Scooping The Nebula

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ Star

We scoop universal moisture to irrigate mind soul spirit.

This nebula asks me to consider exactly what I've been drawing into my life.

Mind Police

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 7 of Swords/Feathers

Give your all to all.
Take nothing for yourself.

I'm reminded by this card how misunderstood the 7 of Swords can be and how our mind police can drive us to ruin. I see this card as my earplugs and cushy pillows. In the three plus months mother has been with me she has gotten up between 5 AM and 7 AM just three times. Her normal routine is to get up and get dressed any time between 10 PM and 3 AM, come out to the living area and then...begin the shouting. Where's the bananas Where's the waffles Where's the coffee Where's the lights Where's the manager, and worse...on and on and on until I get up at 5 AM and turn on the coffee. At that point she goes to sleep in her chair and dozes until bed time, then it starts again. I will not be shamed, my pillows and my earplugs are my 7 of Swords self-care. No, I will not enforce her behavior by appeasing it, I will not, not take something for myself.

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." ~ George Orwell 1903-1950 1984

No One But Us

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 4 of Wands/Flames

What fires our central core?
What creeps us into a slovenly do nothing?
What motivates us to get up and get getting?
What deactivates our core fire?

I'm reminded by this card...we do. Our essence is directed by no one but ourselves.

"The energy of the mind is the essence of life." ~ Aristotle 384 BC-322 BC

Why Be The Wheelbarrow?

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 6 of Wands/Flames

Pushing ourselves. Going past the "don't know how to do it" and "that is too hard, not even going to try it" and "this needs to be done, who can I find to do it" restrictive mental and physical stage.

There really is a feeling of victory when we finally get our duff in gear. I didn't know I could repair a broken brush hog until I was the only option. Driving in Seattle, wouldn't even try until I needed precious last minutes with my little sister. Bring my mother to live with  me? I would have laughed in the face of someone who told me I would...and here I am. What can I push today?

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose." ~ Dr. Seuss 1904-1991

Details Details

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 3 of Swords/Feathers

At the moment I don't have any painful memory loops, my black rage has been gone for years, ashes in the wind, burned out with time and effort.

I'm reminded by this card someone tried to revive that pain recently, and I couldn't even remember the details or the point.

"The night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just as our memory does." ~ Jorge Luis Borges 1899-1986

Reality

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ Moon

From the book: The small mind steps back. Reality expands.

Ain't it the truth? I can't say better than that.

"To treat your facts with imagination is one thing, but to imagine your facts is another." ~ John Burroughs 1837-1921

Recognition

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 4 of Cups

Recognizing emotions and accepting responsibility for them.

I'm reminded by this card we can cosset anger and we can pussyfoot around fear but until we understand they are not governed by something or someone else we will never be free of either.

"How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it." ~ Marcus Aurelius 121 AD-180 AD Meditations

Butterfly Flutter

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen ~ 8 of Wands/Flames

Concentration, enthusiasm, and the subject that fires our mind.

I'm reminded by this card I've been sewing since age five.
And still, each morning when I see my sewing machine and fabric, I feel that inner butterfly flutter of excitement. Life is good.

"My mind is on fire." ~ Alun Armstrong 1946- New Tricks

Door Number Sea

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 6 of Cups

Harmony. Like the waves it comes and goes with no preview of coming attractions.

I'm reminded by this card of the constant rhythms of the ocean. It relaxes my clenched brain. It is good for what ails me.
If the day comes and I can't walk out into a forever wheat field, I shall take the walk at the ocean.
I could float for free while floating free. Just the thought of it creates harmony of body mind spirit. I pick door number sea.

"Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion?" ~ Rumi 1207-1273

Here After

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ Judgement/Renewal

From the book: A miniscule split in the dark and narrow cage, welcoming the unexpected.

I'm reminded by this card, if the idea of afterlife had been presented to me like this, I might have swallowed the story.

