Potlatch

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 6 of Coins

Both Canada and the US outlawed our North Coast Indian tribes potlatch gatherings in the late 1800's, where the wealth of the few was freely gifted and redistributed to the all with the resulting assurance that everyone had food and blankets to survive the winter and tribal positions were strengthened.

I'm reminded by this card, again, of old white men who can't conceive of any society except a self-nest-feathering one in which communal principles be dammed. The missionaries who did everything they could to destroy the ancient cultures by forcing assimilation have much to answer for.

"The ideal of a single civilization for everyone, implicit in the cult of progress and technique, impoverishes and mutilates." ~ Octavio Paz 1914-1998

A Blind Eye

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ 8 of Swords

In a time when many Americans bought and sold and owned slaves with impunity, as a matter of right and business, the entire Calvary of a western based fort would be called to action if an indian tribe took a white captive.

I'm reminded by this card of the billions of dollars and thousands of lives wasted on Mr. Bush's mideast war for nothing more than oil, and the blind eyes and ears we turn to the innocent captives in Ethiopia, Darfur, Somalia...our complacency staggers the mind.

"Our civilization survives in the complacency of cowardly or malignant minds; a sacrifice to the vanity of aging adolescents." ~ Albert Camus 1913-1960

Wise Healer

Daily Draw: Native American Tarot ~ Hierophant/Shaman

There are a lot of definitions for Shaman, in the modern vernacular I prefer wise healer in alternative medicines and a living link to the worlds we cannot see or touch.

I'm reminded by this card there are many paths to a healthy mind, spirit, and body, and many ways to be broken. I hope I can draw some Shaman's wisdom from this deck this week.

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: first by reflection which is noblest; second by imitation which is easiest; third by experience which is the most bitter." ~ Confucius 551-479 BC

The deck of the week is the Native American Tarot, 1982 US Games Systems. Illustrated by J.A. Gonzalez, companion booklet written by Magda Weck. Suits have been renamed Blades/Swords, Pipes/Wands, Vessels/Cups, Shields/Coins. The courts have been renamed Matriarch/Queen, Chief/King, Warrior/Knight, Maiden/Page, along with many renamed majors.

Wisdom And Understanding

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ World/Universe

From the companion book. "We are part of everything and everything is part of us. The inner self is filled with wisdom and complete understanding is possessed."

I'm reminded by this card if I could ever achieve that state, it would be a difficult one to maintain because we are a part of everything and that includes the flux of change. In truth full zen on a mountain top isn't for me. I choose to participate with the world on all it's puzzling and painful levels. What would my info-junkie mind do with itself if wisdom and understanding were complete?

"A man only becomes wise when he begins to calculate the approximate depth of his ignorance." ~ Gain Carlo Menotti 1911-2007

Grounded

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 9 of Swords

The figure is flat on the ground as usual but the points of the swords are going up, indicating the problem is in the wings of the mind.

I'm reminded by this card the inability to concentrate or sleep is taking it's toll, I need to find a way to ground myself. In a way I did that literally yesterday, I paid for plots for my little sister and myself and went to the cemetery and cleaned and polished my folk's headstone which she and I will flank. Hard to get more grounded than that.

"If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed a good idea at the time'." ~ Rebecca West 1892-1983

Beholden

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 2 of Cups

There are takers and there are givers, but in my little circle I find everyone is a giver and none of us are comfortable being on the receiving end.

Speaking for myself, I don't like feeling beholden to anyone. This is an archaic attitude right up there with the false frugality of 'save everything it might come in handy some day' mindset. I'm reminded by this card I shouldn't be frightened of love or caring, whatever form it takes.

"For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. for every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it." ~ Ivan Panin 1855-1942

Beyond Reach

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 10 of Cups

Nine below, one above, beyond reach.

I'm reminded by this card when we are happy we still work or reach for more. When we aren't we beg wish and pray for more. Sometimes we get to touch that tenth cup, mostly we don't. Maybe it's better that way, we need to reach.

