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Daily Draw: The Fifth Tarot ~ 9 of Fire/Wands

Place holder for today's draw, just zooming by.
Interesting to get the 10 and 9 of wands serially.
I have some thoughts :) but then don't I always. Be back when I can.

Unknown Unintentionals

Daily Draw: The Fifth Tarot ~ 10 of Fire/Wands

This figure is shown moving within spirals of light. I see that light as the exemplar of behaviors I've seen this past week; mini-templates that just observing have required me to raise my own light and be a better person.

I'm reminded by this card that often I am a cynical sorrowful creature, road weary and worn out by how disappointed and disenchanted my fellow travelers leave me. This past week everyone who has touched my life has stepped up to the plate and then gone beyond. This in turn has caused me to reach deeper within and uncover some hitherto unrequired and unknown reserves. Sometimes we all walk in the light because someone else's brilliance unintentionally countermands our own guttering spark.

"As you think so shall you be." ~ Wayne Dyer 1940-

A new deck this week, The Fifth Tarot by Martien & Teressena Bakens, Blue Dolphin Publishing 2008. This deck takes it's name from the fifth suit added to the four standards ones. The suits are: Fire/Wands, Shells/Cups, Feathers/Swords, Stones/Discs, and Lotus/Ether. Ether is challenges of the spirit. The book is 336 pages, the deck contains 92 cards

Angles of Learning

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Hanged Man

The Hanged Man is suspended between two trees, seemingly held there by nothing but his personal convictions or perhaps stubborness. There are colored rings up and down both trunks signifying the duality of life. Even while at a standstill his horn continues to pour forth.

I'm reminded by this card how often it feels like nothing is changing or moving on or gaining any traction in life. That's alright, we can live without the drama of the Wheel or Tower in our life every week.
But if we take the time to stop and reflect all the little things we absorb each day can and do culminate in some type of progress in our mental, spirtual, and physical beings. We learn things that begin the process of a 360 degree turn, or adds another brick to our ideology, turns a few more hairs grey, or sometimes a well needed chink in our armor. The horn always pours, it is we who need to be open to utilize to our greatest good what we receive.

"Attending there let us absorb the cultures of nations
And dissolve into our judgement all their codes.
Then, being clogged, with a natural hesitation
(People are continually asking one the way out),
Let us stand here and admit that we have no road."
William Empson 1906-1984

Oh The Pain

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 10 of Swords

The hospital ER probably is second only to the police station in holiday day drama. Our hopes and expectations are so high what real life family could live up to it? I saw a beautifully dressed soft-spoken woman with a black eye and bloody nose. Two preschool children with no shoes or coats wander loose while the adult sat outside in the rain and smoked and yakked on her phone. I heard a lady screaming that the drugs weren't hers, she'd never allow drugs around her children. I saw road weary policemen, ambulance workers, doctors, staff of all levels who met the mêlée with courtesy, speed, thoughtful thorough care, consideration of ages and sensibilities...in other words everyday American heroes, doing what they do best.

I'm reminded by this card how really blessed I am, and have always been, and probably always will be. My blood and married family do not inflict pain, intentional or otherwise. These 10 Swords aren't for me today, but for the sad hearts and broken lives that surround us everywhere. Thank you Nurse Tammy, Nurse John, Dr. R, Dr. S, you are beautiful.


"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." ~ Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu Mother Teresa 1910-1997

The Weak Link

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Strength

The Strength in all of us...where do we draw from when terror or tragedy knocks us to our knees in shock? What corner of our core kicks in during an emergency? What makes one person a hero and one a coward in the same situation? How can one person hoe the row to lose 200 pounds and the next one can't stay the course to lose 10? We can say faith in a higher power all we want but I think we've probably all seen people of great faith collapse in uselessness when needed the most.

I'm reminded by this card that human beings are marvelous in their variety, and all the analysis in the world can't fully answer the question, why we are the way we are. Our Strength and the power it begets are one of the great miracles of life.

"Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power." ~ Tao Te Ching 600 BC

Trickster

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Fool

The Trickster, who disrupts and mocks. You know there will be one in every crowd. Someone who thinks any attention is better than no attention. Someone who thinks they know more than everyone else. Someone who always needs to be the boss even when none is required.

I'm reminded by this card to not allow these people to yank my chain or push me to a ill-advised reaction, I can walk away physically or virtually. Either way the only thing that should concern me is my reaction, not someone else's behavior. And to be ever mindful of Trickster behavior in myself.

Physician, heal thyself. ~ Luke 4:23

Harmony Discipline Control

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 3 of Swords

The artist and the author saw the rooster as harmony, discipline, control. I can see that in the 3 of Swords; if we hove to that credo we are going to miss out on wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony which usually results in the classic three swords through the heart.