"What happens to your soul when you get unwound?"
"Who says I even got one?"
"For the sake of argument, let's say you do."
"Who says I want an argument?" ~ Neal Shusterman 1961-  Unwind

Broken

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ Death

The best alternative
Isn't offered as a choice
The broken mind
The broken heart
Stay calm and carry on.

"Pick up your pieces. Then help me gather mine." ~ Vera Nazarian 1966-

Last Point, No Return

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ World

From the book: The last sign before nothingness.

Clean. Crisp.
To the point.
No fables.
No sugar.
What a relief.

"We're nothing more than dust jackets for books, so many pages to a person.."  ~ Ray Bradbury 1920-2012  Fahrenheit 451

Naked In A Cave

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ Page/Daughter of Coins

From the book, "I am alone but not lonely". Rob has traveled most of our years together; I am often lonesome for him, but never lonely. The dictionary I just consulted doesn't differentiate between the two words. But I know the difference.

I'm reminded by this card I am content in my own company and have enough interesting things to do and read to fill hundreds of years. And I'd rather be naked in this cave doing the tree pose for eternity than have technology strapped to my arm as a companion.

Margarete Petersen Tarot, KonigsFurt 2004. 72 page english edition booklet by Krummwisch B. Kiel. Suits are Coins, Cups, Flames, Feathers.

Oops. Or Ah, Interesting...

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ 7 of Swords

Looks like it should be 6 of Swords doesn't it? There are a number of cards miss-identified, and notes in the companion folder with instructions to change various things. Lo Scarabeo is one of the premier tarot publishers, if they can mess up how can a simple singleton expect to do better?

I'm reminded by this card we all make mistakes, some of them even deliberate, just to get the wheel moving again, just to see if the world is still alive.

"Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes." ~ Oscar Wilde 1854-1900 Picture of Dorian Gray

Hosta La Vista Baby

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ 7 of Wands

I've moved fifteen times. Each time excepting the first, I've left a place and people who were important in my life.

I'm reminded by this card left is the key word. I've brought nothing forward. I find that very odd, probably pitiful in most people's book. People who know me have called  me ruthless...I just get in these moods, to run forward; like Br'er Rabbit, I need to be pitched in the biggest bramble growth and use the thorns to set myself free.

"You say freak, I say unique." ~ Christian Baloga

Expect The Unexpected

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

Has the seeker found what he wants, or found what he needs, or is it all mirage and daydreams?

Good question. Because at this moment I haven't got a clue what I want or need in any kind of forward thinking. Forward thinking with mother is a fool's concept, the playing ground changes constantly. Expect only the unexpected is perhaps this card's gentle lesson of truth.

"There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected; the expected for which one has refused to prepare." ~ Mary Renault 1905-1983  The Charioteer

Still Inside Teaching

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ Heirophant

Have all your professional teachers worked on the basis of integrity and truth? I went to a small country 12 year school and being small had some benefits, but it seemed to draw dummies and bullies for it's teaching staff.

I never had children, but if I did I would have spent a lot of time deciding where to live, by the reputation of the schools. And it sure as heck wouldn't be a small country school in spite of the benefits.

The teachers who are still inside teaching?
Mrs. Ollie E. Camp 1st and 2nd grade. She knew what the 3 R's are, and gave us understanding to get to the root and proceed from there.
Mrs. Davis 4th grade. Let our creativity out to play. Every creative thing I've accomplished since leads straight back to her, for opening the door.
Mrs. Alice Bingham. 4 years of journalism and associated office skills.

Thank You.

Wind And Whim

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ Ace of Cups

In a chalice made of mist. Would that be because our feelings alter with wind and whim? This card asks us to treat ourselves as we would treat others. Bit of a twist on the original gold or silver rule from the book of Luke.

I'm reminded by this card, I can but try.

"Compassion is the basis of all morality." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860

Shut The Door, I'm Thinking

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ Hermit

Retreat, respite, asylum. Circumvent, escape, passive resistance.

I'm reminded by this card being a hermit can take many forms, some helpful, some not so. It is a matter of viewpoint isn't it?

