12/5/12—Saving Ourselves

Today's Draw: Eight of Swords from the Lazy Afternoon Tarot by Karen West. Where are you feeling trapped in your life right now? Is there a situation where you feel "damned if I do, and damned if I don't"? Are you waiting on someone or something else to make a move before you can be free of this situation?

Today's entry is dedicated to Amanda Donnelly, author of the 78 Whispers In My Ear blog. This week Amanda has reminded me of a couple of great decks I've forgotten or neglected. When I saw her post images of this deck, it sparked my memory. I knew I had the deck, but where was it? And why haven't I featured it more on my blog? Something has most certainly gone goofy in the universe. 

Anyway, I found it. In the last place I looked. It was in the box of decks I keep in my living room because they're either favorites or decks I want to explore further in the future. It's a big box. Things get lost in there. Good things. 

So today I'm finally doing right by this deck. It's a limited edition of 50 copies and there are still a few left. Buy them at etsy before they're all gone. Because it really is cute. The deck's name comes from the fact that the artist drew each card in less than 15 minutes using sharpies and crayons...a perfect process for a lazy afternoon. It's mostly RWS based and has alternate Lovers cards, depending on whether you like same sex love or opposite sex love. That's a interesting thing a few deck creators are doing these days. 

Anyway, I like talking about the Eight of Swords because it usually shows a woman who is bound, but not too tightly. She could get away. But being bound is a good excuse not to get away. The post I did on 11/26 talked about the stories we tell ourselves to remain stuck in life. This is very similar to that. The blindfold and ropes that hold her back are symbolic of her fears and the excuses she makes in honor of them. 

A lot of times we may think of this as a situation involving someone else...some situation between you and another that leaves you feeling trapped. But it really could just be limitations you place on yourself. The swords might suggest that you're limiting your own self expression in some matter. Or that you're not allowing your thoughts to "go there" in some situation. You feel trapped by what you're able to think, do or say, but really the only person standing in your way is yourself. And the more you stand in your own way, the deeper the hole you dig for yourself. 

Consider a situation where someone is minimizing you in some way. Somewhere along the line, you made that ok by not immediately shutting them down the first time it happened. Then it happened again and you clenched your teeth, let it slide. Then it kept happening and you just grinned and bared it. Then you realized you'd trained the person to treat you that way, so you kept allowing it. And you became trapped by it. You saw it chipping away at your self esteem and you continued to let it go on. 

It's not the other person that has you trapped in this dynamic. It's you. You can point to the ropes and the swords and the blindfold all you want, but nobody else holds the key to your escape but you. You may get knicked by the swords/words/ideas around you in the process of getting free. It may get a little bloody. But chances are it won't take as much out of you as has been taken the entire time you've been trapped. 

As long as we place the blame on our situations and patterns on some outside force, we will forever be caught up in a trap of our own choosing. It's only when we realize that we were both our victimizer and our savior all along, that we're able to break free.

12/4/12—Fueling the Spark

Today's Draw: The Ace of Wands from Dame Darcy's Mermaid Tarot. Do you have a lot of unfinished creative projects around your home? Do you find you get excited about a hobby and then abandon it? Are you more motivated by a hobby you're good at or one you suck at, but enjoy doing?

First of all, this is a really cute deck you can get from etsy. It's fully illustrated, mostly in RWS style, but with mermaids. The card stock is sufficient, but a tad thin. Unless you're a stock freak, however, it shouldn't keep you from buying this sweet, self-published deck. And it does come with a guide that you can download. 

Now that we're done with THAT, the Ace of Wands is about a spark of energy or creativity that comes to you. But as the deck's guide points out, it's the kindling. And kindling doesn't last long on its own. You need to use that spark as your impetus ASAP or the next time you turn around, it will be gone. 

I frequently find myself "sitting" on projects. I was all fired up to do them at one point, then I decided to think about them. Then thinking turned into not thinking. And not thinking turned into not getting anything done. If my sister is reading this, that is what happened to her plier pouch I AM going to make. I got all the materials together, then I started the dreaded thinking and rethinking. Fortunately for her, shame is good motivator for me, too. So she'll get it. Sometime. And now that I've mentioned it on my blog, probably sometime soon. 

But that's what happens if we don't keep the momentum going. As someone who works in a creative field, I know that ideas are nothing without execution. But often in everyday life, we might find ourselves tending more toward idea generation than actually executing the idea. That's how it goes with my hobbies. And that's why, as kind and "generous" as I my seem in some ways, it's rare that I will promise someone one of my hobby creations. I like to have to have the freedom to just generate ideas and no actual outcomes. Otherwise, it becomes like my work, where I HAVE to generate outcomes. 

