The Quest

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot ~ Knight of Cups

This Knight, like Capt'n Jack Sparrow, is lead by his heart's compass, rather than thought or duty.

I'm reminded by this card of a surface fleeting offhand wish, and the deep intense joy and pain of really working toward a life goal. It seems slow going some days, but looking back we can see the amazing ground we've covered in our quest.

More important than the quest for certainty is the quest for clarity." ~ Francois Gautier 1959-

Wind Horses

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot ~ 3 of Cups

Pray Wish Petition, Affirmation, Positive Thought; however you do it, this card's coins in the well, ribbon on the limb signifies those hopes.

I believe in all these things, as long as actions accompany them.

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 1884-1962

Still

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot ~ 10 of Cups

From the companion book: Calm. Waiting. Introspection. Assimilation.

Exactly where I am now. And have been since maybe February. It isn't Dog Days, I'm content rather than anxious. Maybe it is the stillness before the Kraken, perhaps it is winter's calm waiting for summer. Either way, I sit quietly, study nature and life, and will know when it's time.

"Stand still. The trees ahead and bush beside you are not lost." ~ Albert Einstein 1879-1955

Crone

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot ~ High Priestess/Wisewoman

Poppy Palin devotes five pages of the companion book to this card, the Wisewoman, subtitled Dream Weaver. She is part Old Testament god and new age revealer, who acknowledges the ravages of age cause many to turn away without receiving anything at all.

I'm reminded by this card it has probably ever been thus, it isn't just television and print ads that worship the unblemished skin and lithe bodies of youth. Sit down for a few hours conversation with someone over 80, without preconceived judgement, and we will surely learn something we didn't know before.

To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli 1804-1881

Life On The Edge

Daily Draw: Waking The Wild Spirit Tarot ~ Knight of Wands

Work house, poor house, debtor's prison, all early forms of social safety nets, perhaps even preferable to what we have today, nets made of glue that cost more to manage than distribute.

I'm reminded by this card of the beauty and simplicity achieved by the people I know who have chosen the simple life, like this Knight, living 'off the grid' as they say, gleaning and growing and raising what they need, bartering for the rest. A life close to the earth with respect for their bodies and nature. I commend them for going back to find their forward.

"Come to the edge, he said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, he said. They came. He pushed them and they flew." ~ Guillaume Apollinaire 1880-1918

The deck this week is Waking the Wild Spirit, art and 290 page soft-cover companion book by British artist Poppy Palin. Published by Llewellyn 2002, both now out of print. An updated book is available through Slippery Jacks.

Pipe Dream

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot ~ Warrior of Swords

In the Mayan Age steel and iron were still unknown. Their swords appear to be carved of flint or obsidian, or oak and ironwood with insets of flint or obsidian as this one probably is.

I'm reminded by this card if one's mind turns to aggression, violence, war, clever deadly weapons can't be far behind. Would that the mental and physical energy against someone else was turned to uplifting one's own people.

"If mankind had wished for what is right, they might have had it long ago." ~ William Hazlitt 1778-1830

Hubris

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

This figure is presented as a mover and shaker, a professional or politician, except he has lost all his move and shake or can't seem to build to the pitch required.

I'm reminded by this image, like the Myan, we are unable to see what the powers that be are doing until much later when the effects are visible on the economy or health care or environment. I curse them for sitting on the pot too long, America is in it's twilight and one day a few hundred years from now there may be a game about our lost civilization and they will wonder...what were we thinking, why did the cities go dark and empty, how did the civilized go so far wrong?

"Our environmental problems originate in the hubris of imagining ourselves as the central nervous system or the brain of nature. We're not the brain, we are a cancer on nature." ~ Dave Foreman 1947-

What Seek Ye?

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot ~ 8 of Cups

There is comfort in knowing what we seek, and recognizing whatever it is, it won't be what we expected.

I'm reminded by this card while on the journey to turn my face to the light, celebrate what I've already found and look forward to the next surprise.

