Potter's Field

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ Daily Draw

I've spent some time this morning reading about New York City's Potter's Field. There are thousands of these Potter's Fields across the world, a sadly necessary disposal place for communities to bury their unnamed or unknown. It was the death of Judas that brought the term to the place.

I'm reminded by this card when no one knows your name, when no one marks your passage, you've become this card's hermit. Outgoing people can't imagine coming to this stage. I can easily see how it could come to pass.

"And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous." ~ Doris Lessing 1919-

This week's deck is The Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene, illustrated by Tricia Newell. Published by Simon & Schuster 1986 and in print ever since. The card art is based on ancient Greek mythology, the kit includes a 218 page book and there is a separate 160 page workbook.

Room Of My Own

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy Tarot ~ 4 of Swords

I had a supervisor like this once. She was so busy doing everything herself rather than delegating we sat around twiddling our thumbs all day while she was taking home work every night and every weekend. And behind her, her family and life was falling apart.

I'm reminded by this card's visual lesson being the busiest most important person doesn't matter much if it kills you for your reward. Relax. Breathe. Delegate.

Job Review: Works well only when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap
My own favorite review comment: Sharyn works well in a room by herself.

Superiority

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy Tarot ~ Queen of Coins

It's all on view isn't it? Both herself and her world behind her.

I'm reminded by this card of how double-hard it is to be in the public eye. Hundreds of cameras, millions of people seem to be waiting for the slighted misstep or the total breakdown. Are our lives so wretched we only feel better when we can feel superior to or laugh at someone else?

"What the superior person seeks is in themselves. What the mean person seeks is in others." ~ Confucius 551-479 BC

Covered Persona

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy ~ Queen of Cups

Not everyone does, but I see the Cups as feelings/emotions/thoughts. But look here, this Queen has fire/action of the Wands suit coming out of her Cup. I wonder if it were possible to get an honest poll, how many women feel they aren't who they could be. That they could do more and be more if not damped down by environment and circumstances. That being the Queen of Wands or Swords would be an easy step instead of the impossible chasm that separates them in the one dimensional world of tarot cards.

I'm reminded by this card of me.

"I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions." ~ James A. Michener 1907-1997

Poor Poorer Poorest

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy ~ 5 of Coins

I drew this card on the 16th also, this couple has a long way to go before they reach that couple's low.

I'm reminded by this card poor covers a multitude of states. I've been penniless but never homeless. I've been hungry but never even ever close to starving. I saw some horrific images yesterday where some Chinese have been living in the underground bunkers Chairman Mao had built. That isn't even poor. I look at the dozens of homes that have been repossessed in the 1.5 miles between the freeway and my home and I think we in this rich country are getting closer to understanding.

"Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy." ~ Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

You Don't Own Me

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy Tarot ~ 8 of Cups

In the standard/most common portrayal of this card a figure has his back turned on us and the cups; he is outta here, see you later alligator, there is a deep finality about it. This figure has his hands spread wide, he is letting something go, freely without strings and he is face-forward. The small figure on the bird isn't running away, it has turned and waved as if to say, "don't worry, I'll be careful and I'll see you soon".

I like that interpretation; we often hear "hold what you love with open arms" because something that isn't free to come and go will tear itself away and be gone forever.

"Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is the sense of ownership, which is love's opposite”. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1900-1944

Besieged

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy Tarot ~ 9 of Swords

This image recognizes what being abused feels like. Regardless of time place situation, the potential is always there. And it's that potential that does the most harm because it's mental, we do it to ourself.

I'm reminded by this card the potential is what makes both individual and worldwide terrorism work. We can handle what has and does happen, it is the 'what if' that makes their game tick.

"More than 90 percent of all the prisoners in our American prisons have been abused as children." ~ John A. Powell 1947-

Fairy Bower or Bosh?

Daily Draw: Universal Fantasy Tarot ~ Temperance

Do you believe in fairy folk? Many do. Do you believe they inhabit your own backyard? Or only live in the forest wilds? Do you believe they are invisible to the human eye? They never ever under any circumstances interact with humans? Do you believe they can curse or reward? Do you believe they are sitting on your desk right now?

I'm reminded by this card of what Temperance means. Somewhere between total scoffing disbelief and total swallow the whole hog. I fall in the disbelief side of the fence, but I'm very happy to encourage someone else's total belief. Is that temperate? I know I have a fairy oracle that treats it's Fae as adults with minds and personalities that works a treat. I don't let it out often because they play tricks on me and laugh at me... I know I've seen a lot of fairy tarot decks and oracles that make my fillings hurt they are so sweet. That sell like hotcakes. So where is the line? Do you believe?

