Cup Reality

Daily Draw: Thoth Tarot ~ 9 of Cups

Collected (9) Feelings (water) (Banzhaf/Theler)
and how we sort them out.

My big brother is moving to Kansas. This news hit me hard, knowing I can get to him if I need to is one of my 9 cups. On reflection, I realized he hasn't spoken to me in four years.

What am I really losing? Not childhood memories, those are full of happiness. Not a companion, our relationship is now singular, but I have happy memories of all the times we hired him to carpenter for us this decade.

So I'll keep my big brother cup here, and live with the reality.

Mindful

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 7 of Swords

Latent tendencies (Boonyawan)
Not a way I've ever seen this card but I like it. Who do we steal from when we steal? Lie? Cheat? Hurt and harm? Ourselves of course.

I'm not going to spend the last day of the year enumerating my faults but I can certainly go forward being mindful of being a better person. I can live with that.

Savor It

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 6 of Swords

Our image shows environment and craft in turmoil yet the oarsman seems tranquil, above it all. 

My mentors are gone now, and other than Rob no advice givers. I've found it is nearly as bad as the days when every other person was spouting advice and telling me what to do.

Funny old life....would be pretty snooze worthy if every day was the same; how would we know peace without turmoil? All the swords have fallen away and moon and stars are breaking through. I'll take the coming peace and savor it.

Snooze

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 6 of Wands

Perception of victory.
Is he inside as a loser or outside as a victor? Or vice versa?

All of the above is my answer, given realities can change from day to day. And are certainly different as we age. What was a win-win at twenty is a ho-hum at thirty and a total snooze at forty.
I can live with that, reaffirms personal growth and balance.

Treacle

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 2 of Wands

Comprehension encouraging balance.

This figure has the world he entered in one hand, newly shaped by his own understanding, and someone yanking on or distracting from the second wand which is just birthing a new comprehension. And he may be balancing on the head of a tiger.

Life in the fast lane the way it is lived today. I find myself continually pushing back, seeking a level of common sense when I recognize I'm spending too much time on bad news, non-rewarding habits, monkey mind, and even the treacle of like minds.  Reality is my goal. Good luck with that.

Willy-Nilly

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ Ace of Wands

Training our mind.

From birth to death our mind yearns for new. Fresh knowledge, experiences, memories. Couldn't remember the words 'daily draw' this morning. I'm going to put my brain in the pencil sharpener, If I can't remember memory there is no leaping off point for anything else.

Did you know there are dozens of companies that teach 'think training' specifically? That is my problem! I have a willy-nilly thinker.

Get Started Somewhere

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ Knight of Coins

"Full of potential, lacks experience" (Boonyawan)

"Need experience, potential pointless, come back when proficient at this job." This is the tune I faced when first hunting for employment as an adult. Applying for a waitress job, I'd have 200 competitors. 318 people applied for my first secretarial job. That  was the 70's. Now we have -5% employment and all doors have signs saying help wanted.

At -5% we shouldn't have anyone who wants to work, out of work.
The real story is how the job market has changed. The 70's market wasn't much different from the 60's and 50's market. Current job market? No one takes paper resumes anymore, applications are all by computer. Hard to get your top notch potential across...

What hasn't changed is if you want to get on, you have to get started.

All About Choice

Daily Draw: Roots of Asia Tarot ~ 8 of Wands

Choosing our path.

I'm on jury duty this month and Thursday we were dismissed at 9:30, the person on trial chose to plead guilty so trial was eliminated.

I wonder if people who've chosen the wrong path see it that way? Surely not?

The nice thing about paths, we can alter our route anytime we want.

Like Minded

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Knight of Coins/Buffalo

Warrior Buffalo. Lots like him around. Peace gives his brain hives, so he rounded up the like minded and got them all killed for their efforts.

I'm reminded by this card, there will always be warmongers, and profiteer industries cheering them along. Would that all who make war be willing to spend a day in full pack in 115 degree weather, or in monsoon conditions, or below freezing. If they knew war they wouldn't be so quick to wage war.

Fulfillment

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 9 of Water/Cups

All cups inverted, but the Yei has plenty because it is also a vessel and recognizes and accepts "the magic of fulfillment" (Huber/LeCocq)

What a blessing it would be if we'd acknowledge that fulfillment instead of rabbiting after what we don't have or worse yet, need.

My 2018 word is Reality.

Kept in the forefront of my mind, recognizing the nothing so many humans have been reduced to and the plenty we have.

Life Noose

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

A spotted water creature is trapped by a water lizard.