"Each of us literally chooses, by his way of attending to things, what sort of universe he shall appear to himself to inhabit." ~ William James 1842-1910

Money Tree

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot ~ 7 of Coins/Jade

Two sides, of two colors, two roots, a skull and the root twining around the seekers ankle. If you have no money or lots of money priorities aren't much of a problem, but if you have some money, some being the operative word, then every time you use it you need to make a choice. Somewhere between starving miser and free-wheeling blowhard.

This is a subject difficult to explain except to the already converted because money is so rolled up in who and what we are today. In an agrarian society with no government to catch those who fall, the individual has to get his hay seed or apple trees or potatoes somehow, plant and nurture, harvest and store, enough to get by until the next crop. One year of playing and lazing would eliminate the spendthrift by the next spring. The law of nature is mutated in a money society. So it comes back to making priorities every time we pick fruit off our money tree. In a rich consumer-driven country like mine, it is the easiest thing in the world to think of today, maybe even as far as tonight, but 15 years from now? 30 years from now? Takes serious determination.

"Success is only another form of failure if we forget what our priorities should be." ~ Harry Lloyd 1983-

The Altar

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot ~ 7 of Cups

What is on our 'stuff' altar? And how do we define something worthy of an altar? For me I believe it is items that are one or all: Sacred, Useful, or bring Beauty into my life.

I'm reminded by this card (keeping in mind I'm pretty well fully decluttered now) of my accidental naturescape to the left of me that has assumed a sacred space in my mind. My big bowls of pens...I love using colored ink. My deck shelf, the DVD bookcase, my remaining books, the few things I've kept of my grandmother's which seem to be creeping into a little altar on my right. My journals, a family photo space which includes ashes. Not too much on the whole, I could get it all in the back of my Pacifica and still have room for the dogs, cats, chickens and us. The goats would have to walk behind Conestoga style as we regally swept away. Interesting exercise this early in the morning.
added later: I find it telling I didn't think to add phone and computer.

"You are to gather up the joys and sorrows, the struggles, the beauty, love, dreams and hopes of every hour that they may be consecrated at the altar of daily life." ~ Macrina Wiederkehr OSB

Intimidation

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot~5 of Swords

Following on the heels of yesterday, today we have the 'my dad is bigger than your dad' card. The 'its my ball and I'm going home' card. The low down Nimbus 2001 card.

I'm reminded by this card regardless of who you are, there will always be someone taller thinner richer smarter faster. The good news is as a grown-up I've unwittingly grown a 'I don't give a fat rat's patottie' bone. It is the one thing that deflates the 'I'm better' brigade.

"It's really a hollow victory." ~ Jamie Ross

Speak Softly, Carry Big Stick

Daily Draw: Xultun Tarot ~ 2 of Swords
This figure is titled Warrior of Peace; his swords are drawn but he is seated. I expect part of his ability to perform his position comes from his projection of actual power.
I'm reminded by this card of something Fonzie said to Ritchie when Ritchie was psyching himself up to intimidate a bully. He wanted to know if Fonzie was sure this display would work, make the bully back down. Fonzie's response was "maybe, but to really work you had to have once hit someone"; or be known to be able to walk the walk not just talk the talk.
"Master the divine techniques of the Art of Peace and no enemy will dare to challenge you." ~ Ueshiba 1883-1969

As so often is true I'm jumping into the crevasse of the unknown with this deck choice. First published in 1976 the deck features the art and life of the ancient Maya civilization. Separate companion book is the soft cover 183 page Feathered Serpent; deck and book by Peter Balin of New Zealand. The deck has recently been republished with Balin's permission and there is another companion book by Michael Owen, The Maya Book of Life: Understanding the Xultun Tarot.
One of many things that sets this deck apart was that the Majors form a complete scene. The only other deck that features this is the Grail Tarot - A Templar Vision by John Matthews in 2007.
The suits are: Staffs/Brown, Swords/Yellow, Cups/Blue, Jade/Green. Majors are untitled but have the 'lines and dots' method of numbering I've seen in some of the Australian decks also. I indicate the coloring with the suits as the courts are titled Lord Lady Servant Warrior but not suit. If I can explain that worse just let me know...

