Why Did The Chicken Cross The Web?

Daily Draw: Sacred Sites Tarot ~ Wheel

      To get to the other site.
I often think of the internet as a big wheel. I've laughed at the advert that shows a black screen and these words. "The end. Begin again." As if that would ever happen. The dictionary has probably doubled in size with the rapid absorption of computereze. I've met people I'd never have imagined knowing pre-computer. Good people who enrich my life. I've learned things I couldn't possibly have known pre-computer.

I'm reminded by this card I've been online since 1996. Eighteen years.
I'm a better person because of it. I've learned to limit my tech time to two hours a day. Because we all know, there isn't any The End, the Wheel goes on and on.

 - How do trees get on the Internet?
      They log in.

 - What do computers like to eat?
      Chips.

 - What is a computer's first sign of old age?
      Loss of memory.

This week's deck is Sacred Sites Tarot by Lo Scarabeo, 2012, art and words, Federico Penco/Massimiliano Filadoro.

Living Spirit

Daily Draw: Minchiate Etruria Firenze ~ Trumpets

This somewhat resembles the Judgement card in standard tarot, but is referred to as Fame, Angel, Renown, and on a couple of sites that should know better, as a second Justice. It falls at number forty, the last major.

I'm reminded by this card I judge myself far harsher than any court would, Fame is fleeting, don't believe in Angels, and Renown is stacked over there by Fame. This deck was designed in the 1700's, had I lived then I might see her differently. Or not...human nature always having been human nature.

"The ones who count are those persons who, though they may be of little renown, respond to and are responsible for the continuation of the living spirit." ~ Martin Buber 1878-1965

A Watery Peace

Daily Draw: Minchiate Etruria Firenze ~ Water

Peacemaking without aggression.
I can see how nations call peacemaking sending in troops.
I've never seen it be non-counterproductive, but you can't talk to someone who only shouts.

I'm reminded by this card I don't have any troops, so I've simply quit talking.

"The sea pronounces something, over and over, in a hoarse whisper; I cannot quite make it out." ~Annie Dillard1945-

The Bone Chain

Daily Draw: Minchiate Etruria Firenze ~ 10 of Coins

Family. Can't live with them, can't shoot them says the proverb.
But it happens every darn day.

I'm reminded by this card of the animal kingdom, animals that choose to hang out together have pecking orders, pack protocol. Everyone knows where their place is on the hierarchy of the bone chain.  That doesn't insure peace, the littlest chick gets pecked to death, the smallest piglet is crowded out to starve. Don't know where I'm going with this but family are endlessly entertaining and horrifying.

"There's a problem with the hierarchical orientation, though. When the numbers get too big, the thing breaks down. A pecking order can hold only so many chickens."~ Steven Pressfield 1943-

Relief

Daily Draw: Minchiate Etruria Firenze ~ Libra

Stabilizing the situations.

I can only hope. My scales are so out of whack, falling on the porcupine
can only be seen as a relief.

"It is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place." ~ Washington Irving 1783-1859

Just A Side Effect

Daily Draw: Minchiate Etruria Firenze ~ Prudence

Is Prudence cautious or is she rash today?
Is she asking the mirror how her actions appear to others?
Why does she even care what someone else might think?
Is she going to unleash the snake on an unsuspecting foe?
How do we get foes anyway?
Doesn't a foe have to be someone with whom we've invested time?

I'm reminded by this card, I'd say my mirror reflects a true me and prudence doesn't come into it because I'm never grey, I'm black and white. Makes life so much simpler and prudence is an accidental side effect.

"Prudent people are very happy; 'tis an exceeding fine thing, that's certain, but I was born without it, and shall retain to my day of death the humour of saying what I think." ~ Mary Worley Montagu 1689-1762

It's Not What You Think

Daily Draw: Minchiate Etruria Firenza Tarot ~ Fool

The Minchiate originated as a gaming deck (as did tarot)
Minchiate in dialect is translated to nonsense or trifle
Minchionare translates to "to laugh at"
Are they playing a game? Or is a child being beat? Is there a difference?
Is the Fool teasing the child by holding his rattle out of reach?
Has a child ever been entertained by being teased?
Has a child or animal being teased ever drawn a single laugh from anyone but the audience?

I'm reminded by this card teasing is a word people use to thinly disguise a streak of cruelty. They are fools if they think anyone is fooled.

"Patience when teased is often transformed into rage." ancient proverb

From FrankenFood To FrankenFolken

Daily Draw: Ancient Minchiate Etruria ~ Sagittarius

Extraordinary mind, rising above the commonplace.

As I understand it the species we are closest related to, and whose heart valves have been used in human heart surgeries, is the pig. The genome of pigs was completed 2012, and now offers the opportunity to genetically engineer pigs to provide full human organ transplants. Genetically engineered because pigs live a much shorter life which doesn't change when it's parts no longer live in the pig but the human. I'm reminded by this card of genetically engineered food and my opinion of transplants, and the things extraordinary minds can get up to, given the funds.