"Without a wish, without a will,
I stood upon that silent hill
and stared into the sky until
my eyes were blind with stars,
and still, I stared into the sky." ~ Ralph Hodgson 1881-1962

Experiences

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 3 of Wands

We are asked to be awake to experience today. To not muddle through oblivious but to pull from past experiences and apply them to the present, to join higher morality wisdom and concentration.

My little sister's doctors have asked the family to come to Seattle for a conference today. If I could just take her fear and carry that burden for her. If I could just run and hide and not have to listen. Instead I'll be awake, aware, and there, for her.

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." ~ Don Stanford

Dark And Light

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ Hanged Man

Where our weaknesses and strengths are revealed to us.

I'm reminded by this card, on a small scale we take this position every day, as our brain and heart pass back and forth from the light side to the dark side; how bad can it get, clutching at rays of hope, gloom and depression, maniac energy. We are really odd creatures, and endlessly fascinating.

"This is the hour of lead. Remembered, if outlived as freezing persons recollect the snow. First chill, then stupor, then the letting go." ~ Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

Balance With Comprehension

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

In my heart and mind I feel like this two of wands from the Etruscan. I've been weeping steadily since I left my sister's bedside yesterday. But this 2 of Wands, like the Etruscan, is far different from bog standard image. Our central figure is gathering strength and stamina from the tiger beneath him, and comfort from the hand of a fellow traveler who is actually holding one of the wands for him.

I'm reminded her battle includes the help of many brilliant minds and everything modern medicine can throw at her. But the deeper reality of her tenuous hold on life keeps glancing off my brain like a rock off a car windshield, leaving little pits of grief in it's path. Balance with comprehension will be difficult to achieve any time soon.

"Neither comprehension nor learning can take place in an atmosphere of anxiety." ~ Rose Kennedy 1890-1995

The deck in use this week is Roots of Asia, republished by AGM AGMuller 2001. The original version was published by Amaravati Buddhist Monastery 1988. Artist is Amnart Klanprachar, the paint technique was done with fingers, knives, and rods. Accompanying 87 page digest by Thaworn boonyawan.

Proactive or Reactive Responses

Daily Draw: Der Akron Tarot ~ Tower

Rollover, collapse, exemption. The figures all seem to be attempting escape and are currently suspended as opposed to falling willy nilly like many tower scenes. Is the tower admonishing them? Good luck with that.

Some tower events are like fog, sneaking up and enmeshing before you are aware, others are like being kicked off a cliff; it is usually several years before you can look back and see where you could have been more proactive in avoiding the fall. Sometimes the fall is a good thing, leading to better things. Hard to believe at the time.

"Real freedom is creative, proactive, and will take me into new territories. I am not free if my freedom is predicated on reaction to my past." ~ Kenny Loggins 1948-

Hoping For Hope

Daily Draw: Der Akron Tarot ~ Sun

She is facing right, to the future and appears to be touching the cheek of a fiery shape, wiping away illusions, perhaps false beliefs, but maybe clearing the way for hope to appear.  This is the Sun card after all.

I'm reminded by this card, when hope is all you have, it to is akin to a sunspot, a dark shape moving across the face of the sun, contracting and expanding. My little sister, in addition to the heart problem that required her to be life-flighted to a trauma center, also has cancer in the lungs, spine, and brain. And still just a kid. I don't even know what to hope for. So I'll hold up my cup to the sun and start with hoping for the best.

"The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882

Consummation Or Transcendence

Daily Draw: Der Akron Tarot ~ World/Universe

Complete, consummation, transcendence. I wonder if it is even possible. I know people who have gone 'bad' and a few who've gone 'good', a couple who've fried their brains on drugs, and two with brain injuries. Even though it changed them all dramatically, at base they are mostly the same. Same eyes, same mannerisms, same fears.

I'm reminded by this card my little sister was life-flighted Monday and may not come out the other side, or may come out 'different'. So we wait, and watch. Consummation, or transcendence.

"Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." ~ Arthur Miller 1915-2005

Committed

Daily Draw: Akron Tarot ~ 6 of Swords

This translates to spirit or mind of discernment. Our figure sits nude on a red rock with straggly wings strapped to his torso. Behind him stands an openwork screen. Is he an inventor pondering how to improve his project? Is he wondering if he is brave enough to step out and test his theory? Is he having second thoughts about the whole idea? Is he considering how success could change his world overnight? Is he committed enough to leave behind everything else?

I'm reminded by this card viewing all sides of a life changing idea is a good thing. And at some point we have to get up and fly, or take the wings off and the screen down and live with what we have. To make the best of either choice requires full commitment.

"If you deny yourself commitment, what can you do with your life?" ~ Harvey Fierstein 1954-

Mercurial

Daily Draw: Akron Tarot ~ Queen of Wands

This translates to messenger of love, or love tamer depending on the website. She seems a bit frozen in place, her companion in the forefront and her horse are turning to twiggy creatures and the metamorphosis seems well on the way to happening to her. She isn't seeing, one eye is staring, the other more inwardly reflective. She seems caught or trapped in stasis, perhaps both by inattention and unrealistic expectations.

I'm reminded by this card real long term love isn't static. It's mercurial in nature with high and low times, fire and ice times, joy and grief times. It has to be actively tended; assuming it will be stable is to find it has receded and disappeared before our unseeing eyes.

"Here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery 1900-1944

Paradise

Daily Draw: Akron Tarot ~ 10 of Coins

This translates into smooth traffic into paradise. There is a lion with glasses guarding the gate though and a woman using the bunting to the left to get around him going in or out...

Paradise is a funny state. Because we know it's precarious and can implode in our faces, and because it can also be a prison. We fear to change or challenge  lest it be the lynch pin holding it all together. So we probably have about two days in paradise before reality and the human nature of dissatisfaction sets in.

"Eden is that old fashioned house we dwell in every day without suspecting our abode, until we drive away." ~ Emily Dickenson 1830-1886

Can't See The Forest

Daily Draw: Akron Tarot ~ 4 of Swords

This translates to blindness in the clear view. The figure appears to be both hard helmeted and fog screened, static arms pinned to the sides, face to the past rather than the future, world in disarray.

On the other hand, I have been facing forward, forcing myself to appear alive and competent and normal while missing the fact that something was seriously wrong with this picture. When the light went on I was rather embarrassed at how I'd been drowning in my own forest of trees.

"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens." ~ Frank Herbert 1920-1986

The deck showcased this week is Der Akron Tarot, art with a feminine slant by S.O. Huttengruen, 395 page book by Barbel Frischmann. Published in German, 2004 AGM AGMuller Urania. Suits are: Kelche/cups, Schiben/coins, Schweter/swords, Stabe, wands. The deck contains two extra cards, the Dark Child and a Devil card with two reversible images on it.

Washed In Words

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Magician

Books and movies take us to somewhere else. Close the book, walk out of the theater and we're back, but slightly changed for having supped the writer's magic.

I'm reminded by this card and Shakespeare's tomes of words how much I've always loved books.  Oh what anticipation when the bookmobile made it's bi-weekly rounds to our little country community. I remember visits to the Hoquiam Library, the sounds of the big cased clock ticking, the little oak chairs just my size, a building full of stories and knowledge for the taking. Thank you Ollie E. Camp for teaching me to read.

"When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue, you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night. There's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book." ~ Christopher Morley 1890-1957

Mamma's Boy

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ Queen of Wands

Volumnia owned her son lock stock and barrel from the moment of conception. She groomed, nurtured, drove him from birth to the military career she wanted. In which he died an early death.

I'm reminded by this card how important a mentor/guide is to both a child and an adult, and how easy it must be for a parent to miss the mark by going too far or not far enough, it's got to be the toughest job in the world.

