Today's Draw: The Three of Pentacles from the Daniloff Tarot by Alexander Daniloff. Are you a plan maker or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants? Are you good about keeping to plans and crossing things off your lists? What is your five-year plan for your life?
This is the third time in four days we've had a "3" card. The Empress and yesterday's Three of Cups are the other two. What's the significance of that?
Well, three is a pretty cool number. It's the only number that can claim to be the sum of all the numbers that come before it. In essence, it's the gifted child of the yang 1 and yin 2. Good things come in threes. Spells are repeated in threes. The Christian God is a triple god...father, son and holy spirit. And the Pagan Goddess is a triple Goddess. Finally, this week we've had 3 threes. I think it bodes well for us...a little message from above that somebody's got our back.
This particular three shows a guy studying blueprints by way of creating a structure. We do that in our lives all the time...create structure through the use of plans. Plans are a way of honing our focus so we can create something new.
Some people are very structured. Some not so much. I fall somewhere in between. I like the stability of plans, but I like a little spontaneity within those plans. Call me at noon to go to dinner tonight and I'll say no. That's not enough time for me to plan for the plans...haha. I like to make plans like that days ahead. So in that sense, I'm not very spontaneous. But say we have plans to go to dinner and you change your mind about where to go at the last minute, I'm cool with that. Or if something goes awry in our plans and we have to "off-road"...that works, too. I'm also pretty good at thinking on my feet....going with the flow. Just not in those instances where you need a last-minute buddy to accompany you somewhere.
I'm also a list maker. Lists are plans. I usually have a list when I go to the grocery store. It doesn't contain everything I'll buy, but it contains a list of "must haves". Or if I have a lot of chores to do, I keep a list, but reserve the right to leave one thing undone. In fact, I'm so weird about leaving something undone that I often make up a fake chore that I'll never do, just to make sure all the stuff that needs to be done gets done.
Perhaps where I'm most remiss with plans is my overall life plan. I made a plan when I was 18 to become an advertising copywriter and I'm still one at 50. In my 30s I had a plan to write screenplays, but that one never came to pass. It was kind of a loose and casual plan. And for the past many years I've had a plan to move to Maine and be an author. Well, I'm an author now. But that was a kind of loose and casual plan, too. And I'm not as close to being the kind of author I want as I'd like...the kind that lives in Maine and is adored by the masses for her boundless wisdom.
So maybe I need to make a different kind of plan. Sometimes plans can get in the way of spontaneity and flow. And sometimes they can get you to a desired destination in a timely, efficient manner. I'm not miserable in my life by any means. And, in fact, my loose and casual author plans are going ok. But I'm beginning to think I want to see more progress than I've seen. That's what plans and lists are good for...getting things done.
Today's Draw: The Chariot from the Daniloff Tarot by Alexander Daniloff. Is there some situation in your life you'd just love to have someone else solve for you? Is there something you're either refusing or neglecting to face? And how is that serving you and your personal development?
The Chariot is read many ways. Some read it as movement, motion, a journey. Some read it as a struggle of some sort...being pulled in opposing directions. And all of this can allude to inner or outer struggles or victories of will, ego or impulse. Like the charioteer himself, we are asked to take the reigns in deciding how to apply it to a reading. We are asked to be our own source. Our own hero.
Being "saved" by someone who swoops in just in time is a popular theme in books and movies. The evening news loves to milk a good hero story. And, if you're a woman, you're socialized into believing a white knight will ride in and rescue you. The theme is so pervasive that, of course, we've come to believe it...and not just believe it, but expect it. So we can sometimes find ourselves acting dormant on looming issues, expecting....hoping...that someone or something will come along to make it all right for us.
I have some bad news. It's probably not going to happen.
Nor do you really want it to. Because, spiritually speaking, if you don't find your way out of it this time, the problem will come around again.
I can't imagine there's anyone out there who's had anxiety over making a needed life change, or dug themself into a hole they now needed to get out of, or needs to make a critical choice or any other such daunting type of life passage that hasn't once, even in passing, wished something or someone would come along to rescue them. I also can't imagine there are people out there who have never hesitated or procrastinated in the face of unpalatable inner or outer work. It's part of being human.
Today's card is coming along to remind us that, if there's something like this in your life right now (and there are many such things in my own), it's time to stand up and be your own hero. Be the hero of your own story. Make a move. Be the one that saves you from this mess.
What I know from my own experience in this arena is that the energy it takes to ride in on your white horse and save yourself from whatever it is that's looming over you, is nothing compared to the energy you've spent pretending there isn't an issue...ignoring the issue...fighting the issue, etc. The train is barreling down the tracks and there's no one around to untie you from the tracks. Are you going to succumb to a cruel fate waiting for someone to save you? Or are you going to at least try to loosen the knots that stand between you and ultimate freedom?
