What's love got to do with it?

The Ace of Cups got me thinking about love and how cynical I can be about love.  OK, maybe not cynical, but at least skeptical.  Wary.  Society seems to give us mixed signals about love.  In some religious traditions love is a gift from God.  We have phrases like "to fall in love" and "to be blinded by love."  Then there's the image of Cupid's arrow.  But this whole love mindset seems to be so passive and arbitrary.  It's something we have absolutely no control over.  At the same time society asks us when we're going to find Mr/Ms Right and settle down-- as if we were in control of this.  

So I'm taking the love out of the cup and replacing it with compassion.  And as this is the ace of the suit, I am reminded of potentiality.  Compassion needs to DO not just BE.  Just having the compassion doesn't guarantee anything will come of ut. Even when it's difficult to identify compassion in ourselves, we can ACT and SPEAK compassionately.  Compassion is easy when we see a child in need or even homeless person asking for money.  But can we still DO compassion when it comes to our ex causing all kinds of drama?  Can we find some compassion for people from the opposite end of the political spectrum?   Is there even a shred of compassion available for members of ISIS?  

What can we do daily to fill the cup, our hearts,  with compassion so that it spills over and becomes active?  Can it start with compassionate words and then actions?  It's not all that easy, but it's much more promising, and certainly more fulfilling, than waiting around for Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome or the female equivalent.

 

Get a grip!

And then we have those weeks.  

I don't see Tarot as predictive or divinatory. I see how the cards can relate to personal life and lead to  reflection. Still, the Tower, or Maison Dieu, was the card I chose on the day of the car accident, and the Three of Coins was on the day of an important meeting I was chairing and hoping to keep all sides coming together, and, and, and... Let's leave it at that. There was coincidence. Synchonicity for some.  Whatever.  

What got me most though was that the handle of the sword on the Three of Swords kept sticking out to me.  As my eye wandered all over the card hoping for some meaning, it kept coming back to the handle. And then it was obivous. Get a grip!  It's not all that complicated.  Just control those things that you are supposed to and it'll all be fine.  And  I did just that.  What started as a complicated week on Saturday, filled with all kinds of BS, became so much more manageable when I just took hold of those things that I knew I could. 

Let's remember this.  Do you have a grip on the things that belong to you, the things that are within your control?  Does this realization temper (sword) all of the nonsense that seems to be flying around?  Sure, that Three of Swords can be rather practical, but heck, isn't it a reminder that ultimately we are the ones in control?

An Eye on What's to Come

And why not continue on with more swords, nine of them even, as if I haven't had enough of them this week. :)

I guess I'm going to overthink this material-spiritual issue till it kills me. :)  

Actually, all is not so hopeless as people think when this card comes up.  The sword is yellow, so I feel  I can be more analytical about this and set my passionate caution, my "en garde" mindset,  to the side.  The sword now appears to be broken, or at least fragile in the center.  And I'm going to have to rely on blind faith that it is still connected to the tip that comes out of the top.  

So, onward and upward (since the sword is pointing us there).  I'm feeling very optimistic with this card. So much going on in it; again, an eye.  A wink?   What do you see in this card?  What do you think about all of those colors going on in it.  It's very active.  There's a spin to it that makes me feel excited about what's to come, like the spin of a roulette wheel.   

Gimme a break (through)!

Ok, I won't say anything about how the Five of Swords is a perfectly fitting card to go with the theme of   my cards this week -- a inquiry into the balance  between the spiritual and the intellectual.  (But it really is!) 

The number five is said to have a somewhat chaotic nature, a number that sits between the earthly 1-4 and the spiritual 6-10.  The Pope, a figure considered by some to be the intermediary between heaven and earth, is V in the Major Arcana.  In any case, I have been very much in a "five state of mind" lately.  I can't go so far as to say this is negative, though, and in some modern decks this card gets a bum rap.  

I have been intellectually very alert this week, mostly with respect to my investigations of shamanism and other forms of traditional spiritualism, healing, and energies.  At the heart of all this is my need to stay "on guard" against just jumping into some of the older (and newer) forms of spiritualism without bringing my intellect into the discussion.  In this card, the red sword (again, my very passionate intellect) is crossing through the light blue spiritual self, not so much to get rid of it, but to try to find a way to reconcile the two and not see them as competing or as mutually exclusive.  I like that in this deck the red sword can be seen among the light blue weavings on this cards. 

And those flowers, which could indicate the four cardinal points?  Could they be reminding me to look everywhere for my answers and not just in the first convenient place?