Something interesting about this card, though, is that I first saw it as a drowning woman still holding on to a sunken boat's oar. Of course, it's not that at all. It's a mermaid offering up the wand of energy and creativity. But I thought the other way was an interesting interpretation of an Ace of Wands. Like even though she was sinking away, she was still offering up one last spark...one last move toward creation. 

Sometimes a creative person invests so much of themselves into something that it can drag them down. We perfect and hone and bleed our creativity into a turkey of a project until it sucks the very life out of us. 

So I hereby declare this card as saying two things...don't let the sparks that come to you go out. Pursue them. Stoke them. And build them into a blazing success, if that's what's intended. But also know when to stop fueling the flame. Some fires might exist solely to get to a certain place and then be abandoned. They may have only come to offer lessons or techniques that you'll need down the road. That's all part of the creative process, too. 

I've heard people try a hobby, for example, only to give up when they hit a roadblock halfway through or didn't like the outcome. They decide they have no talent, aren't worthy, aren't as good as so-and-so...whatever. And what they don't understand is that so-and-so is only as good as they are because they knew which flames to fan, which to snuff out, and were to look for other flames. 

That only comes from pushing past our fear of failure. We place so much emphasis on talent when, perhaps, an equal or more powerful force in creativity is discretion. Everybody is good at something. But sometimes you have to fuel a few sparks before you find it. 

2/20/12—Being the Cat

Today's Draw: The Three of WTF—Human Centipede Cat Toy—from the Regretsy Tarot. Do you use your energetic tools consciously to shape your life? Or do just do the best with whatever comes along? When it comes to commanding your own life, do you live more like the cat or the cat toy?

We've featured the Regretsy Tarot before. For those of you not there at the time, this deck mocks some of the more ill-fated creative decisions made on popular crafting website, etsy. Don't even bother worrying about which tarot suit the WTF suit corresponds to. It doesn't correspond to any suit other than, perhaps, a hand-crafted, Swarovski crystal-studded business suit for your pet iguana to wear to important meetings.

In all its horrific wisdom, though, the Three of WTF poses a good question for you to consider today. The card shows two cats, both bearing the intuitive third eye and a tail for each eye. But that's not the WTF the card refers to. Because the cats are playing with what appears to be entrails, possibly from the Human Centipede cat toy at their feet.

While there were no such cat toys on etsy today, a search returned 17 Human Centipede items, from clothing to MacBook stickers. For its decorative use of ric rac, I like this one. But what's more likely to go into MY household is this.

But I digress. The question the card poses is this—are you the cat or the cat toy in this lifetime? And while I can hear all the feet shuffling to vote in the "cat" line, really consider the question. Because here's the thing...

We're given these gifts in life...the intuitive awareness that comes with the third eye, the ability to attract and spread energy that comes with the triple tails and an interconnectedness that doesn't require surgical attachment. But do we use those gifts to command our own lives? Or do we just let it lie there like toy entrails on the ground for the universe to play with? 

Do you really know your power?

This card dovetails nicely with this week's nature-inspired reading about the impact we have on the universe every day. Because, along with the ability to disrupt and shape the universe, comes the ability to reshape your life. Those ripples send and receive information every millisecond of the day. We can attract the energies we want, and move out of the direct influence of the energies we don't. We can connect with others in meaningful (again, non-surgical) ways. And we can move and redirect energies in healing ways. 

So if your thoughts and actions send out waves to create things in your life, are you watching your thoughts and actions? Are you re-molding your life from one of chaos to one of consciousness? Are you using your energies in a healing way? Are you consciously sending and receiving? Or are just kinda doing that stuff when you think about it?

Although we're all born to be the cats, it takes work and focus and practice to claim your birthright. It takes thinking of what you want as if you have it, rather than thinking about what you don't have. It takes being conscious of the ripples you send out to others...healing or not? It takes a willingness to drop hate, resentment, vengeance, bitterness and distrust from your emotional vocabulary. It takes gratitude. It takes grace. In other words, it takes an open heart, one not constricted by the thought that you're like some and unlike others. It takes a consciousness of being one with everything. It takes a whole new level of maturity and work. 

It's ok if you're not 100% on all of that. No one will be at first...or possibly even ever. And it doesn't matter one bit what the person next to you is doing. This isn't about them. It's about you. Their dislike of you has nothing to do with how open your heart can be to them. You don't need their cooperation to make this work in your life. 

And it also doesn't matter whether you believe in Jesus, Buddha or Salty the Pretzel Man. It's all about stepping into the light, wherever it comes from, and cooperating with it, rather than fighting it. Acting like someone who's worthy of it. And making it brighter, rather than diminishing it. It may seem like a lot of less work to just be the cat toy and be done with it. But when you look at your options in light of the illustration in the Three of WTFs, you'll probably agree, it's far more...palatable...to be the cat.

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.