Phenomenal Potential

Daily Draw: Greenwood Tarot ~ 9 of Arrows/Swords

She is using her bow as a simple musical strumming instrument, generating a circle of healing. The potential of these kinds of self help exercises are said to be phenomenal. 

I'm reminded by this card our heart  may rule our relationships but our brain runs the rest of the show.
+ I bought a vintage sewing machine and aquired a treadle; expresses the idea I'll be around to use them.
- I need a new cell phone. Mine is nearly 10 years old and no longer holds a charge longer than four hours. Nope, not going there, I might not be here to fulfill the contract.
+ I have copper breast cancer earrings and wear them often to remind myself of just how lucky I've been that both cancers were discovered very early.
- If Rob retires I'm going to give up driving. Just not confident anymore.
+ I've chosen the sunflower as my icon of health. I have sunflower fabric on my ironing board, I've gathered the most beautiful hi-res sunflower images I could find and change them out daily as my laptop wall paper.
+ & - I haven't bought any decks in ages, have sold off some, but on the other hand I ordered the new Lucia Mattioli I've been waiting for years to be published. Optimism that I'll be here to use it...

"What we see as “normal” living is truly a travesty of our potential." ~ Dominic Owen Mallory 1984-2008

Hold The Center

Daily Draw: Greenwood Tarot ~ Seer/High Priestess

The High Priestess, renamed Seer, falls at number 17 in this deck, is related to 9's, and with the Shaman card holds the center of the year wheel. She is about respect and boundaries. She is ringed in by mossy stones, old growth trees and then another tree border.

The 9's are often read as positions of responsibility and quite often, extremes. In this position it is easy to go too far. The Seer recognizes this and offers responsible guidance and a reminder too little is just as pointless as too much. Hold the center.

"It is your work to clear away the mass of encumbering material of thoughts, so that you may bring into plain view the precious thing at the center of the mass." ~ Robert Collier 1885-1950

Recoup and Rest

Daily Draw: Greenwood Tarot 4 of Arrows/Swords

We had a yard work crew here yesterday. What we got finished looks fabulous.

I'm reminded by this four of wands, I'm not twenty-five anymore. Both rest and recoup are in order...but boy does the long first border look fine.

Deck for the week is the Greenwood Tarot, art by Chesca Potter, published companion book by Mark Ryan, 1996 Thorson's/Harper Collins. Art based on nature and the natural wheel of the year. Suits are Wands, Arrows, Cups, Stones.

Obligatory

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

Does this action serve a purpose? There is a hedgehog atop the post, what do we suppose his viewpoint of the situation is? The lion isn't near a full stretch, is he full and just playing at being a mighty hunter?. I wonder if the two co-exist anywhere in the world.

I'm reminded by this card that authority and position also bring responsibilities and obligations. Maybe no one can measure up to expectations but we can always work a little harder at being better today than yesterday. What could it hurt and we might surprise ourselves...Or we could say screw it. Take the day off. Take the year off.

"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 1884-1962

Rock Hard Certainty

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ High Priestess

I'm curious how people with rock hard opinions on big subjects like politics and religion arrive at that point. When does a person finally decide they know the real answers and no room for discussion allowed?

I'm reminded by this card why we don't have a television. I'd rather be dumb as a door knob and twice as silent. 

"Mixing politics and religion corrupts both".
Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826
John Adams 1735-1826

Ungetawayable

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ 4 of Swords

Our clever minx of yesterday is in trouble today. Not four Swords suggesting retreat, relaxation, rest, recovery, but fight or flight response by chewing off her foot to get away from the trap.

I'm reminded by this card just how hard it is to get away from something ungetawayable. We go along minding our own beeswax and BLAM, we either crash up against it or fall over it or find it an unmovable force around us. My teeth are too old to chew off my hand, but my mad monkey mind keeps trying to make me do it.

