I use tarot and oracle cards as tools for reflection and contemplation. Rather than divining the future, they are a way for me to look more deeply at the "now."
"The goal isn't to arrive, but to meander, to saunter, to make your life a holy wandering." ~ Rami Shapiro

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Effort and Outcome

This week I'll be using the Margarete Petersen Tarot, named for the artist who created it and published by Konigs Furt.  Today's draw is the Eight of Coins:
Each leaf is a creation of beauty, and now as spring begins to make its appearance, the deciduous trees and shrubs are brightening the drab winter landscape with new growth.  It is the same every season; I've not yet met a tree that refused (unless it was dead) or demanded a chance to produce another type of leaf instead of its own.  It reminded me of my nature journal drawings that I do every night after my walks.  I keep thinking I'm not making any progress with my artistic ability even though I practice each day.  Some days I'm bored and can think up a million other things I'd rather be doing, but I'm trying to discipline myself to do it anyway.  But every now and then I draw a picture that I feel really good about (like the one I did of a brown thrasher eating an orange a few days ago), and it reminds me focus and perseverance will produce results, just perhaps not on the timetable I would like.

The oracle I'll be using this week is the Elemental Dice, an idea my friend Carole in Australia came up with (she's one of those folks whose muse is constantly whispering in her ear; she's multi-talented, making musical instruments to paper-mache dragons).  Though I drew my own symbols and used some of my own personal meanings, she is the one whose imagination led her to use the four elements, light, and darkness (polar forces) to make the dice.  She named each possible combination (21 in all) after a power found in nature.  This morning's roll produced "Fire and Light" which represents "Sun:"
The Sun, the star at the center of our solar system, generates energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium.  Thankfully for Earth, this energy provides us with warmth and light.  The Sun asks me to look at the "work" I do and ask, "Does it bring joy, beauty and allow for self-expression? Is it a source of energy and enthusiasm or is it a drain?"  Though all work requires effort by definition, if I'm not reaping some benefits then perhaps I  need to change my course.


4 comments:

  1. Stunning card that one. It's a deck I just never gotten around to buying though so will be nice to follow it here for a week.
    Would love to see your drawings!

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  2. It is a stunning deck, quite off the "beaten path." It's one of those decks that when I draw a card my first reaction is "What am I going to say about this swirl of colors?" Then I look closer and think, "Is that a... hmmm."
    My drawings are quite elementary, as I've never had any training in school or college. It's one of those "later life" things I'm enjoying. :) If I could figure out how to scan them so that you could see them well I'd give you a peek. For some reason the pencil doesn't show up well.

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  3. MP is in my top 10 because it makes me work for words.

    Re: creativity, Monet painted many of his masterpieces upwards of 200 times. It is the practice that makes perfection, or as close to it as we care to be.
    S.

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