You'll get no touchy-feely from the Anglo-Saxons!

There are so many things I want to accomplish, and I just can't seem to find time in a day to do them all. Seriously, a full time job takes up most of my waking hours, and by the time I get home, I usually have only 3 or 4 hours to accomplish everything that I want to do for myself before it's time to go to bed and start all over again the next day.

I pulled some cards from the Rune Cards Oracle asking, What can I do to find balance and do what I want to do each day? What is preventing me from doing this? What will be the outcome if I take the advice of the first card?

 

So, what I need to do is Ash. There's a long house there, with weapons and shields, and in the foreground, a sort of bare ash tree type thing with its arms outstretched, covering the whole picture. This speaks to me of protection. 

I am already VERY defensive of my personal time and space. I don't know how I could get more defensive of it. The LWB says, 'Ash is endurance, perseverance and determination.'  How typical of the cards to tell me to try harder. Well, I suppose given the nature of the deck, it would hardly give me a 'don't be so hard on yourself' message. The Anglo-Saxons don't strike me as having been a people in touch with their softer side. So okay. Man up, it's saying. Just do it, it's saying. Stop whining, it's saying. I notice there there are three sets of spears and shields...so maybe I should focus on getting three things done each day. That sounds reasonable. Right now I'm trying to timetable myself to do five or more things per day, and it's just not happening (as my lack of blog entries lately can attest). 

Then, what is preventing me from doing it? Wyrd. Ooohhh, that sounds bad. Like the Fates have decreed that I am doomed to fail! But wait, look at the card. All these skulls...it looks like they've popped open and come up with nothing. I think it's saying, what's preventing me from doing what I need to do is that I'm busting my brain over it. And there are six skulls there, twice as many things as the first card seems to have advised me to take on per day. Too much taken on equals zero results. Life is like a big blank canvas looming before me that I feel I have to fill up with meaningful art...and a blank page can be a very, very scary thing. Facing a smaller blank page seems more manageable. Hey, I'm not Oprah Winfrey. I can only do what I can do, regardless of the fact that 'everybody has the same number of hours in a day'. Time to rethink the timetable...it's too crowded. 

And the outcome if I take the advice here? Horse. That's a powerful image, and certainly speaks of movement and progress. (I hope the horse isn't being struck by the lightning--just kidding!) 

Well, this draw has given me a lot of information; I am resisting it, though! Three things per day? I want to do more! But...obviously I can't...so I have to do less, and do them better...There I go whimpering again! Where are those Anglo-Saxons to kick my butt for me and tell me to man up!

New feature--Herb of the Week. At the end of each entry, I intend to add a tidbit about the herb I've decided to learn about that week. This week's herb is AGRIMONY. Matthew Wood calls it the 'bad hair day' herb. Its most important property, in my opinion, is its ability to balance. It relaxes what is too tight, and tones what is too lax, so to speak. It's good for people who are frazzled. In the Bach Flower Remedies, it is said to be good for those who 'soldier on'. Traditionally, it has been seen as a good eyewash and to treat conjunctivitus. Also, like many, many herbs, it has been used to treat indigestion and bowelly-type illnesses. It can be used in teas, tinctures, and baths, and made into Bach-style flower remedies/essences. It can be used in incenses and floor washes for more 'magical' intent.