"Children are like wet cement. Whatever Falls on them makes an impression." ~ Dr. Haim Ginott 1922-1973

Monsters In The Shape Of Man

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ 5 of Swords

I've recently said I wouldn't give up what I know in exchange for youth, but this card would ask us to remember the things given our druthers, we'd rather not have experienced or learned at all.

I'm reminded by this card of bitter memories, painful partings, betrayals that caught me unawares, experiences that honed my survival instinct and cynical nature. They also make the good days all the warmer and brighter. There are many places on earth where good days are unknown. Just fear and war and monsters in the shape of man.

"I summon up remembrance of things past." ~ Sonnet 30 William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Judgment Smudgment

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle ~ Judgment

At it's root, Measure for Measure tests the mettle of those who command. The Duke didn't want to be the meanie so he put Angelo in charge. He was the hard man the Duke needed but became above the law himself. The same story is being played out now with Barclays and Libor. Knowing human nature how could anyone be surprised?

 I'm reminded by this card human nature never surprises me, just makes me ill and depressed, and mercy is highly overrated.

"No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword
The marshal's truncheon, not the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does." Measure for Measure 2.2.59-63 William Shakespeare 1564-1616

Suddenly The Light Breaks

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ High Priestess

I'm driving to see my mother today. There is much she no longer remembers, but we stuff so many things into our brain in a life time I can only hope there is enough left to keep her occupied or happy until she dies. She doesn't seem to know she doesn't remember. It seems much kinder than the dementia that drove my father in law, he knew he couldn't remember and it horrified him daily.

In this card we see the Abbess stepping forward to reveal she is the long lost wife of Egeon and mother to twin twins and suddenly the light breaks and everything that was a hopeless muddle makes sense. I'm reminded by this card it won't happen with mother but we can share the memories we do have, together, and alone.

"Go to a gossip's feast, and go with me; After so long grief, such festivity!" ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616 The Comedy of Errors 5.1.06

Well Done

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ 3 of Coins

On Gilligan's Island, that great sage Skipper Jonas Grumby once said, "a job well done is a well done job."

I'm reminded by this card that's good advice. Half hearted work for half hearted pay is a pointless exercise.

"Profits will accrue." ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616 Henry V 2.2.117

Consequential Growth

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Oracle Tarot ~ 2 of Swords

I just finished the last of the complete collected  works of Shakespeare this week, a four year slog. To be frank, most of it was a big yawn. Right now I'm reading The History Of Salt by Mark Kurlansky which in truth I'm finding far more interesting and entertaining than the Bard.

But...I'm reminded by this card and all the times I've quoted his words here on Quirkeries, taken in small doses I admire his wit and wordsmithing. Without the two swords of choice and consequence, or in Shakespeare's words, to be or not to be, we would sit mildewing, and be bored out of our gourds. Consequences are a growth opportunity for the thinking person.

"To be or not to be, that is the question." Hamlet 3.1.56 ~ William Shakespeare 1564-1616

The deck this week is the oddly titled Shakespeare Oracle which is a deck of 78 cards with all the Majors, all the Minors, and all the Courts which makes it tarot. Published by Fair Winds Press 2003, the made to last cased kit includes a 176 page companion book by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn, cards are illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler. The suits are Chalices, Coins, Quills, Septers.

Missing The Obvious

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ 4 of Cups

For this last day with Sacred Sites I chose to choose; it was a toss up between the Bhodi Tree (6 of coins) and the stonework of Easter Island which is so much more than stone heads.

I'm reminded by this handsome Moai stonework just a few weeks ago I realized all the heads had bodies under them. How could I have ignored the obvious, not thought that through, before? (Even better, they had rock chicken houses to assure the safety of their only dependable source of protein, Go Chickens! )

"Art is a step from what is obvious and well known toward, what is arcane and concealed." ~ Kahlil Gibran 1883-1931

Rethink A Think

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ 2 of Swords

Garden of Zen. Think it through, think it out, think it over, be the think.