Why should we strive, with cynic frown,
To knock their fairy castles down?
Eliza Cook 1818-1889

The deck this week is Universal Fantasy Tarot whose incredible artwork is by Paolo Martinello. Published 2006 by Lo Scarabeo, distributed by Lewellyn Worldwide in the U.S.; last used on Quirkeries in November 2007.

Four

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ 4 of cups

A plethora of fours this week. Read as a whole, I've been reminded to rest up, be a watchful steward of my resources, and today, dwell on what I have rather than on what I haven't.

I'm reminded by looking back through all of this week's cards, that has been the loud and clear message all week. I don't yearn for what I don't have, but I worry about our financial future all the time. Mostly because I've observed first hand how not having anywhere even approaching enough can turn the golden years into the painful years. The cards have excellent advice, and I'll try to lay down my concern and focus somewhere else for awhile...

"Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow." ~ Douglas Pagels

Good Advice

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ 4 of Coins

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship" Benjamin Franklin
He who does not economize will agonize" Confucius
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely" Rodin
By sowing frugality we reap liberty, a golden harvest." Agesilaus
It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow." Aesop

I'm reminded by this card advice always has and ever will be free.
And for the most part it falls on deaf ears. On the other hand many people have paid a great deal of money to financial gurus for the exact same advice.

Joan, We Hardly Knew Ye

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ 4 of Swords

I look at the foreground figure and think Joan of Arc, I look at the hanged woman figure the tree makes and think of the religious demagoguery that passed for the education most of the populous received in Joan's day. I'm not surprised that impressionable young girls had visions.

I'm reminded by this card how thankful I am to be who I am, where I am, when I am.

"People are hung sometimes for speaking the truth." ~ Joan of Arc 1412-1431

Think About It

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ 6 of Coins

It is paramount that we think before we spend, be it time or money. Weigh the value received.

I'm reminded by this card just how much I can waste in a day and how great I feel at the end of a well spent day.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time." ~ Jack London 1876-1916

Help Wanted

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ 8 of Coins

Beginning with peeling bark and picking berries as a kid, to today as a private personal assistant/nurse assistant, a quick accounting tells me I've had at least fifteen very different types of employment in my life. Some I liked better than others.

I'm reminded by this card in women's Retail Upscale Clothing I made it a whole three days and never went back. I couldn't bear to see the way people of wealth treated those lovely clothes; looking back, caregiving in one form or another seems to have always been a thread through my life. All in all my only regret has ever been and ever will be, that I was unable to go to college and really have a career. Ah well, maybe next time.

"Saw a sign at a gas station. It said 'help wanted'. There was another sign below it that said 'self service'. So I hired myself. Then I made myself the boss. I gave myself a raise. I paid myself. Then I quit." ~ Steven Wright 1956-

Give And Take

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ Temperance

Temperance is often shown pouring from jug to jug, here we see her priming the well. In one of Julia Cameron's books she writes about refilling the well, in this case, our own mental and physical and spiritual well.

I'm reminded by this card perhaps those times when I think I'm 'least', when there is no spark or ommph, maybe it is just fallow time, and I'm really rejuvenating. We can't possibly hope to survive going full bore all the time, a look around will show the evidence of blow-outs, hence Temperance.

"Joy, temperance, and repose slam the door on the doctor's nose". ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882

Unnoticed

Daily Draw: Llewellyn Tarot ~ 9 of Coins

One of my favorite cards from one of my favorite decks, yet until this morning I never noticed the secondary figure on the right. Is it a man or woman? Is that a kimono or monk's robe? Is a newspaper being read, are notes being taken, are crops being tallied? Is it watching the cart being pulled up the hill, or looking beyond, down through the valley?

I'm reminded by this card when our life is comfortable we often miss out on the joy of small blessings because we no longer notice them. They are always there but a soft life softens our gratitude bone.

"It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time." ~ Barbara Kingsolver

The beautiful 2006 Llewellyn Tarot is the deck in use this week. Commissioned art and 264 page companion book by Anna-Marie Ferguson. Published by Llewellyn Worldwide as part of their celebration of the life of welshman Llewellyn George, the founder. The majors follow the story line of the Welsh Mabinogion.

Riffraff

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ 5 of Coins

Visually this card doesn't make a lot of sense to me, perhaps it is saying everyone is welcome in the house of the Lord, but we all know that isn't true, not in churches built by man anyway. And figuratively speaking it isn't true of heaven, only confessed believers are allowed past the golden gates of bible lore. And in certain churches, only believers who go under their banner.

I'm reminded by this card of just how much hogwash man can conjure up to keep the riffraff out. Riffraff being everyone but the holy few.

