Family Matters

Daily Draw: Victorian Flower Oracle ~ Daisy, Family Matters

What is family, to begin with. We didn't have children and have seldom lived where we could just zip over to parents or siblings for a quick cuppa. So family has consisted of neighbors, or work colleagues, and after 1996 when I got my first computer, a worldwide network of cyber-friends, many whom I've met and spent days or weeks with in person.

This card reminds me that I'll cross the world to meet and spend time with someone, yet I don't think my only neighbor has ever been in my home. I believe that probably makes me a dysfunctional family of one.

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." ~ Jane Howard 1935-1996

Needs and Necessities

Daily Draw: Victorian Flower Oracle ~ Sweet Pea, Needs and Necessities

The rear-figure is bewailing the parched landscape while the fore-figure is drinking her fill and more. That pretty much sums up society from the beginning of time and most particularly our own.

We want it and want it now, regardless of the cost to the future. Lost civilizations are mute proof.

"It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones." ~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn 1918-2008

Thorny Question

Daily Draw: Victorian Flower Oracle ~ Wild Rose, A Thorny Question

Not really. I've already made two huge decisions this month, prickly though they were. We are now coming into December and it is time for me to choose what my focus of learning will be in 2011. Wow. How did we get to 11 from Y2K so fast.

I'm reminded by this card if we allow time to roll across us unnoted, unobserved, uncared, we might as well be in a pine box counting nails. Life is for living, what will you be experiencing for 2011?

In place of a pithy quotations I'll share the high drama of Google returns for "Thorny Question".

The thorny question: quality of Canadians in the Toronto FC soccer forum

Thorny Question: Should American Indians and Alaska Natives Buy Their Own Health Insurance?

A Thorny Question: Who is Responsible for Transcription Costs?

Thorny question: Outerwear

The thorny question of the last bean.

The deck this week is the forty card Victorian Flower Oracle by Magic Realist Press of Prague, Czech Republic, 2006. Accompanying 132 page book written by Shelia Hamilton.

Crybaby

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Oracle ~ 3 of Swords

"You are over-sensitive". One of my high school teachers told me this after she'd asked the class how often our feeling were hurt and I responded "every day".

I'm reminded by this card that maybe high school wasn't the rosy picture I think when I read how hard children have it today with the bullying. In truth we had them too, 40-50 years ago. The good news was there were only about 250 kids in the whole 1-12 grades, so there weren't enough bully's to clap together a gang.

"I'm not going to use the b-word. I just call y'all unstable creatures." ~ Sweet-Pea, Baby Boy 2001

Mind Me Now, You Hear?

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Tarot ~ Emperor

Do you chafe at rules and restrictions? Do some aspects of the law get on your last nerve?

I'm reminded, by looking at this character, it isn't so much the rules and laws, but some of the people who enforce them that has caused me to occasionally run afoul. Pigheaded, obstinate, little tin dictators. I feel better having realized that for some reason.

"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it." ~ Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862

Blessed Naivety

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Tarot ~ 2 of Cups

The Addams Family had one of these chairs in their living room, they'd sit people there they didn't trust. I suppose they were designed, like a bundling board, to keep people in love or lust from getting up to tricks.

I'm reminded by this card nothing short of death has ever kept humans from getting up to tricks. Even though each succeeding generation thinks they invented sex and their parents have never ever done it. And certainly not out of wedlock. Love on, world.

"I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing." ~ Johnny Carson 1925-2005

Censorship

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Tarot ~ Strength

I'm giving up a pleasurable habit of four or five years today. Not because I don't enjoy it any more but because I feel so strongly about the concept of freedom of speech.

I'm reminded by this card how easy it is to not do something you don't care about. And how many times in my life I've not stood up to be counted. Today I count, by my absence.

"We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongue, at our peril, risk and hazard." ~ Voltaire, Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764

Hurry The Future

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

Restless. That's me. I feel the need to rush rush rush but I have no goal I must get to. I feel the need to hurry hurry hurry but I have nothing urgent to hurry for. So I can feel the ruthless bone in my psyche itching, saying if you can't do something new destroy something old, at least it's action.

I'm reminded by this card why I need to keep a tight rein on myself, and to put the whip away.

"One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on." ~ D.H. Lawrence 1885-1930

Drumming

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Tarot ~ Page of Wands

Can't fault this drummer boy Page for trying. I too would love to have a drum, but until that day comes when I feel like drumming I sit on my back door stoop with a metal bowl and a wooden spoon tapping and pounding away.

