Beginagain, Again

Daily Draw: Shakespearian Tarot ~ Ace of Wands

Aces. Bless their hearts. Yesterday the Ace of Coins. And this morning's draw. And in reply to a personal query today I drew the Ace of Swords. I'm not a bit surprised, I'd be more surprised if there were no Aces showing.

I'm reminded by this card, that while I do not believe in traditional fortune telling by the cards, I most certainly do believe they can clarify situations for me. And make fun of me. And comfort me. And entertain me. That is a lot of value from a pack of paper and ink. This Ace of Wands acknowledges we've once again set in motion long reaching changes...but first we had to start.

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." ~ Maria Robinson

Recognizing An Opportunity

Daily Draw: Shakespearian Tarot ~ Ace of Coins

A ways back on Quirkeries I titled a card One of Coins. An odd brain blip; I knew One didn't sound right but for that moment I couldn't conceive tarot ones being called Aces. A prime example for not recognizing something right in front of me.

I'm reminded by this Ace quite often opportunity goes by, even knocks, and we don't see the option. Or we think following the crumb trail will be more effort that we are willing to expend. Shame, that; depending on luck rather than seizing opportunity...

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it looks like work." ~ Thomas Alva Edison 1847-1931

The Shakespearian Tarot by Delores Ashcroft-Nowicki, illustrations by Paul Hardy, Originally published 1993 by Aquarian Press, my set is 1997 by Diamond Books, re-issued currently by U.S. Games Systems in 2008. The cards are all based on a scene or character from 28 different William Shakespeare plays. The courts are titled Lady, Lord, Queen, King, the suits are Swords Crowns Orbs Sceptres.

Adam McLean has an interesting PDF section in his study course about the similarities and differences in the four different Shakespeare decks here.

It Was A Very Good Year

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Appreciation

I did our tax returns yesterday. Took me twenty-six minutes. Used the short form for the first time in at least thirty years. It's also been at least thirty years since we'd seen that low of income.

I'm reminded by this card even with that significant missing chunk of cash it was a very good year. I'd do it again in a New York minute. I'm also grateful the wheel is really starting to turn and I will savor better times, with gusto. It's all part of our life quilt and we can choose to appreciate, or choose to bemoan.

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well." ~ Voltaire 1694-1778

Pebble Dislodged, Landslide Imminent

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Negotiation

Paired with Feoh, the rune of movable wealth. Times are changing here, finally, for both of us.

I'm reminded by this card just how small a pebble needs to be kicked to start a landslide of change. We're ready for change, bring on the contracts, bring on the good news.

"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily." ~ Mike Murdock 1946-

Corpse Of Childhood

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Childhood

Rob and I may as well come from different planets when childhoods are compared. Had I known just how bad his was I probably wouldn't have married him. I had absolutely no tools for coping, helping, insulating.

I'm reminded by this card, for both of us, a boot to the back side while holding hands has pretty much been our way of getting through for forty years. Fairly early on we recognized we had to look to today and tomorrow, and let yesterday go, there will be no changes, no fixes there so why look for them?

"When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell." ~ Brian W. Aldiss 1925-

I'M The Problem? Say It Isn't So...

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Insight

Years ago, when we still had a TV I got a kick out of Dr. Phil. When a guest would pour out how angry and miserable they were he'd ask "And how's that workin' for ya?". Horrible of course, wasn't working at all...yet they persisted in this behavior, sometimes for years and years rather than face the issue and get on with life.

I'm reminded by this card that we don't really need to pay big bucks for insight into our problems, we need to open our own eyes and recognize behavior in ourselves that is useless or harmful or pointless or hateful...what isn't working, for us, and change it. It takes two to have a problem, not one and chances are slim we'll change them.

"If we are incapable of finding peace in ourselves, it is pointless to search elsewhere." ~ François de la Rochefoucauld 1630-1680

It's A Stretch

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Enterprise

At the bottom of the tower we see the naysayer. Nothing will convince him that change doesn't equal doom. On the first level we see the backslider. He is too frightened of success to continue on, he'd rather go back down the ladder to safety...and obscurity. The third figure though, he's figured out if you get close enough you don't need the help of the ladder, you are the ladder.