Shallow And Deep

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ 2 of Coins

From a Winter's Tale King Leontes dissuades his son from marrying Perdita because she is a shepherdess. She is so much more...

After 41 years of marriage we are still mining surprises out of each other. A few weeks ago I told Rob I married him because he is dangerous. Although it was just a casual conversation I surprised myself by saying it, it took a lot of courage because it was giving away some of my power. He is still rolling his eyes, he doesn't get that he is dangerous on my behalf, not to me, a world of difference.

"Even now there are anger and the dark side in myself. But it's the first time I've been so close to the light." ~ Johnny Depp 1963-

Abstinence Begets Folly

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Sun

What happens when we decide to eliminate some ingrained pleasure from our life? Instead of being just one of many thoughts or activities in our day those things become compulsions that can consume us in the good fight.

I'm reminded by this card community based on chastity seldom thrives and the faulty logic at its root generally shrivels exposed to close examination in the sunlight.

"Let us lose our oaths to find ourselves,
Or else we lost ourselves to keep our oaths." ~ Love's Labors Lost, William Shakespeare 1564-1616

False Colors

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Page of Swords

Viola from Twelfth Night, disguised as a male page employed by Duke Orsino, finds herself in the awkward position of being in love with the duke while carrying out his orders to promote a marriage between the Duke and Olivia.

I'm reminded by this card how quickly life becomes complicated when we are traveling under false colors. It can start with the simplest well meant white lie (you thank the giver for the thoughtfulness of a hideous resin turtle and suddenly you have gift turtles everywhere) (because your friend loves Jane Austen you act interested when she tells you another interminable plot and consequently you find yourself the guest of honor at a weekend movie fest of every version of all the books ever made). Yeah, it's easy to get into not so easy to get out of.

"Having an exit strategy can be a social saver. The key is keeping your little white lie plausible." ~ April Masini 1964-

Opening The Door

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Page of Cups

In As You Like It the characters make a comedy of finding and then holding on to love. And being able to laugh at and with life and love is one of the key tools in making a success of any relationship.

I'm reminded by this card I am so blessed in the garden of love, each day I can hardly believe my good fortune. Why me? Why him? How does it happen? What I do know is love is a leap of faith, and you both have to leave the door fully open to it. All day, every day.

"His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; his love sincere, his thoughts immaculate; his tears pure messengers sent from his heart; his heart as far from fraud, as heaven from earth" ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Cowardly Bravery

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Chariot

In an era when war was the normal state of affairs, Henry VI could be termed a great and successful king. Could we be termed the same if in our personal life war is the norm?

I'm reminded by this card I've spent my life avoiding conflict by cutting it off before war could blossom. In some circles this is cowardice, I call it awareness with successful communication. Saying Can we talk, or I'm sorry and meaning it is not a poison pill to be avoided at all costs. Nursing a hurt until it assumes Tommyknocker proportions isn't grown-up warring, but the quick way to take all the living out of life.

"The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives." ~ Anthony Robbins 1960-

Unhomed Unsocialized Unloved

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ 8 of Coins

For two and a half years I've been working daily with two dumped double dapple dachshunds. (back-story here) Adult dogs who as best we can tell had never had any kind of human socialization. It has been a long hard road...but yet

I'm reminded by this card of how Xing-Xing and Xavier impress and surprise me each and every day. When you start at zero breakthroughs are celebrations, each remembered good-boy behavior is head of the class success. Has it taken 8 of coins patience? Oh yes, and some days I dispair...but they also make me proud every day because they had so very far to come.

"Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather, it is a spirit that bears things - with resignations, yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope." ~ Corazon Aquino 1933-2009

Tricked By Ego

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Emperor

An interesting card to draw in the midst of Weinergate. Henry was a capable intelligent leader who accomplished wonders during his 38 year iron-fisted reign of Britain. But his personal life was a shambles and what people remember him for is his six wives and how he treated them, and how fat he was.

