Tag Archives: tarot definitions

Get up, dammit.

             Here, finally, is our real post.  Because, ya know, last night was a bit of rush.  And then, I lapsed into woeful self-pity.  This morning (yes, actual real live freaking morning) the cards (and the Grand Dogs) slapped* some sense back into my head.  (This did nothing for the dreadlock situation though, sadly.)

*No witches were harmed in the virtual slapping.  Promise.

             Our journey thus far, fabulous train ride.  Highly entertaining.  Guy in front of us, unlike last time, was NOT arrested in Portland, but similar to the previous fellow, was an ass.  Fortunately, he also napped most of the way.  It was only when he was awake that he caused me any issues.  He talked.  And was stupid.

             On the plus side, we splurged and made dinner reservations.   It’s cozy on the rails, so we shared a table with two new friends.  Hi Sonya, hi Brenda!  (Apologies if I spelled either incorrectly.)  They had been on board nearly twice as long as we had, so were familiar with the customs (and Donald, the server).  Delightful meal-time conversations.  (We invited them to visit here, hope they show up, fingers crossed!)

             A funny thing happened before that though.  I was trying to get a nice shot of a lovely historic station that we were pulling in to (so many of them have been beautifully restored) when I received this on my phone.

Hat trick.

             Thanks Karen B for sharing this with me.  Hope your adventurers enjoy themselves!

             In the very next second I received this one.  From Han and the guys.

 mixed breed dogs

             That would be Hunter.  Keeping our bed warm for us.  Right now, he and Indi are holding the covers down, basking in the spots of sun.

So majestic.

             Last night, as I mentioned, there was a wee crisis of faith, and our card today reflects that.  Oops, shit happens.

five of pentacles tarot

Five of Pentacles

             Before I say anything else about it though, I’m going to cut & paste a bit from this post.  (No, I did not have to go search the archives for that one, Corina recently send it to me in an e-mail.  Coincidence?  Not fucking likely.)

 Here’s one of the things that I think is so valuable about this card, when we get up, and hobble off, even if we only have one leg, barely a working arm, and can only see out of one eye, we are better off than that other character in the illustration.  There on the ground is a being who won’t even try.  She sits huddling against the wall with her hand out.  Waiting for someone to come along and help her, give to her, HAND her the answer.

           This is what it’s like to fight your destiny, to ignore your messages, to constantly NOT do the right thing.  She is gonna freeze her ass off.  And she’ll be miserable all the while.  We never want to be her.  This is what my Beloved and I discussed earlier.  We look around and are grateful that we have a used chair and tattered old love seat in a shitty family room.  Because the alternative is NOT having a chair, or even a house to put it in at all.

           I complain about my legs hurting, but the reality is that I’m grateful for having two legs.  Fat legs that are old, you bet, but those legs get me around the neighborhood, and they get me up and down the stairs.  Those pudgy legs show my beautiful tattoos and move my ass from one room to another all day long.  Those legs (and my two fully functioning arms) helped to move several pieces of furniture today, in and out of the house, up and down stairways, through doors and over uneven flooring.

              Yes some of us do need to whine a bit, we need to feel our emotions, and THEN we can move on.  Once we’ve experienced that feeling of being fully human and flawed, we can let those emotions (and some bags of trash/recycling/donate-ables) go and thank the Universe that we CAN bitch and moan, then finally… just enjoy the blessings we are so lucky to have been given.

              That’s slightly dated, but still valid.  This message simply tells us to get the hell up and go ask for help.  There is sanctuary, and aid, to be had.  We just have to go get it.

               I’ll be addressing the crap that bothered me, and deal with it.  No doubt you’ll hear more about it.  For now, here’s the Foreign License Plate Report: Why-Oh-Mee and a local example we spotted on our way to a late night snack (no, J.Adam did NOT starve).

washington vanity plates

!!!

             Here’s a question, for those of you with taste.  Are matching fishing-type vests worn by Mr and Mrs Old Retired Couple worse than belt packs worn by old hippies on vigorous walks?  We saw an amazing display on the train.  NOT that we’re considering going that direction, but we DID wonder what the consensus would be among JulieLanders (and people I’ve given birth to).

Today’s Deck:

Robin Wood Tarot

Tuesday Touring.

             It was a tumultuous adventure of a day for me and my Beloved.  Absolutely none of it involved anything red, or ruffled, or flowery, or even velvet  (and it only marginally had some chocolate in it).  This has been covered here before, and I really was not going to mention it (still am kinda not), except to describe our outings.   And disclaim the fact that there was no holiday for the two of us.

