Category: Minor Arcana

Saturday April 7, 2018

4/7/2018

7 of Wands
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Up To The Challenge

I'm keeping up with my trend of running behind this weekend, which to me is preferential to not posting at all, I hope you agree. This card certainly summed up my day. How about you?

I didn’t sleep well last night, which is typical. I got up and went back to bed again; also typical. The second round of sleep seemed to do the trick because when I woke up the rain had stopped and I felt ready to go. I drew the Seven of Wands and started to write. The internet was running very slow. I looked at the time and realized I needed to drop everything and rush out the door. I had an intense schedule today which included lots of driving and to be honest, I’m not done, but it was a choice between stop and write or post this at midnight! It's still going to be awfully close.

The Seven of Wands shows a fellow holding his ground atop a hill. He’s got a sturdy balanced stance and his staff is raised and at the ready. Below him are more staves reaching up. This card always makes me think of the angry villagers scenes, only these are staves rather than pitchforks and torches. This card confirms that yes, you have challenges. They are going to keep you busy for sure, but it’s nothing you can’t handle! You have the strength, energy, skill bravery, and preparedness to handle yourself! If things seemed stuck before, they are moving now! If you are negotiating, you probably have the upper hand. Success takes work, but you will get there.

I have had a lot to deal with today. I had to drive a lot of miles. I am dirty and damp but still buzzing from both the huge cup of Joe and the giant pastry I had this afternoon, but also from the momentum of pushing through. In the middle of it, my “check engine” light came on and stayed on. I started to panic, then dug up a vague memory that this may have happened last time my battery was drained. (see yesterday's post) Regardless, nothing can be done about it today so I pressed onward. I’ll get through it. It will be ok!

I'm including images of today's card next to the same card from the Universal Waite deck again. These are pulled off the web. The sky in the Centennial deck image is definitely blue, rather than greenish as in this photograph. The Universal again, is so much brighter.

Like yesterday’s card, This card reminds you that attitude can make a world of difference. Feeling confident and capable are just as essential to your success as skill and having your act together! Before you face the frey, perhaps a couple positive affirmations in the bathroom mirror will give you a leg up. And I can tell you from experience, a little caffeine doesn’t hurt!

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Friday April 6, 2018

4/6/2018

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8 of Swords
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

We Are Bound To Get Ourselves Stuck

Personally, I find much of the swords suit pretty challenging. Do you? They always seem so grim and terrible!

The Eight of Swords can make you feel like not much could be worse. The woman on the card is bound and blindfolded. She is surrounded by swords, almost imprisoned, but the cage is not complete. There is a fortress or a city behind her, unreachable, high on a cliff. So perhaps she is on a beach and the tide is receding. Maybe she is not in as much peril as she seems to be. Notice one foot is in the water (or hovering above it) and one on land?

These hints tell you that you may be your own worst enemy. Your feelings of isolation and suffering, being cut off or imprisoned by obstacles are largely self imposed. They may not be entirely in your head, but there is a path available for escape and a way to get moving again, should you decide to be open to it.

What is limiting you? What will it take to get moving again? Consider that there are options you aren’t looking at and that help is at hand if you just ask. This is a time to get out of your head. Plunge that foot into the water and examine your feelings, your intuition about the true state of things and make a decision. You could just stay in this position, but the tide will come in eventually and then you really will be in dire straits!

I especially love Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s illustration (above) of the Eight of Swords from her Shadowscapes Tarot! The bright hummingbird really underscores the sense that the swan’s imprisonment is temporary and that there is hope if one just looks for it!

The original definitions that came with the deck are myriad and pretty colorful! Hoodwinked in this case, means a literal blindfold as opposed to being tricked. Violent chagrin seems like a bad name for an after shave for goths. And how often do you see trammels (Basically, an obstacle, but power in trammels?) or calumny (slander)?
“ A woman, bound and hoodwinked, with the swords of the card about her.
Divinatory meanings: Bad news, violent chagrin, crisis, censure, power in trammels, conflict, calumny----also sickness.
Reversed: disquiet, difficulty, opposition, treachery, the unforeseen, fatality.”

This post is a bit belated because I drew this card early Friday morning, started to write and then suddenly feeling exhausted and lulled by the rain, I lay down “just for a minute.” The next thing I knew it was after 5PM and I needed to rush off to work. When that finally wrapped up, I was cold, waterlogged and spent so I listened to an audiobook while I sipped a cup of tea and just gave up.