"Maybe the minx is just a down to earth girl who wants to play more than one role in this life. Maybe she'd like to play as many roles as she can because she knows one day death is going to strip us all of our costumes and make us completely equal in the grave." ~ Linnea Chiang The Minx

All Het Up

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ 7 of Swords

Do you suppose a man ever caught a fox by running after it with a sword? While wearing chain mail, gauntlets, helmets? It would sound like the circus is in town. They are making so much noise they aren't even aware the running fox is 90 degrees off their path.
Or perhaps they are missing the fox entirely because they are getting their selves all het up to kill people.

I'm reminded by this card and my own brushes with death, we all miss a lot in our everyday pursuit of life in general.
There just isn't time to hug trees
I'm too busy to admire a bird in flight
I have my ipod on, can't hear the sound of mail jingling, or family talking
That green plant that might prevent scurvy? What plant?
I saw all this yesterday.

"If you think something is missing in your life, it is probably YOU..." ~ Robert Holden 1964-

Multatis Mutandis

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ Death

Awesome Death card. Latin at the card bottom translated; "the necessary changes having been made".

This card reminds me of Undercover Blues with Dennis Quaid, Kathleen Turner, and Stanley Tucci as self-styled Muerte who got no respect because he wasn't mean enough or bad enough to give death to those that met him. His actions were stunted; his consuming anger prevented Multatis Mutandis.

"The constraints of melodrama can be a great blessing, because they demand that all the characters involved - as absurd and extreme as they may initially seem - must stay utterly rooted in their own reality, or the whole project collapses." Stanley Tucci 1960-

Shoeless Sam

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ King of Coins

There once was a commoner who worked hard, saved well, and enjoyed a simple good life. Then one day he won the lottery.
His life changed overnight. Relatives descended. School chums called. Mail contained beseeching letters. He began to distrust the motives of the people closest to him. He began to go shoeless to remind himself of the simple life he still struggled for. He clutched at meager bits of change while ignoring how poorly he was managing the big stuff. He spent his days outside the circle of comfort and companionship that was now a distant memory.

Sorry. He just looks so worn down and I couldn't think of any other way to explain the crazy bare foot or the hidden hand.

One Shoe can change your life!” ~ Cinderella

That Black Place

Daily Draw: Durer Tarot ~ Hanged Man

 Lo Scarabeo refers to this figure as the Arcanum, holder of deep secrets and trapped by same, watching and being watched in turn by the cockerel who is both holder and herald of secrets.

I've spent the last two days, face in hands, weeping. The book I'm reading on lung cancer is doing as it's subtitle says, giving me facts, choices, and hope. But what is hidden from the book is last July August and September when I watched helplessly as the most aggressive form of the disease ate my little sister alive. I'm torn between knowledge and grief, anger and guilt, terrified to find I'm still so close to the edge of that black place. The dangerous place. I can't go there again. It isn't safe.

"There is a hidden meaning behind all events, and this hidden meaning is serving your own evolution." ~ Deepak Chopra 1947-

The deck this week is one of Lo Scarabeo's beautiful historical art decks, basing the tarot on the allegorical style of Albrecth Durer (1471-1528). Wands feature lions, Swords the fox, Cups the white dove, Coins an eagle. Published 2002.

No Escape Route

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dreamtime ~ Crab

Crab represents the story of self-preservation and when needs must, self-transformation. 

When Sybil was published in 1973 it gave wide coverage to dissociative identity disorder. I'm listening to The Gunslinger, book two which contains a key figure with two persona. I'm guessing there are many of these people we will never hear of, because their changes are seamless. More power to them. Sometimes life not only gives us lemons, but rotten lemons with no escape route but inward.

"If life hand you lemons, don’t make lemonade, squirt them on crab." ~ hospitalera

At What Cost?

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dreamtime ~ Bogong Moth

Myee was a moth full of color and curiosity. To satisify her need to know what made the mountain tops white she became trapped in winter snows. When spring sun released the entrapped moth, she emerged dusty brown. Her colors, which had remained imprinted on the snow, wisped away becoming the multitude of colorful flowers on Snowy Mountain.