"Six Legged Chickens..How do they taste?
Don't know, no one has been able to catch one." Snopes

Lo Scarabeo reprint of  the 1725 Florence Italy Etruria Minchiate, 2011, designed for gaming. A deck of 97 images: 41 majors, 12 zodiac signs, 4 virtues, 4 elements, plus all the usual suspects in the minors and courts.

Survive

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ 6 of Swords

Survival. Our will to survive is much stronger than our ability to survive, proved over and over again through time.

I'm reminded of all those stories today and wondering who am I, cossette and pampered, fed safe healthy, to complain of anything at all.

"The body is a brute beast that knows nothing of reason." ~ Isaac Asimov 1920-1992

Learn And Teach

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ Magician

The Fool, unformed, begins the path to knowledge with the Magician,
who represents anyone we meet who teaches, and us, when we teach others.

I'm reminded by this card, we walk in both worlds from birth to death.
Never knowing what we will learn and what we will impart each day.

"Words itch at our ears until we understand them." ~ Walt Whitman 1819-1892

Lurch Sideward

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ Tower

A Tower that doesn't collapse or implode, but suggests construct and aim high.

The master plan for our new life took a mighty lurch sideward yesterday. I hope I don't need a whole new construct.

"Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together." ~ Ray Bradbury 1920-2012

Abstinence

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ Hermit

Abstinence.

I don't drink liquor and sodas. If I'm going to have a wad of calories I want to chew them.
I've just come off 13 years of no-buy quilting fabric. I'm agog at all the new colors and designs. So excited to start my next quilt. New Fabric!
This is Rob's last day at work, retirement starts tomorrow. I'm afraid there will be no abstinence from work, I have a honey-do list 10 miles long.
Abstinence is a bit of a good thing...it feels so good to stop.

"Abstinence is easier than temperance." ~ Seneca 4 BC-65 AD

Megalithic Circles

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ World

All the technology in the world won't make one of these today.
And we wouldn't anyway, nice as the idea is. Finding enough laborers with green cards would be a problem.
Chance of making it out of consulting agencies hands? Nil. Let go of a cash cow until they'd milked it dry? Never.
Getting building permits and travel permits for the stones would be insurmountable. Parish and county and states and countries working together for a stone structure no architect could claim?

I'm reminded by this card how little we've advanced since the world went dark the last time. And me? I haven't so much as put a scratch in a stone to show my passing. I can live with that actually, I'm not proud to be part of this particular rendition of humans.

"I don't know how man will fight World War III, but I do know how they will fight World War IV. With sticks and stones." ~ Albert Einstein 1879-1955

Doublesided

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ Moon

Surprises. Positive or Negative.

That is actually a tough nut. Because I've twice had cancer my top brain is thinking, holycownosurprises...but what if it was a kitchen remodel? Or two tickets to Australia? But whatifitwascancer...the Moon. Doublesided.

"Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise." ~ Alice Malsenior Walker 1944-

Mental Evolution

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Origins ~ Knight of Wands

Our evolutionary path. Really, that is what this blog is all about. Thought triggers that will remind me not to slip back or make me smarter or stronger or in some way better than I was the day before.

I'm reminded by this card, most days I'm on my knees pushing a pea up a mountain. But once in a great while an epiphany strikes and sets me free to leap forward. It isn't ever as sudden as that, it's little crumbs from years, finally achieving brain evolution, but when cohesion happens, my small brain achieves giant status for a bit. Pure Joy.

"If the human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn't." ~ Emerson M. Pugh 1929-

The deck this week is Lo Scarabeo, Tarot of the Origins 2000, long out of print, raw and primitive, art by Sergio Toppi (1933-2012). Suits are:
Wands, green/nature
Swords, red/blood
Cups, blue/soul
Coins, yellow/jewels

Blending In Is Pointless

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ 7 of Wands

Having the courage of our convictions.

Easy to say, sometimes hard to do when our viewpoints are diametrically opposed to family or friends. Who likes to be the different one, day in and day out? As time rolls along though it becomes easier, to be who we need to be. And much of the time what we thought would meet opposition gets a 'who cares, we knew that a long time ago...'

"Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions". ~ Dag Hammarskjold 1905-1961

Practical

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ King of Coins

Practical wealth. Of spirit, emotion, intellect, physical, combined with unclouded self vision.

I'm reminded by this card, this state is one of the pleasures and blessings of age.

"The purpose of life is to create your Self anew." ~ Neale Donald Walsch 1943-

Fetters

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ 10 of Swords

New perspective. Moving beyond the current cage of reality to a new unfettered life.

That's a tough one...our fetters are lifelines of the known, even when we can see they no longer serve us. I'm reminded by this card those lifelines need to be reviewed occasionally to see what weighs us down and what lifts us up.

"He who is conceived in a cage yearns for the cage." ~ Yevgeny Yevtushenko 1933-

Understanding

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ Ace of Cups

Water can only be seen by reflection or addition. It has no temperature of its own but takes on that of the environment. It only makes a sound when hurried or deflected.