It was a day I felt like I just couldn’t do anything! I’ve been wrestling with depression lately. Thursday night I had to deal with a dead battery in the rain and was up late driving to recharge the battery. All week I’ve been running at a deficit. The month ahead looms, threatening me with money concerns. I certainly took a self imposed, “I feel overwhelmed and stuck,” break for the day.

That's ok, once in a while. But hey, I don’t want to stay that way until I drown!

I'm including images of today's card next to the same card from the Universal Waite deck again. The Centennial deck has a brownish grey sky, while the Universal has a light blue wash which gives the image a much brighter, less gloomy atmosphere.

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Wednesday, April 4th 2018

4/4/2018

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3 of swords (R)
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

OUCH: Welcome To Being A Human!

The Three of Swords is that classic card nobody likes to see. It is a card of heartbreak and sorrow. When you come across this card and when you are experiencing this level of sadness or frustration it's really easy to feel like everything has gone to crap, your life is over and things will never be right again. It certainly is a dramatic image with the three blades stabbing the heart and storm clouds with a torrent of rain pouring down. But it's important to keep in mind that just like tumultuous weather, the clouds eventually part and the sun comes out! With time, patience and care even the most painful wounds do heal!

This card can symbolize the end of a relationship, the sudden painful loss of someone or something, a frustrating wrench thrown into an important project or dream, plans gone awry, or any kind of situation that seems irreconcilable. So step back, acknowledge your pain, recognize that no matter how big it seems it's a distracting blip in the long span of time. So give yourself some of that time recognizing that it will pass and be open to the idea that either a better situation will come along or the possibility that the clouds will roll away and reveal a new path to what you need. If you feel stuck in painful emotions, keep in mind that some of the most amazing works of art have blossomed from unhappy experiences. Even if it’s just for you, try making something or writing something that will help you get your feelings out. Creativity is good medicine!

Here's what the old original book from Arthur Edward Waite in 1911 said:

“Three swords piercing a heart, cloud and rain behind.
Divinatory Meanings: Removal, absence, delay, division, rupture, dispersion, and all that the design signifies naturally.
Reversed: Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.”

Again I'm including a picture of the two cards next to each other the Centennial Deck and the Universal Waite. I think the antiqued wash makes the card look a little bit softer.

I sat and meditated with this card this morning, like ya do, and in combination with April 4th, I found myself reflecting on loss and on things that might have been. I lost touch with a close friend when I moved to the bay area, someone who meant a great deal to me. Our friendship came close to nudging past platonic friendship a few times but never quite made it. But mostly, I just regret the loss of connection and hope he is well, happy and loved, but not knowing makes me sad and wistful. His birthday is April 4th. Happy Birthday, Eric Mewhirter, wherever you are!

Quotes to think on:

This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
― Jean de La Fontaine

Heartache is very fertile ground for song-making but so is happiness, so is absolute bliss.
---K. D. Lang

I know that in life there will be sickness, devastation, disappointments, heartache
- it's a given.

What's not a given is the way you choose to get through it all.
If you look hard enough, you can always find the bright side.
---Rashida Jones

Heartache often drives us to consume things we wouldn't otherwise, such as an entire pint of Caramel Pecan Perfection high-fat ice cream, covered in ganache, the crack cocaine of frozen dairy. Twelve hundred calories per pint, six hundred and eighty of which are fat calories, but is only dulls the pain for the moment, there's that carb fog while you're standing at the sink shoving it in your face, and then it's over and you feel...used. Like a cheap pickup the Dove people seduced and abandoned in your kitchen, leaving you with sticky hands and an empty cup and a still-broken heart, except now you're mad at Dove, too.
― Jennifer Crusie

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Tuesday, April 3, 2018

4/3/2018

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Balancing Act - Can You Have It All?

*Bonus card R + 3 of Pentacles
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

The Smith - Waite Centennial Tarot comes with a couple of cards that show Pamela Colman Smith’s illustration artwork. Just for funsies, and because you can use ANYTHING for divination, I decided to mix the two bonus cards of Coleman Smith's illustration work into the deck and one came up today in a reversed position. For elaboration, I decided to draw a second card and Three of Pentacles came up.

This illustration is, Little Charles, from a children's book called, Lessons For Children. Lessons For Children was a popular reading primer in the late 1800’s by poet, Mrs. Anna Laetitia Barbauld. I have no idea what this particular part of the story was about, but the scene shows what appears to be a reasonably well-off family with children who are doting on their grandmother as they sit by the fire. She seems to be listening intently to the little one. Perhaps he is telling her a story. An older girl has her back to the scene as she selects a book from the shelves in front of her.

