate at the Highest Good of All.

In addition to transiting Pluto inconjunct my natal Saturn, transiting Chiron currently sits right on my Sun/Moon Midpoint. It forms the apex of an exact Kite with my exact natal Grand Air Trine of Sun/Moon/Pluto. (You can find pictures and definitions of Grand Trine, Kite and other aspect patterns here.)

The Sun/Moon Midpoint represents the integrated essence of being: bringing together masculine/feminine, mental/emotional, conscious/subconscious. Having Chiron on this key point, opposing Pluto, and activating that Grand Trine feels powerfully healing on all levels. Dreams and insights into past hurts, as well as strategies to ease future difficulties come every night, often many per night. Knowing what a powerful time I’m in — despite calm external circumstances — tells me to give extra consideration to whatever dreams or visions I have at this time.

Exploring your natal Chiron’s wounds and opportunities, as well as transiting Chiron’s aspects to your natal and progressed charts offers context. Most people incarnate at least in part to heal old wounds. This soul directive intensifies if old wounds stand in the way of living our most joyful, abundant, healed life. Gaining precognitive insights from Chiron reveals a potential balm and relief amidst the slings and arrows of life.

Tarot and Oracle Cards for Divination:

More accessible than astrology, Tarot and Oracle Cards offer other insights into precognitive messages. I prefer Tarot when I do readings for clients. I know my Robin Wood deck so well that the cards act like very fast shorthand to describe bigger trends and messages. When checking something for myself, I use a different deck, usually an Oracle Deck, because I want to get out of my own head. Using the same deck for myself and for clients mixes the energies, and I like having crystal clear energy for clients. I prefer that for myself, as well, but if I turn to cards, then I already feel some inner conflict.

The wonderful thing about Tarot as a divination tool is its ability to represent every situation, relationship, choice, or archetype of life. Reading for others, my intuition guides me to notice repeat patterns, colors, images, or themes. I don’t do traditional spreads. I just pull whatever cards want to come out, put them in whatever order they “want” to go and then turn them over and tell their tale. For others, this works great!

For myself — especially if I prefer or resist a particular plot development — I find Tarot too nebulous. For everyday concerns, I use the Wild Wisdom of the Faery Oracle Deck. For life path or much bigger picture questions, I love the Oracle of the Dragonfae, both decks by Lucy Cavendish. For me, these work, because the messages align with my own philosophy, values, and ethics of life.

When choosing any divination deck, Tarot or Oracle, pay attention to your intuition. How do you feel when you look at or hold the box? Do you like the artwork? Do the messages or deck description resonate? If not, then choose a different deck. You want these cards to function as an extension of your inner guidance. You’re more apt to follow that guidance if you feel attracted to its expression.

One caveat on cards: I don’t like fluff! Your mileage may vary, but for me, I prefer cards that do not sugarcoat the messages. If I turn to cards it means I’ve already prayed, dreamed, meditated and “asked” for clarity yet still feel wary of my own fears or wish fulfillment tendencies. Using “a deck with no negative cards” defeats the point — for me — because sometimes negative potentials exist. I’d rather know about them and address them than have some saccharine luv-n-lite platitudes pat my hand. Again, your mileage may vary. Choose whatever works best for you. I live from a place of love, but when fears arise, I look them in the face.

Sometimes Tarot cards appear without intentional use of any deck. In my Weekend Getaway to Traverse City post, I shared how the woman next to our table at lunch turned around and became the human version of a card falling out of the deck. Her Moon Card t-shirt grabbed my attention in a powerful way, because I’d been hearing for weeks, “Stay on your path for safety,” one of the messages of the Moon Card. To have it appear in “real life” underscored that message. In my post on the clair’s, I also shared how sometimes my inner eye will “see” a Tarot card when I speak with someone, even if I’m not doing a card based reading.

Tarot cards can act as shorthand for detailed messages. When one comes to mind, I pay attention. I also take note if artwork or a scene in life echoes the traditional Tarot symbolism. You don’t really need a deck. The Life Force itself speaks to us in a thousand ways all day and night.

In dreams, the appearance of Tarot cards can bring clarity or confusion, because so much depends on context. The Two of Cups Card, for example, can represent true love, soul mates, healing, happiness, personal integration of masculine and feminine principles, a good business partnership/opportunity, or marriage. The Death Card can represent physical death — and sometimes it does — but more often, it indicates metamorphosis, end of an era, rebirth, or a need to let go of something. The much feared Devil Card can mean over-concern about finances, False Evidence Appearing Real, feeling trapped, temptation, and/or the need to embrace one’s Shadow and live a more authentic life.

