Tag: Eights

Thoughts, Swords & Purviews

The Universe frequently knocks my noggin, yanks the rug out from under me feet, or yanks my pigtails then runs.

Today’s card was pulled at a perfect time for me. See, I am furious right now. Just sick with anger about a news story that I read. I’ve already kneejerked about it on my personal page. I’ll spare you that here.

What I will say is that the 8 of Swords (Fenestra Tarot, US Games) is the perfect knock upside my noggin from the Universe. The Universe frequently knocks my noggin, yanks the rug out from under me feet, or yanks my pigtails then runs. (FWIW, I don’t have pigtails… :D)

When I looked at this, I didn’t see swords so much as bindings held by others that locked this woman into place. Of course, those are swords but not for me, not now. My fuzzy eyes have locked onto that idea that she’s held captive by others.

Swords are thoughts. Swords are mental actions. Swords are controlled by…????

Ourselves.

Our thoughts are completely within our own purview. So those swords in this card? Not in someone else’s hands. They are emanating from her and being PUT into the hands of others.

Yep, she’s giving them control of her thoughts. I do that. I forget to stay fierce about my joy. I forget to deny outside input into my interior landscape. I plant thorns when I should be planting tulips.

I can’t control others.
I can control myself.

Yep, it’s that simple. If, and only if, I keep fiercely focused on that finding. (Yes, you can assume adore alliteration.)

So today, my job is to reset my mind, to reroute my thoughts, to restore my inner landscape. Yes, the newsstory was horrific. Yes, there is something I can do about it (educate others on what I think the cause is). But no, there is no reason to walk around jacked up about it all day. What good will that do?

And, in a lovely bit of synchronicity–Thanks, Universe– I read Jodi Chapman‘s blog today.

Yes. Be nice to myself. This is what I must do. And I shall!

Will you?

8 of Swords,Fenestra Tarot, US Games, 2005

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on!

Still plenty of time to join the gang who are going to be using C to make 2013 the best ever.

Volunteering, Weeping & Control

Today’s card reminds me that sometimes joy is hard to seek. It’s hard when you feel as if the world is dead-set against you ever breaking free of things. It’s hard when you feel as if no one truly cares about your forward progress.

So what do you do when you feel like the 8 of Swords? This card is from the Fradella Adventure Tarot. It’s a particular favorite of mine–this depiction. I was reading with it one day when it hit me.

She’s not a victim. She’s not on that wheel at someone else’s hand. No. She volunteered for that position. She trusted that the thrower would hit the target and not her.

But the important piece is…she put herself there. Look at her. She’s no simpering, weeping miss. She’s a strong confident woman who knows how to take what life throws her way. She knows it’s only a matter of time before she is free again.

She knows that even when someone is throwing blades at her, she is in charge.

Don’t let life win. Don’t give into the “it’s not fair” and “they are all mean to me” mode of thinking. Rise above that. You can’t control others. You can only control yourself. Don’t give them the pleasure of seeing you falter.

Keep. Seeking. Joy.

Here’s a great quote from Robert Louis Stevenson.

“…Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.”

To miss the joy is to miss all. Wow. That quote in one of my Oprah newsletters really swatted me hard. I’ll bet this woman strapped to the target knows where her joy resides.

It isn’t out there. It isn’t in the hands of the knife thrower.

It’s within her.

It’s within you.

Find out where joy resides, y’all. Pass it on.

9 of Blades, Fradella Adventure Tarot Deck & Book Set with Book(s), USGames, 2003

Hurry, Rush & Validate

Do I have so little faith in my community? Do I think their attention span is so short? Well, to be honest, in a way I do. But it’s not that…

Today’s card is a reminder that not everything has to be fast. This cartoon from Bill Holbrook’s “On the Fasttrack” made me smile in wry acknowledgment. I feel this pressure. I must be present. I must be heard. I must be read.

Then I realize it’s because I don’t want to be forgotten. *thud* That’s so much bigger to me than simply being heard. What if I am Continue reading “Hurry, Rush & Validate”

Musings: With Eight You Get?

So I’ve been thinking about eights more. I once learned that four is the number of stability and work. So for me, eight is the number of either a lot more stability or a lot of conflict. It is also about hard work. One thing that occurred to me is the shape. On its side it is an infinity symbol. If you consider that each half of the infinity symbol has four points, then when the two overlap, one point is doubled in the center.

If you put yourself as that center point, you can see that you are the fulcrum between those two circles. Depending on which way you go, the balance will be shifted. Of course you could stand in the center for ever I suppose. But I doubt any of us could. In the Major Arcana, eight is often Strength. It makes the most sense to me in that you have to be strong to make a choice. Even a bad choice still takes strength to make it–not to mention strength to fix it!

For me, all the eights can be seen as some type of Continue reading “Musings: With Eight You Get?”