             We had this conversation in the car moments ago.  How very relieved we always are when we look around and see all the commercial shit we are not spending money on.  Money we used tonight to purchase groceries for the week and a small treat as our shared meal (we got sale deli sammiches).  Way early on the discovery was made that we had this in common (among many other important foundational concepts).  Today this mutual disdain (and yes, judge-y-ness) made for a (mostly*) relaxing and entertaining erranding run.

*What stress was out there was caused by the Stupid People, this time that was not us. WE were fabulous, THEY were horrible and constantly in our way.  But otherwise, predominately lovely out.

            The Foreign License Plate sightings were pretty decent: Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Vermont (wave wave, hi Kewl Kate) and Alaska.  A couple of those we spotted on our damp bike ride around the neighborhood (where he nearly ran me over because I STILL can’t shift and he STILL can).  One we saw when we had to deliver an emergency car to Empress.  (See?  Good thing we have so many, huh?!)

           Her next-door folks have a friend over.  This woman is incapable of parking properly.  As is Em and Graham’s SUPER freaking crazy room-mate.  My baby was blocked in and no one else was home.  We suggested she call the not-911-number and have those fucktards towed.  But, she’s nice (unlike her mother), so she wrote them firmly worded notes instead.  And we brought her something else to drive so she wouldn’t miss her appointment.

             Then we headed off in search of food.  Which is challenging right now, but also quite a bit of fun too.  (Again, we don’t need a made-up not-really-a-holiday to have a silly, and yes, loving, moment together.  A half an hour in the bulk aisle at our local market works perfectly well.) 

             She was right!  That delightful counter girl from The Kiva was absolutely correct when she told me that cauliflower comes in a variety of colors.  Gorgeous aren’t they?  No, we didn’t get any this time.  Just took their picture and moved along. 

             Yes I do realize this is so blurry that you probably can’t tell what it is.  I didn’t have a choice, it was this, or nothing.  That is a bra, in the center of the shot.  I had just returned the shopping buggy to the store’s foyer  (we’re thoughtful like that) when Dan said, as he swung by to pick me up, “I’d like your opinion on something” then he drove us around the parking lot again and stopped with our headlights pointing at this scene.  We can’t explain it, we just wanted to share.

            Recently I mentioned that I’d done a bit of bloggy housekeeping, and Megan asked about the Words To Live And Stitch By addition over there on the side (in replacement to that gawdawful Tag Balloon I’ve been wanting to get rid of for years).  I answered in the comments, but now others are curios too (Robin!) so I’m showing you were I found it.   Here.  I’ve poked around over there a few times and have, so far, liked everything I’ve seen. 

               Many times, over the life of this place, I’ve put up links or suggestions for sites and companies that I like and think maybe you will too, even though I don’t know the folks and don’t always remember to go back.  This is one of those occasions.  If you guys ever have specifically pagan or witchy types of questions, I encourage you to ask away, I’ll gladly answer anything.  I’m not as good about recommending other places to search though, simply because I forget that all of you don’t know the same things I do.

               On our card altar we’ve come back to my working deck, and it was funny when I flipped this one over.  “Working” is the key word in that sentence.  I had two readings last week, what I use is a (MUCH older) duplicate set of what you see in the picture below.  When I handled this draw today I realized how VERY worn out my other ones are looking and feeling.  Well loved, that’s the better description perhaps.

“Knight of Wands”

             Knights are always messengers, bringers of news and information.  They ride in and deliver the signs we need to see or hear or feel or touch.  Some are strong and reliable, others are sweet and wear their hearts on their sleeves, while a few are way zippy quick with a rapid way about them.  The Knight of Wands is inspiration incarnate.

            This message is like a hot burning flash of brilliance that will be most welcome and supremely significant.  It will also be quite deep and meaningful in the long run, even though the delivery itself is going to be a medium-to-fast spark of recognition.  Be alert for omens of heat and revelations concerning summer-like times.

            Wands are warm and cozy, bright and sunny.  Their  corresponding time of day is high noon so they often have to do with the heat of the day.  They are most comfortable with solar symbols and fire-y icons.  This Knight is the perfect example, he rides in with flames as his companions, hot orange as one of his primary colors, and gold as his designating metal.

             Another aspect of this card has to do with the rapid and searing movement that also represents the blazing sands of deserts and the warming knowledge of inspired ideas.  Using stones and other precious products given of our Mother Earth is a suggestion this character makes, as in my deck, these staves are all shown with shining crystals on the ends.  The clear thinking mind is aided by the loving heat of the Sun.

Today’s Deck:

Robin Wood Tarot

LateNight Cooking Question:  anyone have a spare electric range they’d be willing to part with for a tiny but negotiable sum of cash?  As I was down here typing away in La La Land  JulieLand, poor Daniel was upstairs trying to create something edible with an intermittently functioning stove.  As you well know, our oven has been shitty for the past 15 years, it appears now as though the burners are going too (only half of them worked anyway).