I'm reminded by this card that many of our reasons for not doing something are hogwash. If there is a will there is a way. Put the ego away and pick up a wooden spoon with me.

"Seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God." ~ Lionel Hampton 1908-2002

Dirty Dirt

Daily Draw: Victorian Trading Card Tarot ~ Queen of Swords

No obfuscation allowed when dealing with this lady. Tell her the truth. Save the little white lies and gossip for someone who cares. She will do you the same courtesy.

I'm reminded by this card I'd rather one friend like this than ten of the other kind.

"In our appetite for gossip, we tend to gobble down everything before us, only to find, too late, that it is our ideals we have consumed, and we have not been enlarged by the feasts but only diminished." ~ Pico Iyer 1957-

The deck I'm using this week comes from Marcia McCord, each image was carefully chosen from actual Victorian Trading Cards; she did a bang up job on it and I'm glad to be among the few who own one. It is poker-sized making it a great carry-along deck on the go.

Heart And Mind

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 6 of Cups

The companion book makes an interesting observation; The mind sorts life and its experiences into past present and future, for the heart there is no time, just feeling.

I'm reminded by this card that must be why after 40 years of marriage, my Rob still looks 25 to me. It is certainly fun going out and about with a toyboy...eat your hearts out girls.

"When you smiled you had my undivided attention. When you laughed you had my urge to laugh with you. When you cried you had my urge to hold you. When you said you loved me, you had my heart forever." (unknown)

The Invisible Team

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 3 of Coins

No man is an island, and never more true when it comes to making or spending or investing money. Someone must have a need, in order for us to make money. There has to be more than just us to have anything to use that income for.

I'm reminded by this card how narrow visioned I can be because I've been self employed for so long. I needed to be reminded of the above. It takes a team whether we know the other players or not.

"Therefore the meaning of my life is not to be looked for merely in the sum total of my own achievements. It is seen only in the complete integration of my achievements and failures with the achievements and failures of my own generation, and society, and time." ~ Thomas Merton 1915-1968

Inflated Expectations

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 10 of Coins

The companion book gives the standard meaning for this card abundance or legacy or inheritance, or complete satisfaction. I look at this image and no one looks happy, more like hard times following hard news. The family fortune could be said to be going right out the door.

I also see in this image a sturdy home, rich materials, elegant lounge, high end leather purse, a large pet, beautiful weather, spring flowers, and each other. Our vision of our life is much tempered by how we view it isn't it? Do these characters see everything they have, or everything they need?

"Life is so constructed, that the event does not, cannot, will not, match the expectation." ~ Charlotte Bronte 1816-1855

Hoarding

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 4 of Coins

Despite all government 'proofs' that this isn't a depression and we are 'well out of it now' that isn't the picture here. Job listings have a thousand applicants and when you see the resumes, oh how the mighty have fallen.

I'm reminded by this card of stockpiling or hoarding. I'm all for having enough food in the house for a couple of weeks, but I'm thinking of the two thousand pounds of sugar, eight cases of soup, twelve cases of toilet paper. Doesn't matter what it is, if black days come, someone will find out and take it away from you. And what's the point? The 30's Depression lasted ten years. Where can you put ten years worth of essentials? All I'm really saying is we need to put some thought into what we hold valuable in a normal society. Friends, family, pets, jobs. With that line-up in our mental storage box we can face and survive anything.

"Bankers know that history is inflationary and that money is the last thing a wise man will hoard." ~ Will Durant 1885-1981

Rare Knowledge

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ King of Swords

Ah, the King of thought and ideas, sitting on a gorgeous natural hewn tree throne. Do I think Druids had anything to do with anything going on in this deck? No, nor do I think it reflects Druidic life. But...

I'm reminded by this card, that while life was at the primitive stage, far from the idea of blue plaid pajama bottoms in public, the ancients on all the continents could and did move and shape enormous stones and timbers, place them precisely, and time the solstices. We, in all our combined computer brains can't figure out how they did it, or why. So who has the advanced civilization?

"Do not be arrogant about your knowledge nor trust that you are one who knows. Take counsel with the ignorant as with the knowing. The limits of skill are not reached And no Artisan is equipped with perfection." ~ Ptahhotep, 6th Dynasty (2300 to 2150 BCE) Egypt.

