Today's Draw: King of Cups in the Crowning Influences position from the Art of Life Tarot and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Do you find yourself choosing things over love? Could you be making more choices that lead to love than you're making now? What is the crowning influence in your life?
After about 1000 Daily Draw posts, I consider myself an expert on the one-card draw. And the Art of Life is my absolutely favorite one-card draw deck. I think part of it is because it's a non-traditional deck, part of it is the quotes (I'm a word person, after all) and part of it is the very interesting way it has of making me think.
Crowning Influences are influences we're usually aware of that come to bear on whatever situation we're reading about. They're usually pretty major influences. And obvious ones, too. But sometimes the thing that is most obvious is the thing we tend to discount.
This painting is a self portrait of Paul Gauguin. I did a quick Wikipedia read on him to find that, just before cutting his ear off, Van Gogh came at Gauguin with a razor blade. That's kind of interesting. He attacked Gauguin and then ran off to a brothel and cut his ear.
Gauguin's art was not respected in his day, but he became quite famous after his death (a lifestyle blend of syphilis, alcohol and morphine did him in at 54). He ultimately inspired an entire generation of artists, including Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso, and styles including cubism and even the American Arts and Crafts movement.
All of that is beside the point, however. I just thought it was interesting. :D The real point, the crowing point, is that it is better to be loved than rich or powerful. One thing that I think surprised many people when my brother died, was how many people cared about him. His funeral was standing room only. Hundreds of people showed up to pay their respects. There were teams of boys he coached, their families, the people he worked with, neighbors...I don't think anyone ever knows how many lives they touch. I don't think my brother knew. He wasn't rich. He wasn't always strong. But like the King of Cups, he was loved.
Think of yourself and those around you. Do you live your days to give and receive love? Or do live it to keep the hamster wheel moving forward? You can do both, I suppose. Being self employed, I'm in a good position to stop in the middle of the day and check in on my dogs. Have one of my Kizzie snuggles. He gives the best snuggles.
Though, while I'm getting better at it in my later years, I have to say I focus on the money and "standing" to the detriment of self love and love of others. We think we'll always have time to get around to love, but "this project" has a deadline of now. So "this project" is what gets the attention. And so on. And we never get around to love. What is probably God's highest priority for us is the priority we place after all others. How screwed up is that? And how well is that working for our happiness?
Like my brother, I don't think any of us realize how many people out there count on/hope for/cherish our love and acceptance. If you feel like you don't receive nearly as much love as you might like, consider everyone else feels the same way. The best way I know to receive love is to give it. It's usually so appreciated that it's returned. Sure, there are some incapable of receiving and returning. But give it anyway. It may not come back from them, but it will come back.
Money, power, fame...all of that feels good in the moment, but the feeling fades. However, the memory of being loved is one of those things that pops up while you're sitting in traffic, while you're grabbing a coffee...it never leaves your side. It lives beyond the moment and, as I've observed with my brother's family, lives on long after you die. So keep that in mind next time you have a choice between work and family...prestige and pets. We all have to earn a living. But that's not why we're here. Love should always be the crowning influence in our lives.
Today's Draw: The Emperor from the Tarot of the Sidhe in the What's Working Against Your Goal position from Deck of 1000 Spreads. Do you have control issues? Is there a certain way you want things done and no other way can compare? Is there only one outcome to your goal that will satisfy?
When I first starting doing this blog, my hope/goal was that I would write forever without repeating myself. Inevitably after 700+ blogs, though, I do. I really don't like to do it, though. And I'm on the verge of doing it again. And, in a way, that's what today's card combo is all about.
Crowning Influences are major, kind of obvious influences on something, like a goal, as we have in today's reading. And the Crossing card is something that gets in the way of those influences on our goal...something that works against all the work we do, in a way of speaking.
So the Emperor is what's working against the work we do. The Emperor is very yang. On the plus side, he's a leader and strategist. On the negative side, he can be very controlling.
So by trying to control how repetitive this blog is or is not, I'm working against myself. It's like I assume all of you are like my sister, reading all 700 blogs in order (it's actually more than that, because I did this for six months on Facebook before I started my official blog), and committing each to memory (which I doubt she does...haha). It's as if I think everyone only needs to hear something once—and in one way—to get the message.