I'm reminded by this card, once in the early 90's I went more than a year without touching needle and thread. Life had given us so many difficulties on so many fronts I was like the spotted water creature, trapped and overwhelmed. That was the first time I worked out a good suicide plan.

As always, this too passed and when I picked up needle and thread again I found my dry creative well had refilled. The water lizard is still there, I don't doubt, but it no longer presents a life noose. 4 of water in a nutshell...

Water Salt Air

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 3 of Wands/Rainbows

Cautiously hopeful.

To throw our every fiber into hope, which can include dreams and fantasy and wishing, is unwise. But pure hope is like salt and water and air, there is no life without them.

Yesterday I drew the Moon, another cautionary card. If I were wishing for a million dollars I'd stop. Health and happiness is simple and pure. I hope that for all.

Appreciated

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Page of Swords/Lightening

Emissary, go between, moderating voice. Little Thunder asked for this position because he couldn't stand seeing those with no voice being steamrolled.

I'm reminded by this card, as little people myself, I know there are many emissaries working on my behalf. When speaking for my mother because she couldn't speak for herself, I met many, who did indeed do their job as well as could be considering the restrictions and short budgets they toiled under. Still appreciated and thought of today. Thank you.

Misused Strength

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Strength

Nayenezgani. Monster Slayer.

His mission of protecting the path of beauty and harmony has skewed over time into revenge and payback. From natural disasters to alien gods he is all about weapons.

I'm reminded by this card, he has been at it too long and lost his own true path. That should be hard to do, but dwelling on mans dark side changes perspective. Come to the light Nayenezgani, come and be healed.

Frivolous

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Queen of Wands/Rainbows

Rainbow Woman casts a fiber from her weaving skyward, to help the little ones find their way back home.

I'm reminded by this card, we have to make a home to have a home. On the very few times my mother wasn't there when we came home from school, the dark and empty house was upsetting, not to put too fine a point on it. Enough so I can still feel it all these years down the road. I'm sure that is why I always have a light burning in several rooms. That frivolous waste of electricity says home to me.

Worthless Win

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 7 of Swords/Lightening

The Yei fight from yesterday now has a result. Five to two. But all the weapons are now bent and basically useless.

I am heartened the Yei with two is topped and bottomed by a rainbow, a consolation, an idea for something better. I've been on both sides of the argument, and would far rather have a new better idea than a worthless win.

Aftertaste

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 5 of Wands/Rainbows

Each have enough, both sides want more.

Isn't that the motto for today. Leaves a funny aftertaste...the drive for more.

Frex

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Tower

 It has taken me twenty-five minutes to craft what I just erased. Perhaps because Tower Yeis closer to home keep our attention to the outer world diverted. Just the way leaders like it.

Rest in peace Freckles, you will be sorely missed. Give Indiana and  Trinity nubbin rubbins from us and thank you for fourteen years of pure pleasure and companionship.

I Got Squat

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ Temperance

As usual I drew my card and thought "I got nothing." So I looked up the definition of temperance.
abstinence from alcoholic drink.
"the temperance movement"
synonyms: teetotalism, abstinence, abstention, sobriety, self-restraint; prohibition
"a strict advocate of temperance"
moderation or self-restraint, especially in eating and drinking.

Eh? Pretty one sided. I wonder what the definition was prior to the temperance movement taking it hostage.  I've only used it once here in in relationship to drinking, are my other forty or so draws wrong? Misguided? Delusional?

"Perfect wisdom has four parts, viz., wisdom, the principle of doing things aright; justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private; fortitude, the principle of not flying danger, but meeting it; and temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately." ~ Plato  428 BC-348 BC

240 + 480

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 8 of Coins/Buffalo

Apprenticeship. Workmanship, Craftsmanship,

I'm reminded by this card, the task this week for the mystery quilt is 240 rectangles with 480 end pieces. We loose a  number of participants at this point, it is easier to get them wrong than right and easier to drop out than
understand each primary step and procedure that get us to well done results.

If 8 of Coins were easy everyone would do it. Not easy is the draw for me.

Stand Well Back

Daily Draw: Santa Fe Tarot ~ 10 of Swords/Lightning

Lightening strikes. Our neighbor's house was hit by lightening some years ago. It blew the knobs off the electronics, fried same, and traveled down the cable to our four month old TV and  blew it out.  That is the only close experience to lightening and hope it is the last.

In this image the rainbow is serving as home protection, and gets fried for its effort. Hard to picture me as a rainbow, but doing so always gave me the same result, fried. Stand Well Back and Pick Your Battles is a 10 of Swords lesson.

