When I do readings, sometimes I use imagery to help the client understand how multi-faceted situations and things may present themselves in the reading or in the Querent’s (the client) life. One of the images I use is the Birthday Cake.
Birthday Cakes are thought of by most people as something special, as you do not get it everyday. Sure, there are other occasions that you get cake – holidays, anniversaries, and graduations – and although all of those delectable delights are meant to be for special occasions, even yours, birthday cakes are inherently only yours and yours alone.
There are three major parts to a Birthday Cake – the cake itself, the frosting, and the “sprinkles” (or whatever decorations you want to place on it). I will break down the meaning of each integral part of the Birthday Cake and how it applies in your life. Once you see how this same scenario can be adapted to different parts of your life, you can see and delineate things into different categories for order and meaning in situations that happen.
The Cake: The bread-like food we know as cake, a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, butter or other fat, and flavorings, offer substance. Merriam- Webster defines substance as essential nature; a fundamental or characteristic part or quality, and of also practical importance. In baking, cake offers a base – something to put the sweeter things on it, like frosting. Cake, by itself, is satisfying. It has enough sweetness that you can eat if nothing else is added. Cake can be cut and consumed right out of the pan and it will do the job. Cake is always more enjoyable with frosting and other sweet things on it, but in a pinch, cake will satisfy the hunger and need.
So if we use this definition in matters of your life, whether career, love, or prosperity, there needs to be a series of personal truths that fall into the “cake” category for each of us. So ask yourself, what is essential in my life? my career path? my bank account? Some may think that any amount less than $100 dollars in the bank account is like walking on thin ice financially, while others may think that education plays a major part of establishing a career. Having CAKE is a secure set of morals, ideals, and values that you do not waver from in matters of love. CAKE manifests itself as the cohesiveness of paycheck to bills to savings ratios in all three areas. Try taking time to journal ( you DO journal, don’t you?) what your substance is in your life – what you will do or will not do without to establish that base on which you can bring on the finer things in like frosting.
The Frosting: Frosting is whipped cream or other substances with sugar and flavorings that not only dress the cake but also holds the layers together. Whether you are making a sheet pan or rectangle cake or baking multiple round layers to stack upon each other, frosting is like the “glue” that not only holds the layers together, but also makes the cake more appealing or “dresses it up a bit”. Frosting is much more sweeter than the cake, and while it’s ok to dip your finger in it and consume it by itself once in a while, eating large quantities of frosting will definitely give you a tummy ache or a ‘sugar high’ but may lead to serious health issues.
“Frosting” as it pertains to your life, is the things, experiences, and people that you bring in once you have established your “cake”. Once you have a home, career, money in the bank, reliable car, health, and other areas that are necessary for living, you can then start to bring in the “frosting”. Frosting is different to each individual, and can be nice clothes, sumptuous furnishings, exotic drinks and food, nicer watches and jewelry, trips, and more. Frosting makes life easier and you appreciate the ‘sweetness’ of life that frosting gives you as you are not pinching pennies to make ends meet or sighing when you see the Jared jewelry commercial on the television. Frosting allows you to get those diamond stud earrings or an upgrade on your trade in to a a nicer car.
The Sprinkles: In baking, sprinkles are the sugary things place on top of the frosting. They could be candy pieces, tinted crystallized sugars, or confetti dots, but the purpose of sprinkles on the cake is to draw attention to the cake and to add personalization and meaning for the occasion which the cake was intended.
“Sprinkles” in your life are things, places, people, and experiences that decorate and compliment your life. They are not to mess up the ‘frosting’; they are to add to the overall outcome of your life. If that job, that lover, or that environment is not adding to the overall experience of living, then decisions need to be made so that your Birthday Cake is not threatened to melt in the rain of tears that may occur if the sprinkles are not in accordance with what the core of your life (CAKE) and the sweet enhancements (FROSTING) that you have worked so long to apply to your ‘cake’. Sprinkles can be changed, just like taking a knife and scraping them off, only to add a bit more frosting to cover the cake again, before adding new sprinkles as you choose to add decoration and a special feel to your life.