I'm reminded by this card that if we have a lot of on-going trouble, heartache, and dead ends we need to spend some time looking inward. We drive the seven deadly sins cart and only we can derail those painful patterns that could color every corner of our life.

"I stand in the dark and take the rain's cold communion."
Unattributed web quote

Seekers

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 8 of Chalices

In this unusual take on the 8 of Chalices the owl is singlemindedly honing in on it's objective. I see in the background other birds who might be both harriers and charming distractions.

I'm reminded by this card that all work and no play makes for a dull life, but having and achieving goals are great pleasures and well worth the extra effort they may require.

My deck is again the Native American Tarot, stunning art by Sergio Tisselli, book by Laura Taun. Lo Scarabeo 2004.

Burdened

Daily Draw: Legacy of the Divine Tarot ~ 10 of Wands

This gentleman who looks suspiciously like Professor Snape is crawling through what we call dog-hairs. He may make it but when he stands up his load will pull him over on his back. So why is he doing what he is doing, the way he is doing it?

I'm reminded by this card of unrealistic expectations and perfectionism. Much of what we worry about the most never comes to happen; and if we'd just get on with the job at hand rather than think it to death, we'd free up both physical and mental hours every day.

"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

Strong

Daily Draw: Legacy of the Divine ~ Tower

The Tower moments of life are the biggies and can turn on a cataclysmic event. Or one spoken word. Either way, your life as you knew it is irreversibly changed. We may be able to pinpoint the moment in hindsight, but the changes ripple across years.

I'm reminded by this card that Tower moments are often described as "I wouldn't want to do it again, but it made me what I am today"...long term positive growth. The Tower we can't control, the results are up to us.

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-1900

The deck this week is Legacy of the Divine Tarot. Otherworld art described as 'a living holographic museum', and 300 page book by Ciro Marchetti. Published by Llewellyn Worldwide, 2009. I'm honored to have been gifted this kit by the bloggers over at Strength and The Star, Thank you very much.

Supersize The Water Please

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 8 of Coins

Genesis 3:19 says we are dust to dust, the 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer adds earth to earth, ashes to ashes. Here in the Pacific NW prior to the practice of embalming water to water is much more likely. At birth the human body is about 78% water, by the time we could be called Elders we consist of 55-60% water. Being 2% dehydrated can seriously adversely affect physical and mental functions. Being 15% dehydrated is likely to be lethal.

I'm reminded by this card and my clients what a simple fix to so many ailments hydrating can be, and wonder why humans here seem to deliberately fight it. Water is to our body what gold was to Midas.

"Water is the driving force of all nature." ~ Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

Father Sky

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Father Sky

Lo Scarabeo added two cards to this deck, Father Sky and Mother Earth. 'The utmost favor' is granted when one is drawn. Hey...I can get down with that.

I'm reminded by this card that I have everything I need. There is something my Rob needs that is beyond my capacity to provide. I would welcome a miracle, do back-flips and dance in the rain, fall to my knees in gratitude, should Father Sky offer the way.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." ~ John Muir 1838-1914

Morning Magic

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Magician

Before my first cuppa in fact. While the coffee is brewing I shuffle shuffle shuffle, fan, pull my card, photograph it with the digital camera, work it thorough the paces on my laptop in Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Whenever I get back home the variation will be to scan and run through Photoshop Elements. Then I whip online with my handy dandy Verizon Wireless thumbthingy and start to blog my daily draw.

I'm reminded by this card this is my favorite time of the day and how many ways modern magic touches it. We live in the age of miracles, and by extension I'm the magician.

"That's the thing with magic. You've got to know it's still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you." ~ Charles de Lint 1951-

She Who Sits Weaves

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Queen of Swords 

Somewhere in my mind there is a poem with those words in it. In trying to find it, I instead found a woman who weaves Spanish Moss to survive; three generations who use weaving as a lifeline to familyhood; Mayan backstrap weaving where the woman literally becomes part of the loom; a Native American grandmother whose ancient weaving art survives to be sold by the side of the road to gawping tourists; and back full circle with she who sits and my own Native American story with the Choctaw weavers and the Trail of Tears. 

I'm reminded by this card of tradition and ancestors, how the warp and weft of life both take us away and back to our roots. What thread will I be today? 

 "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." ~ Chief Seattle 1780-1866

Shield Me. Or Not.

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 9 of Wands

Who carries a shield these days? How out of date can you get? But on reflection we all do. Mostly invisible ones but constantly with us. We are too fat/tall/short/thin so we avoid or turn down invitations to play/dance/swim/party. We have a sore toe/knee/elbow/eyebrow so we avoid or turn down a chance to cruise/fly/horseback/bike.