Moony

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ Moon

Venus and Apollo

The super moon doesn't get bigger, but closer to earth than normal. 
A blue moon can actually appear red, becoming a blood moon. 
There is also the black moon, harvest moon, flower moon, worm moon...

All said to say, like the  moon, we are variable in our masks and moods. No surprise there. The Moon card from all decks is my favorite, I have a small collection and am always on the look-out for more. But I absolutely don't collect anything. Variable...what can I say?

"Everything has a natural explanation. The Moon is a great rock, and the Sun is a hot rock". Anaxagoras ~  510-428 BCE

Same Only Different

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ 10 of Coins
The Sonnets
Fair Youth, Rival Poet, Dark Lady

If I understand it correctly, this collection was published in 1605, five years after Shakespeare's death. Were they his?  This deck has about twenty extra cards; bad quartos  and false folios. Yesterday I pulled them out of the deck and looked them up.

After thinking about this card and sonnets for four hours I'm reminded there have always been knock-off artists and fake news. People we despise who have good points and good people who do things that shock or alarm us. This card could be said to be a microcosm of the World card. We are all still here, the same only different. So we think.

Nap w/Ghost

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ 4 of Swords

Hamlet,  the ghost of Hamlet's father

Upon seeing his father's ghost, who claimed to be held in purgatory, Hamlet was at cross purposes. The government, who ran the church, had decreed there was no hell. Purgatory was now a figment the population was to put out of mind. Believe his eyes, believe his father,  or believe the church?

And once again the play, and Shakespeare, prove his words are ageless, as nothing ever changes. Anything we see as change will fit the bag we choose to put it in. Where do we put the concept that Shakespeare didn't even write the play? No wonder folk need a good 4 of Swords nap.

Hand In Hand

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ 10 of Cups

Comedy of Errors: "Let us go hand in hand, not one before the other."  A wonderful take on this card. And what we hope for this season...

The older we get the more complicated our family relations get. I'm sick of it, heartsick.

I wish oldest to youngest were all ten years old again, all at the farm where I grew up, all everywhere over the forty acres, all so equal we didn't even know there was unequal, a different, a chasm of errors to fall into.

Doppelganger

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ Devil

The love story of Othello and Desdemona,
("Destroyed from within, by a steady diet of mistrust, misunderstanding, and misinformation."  Chris Leech)

When I read up on Iago it didn't take long to recognize he has a modern doppelganger.   On the other hand my own love story had no such character, for which I am fervently grateful.

Womanwealth

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ 9 of Coins/Crowns
Portia; Merchant of Venice

Portia was left an enormous fortune, yet by the law of the day it would all pass to her husband when she marries.
Who she would marry was by a complicated father devised lottery, which via pinochle she subverted in order to chose for herself.
She later commits suicide by swallowing hot coals.
Crimeanitly. It is just a story, but it reflects the stringent curbs women have had to live with over millenniums. 9 of Coins was illusion.

I'm reminded by this card and story to be incredibly thankful for the freedoms and rights I have today, in this country. We aren't straw-headed puppets and are free to work toward the goals and results we desire.

Poverty Of Society

Daily Draw: Shakespeare Tarot ~ 5 of Coins/Crowns

Act 2 Scene 2 The Tempest

Caliban, In the dark, cold and alone
Trinculo, Even rejected by fish
Stephano, going for the little
Leech sees this scene as poverty of society.

I'm reminded by this card and current news, when the rich declare bankruptcy, they are still rich, just less so. When I see the skin and bones of the children of Syria or Darfur I grieve and go eat breakfast. Nothing in this world is equal, fair, right.

Trudges Off

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 10 of Coins

"Wealth and arrival, free from impurities and slag" Petersen

I'm not buying it. I do not believe in the 'original sin' stigma attached to  newborns, and I do believe none of us get out of life pure if we are cognizant and participate in the world. My fun may be your deadly sin. Who is to judge if our life slipped a cog here or there. Not you, not me.

I  do know I make the effort each day to be the best person I can. And usually fail. Even seeing both sides of the bellringers this week, I sneaked by the door ringer yesterday. Her bell was accompanied by whistling. Which was a double assault on my ears. That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

And so fail, yet one more day to be as good as I can be. Six AM and I'm already making fun of someone.

Trudges off...

F or A

Daily Draw: Margarete Petersen Tarot ~ 7 of Wands

Do you have a tiger in your pelvis and shoulders? Petersen relates this card to that image, equaling it to courage to speak up, to stand up for rights, willpower.

I'm reminded by this card to wonder just how many times I've tried to create or bring to the surface, or use, my own willpower. And failed. Hundreds, maybe billions of times.

My grade would F for failure. Or would that be an A for consistency?