Since 1996 if anyone suggested AT&T for service of any kind my response has been "If AT&T were on fire I wouldn't bother to pee on it to put it out". I'd had my think and I kept thinking that way. Well, I'm sorry AT&T, I shouldn't have spent all that time concentrating on a grain of sand and rather turned around to think about the real world. Zen is a good thing, but continual zen will bind decisions as surely as duct tape and rope. Sometimes a rethink is in order. Facing the world, not the garden.

"I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize what you heard is not what I meant..." ~ Robert McCloskey 1914-2003

Teysi Winds Blowing Through My Mind

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ Knight of Coins

By some estimates these dwellings have been here for more than 4000 years. Horses were unknown in North America when these pueblo homes were carved high in the walls of the rock canyon; the original Athabaskan immigrants walked here from the far north end of the continent.

I'm reminded by this site and this Knight when you are just one more faceless soldier in the fray it doesn't matter much what the history books say, what manners is how you live your life, today. I'm going to step out on my deck, turn my face to the ageless sky and imagine I'm just part of the hot western winds of the Colorado Plateau Teysi, blowing through time. The Knight and I, having looked backward, now face our day.

"The wind whips through the canyons of the American Southwest, and there is no one to hear it but us. A reminder of the 40,000 generations of thinking men and women who preceded us, about whom we know almost nothing." ~ Carl Sagan 1934-1996

Shudder And Grieve

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ Seven of Wands

I've been reading a lot of ancient history this past year, not school history but concentrated bits by scholars;  the Crusades, the European family unit from 500 BC-1500 AD, how Earth was formed and how both time and cataclysmic events change it, China from 1930-1950, the American SW from 1850-1900, Australia from 1600-1900, The Maya, Inca, and Aztec; and on and on. One thing pretty obvious is history books gloss over much. The further in time from the event, the more gloss is applied. And myths grow up to reflect the cultural mind think.

I'm reminded by this card places like the Great Wall were not built for enlightenment or as employment projects but for war. All the pretty stories about fallen builders being buried in the wall to add the protection of warrior spirits is hokum. Slaves built that wall and death was the only way to get away from the torture and misery of the work. On this anniversary of America's independence I shudder, thinking of the wasted lives fought in old men's wars. Wars that always result in bankrupting the republic and put billions in the coffers of those same old men.

"The myth of violent solutions as the ultimate solutions maintains itself." ~ Stanley Crouch 1945-

Appreciation

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ Star

Another ancient highly developed civilization melted back into the sands of time. Ur was abandoned and then forgotten by history, when the Euphrates changed course and left what was the most populated city in the world in it's time, high and dry, circa 2000 BC.

A reminder even the brightest star can expire, and to appreciate what we have, now; perhaps tomorrow it will vanish into the maw of time.

"The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

Poke It With A Stick

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ 5 of Swords

Cave of Cruachan or when it's home known affectionately as the gate to hell.

Many 5 of Swords days are like a broken tooth you can't stop fiddling with your tongue. They really don't start out that bad we just keep prodding until we convince ourselves as we go along adding more rotten tomatoes to the mix that everyone hates me no one loves me I think I'll go eat worms. I literally got out of bed on the wrong side this morning and by the time I got downstairs I was ready to bait a bear. When I drew this card I had to laugh...and all of a sudden the day was just fine.

"The gates of hell are open night and day; smooth the descent and easy is the way;
but, to return and view the cheerful skies, in this, the task is mighty labor lies." ~ Virgil 70 BC-19 BC

Bootstraps

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ High Priestess

In reading the stories of ancient venerated sibyls, one thing I'm struck by is their common trait, "I will say/do/show/offer you this once and no more". They didn't countenance fools and dilly-dalliers and goldbrickers.

There was a long post here that turned into a cranky rant. Who needs that on the first Sunday in July? Buggerit. Suffice it to say the sibyls were right, the only way to learn from our mistakes is to clean up the mess ourselves.

A second week with the newest publication from LoScarabeo, Sacred Sites Tarot, subtitled Magical Places of the World, 2012, by Massimiliano Filadoro and Federico Penco.