I'm reminded by this card, from the bottom the reward is one dimensional and relatively small because we can't grasp the concept of how many ways our life will be touched and enriched...not by the grasping of, but by the effort for. Whenever we stretch ourselves we become More.

"Success is dependent on effort." ~ Sophocles 495-405 BC

My Inner Busker Wants Out

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Celebration

Sing and dance? Maybe if I were drunk. But I surely do admire those that can and do perform in public.

I'm reminded by this card of a busking violinist in the London underground tube twenty years ago. Beautiful music, made me cry. Oh, to have a talent that just bursts to get out and be seen or heard anywhere and everywhere. And that is the key, it's about what needs to be expressed, not about who or how many are watching.

"Well you know my name, but ya still call me a guitar busker.
I know the people I see on the skid and they have done a lot less for the world than me.
With their hats pulled down over their eyes and faces you can't see.
Now this don’t make me right, I ain’t no better than thee.
It’s ours to pick and choose our ways of life, come free." ~ Woody Guthrie 1912-1967

Best Laid Plans

Daily Draw: Runic Tarot ~ Plans

In my day to day life I'm good with anything spontaneous, doesn't disrupt or upset me at all. In the long view through I do have a plan and I hammer on it every time I find a nail that will conceivably further it.

I believe this card corresponds to the standard five of wands and presents a much more positive view of time and plans. I'm reminded by the little figures to be flexible and the large figure to hold my course.

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die." ~ Daniel H. Burnham 1846-1912

The Runic Tarot includes a major arcana of 24 rune cards in a zodiac wheel broken down into three groups; workers, protectors, prayers, with traditional Norse significance. This is coupled with a minor arcana of four suits, based on the four seasons of Imbolc, Beltane, Lugnasadh, and Samhain. If the reader has additional interests in astrology and elementals this would be a excellent deck for doing readings that involve timing. The Runic Tarot kit includes 76 beautiful cards with art by Caroline Smith, and the 184 page companion book written by John Astrop.

Faith Under Pressure

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ High Priestess

If your child were ill and no doctor available how would you decide a diagnosis or course of treatment?
If you thought you were adopted how would you go about finding yourself?
Do you meander along and call where you are the goal, or choose a goal and work toward it?

There are times in our lives when we have to depend on our mental library of knowledge and personal intuition.
I'm reminded by this card having a broad base of interests and honing any natural abilities we have is always a good idea. Put it this way, if you only had yourself to depend on in any situation that might arise, are you confident enough to cope? Or is drama queen the chosen persona? There is no need for that, we each do have a High Priestess within, mouldering beneath self-doubt.

"We are all such a waste of our potential, like three-way lamps using one-way bulbs." ~ Mignon McLaughlin 1913-1983

El Diablo

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ Devil

This image shows a relaxed and reflective Devil in full control of a savage beast.

I'm reminded by this card that if tempered, our obsessions, proclivities, and fetishes can allow our lives to be well rounded and enjoyable. Let loose with no counter-stone or restraint our life quickly becomes a shambles. The gift that comes with being human is choice...

"A lifestyle is what you pay for; a life is what pays you." ~ Thomas Leonard 1955-2003

Middle Management

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ Knight of Wands

Another rather bizarre knight. The instant I drew it I thought 'this guy is middle management'. He has realized that instead of one boss like he had as rank and file, he now has many bosses, everyone above him. Plus he suddenly has to watch his own back constantly to avoid being crushed by the callous corporate climbers.

I'm reminded by this card I'm glad I'm self-employed. The inner peace is far more valuable than any benefits corporate life might offer.

"I've been promoted to middle management. I never thought I'd sink so low.'" ~ Tim Gould

Wallet Full Of Moths

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ 6 of Coins

Parsimonious. He didn't give until it hurt, it hurts him to give.

