1/6/12—Making Your Glingers

Today's Draw: The Five of Whimsicles from the Regretsy Tarot. Do you ever find yourself silencing your unique voice? Have you ever invented/created something then put it aside because people thought it was silly? Do others have to share your thoughts and beliefs in order to make them "right" or viable?

5 of Whimsicals

OK, before I start, I need to say a few things. First, I must credit Donnaleigh de LaRose for alerting me to this deck. Second, understanding Regretsy helps understand the deck.

Etsy is a website where crafters sell their wares. I do a LOT of shopping there. Most everything is one of a kind and made by hand by dedicated artisans. There's a lot to love. BUT there's also a lot to make fun of. There are a lot of weird trends on Etsy. Like crocheted and knitted beards. Anything octopus. And, like with today's card, anything done just because it's cute.

So Regretsy is a webpage that cropped up to make fun of the more horrific crafts you find on Etsy. Their tagline is "Where DIY meets WTF". That site inspired this tarot deck. One suit is Whimsicles, which corresponds to Pentacles. The deck creators are aware that the word is spelled "whimsicals", but they spelled it wrong on purpose because, well, that's so Etsy. (Links and additional card images can be seen at http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/ )

So, as you can see on the card, the lady is sporting her "glingers", which are glove-less knitted finger warmers. Yes, you can find some on Etsy. And in the background of the card is the requisite octopus. Why? Because.

Skull Fascinator

Unlike a traditional Five of Pentacles that might be talking about poverty or poverty of spirit, this card is actually talking about how we all have our own unique way of expressing ourselves. And not just that, but no matter how crazy our idea is, we can make it work. Somebody will buy it...haha.

This echoes some of what we've been talking about all week, because we all have our own unique way of seeing God and spirituality and how to move through this world. Thinking differently is not thinking wrong. And there is room out there for all our thoughts. We should all have the courage to believe in ourselves and our own ideas more than we believe in the voice of the people around us. That's the only way anything new can ever see the light of day.

Maybe glingers aren't the answer to the world's problems. But maybe someone with arthritic knuckles has been waiting for glingers all their life. You never know.

4 of Genitalia

Creative people come across this stuff all their lives. While I was writing this, someone had posted on Facebook about what a genius Steve Jobs was, but what a jerk he was, too (based on reading the biography of him). Well, that's probably true. "Nice" doesn't get you heard or understood when you're doing something that hasn't been done before. Persistent does. In-your-face does.

Based on my 25 years as an advertising person, I can tell you that it's rare someone appreciates the value of "original" and "unique". Everyone says they want it, but few have the cajones to walk that talk when they're actually presented with it. And when it comes to invention, few have the vision to see how successful something can be when it's something that's never been done before.

So you have to believe in yourself more than you believe in those around you. Maybe your idea sucks and will never work. That's very possible. But you won't really know until you try. I'm not saying to ignore your trusted confidantes. But I'm saying don't kill an idea you know has legs, just because others can't see the value in it. The worst than can happen is that you fail and learn a lot of really important lessons in the process.

5 of WTF

And back to our week's discussion on spirituality, don't deny something you feel in your heart just because those around you disagree. Look. We are all given one lifetime in which to live our truth. And we waste most of that opportunity caring so much about what others think and believe that we never get around to forming our own beliefs and our own thoughts. Half the time we don't even know if what we believe and think is because we believe it and think it or because we were taught to believe it and think it. But we owe it to ourselves to figure all of that out.

You get this one lifetime to make your glingers. Maybe they're a stupid idea. But they're true to you. And the delight of making them is reason enough to share them with the world.