I'm reminded by this card these kinds of shields don't protect, they harm. For every single excuse we can think up to avoid something there is someone with a real reason not to participate, participating like mad, gleaning the joy/fun/triumph that might have been ours...if we'd just lose the shield. There is no excuse to avoid life and all it offers.

"Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings." ~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross 1926-2004

Well, Crud!

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Ace of Wands

Another Ace of Wands. Another Ace urging me to learn something, think about something, do something, start something...Well, crud. I'm tired of starting fresh, I want to finish something. I want to BE something, already have DONE something, HAVE something I didn't have to work so ruddy hard for. So I threw the card down on the table and got up and washed down the stove. Then I washed the coffee container. Then I did up the little daub of dishes from last night. And you know what? Just that easily, I'd began my Ace of Wands day.

I'm reminded by this card that sometimes an Ace is just a reminder to get off my (Y) and move three steps. Out of the funk into the clearing. How easy was that? I'm ready to tackle the rest of my Sunday.

"The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble." ~ Blaise Pascal 1623-1662

My deck this week is Native American Tarot, stunning art by Sergio Tisselli, book by Laura Taun. Lo Scarabeo 2004

Pssst...Did You Hear

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords ~ 7 of Swords

Oooo...gossip. The sin we love to hate and hate to love.

I'm reminded by this card while they are hard at it with each other, they both have swords drawn but hidden. If someone will gossip with you they will guaranteed also gossip about you. Don't kid yourself that they won't. They can't not, regardless of any promise they made you.

"Gossip needn't be false to be evil - there's a lot of truth that shouldn't be passed around." ~ Frank A. Clark 1911-1962

Contemplation

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords ~ 3 of Wands

All the threes are often read as contemplation of a type and the three of wands is seldom shown with this much activity. Obviously my time of thinking is coming to a transition point. Even the intensive course I'm taking this week while on the surface is solely in relation to my FIL, it paves the way for one of the directions I intend to travel next.

I'm reminded by this card and the word next that life is never static, it is full of both gradual and flung-into-it changes. Ignoring, avoiding, and clinging won't alter the movement, only cramp and crowd our soul and spirit. Open the door.

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." ~ Isaac Asimov 1920-1992

Gear Up

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords ~ 7 of Wands

The frilled lizard is ready. Prepared. Raring to go.

I'm reminded by this card I still have four of the five chapters of homework left to do for class today.

"First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst." ~ Dale Carnegie 1888-1955

Pick Yourself Up

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords Ace of Cups

Mr. Antelope here is prepared and ready. Two things I thought I was yesterday. Until I walked into the house tired and hungry at 7 PM and sat down to a meal of Tootsie Rolls and Lay's Potato Chips. Ah, the salt. Ah, the chocolate. Ah, the two pounds up today.

I'm reminded by this card that all the walks and all the healthy breakfasts and lunches won't balance that kind of behavior at night. I need to plan for my dinner while I eat my breakfast. Easy Peasy...if I do it.

"Glutton: one who digs his grave with his teeth." French proverb and food for thought.

Royal Queen or raving queen?

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords ~ Queen of Cups

This is one of those oddball Lo Scarabeo cards where a book telling what the artist had in mind would help. This is the Queen of Cups card but the female pea hen is the drab minor bird, the dressed peacock has the shape of a female but the plumage of the male. Is the card pointing to transgendered, transvestite, or children playing dress up? That anyone can be a queen minus all the pomp? That both men and women are equal to ruling? False fronts, looks don't matter, such a large bird should have chosen a larger branch? That everything will turn out rosy in the end?

I'm reminded by this card what I don't understand about life far outweigh what I think I do know. Today I begin a four day intensive course to learn how to be what I already am and have been for many years. Will the course be pointless? Absolutely not, I expect to learn a ton of helpful information. I've been dressed as a peacock with just drab knowledge. I look forward to earning a few feathers I didn't get the hard way.

"The hair is real; it's the head that's fake." ~ Steve Allen 1921-2000

Forgot To Remember

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords ~ 7 of Cups

A newly created mythical creature astride an ancient mythical creature. Sort of like our memories sometimes...wishcraft to a high degree.

I'm reminded by this card of how tricky human memory can be. Everything we see, do, think, is lodged in our brain somewhere, so much that occasionally it is hard to remember what we ate for breakfast. But what purpose is gained by disremembering an event and recreating it to suit our ego's wishes? We've all been there when someone is telling a baldfaced lie. I'm betting we've all done it ourselves. We aren't kidding anyone. Why rebuild the past, painful as it might be? Why not move forward and create with purpose and intent, exciting and interesting memories of mythical proportions founded in truth? When presented with the opportunity to do so, seize the day and make a memory worth telling.