Myee was happy with her knowledge, her partner Bogong was appalled at the cost. I'm reminded by this card of a few questions that should never be asked. Or answered.

"Albert grunted. "Do you know what happens to lads who ask too many questions?"
Mort thought for a moment.
"No," he said eventually, "what?"
There was silence.
Then Albert straightened up and said, "Damned if I know. Probably they get answers, and serve 'em right.~ Terry Pratchett 1948-  Mort

What You Get

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dreamtime ~ Sea Eagle

Sea Eagle is the story of selfishness and the power of manifestation.

I'm reminded by this card, be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

"Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck." ~ Dalai Lama 1935-

Shorthand To Laughter

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dreamtime ~ Frog

One hot and dry day Frog drank up all the water everywhere. As a consequence his belly became enormous. The other creatures put their heads together and decided if they made Frog laugh hard enough the water would flow back where it came from. Frog finally laughed so much his voice became a croak, and the water was returned.

I'm reminded by this card of the sayings Rob and I have built up over the years that at some point in the past were first preceded or followed by a crankiness of some kind.

• Should of had it opened at the store. 

• It is right behind my head.

• Curb! Curb!

• What's this, air pie?

Dozens of shorthand memories that always make us laugh and replace crabby pointless bickering.

"The squeak of bedsprings.
tells the movie audience.
what they're not seeing." ~ levinebar

Finger Cancer

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dream Time ~ Southern Cross

This constellation is named for the first man to die, the two cockatoos lifted to heaven with him, (they were very cross...) and the lifter. This card is about spiritual beliefs, endings, and death.

I'm reminded by this card how very hard I have to work at not becoming a hypochondriac. Burn my finger? Must be finger cancer. Bruise my leg? Must be bruise cancer.  It really is funny, but I wonder how long you have to call yourself a survivor to really believe it?
edited to add: I realized after I posted this, this is the first time I've said the word survivor...maybe there is hope for the mad monkey in my mind yet. 

"Survivors aren't always the strongest; sometimes they're the smartest, but more often simply the luckiest." ~ Carrie Ryan, The Dark and Hollow Places

The Girl Who Danced

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dreamtime ~ Brolga

Once upon a time there was a girl who danced. And danced. And danced. A powerful wirrunun asked her to marry him, and she refused.  In anger he chanted and sang up a mighty whirlwind. After it swept through, the girl Brolga was gone and in her place came the dancing bird Brolga.

I'm reminded by this card of the extraordinary changes in us, wrought by time, seemingly behind our backs. We start out one day strong and lively and all of a sudden our strength and lively have deserted us, leaving just a token amount so we know what we are missing. It is a funny old life. Dance as Brolga while we still can.

"I'll see your dancing bird and raise you a beatboxing parrot."

Last One In...And Out

Daily Draw: Oracle of the Dreamtime ~ Moon

Moon decrees everything must die. Except itself. It rests for three days each month and then is renewed. The red mistletoe signifies yet unborn children.

The moon's attitude reminds me of what I call 'last one in' syndrome. We just know in our heart everyone dies eventually. Except us.

 "Since the last one in a graveyard is believed to be the next one fated to die, funerals often end in a mad scramble." ~ Texas, A Guide To The Lone Star State, Primitive customs of the Brazos Valley 1940

Oracle of the Dreamtime by Donni Hakanson, 1998, published by Journey Editions/Eddison Sadd Ltd. 45 round cards and softcover 176 page companion book, images by six artists, based on Australian Aboriginal culture and ancient stories of the Dreamtime.

Went So Wrong

Daily Draw: Etteilla Tarot ~ Magician

Etteilla chose to slot the Magician in at number 15, where Devil usually stands. subtitled Aaron. The right hand of Moses...until it all started to go so terribly wrong.

I'm reminded by this card and the teenage suicides this week, we live in a wicked world. A world where I am continually amazed by just how bad we can be. If that isn't illness I don't know what would be.