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." ~ Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone 1181-1226

Close To The Edge

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ Justice

Great depiction of a sometimes boring card. How many movies and cartoons have you seen where an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other try to convince a character to do or not do something. Devil is pushing down the scale here on the right, and angel is struggling to lift a scale on the left.

I'm reminded by this very visual image of the stability of the middle ground. How difficult it is some days to hold to the center when it should be the easiest thing in the world.

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center." ~ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr 1922-2007

Get Up, Get Going

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ 10 of Swords

Arrugh, the Black Dog is back again, and this time it looks like he will make a meal of it. Someone or something outside our control may have put us here but to stay in this position is a choice, entirely up to us.

I'm reminded by this card of the number of jobs I've had where people watching and listening were key. So many times the only difference between success and failure is about eight inches. The room in our skull where the brain works. Luck and help may never come, but the one person we can depend on is right there. Look inside, get up, get going.

There comes a morning in life when you wake up a new person; that is to say, you wake up the same person but you realize it's your own fault." ~ Robert Brault

And Its Free

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ 6 of Coins

How many times a day do I come to the computer to look up some information, some small factoid my info-junkie brain just has to have. When the world goes black I'll miss that much more than central heating.

I'm reminded by this card of the endless bounty website owners give us every day. Kat Black, artist and author of this deck is a good example. She allows tarot sippers to view every card in her deck in case they are on the fence about purchasing it; plus you can see the early versions of the cards as she worked on them. Click here for version 1 of the 6 of coins. My daily portion from the internet is indeed bountiful. Today's quote doesn't exactly mirror my thoughts about the 6 of Coins but it is wordsmithing at it's finest, bounty of another kind.

"I suppose it is the teeming evidence that birth and growth, which we value, are ubiquitous and blind, that life itself is so astonishingly cheap, that nature is as careless as it is bountiful, and that with extravagance goes a crushing waste that will one day include our own cheap lives." ~ Annie Dillard 1945-

A Real Magician

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ 8 of Coins

The tools of his trade laid out on his workbench made me think of the Magician card...except this is where the real magic happens, as you know if you've ever watched a master craftsman at work.

I'm reminded by this card once again of our 'purpose'. Sometimes it's visible and sometimes it isn't but we'll always know what it is because it's the one thing we do really really well.

"Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do - can love things that no one else can love. We are like violins. We can be used for doorstops, or we can make music. You know what to do." ~ Barbara Sher

Death...We Hardly Knew Ye

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ 4 of Wands

Since death seems to be the theme this week, what strikes me about this version of the 4 of Wands is what looks like a folded shroud and the wash water being prepared. 4 of Wands is a hearth and home card, something our culture has left behind when it comes to dying.

I'm reminded by this card until very recent times most people died at home, the family washed and prepared the body, and unless it was hot the body would be presented on the largest table in the house so mourners could pay their respects or a wake could be held. We've lost something in modernizing and sanitizing death, that first step of accepting they are gone and making our peace.

"A homemade ceremony is legally possible. All you need is the land, the determination and the family." ~ Ken Kesey 1935-2001

Despair

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ 9 of Swords

Winston Churchill's black dog of depression and desperation is paying a call again. Interesting it would come up after Clara's card yesterday.

I'm reminded by this card of several times in my life I've been suicidal. Sometimes just hanging on will eventually get one through because life has peaks in addition to valleys. Sometimes one has to ask for help, which I finally did, and a miracle occurred. I can only see it in hindsight because it certainly wasn't overnight...but if I hadn't finally asked for help I doubt I'd be here today. Saying life is good.

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get comfort or truth, only wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair." ~ C.S. Lewis 1898-1963

The deck this week is the Golden Tarot published by U.S. Games Systems 2003. Gilded deck and small 198 page book by Kat Black. Well done collage work based on art from Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

Burdens And Strength

Daily Draw: Golden Tarot ~ Strength

We never really know the burden someone walking beside us carries. I had a client I talked to every week for at least twelve years and we'd spoken of many many things, often subjects I'm pretty sure she had never talked to her family about. She was light hearted, cheerful, funny, with a deep understanding of human nature and world events. She wasn't scatty nor did she appear depressed in any way. When I'd known her about six years her grandson was run over and killed in the street in front of her home. The next year that home burnt to the ground. Big burdens.. yet she didn't crack and fail, she carried them along.

Five years later one Saturday morning she stepped out of her house, waved to her husband of fifty-two years and said she was running up to the post office. Instead she turned down a secluded road, parked her car, got out, set down on a stump, put a gun to her head and blew out her brains. To this day her family has zero idea why she did it nor the reason for the when of her doing it. I'm reminded by this card and my Clara sometimes carrying the burden of knowing why is heavier than not knowing. And how much strength it took Clara to live, and to die.

