Daily Draw, Jan. 11: Take-Stock Sunday

Well, beloveds, we've made it to, depending on your personal perspective, either the end of, or the beginning of, another week of life, love, experience and accomplishment. Or not. That's the focus for a Sunday Tarot draw...look back at the prior week, look forward at the week ahead, take stock of one's previous path and see if a small detour might serve one for the upcoming week, or if one should just keep going as previously. You may have heard the Socratian quote, "the unexamined life is not worth living"...I am not certain I would go quite that far. But I do know that if you use a spiritual guide such as the Tarot to assist you in inspiring and developing the insight of your own Path, it's kind of useless if you don't periodically look over where you've been and decide where you're going. So--let's do our Sunday Stock-taking draw and see what it tells us.

Card 1. Where Have I Been?

Well, Padawan, this might not look too good at first glance, but what it is actually saying is important. Think about it. During this last week, have you had, once or more than once, the experience of being annoyed at, or upset with, your inability to complete some task, gain some goal, or pursue some vision? This card doesn't merely tell us "you're a failure"...it is telling us, looking at the suit we're in, that our emotional reaction to not getting to the goal may be too overwhelming for us to actually understand the lesson of the journey. All those cups are scattering their wine all over the place, and we're so verklempt with the mess that we're not remembering why we had 8 cups filled in the first place. The lesson of the card, in the context of 'looking back', is simply--Don't be so hard on yourself. Don't consider yourself a "failure"...just realize that not each and every goal you pursue is going to be achieved the first time. Look it over--YOU didn't fail, but that way of doing things might not have worked. So--try another way, and see if you can make it work this time.

Card 2: Where Am I Now?

Here we have Isis, the supernal Goddess, usually referred to as "Isis of the Many Names". She is calm, dispassionate, watching and listening. She is a Goddess of supreme power, but she's not using her powers here...no. She's Paying Attention, looking, learning, taking in the view before her and understanding that each and every moment of living has something to teach her. So--can we decide to be in this moment, in this day, as Isis is showing us? Can we remember that there is not one single unimportant moment of living, that be-here-now is the perfect recipe for loving, living, and learning Life? Can we act in accord with Isis, and make our lives about each and every experience of learning, being, and doing? I hope we can.



Card 3: Where Am I Going?

Well, get your racing suit on--here we go on a journey to--to what? Escape? Flow away from the "Beast" challenging us from behind? No--not really. We're not racing in a Chariot on land..here we have a boat on the waves, linking us to the water of emotion and rebirth, symbolizing our innate and instinctive response to difficulties, threats or challenges. But we're not using a speedboat here, we're not running away in fear...if you look at the face of the passenger in Haindl's boat, as well as the body language, you see someone riding the waves and enjoying the ride. What's coming up for us this coming week might hold some challenges, might even be something of which we, in the past, may have been fearful. But we're being told here that a better response might be to dive into the experience, enjoy the ride, and see, as our prior card, Isis, suggests, what we might learn on the journey. Let's open ourselves to new possibilities, stop seeing each and every obstacle as a failure, and sometimes, even though the waves are carrying us forward recklessly, stand in balance, watch and listen, learn, and enjoy the ride. Can we do this? I hope so! 

Blessings on your day, 

Aisling the Bard