Everything I Need

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 9 of Coins

Coins are the earthly suit. They can refer to health or wealth and all that falls between; when I see the nine of coins I see a human who knows whatever she has, it is enough.

I'm reminded by this card metaphorically speaking my branch is bare and I'm really worried about it. I shouldn't be. Within that dead looking branch is one hundred years worth of fresh growth resting and what I need will come when I need it...rather than when I want it.

"Look for something, find something else, and realize that what you've found is more suited to your needs than what you thought you were looking for.” ~ Lawrence Block 1938-

Inheritance

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ King of Coins

There he sits. Of an age that could be called elderly, he has made his pile, he has achieved all the worldly success he wanted and now, there he sits.

I'm reminded by this card, and observation, this must be a weird and painful time of life. I've seen children, old enough to be retired themselves come put the touch on the old man or old woman. I've seen the pain and exasperation; they don't trust the child to use the funds responsibly and they don't understand why what the touchee has isn't enough, when it was enough for the touchor. They don't understand why belt tightening isn't the first course of action. But still, they leave these people in the will..."they are my children". That's the weird part.

If anyone is interested my estate goes to the local animal shelter.

"A son could bear complacently the death of his father while the loss of his inheritance might drive him to despair." ~ Niccolo Machiavelli 1469-1527

The deck this week is the beautiful and expressive DruidCraft Tarot, art by Will Worthington, 192 page fascinating book by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, published by St. Martin's Press 2004 and in steady production ever since which speaks to how popular this deck is.

The Burden

Daily Draw: Secret Garden Tarot ~ 10 of Wands

I've had acres of time to reflect this week on what a huge burden single parents and single caregivers carry. I have no idea how they manage and still survive. One day at a time I suppose?

I'm reminded by this card of our silent heroes.

"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

Reality Hurts

Daily Draw: Secret Forest Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

Ever been in a fender bender wreck? You are going along, minding your own beeswax when WHAM your day instantly changes. Doesn't matter if you were stepping out for a quart of milk or going to a wedding, your focus is now on the immediate.

I haven't been in a wreck this week, but this card reminds me that I've had the same sudden forced focus shift. The owl, one of my three totems, reminds me I can work my way around this problem too, even if facing facts can be painful.

"Designing and implementing a strategy for change is a waste of time until you have discovered and embraced the current reality." ~ Andy Stanley 1958-

New Day, Same Old Song

Daily Draw: Secret Forest Tarot ~ 4 of Cups

I've been chafing at my commitments, pushing the envelope of what I'm able to do, setting things in order to go a new direction. Or rather recharge an old direction.

I'm reminded by this card of my wake up call yesterday. There are reasons I'm in the position I'm in and one of them has reared it's ugly head. I can not go in old directions, period. I'd forgotten why. So I'll sit and stare at my cups awhile longer, and try to see my prison as an opportunity, or at least in a fresh light.

"A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul: a sick body is a prison." ~ Francis Bacon, Sr. 1561-16

Stepping Out

Daily Draw: Secret Forest Tarot ~ Page of Cups

I'm dogged by the Pages lately. They could be new beginnings but that is more the Ace's realm. I see a Page and think awkward.

I let a chance go by to meet new people with similar interests last night. Typical of me. It was stormy, I was comfortable, I was busy... But part of that truth was it is awkward to walk into a group of people who all know each other and not feel like a dork. Even at my age. Wasted opportunity.

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring. ~ Leo Buscaglia 1924-1998

Unstuck

Daily Draw: Secret Forest Tarot ~ Star

I'm stumped for words :) I'll be back later.

I posted the above around 7 AM, it's now 1 PM and I'm still stumped. Maybe there is a cog out of whack on my thinking machine. While I was not thinking I decided to search my blog for Star and see what I did or didn't think in the past.

In May I was thinking Salt Of The Earth and longevity. Probably because I'd just finished five months of hospice for my FIL.
March was Thar She Blows and short lives and pointless deaths.
January was Rebirth and how much we need spring in our lives.
September '09 was Which Came First? about triggers of and for change.
August '09 was about Reflections and making time to play.

I'm reminded by all these Star cards how much fun tarot is when I ignore fortune-telling keywords and put my mind to the image before me and where and how I am on that specific day. No wonder I'm seldom stumped. Ripples and reflections, something always floats to the top of the Star pond.