LateLateNight Cooking Update:  he managed very well with what little he had to work with.  I am now eating a kalamata olive, feta, and asparagus frittata.  The man is miraculous!  (But he still needs better actual working kitchen appliances.)

Naming Challenges.

      Off we go tonight on a flying adventure of things according to me.  (And a blog that will be in reverse order of how I usually post.)  The foundation for this topic is far-reaching, beyond the life I am living now, back into (at least) one that I had before this current story line.  (For those of you who do not believe in past lives, please just play along.)

       I struggle with hoarding tendencies, and as we’ve discussed, I also struggle with weight issues.   From the stuff I have read, and witnessed, and observed, these factors are closely related.  On a metaphysical level, I hold on too tightly, it’s difficult for me to “release” and feel totally free.  In my Oregon Trail life, many precious personal objects were left behind or tossed off the wagon.  In this lifetime I’ve lost people as well as possessions.

      Ally (our own xenatuba here in JulieLand, family friend IRL, and currently my son’s training officer) recently had a symbol appear, in the form of The Devil on a tarot card.  Another friend has been seeing this card as well.  In the context of esoteric symbolism this is a powerful message.  Here’s what I wrote about it in an earlier conversation:

        When The Devil card has come up in the past, for me or for someone I am reading for, I always think of the phrase “what be-devils you” or what is that little red-dressed guy on your shoulder trying to nag you about.  The Robin Wood deck I use has the best illustration of that card I have ever seen.  It features two people with a crate between them.  The carving on the box tells a Buddhist, or Hindu, story of a monkey and how they used to trap them (for food I guess).  They constructed a cage-like container with a small hole in the side, the monkey would put its hand inside, grab a hold of the fruit that was used as bait, but it couldn’t get its hand out unless it let go.  Which it wouldn’t do, until the hunters came and then, well it was too late for the monkey.  The symbolism of this, on The Devil card (and I suppose in the folklore as well), is about that thing you hang on to, to your own detriment perhaps. 

          I know that not everyone is comfortable with our daily draw, but I ask that anyone who might step away from this topic, today please stay with me here.  I sincerely believe that all messages and information we receive are for a Higher Good.  That this shared knowledge comes through us, or to us, from The Universe, or What We Call The Gods, or Spirit.  I can’t truly explain this phenomenon any other way.

           The concept of evil (or adding that extra letter “d” in the front) is a very personal one for each individual.  For the purposes of this post its going to be called The Difficulty.  It is an issue in our lives that we must work with.  It is the challenge we must learn about and then grow past.  The Difficulty is pesky and often insipid in its persistence.

             When I went to the card altar today I knew it was what needed to be addressed, and when you read the last line of Sylvia’s definition, you’ll know why too.

          What is it that be-devils us?  What is the factor that we are wrangling and wrestling with the most?  Or that keeps popping up no matter how many times we examine it and think we have it figured out?  Have a look at this card, then we will move on to more entertaining and less philosophical subjects.

“Understanding Greed  ~
This is an overwhelming  negative in itself, and a terrible addiction.  It is an empty dream, as material items are only ours for a very brief time.  Don’t let what you have rule who you are.  Give away; don’t keep.”

     We’ll let those messages percolate a while and entertain ourselves with new links.  Right, because that’s precisely what everyone needs, more places to suck up time on the damn interwebs.  Sorry, they just show up.  Then I am forced to share.    Last night I discovered (how the hell I didn’t know this before is beyond me) the personal blog of Diana Gabaldon.  She writes.  Massive historical fiction.  Some people don’t care for it, others become so involved in her stories that the characters feel like family and they are missed deeply.  (Don’t need to be psychic to figure out which group I fall into.  Also, Lora has had a few good posts about this/her recently as well.)
        The other one is by a guy named Dan (we all love guys named Dan) and it’s his 365 day project.  He started one in 2008 then began a new one this year.  The links were added last night but I like to let you know the who and why.
       Saw one Iowa, one Nevada, and one U.S.Government plate today.  I have seen government issue plates before but this one was shiny new and had different graphics. 
            Tomorrow is going to be crazy busy.  I have to leap out of bed and arrive at the mall far too early in the day (aiming for something a.m.-ish, but we’ll see how that works out), then I have to come home and get Daniel’s lunch stuff going, toss him a drive-by smooch and get myself to the pool.  Then come home again, shower, and go back to the mall.  THEN I can sit down here sometime around ten or so, and check in with the blog-o-shere.