Forge Ahead

I am in love with the Tarot of the Magical Forest. As whimsical as these images are, they are also powerful, they run deep. They conjure the magic that my inner child craves with a playfulness that keeps me from getting too serious (a bad habit of mine), probably because they reach me on the nonverbal level. As a therapeutic bodyworker and a lover of animals, I have spent a lot of time there and it is a very comfortable place. In otherwords (otherworlds), I speak the "language".

Today's question was "how do I best handle my current stress load?" I purposefully kept my question vague in my mind's eye as I pulled the cards. I focused on how the stress felt in my body and how I would like to feel in spite of it. 6 of frogs shows a dreamy frog who has his goal on a pole, holding out in front of his mount like the proverbial carrot. I immediately knew what I was stressing about...a job I had recently taken on...one of those things that sounds like fun at the outset but is never as easy as it seems in the dream...and now I'm in a little deeper than I had anticipated. Frogs say "you got what you wanted...now what?" The look on the rabbit king's face says it all. This is exactly where I'm at right this minute. Stuck on a raft with my little mantle of identity firmly wrapped around me, holding the cup of my task going, "oh, shit". Quick! Look to the fox (I was recently called a vixen...never been called a vixen before...all in good fun of course...but still...). This knight of foxes is different than the usual knight of earth. His faces life head on, nothing passive or dull about this fellow. He says, "I know what I want and I'm gonna get it, b'god." Gotta love the boar too. This guy isn't going to take "no" for an answer. With this kind of attitude, I will certainly be able to plow steadily through any obstacles and come out on top. If I had to chose which of these guys I'd rather be, I would definitely chose the fox. So if you'll excuse me, it's time to grab my shield and go mount my boar. Maybe I'm a vixen after all.

Never Insult the Oracle: it has a sense of humor.

When I first started dabbling in the tarot (around about college age) and was new to the language of the cards I found myself either unhappy or confused with my queery and I would ask the same question several times, each time trying to get the answer I wanted, sort of like playing the slot machines. If one coin doesn't do it, maybe another will. Of course the first answer was always the best and the subsequent draws seemed to mock my efforts. Then I heard someone say that you should only ask a particular question once, that to ask repeatedly was to "insult the oracle". Taking this advice to heart, I learned to better understand the answer, learned to better understand the language of the tarot. And also better understand the language of life.

So today my queery was thus: how do I best deal with my tendency to have too many irons in the fiber? In other words, how do I simplify and focus? I picked up my Rider Waite, the deck I use most often, a deck that is like an old friend. As I shuffled the cards with my queery in mind, one card veritably jumped out, flipping over several times, and landed in my lap. The seven of wands. I had to laugh because it was a card I might have chosen if I'd really given it some thought ahead of time...might have chosen as an indicator. Of course I had the Empress in mind as I sat in my cluttered studio surrounded by unfinished projects and multitudinous ideas. Or perhaps on a slightly more "get real" level, the Queen of Pentacles. But up popped this seven and I laughed. All those wands signified my "irons" (the suit is fire, of course). And there I was beating them off with a stick. On closer look, though, I could see that I was not so much beating them off, but commanding them from a higher vantage point, and that they were pretty much staying in line. So the advice could be "see these irons as separate and distinct entities, each unto itself. Take them one at a time, not as a group. Concentrate on each one without letting them spill out or glom onto other projects. Sage advice indeed. I mean, I could have gotten something like the seven of cups which would have indicated that all those projects were pie in the sky, just thought forms, intangible. Or the seven of swords, which would surmise that my efforts might not be totally honest or straight forward. The seven of pentacles would have been a lot tamer, my irons being more like sheep in a pasture, or plates in the cupboard. At least my irons are solid, well developed, forthright and energetic. Thank you, oracle, for you are wise.

One of the "irons" is my new Etsy shop Celestial Gear full of handspun, handknit tarot and treasure bags. I love making little "homes" for my collection of cards, and decided to offer some for sale. Each one is unique, totally handmade. I dye the fibers, spin them into unique OOAK yarns, then knit them into little bags. Each bag is a meditation in itself. It's too bad you can't touch them online, because the feel of their softness and cushiness would have you in ecstasies.