Here we find a bookended reading: Number 43 of 49 from Jack’s system opens and closes the reading, but in different manifestations of the concept. The idea threading through the cards is that we live an existential paradox. We are simultaneously so very important, and yet so very insignificant. But this is empowering in both directions: In the physical present, we can take responsibility for our actions as we hone our practice of sharing goodness. But within the cosmic context, we can also understand that we do not have to be perfect to be effective. The reading affirms that we have the innate ability to use our gifts, but that doing so may require a death of the ego to allow our legacy to fulfill its best potential.

The sassiest of Jack’s four decks jumps right in with a reminder to be curious and proactive about learning and discovery, given that this is part of the ongoing process of evolving as a person. Dean pulls next, and the reading segues into the idea that this journey of growth may seem fraught with peril – what if what I learn undermines everything I am and know? Good! It probably needs to. But once the study and practice transitions into actionable skill, it is very important to share the wisdom with others. Not only does the giving nourish you even more, it gives the world an opportunity to benefit as well. Something to consider in the sharing: When is it important that you take credit for the effort, and when is it more productive to remain anonymous? We are filters, and people may be reflexively closed to truth if they happen to have disagreed with us in the past. Transparency and honesty are not exactly the same, so deploy them mindfully.

The reading opens with a reminder that having honest conversations are an important part of maturing personally, intellectually, and socially. Source of Seeds. Planting these ideas mindfully in rows is similar to researching and deeply understanding concepts, and allows us to be able to keep those rows free of weeds when others’ poorly chosen words scatter misinformation into our field. It is important to remember that not everyone is willing or able to eat the fruits of our labor, so when we find our ideas being inappropriately attacked, it is vital to pour our efforts where they will be effective. Not everyone’s fields have fertile soil.

We begin with the shaping of a living plant, the pruning of wood and leaves to help create boundaries, to choose better people and define ourselves in a way that gives our love where it is deserved. As you delve into your emotions and the intersection with your heart, you must allow your waters, your metal to carry you home, back to safety and security. Sometimes the pruning is done by others, and there is ache and pain in their wake. When you are rooted again, you can reach up for the heavens, transmitting your legacy as vibrations in the now. Messages and experiences that others can receive from you as they are happening. Wonder and joy you thought lost are just waiting to be remembered, to be carried with you, leaving pain behind and bringing joy forward again. It then comes full circle, the intersection of your heart and your emotions, a reminder that even though we are injured by our shaping, we must still grow and shape ourselves, carrying the scars but living in the now, fully integrated and becoming what we are meant to be.

This reading started differently with Dean’s deck being very talkative, setting the stage of a ship returning home on the tide, laden with knowledge and ideas where upon you can set out on a journey of creativity and action. There is an immediate reminder to bring this into a practical, real sense, not to leave it in the mind’s eye, but to bring it down to reality and put it out there. That means there can be failure, and that you should fail. Fail to find your voice, fail to find your audience, fail to create what you see. Only through failure can you bring that which you see into that which is real. You are your own source of power, it lies within you, and it always has. The ever-burning flame is what fuels your creativity, your power to do, to make. What you have in your mind you can bring into reality, with time, patience and your power. Finally, shut-up and listen! You’ve got messages deep within you, just let them rise up. Your emotions and your throat chakra will connect and you will speak truth and knowledge. Be the Oracle, speak deep truths with your work. Create contemplation. Embrace intuition.

Dean and Jack are started with the image of a boiling pot, simmering over an open flame where metal meets fire. We found ourselves with a kitchen witch considering what they make, how they make it and if it’s right for them to make. They have a responsibility to choose well. Then the seeker of waves comes with their potential energy and a message to trust the dreams that rise up from your depths. When you are aligned with what you are putting into the world, you can allow your imagination to be filled with what springs from your core. All of this then becomes part of the towering cathedral that is your body and your soul. The potion the Kitchen Witch brews fills the whole chakral bridge with expansion and delight. But like the sage who sits beside the road and waits, they too must sit in peace and find the hardest truth, admitting that they need help. It is a community coming together to cook and share that powers the Kitchen Witch. Finally we are settled down and embraced by the connection of heart to voice, hearing and receiving love, telling and showing love. Like a breeze through the trees wood touches air and is embraced by its passing.

Dean and Jack are met with a ghost from the previous episode, the same card as before, but with a new meaning, a new message. When you are impaled by an event that rocks you to your core, you must pause and remember that it is does not define you. B another card showed its face again, the release from shame. Don’t pick it up, don’t let it in, it is not part of you. To carry it will only claim what is not yours in the first place. In these moments of trauma and pause, take things slow, take things small, do it one piece at a time. You have three beacons to follow. Set them and let your own power and light guide you. Trust yourself, be careful about whose advice you take. Trust your own knowledge, your own vision of truth that comes from within and without. To be human is to have pain, to have trauma. If you work with fire, you will get burned. But that is a natural part of life. Not to be feared or avoided, but to be understood and eventually embraced.

Dean and Jack finally get a reading that starts with the lower chakras, where root and sacral chakras meet, the dance of earth and metal which forms beautiful works of art. This groundedness is then challenged by the imbibing of the universe and the projection of the heart, sending out that sense of self and security to those around us. With all of this beautiful energy and effort, we are quickly reminded that it is our power which drives any of our actions, and that shame is the barrier to using that power to create these emanations. Our hearts are marked by the passing of time, the passing of friends, the passing of love and family. Those marks are not bad or good, they are shapes that influence the way we focus that cosmic energy. It is because of them, not in spite of them that we still love, we still have peace, and we can project joy. Finally, there is a simple reminder that none of these came with ease, without sorrow and grief, and without the act of falling down again and again and again. It is because we rise that we can soar.