"And if they thought her aimless, if they thought her a bit mad, let them. It meant they left her alone. She was not aimless, she was thinking." ~ Catherynne Valente 1979-  Deathless

Bit Between The Teeth

Daily Draw: Fairy Lights Tarot ~ Strength

Artists use a lot of poetic license with this particular card, anything from beastiality to lying down with the lambs...this one has a bald fairy with a Santa hat and thigh high red boots sawing back on a bit as part of the harness lashup.

I'm reminded by this card the very idea of using a bit gets my back up, yet each day I use a bit of some sort, mental physical or emotional, on myself. I expect given time and training the cruel  bit could be expendable, but do I even consider it? Easier to yank myself up abruptly. Perhaps next life around it will come to mind before the bit is already part of the day.

"Simia est simia, etiami purpura vestiatur"

Fairy Lights Tarot, art by Lucia Mattioli, published by Lo Scarabeo, 2013. Mattioli's first deck was double sided, this deck has many pairs which complete a scene.

Sanctuary

Daily Draw: Sacred Geometry Deck ~ Sanctuary

My physical sanctuary has been in an uproar. Beavers got in the pond this fall and fell about ten of the trees surrounding it. Into the pond of course, not over the fences which I guess is a good thing in it's own way. When the ground dries out we'll chain the tractor to the mess and start pulling the trees out.

I'm reminded by this card my mental sanctuary is also a mess. Know the game 52 pickup? I feel like all those cards, in the air.
I close my eyes, breathe deep, clear mind and heart. Often. It helps.

"What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon." ~ Denis Waitley 1933-

Funhouse Mirror

Daily Draw: Sacred Geometry Cards ~ Night Into Day

Day or night, hawk or owl, transition via intent or circumstance?

I'm reminded by this card each day we are changed.
An astounding thought, with funhouse mirror rules, is it us or was it memorex?

"I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also much more than that. So are we all." ~ James Arthur Baldwin 1924-1987

As Dog Is My Witness

Daily Draw: Sacred Geometry Cards ~ Apsaras Hands

Effort Achievement Completion. One of Julia Cameron's books had me do a life time-line in five year increments. Some things I needed to dig deep to even make a blip on one time-line, some things spread through many time-lines. I still have it, but what reads a floppy disc now?

I'm reminded by this card, and these hands, modeled on those found everywhere in the ancient Cambodian temple Angkor Wat, of the key word Effort. Without that life is simply unremarkable. Our only ripples would be from someone else's efforts. Beyond that, how often do we celebrate our achievements and completions? They are both moving targets because they change as we approach them. I'm going to put a sticky note here and try to come up with five completions and five current efforts.

"If dogs could tell us everything they have seen, all the gaps of our lives would stitch themselves into a whole." ~ Carolyn Parkhurst 1971- The Dogs of Babe

Irrational

Daily Draw: Sacred Geometry Deck ~ Wild Orchids

What is hiding or what is being hidden from us?

How would we know if we don't know? Or if what we know for sure, is wrong? What if it is important and we never find out, what then? It seems like a math question that ends in an eternity of .777777's. If we get to 7 number 17 is that discovery still the same at 7 number 56? Some questions are pointless at 4:45 AM.

"I have a stash of mustaches I keep hidden in my armpits. I like to disguise my disguises." ~ Jarod Kintz 1982-

The Drop and The Ring

Daily Draw: Sacred Geometry Cards ~ One Drop

Chaos. How much is too much? Is your world so busy with things you've invited in you don't even recognize chaos?

I'm reminded by this card chaotic is not a word I'd use to define my life. I am the one drop, the  rings are on their own. All that is required to be in that space is self honesty. And determination to stay there.

"In the space between chaos and the shape there was another chance." ~ Jeanette Winterson 1959-  The World and Other Places

I'll Get Over It

Daily Draw: Sacred Geometry ~ Phase Mandala

With the tarot Wheel cards I mostly think of big sudden movements, usually only realized in hindsight. What this moon phase shows is very little happens suddenly. Even being caught in a tsunami required the process of getting to that spot at that time.