I'm reminded by this card we are all different, some of it clocked into our system before birth. Who has need or want of clones?

"Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy." ~ Edmund Burke 1729-1797

An Affectionate Nature

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ 2 of Cups

Leda and the swan. Reminds me of my hens. Who knew chickens were smart, funny, affectionate?

I'm reminded by this card if we wish love we must give love, it doesn't grow on trees like fruit to be picked at will.

"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives." ~ C.S. Lewis 1898-1963

Elvis Has Left The Room

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ Star

Mark McElroy's companion book recommends being open to new things, cautions against resigning ourself as having been born under a bad star. On my list of things to do is find out what real astrologers think about the shifting world readjusting our sun and star signs. If true it puts all the books, all the software, all the websites redundant. Or does it?

I'm reminded by this lovely Da Vinci dancer with star, humans believe what they want to believe regardless of the sense or verifiable truth; conspiracy theories are the bread and butter of some folk's lives. So who to believe? Ourselves of course. And Snopes...Or if you choose, Elvis, Princess Diana, and President Kennedy are alive and well somewhere reading blogs.

"The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie - deliberate, contrived and dishonest - but the myth - persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." ~ John F. Kennedy 1917-1963

We, The Weapon

Daily Draw: Da Vinci Tarot ~ 7 of Swords

Because history repeats itself and people never change I expect the soldiers coming home from the Middle East face the same questions soldiers did returning from Viet Nam, Korea, Europe before them. "Did you kill someone?" We are the weapon whether we push the button five thousand miles away or pull the trigger face to face. Or design and build the weaponry or sit in capitols signing the war bills that give death a semi-legitimate name.

Di Vinci's storming wagon design is an example. Who is at fault or responsible for the carnage? Some would say the horse and wash their hands of the problem. A pox upon them and their blood red lily whites.

"We have the Bill of Rights. What we need is a Bill of Responsibilities." ~ Bill Maher 1956-

The Da Vinci Tarot from Lo Scarabeo, published in 2005, has brought to life many of the uncompleted sketches from Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks, using the great skills of Iassen Ghiuselev and A. Atanas Atanassov. A 63 page companion book by Mark McElroy is included in the boxed set and is well worth the price.

Nurturing

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ Empress

Many a fortune-teller would tell a young girl "ah, I see you are going to have a baby" if this card came up; the Empress is much a mother figure. But like a wedding day people pour a fortune of time and money into, the having and the day are just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, immaterial really....

I'm reminded by this card it is the nurturing after the getting that will make the world of difference in the baby, the spouse and marriage, the new puppy, the house. This Empress is prepared to do just that, at all costs. This is no me-me-me faux celebrity, this is the real deal.

"We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it." John Lennon 1940-1980

Impatient

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ Hanged Man

For once I don't have any life projects that are at a standstill, either by my own indecision or someone else's time frame. It is surprising knowledge because I'm a forge ahead person often caught in the trap of my own impatience.

I'm reminded by this character's face he too seems to be caught unawares because the Hanged Man is generally a position of our own making. So in this case release will shortly arrive.

"I have been devoured all my life by an incurable and burning impatience: and to this day find all oratory, biography, operas, films, plays, and persons too long." ~ Margaret Asquith 1864-1945

Flitter and Fritter

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ 2 of Wands

I've spent the last two years completing projects I'd begun and then walked away from unfinished. A few I disassembled, one or two hit the trash, one I gave away, and still I had about a dozen crying out from the closet.

This little lady working diligently to complete her carving reminds me of just how incredibly good it feels to now be free of unfinished projects. They were a huge waste of the precious time already invested in them, poor financial stewardship, and completely disrespectful of my talent.

"she signed her name onto cloth, and, in her own way, cried out, Remember me." ~ Linda Otto Lipsett

Rasslin' Crocs

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ Strength

Do you suppose the Croc grabbed her lunch sack? Chewed the earpiece off her new glasses? Punchered her Jeep tires? This is much different than tackling a dragon one bite at a time. Does this action entail some serious contemplation or does it fall into the hair-trigger temper zone, and perhaps relate to the i word, issues?