To my eye, this card represents warmth, family and togetherness. It's also rather idyllic. Since the card is reversed, I might ask what is coming between the desire for this type of closeness and familial support? Or is the reversed position telling you that this kind of idyllic setting is not realistic, that it takes work and balance to create and maintain familial closeness?

Family VS Work, Art, Accolades?

Added to this, Three of Pentacles. The Three of Pentacles in this deck represents skilled labor or artistry and there is also an element of prestige. So these two cards in combination may be asking you if a desire for recognition and success in your career may be keeping you from having the type of family relationships that you would like. This could also represent distress or resentment that you are feeling when someone else in the family has ambitions or responsibilities that pull them away from the family unit, a spouse or children drifting away, perhaps. The challenge is to find ways to work through or reconcile these two conflicts. Finding a compromise may be key. Another possibility is that you have simply subscribed to the belief that there is no way you can have both career and family.

But is this really true?
Could “having it all” be possible, but look a little different than what you imagined?
What are the things you really want?
Is there a way to find balance or make them all work in concert?
What needs to bend a little bit or give way? Sometimes letting something go a little is enough to ease the pressure without letting go all the way.

The original book definition, given by Waite in 1911 for The Three of Pentacles is as follows:

-A sculptor at his work in a monastery.
Divination Meanings: Meiter, trade, skilled labor. Usually, however, regarded as a card of nobility, aristocracy, renown, glory.
Reversed: Mediocrity in work and otherwise, puerility, pettiness, weakness.

Here are some inspirational quotes to think about:

Better learn balance. Balance is key.
-Mr. Miyagi The Karate Kid

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.
- Lily Tomlin

Striving for excellence motivates you;
striving for perfection is demoralizing.
-Harriet Braike

When I think about work-life balance, I don't imagine it as a perfect day where I got to spend the exact right amount of time having an impact at work and snuggling with my kids at home. I never achieve that. But over the course of a month, or a quarter, or a year, I try to make time for the people and experiences I value.
- Jane Park

Sometimes the prize is not worth the costs.
The means by which we achieve victory
are as important as the victory itself.
― Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

You can’t have it all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all.
But in different periods of time, things were rough.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice

“Shonda, how do you do it all?” The answer is this: I don’t.

Whenever you see me somewhere succeeding in one area of my life, that almost certainly means I am failing in another area of my life. If I am killing it on a Scandal script for work, I am probably missing bath and story time at home. If I am at home sewing my kids’ Halloween costumes, I’m probably blowing off a rewrite I was supposed to turn in. If I am accepting a prestigious award, I am missing my baby’s first swim lesson. If I am at my daughter’s debut in her school musical, I am missing Sandra Oh’s last scene ever being filmed at Grey’s Anatomy.

If I am succeeding at one, I am inevitably failing at the other. That is the tradeoff. That is the Faustian bargain one makes with the devil that comes with being a powerful working woman who is also a powerful mother. You never feel a hundred percent OK; you never get your sea legs; you are always a little nauseous. Something is always lost. Something is always missing.”

--Shonda Rhimes, Writer, Director, and Producer

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Monday, April 2nd

4/2/2018

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9 of Wands R
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot. I’m going to do an actual review of this deck later in the week, but it’s Monday. Let’s just start rocking the week with the cards! And after starting the month with yesterday’s long and heavy opener I want to keep it short and concise.

“Mattie Ross: Tom Chaney shot my father to death in Fort Smith. I was told that Rooster Cogburn has grit. I hired him to go after the murderer. I found him myself and I shot him. If I killed him I would not be in this fix. My revolver misfired.”

Deep breath! Time to find that grit!

When life throws adversity and obstacles into your path, it’s important to remember that you have the strength to meet them! You may feel completely overwhelmed right now. If you feel there is a fight ahead, you are probably right. Take a look at your tool box. You may find more than one creative solution. It may not feel like you've got this, but you do. Just be aware that it may take some time and perseverance.

Now the booklet that comes with the Centennial Deck is presumably a recreation of the original instructions that were printed in 1911 a year after the Rider Deck was first published. So if the language feels odd, consider the time that these definitions were written.

“The figure leans against his staff and has an expectant look, as if awaiting an enemy. Behind him are eight other staves erect, in orderly disposition, like a palisade.
Divinatory Meanings: the card signifies strength in opposition. If attacked, he we'll meet the onslaught boldly. With this minion significance their all possible adjuncts, including delay, suspension, adjournment.
Reversed: obstacles, adversity, calamity.”

