Make Haste, Create Turmoil

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ 8 of Fire/Wands

The Lightening Path. Are we hurrying because we are in a hurry? Because we don't like the task? Because we want to get to the  next one? Because something will  happen if we don't? Because we chose the path and are embarrassed to say it was the wrong one? Because it is so pleasurable we want to do it again?

This path could be diving boards, me making huge intensive jumps up and down, going for the big one, disregarding I do not know how to swim. Not only that little problem, but each  jump creates the next board and the next. I'm reminded by this card I wish I knew how much time I have, perhaps I don't need to hurry at all. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head...and would I slow down or go even faster?

 "The End of the Universe is very popular, people like to dress up for it, Gives it a sense of occasion." ~ Douglas Adams 1951-2001  The Restaurant at The End of the World

Brother Wind's Knife

Daily Draw: Tarot of the Spirit ~ Death

This card is considered major transformation. My personal word for 2016 is adapt. It is a tough taskmaster. It colors much of my daily activities, vision being key. Because my vision is distorting rather than dimming, my new current fear is people might turn into monsters. If I don't hold my head straight when talking to someone their jaws elongate and slant sideways.

I drew a second because I don't know where else to go with this problem, having been proactive in every way I can. Brother Wind/Knight of Swords appeared. Rather than continual analysis he offers two equal ideas. Ignore it or find a better teacher. For today I choose to ignore it entirely...

"When analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process." ~ Robert M. Pirsig 1928-  Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

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

Expectations

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ Magician

This Magician has a feather cloak. And a chicken beside him, either waiting for the return of his feathers, or to become the next row on the cloak.

I'm reminded by this card next is a moving target. Largely based on expectations, a step beyond hope. There isn't much that can or will measure up to what we expect and build in our mind, they are not that bad, not that good. I had huge expectations for our anniversary weekend last year, to be crushed by a 'you have to come right in' medical call. This year we will try again, Bowpicker fish and chips, Astoria cinnamon toast, an old fashionedy motel, newly remodeled with a view of the Columbia River bar. Hand crank sewing machine in hand, technology left at home. I expect magic. And the unexpected. See you Sunday.

"Always too eager for the future, we
Pick up bad habits of expectancy.
Something is always approaching; every day
"Till then" we say,

Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear,
Sparkling armada of promises draw near.
How slow they are! And how much time they waste,
Refusing to make haste!

We think each one will heave to and unload
All good into our lives, all we are owed
For waiting so devoutly and so long.
But we are wrong:

Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break." ~ Philip Larkin 1922-1985  Next, Please-Collected Poems

7

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 7 of Swords

The sevens are experimentation and exploration, this particular figure seems to be working out a new strategy.

I'm reminded by this card humans don't much like change, even fear it. Perhaps this card is often seen as sneaky just because we are suspicious of alterations in our norm. Is that why we want to sit by our friend on a bus or plane, even though they are both stuffed with potential friends full of new conversations?

"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in travelling in a stage-coach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place." ~ Washington Irving 1783-1859   Tales of a Traveller

That We Can

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ Judgement/Rebirth

This is New Grange, a passage tomb in Ireland predating the pyramids and Stonehenge. This site represents something much older than the christian idea of the dead arising again, the rebirth concept having been with us since seasons and crop cycles were first noted.

Have you ever been reborn or had a calling? Both these actions are now tied to religion, but we can be reborn numerous times in a lifetime, as well as our calling, coming upon and overwhelming us with energetic fires.  This can be some of the most invigorating and exciting times of our life, if we but heed the notion. That we can.

"The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw." ~
 Jack Handey 1949-

Validation

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ Queen of Cups

The authors see this Queen as someone who no longer needs or wishes for outside validation on any level. Way past the 'do these pants look ok on me' stage. Past caring what anyone's religious or political thoughts are.

I'm reminded by this card, being comfortable in our own skin isn't apathy or indifference, but a stage like any other on the way to maturity. True maturity being death...which is probably when I'll stop turning up the volume.

"Maturity is knowing when to be immature." ~ Randall Hall

Blankety Blank

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ 9 of Cups

I've drawn a blank today, I need to think about this for awhile

February 23: I took a drive all the way around a mountain yesterday, still drawing a blank on this card. And noticed every train that went by had a solid four foot high wall of graffiti on it. Are train yards where taggers hang out? How many of them are getting lung cancer from paint fumes? And at what point (hooray) did graffiti change from blankity blank four letter words and crudely drawn genitals? There is always something to be grateful for, if you look.

If you are too old to go tagging, for $5.00 a tagger will do your name for you, you can print copies and glue them on your own house. Or the neighbors...after all, they are all illegible.

Open

Daily Draw: DruidCraft Tarot ~ Empress/Lady

The doctrine behind this deck postulates some familiarity with wicca and druidry. Leaves me out but the art is beautiful and the book is interesting. The Lady represents openness and trust, a willingness to nurture and be nurtured.

I'm reminded by this blog the cards have been saying this all week. Has pain and depression made me aloof from life? Probably. Am I making an effort? Yes. This last month I've done three things I've never done before, just to open up. I have another planned for April already. And June. I can do this, it won't kill me.

"They are ill discoverers that think there is no land when they can see nothing but sea." ~ Francis Bacon 1561-1626

DruidCraft Tarot, Eddison Sadd edition, 2004. 192 page softcover book by Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm, card art by Will Worthington

Knee Jerk

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ Elemental-Unicorn

A rather complicated card but at heart would like us to see any spiritual situation with insight and innocence. I take that to mean without predetermined dogma or open arms.

I agree wholeheartedly, but seldom do we come upon a new idea. We've had bits and pieces of this and that instilled or shoved into our brains so slowly it is difficult to know our own minds when presented with something new. This card reminds me to keep both heart and mind open. And stop the ingrained knee jerk reactions

"We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-1900

Disguised As Hugs

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ 5 of Cups

Still not seeing what has now become two cups of Spirit behind him, our figure despairs, having lost what he sees as his all in the three cups before him. Or is it rather black depression, in which we see no hope anywhere?

I'm reminded by this card of 1990-1991. A perfect storm of situations that got me working out my first method of suicide. Obviously I didn't, time eventually beat it out of me. But I was there again 2013-2015, far blacker and deeper, no Cups anywhere I looked. There is no snap out of it turn around in this space. I know I'm not there anymore because I can see Cups of spirit all around me. Often disguised as hugs.

"It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem." ~ G. K. Chesterton 1874-1936

That's Life

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ 10 of Coins

This is the completion card of the four minor suits. We have maturity, a sense of culture, a recognition of 'enough'. We have the comfort of companions and see via the archway life is far from over.

We've reached this stage several times. funny how that happens, then we serge and claw on again. That's life as they say in the funny papers...

"Is the acorn better than the oak which is its fullness and completion?" ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~ 1803-188

Spirit

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ 4 of Cups

Poole sees the four cups as the physical, mental, emotional, and spirit. This figure sees not the eagle with the cup of spirit and focuses on the mundane.

I'm reminded by this card, to bury someone with peace takes all four, working in unison. Perhaps this is why there are so many hidden problems exposed when someone dies, the spirit has been kicked to the curb and forgotten.

Body at rest, spirit at peace.

Messenger

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ Elemental-Pegasus

It may be called Pegasus but Poole's description is much more chameleon. Seamlessly moving through all circumstances, the Spirit of Mercury the messenger.

When my dad died in 1990, through odd circumstances I ended up planning the funeral. I'd forgotten all about that until this morning. Seemed like hours on the phone, hundreds of calls. Here in 2016 I've only used the phone to call my brothers and one aunt called. Everything else is text or email, and arrangements in person. Times change whether we notice or not.

Truth

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ Ace of Swords/Air Dragon

Truth. Reality. Authenticity. There are many words for truth.

And each word hints at a way to skirt around it.

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." ~ Galileo Galilei 1564-1642

Personal Path

Daily Draw: Merryday Tarot ~ 6 of Swords

There can be a lot of pathos in this card, depending on the deck, but it can also be seen as purely moving forward. These waters are calm, there are other boats if we get off course and the swords can be viewed as consequences that set us on this particular path.

I'm reminded by this card we live out our life in this boat. Time and consequences are the mast and oar. A lot of imagination went into this one, I'd be happy to crew it for awhile. It seems to ride very low on the water, perhaps it has the material in it we saw at the sportsman show. Water that comes in over the sides drains out the bottom but nothing can come in via the bottom. Makes me wonder, is my boat up to date for the journey? I have neglected it for far too long.