I'm reminded by this Ace of Cups, the well of our emotions not yet balanced by the Sword of will, I understand why Robin Williams killed himself. Depression is an insidious enemy that can eat us alive. In a black depression we walk and talk just like a human, just as if we are really there.  But we don't see death by any means as frightening or disturbing, just closure of that channel that brings nothing but pain and darkness. Sorrow that fills the glass and runs down the sides and we are drowning and then we are gone.

"I feel like Adam when he said to Eve, 'back up, I don't know how big this gets.'" ~ Robin Williams 1951-2014

trendy pretendy social media

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ Fool

Take a risk, have faith, detach from the outcome.
In person.

Even a fool can do that.

"Any fool can turn a blind eye but who knows what the ostrich sees in the sand." ~ Samuel Beckett 1906-1989  Murphy

Prop Wash Warning

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ Ace of Wands

Thoth decks begin with this card, not the majors. This is the pent up force, the drive, the fire, the impetus for a new beginning. There is no channel yet, no outlet, but the new beginning has too much force to be stopped, put on your shoes you are about to take a ride.

I'm reminded by this card, I'm almost ready. Be prepared for prop wash. My contrail will be orange and lime...

Mortality

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ Death

Mortality. One of the few things all living creatures have in common.

I can live with that.

"Almost everything falls away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." ~ Steve Jobs 1955-2011

The deck this week is Tarot of the Spirit, published 1992, second printing 2011, by US Games Systems. Art  by Joyce Eakins. 425 page softcover book by Pamela Eakins, published 1992 by Samuel Weiser Inc.

Whole Cloth

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ Emperor

Good Gad. The book says this figure shows 'fire in the belly'.

I'm reminded by this card of the ego required to step into a position of leadership, suited or not. They would not only need to have drive and self confidence, but also that ego buffer to hear day in and day out every misstep, real or made out of whole cloth. The ability to withstand the latter is one of the few things I can admire in their makeup.

"Ego has a voracious appetite, the more you feed it, the hungrier it gets." ~ Nathaniel Bronner Jr. 1955-

Refuge

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ 4 of Swords

Refuge. Rest. Relaxation. Recovery.

Sometimes it helps, it did yesterday.
repeat once and call me on the morrow.

"The wound is the place where the light enters you." ~ Rumi 1207-1273

Punning The Deck

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ 7 of Coins

Here is a textbook RWS image, in a thoth based deck.

I'm reminded by this card, getting up and putting my bra on backwards is how I view this rendition. It may be a card and it may say 7 of Coins...but it's pointless...

Dither

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ 8 of Wands

Unrestricted energy or force, with direction and intent.

Amazing what we can accomplish when we don't dither.

"Anyone can see that intending and not acting when we can, is not really intending." ~ Emanuel Swedenborg 1688-1722

Quagmire Of My Own Making

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ 5 of Cups

A quagmire, from which we can regenerate.
That big empty fifth cup is me.
This card offers the option of being refilled,
or better yet, washed clean and filled anew by the four small cups.

I'm reminded by this card, all I need to do is be present and mindful.  I've been up a half hour...so far so good. Going to the black place is not an option. Never again.

"All this splendor, and you along with it...it's just as though it were built on a shifting quagmire. A moment may come, a word can be spoken, and both you and all this splendor will collapse." ~Henrik Ibsen

Does Anything Count?

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ 6 of Swords

Mind over matter.
Unification of macro and micro.
Goal and Success meet.

I'm reminded by this card, the seconds tick by into days and weeks and years. Can we look back six years ten years, and see some progress that counts? Has anything changed?

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

I'm Up For It

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Sephiroth ~ Fool

A new deck to me, though long out of print, Tarot of the Sephiroth is Thoth based. The Tree of Life, kabbalah, and revealed knowledge.

I'm reminded by this Fool, and this deck, there is always something new to be learned from everyone and everything. Each day I keep my ears eyes and heart open. That old cynical mind though...well, I'm working on it. A new day, with a new life just around the corner, I'm up for it.

"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know." ~ Mark Twain 1835-1910

Tarot of the Sephiroth, published by U.S. Games Systems 1999, art by Dan Staroff, 286 page guide book by Josephine Mori and Jill Stockwell.

Action = Consequences

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ King of Coins

King Midas, who else? Being granted one wish by Dionysos he said, "grant that all I touch turn to gold". As you can imagine, that didn't work out to well. He got a do-over though, by bathing in the River Pactolus he was able to wash away the wish.

I'm reminded by this card, it is seldom we get a do-over in the real game of life. Living with the consequences of our actions is what we do, day in and out. We did it, we got it.

"Midas's Law: Possession diminishes perception of value, immediately." ~ John Updike 1932

Snowbirds Follow The Sun

Daily Draw: Mythic Tarot ~ Sun

Apollo, who loved mountain tops, founded Delphi, and though I've not seen him named as such, was one of the first snowbirds. Come autumn he was outta there, off to Hyperborea, land of eternal spring and light.  Persephone was another, nine months in the sun, paid for with three months in the underworld.

I'm reminded by this card, as there were two sides to Apollo, healing and quick death, there are two sides to the sun. The glitterati resorts, and Slab City Arizona. Given my druthers, I'd rather stay home, high on the shoulders of Green Mountain near the sun and moon both.