I'm reminded by this card of leaders without morals or common sense. Of human complexity and fragility. Of big egos cosseted into believing anything they think or do is acceptable by divine right.

"What Can I do?", You say, It's just another day in the life of Apes with ego trips" ~ Brandon Boyd 1976-

Out of print but not difficult to find, this week's deck is a bit of an oddball. It isn't an oracle it is tarot so I'll be adding that to the title each morning. Published in 2003 by Fair Winds Press, book by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn, deck art by Cynthia von Buhler. Softcover companion book is 176 pages, suits are Chalices, Coins, Quills, Scepters, courts and majors are fully illustrated, minors have a quote and suit image.

Detachment

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Cat

One thing you can say about cats as a generality is they are detached. Even Velcro cats...attach on their terms and time not ours.

I'm reminded by this card that trait is something I've been trying to moderate. It is my nature to be detached from people and things. Too far in that direction and I could easily become that one person we all remember from childhood...the screwy old lady in the shuttered house no one knows anything about except the weird myths that spring up.

I'm not an oddball." ~ Lee Remick 1935-1991

Acknowledging Gifts

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Cow

Today's Druids apparently see the Cow as the reminder of nature and the gifts that come to us via the natural world.

I'm reminded by this card, a day of pleasurable work in the garden is better than any sleep aid on the market. A day at the beach can restore a flagging spirit better than a day spent at the mall. A few minutes meditation before a gorgeous vista or single perfect flower is a lifetime mental and physical gift as opposed to a few hours in front of a screen vegging. Our mothers had the right idea when they told us to 'go outside and play'.

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." ~ John Muir 1838-1914

Maiden Mother Crone

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Bear

The Bear represents our primal power, sovereignty, and intuition combined with instinct. These are also descriptors I might give to the third stage of a woman's life, Crone. Which is a word ill-served, currently defined as thin and old, carrion, cantankerous, witch, evil.

I'm reminded by this card, and all the cards this week that I'm far from a Maiden, never was a birth mother, and am well settled into the Crone stage of my life. The best stage for a woman in my opinion, when we can nurture and cosset ourselves, rather than family and world first. Inside we will always be Maiden and Mother to some extent, but now we can celebrate life on a personal level. Which is probably why in their early 50's so many begin the search for self...so much of our originality and verve has been subdued for so long. Viva la 50's. I wouldn't go back in time for anything, the best is always the now.

"If that's what it took to get me where I'm at today, so be it." ~ Carlos Irwin Estévez 1965-

Personal Lens

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Hawk

In Druidspeak Hawk means perspective. Seeking perspective is one of the reasons I have this blog. Just talking things out can help show me I'm either a blooming idiot, or closing in on reality.

I'm reminded by this card reality is a flexible thing. What may be written in stone for you is possibly written in disappearing ink to me. Our differences are what make us interesting, in whatever reality we choose to live.

"The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say." ~ Kahlil Gibran 1883-1931

Divine Grace

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Swan

She represents the beautiful and divine within each of us. For some of us as we age it gets buried deeper and deeper, for others we can almost see it shine from within as they pass by.

I'm reminded by this card I know the difference and both need and welcome a life graced by Namaste.

"I am responsible for my own problems and no one else. That is the beginning of beauty in the individual life." ~ Vernon Howard 1918-1992

Totem Wake-up

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Owl

Two years ago I was gifted with the totem of the owl. I was in the late stages of the two years I took care of my father-in-law. By that time he was in full scale dementia so I was dealing with that in addition to everything that goes with end of life hospice care. I'm not bitching, I'd do it again in a minute, but for about six weeks there I was getting maybe three interrupted hours of sleep a day. I was hallucinating, staggering, in constant defcon5 alert.

