rider-waite-smith Archives < Arwen, Professional Joy Seeker

Tarot In Nine Words: Temperance

I was a bit surprised where this card took me. In my ongoing personal journey through the Major Arcana in various ways (the Fool’s Journey is another where I am telling the tale of the Fool as he meets the various Majors), this is the poetry version. Using the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, I look at the card. I write down nine words that come to me. Some are simple descriptions of the cards while others are impressions I get. I try to relinquish what I already know. That is difficult. It is hard to separate the many years of study and approach this with a beginner’s or Fool’s mind.

I invite you to join me. Look at the same card in your favorite deck. I am using the RWS for its familiarity for most of us. But you take your own Temperance. Write down nine words about that card. Then craft a poem for that card using those nine words somehow. I love this as a writing exercise.

See the other poems of the Major Arcana here.

The Nine Words: Stand Pour Scarlet Gold Path Lily Gaze Foot Wings

Temperance

Stand like a terra cotta soldier
Posed for an emperor’s pleasure
Wings stretched in supplication
I pour
I pour
I pour

One foot firm upon the green earth
One foot casting for stability
with only a lily to support me
I pour
I pour
I pour

Scarlet heralds life’s blood
Scarlet sheds all death’s blood.
Gold shimmers balancing the red
I pour
I pour
I pour

Continue on your seeker’s path
Take my lesson of balanced wings
Know moderation to know peace
I pour
You pour
We pour

10/8/2013
Stephanie Arwen Lynch (c) All Rights Reserved

Is There Evil In This World?

Today’s card is not so much a reminder as it is a memorial. In the divination system I know as Tarot, Death doesn’t always mean physical death. Sometimes, though? Sometimes it does.

I just shared a thought on my personal page. I posted an image of Dr. Martin Luther King addressing a large crowd. His arm is outstretched as he waves to the thousands who have gathered to hear him speak. The words on the graphic read,

“When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.”

Death rides a pale horse. In front are a king, a bishop, a mother and a child. None are excluded from Death’s reach. All must go at the call. Whether that call is from Jehovah, Mohammed, Goddess, Great Spirit or whatever/whomever you name that Higher Power (nod to the atheists who don’t), all must answer it.

Yesterday, heinous mother fuckers destroyed lives. One of the lives they destroyed was that of an eight year old boy. Eight. Years. Old. His sister, 6, lost her leg. Their mother underwent surgery for an injury to her brain.

Eight.
Mother fucking
Years.
Old.

There is no reason anyone can give me for an eight year old to lose their life this way. By an act of such cowardly proportions that I wonder how the perpetrators can look at themselves in the mirror without cringing away.

Is there evil in this world?

Yes. Yes there is. It’s in the hearts of men and women who would do this.

And, it’s a seed in the hearts of many who can say with no compunction that someone of another race, creed, religion of love is wrong.

Yeah, I went there. I’m so angry I could spit right now. I’m going to tell you that I think evil is a seed that lives in most of us–me included. It is how we choose to live that waters it and feeds it or forces it to wither and die within us.

It’s a fine line for me between mean humor and hating those not like me.

Harsh words from a professional joy seeker? You betcha. I work hard at being authentic. I can’t tell you to seek joy today when, in my heart, I am so angry that I could feed that seed of evil with hatred.

I won’t though. I won’t allow others’ evil hearts to turn my own. Mother fucking won’t. Do you hear me?

I will continue to be a woman of love.
I will continue to be a human of joy.
I will continue BECAUSE OF THESE MOTHER FUCKERS to be a peaceful, joy seeking being.

I will not let them engage me in their grotesque evil. I will not allow my anger to feed evil. My anger will feed love. It will feed joy. It will destroy hate in the end.

I will win.

I won’t challenge you to do anything today other than love yourself and one another. That’s all. Just love.

Death, Rider Waite Smith Tarot, U.S. Games

Rites, Rights & Duty

Today’s card is a reminder that the power is in your hands. This note is going to have a distinctly American flavor. I want you to vote.

I’m not going to tell you who to vote for or how to vote. Just vote. It’s more than your civic duty to me. It’s a sacred action.

And I’m very very very clear about the fact that if you are registered to vote but don’t, then you don’t have a leg to stand on if things happen that you don’t agree with.

I was a History/Political Science major in college. There’s a lot wrong with our system, but the biggest thing is that so many of us don’t vote.

Here’s a secret. I did not vote in the last election because I failed to register in time. Yeah. Me. I’m on my way out the door as soon as this is posted to cast my vote for my candidate. I hope you will (or already have) join me in this sacred obligation.

It’s more than 9th grade civics. It’s the fate of our country.

Ace of Wands, Rider Waite Smith Commemorative Tarot, USGames, 2011

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

P. to the S. As along as you are in line before the polls close, they HAVE to let you vote. It’s the law.

INTERVIEW: M.M. Meleen & the Rosetta Tarot

Recently, at my Austin Tarot Meetup, I heard about a new Tarot deck called the Rosetta Tarot. When I read the opening page, this line really leapt out at me:

“Tarot can be considered a hieroglyphic, symbolic, and pictorial language so flexible as to be able to contain the known universe and all combinations of manifestations both earthly and spiritual, tangible and intangible.”

I decided I wanted to look further into this intriguing deck. Continue reading “INTERVIEW: M.M. Meleen & the Rosetta Tarot”

SPREAD: R.S.V.P. Spread

So, do you have any invitations that you need to investigate? Are you wasting your energy RSVPing for situations that would be better for everyone if you just said no? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I did a web course about professional business writing. There was a series of questions that really leant themselves to a Tarot spread. The questions were simple.

• What is the situation/problem?
• Why is this document needed?
• Who is going to read it?
• What do those readers need to know?
• What action does the writer want the reader to take?

So I translated them into a spread to do when you aren’t sure about becoming involved in a situation. This goes back to my current theme Continue reading “SPREAD: R.S.V.P. Spread”

Wings, Tigers & Bartending

What do wings, tigers and bartending have to do with the Temperance card. Join Arwen as she does a comparative study of this angel of balance using some very different decks including the Gaian, the Mary-El and the Tarot of a Moon Garden.

I have been thinking about doing some articles on comparing cards. This morning, I picked up a deck to draw a card for the first comparison. Using the Cat’s Eye Tarot, I pulled Temperance.

This Temperance shows the balance as Continue reading “Wings, Tigers & Bartending”

Musing on the Fool’s Journey: The Fool Meets Strength

The Fool climbed out of the chariot and stood watching as the Charioteer disappeared in a cloud of dust. Looking down at his dog, he murmured, “I wonder how he knew what I was looking for? Oh well, let’s rest a bit then we can go find this woman and her lion. I’d like to see that, I think.”

So the Fool wasted no time at all. He whistled to his little dog as he set off at a brisk pace. All the time he wondered what he would find when he found the woman and the lion. The sun was high in the sky when he began but as he walked, time passed while the sun fell lower and lower in the sky.

“I don’t know if we will ever find this lady the Charioteer told us about, Dog.” The Fool stopped to drink from a crystal clear stream. “Do you think we should just forget about all of this searching for Will? I mean–is it that important after all?” Continue reading “Musing on the Fool’s Journey: The Fool Meets Strength”