So since we got a reversed card today, if you choose to read reversals, just keep in mind, it may be extra bumpy. Buckle up and grab that tool box!

I'm including a photograph of today's card next to the same card from the Universal Waite deck. It's really interesting how the change in color wash and the difference in the thickness of the line give the card at completely different feel. And, as you can see, the size difference is noteworthy. The Centennial is about the size of regular playing cards.

Some quotes that might be food for thought..

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

When things don't always go our way, we have two choices in dealing with the situations. We can focus on the fact that things didn't go how we had hoped they would and let life pass us by, or two, we can make the best out of the situation and know that these are only temporary setbacks and find the lessons that are to be learned”
― Susan Samaroo

Every form of life must struggle. Life is an aberration; death is ordinary. Life requires obstruction, conflict, reverses, and resolve. Life requires questing. Questing provides the meaning that we seek, a purpose to justify the inevitable struggle to live knowing the absurdity that we must die.
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

Some days, 24 hours is too much to stay put in, so I take the day hour by hour, moment by moment. I break the task, the challenge, the fear into small, bite-size pieces. I can handle a piece of fear, depression, anger, pain, sadness, loneliness, illness. I actually put my hands up to my face, one next to each eye, like blinders on a horse.
---Regina Brett

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Thursday, February 15, 2018

2/15/2018

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Three of Quills - Incidental Tarot

Getting To The Point!

The Three of Swords from any traditional deck is not what you want to see the day after Valentine’s Day. For all the romance marketed at us, the pressure to conform to making acceptable overtures or simply to not be alone can certainly cause heartaches. For all the love that blooms, there are breakups, disappointments and struggles with deep depression around this holiday. The Three of Quills from Holly DeFount’s Incidental Tarot is not nearly as threatening as what we usually see. The three quills dipped in the inkwell of this beautiful heart are much less jarring and brutal than the usual heart stabbed with three blades! Thanks Holly!

The card is really beautiful. The quills are a crisp white. The heart does not appear damaged and beneath and above is a beautiful leafy vine. The Heart sits on it like a flower. The quills are each at a different angle though all pointing inward. What dynamics and influences are speaking to your heart or perhaps affecting an existing relationship right now? Are they at odds? Are they helpful and harmonious, working together? What motives are in play?

As DeFount puts it, “The Three of Quills indicates a rare and somewhat precarious dynamic; three separate but related intentions conjoined to a single purpose.”

Threes are about things coming together and growth. Quills or swords represent intellect. Here lies a challenge to the status quo, the way you think and look at things in family or important relationships. So yes, indeed this card can still represent heartache. You may find yourself questioning the commitment, loyalty or harmonious intent of a partner or even yourself. How the two (or more) of you choose to deal with this will result in a stronger connection or it could lead to irreconcilable differences.

Try to put your ego aside. Be clear and say what you mean. Listen and observe.

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Saturday April 7, 2018

7 of Wands
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Up To The Challenge

Friday April 6, 2018

8 of Swords
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

We Are Bound To Get Ourselves Stuck

Wednesday, April 4th 2018

3 of swords (R)
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

OUCH: Welcome To Being A Human!

Quotes to think on:

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Balancing Act - Can You Have It All?

*Bonus card R + 3 of Pentacles
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Family VS Work, Art, Accolades?

Here are some inspirational quotes to think about:

Monday, April 2nd

9 of Wands R
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Deep breath! Time to find that grit!

Some quotes that might be food for thought..

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Three of Quills - Incidental Tarot

Getting To The Point!

The (Almost) Daily Divine

Lorelei Moon

Archives

Categories

Saturday April 7, 2018

7 of Wands The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Up To The Challenge

Friday April 6, 2018

8 of SwordsThe Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

We Are Bound To Get Ourselves Stuck

Wednesday, April 4th 2018

3 of swords (R) The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

OUCH: Welcome To Being A Human!

Quotes to think on:

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Balancing Act - Can You Have It All?

*Bonus card R + 3 of Pentacles​ The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Family VS Work, Art, Accolades?

Here are some inspirational quotes to think about:

Monday, April 2nd

9 of Wands RThe Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

Deep breath! Time to find that grit!

Some quotes that might be food for thought..

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Three of Quills - Incidental Tarot

Getting To The Point!

The (Almost) Daily Divine

Lorelei Moon

Archives

Categories

7 of Wands
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

8 of Swords
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

3 of swords (R)
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

*Bonus card R + 3 of Pentacles
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot

9 of Wands R
The Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot