The Great Turtle

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle ~ Treasure Island

Small smile
Deep breaths

Attitude and intent
Remember we are on the great turtle's back

"The four purposes of creation myths: instill awe, explain the workings of nature, support and validate social customs, and guide people through living."

Why not?

Transitioning

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle Cards ~ Go The Distance

I love to have something to look forward to!
I love to start a new project on New Year's Day.
My learn something new this year?  Planet Earth via Coursera
My new word replacing 2016's Adapt?  Why Not...

My 2017 project? I'm reminded by this card a few years my enthusiasm has waned or life has gotten in the way and I've failed my intent miserably. Do I think I can make a quilt block a day? Ermm...I do think so. Why Not..
I'm joining perhaps 20,000 other quilters in Kathryn Kerr's 365 Challenge  2017 project. In cheerful yellows.
Here is the mockup in blues. and a pink and green one.

"The perfect no-stress environment is the grave." ~ Greg Anderson 1964-

Chores

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle ~ Chop Wood

Doing life's chores. I learned to drive at nine, on the old grey and red Ford tractor. Pulling the hay wagon. Hay was tossed loose onto the big wagon. Only once did I jerk the clutch and drive out from under the hay. You want to see men mad? Yikes. One time was enough. Once loaded I'd turn to the barn, pulling up parallel with the enormous window above me.

I'd run and get mother, her place was on the other side of the barn, with a long rope tied onto the boxy teal and cream Pontiac. When she backed up the hooks would fall onto the hay wagon, the guys would anchor them, we'd all join in shouting to mom when to GO and when to STOP. At stop the hooks would loosen and the hay would drop onto the barn floor.

My little brother and I would then take coffee cans of rock salt and liberally sprinkle each new layer of hay. Because fresh hay can combust, burning the barn down. My dad would always tell me to quit eating the salt, did I want my blood to turn to dust?

Then we'd repeat who know how many times. Once that hay was in the barn it was my daily job to climb the ladder up to the top of the hay and throw a good pitchfork load down to each cow locked in her stanchion and the milking would start. I've never milked but often watched as dad would squirt milk in the barn cats mouth, always a knee slapper to a small farm girl.

"As a farm girl, even when I was quite young, I had my 'farm chores' - but I had time also to be alone, to explore the fields, woods and creek side. And to read." ~ Joyce Carol Oates 1938-

Freedom or a Pen?

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle Deck ~ By The Book

Who knew? There are seven Universal Laws. Dating back to the ancients. Where have I been? Some of them sound hinky to me.

Further research reveals there are twelve Universal Laws. Or if they are to be believed, twenty Universal Laws. And then we have the Pirate's Code to belly up to. My inner conspiracist says can we say old  men with white hair penning us in at more avenues of free thinking?

"And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules." ~  Captain Barbossa  The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

Regeneration

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle Deck ~ Regeneration

Second chances, new directions.

I've been expecting the call for years. Doesn't make it any less a shock to the system when it does come. My little brother used a fillet knife on his wrists, managed to cut the tendons through on both, the 25th. A specialist was bought in to work on reattaching them. A deeper worry? Are they giving him pain meds, when he has worked so hard for so many years to be clean and sober.

Quotations? I got nothing. Again.

Building Blocks

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle ~ Building Blocks

I wonder, had I kept count, how many of  my days have been building foundation, and how many spent building walls.

"The room within is the great fact about the building." ~ Frank Lloyd Wright  1867-1959

Odd. But Interesting.

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Oracle ~ the Tribe

We had holiday brunch with niece and nephew and their extended tribes yesterday, most new acquaintances. Rather a foreign concept for us. But fun. The oddest thing to me and held the longest two part discussion? Five of them are licensed to carry, concealed, including my Rob. A reflection of the state of our nation? I wonder how widespread this is?

I asked them if anyone had drawn a handgun. I was the only one, holding a drunk who'd buried his car in my lawn in the middle of the night, until the sheriff came. Interesting. But odd. And I'm not licensed.

Today's quote?  I got nothing...

Fun: Concept In Crisis

Daily Draw: Enchanted Astrologer ~ Capricorn

Indiana, Trinity, Freckles

Capricorn = A capering horned goat; esoteric knowledge. I had three goats, have one remaining. They do caper. They are right up there with dogs for being willing to caper for no other reason than it is fun.

I'm reminded by the esoteric part of Capricorn we all have a different idea of fun. And that is ok. Let's just get on with it. Time is running out on fun in 2016.

Nuke The Moon

Daily Draw: Enchanted Astrologer ~ Moon

Info-junky at the helm today.
*The moon rotates at 10 miles per hour compared to the earth's rotation of 1000 miles per hour.
*The dark side of the moon is a myth. In reality both sides of the Moon see the same amount of sunlight however only one face of the Moon is ever seen from Earth.
*NASA plans to return astronauts to the moon to set up a permanent space station. Mankind may once again walk on the moon in 2019, if all goes according to plan.
*During the 1950’s the USA considered detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon. The secret project was during the height cold war was known as “Project A119” and meant as a show of strength.

I'm reminded by this card of more reasons to worry in the current climate. I would leave the human race if some peckerhead nuked the moon.

"There's no point in saving the world if it means losing the moon." ~ Tom Robbins  Still Life with Woodpecker

Conversation

Daily Draw: Enchanted Astrologer Cards ~ 9th House

Communication, exchange of information between self and the world. I suppose there are dozens of paths I could pursue in this House.

I intend to write two real letters and call Aunt Barb today. Don't know when these actions crossed last. Twenty years? All part of Why Not...  I've unhooked from FaceBook for the third and last time.  Much information shared, most seemingly pointless in the wider picture of life. Sitting behind a screen certainly isn't cutting it, conversation seems to have left the building long ago.

"It's a sad day when you find out that it's not accident or fortune but just yourself that kept things from you." ~ Lillian Hellman 1905-1984

Cloistered In The 6th House

Daily Draw: Enchanted Astrologer Deck ~ 6th House

How things work.  Person to person, and personal to mind-body-spirit. This is also the house where our enemies might lurk.

I'm reminded by this 6th house, I must do some housekeeping. 10,000 steps a day is the prescribed goal. I get a note from FitBit every week re: my total. Recently it was 7000+ for the week. Cloistered in my quilt room I have been... is there a booby prize for getting minus steps total? I really need to get a wiggle on. And it will make my cloistered time even more rewarding.

"You first took a little step off the path to avoid some rocks. For a while, you walked alongside the path, but then you wandered out a little way to step on softer soil. Then you stopped paying attention as you drifted farther and farther away.
Finally, you found yourself in the wrong city, wondering why the signs on the roadway hadn't led you better.” ~ Brandon Sanderson   The Emperor's Soul

Why Not... Just Do It?

Daily Draw: Enchanted Astrologer ~ Jupiter

Seeing the big picture, the capacity to grow, the ability and sense to be better.
My word for 2016 was Adapt. Adapting to my odd and interesting bent eyesight. I did well, I'd give myself A+. But it is easy to be proactive about something you can't ignore.

For 2017 I've chosen Why Not... Not oh why not have another beer.  But as the prod when faced with doesn't really matter tasks. For instance, I have a card on  my desk that came yesterday. About a week ago I pitched the card from last year from the same person...just didn't get around to it. I intend to think Why Not... Just do it? And Lazy Bum is not an acceptable response.

"It would be a truer discipline for the writer to … clear a new field instead of manuring the old." ~  Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862

Rounded

DailyDraw: Enchanted Astrologer ~ Virgo

Minding the details of life, getting the job finished.

First go at the second paragraph.Where was Virgo when this book manuscript was edited? There is an index, paginated. But there are no pages numbers
--------------------------------
Second go. Found them, miniscule, inside purple stars.
--------------------------------
I'm reminded by Virgo, most efforts have stops and spurts, dawdles and zips. It is quite a triumph to get something completely right, first go.  But for me, letting things simmer on the working wall of my mind allows much polishing and rounding of an idea.

"How will you go about achieving your desire results? The answer to this you can call strategy." ~ William E Rothschild 1933-

Part of the Whole

Daily Draw: Enchanted Astrologer ~ 12th House

"Associated with everything that helps us remember we are a small part of the greater whole" Monte Farber

I'm reminded by this card, when was the last time I was humbled or inspired, when I wanted to join in or escape.
Humbled. I sewed the whole width of a quilt in progress upside down yesterday.
Inspired. Hunting for winter snowy wallpaper, so much talent freely given.
Join in. Gathering for holiday eve brunch with family. It has been a long time. I'm looking forward to it.
Escape. Stopping to visit someone. I did it because I felt obligated. The world didn't end and it didn't kill me.

"We become human only in the company of other human beings.  And this involves both opening our hearts and giving voice to our deepest convictions. ...When we shrink from the world, our souls shrink, too".  ~ Paul Rogat Loeb 1952-

On Reflection

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds ~ Moon/Reflection

Oh Ollie, fine mess you've got us  in. I read a bit about moon myths, most I'd never heard of. But the rabbit in the moon is a nice Winter Solstice image.

There was a long bit here about how difficult it is to add multiple photos on Blogger. The key? I learned by accident, write the post first, then pull the photos where wanted. How much energy did I spend this morning trying to pull that rabbit up prior to writing the post. How  much time did I spend writing a now discarded post? Isn't  my face red now?

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

Life In A Pen

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds ~ Whale/Attunement

In end-of-world books there isn't a reliable food source because no one is left to plant or harvest. In science fiction there are more people than traditional methods of sustenance can support. A recent book had electronic ocean curtains around the world to keep whales safe on their migration and to herd them into harvest ponds. Like pigs, there isn't much waste in a whale.

I'm reminded by this card of our own migration birth to death. I know people who have never left the county we were born in and have had only one job, the same job their dad or mom had. I think about them sometimes when I get a wild hair to do or go differently. What triggers in me that doesn't in them? If I produced a life migration map, mental and physical, would there be a pattern? Red blooms where I went sideways, green blooms for up, and brackish brown blooms for down? And will whales or humans ever accept life in a pen?

"I didn't know where it would lead. I wanted things to develop naturally." ~ Earl Lovelace 1935-

Gotta Love History

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds ~ Antares/Knowledge

The tale that goes with this card is about our need for knowledge to survive, but also what our attitude does to that knowledge.

I'm fearful for my country. So I'm trying to fight that fear with knowledge. Our system kept ticking along after Kennedy's death, Ford's multiple assassination attempts, Nixon's drawn out convoluted behavior and impeachment, And can't forget Cheney who actually shot his friend while in office. Clinton's impeachment hearings. And Spiro Agnew's resignation if you don't think Cheney was bad enough. Oh but Spiro. So many new words, so little time to say them all. And Martha Mitchell, bless her little blabby heart.
Hey. The 70's were kind of fun. And we survived. I feel better already. Gotta love history.

 "I had had enough. I had endured the didactic inadequacies of the garrulous in silence."~ Spiro Agnew 1918-1996

What Purpose Have We

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds ~ Glow worm/Expectation

Their life story plays out like an end-of-times serial. Or science fiction in which the aliens are big and advanced and humans are ants to be stepped on, of no consequence what so ever.

I'm reminded by these tiny glowing strands of endlessly renewing life cycles, were I in their story I'd have been eaten long ago as a useless non-reproducer. And that in the endless solar systems there must be something much smarter and wiser than us, the mindless copious users rather than guardians who serve our world.

"Man is the only kind of varmint sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it." ~ John Steinbeck 1902-1968   Sweet Thursday

If A Tree Falls

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds ~ Kauri/Balance

Will the past ever teach us about the future? If there were a new continent discovered would we empty it of trees, yet again?

I'm reminded by this card man will always serve itself first. Without balance, without forethought.

"I keep old wisdom close
To change petty strife
Into the heartwood of life." ~ Barry Brailsford 1937-

Limestone

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds ~ Sanctuary

Limestone. Calcium supplements, agricultural lime, cathedrals, limestone is everywhere in our daily lives. And speaking for myself I've never given the quarry , five billion years in the making, a thought.

I'm wondering where the Sanctuary part comes in. That our world keeps giving every single thing we need? If we are knocked into a dark world, the quarries will still keep giving with wedges, mallets, and chisels. People would have the jobs rather than machines and you and I could have a whip round to the source and spend a few months knocking out our kitchen counters.

"The edge that cuts sharply
To shape and make anew
The disc that opens yesterday
To let tomorrow through" ~ Barry Brailsford 1937-

Ponder

Daily Draw: Wisdom of the Four Winds Deck ~ Sun/Illumination

I can't say it better than the author,  a sentence to ponder upon.

"Light honors the shadows." Barry Brailsford

Backspace Backspace Backspace

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ 7 of Wands

Titled Valor, but we can see "the degeneration of the original energy". (James Wasserman)

I'm reminded by this card I was well into my second paragraph, winding myself up about politics when I lost my internet connection. Coming back 30 minutes later and rereading what I'd written my degeneration of the original energy had taken place. I wonder how many hundreds of second paragraphs I've written over the years I have had second thoughts about and deleted? Many.  I'll keep my quote though.

"America is the only nation in history which miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilization." ~ George Clemenceau  1841-1929

Thy Secret Name Is Prude

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ Wheel/Fortune

Yesterday and this morning the card I drew was Lust, renamed and reimaged from Strength. I fan the deck and draw at random so it is a pretty low chance for that to happen. I put it back and redrew both times. Bringing Art/Temperance and Fortune/Wheel into play.

 This wheel with the dead-ish gator, reviving monkey, and proud lion, reminds me no matter where we stand there are millions just like us and millions opposite us, and all the millions of variations between. All that said to say, I'm the prudish and cowardly gator. But I just checked and I did post Lust in 2015. I was younger and braver and lustier then.

"...we can catch buses and count our change and cross the roads and talk real sentences. But our innocence goes awfully deep, and our discreditable secret is that we don't know anything at all, and our horrid inner secret is that we don't care that we don't." ~  Dylan Thomas 1914-1953

Innies and Outies

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ Art/Temperance

I like hidden object games. This deck can be a similar exercise. Can you spot the raven on the skull cauldron guarding or sipping putrefaction? This card features most of the usual suspects found on the Lovers card, now oppositfied via alchemy.

Don't ask me, no clue. But applying yesterday's card to today's Art, having the same thing, only different is a pattern well represented in my own life. Which are or were all the same thing only different.  Folk are funny...

"Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it," ~  George Santayana 1863-1952  Forbes Dec. 2015

"There's no such thing as a free lunch" contradicts "The best things in life are free."

"You're never too old to learn," argue some, but others disagree. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

"Birds of a feather flock together," and yet, "Opposites attract."

"Fortune favors the bold," unless you believe that "Discretion is the better part of valor."

Cups. We All Have One

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ Knight of Cups

Water in aggression. Shallow. Sweat. Tears. Snow. Ice. Floods. Tides. Tsunami. There must be a better answer to feelings in freefall.

Reflection. Refraction. I'm thinking about my 2017 word. I'm thinking about Reveal. Poking a stick in my brain pond and exposing what will reflect and what will refract. And what will claw itself out of the cup.

ALONE, adj. In bad company.
Ambrose Bierce  1842-1914

Unfiltered

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ Priestess

Is she hidden, or is she hiding?  Does knowledge breed evil or does evil breed knowledge? Thoth Priestess is a combination of the gods Isis and Artemis. Their knowledge and purpose is translated to a veil rather than enlightenment.

I'm reminded by this card knowledge can be a tricksy thing. It changes who we are and how we perceive ourselves and the world. Like a train wreck, we slow down, turn our heads, drink it in, unfiltered. Our baleen plates and blowholes are broken. Has our  world broken us or have we broken the world?

 "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", ~ Durante degli Alighieri 1265-1361

16

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ Emperor

Looks a bit set in his ways, probably dull ways. Don't be deceived, this Emperor represents sulphur, #16 on the periodic table. Where would we be without it? A lot hungrier, it is basic to fertilizer. It is the smell added to natural gas. It is part of majestic beauty in Yellowstone National Park. And a particularly unwholesome weapon of war.

I'm reminded by this card, accepting what we perceive to be flat or basic about someone or something is a sad use of our brains and senses.

"I want out of this place.With no reminders."It stings -sulphur tears in cinnamon rain." ~ Emma Cameron  Out Of This Place

Magma

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ 5 of Wands

Magma rising. Living in the shadow of Mt. St. Helens I've had personal experience with volcano eruptions. But what about the underworks? What kind of long term pressure per foot does it take to get to the point of release?

How long have I carried a mad? One year. It was unpleasant and I came to the conclusion I couldn't live like that, and spent another year erasing it all from mind and mood. It took that long because those brain loops build up a rut and run of their own accord. I had to listen for the litany. Weird way to spend time but big magma requires big effort to be choked off. Someday I'll tackle the fear magma.

"I feel like a human piñata. The disappointing thing is, no candy is going to spill out."   ~ Katie Couric 1957-

Example

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ 3 of Cups

"The fulfilment of the will to love." I grew up in a home filled with love. A neighborhood and extended family, all showing and giving love, leading by example. Loving came natural to me, and is probably the reason I love getting and giving hugs.

I'm reminded by this card Rob grew up in a home where his mother thought showing affection was spoiling. And a father who taught with his hand, board, fence post, whatever came to be handy to hit with. They reared by their own parents example. He was placed in foster care time and time again, until he left home at thirteen. The man I married treated me with generosity consideration and care. But it was some years before he fell in love with me. He had to learn by example. It was worth every minute of waiting.

"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost." ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr. 1940-

Escalator

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ 9 of Wands

Thoth Wands are the come on baby light my fire carriers. With the nine we need to reach and grasp a victory rather than late and tired, drawing back to the six.

This year I chose Adapt as my 2016 word. I've found a workaround for many of my vision problems and I'd call 2016 a 9 of Wands/Strength success. A freebie was discovering the disease moves slowly so my early blind panic was premature. My newest discovery? I took an escalator up and down Wednesday, a first in years. Depth perception and movement = crash and burn.  It's ok, lesson learned, Adapt and move on.

"There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people were trapped on the escalators." ~ Stephen Wright 1955-

86,400 Seconds

Daily Draw: Tea Leaf Fortune Cards ~ Box

Every day is a gift. Every second of it.

This card reminds me I wish a sign on a stick would pop up and whomp me if my mind gets on the pity train, that train goes nowhere.

"Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures." ~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.  1940-