"No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.” ~ Cesare Pavese 1908-1950

Gimme

Daily Draw: Miss Cleo Tarot ~ Knight of Coins

I think it must be hard to have a lot of money. Number one reason being everyone has their hand out. I remember a lottery winner saying "no matter what you give someone they think it should be more", "more to the point of not having anything left for yourself".

I was grousing yesterday about a friend...why is she giving only $5.00 to these organizations when she could afford to give $5000.00 and never miss it. This card reminded me to mind my own business and to get busy with my own donation list. $5.00 is five times more than none.

The pig and the chicken were on their way to breakfast, trying to decide what to have. Chicken said, ''Let's have ham and eggs.'' Pig then replied, ''That's fine for you but where does it leave me?"

Not Futile, But Realistic

Daily Draw: Miss Cleo Tarot ~ 7 of Cups

This figure seems to be reaching for the dreams that are found in the 9 of cups. How many times have you heard you can achieve anything if you want it bad enough?

I'm reminded by this card that I don't believe that. Yes, whatever you do achieve will be by working for it but the huge dream? With work, but also luck, mentorship, environment, and money all play a big part.

"When I was still a rather precocious young man, I already realized most vividly the futility of the hopes and aspirations that most men pursue throughout their lives." ~ Albert Einstein 1879-1955

Lightbulb Moments

Daily Draw: Miss Cleo Tarot ~ Ace of Cups

It's early morning, we are sitting here talking about our do-list for the day. Small ideas; change the oil in the farm tractors, put up the plastic over the bedroom window, add some sunflower seed feeders, get a thermometer for the pond re: the koi.

I'm reminded by this card that little ideas are the fertilizer for the brain bombs, the ideas that raise the hair in the back of the neck, make the tummy tingle with excitement, the knowledge that we have something good here, it needs to be nurtured.

"Everyone is a genius at least once a year. The real geniuses simply have their bright ideas closer together." ~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1742-1799

Buffeting

Daily Draw: Miss Cleo Tarot ~ King Of Coins

Are there any required courses in schools now that teach the basics of personal financial stewardship? Not in my day, I entered adulthood not knowing how to balance a checkbook or what compounding interest could mean in cost (credit cards and loans) and gain (savings accounts, CD's, stock and bonds).

I'm reminded by this card of what a mess the general population is in, and how easy it is to snooker the financially oblivious public. On my news page this morning there is a headline regarding a 6.7 billion French swindle stolen from the rich; yesterday was the headline about Bell CA's city council robbers who were stealing from the poor. In both cases the King of Coins personality would have persisted in watching where his money was going.

"Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1." ~ Warren Buffet 1930-

A Little Bit

Daily Draw: Miss Cleo Tarot ~ Ace of Coins

We've been discussing more ways to cut expenses. And how our expenses might change in retirement stage. I don't enjoy driving and I hate talking on the phone. So eliminating one vehicle and only needing one phone would be two resources whose coin could be plowed back into the piggy bank.

I'm reminded by this coin also, of all the little ways we can trim expenses now. We get lazy in times of plenty, no doubt about it.

"How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world, than a good man, or a wise man in poverty!" ~ Ann Radcliffe 1764-1823

I've Seen You Before

Daily Draw: Miss Cleo Tarot ~ Emperor

I drew this card a couple of hours ago, and been sidelined into researching Emperor cards. I was thinking I'd not seen one who'd spent this much time working out. I would fully expect to see prison tats on this gentleman's fingers. I would also wonder who was really running the kingdom.

I'm reminded by this card I'll sadly probably never grow out of sizing up people by first impressions.

I'm using the Miss Cleo deck this week, she of the psychic network extravaganza. It is interesting to note that the consumer uproar that pulled down the conglomerate she worked for was about overcharges rather than lousy readings. People. You can lead them to common sense but you can't make them use it.

"Adjust your philosophy of first impressions. You should know they are meaningless by now." ~ Timothy Correa 1988-

The Earth Is Falling

Daily Draw: Bruegel Tarot ~ 7 of Cups

See chicken little in the upper left, waving his arms and trying to get the crowd to notice the manor house has achieved lift off?

I'm reminded by this card that perhaps the only way humans can deal with big events is to block them out until they can cope. Each figure here can probably see out of the corner of one eye what has occurred but as long as they don't face it full on they won't have to admit and address.

We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem. ~ Douglas Adams 1952-2001

It's Not Much To Ask

Daily Draw: Bruegel Tarot ~ 3 of Cups

Our true needs are small, but oh so diverse. Our true needs don't detract from or cause a shortage to anyone else's.

This tiny vignette reminds me of the magnitude of history; civilizations climbing out of the mud, their glory, their descent back into the mud...because they forgot their small true needs. Just enough, for everyone, no more.