Stagnation Makes Me Giddy

VisionQuest_8CupsToday’s card made me giggle. Then it made me snort. Then it made me laugh until tears rolled down my cheeks.

And you are looking at me with your head tilted thinking, “Arwen, have you lost your mind? There is nothing funny about stagnation.”

I might agree with you if you didn’t know what I know. The Universe is mocking me again.

You see Monday night I did a reading for a young friend. It was her birthday and she is officially a tween now. Her parental units requested it. I was happy to oblige. While I did that reading, her parents unloaded a closet for me.

Close your eyes. Imagine a typical closet with sliding doors. Now imagine it is packed floor to hanging bar with boxes. Now wedge more in. Now realize that you can’t even slide the doors shut because there’s so much SHIT in that closet.

Then walk away from the closet for two, no…let’s make it two and a half years.

Yeah, talk about stagnation, right?

But here’s the thing. That’s not an imaginary demon of a closet. It was very real. And my friends moved all the boxes out.

Now I have to go through and purge, purge and purge some more.

I live in a cute, little condo. I’ve lived in larger spaces. I still have allllll the chit from those larger spaces. So you see where I’m going?

A lot of what I have hung on to has sentimental value. I have a turban and a pair of glasses. Both were worn by my mama during her battle with, and subsequent loss to, cancer.

I have books that took me places once upon a time.

I have Tarot decks that I wanted SO BADLY once upon a time.

Everything in these boxes has been in these boxes for two and a half years. Thirty months, y’all.

Like the chipped and no longer functional bowls in this card from the Vision Quest Tarot, my stuff is clogging me up. My chi is not flowing.

In fact, I think I heard my chi running for the hills.

Operation: Declutter Arwen is on the table. I don’t know how long it will take, but I’m going to do this thing.

Do you have anything that you hang on to that you need to let go of?

I know my mother will be happy to know her glasses are heading off to the Lions to be put to better use.

Eight of Water, Vision Quest Tarot, 1999

Hope, Joy & Need

Today’s card is a reminder to pray. I used to shy away from the word. I mean the word “pray.” In my narrow, Christian-phobic brain, it meant something it didn’t. I’ve evolved since that time. Now I see it as an action verb meant to convey hope and joy and need. Those three don’t seem to be connected, do they?

Here our daughter of fire from the Vision Quest Tarot lifts up her sage bundle. She is praying to her Gods. The smoke carries her hopes upward. Her needs will be heard by the winds who will then move them up to the heavens.

Why does she pray? That’s always the question, isn’t it. Is she asking for herself? Is she asking for someone else? Is she simply giving thanks for the day and being alive?

Here on Facebook, a friend (insert name) has started a daily Gratitude Project. Each day we all post something we are grateful for. They have ranged from another day free of Cancer to sex and anything you can imagine. There is joy there as well as sorrow.

Do you pray every day? Do you offer up gratitude for being here? Do you celebrate at least one thing? You should. It’s healthy. It’s blessed. It’s necessary.

Do you pray for others? Some would say that’s invasive. I say that when I pray for others, I am sending it to their Higher Selves.

Prayer as a gift not a weapon is what I’m talking about. Prayer as a way of reminding yourself that you are connected somehow. And if prayer is a “hard limit” for you, then call it giving gratitude. Call it honoring your self. Call it whatever you will, but please call it.

Call it for hope.
Call it for joy.
Call it because you need it.

Give thanks. Give gratitude. Give prayers.

I’m here to help you if you can’t find your joy. Let’s seek it together. I’ll show you how to hang on to it.

Seek joy, y’all. Pass it on.

Daughter of Fire, Vision Quest Tarot,U.S. Games Systems Inc (1999)