Messages, Brilliance & Squirrels

When I step back, all the figures except the one in “work” are focused elsewhere. The only one not is the Nine of Earth. I see Joanna as a teacher for many reasons. Here she looks directly at me. None of them are looking at the center card thought. Interesting.

I love to read. Books. Magazines. Backs of cereal boxes. Billboards. Blogs. I subscribe to some different (e.g. Not Necessarily Tarot(tm)) blogs. One of those is Pink of Perfection. I stumbled across the blog looking for a recipe or from another blog that I read. I can’t remember. A few days ago she shared this poem by Mary Oliver. My mind is still reeling from it.

Messenger
Mary Oliver

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird—
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

Then a day or so later, she shared a post on brilliance and this question that she was asked.

Where does your brilliance lie?

This pretty much rocked my world. So I felt a spread might be a good answer.

Finding Brilliance

  1. What is my work? This is the foundation. This is the necessary work. That work which sustains us through our EDJ(Evil Day Jobs) if you have one or through all the other minutiae of life.
  2. What do I let matter most?Note the words “let matter”. Sometimes we make the wrong things important. Sometimes we overestimate what or who needs us the most.
  3. What should matter most? Here is where we learn where we may want to focus more attention. As Mary Oliver says, “Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work.” Look back to the foundation card to see how this card interacts.
  4. What or whom should I be more grateful for? We don’t always offer enough gratitude for the large and the small. Look here for hints (or shouts) on how to be more cognizant of the blessings in your life.
  5. Where does my brilliance lie? Is this a direction? Is it a location? I see it as a compass point which is why I put it in the middle of the others. Step back and look at the other four cards. Are any figures looking at this card? Does anything seem to point here? Don’t expect an easy answer here. Brilliance is hard to look at. It should be blindingly dazzling. It should make your eyes water just a bit.

Here is my reading for myself. I am going to post the information for each card from Joanna Powell Colbert’s site. This is an effort to make me not jump to any conclusions.

My work is the 9 of Earth.

A woman stands in the midst of a lavender field in full bloom on a sacred island where she has put down roots and made her home. She’s reached a time in her life when she is fulfilled, content and at peace with her home and her creative work. Even when she spends time in sacred solitude, she is inextricably part of a community that includes the people, plants and animals who call this place home. Sister Heron flies overhead, a sign to her of the presence of the Divine in her life.

Sacred home. Fulfillment. At peace with creative work. Sacred solitude is a part of community. This really hits home for me. Makes me tear up if you want the honest truth. I’ve moved here and there–a lot. Some of you will recognize the term “Lesbian U-Haul Dating Method” and laugh (or wince) in sympathy. My people fall in love and move at the drop of a hat. I think my work is to sink my roots into Austin more fully. To stop and really be energized by this community. And by my larger butch-femme community as well as my Tarot community. I got to do readings this past week when I was in Little Rock. I am never so energized as when I can do readings. It sustains me. I am lucky because I also have my writing which is another piece of this work. I have an abundance right now. I need to share how to create that abundance with others. I truly need to make being a professional joy seeker my work.

On a side note, the Great Blue Heron has long been one of my guides. I love that Joanna works them into these cards so often.

What I let matter most is the 2 of Air.

A woman stands by a hawthorn tree in bloom, listening to two cedar waxwings making companion calls. She closes her eyes to shut out extraneous noises so she can hear the quietest bird call, the one behind all the other ones. She cradles something precious in her hands — perhaps a stone or broken bird’s egg. It becomes a talisman of silence and awareness. “The quieter you become, the more you can hear,” says Ram Dass.

Interesting. I crave silence. I mean crave/need/must have. But I also worry about what others say/do/think. That’s a struggle for me because I try to stay in my own hula hoop. I see this as a nudge that maybe I do need to step out of my silence, my hoop at times. Maybe I am isolating myself for the wrong reasons?

What I should let matter is the Child of Air.

