six Archives < Arwen, Professional Joy Seeker

Which Is Better?

Today’s card makes me a bit sad. It’s generally a card I like in decks, but here there is such a sense of despair. The giver holds a scale with such small bowls that you wonder if she or he can fit even one coin in. Both the receivers are blindfolded so they can’t see what they are getting.And look at the mouths on all three. Turned down.

I wonder if any of them will get anything out of this exchange. The giver almost looks as if it is a duty or a chore that he’s been sent to do. The claw like hands of the receivers seem almost grasping.

Have you ever been on either side of an exchange like this? Where giving to the less fortunate felt like an obligation? Where receiving wasn’t satisfying?

How would this story change if the blindfolds came off and the scales went away. How would all the characters here react then? If the giver could give as it pleased him and not as it balanced the scale. If the receivers could receive with joy rather than sad expectation.

I’ve been on both sides. I know that for me I give better than I receive. It’s easier because our society teaches us to be self-reliant. We chastise and rail against the less fortunate. We mock those who are perceived as less than us.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Until you’ve been in the shoes of the person who only has ill-fitting pants and a dirty shirt and just enough money to buy the cheapest foods at Wal-Mart, only then can you understand that feeling of helplessness–of deadened resignation to your place in the world.

Have I been there? No, I haven’t, but I’ve been close. But I have seen the death of hope in someone else’s face. The understanding that they can’t get out of where they are because others keep them there.

Yes, there are shelters. Yes, there are programs. But until we as a world look at one another with love and understanding and acceptance, we diminish ourselves.

I’m no better than most. There are times I am disgusted by the homeless I see. I wonder why they aren’t letting someone else take care of them.

And I’m wrenched back to that thought…that thing we are all taught.

Don’t take handouts.
Do it yourself.

I wonder how much we’ve wounded ourselves by not including other teachings.

Ask for help when you need it.
Receive with gratitude so you can give with joy.

How would our world be different then?

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Don’t forget that May Tarotscopes are out.

6 of Coins, Efflorescent Tarot, Katie Rose Pipkin

Bayous, Drifting + Dreaming

She’s moved so I won’t ever see this particular scene again. But it’s okay. I’ll always have the memory and there are other spots just like this one on so many bayous.

Today’s card is not from any particular deck. It is from my childhood memories. This was taken just a few years ago (2011) from my sister’s home on the bayou. She’s moved so I won’t ever see this particular scene again. But it’s okay. I’ll always have the memory and there are other spots just like this one on so many bayous.

I grew up in Louisiana. When I as in my teens, my mother’s boyfriend made a two-wheeled cart so I could get our 17′ Delhi aluminum canoe down to the bayou. That bayou was about a block from our home at that time. I spent so many days paddling back to a quiet area where I could read and dream. While I had good friends, I was a fairly solitary human being.

Still am actually. I yearn for quiet times filled with nothing more than a breeze and the sounds of birds. Maybe a fish hitting the surface or turtles plop plop plopping into the water. Where I paddled to then is now a subdivision of stately homes and old money. Back then, it was a young girl’s fairy land where animals and trees alike spoke to me.

I still like to go out in nature now although I don’t do it quite as much. When I do, I take pictures. I want to have these reminders.

Because this reminds me of my childhood, if I were going to do a Bayou Tarot this would be the Six of Cups. No regrets, just fond reminiscences of days I drifted down a north Louisiana bayou dreaming.

What will you allow yourself to dream today? Can you commit to 180 seconds today to do nothing but dream?

Seek Joy, Y’all. Pass it on.

Crows, Swans & Carrion

Today’s card is a terrific expression of this minor Arcana. Traditionally it shows someone being ferried away from somewhere. You are left to believe it’s a Bad Place ™. But in today’s drawing, we see someone rising above it all.

Carried away by a helpful swan, the elfin redhead looks back at what she leaves behind. I see the six swords here as representative of the sorrows of her life. But the crows? The crows are her naysayers. They are the ones who held her back out of fear. They refused to let her rise above her troubles.

Who in your life doesn’t lift you up? Who in your world is a naysayer to every dream you have? I’m not talking about the voices of reason who yank ugly shirts out of our hands when we are shopping. I’m talking about those who mock or laugh at us when we tell those secret hopes and wishes.

Sure! Maybe they have a snowflake’s chance in hell of coming to fruition, but we all need dreams. We all need hope.

So today, I want you to count your crows. Identify which ones are the useful kind who help you see reality. Then identify the ones who are the carrion eating type who are just waiting for you to fall so they can squawk, “I told you so.”

Those? Those that are waiting to squawk? Stop feeding them. You know what I mean. They are in your life because you allow it. Tell them you need supportive friends. Tell them your energy is reserved for those who want to see you succeed.

Tell them.

Shoo them off your sorrows. Quit letting them feed from that old dead part of you. Cut it out of you. And maybe, just maybe, one or three of them will reveal that they really are swans who forgot how to be swans.

No crows, darlings! And really, don’t be one either.

Seek joy,y’all. Pass it on.

Brag about your professional joy seeking! Grab a bumper sticker here.

6 of Swords, Shadowscapes Tarot, Llewellyn, 2010

Losers, Troubles, Gratitude & American Idol

Traditionally this card shows someone leaving somewhere. They’ve obviously been on a long journey to get to this point. Often I see sadness in this card because of the fact that even when you leave troubled times, there is still emotional attachment.

So I just watched last night’s American Idol. So disappointed to see two of my favorites go. I know this is where it starts hurting more because I’ve invested emotions in these singers. I was heartbroken over one and understood the other. Here is what I said in my original post about both of them. Continue reading “Losers, Troubles, Gratitude & American Idol”

Musings: 6 Of Coins – Generosity

I failed my own test. I did not give to help him. I gave to make myself feel better. I handed him money to give myself a leg up emotionally. I felt so sleazy when I realized what I’d done. I mean a bad taste in my mouth.

Six of coins. Generosity. Hand outs. Charity. Strings.

There are so many things wrapped up in this card for me. I give to the homeless when I can. I do my best not to judge if they are “real” or not. That’s not my place.

There is a gentleman Continue reading “Musings: 6 Of Coins – Generosity”