Thinking too hard and trying to control what comes up is working against me....and has been for the past six months or so as I've felt I've started touching on some of the same "fine points" more than once.
Sometimes we can be our own worst nemesis.
Because also in that six months, I've come up with a couple of thoughts that I could really do something with if I wanted to write a book or ebook or something. So if I packed it in, I wouldn't have had those insights. Also, it's ludicrous to think any other than a small handful of people read every day or have been following me for all three years. So it's best to just let go and trust the right message is hitting the blogosphere at the right time, regardless if it's something I've talked about before.
So here's the message FOR YOU—let go. Let chaos have its equal time. Embrace the random. Last week in the Lucky Like a Fox post, I talked about detachment, which is letting go of outcomes. Certainly when you have a goal, you have an outcome in mind. But resist the urge to have every little detail spelled out. Leave room for miracles.
One thing I know for sure...god and the universe have a much bigger imagination and creative capability than you or I. Make room for them to meet you halfway and serve you something you could have never imagined on your own. Whether you have irrational control issues (like me) or are married to a certain specific outcome, loosen up and let the wind guide you to your goal.
Today's Draw: Two of Swords in the Crowning Influences position from the Mythic Tarot and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Do you feel caught between a rock and a hard place? Do you know what you want, but seem to be paralyzed in moving toward it? How long do you think you can stand with one foot in your old life and one in your new?
Poor Orestes. Mom and Dad are having a fight and he's caught in the middle, refusing to pick a side. The Two of Swords speaks to a situation where you feel paralyzed. Maybe there's a reality you're refusing to face. Or stormy seas in your life you're choosing to ignore. Or a precarious balance or neutrality you're trying to hold. Whatever it is, there's usually some need to move forward, but a fear-based inability to do so.
In the Crowing Influences position, it fits right into this week's theme of making changes and moving forward in our lives. The Crowing Influences position says that what's holding us back is the fact that we've got one foot in our old world and one foot in the new.
Yesterday was all about making the decisions. And today is, too. This one foot in/one foot out thing is causing tension and anxiety within that is adding to our fear and uncertainty. In fact, a large portion of what we're experiencing as fear and anxiety may really just be the tension and anxiety of standing between two worlds.
We can't stand like this forever. And no matter which direction we choose, it's scary. It's scary to stay the way we are. And it's scary to move into the unknown. But the difference between the two is that you know what the status quo holds. And you've chosen to step away from that toward an uncertain future that holds either something more beautiful or more horrific...haha.
Are you trading your problems? Are you walking away too soon? Those are legitimate questions, but ones that also keep you stuck.
Which possibility makes you feel larger? Which possibility calls out to you? Which possibility holds the most potential? Those are the questions to ask.
I know a couple of people who are considering ending their marriages. One of the wisest things I've ever heard Dr. Phil say is that "you have to earn your way out of marriage." That means you can't leave before you know you've done everything you can to save it (unless you're being abused). And THAT means you have to do things like counseling and trying different ways to approach problems. You have to take responsibility for your 100% of the relationship and do what you can do to change the situation, even if your partner's 100% is not cooperating. I believe that a lot of marriages end prematurely. I look at people who have been together for 25 or 30 years and still love each other, and what I see is two people who stuck together through things that tore others apart.
Marriages deserve that chance. Families deserve that chance. But when it comes to things like careers and where you live and the other details of life, you can spend a lifetime on the fence only to discover you've never lived.
As many of you know, I had a brother who was seemingly healthy one day and less than six months later was dead of cancer. He died with two feet firmly planted in the midst of his family. He knew what he wanted and he went for it. You know what you want, too. So which foot will you move?
Alert! My sister, Janet, can stop reading at this point!!! ;)
Because I forgot to mention that the Mythic Tarot is the deck I learned on and it's a good deck for that. All the suits are wrapped up in a story from mythology and that makes it easy to learn the card meanings. See how the corner is ripped? This deck is like those old cotton sheets you have that look like crap, but feel good to the touch.
Also tarot nerds might be interested in the whole week I devoted to the Two of Swords, using a different interpretation every day for the Two of Swords from the Victorian Romantic. Students might also be interested, because I give insight into the different ways I look at the cards. View that week here http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/2012_09_09_archive.html