The Child of Air gazes at a swallowtail butterfly that alights on her hand as butterflies take flight in a spiral around her. She can feel the trembling of delicate wings and wonders if it’s really a faery, dis- guised as a butterfly. Perhaps, like the Zen master Chuang-tzu, she asks: “Am I a per- son dreaming that I’m a butterfly, or am I a butterfly who dreams I am a person?”

That quote by Chuang-tzu made me laugh nervously. I used to struggle in my head about whether I was just a Who on Horton’s fuzzy flower. So is this saying that what I should let matter is discovery of self in me and in others? This one puzzles me. I normally see this card as a call to get focused on one thing. SQUIRREL!

But if this card relates back to the first which was about being a professional joy seeker, perhaps the answer is to focus more on that? I welcome your thoughts and input.

What or whom should I be more grateful for shows up as the Builder. He’s the Emperor in this deck.

structure, boundaries, foundation
The Builder is a master craftsman, shown here carving a design of oak leaves and acorns into the post that flanks the front door of his home. He is committed to the ethics and principles of sustainability and has built an earth-friendly house. Drying herbs hang from the rafters, firewood is stacked in preparation for winter, and a spiral of beach stones leads the visitor to the arched doorway.
The Builder is strong and comfortable in his own authority. Yet unlike most historic emperors, he does not destroy life for his own power or benefit. Inspired by the Green Man, the spirit of the wildwood whose face he has carved into the post, he works in harmony with nature and honors Mother Earth’s animals and resources. The kestrel, a small falcon who hunts with speed, grace and precision, watches and waits as the Builder focuses on his task.

The Builder is the archetypal Father, the creator of culture, structure and human laws, as compared to the Gardener, who embodies the abundance of Mother Earth. He is the city, she is the country. He is the building, she is the garden. As an architect of civilization, our Builder creates networks and systems that enable people to live and work together, sharing resources and creating a supportive, sustainable community.

Ah. Back we come to community, eh? And look at how focused he is on the intricate work. He is creating his own beauty here. He is applying what he knows to make beautiful things.

Where should my brilliance lie. I admit that I’m hesitant to turn this card over. What ifs are scrambling to alert in my brain. What if it’s a card that I don’t like? What if it says something awful like I have no brilliance? What then?

Four of Air. Whoa.

Four robin’s eggs are nestled inside a nest that has been fashioned from twigs, grasses, moss, flower petals and bits of ribbon and string. It’s hidden away, tucked under leaves that protect it from prey or prying eyes.

This totally throws me, y’all. This card, to me, is about keeping things close to your chest. It’s about not revealing things too soon. When I stare at it, I think I see more. Maybe it is that I am not just a professional joy seeker. I’m not just a writer. I’m not just a Tarot consultant. Maybe I am all of these things and that’s my where my brilliance lies. That I can be all of those things. That multi-tasking is a good thing for me.

From focus to multi-tasking…???

Click for larger image

When I step back, all the figures except the one in “work” are focused elsewhere. The only one not is the Nine of Earth. I see Joanna as a teacher for many reasons. Here she looks directly at me. None of them are looking at the center card thought. Interesting.

What do you see in these cards for me? What is your take?

P. to the S. Could I get some more Air in this reading, by the way? Sheesh! Three out of five cards are Air which I see as intellect.

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8 thoughts on “Messages, Brilliance & Squirrels”

  1. Thank you for sharing this spread.

    I need to think more on my first two cards (Five of Fire & Nine of Water) but the final three (Explorer of Earth, The Sun & Ten of Earth) make a great deal of sense to me.

  2. Mary Oliver, like my friend Wally Swist, manages to put into words what is essentially ineffable and indescribable–the numinous joy of All when we loosen the bond of the “I” mind. So your reading needs to be interpreted that way, too. Your work: You are the field and the woman in the field. Let matter: the idea of “other”. Be grateful: For who you are, for what you are, for the energy you carry within you. Your brilliance: Ideas within, nurtured and protected and tended until they take flight on their own.

  3. Arwen, that is very possible. Wishing & waiting can be *so* much easier than seeking. 🙂

    (This is one of the reasons I love your readings – your skill in interpretation.)

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