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

Dormant

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

Ahh...my companion this month, the dreaded 9 of Swords. My eye is drawn to the bracketing root system with nothing showing at the surface, and the frog, a Western symbol of life-style changes.

I'm reminded by this card that sometimes any companion is better than no companion, and that I am in the place I am by choice. My cycle will change later and the dormant roots of a life placed on hold will once again produce new shoots.

"A man who has never lost himself in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life's mountaintop experiences. Only in losing himself does he find himself. Only then does he discover all the latent strengths he never knew he had and which otherwise would have remained dormant." ~ Richard M. Nixon 1913-1994

Too Much or Too Little?

Daily Draw: Navigators of the Mystic Sea ~ 7 of Pentacles

The figure on the right has stopped to smell a rose, admire the view, and is satisfied with enough. The figure on the left is focused on one thing with no time or patience for much else. It can be money or church or golf or anything we allow to consume or isolate us.

I'm reminded by this card that it doesn't have to be either or. In both cases the choice has resulted in missing out on something. Either it costs too much or it takes too much time.

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion and desire." ~ Aristotle 384 BC - 322 BC

Alice Through The Looking Glass

Daily Draw: Navigators of the Mystic Sea ~ 7 of Swords

Is this figure sneaking out, sneaking in, sneaking up upon, sneaking away from, hiding from itself, or lost in a scary place?

I'm reminded by this card of how many emotions we use to mask fear. Anger usually being the first choice. We dramatically alter our lives in order to get away from fear, changing jobs/changing partners/changing locations...I've found when I've confronted my fears rather than retreating from them, what I've feared isn't such a much. Too bad it took 50-something years to figure that out.

"It is well known that "problem avoidance" is an important part of problem solving. Instead of solving the problem you go upstream and alter the system so that the problem does not occur in the first place." ~ Francis Charles Publius 1933-

I Let Them Slip Away

Daily Draw: Navigators of the Mystic Sea ~ 10 of Cups

In this deck, based on the Golden Dawn Tree of Life tradition, the author has reversed the pips, you begin with the 10's and work up to the aces. So rather than showing us the best life has to offer, we see that inattention or too narrow a focus will allow what we hold dear to slip away from us.

I dreamed last night of my four best friends from high school. I got hugs from them all. It was a wonderful dream and I woke up feeling nurtured. It has been 30 years since I had contact with three of them, yet I know where they are, I have the phone numbers and address of two of them...we may all have nothing but the past in common any more, but why did I let them slip away in the first place? Who has too many friends?

"Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live." ~ Norman Cousins 1912-1990

Spy or Mentor?

Daily Draw: Navigators Of The Mystic Sea ~ 8 of Pentacles

The author has included keywords with this deck, but what comes to mind when I look at this card is copycats, not economy. I can see it as there is nothing new under the sun, we all stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before us; or I can see the spy glass as a cheater, or an overseer, or a mentor.

I'm reminded by this card of how many ways there are to see a situation, depending on the person's viewpoint. My SIL is coming here to see her dad today, I'm really hoping we can work though her anger at me for being here taking care of her folks. She must have a logical reason for it from her viewpoint and I want that anger to go away.

"From the viewpoint of absolute truth, what we feel and experience in our ordinary daily life is all delusion. Of all the various delusions, the sense of discrimination between oneself and others is the worst form, as it creates nothing but unpleasant." ~ Dalai Lama 1935-

Julia Turk is the artist and author of this week's deck, Navigators of the Mystic Sea. Published by U.S. Games Systems 1997, images courtesy of Taroteca.

Singing Bowl Intentions

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home ~ 1 of Wind Songs

Have you ever listened or used a Singing Bowl? You can listen to some beautiful ones here. Like a tuning fork, the sound vibrates on long after our human ears can no longer hear it.

I'm reminded by this card our actions and intent do the same. If I start my day in a wishy-washy way my results for the day will be the same. If my intention is good and I put my heart and back to the intent, my results, like the Singing Bowl, will carry forward.

"Be intent upon the perfection of the present day." ~ William Law 1686-1761

Playful X Two

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home ~ 9 of Earth Songs

Like yesterday's 2 of Wave Songs, this card shows an utterly playful scene. Living away from home and watching my father-in-laws slide into dementia I sometimes forget one of life's basic structures, playfulness.

I'm reminded by this card that when the bad is cupped with the good it makes the bad not so bad and the good even better. I'm going to go ask F-I-L if he'd like to take a ride to WallyWorld. Maybe he will even feel good enough to use one of their carts and we can play in the isles of the world's biggest StuffStore.