I'm reminded by this image what a wide and limitless range of emotions and emotional reactions the human being is capable of in any situation you'd care to name. The Croc seems to be taking the situation stoically, so like us, has probably seen it all before and ate the t-shirt.

“"To sit back hoping that someday, some way, someone will make things right is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last -- but eat you he will." ~ Ronald Reagan 1911-2004

Pink

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ Death

I forgot to bring my deck to the farm with me, so I did a complicated series of coin tosses to narrow down my draw of the day, then grabbed the resulting image from an online source. Which is very much like who gets cancer. The ones who seem most likely to get it due to lifestyle choices keep going along, safe as houses, and someone who has made healthy choices at every option is walking around in a wig taking radiation every morning at 9 AM. What rat flipped their coin?

I'm reminded just how often life is a big fat crap-shoot and it makes my teeth grind. I'm reminded when we get a wake-up call how little the things we just had to buy matter. And I'm reminded that just yesterday morning I said I was sick and tired of the pink ribbon bandwagon lemmings on every damn product you see. And two hours later I find yet one more good friend has breast cancer.

"My veins are filled, once a week with a Neapolitan carpet cleaner distilled from the Adriatic and I am as bald as an egg. However I still get around and am mean to cats." ~ John Cheever 1912-1982

"We need cancer because, by the very fact of its incurability, it makes all other diseases, however virulent, not cancer." ~ Gilbert Adair 1944-

Matrimony

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ 6 of Cups

A number of sources contend there are three subjects that can make or break a union, yet oddly all three are irrelevant to a relationship if satisfactory, they don't even blip the radar.
Money, Sex, Relatives...in any order.

I'm reminded by this card after forty years of marriage I believe it. Something else I believe is it matters not what age you are or how long you've known each other, it bears no relation to how long or strong a union is. Age doesn't make us think any more clearly than youth when it comes to love, perhaps the opposite because we think we've learned our lessons.

"Matrimony, - the high sea for which no compass has yet been invented" ~ Heinrich Heine 1797-1856

Tackle The Dragon

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Gnomes ~ 6 of Swords

What's your dragon? I would think my hugest dragon is animal cruelty but I surely do have a clutch of smaller ones. But a dragon is a dragon and we are but insignificant fodder in their sight.

I'm reminded by this heroic but deluded young champion that it isn't possible for mere humans to slay a dragon in the fashion he has chosen. Head on in one swipe is the stuff of legends, not real life. Rather we need to think like a feral dog, dash in and take one bite at a time when the dragon is distracted. With continued dedication before long he hasn't a leg to stand on and can be toppled. Some dragons will spring renewed because they hide in human disguise and there is the pity...even one bite at a time we'll never clear the earth of cursed humans.

"Was it for this I uttered prayers, And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs?" ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892-1950

The deck this week is Tarot of the Gnomes, one of Lo Scarabeo's quirkeriest. It defies classification but trods it's own path, as fun or deeply thoughtful as you care to make it. For anyone steeped in Rider-Waite mindset, this deck will come as a surprise, with many differences that set on the Thoth side.
Art by Antonio Lupatelli, Published 2000 by Lo Scarabeo, Torino Italy

Personal Touchstone

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ Ace of Coins

Such a strong dramatic coin, speaking to the true roots of everything earthly.

Before I even drew this card this morning I was thinking about just what holds a person or family together in hard times...which also keeps them strong in bountiful times. At either end of the spectrum we must know and nurture own personal touchstone, a crucible of individual unwavering strength that at the end of the day doesn't have much to do with earthly things at all.

"The true test of character is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do." ~ John W. Holt

Justified Conscience

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ Justice

Ma'at, truth, conscience, fairness, karma, guilt...where do we stand from one moment to the next? What about accidental sin vs. deliberate sin? Is a sin in Myanmar a sin in Zaire? Do we really bear the sins of our fathers and pay the price twice? What about a childless person, who recarries their sins? Do the unforgiven all burn forever or does the little kid who stole the candy bar burn less time along side the rape and pillagist? What if the Catholics or JW's are right and it doesn't matter how good or bad, the rest of us are going to burn anyway...