I'm reminded by this card of the morning in January I found an owl, just laying there dead under a tree in the front yard. I took it to mean that I could stop trying to see all things at one time, I'd done what I could, and it was time to think through what could be working better and how some help could be managed. Believe it or not, before that morning it hadn't crossed my mind there were better ways of taking care of both him and me, because like most of life, the responsibilities were gradual. I gave thanks, gleaned some gorgeous feathers and buried him under a cairn next to my sanctuary.

"Often it takes some calamity to make us live in the present. Then suddenly we wake up and see all the mistakes we have made." ~ Bill Watterson 1958-

Life Process

Daily Draw: Druid Animal Oracle ~ Wren

Wren, nest, eggs. If I had to describe life in three words I suppose wren, nest, egg, would do.

I'm reminded by this card of the various stages we go through, some of them daily, some only once in a life time.
I am smallish and weakish but given a big task once I figure out my leverage I'll eventually get it done, dedication and stubbornness hand in hand.
A nest is that place we feel at home and safe within. In the last few years the size of my house has begun to overwhelm me but within that largeness is my little nests; my office, my quilt room, my bedroom. Safe and sound in a space designed to suit my needs.
We sometimes don't know the egg time is upon us until hindsight tells us we are going into a new life stage. Once arrived we can look back and be amazed at how our brain and body navigated us to this spot seemingly with no input.

"If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come." ~ Chinese proverb

This week's deck is The Druid Animal Oracle, written by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm with Bill Worthington doing the card art. I love this deck, Mr. Worthington's art is beautifully rendered giving much food for thought. I came to tarot one year in my annual search for something new to learn. I happened to see a listing for a tarot course in Barnes and Nobel free class listings. I thought Wow, the history and symbology of tarot could keep a research and info junkie like me occupied for a long time.Well, I was right. I've enjoyed delving deeper and deeper into the history and symbology of the cards, and even learning to use them for personal growth and think pieces. But being new to the subject I didn't know there is a world of difference between a tarot deck and a Oracle and the Druid Animal Oracle was my very first deck. I have since learned to love oracles and will always keep this Ebay prize because it was my very first deck.

Fish or Fowl

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot ~ Moon

The artist interpretation gives us a creature that can't decide whether to be wolf or wildcat. I know that feeling from my youth when peer pressure mattered.

I'm reminded by this card and these many years from youth how very little I care what other people think and how very comfortable I am in my own skin. It is a comfort indeed.

"Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength." ~ August Wilson 1945-2005

Stop Meeting Like This

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot ~ 8 of Cups

I'm attending a funeral in a little while, not my loss but the that of a client who has asked me to attend as her moral support.

I'm reminded by this figure of the eight hours it took to drive here and how often death and funerals came up on the trip. There is a reason for funerals and it isn't for the dead. They are for the living, for closure, and oddly enough in our culture, for a chance for family to see family. Many times it is the only time they come together.

"We've got to stop meeting like this, people are beginning to talk"

Drowned Hopes

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot ~ World

The world in this deck is under the nurturing care of a mermaid. Merpeople are lodged in my mind as carnivore creatures which would make us farmed food wouldn't it?

I'm reminded by this card that would be only fair, as through history the sea has fed much of the world and we've treated it poorly indeed, thinking it so immense no matter what we do it can't be harmed. Now our sea food sports mercury for seasoning and our nets come back full of plastic and mutants. What a state of affairs and exactly what we deserve.

"A mermaid found a swimming lad,
Picked him for her own,
Pressed her body to his body,
Laughed; and plunging down
Forgot in cruel happiness
That even lovers drown." ~ William Butler Yeats 1869-1935

GeeGaws

Daily Draw: Paulina Tarot ~ Queen of Coins

This Queen at her roots, is nature based.

I'm reminded by this Queen everything I personally need to survive, food/air/water/fire/shelter comes from nature. And to be mindful of that as I run a long list of errands today. Self-induced flimflamery could easily make colorful geegaws and shiny tchotchkes jump right into my hands.

"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement in a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life." ~ Bill Watterson 1958-