The climb's more important than the mountain

Tarot of the Spirit, US Games 2011

Today's card is Eight of Earth, or 8 of Pentacles, from Tarot of the Spirit by Pamela Eakins. This card is called 'The Mountain'.

This card brings to mind an eagle on a mountaintop, with the rays of the sun streaming down on the lower hills. (It also makes me think of a circus Big Top -- I think it's the pointy bits with the stars in them.)

The pointy bits at the bottom and the rather triumphant sphere at the top bring to mind a concerted effort to overcome obstacles or blockages, determination to meet the challenge, and success at the end of it.

As it happens, the LWB says, 'Perseverance, commitment and discipline are the real keys to success. Talent is important, but not the most important factor.'

The card, then, has a traditional meaning of plugging away at something, and the journey being as important as the finish, and maybe even more important. It's the experience of doing and learning that is more fulfilling than the feeling of having it all done.

Remember that today as you go about your slogging, 'routine Tuesday' tasks -- enjoy the journey. This is the only 'this Tuesday' you're ever going to see.

World of Work

The Intuitive Tarot by Cilla Conway (St Martins 2004)

I've drawn the 8 of Discs today. This is the work card, the card of the craftsman. Here, a figure is creating wheels to decorate a ziggurat temple, and would seem to be a master, as there is no one supervising. In some 8 of Pentacles cards (as this card has a very strong RWS influence, rather than Thoth), a master is shown guiding an apprentice, who does the work. In either case, the card usually, as here, depicts someone churning out multiple copies of a product. For me, this gives the card a 'practice makes perfect' feel. The card often imparts the message to keep trying, or to have faith in one's own experience, not to give up, and usually these messages are related to work and money, this being the Disc or Pentacles suit. The card may be telling you to keep trying, particular in your job.  It may be asking you to evaluate how you feel about the work you are doing. Is it satisfying to you? It may be asking you to find those aspects of your work that you really enjoy. Do you enjoy the product of your work? Do you enjoy the processes that your work entails, the things that you must repeat? Is your work satisfactory? If not, could the skills you've picked up in your work be transferred to more spiritually satisfying work? For example, John and Caitlyn Matthews have very effectively used their research and organisational skills acquired as librarians to create careers writing books and producing tarot and oracle decks. If you are good at your current work, but it isn't satisfying your spirit, could you turn those same skills to something that does satisfy you more deeply?

Devas of Creation (Conway 2013)

To support today's tarot card, I've also drawn a card from Devas of Creation (Cilla Conway 2013). This card is called the 'Seed Void', and represents dark matter, the 'unseen aspect of the cosmos that exists all around us and includes a new force of nature' (New Scientist, 7 Mar 2009, qtd in Devas of Creation companion book). If we look at the card, it begins to look like a tunnel with some lights at the end of it, and the companion book says, 'The Deva of Dark Energy is the darkness of the birth canal, offering a passage to the hidden side of existence, where worlds are seeded and birthed.'

Seen in support of the 8 of Discs, this card suggests to me that there are almost limitless ways we can apply our transferable skills to new ways of earning a living. We are limited only by our imaginations, the scope of our life experience, and our fears. 'While encountering this strangeness may well engender extreme fear,' says the companion book, 'it is a our great teacher. Indeed, our certainties are often what keep us in sleep mode.'

For myself, I have recently applied for a new job and am awaiting news on whether I am shortlisted for interview. While it is the same job I currently do, it offers new possibilities. It would give me the chance to fully experience the role, as my current job is part time and in a small, quiet work environment, while the new job is the same role but full time and in a much larger, vibrant environment. It would give the chance to fully experience 8 of Discs, and might open up the Seed Void aspect of the role -- things I never expected, never had the chance to explore, never even realised existed. And of course, who knows what transferable skills I might pick up that could be applied at some point to a way of earning a living that I cannot yet imagine.

What would be prudent at this juncture?

pru·dence 

noun \ˈprü-d^ən(t)s\

careful good judgement that allows someone to avoid danger or risks

1. the ability to govern and discipline oneself by use of reason

2. sagacity or shrewdness in the management of affairs

3. skill and good judgement in the use of resources

4. caution or circumspection as to risk or danger

Today's 8 of Disks makes perfect sense for me. I've got an important project to do, with a deadline of tomorrow noon, and the results of this project will have a direct bearing on the next year of my life. I certainly do need to be disciplined and focused today, to show skill and good judgement. So I am not belabouring the point today, but will cut this blog entry short. 