I'm reminded by this card, as always, to hoe my own row.

"To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business." ~ Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy 1828-1910

Broaching Peace

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ 2 of Swords

The companion book presents these two as enemies, working out their differences. The one on the left could still grab his sword and spring up, the one on the right is deadly serious from his posture and the way he is presenting his sword.

To live in this world, in one form or another these postures often need to be figuratively assumed. Making peace doesn't need to equal submission; refusing to admit to alternate viewpoints equals sheer chaos. I know people who can't be wrong and can't be approached. How can they ever know any kind of peace or joy or the pleasure of teamwork, friendship, or marriage?

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything." ~ George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

Wheeling And Reeling

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ Wheel

The companion book suggests an alternative view of the Wheel, not a stationary one which goes in a continuous circle with ups following downs following ups, but one that rolls across time, indifferent, its only role being pure change.

I'm reminded again of how powerful choice is. There isn't any question that change will occur including the ones we deem unthinkable; there is no doubt we will be altered by those changes. So when presented with an opportunity of choice, isn't it better that we take our own tiller and guide change when we can? How many times have we observed someone flattened by change and wondered why they hadn't done something, the signs were obvious the Wheel was coming?

"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new spot." ~ Washington Irving 1783-1859

Fish It Out

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ 3 of Wands

I see the head removed from the body and set aside, a specific pattern/shape, and sheep. And I'm laughing. Since mid-November I've been involved in a labor and time intensive project. My primary purpose for doing it was to force myself to follow someone else's set pattern and instructions. Along with lots and lots of other people, we good sheeple all.

I'm reminded by this card in letting someone else do the easy and difficult thinking both, my lazy bum self has argued with my square peg self quite regularly. I've learned a number of things about my own life patterns that I'm quite amazed never crossed my mind before. What else is in there I don't know about me? And how can I fish it out?

"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death." ~ Anais Nin 1903-1977

Horns Of A Dilemma

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ Prince of Wands

He no longer has a choice. He stands in his method of exit while his means of exit are consumed with fire.

I'm reminded by this card this is what happens when we don't move our own life along, when we allow others to make our choices for us. Inaction is still a choice...so don't gripe about the outcome.

"Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind." ~ Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

No Two Ways About Change

Daily Draw: Ancient Egyptian Tarot ~ Death

The one thing that wasn't addressed in last week's recommendations to 'get the lead out' is the elephant in the room that no one mentions because most of us don't like change. I do, but inertia is a constant companion .

I'm reminded by this card to change something in our life we don't like we need to stop the habits that created it in the first place. Something old has to die so something new can be formed. We are certainly able to do so, we seem to manage what we want to do every day, common-sense insists we can also set in motion the progress we need for the life we do want. Because what is life and death but a series of transitions? We can just let it happen or we can take command.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." ~ Anatole France 1844-1924

The Ancient Egyptian Tarot is in use this week, deck and 152 page companion book first published by Thorsons in 1994. Clive Barrett is artist and author, and the set can still be ordered directly from him at his Green Man website.

Intent...Plus Action

Daily Draw: A'HA Oracle ~ Prelude

I saw this as a type of Chinese Coin and thought what a good card to draw for the first day of a year. No, looking at the companion book there are four of these cards, each a little different. The little circles in little holes are us, clinging together, moving as a herd, thinking like clones, loving franchises, not much individual thoughts leading to individual actions here.

So it is a good card to pull for January 1st., and like most of the other cards this week, it reminds me to think forward, assemble a plan, and take some action to make my new year deeper and more meaningful than the last. I have done this, setting aside the idea of 'best laid plans of mice and men' because it is always better to have at the very least set our intent and today begin to spin a new wheel. Viva la 2011.

"You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight." ~ Jim Rohn 1930-2009