"I've crossed some kind of invisible line. I feel as if I've come to a place I never thought I'd have to come to. And I don't know how I got here. It's a strange place. It's a place where a little harmless dreaming and then some sleepy, early-morning talk has led me into considerations of death and annihilation." ~ Raymond Carver 1938-1988 Where I'm Calling From

Lively Reception

Daily Draw: Grand Etteilla Tarot ~ Ace of Cups

Reception or party...card number 49. I'd like to have a party all right, with Jean Baptiste Alliette from the 1700's and designer of this deck. Why did he number them the way he did? Why did he base certain meaning to certain cards? Where did he get the germ of an idea that became scripture to him, the gypsies brought tarot out of Egypt?

I'll never know and it is ok, sometimes not knowing something makes it more interesting. Party on Jean, I'll be by this afternoon.  You will get a lively reception, lots of people wonder the same things...

"Finally! You're here!"
Uh....Do I know you?"
Well, no....But you're here, all the same..." ~ Lynn Weingarten Wherever Nina Lies

Wot? Me?

Daily Draw: Grand Etteilla Tarot ~ Ace of Swords

Excess. Wot? Me?

"A couple of years ago my sister Judy and I were each given a box of truffles. The tiny print said two pieces contained 310 calories and there were six pieces in each box. We were sitting on the bus headed downtown, quietly doing our calculations: Judy was dividing by two and I was multiplying by three. When she realized what I was doing, a look came over her face that is hard to describe. 'I lost all hope for you' she says now." ~ Abigail Thomas Thinking About Memoir

What Can It Hurt

Daily Draw: Great Etteilla Tarot ~ 6 of Wands

Etteilla used this card to signify people in lower stations of life.
For many in his day (1738-1791) domestic service was often the only real option for consistent food and shelter.  Our reversed card refers to expectations, real or false.

I'm reminded by expectations, my mind is at war with itself. Practical and pragmatic to a fault, I see my cancer history with common sense and recognize what I've experienced already is just the thin edge of the wedge. But I am working hard, based on professional advice, to put my mind in a entirely different place. A place that doesn't accept there may be cancer still  in my body, a place that makes long distance plans, a place where I'm whole and healthy and never look back. For a practical person it is difficult...but what can it hurt?

"What I have since realized is that if people expect you to be brave, sometimes you pretend that you are, even when you are frightened down to your very bones." ~ Sharon Creech 1945- Walk Two Moons

All Show No Blow

Daily Draw: Grand Etteilla Tarot ~ Justice

Once in a while when walking through a store I come upon a bank of TV monitors all showing a talk show with two or three women screaming at each other over some sadsack of a man.

I'm reminded by this card they are encouraged to act like idiots because it brings in eyeballs and $$$'s, but this card, subtitled Solomon, makes me wonder if anyone on those thousands of shows has tried putting the child or the other person first. Have I? Solomon is thin on the ground these days and life seems all show and no blow.

"And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king,  O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it." 1 Kings 16-27. ~ Solomon (Jedidiah) 1000-931BCE

Change Lanes

Daily Draw: Grand Etteilla Tarot ~ World

Etteilla gave this reverse image the viewpoint of Country Property. I look at those animals and think of our little farm up north; when we set it up we built a small barn on rollers so we could move it if needed.

I'm reminded by this card country property can always use another outbuilding, I'm looking forward to bringing this one home. Would that life was on rollers so we could just change lanes when speed bumps and potholes loom before us.

"We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." ~ Joseph Campbell 1904-1987

Dragging My Feet

 Daily Draw: Grand Etteilla Tarot ~ 9 of Wands

Dragging my feet presents a funny mental picture but certainly is a good descriptor. We need to sell our little farm up north, it makes complete common sense but both heart and mind resist the idea.

I'm reminded by this card now or later doesn't matter in a family so divided by dislike and distrust. I can do the courtesy of respecting their feelings but I have learned my lessons well and don't need to be affected by them.