The 8 of Disks speaks to the proper management of energy, and the illustration on the card suggests the result, the getting out of our effort what we put into it. There is a symbol of the sun at the of the card and Mercury at the bottom of the card. There is a lot of energy there, all channeled and focused carefully and judiciously toward the goal. Time to get this show on the road, then. 

By the way, I checked the next two cards in the deck to add to this one -- 6 of Wands and 3 of Disks. Very promising indeed. :)

(The title is a reference to a Dana Carvey impersonation of George Bush -- not W. The first one. )

Lots to do

Druidcraft, Carr-Gomm & Worthington 2005

Rough night. I kept dreaming I was at work. It wasn't a bad dream really, but I resent my sleeping hours being dominated by work when I have to devote so many of my waking hours to it. Hardly seems fair! I got up at 1.00 AM and ate a bowl of cereal (food sometimes helps with grounding, though that is the first time I've ever eaten in the middle of the night to stop a cycle of dreaming) and read a bit. Went back to bed determined not to dream same things again, and also got out my night guard (a bite splint to help relax the jaw and prevent sleep bruxism--it's not that uncomfortable to wear once you get used to it, but I still only use it when highly motivated), and my autosuggestion caused my eyes to pop wide open as soon as my dreams went back to the workplace. That happened two or three times and pleased me. I felt relieved that I could exercise some control over my own dreams.  I finally slept and had the strangest dream about a doll-like figure walking about called 'Silver Baby', wearing a silver onesy like it was made of kitchen foil. Some man driving a Ford KA tried to run the doll baby over and I threw an apple and hit him in the cheek, dragged him out of the car and proceeded to smack him in the face with my fists, like in a 1950s Western film. Really bizarre, but I'm pretty sure the baby comes from 'Big Baby' in Toy Story 3, which I watched for the first time the other day, and I found that character really scary! Plus we used to own a Ford KA. Where the details of the apple and the punching came from, who knows. Dreams are weird, but at least those weren't set in the workplace!

Anyway, today's card from the Druidcraft Tarot tells me that it's not going to be a day of sitting around for me today. In fact, I have a To Do list that I ought to take care of. I've got a reading for TABI waiting, and I need to work on my latest creative project, plus I've got my yoga, cardio-weights workout, and meditation to do. And I would like to finish a book I've been reading today, if I can. Then of course there's next week's blog entries to be prepared for, and as always plenty of house work. Not to mention three meals to be cooked. And food shopping to do!

Okay, now I'm starting to freak myself out a bit. I would like to get all these things done, but I know that the world will still be turning if I don't. At least the 8 of Pentacles card reminds me that what I do accomplish today will be of good quality, and is good practice for me in honing my important life skills, not just busy work. Besides which, seeing to daily tasks can be meditative and renewing. It depends on the attitude you approach them with.

Wishing everyone else a restful AND productive Sunday.

'Mystic Bastard' Day Five

Mystic Faerie Tarot 2007,  Deck of the Bastard 2013

It's the last day of 'Mystic Bastard', a combination of two very different decks. Today it's Knave of Cups and 8 of Coins. The Knave of Cups (or Page of Cups) is a 'water sprite,' according to the Mystic Faerie Tarot; all the Cups creatures are these mer-fae with wings. I've never seen anything quite like them. They're an oddity to me. Winged mer-folk. Anyway, this Knave of Cups expresses the open guilelessness of the Page of Cups well enough, with the innocent face, androgynous appearance, and friendly demeanor. Meanwhile in the background, the apprentice in 8 of Coins has his sleeves rolled up while getting on with the somewhat thankless task of cranking out loads of 'product', over and over and over. I have a feeling this combination refers to today at work...the BT lines are being replaced and there will be disruption to computers, phones, WiFi and our management system. So there will be a lot of tiresome churning out of the same explanation and apologies to customers, delivered via a pasted-on sweet smile mixed with a bit of 'it's not my fault' in the sub-text. Much fluttering of eyelashes and deflection of poo-poo will happen. Over and over. Yay.

Of course, these cards may not be addressing that situation entirely. Perhaps it's saying that a positive attitude is a skill, a habit, which is learned through repetition. Like affirmations, where you keep saying it even if you don't yet quite believe it. Seems contradictory to think that a gentle, sweet attitude could be learned, but it's possible that cynicism is a habit, and that it's opposite could be achieved through determined practice. 

I'll get plenty of chances to practice today!