"There are two distinct classes of what are called thoughts: those that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord." ~ Thomas Paine 1737-1809

Unshaped

Daily Draw: Secret Forest Tarot ~ Page of Swords

This could be a violin and bow. It is probably shield, sword, and lance. The opposite side of the card shows this page dressed in armor, but it isn't a full fitted suit, it is a patchwork of ill-fitting, broken, and misused pieces. And what is a swordsman doing with that lance or stave?

I'm reminded by this Page that finding our footing in the adult world is not a piece of cake. Fitting the parts of that world into a interesting well-balanced package is even more difficult. No wonder we are often found with the wrong tools at the right time.

"I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight. A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it." ~ Charles Dickens 1812-1870

Patchwork Lives

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Secret Forest ~ Justice

This Justice says all are created equal, therefore world balance should be a cinch.

There are those that wail, tear their hair, and gnash their teeth because they feel in a world where all are supposed to be equal, they got shortchanged. The truth of the first paragraph is in the word created. We exit the womb and instantly environment will change that equality. Not long thereafter choice enters the equation and we make our own version of equality, mostly "I've got mine, I don't care about yours". Sad but true. So much for this Justice, real life intervenes.

"We do not live an equal life, but one of contrasts and patchwork." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

The deck this week is an excellent example of Lo Scarabeo Publishing's willingness to step outside the Rider-Waite tarot box and offer something that makes the brain work...no rote fortune-telling here. Each card has two sides, a black and white rough draft, and the colored side, the finished card art. The humans in the art take a back seat to the setting and the natural and unnatural creatures who inhabit it. If you want to stretch and grow your reading abilities, this is a great deck to do it with. Published 2005, beautiful art by Lucia Mattioli. She is hard at work on a second deck, this one landscape rather than upright, with a double image on each. More thinking required!

Nurture The Seed

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ Page of Coins

Yesterday we had immaturity at it's worst, today, at it's tender and fragile best. This image is Triptolemus who was gifted with the art of nurturing agricultural skills.

I'm reminded by this card of so many of our starving neighbors and how important good seed and good farming is to a good crop. Bless the farmers of the world, true gentleman of the soil.

"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." ~ Dwight David Eisenhower 1890-1969

Immaturity

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ Page of Swords

Looks a fairly innocuous and peaceful image, right? Hardly. This is Zephyrus, ruler of the west wind. Immature and ungoverned, he takes his pleasure in raging storms and turbulent seas.

I'm reminded by this card of how immature I feel when my temper gets the better of me. Ridiculous behavior for an adult.

"It is only our bad temper that we put down to being tired or worried or hungry; we put our good temper down to ourselves." ~ C.S. Lewis 1898-1963

First Impressions

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ King of Wands

This image shows us King Theseus of Athens. As king he was the first to unite the constantly warring city-states of Greece. Sounds impressive. But dull. This image shows us nothing of his other side, the one that was the son of both Poseidon and King Aegeus. The multiple romances, the pirate, the shaper of the future...

I'm reminded by this card of first impressions. They may be correct for that moment, but humans are a changing and evolving bunch. Anyone who says "I'm a pretty good reader of people" needs new glasses and a new mindset. I'm certainly not the same person I was three years ago. Too bad that first impression is the one we can seldom see around later.

"Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago." ~ Horace Mann 1796-1869

The Touch

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ 6 of Coins

If you are alive, you've no doubt been hit up for a loan or a gimme. If they have to ask, they probably won't have the resources to pay it back, that's just common sense regardless of promises.

I'm reminded by this card, if it's family just say no, or make it a gift. Those two options also make it a gift to your blood pressure, your heart, and your peace of mind.

"I can get no remedy against this consumption of the purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the disease is incurable." ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Do It Yourself

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ Wheel

Rather than advising us to just hold on, because the wheel will turn for us and we will win the lottery eventually, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos offer the better advice of commonsense.

Don't expect someone else to create your life, do it yourself.
Review your life often, see what's working and what isn't.
Be ruthless with the dead wood, it only wears you down. We can create the life we need.

"Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering our own lives." ~ Anthony Robbins 1960-

The Color Grey

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ Knight of Swords

This is the story of the Dioscuri Twins but I look at the card and see grey clouds, grey horse, grey armor and swords, grey ground and mountains. I see the color of depression.

I'm reminded by this card of the color of being depressed, and not being depressed. To someone standing on the outside our color never changes. It is on the inside, where we live, that the color washes out of our lives like water down a spout.

"May memory restore again and again
The smallest color of the smallest day"
Delmore Schwartz 1913-1966