"Out waiting them gives them the time to say more than they intend." ~  Adam-Troy Castro 1960-  Emissaries from the Dead

Grand Etteilla deck type dates back to the late 1700's and are based on the idea that tarot came out of Egypt with Gypsies. It was also the first deck designed for esoteric purposes, prior to that tarot was used for gaming. A beautiful deck, meant to be used both upright and reversed, the cards are numbered 1-78.  This is the 1977 edition published by Grimaud France.

The Bottom Line

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Magical Forest ~ 5 of Wands

Froglets in superman capes. Looks like the beginning of a brain storming project. I was just reading Wal-mart stores can't keep their shelves fully stocked and produce departments cleaned and supplied, because guess why, they have laid off an average of sixty employees per store over the past six years. I don't doubt they have also cut the hours of the remaining staff. 

I'm reminded by this card not all new ideas are good ideas and it's helpful to look forward rather than just  the bottom line.

"Our competitors are better because Wal-Mart exists." ~ Lee Scott 1949- Wal-Mart CEO 2000-2009

The Second And The Last

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Magical Forest ~ 4 of Swords

The Rider-Waite pips are based on the decans of the Golden Dawn. This is Lord of Respite from Strife.

I'm reminded by this card some of my personal options...

• Flounce out of the room or forum, from my childish side
• Put the strifer on ignore, from my grown-up side
• Spend a year in a black rage, from my depressed side
• Shout NOTHING when asked what is wrong, young adult side
• Give myself cancer
• Relax into a yoga practice

I can only recommend the second and last, the others not at all.

"Is it worthwhile that we jostle a brother bearing his load on the rough road of life? Is it worthwhile that we jeer at each other in blackness of heart? God pity us all in our pitiful strife." ~ Cincinnatus Heine (Joaquin) Miller 1837-1913

Empty Box

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Magical Forest ~ Wheel

My mind, such as it is, is drawing a total blank this morning.

"For your birthday, I got you a box. Hooray! It’s empty, so you can fill it with whatever you want.
" ~ Jarod Kintz 1982- A Zebra is the Piano of the Animal Kingdom

Weights and Measures

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Magical Forest ~ 2 of Coins

Ever read the notice pasted on the fuel pump? The elevator? The fruit and veg scale? There is actually a unit of our government that inspects and tags for uniformity. That is why eggs come sized. Going north there are a good ten miles of parked rail flat cars, been there for years rusting. The rules changed and no one uses 40 foot rail cars anymore, the containers are now 53 foot. 

All that to say what? Somewhere someone, no doubt earning a great big salary, decides this stuff. If you've ever wondered what he looks like, here he is, healthy and happy as the 2 of Coins. Because  what was old is new and the rules often change, his job is assured.

"The unification of weights and measures of the Year III of the French Revolution, (April 7, 1795) climaxed the efforts of a millennium (Charlemagne had sought it), but the system, in spite of its exportation by Napoleon's armies, is still not universal." ~ 1989, Emmet Kennedy Professor Emeritus George Washington University

Make Someone Bug Eyed Today

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Magical Forest ~ 3 of Coins

Ever had a parent, spouse, boss, look at you bug eyed about something you've done? Either because it was successful or such a blazing failure? 

I'm reminded by this card to give all of us a rousing wha-hooie for effort. If we don't think outside the box once in a while we are destined to trudge someone else's rut, a incredibly dull and boring place to be.

"Why do they always teach us that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world, to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage." ~ Ayn Rand 1905-1982

Just Enough

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Magical Forest ~ 4 of Cups

This four might be stability, rather than stagnation. It appears the Ace of Cups is once again offering...offering what? The three Cups in the foreground are empty, is the Cup being offered also empty? Has our little figure finally figured that out?

I'm reminded by this card how anticipation can be dulled by too much too soon, turning into false expectations, but can also put the concept of moderation in strong relief.

"Many things which cannot be overcome when they are together yield themselves up when taken little by little." ~ Plutarch 46-120 AD