I'm reminded by this card of some recent processes that are still moving. Bringing mom home from the nursing home; she doesn't know where she is each morning or who I am but she does remember where the bananas are, I call that progression of a sort. The mystery quilt I enjoy each year that begins in November, today we have the reveal of our quilts here. We've all made the same basic units but wow...add individualism to the pot and look how different they are!

"Life is just a phase, don't worry, you'll get over it."

A Small Peaceful Place

Daily Draw ~ Sacred Geometry Cards ~ Peace Offering

It is pretty obvious from my overall posts (2400+) I'm cynical when it comes to the human race. I think our sell-by date is long past and hope for worldwide peace is ludicrous. When a country isn't strong enough to try to extinguish far away peoples, it turns on itself to satisfy that blood lust. Our species is absolutely hopeless.

I'm reminded by this card in a corrupt and worn out world there is one little thing I can do. I can create a peace offering to and for myself. I've done it before and I can do it again, I just have to remember to not forget to keep that small peaceful glow in mind and heart alight. Even our world has hope there...

"When you bring into alignment your beliefs and the way you live, then and only then, can you find inner peace."~ Peace Pilgrim (Mildred Norman Ryder) 1908-1981

Sacred Geometry Cards, 64 art cards integrating math, science and spirituality; and 145 page soft cover book by Francene Hart. Published by Bear & Company 2008

Backwater Politics

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 5 of Swords/Lightning

The inverted rainbow shows Thunder Yei has received something not deserved which in the end will bring no pleasure.

I'm reminded by this card of Kathryn (Kay) Gould. Prior to my senior year our little backwater school got a new principal. He had a wife and two children. Kathryn (or Kathrine?) was in my class. She was smart as a whip and earned the Valedictorian spot. Except some parents (not mine) rose up and said she hadn't been at the school long enough to earn such an honor. It was a despicable thing to do, plus it bumped me to Salutatorian which was an honor I neither desired nor appreciated. Where ever you are Kathryn, I'm sure your brains have put the rest of us to shame, rock on.

"Try never to be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people or find a different room." ~ Michael Dell 1965-   Addressing the University of Texas graduates 2003

Trapped Or Trapper?

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 4 of Cups/Water

The Spotted Water Creature is cut off by the Water Lizard. Sacred water jugs or not, he is trapped.

I'm reminded by this card...the Water Lizard is trapped too. If he lets go his prey is free but until he does, there he is, just as stuck. Is there an area in our life where we confuse being trapped with being the trapper?

"A trap is only a trap if you don't know about it. If you know about it, it's a challenge." ~ China Mieville 1972-  King Rat

Lightning Brain Thunder Heart

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 2 of Lightening

She is called Thunder Yei and carries bolts of lightning in her hands. In the Thoth deck the title for this card is Lord Of Peace Restored.


I'm reminded by this card either title is a chosen position. Relax. Breathe. Nothing is the end of the world and if she can't remember, it didn't happen anyway.

"If the thunder is not loud, the peasant forgets to cross himself."
Russian Proverb

Recognizing Recognition

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Strength/Monster Slayer

The bog standard strength card shows a figure co-existing with or fighting with a lion. Monster Slayer knocks those images out of the ball park. Monster protects the Peoples from anything not in the path of beauty and harmony.

It probably seldom seems like it to the casual reader, but this blog is my tool to root out ugliness and disharmony within myself. To expose and be forced to recognize and admit to the things about me I pretend not to know.

"A sense of mission lost in ink's jagged outcrops.
I was trying to tell myself what I must have known before
In a form I wouldn't recognize at first." ~ Rae Armantrout 1947-   Next Life

2013 bookkeeping
Drawn the most times: 4 of Swords, 9 of Swords, 7 times each
Drawn 0 times: Knight of Swords, 3 of Swords, Lovers,7 6 of Cups, Star, 10 of Cups, King of Cups.