"It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274

Simple Fun

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home ~ 2 of Wave Songs/Cups

I'm reminded by this card of how much fun the simple things of life can be, particularly when shared with a companion. And just how fast we can complicate life.

"The trouble with simple living is that, though it can be joyful, rich, and creative, it isn't simple." ~Doris Janzen Longacre 1940-1979

All In The Viewpoint

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home ~ 9 of Wave Songs

A joy filled image after all the swords of the past week. We've been home for two nights and feel rested and more able to tackle what life deals us. Since I've been away from my in-laws there have been three incidents, including driving the tractor through the pasture gate.

I'm reminded by the joy in this image that a gate is just a gate and as long as no one was hurt who cares. A farm always has a gate or fence that needs repaired, right? And an old farmer needs to feel useful and needed. And he is.

"Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed." ~ Storm Jameson 1891-1986

I've decided to bite the bullet and go wireless so shortly I'll be back to my deck of the week and daily draws posted. I'm not hauling a scanner/printer around so today's image is from my digital camera rather than crisp and clear from the scanner. Whatever works, right? I love doing this blog and setting my intent for the day here.

Screwed

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home ~ 6 of Wind Songs

Ahh, I'm beset by Swords this week. Believe it or not I've drawn the 10 of Wind Songs/Swords three times this week, yesterday I drew a clarifier for that card and got the 8 of Wind Songs/Swords. And here I have the 6. Now here is a plain speaking image if I ever saw one.

I'm reminded by this card, as I watch my FIL slip further into dementia each day, the utter hopelessness, frustration, and helplessness I on his face as he tries to pull back the tattered thoughts he was just working on. And of course they are completely gone so he stands before the tractor or TV without a clue to where he was going or what he was going to do when he got there.

"Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food." ~ Austin O'Malley 1858-1942

Mired In The Web

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home ~ 10 of Wind Songs

A fresh take on the already grim 10 of Swords card. But here we are presented with two visions or versions. Is the spider simply making a living with no malice toward the butterfly? Or was the butterfly in the wrong place at the wrong time, unable to avert the coming long slow death?

I'm reminded by this card of vegetarianism and the truth and common sense of their stand that I understand, yet at the same time I'm raising chickens and beef for our table. Does that make me a Spiderfly? Walking between worlds freely, or mired in the web?

"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr 1929-1968

I Spy With My Eye

Daily Draw: Songs For The Journey Home, Catching Up

Despite the lack of activity here on my tarot blog, believe me, I'm still doing my daily draws, they are the nicest way to center myself and begin my day. At our farm I have no computer so I've been noting them at the top of the page in the little daily book I am using to help me learn about how to count carbohydrates so I can better understand and help my F-I-L with his diabetes.

So below is a little catch up, with occasional stray thoughts on the card drawn.
Flame Songs=Wands
Earth Songs=Coins
Wave Songs=Cups
Wind Songs=Swords

May 31: Earth Innocence: Square peg, independent
June 1: 3 of Wave Songs: Pleasure, friendship, companionability
June 2: 10 of Earth Songs: Good work together, good times out of small occurrences
June 3: Lovers: Nurturance. So many times we hear "I Love..." but we see no nurturance which is key whether people/place/thing.
June 4: Hanged Man: I usually see this card as a hard choice we've made, but I've been thinking about it recently as a choice outside our control. Like medical and physical restrictions; we can only hang and look at what we want or should be doing. If we only could.
June 5: 7 of Wave Songs: Net full of responsibilities or full of blessings? How full is the cup?
June 6: Strength: Friendship and the ties that bind as surely as rope or duct tape.
June 7: Death: How can I count the ways? Grief, inner, root, what shows, expressions of grief, expectations, needs, wants, hope, dreams, plans, ideas, intentions, thoughts, words, projects, income, passion, energy, flame, love, respect, assumptions, appearances, care, happiness, memory, strength...can all die, leaving us with... what?
June 8: 10 of Wind Songs: Senility, dementia
June 9: 4 of Winds Songs: Get away from it all, flee from real life

June 10: 2 of Flame Songs

How many different ways are there to view a subject? And then discuss, argue, fight, blend, combine those ideas? The scientist looks up and sees cold dust a million millennia old, the dreamer looks out and sees the potential for life.

I'm reminded by this card to avoid the "my way or the highway" attitude. I love to learn new things, and it comes easier if I relax and listen; and sometimes accept someone else's idea of something new.

"They are ill discoverers that think there is no land, when they can see nothing but sea." ~ Francis Bacon 1561-1626