Stay The Course, Or Alter Course?

Daily Draw: Book of Thoth Etteilla ~ 3 of Coins

This card speaks to us of being able to finally see some progress achieved. Of earthly tasks that have been perhaps long in the making but now we begin to recognize the final results taking shape.

I'm reminded by this card for most life projects worth doing we know what and why but seldom will we grasp the long term ramification of the results. And perhaps more importantly, at this point, we can still change the outcome.

"Life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves, 'This day let me make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is naught!'" ~ Thomas Kempis 1380-1471

Self Nurturing

Daily Draw: Book of Thoth Etteilla ~ Protection

I did something today I've never done before in a daily draw. Normally I fan the deck and draw at random, today I pulled the King of Batons but I put him back and drew and drew (lots of courts, the Ace of Cups) and then this card appeared and I chose to keep it. Etteilla's majors do not match the commonly found decks. Card seven would normally be the Chariot and you can see this card doesn't reflect that at all. But it is a beautiful card, one of peace, stability, companionship, and that is what drew me to it. I need that today.

I'm reminded by this card that I don't believe in laying down and letting 'fate' run my life. I prefer to captain my own vessel and today I chose kindness and nurturing.

"First you need only look: Notice and honor the radiance of Everything about you... Play in this universe. Tend All these shining things around you: The smallest plant, the creatures and objects in your care. Be gentle and nurture. Listen..." ~ Anne Hillman

Burdens

Daily Draw: Book of Thoth Etteilla ~ 10 of Batons

As a FlyLady graduate I've learned procrastination is a loser's game, what I want to put off never takes as long as I think nor is it as hard. My life and attitude have improved considerably since I learned that lesson. But I have a job today that I've been putting off for a year, and I know it will be just as difficult as I imagine; I need to euthanize one of my cats, Ike Clanton.

In looking at these 10 Batons, I reminded while I've been busy avoiding this task, just like I did with Windsor; Ike is the one that has really been carrying the burden. He is the one that is old and unwell and let's face it, becoming senile. I can't carry the burden for him, all I can do is allow him to lay it down.

"We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday's burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.” ~ John Newton 1725-1807

Remorse

Daily Draw: Book of Thoth Etteilla ~ 7 of Cups

Sometimes we have to make our memories do the work for us. Ever want to pinch the head off someone you love? Ever cried because they exasperate you so? Someone you love ever hurt you so bad you cried for a week? Someone ever so mean you couldn't believe your eyes or ears? Or was that someone ever thee and me?

I'm reminded by this card that in this life perfection is beyond us, and sometimes remembering our better side is the only thing that keeps us in the good graces of those we value and love. Here is to the better side, may it often surface.

"If each man or woman could understand that every other human life is as full of sorrows, or joys, or base temptations, of heartaches and of remorse as his own . . . how much kinder, how much gentler he would be?" ~ William Allen White 1868-1944

Gifts

Daily Draw: Book of Thoth Etteilla ~ 6 of Coins

I'm trying to think what was the best present I've ever had. Honestly, it's embarrassing, I can't think of anything that put me over the moon. A gift that touched my heart was a red sweatshirt Rob got me for Christmas in the early 70's. To keep me safer when we were out camping during hunting season. One that surprised me was a big Kitchen-aid mixer; we'd been married about 20-25 years and I'd gotten along that long without a mixer...but I love it and use it often.

I'm reminded by this card that I've honestly never met anyone who was impressed by a big pile of holiday presents and when asked a week later could name everything they got. I'm surprised that I can only think of those two things this morning. Am I a square peg in this respect also?

"False happiness renders men stern and proud, and that happiness is never communicated. True happiness renders kind and sensible, and that happiness is always shared." ~ Charles de Montesquieu 1689-1755

Weight of Responsibility

Daily Draw: Book of Thoth Etteilla ~ Queen of Cups

She does look like a Regent doesn't she? I'm reading a book on court life in Tutankhamun's time and the sheer weight of the crowns/arm/ankle/chest/ear/finger jewelry should have been enough to bring the boy to his knees. Just one of many reasons royalty 'move with majesty', they don't want any bits flying off or to tip over sideways.

I'm reminded by this card, subtitled Home and Place, bearing the responsibility of keeping everything together can be a heavy burden. Not everyone placed in that situation is cut out to be the boss and the carried cup does not nourish but offers only dust.

"I'm queen of my own compost heap, and I'm getting used to the smell." ~ Ani Difranco 1970-

Last July I used the Grand Etteilla Egyptian-Gypsies Tarot printed in France by B.P. Grimaud. This week it is the Lo Scarabeo reproduction deck of the 1870 Grand Etteilla III, titled The Book Of Thoth Etteilla. My images won't do them justice because I'm photographing rather than scanning, no scanner here at the farm. The borders are a lovely aged taupe, their 2003 deck images are faithful to the original publication. Collectors and readers owe Lo Scarabeo a big thank you for their commitment to reproducing the ancient decks that are out of our reach.

Dance Of Life

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit ~ Wheel of Fortune

Poppy has renamed this card Dance of Life Web of Fate. Fate is an overrated concept, our thoughts and actions create consequences and steer our life, often into unexpected waters.

I'm reminded by this card of all the interesting places my actions have steered me, situations and places I'd have never thought of on my own had I tried to map my life.