How do you balance your spiritual and intellectual sides?  Do you ever feel that the sword of intellect is preventing you from having "buy in" into a spiritual system?   Or does the spiritual overwhelm your intellect, making you follow a teaching, a way, a school, or dogma without questioning it enough?

The Object of My Desire

Every time I pull this card I get a new vibe from the queen's expression.  Not only are the faces of this queen so different from each other between decks, even in a single deck the expression changes from one glance to the next.  She can come across as shrewd, evil, nostalgic, caring, concerned, coniving, wistful, gracious, humble, and on and on.  

Here she is attending to matters of the material world, specifically material possessions.  This could be things such as the bank account, the home, the garden, or even by extension the family or work.  But today the card is speaking to me more of objects:  my books, pens, notebooks, bookbags, etc., the things of my day-to-day life.  The objects I decorate my house with, the mirrors and goat figures, the colorful tablecloth, and the industrial end tables.  I also think of the objects I use, like the knives and pans in the kitchen.  In many cases, I will spend what some others might see as obscene amounts on these things.

It is fitting today to contrast the spiritual concerns of the cards over the last few days with the physcial concerns of this card.  

Do you like to have "nice things?"  How much is too much to spend on a fountain pen?  A blouse?  A book? Couldn't that money go to feeding the hungry, providing scholarships, or helping to fund research for a cure for cancer?  What do you think the Queen says about "nice things?"

My personal take is that we should try to be discerning when chosing the objects we buy.  Does this object add to our personal growth?  I know that with a nice fountain pen and notebook, I write more, think more about what I'm writing. Writing becomes meditative, prayer-like, healing.  For others, that same money might lead to similar fulfillment if it were spent on a good comptuer.  I have had the same knives and pans for the last 25 years.  The quality and performance is well beyond the "outrageous" price I paid for them back then.  They make cooking a joyful and even at time artful experience.  And though I'm far from being a clothes horse, I do tend to pay more for quality shirts and pants that will hold up to my daily walks to work and back.

So how about the objects of your own desire? Where's the true value in them?

A wonderful article by Alain de Botton addressing some of these ideas  can be found at

http://www.thebookoflife.org/good-materialism/

Two new journals

Two new journals. My new daily journal - the C.D. Notebook-has wonderful fountain pen friendly paper. The other one -B and N -will become my new Tarot guidebook. I’ll start adding Tarot thoughts and info from all of my other tarot notebooks.  Both hold up so well to all my nibs and inks.

Think on these things...

Today's card, la Papesse, seems a fitting accompanianment to yesterday's L'Etoille.  Both seem to speak to my current preoccupation with spiritual mindfulness and what I am doing (or not doing) to develop it.  

In all spiritual practices it seems there is the eternal dichotomy between "being in the moment" and "thinking about being in the moment."  The Star seems to be mixing two waters, the water of Life and the water of personal consciousness.  It's an invitation to join the Life flow (with a capital L).   The Lady Pope, though, has been reading about such blending of the universal and the personal and is contemplating it.  

Do I simply get lost in the waters of life by going with the flow?  Or, with a little contemplation, can I learn / intuit how this flow can make me more engaged in the world?  

La Papesse is looking up from the book.  There's something out there beyond the edge of the card.  What do you see there?

Just do it? Maybe not.

This morning's card, the Knight of Swords, got me thinking more about my interest in not only shamanism but all the many aspects of spirituality and intuitive-poetic living.  As I was out on a two-hour walk this morning, I realized that this Knight is so full of information for this area of my life.

The very spirited horse reminds me of this inner desire to develop my spiritual sense beyond my current curiosity. (In this and a few other older Italian and French decks, he is light blue, which is for some a color of spirituality.)   The Knight is looking to the left, which could be seen as the past, traditional religions or even the dogma of a guru, a particular school of yoga, a tai chi instructor with a following, etc.  And though the horse is looking that way too, his front feet lifted off the ground tell me he's not just going along with it.  The passitionately red sword of intellect got me thinking about how important it is not to just jump into some aspect of spirituality (and even formal religion) without really paying attention, without using some critical thought. The spaulder on the Knight's shoulder has a face pointing to the right, the future perhaps.  In any case, it tells me to be sure to have another perspective on my spiritual endeavors.  Don't just bite into something hook, line, and sinker.    