"There is a trough in waves,
A low spot
Where horizon disappears
And only sky
And water
Are our company.

And there we lose our way
Unless
We rest, knowing the wave will bring us
To its crest again.

There we may drown
If we let fear
Hold us within its grip and shake us
Side to side,
And leave us flailing, torn, disoriented.

But if we rest there
In the trough,
Are silent,
Being with
The low part of the wave,
Keeping
Our energy and
Noticing the shape of things,
The flow,
Then time alone
Will bring us to another
Place
Where we can see
Horizon, see the land again,
Regain our sense
Of where
We are,
And where we need to swim." ~ Trough by Judy Brown  The Sea Accepts All Rivers

Merry Day Tarot, Louisa Matson Poole, 1937-2014

Refugee In A World That Never Changes

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Sun

House of Sun: 8 of Spades/Swords
Book wisdom: trouble, soon erased

Look at all the tents on the other side of the station. Today that reminds me of the refugee camps at Calais. Tomorrow there will be another somewhere else.
When we were in Calais, curbsitting because everything closes for lunch, a car raced up, the window came down, and a english speaker asked us for directions. Troubles come in all colors and there are many ways to be a refugee.

"you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
 ~ Warsan Shire 1988-  Home

I Think I Remember

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Callers

House of Callers: 8 of Diamonds/Coins

Book wisdom: A call about inheritance, spongers and borrowers.

I hope I don't look at legitimate queries in that way. At this date mother's estate consists of framed photos of her life on her walls and a few outfits. The way many of us kid about, going in her sleep having spent the last penny. RIP mom, hug dad and Delores for me. There aren't nearly enough hugs going on in this world.

"I think I remember something, but I don't know what it is." ~ Mom's last coherent sentence.
Betty Mallow February 10, 1925 - February 11, 2016

Achievement

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Achievement

House of Achievement: King of Clubs/Wands

Book wisdom: Achievement via art or schooling

Ah. Toughy. My art is quilting, in which I'm self-schooled as with everything else. I do it well, because each project I've chosen has been more difficult than the last. I've made dozens and dozens of sample projects over the years just to learn a technique, whether I ever used it in a quilt or not. I'm satisfied with my curriculum and progress.

I'm reminded by this bridge, which doesn't go up but across, that is what life is. We can work at being better, or we can just not cross the bridge at all.

"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." ~  Edmund Hillary 1919-2008

Big Baby

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Trouble

House of Trouble: 8 of Spades

Book wisdom: Trouble worry blues. Cheer up.

Didn't I just talk about this simplistic attitude?
Later: OK. A least it got me to make a doctor appointment which I've been thinking I should do for weeks.

"Jesus Wept" ~ John 11:35

It Is What It Is

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Moon

House of Moon: Ace of Spades/Swords

Book wisdom...Death

Someone will insult or hurt me. Always possible I guess. Actually someone I care for very much as written me off facebook style, busy erasing me she said. Someone I admire told me she didn't have time to talk about my eyes. That was embarrassing. Mother is fading rapidly. My broadband hotspot device can't keep me online more than a minute...

As my goofy brother-in-law says, "it is what it is". Ain't it the truth.
If I'm missing in action, my hotspot device is dead, the new one won't be here for some days.

Legal Papers

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Seasons

House of Season : King of Diamonds/Coins

Book wisdom...Legal papers

Actually I am waiting for some legal papers, a notice of inheritance. Or the farm could be paid off. I quite like carrying the contract though, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if it goes the full three years.

"Has he come armed, then?" she asked anxiously. “"Has he brought a pistol or a sword?"
Ian shook his head, his dark hair lifting wildly in the wind.
"Oh, no, Mam!" he said. "It’s worse. He’s brought a lawyer!" ~ Diana Gabaldon 1952-  Voyager

Someone Else's Dark

Daily Draw: Gong Hee Fot Choy ~ Compass

House of Compass: 7 of Hearts/Cups

Book wisdom...Happiness. Indicates I should be happy. If downhearted, cheer up and pick up the happiness vibration, better days to come.

In other words, put a smile on it. Always my mother's response when my little brother was down. He has more reason than most to be discouraged and depressed and has fought to overcome it all his life. Today I will kick the blues to the curb and be grateful I don't have his problems.

"In the real dark night of the soul it is always three o' clock in the morning, day after day." ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940

To celebrate Chinese New Year, I'm using the book Gong Hee Fot Choy Tells Your Fortune by Margarete Ward, soft cover 80 pages plus playing board, published by Celestial Arts 1982. Combined with my only deck of playing cards, the Tokai-Do 53, Landscape paintings of 53 train stations between Tokyo and Kyoto by Hiroshige Ando 1797-1858

Brave

Daily Draw: Art of Life Tarot ~ Moon

I've often thought children can be far crueler than adults. Is it because they have less experience at controlling their behavior or because they often work in gangs, a powerful motivator at any age?

I'm reminded by this card I'll take my advanced age over being a child again under any circumstances. Being a child takes more bravery that I have ever had. They are in the trenches every day, while I channel Aesop.

"It is easy to be brave from a safe distance."  ~ Aesop 620 BC - 564 BC

Switching Gears

Daily Draw: Art of Life Tarot ~ 4 of Cups

When we get out of sorts, after being on an even keel, what happened? In the RWS standard there are three cups out of reach and the figure is ignoring the one beside him. In the Thoth all four cups are overflowing and the card is titled luxury.

Why the difference? Is there a difference? Not really. The cups are all there, we just aren't using them to our benefit. Finding ourselves lax or inattentive, rather than focused = frittering away of life hours, the only real luxury we have control over.

“Every luxury must be paid for, and everything is a luxury, starting with being in this world”
 Cesare Pavese ~ 1908-1950

Blown Away

Daily Draw: Art of Life Tarot ~ Ace of Wands

The power of this detail of William Blake's painting Ancient of Days rolls off the image. Our Ace of Wands is the first act of beginning something new. The results are Coins but oh, the creative passion in the Ace of Wands. How could we not go far?

I'm reminded by this card today is the day I need to put my nose to the wheel and find two nights lodging in the San Francisco/Pacifica/Half Moon Bay area for an April visit of friends from England. We need to be able to afford it. And that it accepts our two impeccably mannered small dogs.
Dressed to the shoes, lipstick on, GO!

"There are lone figures armed only with ideas, sometimes with just one idea, who blast away whole epochs in which we are enwrapped like mummies." ~ Henry Miller 1891-1980

Outside Factors

Daily Draw: Art of Life Tarot ~ 3 of Coins

I am having a great week. There were so many times over the last few years I didn't even have a great minute. Thinking about yesterday's card + this card reminds me that a lot of our great days involve other people, in fact couldn't happen without other people.

>Via an email about an email about an email I've been accepted into a life long study for my eye disease.
>New owners at my favorite quilt store, lively and excited ones. I've committed to a class. You have no idea how happy this makes  me, to have a local shop that does something.
>Moved my (Y) and went to yoga yesterday. Joined by six women my age, that doesn't happen very often, you bet I'll be back next Tuesday.
>Met my cousin for lunch. That has never happened before. Too far, too tired, too busy...bull.
>Going to Volkswagen  dealership today for my 'they're sorry' $500.00 dollar bill. Hope it is followed by a lot more. They're sorry they got caught is more like it.

"My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants." ~ Joseph Brotherton 1783-1857

Get It Right

Daily Draw: Art of Life Tarot ~ Ace of Coins

How many thousands of days have I gotten up, in my right mind, in charge of my life, and screwed it away, or got it right?

Just for today, I'm going to get it right.

"To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else." ~ Emily Dickinson 1830-1886

Hie, Hie

Daily Draw: Art Of Life Tarot ~ Knight of Swords

I have a small stack of Moon cards gathered over the years from friends, love the Moon art in any deck. But I realized this morning drawing the Knight of Swords is the tarot card that always makes me hie, hie, onward and upward, let the games begin.

How many times have I hied on and up and hit a wall? Probably close to a billion. I don't care, I'd far rather 'get on with it' than sit around thumbsucking. Action will eventually get me to the right place. If not sheer stubbornness.

I seldom use a word twice in a post, I suspect professional writers and professors of writing could tell me why. So why so many Hies in one post? Because I apparently broke Google's word look up. It doesn't know hie, hie is the start button knights and cowboys use to get the horse going. Shame on Google. And it got my back up.