"I often feel, and ever more deeply I realize, that fate and character are the same conception." ~ Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg 1772-1801

Tighter Than A Drum

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot ~ 2 of Cups

This appears to be a closed off image; topped by the crescent moon of the High Priestess enforces the idea. I used to be like this. I wasn't just shy and quiet, I was stony, didn't share any thoughts and dreams with anyone. Hard to believe, the way I flay myself here.

I'm reminded by this card of how far I've come in recognizing the personal is immaterial, the whole is what matters. Unfurling has set my spirit free to think deeper and open further in sukha and sthira, sometimes metaphored as the wings of a bird that flaps with effort (sthira) but flies with grace (sukha).

"Rituals and channels may thwart or help, according to their fixity or openness. When a symbol or spiritual idea becomes rigidly elaborate in its construction, it supplants the idea which it should support." ~ Rabindranath Tagore 1861-1941

You Say Patato I Say Potato

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit ~ 6 of Swords

In one respect we are all on the same path, the one that starts with being born and ends with dying. For anything beyond that we do the game of looking for commonalities with which to form a bond.

Yesterday I met a man who speaks a different language, but in the course of each of us of us talking slow and loud at each other goats came up. We are thinking about getting a nanny goat, he has four of them. When Isi got off work he came by, and he who speaks only Spanish and I speaking only English and my FIL who didn't understand any of it went to Isi's house and patted his goats, ate warm ripe raspberries off the vine, and we gifted him with fresh laid eggs. There is always something, if we look.

"It is the things in common that make relationships enjoyable, the differences that make them interesting." ~ Todd Ruthman

Intention and Beauty

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit ~ Queen of Wands

One of the lovely things about this deck is people of all ages are portrayed. If you are connected to any kind of media you know this is an airbrushed impossibly unflawed world we are assailed with each and every day.

I'm reminded by this Queen of mature years that we are all beautiful, if we will only allow ourselves to be. I'm working this year on keeping the corners of my mouth turned up because at rest they naturally turn down and give an unintentional decidedly surly look, even giving myself a start when I see my reflection. Beautiful inside, beautiful outside. I can surely do this by setting my intent each morning.

"Though we travel the world to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

Options and Which Door?

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit ~ 2 of Wands

I wish I could see inside a brain and watch an idea or plan form. It must be akin to a skyscraper being born or beehive construction. We know we will have to generate some income well into retirement age and one of my idea germs is a truck farm. Yesterday as I walked our pasture picking up golf balls from the course next door a companion idea popped in. Section the acreage into 4 sections and once a month have a golf ball hunt for 4 age ranges. I expect the golf course would sponsor it and while the kids were hunting their folks would be buying our outstanding fruit, veg, and flowers.

I'm reminded by this card of the magic of human brain power, how each of us faced with the same query would come up with wildly different responses and given time to ponder, kaleidoscope those plans into a wonder to behold.

"Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle." ~ Ken Hakuta, Dr. Fad

Proactive Focus

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit ~ Sun

Poppy renamed all the majors, and brilliantly for the theme of her deck; I'm posting them by their common name so I can find them when I search my blog for specific cards.

She named this one Morning Star/Sky Dancer and when I forget to drag around the cross I bear (get off the cross Sharyn, we need the wood) and allow my spirit to rise I see the beautiful morning sun and do a condensed version of Surya Namaskara which resets my focus for the day where it should be, thankful for life.

I'm reminded by this card not only the years of our life are marked by changes but so are the hours. We make our day ourself with the reactions we chose and the proactive stances we take.

"If you're proactive, you don't have to wait for circumstances or other people to create your experiences. You can consciously create your own." ~ Stephen Covey 1932-

Just Living, or Savoring Life?

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit ~ Strength

We don't give ourselves enough credit for getting through our days; the horrible ones we pray never repeat, the average ones, and the great I'll-Always-Remember-This-Day ones.

I'm reminded by this card life is a journey and there is always someone worse off and better off than me on any given day. Lord grant me the Strength and Spirit to make each day worth living. And remembering.

"I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman." ~ Anais Nin 1903-1977

My chosen deck this week is the wild and colorful Waking The Wild Spirit by Poppy Palin 2002 Published by

New Persona

Daily Draw: Navigators of the Mystic Sea ~ 9 of Wands

In this image the upright figure rises from the prone figure. As I watch my FIL lose his cognitive abilities the child rises from the ashes of his mind. The man who avoided being touched now stands still allowing me to shave him; the man who with an 8th grade education has built a small fortune by the sweat of his brow can no longer count change, the man who never forgot to do anything no longer knows what day it is or what time...

I'm reminded by this card that in the course of a lifetime we assume many different persona, each being an outgrowth of the one that went before and most aren't planned but just happen.

"I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life." ~ Luis Buñuel 1900-1983

Tendrils and Hope

Daily Draw: Navigators of the Mythic Sea ~ Ace of Wands

Yesterday all our potential was untapped, dormant. Today we have tendrils and buds everywhere. Opportunity abounds to start fresh or redo something and get it right or a new idea to help an old man losing his grip on his mind. The sky is the limit.

I'm reminded by this card to revisit my affirmation on the sidebar.
The temptations that challenge will always be with me.
Each temptation is not a defeat, A signal I'm weak...
but an opportunity to prove myself stronger each time.

"Come forth, old man, thy daughter's side
is now the fitting place for thee:
When time has quell'd the oak's bold pride,
the youthful tendril yet may hide,
the ruins of the parent tree." ~ Sir Walter Scott 1771-1832