I continue to have an intense interest in shamanic practices,  but I have to caution myself to use a rational thought and clear thinking. Before too long, I would like to spend a few months traveling through Central and South America as a physical/spiritual journey.    I do want to meet and learn from shamans, but I know there are a lot of pseudo-shamans out there. And there is always the danger of romanticizing a new spiritual endeavor.  I see that with people who take on Asian practices.  They enjoy the ritual but don't try to apply the teachings in day-to-day life, as if the teachings were "too good" for the mundane parts of life. Or people take on a religion with such passion that they become fanatic about it and lose all compassion.  This Knight seems to be a warning about such.

How can we stay balanced in our pursuit of the spiritual-psychological-poetic journeys?   Do we really remember to keep our minds open and in check with our thought?  

Pizza anyone?

Could a Tarot cord really refer to something as mundane as pizza?  In my world it surely can!

After drawing the Eight of Coins this morning I was a bit stimied as to how the card would relate to the day, a Sunday on a holiday weekend.  My immediate thoughts for this card are usually in the realm of my work, my finances, and even my home and family.

The Eight of Coins calls to mind industry, not just big industry like manufacturing, but personal industy as well.  And then my mind centered on my upcoming day.  Today I'm having a cookout--pizzas of every sort.   I had gotten up at three this morning to make yet another pizza dough.  I already have five others in the fridge which I started  yesterday.  It's a lot of work, but it's something I love doing, and I have to say the pizzas that I make are pretty tasty.  Ok, they are better than just about any other pizza I've ever tasted.  There, I said it.  :)

So I'm seeing a kind of perfection from this card, not necessarily the perfection of a pizza, but the perfection that comes when one's interest and industry come together to make something.  The Eight of Coins would be the card of my father, who started his own business, and though he made a lot of money from it, it was his intense love of working with customers that made him go to work every day with such enthusiasm.  

Yes, the work is hard, but if the passion is there, it's a joy to do the work.  I wonder how many people find a calling that allows for this union.  If we aren't there yet, we should definitely keep searching, don't you think?

Now, did the HAND OF FATE make the Coin card come up today because coins look like pizzas?  You'll have to decide that for yourself.  

Exercising the Gray Matter

I've always found the Eight of Swords visually stunning.  Its symmetry and balance of shapes with colors makes it a card I can spend time staring at and meditating with.  One exercise is to stare directly at the middle flower while simultaneously trying to see the four flowers on the perimeter. After a minute or two, a wonderful interaction begins to take place between the two sections that result from the busy, almost shimmering intersection of the swords and the very stable segments made up of the two sets of four black lines.  At times the card even takes on a three-dimensional look, with the center flower at the point of a pyramid and the four flowers at the four corners of the base.  The red lines that break up the black become like steps leading to the top.

But what does this have to do with me, my intellect, thoughts, and words? I have relied much on the rational side of my brain this week.  I've taken on a project I've been pushing to the side. But now I'm much more in control.  There is now activity.   My committee mates are on board.  There is a certain buzzing of our industry.  I've set aside insecurities. I haven't obliterated them, but I haven't allowed them to shake my more pragmatic approach to the situation.  They aren't stopping me from acting, which in this case means thinking through things and communicating them in a clearly crafted emails and phone calls.

I'm often surprised at other decks that have such negative meanings attached to the Eight of Swords.  Sure, there could be blockage, a trapped creativity or inabilty to act, but there is also good thinking and vision, which can take one to completely different mindset.  There is no misery here.  Just a reminder that there really isn't any situation in life that can't use a good dose of clear thinking.  And when done right, such thinking can take us to places we've never imagined.

The Intellect Takes Charge!

The King of Swords sits so confidently on his throne, his red sword showing us a passionate intellect in action.  It's no wonder then that I can relate this morning's card as I pulled it in it's reversed position. 

At work I've been put in charge of a committee which has no real defined purpose.  Our group has met but hasn't come up with any concrete plan as to what it will be and do. I've felt powerless.  I need to decide how I can lead the group to produce something valuable for the school or I need to speak with my boss and explain why the original purpose of the group was ill-conceived.

The matter did keep me awake last night.  How can I take control of the situation and have that confidence to make a good choice here?  In the reversed position, the King was looking to the left, some might say the past.  Am  I only looking at the struggle the group has faced trying to identify a purpose?  Have I surrendered the idea that this group could possibly benefit our colleagues?  There are two faces on the shoulders of the King's armour.  What can I learn from the past tat will bring about  something in the future?  

This matter will require my intellect to overcome any insecurity.  I'll also have to rely on the other members of the committe and not have a "my way or the highway" position.  

Sure its possible to be too cerebral about things, but let's not forget that we have brains and we should use them.  In many cases the intellect steps in where personal or emotional insecurity are blocking our way to solutions.