When doing card based readings for yourself and others, you need to consider any surrounding cards, the illustrations themselves, real life context, and the phrasing of your question. Also note: if you continue to ask the same question over and over, the cards start to mess with you. At that point, you need to take a break from your question. Either accept what you’ve suspected, or release the need to know right now. Clients often book Tarot readings with me after they’ve spent weeks pulling the same card and then it suddenly changes. Nine times out of ten, I pull the original card they pulled, but my non-attached interpretation offers deeper insights than panicked, repeat divination does.

A Recent Tarot Dream

On October 2, 2019, I had a potent dream. I stood in a pool at twilight chatting with my friend’s teenage son, Sol. (It seemed more symbolic with the name — Sol, aka “Sun” — rather than the person.) We could overhear my aunt and sister discussing the special mandala shaped patio and walkway under their feet. It featured a center circle at slightly lower elevation than the surrounding circles, which all tilted towards the center circle. My aunt told my sister, this setup would “ensure everyone and everything winds up in the right place at the right time in the event of an earthquake.”

At that point, something in me snapped, and I shouted at the dream itself, “What is the significance of ____?” I listed options, making sure to cover all bases except the one I suspected it might be. All of a sudden, the dream turned into a giant Tarot card! I won’t say which card or my question, because those details are private … and also because I want to make a more universal point about Tarot card dreams.

In any case, the dream went from a pool at twilight with Sol/Sun, overhearing a discussion about cracking foundations, safe mandala patios and sorting people and things in the event of an earthquake … then to my question/demand … and then to a giant cartoon Tarot card. I mentioned before that Tarot cards carry multiple meanings. In my dream, this card added and subtracted details to leave only one possible interpretation. Just in case I tried to miss the point — and yes, in the dream I tried to miss it — the card sparkled and flashed its modified details like a cornball cartoon. Subtle it was not.

An amused voice-over asked, “Any questions?”

Stunned, I found myself back in the swimming pool at twilight, talking to Sol and overhearing the exact same conversation about the mandala patio/walkway/foundation built to ensure everyone and everything winds up where they need to be in the event of an earthquake.

I had this powerful Tarot dream the day Pluto turned from retrograde to direct at 20 Capricorn — a significant position in my life for a variety of reasons. At the time of the dream, I didn’t realize Pluto’s shift, but the dream involved such obvious Plutonian themes that my jaw dropped when I looked up the transits. I wanted to discount the dream, but the astrology forced my left brain into compliance. I began composing a “hypothetical” email to my astrology mentor, Ann Kreilkamp and then laughed at myself. The flashing one-interpretation-only Tarot card gave my right brain no place to run. Pretending I didn’t get the message after seeing the astrology embarrassed me enough to stop composing the email.

You asked, Laura. You demanded an answer. We suggest you deal with it.

I’m still doing my Gemini Houdini negotiations with that dream whammy. For all we want to know, part of us may not really want to know what we already know. That dilemma arises in precognitive and “normal” people, if there’s actually a difference. At some point, we know what we know, whether that information comes in a vision, in a dream, by hypnotherapy, psychic reading, or through careful research and observation. Precognitive Blues, Part 1 and Part 2 explore gradations and complications of seeming foreknowledge. Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Clairsentience, and Claircognizance explores ways that foreknowledge reveals itself.

Animal Spirit Guides

One final topic for today — a favorite of mine — deals with animals that appear in dreams or at key moments in waking life. I love animal signs! Somehow, they feel more magical and comforting, like I have an ally in all the synchro soupy madness. While recovering from my 1998 traumatic brain injury, I often saw three eagles flying together, and a great horned owl kept me company for weeks. Owls appear to me or people who know me whenever something’s “up” with me.

My Shamanic Gardening post tells of a real snake “reporting for duty” when I thought of getting a fake snake to deter critters from the garden. Our non-stop groundhog issues finally got me to do accept the “right sized garden” I originally intended when moving here. Groundhog Wisdom showed me the beauty and necessity of changes ushered in by my life path, and underscored by signs and sync’s. My Lion Dream gave me key insights, and Tania and I loved our many fox synchronicities around our Equinox 2018 visit.

Animal sightings don’t always mean one thing. Sometimes a totem animal appears during difficult times. Sometimes we need more of the qualities of whatever animal crosses our path. My favorite http://animalspirits.com website has gone offline, but you can search many books and online interpretations about various animals. Before turning to other definitions, do check in with yourself. Does something jump out at you as relevant? Explore that possibility before giving your power away to anyone else. The more you journey on this path, the more the Universe speaks to you in its own language tailored just for you.

You can always ask for clarity in a dream … if you dare! Stay tuned for Part 4, which will reveal itself in the fullness of time.