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened ~ T.S. Eliot 1888-1965

Tatonka

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Animal Lords ~ 8 of Cups

The 8 of Cups is a traveler. Nothing is ever quite right, the grass is greener on the other side of the country, the pay/air/girls are better across town.

I'm reminded by this card that the bison have been in North America for at least 10,000 years, but they got here via the Bering Strait. Is anyone native? How could we be, ever destined to be interlopers on a planet that can no longer cope with our 'everything is better if we have more of it' mentality. No wonder the skulls on the staff of this sojourner.

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed." ~ Mahatma Gandhi 1869-1948

Tarot of the Animal Lords, artwork by Angelo Giannini, 2003, Lo Scarabeo Torino Italy is the deck in use this week.

Mother's Love

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot ~ 7 of Arrows/Swords

This suit features the love story of Cupid and Psyche. The 7 of Swords shows Cupid wounded in the background, his mother Venus tending him. With a vengence.

I'm reminded by this card that the biggest mistake any parent can make is to do too much, be too protective of their children. The ramifications are a curse through adulthood.

'Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression." ~ Haim G. Ginott 1922-1973

Passion's Flames

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot ~ 9 of Staves/Wands

This card portrays Siegfried awakening Brunnhilde with a kiss within her fiery prison. Siegfried thought the quest complete, Brunnhilde knew it was just beginning.

I'm reminded by this card there is only one finish line that matters and when we cross that we really have exhausted our chances to get it right. Until then our safari through life's adventures continues. Merciful Journey.

"Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.” ~ Peter S. Beagle 1939-

Second Marriages

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot ~ 4 of Staves/Wands

I know a lot of couples who had good first marriages in which one of the spouses died. They went on to make good second marriages. So I know it is possible to have two marriages made in heaven so to speak, and that there is more than 'the one' for everyone.

I can't imagine it for myself. At all.

"Success in marriage does not come merely through finding the right mate, but through being the right mate." ~ Barnett R. Brickner 1892-1958

It Takes Two

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot Triumph/World

This is the tale of Ariadne, her faithless love Theseus, who later finds true love in Dionysus. If our physical survival rate was as high as the divorce rate probably all the current world's woes would disappear. There wouldn't be enough of us to create green house effects, or use up petrofuels, we wouldn't be wearing out our infrastructures, there would be food enough for all. But...I promised to stick to love this week didn't I?

There are many steps to true love. I still hold a small warm spot for my first love even though I haven't seen or heard anything of him in forty years. I had angst galore over my first crush, unrequited, that lasted four long years...and I've experienced the gut-wrenching pain of love betrayed. All those things crafted who I am and how we've managed to stay married for forty years. Recognizing how truly fragile love is, and nurturing that relationship forever, not just the first six months, is key to Triumph.

"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1900-1944

To Be Continued

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot ~ High Priestess/Wisdom

This is the card of Sharazade who saved her life each morning by leaving her husband wanting to hear the rest of the tale, the cliff-hanger that became the stories of the 1001 Nights.

I've been married just short of 40 years and my Rob still continues to surprise me in word or action. We can never know someone completely and that is a good thing to remember. Keeps things interesting...

"Always leave them wanting more" ~ Walt Disney 1901-1066

Light My Fire

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot ~ Awakening/Sun

Psyche and Cupid's story is featured in this card of a long journey to goals and how each step educates and enlarges even though at the time it may not make sense or dismays us.

I'm reminded by this card that nothing worthwhile is ever easy and we need to exert energy to keep what we have, making efforts to freshen and renew lest we make the mistake of growing disdainful of our own treasures.

"We always get bored with those whom we bore." ~ François de la Rochefoucauld 1613-1680

Waiting, Watching

Daily Draw: Lover's Path Tarot ~ 10 of Cups

This card is a tribute to Tristan and Isolde and references the tree planted by King Mark. My sense of fair play wants to write about King Mark, but I'm looking forward to my own 10 of Cups day and after all, this is the Lover's Path deck so I'll take the happily ever after tack instead. Perhaps all week...wouldn't that be a novelty at Quirkeries?

My Rob has been missing in action for two weeks, laid low by the flu. We Miss Him! So Small Dog and I are keeping our eyes peeled on the driveway watching for the big blue Dodge Ram filled with doggies, goats, and pumpkins for the chickens to come rolling in. True Love, ain't it grand?

Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle
Everything I do is stitched with its color. ~ William Stanley Merwin 1927-

The working deck this week will be The Lover's Path Tarot by Kris Waldherr, 161 page book and deck published by U.S. Games Systems, 2004; the most beautifully crafted and boxed edition I've ever known them to put out.