One Sufficient Word

It's grey and cool here as our day begins. No oversleeping today and things have started off on a more even keel. I drew my cards in the candlelit womb of the dawning day accompanied by my little canine companion. She watches with the passion of disinterest, her little snout being its own divinatory tool, seeking out trash or treasures, the designation of which is not something I can claim to know much about. Her system is her own.

Asking for what wings my heart needs feathering with today I drew Hummingbird...

 A beautiful swirl of color and vibrancy, my heart lightened when I saw this feathered totem appear for the day. We have hummingbirds come to feed at our Abutilon tree regularly. They pause, a furious and whirring moment of stillness, their ruby throats catching the light and sending up a flare of beauty on the retina. They drink deeply of the amrit and then, they're gone like a quick flame. They speak of fleeting beauty and joy, of seizing sweetness when you find it and they also speak of the majesty of the small. All these thoughts and feelings flashed by me, as though the hummingbirds themselves had alighted briefly in my mind, as I gazed at the card. The LWB tells us...

I am Hummingbird. I am creator shaman. I am the burst of light in the darkness. Whirling and weaving through the pattern of time, I create the nectars of life. I am the fragility of time and the strength of passion. I am the beauty of nature in motion...the fleeing brilliance of the moment. 

There is a tremendous sense of dance and fluidity here and the colors are glorious. I've not ever looked to hummingbirds as teachers other than instructors of beauty but as I feel into their motion and winged selves something more substantial begins to take shape. And I draw my two Tarot cards...

Vulture, Three of Swords and Tiger, Three of Pentacles. I notice immediately that I've drawn two threes and muse on the ramifications of this for my day. Threes speak of creativity and fruition, associated as they are with The Empress. They complete events and activities allowing us to see the way through to a new and different vista. But they also represent the conflict between the higher ideal and the more immediate concerns of the world, the two plus the one and what are we going to do with that? They herald the arrival of a transformational opportunity and ask us to respond accordingly. Hmm, seeing two of these powerful numerological representations on my altar I wonder...

Vulture, totem for the Three of Swords, and I feel the weight of yesterday's emotional baggage sitting on my shoulders. My thoughts about mothering and all the places I fall down again and again. I notice the tree is shaped, ever so subtly, into a heart upon which Vulture sits gazing down at three gold swords that hang on gnarled branches carved with spirals. The spirals and the heart-shaped branch provide some expansion for me as I breathe into the grey, dismal scene. And yet it's not without an austere beauty and symmetry. Vulture seems particularly entranced by the swords and is unable to avert her gaze. Traditionally the Three of Swords is the card of heartbreak as a result of focusing on past hurts and yet it also speaks to getting to the 'heart of the matter'. Here there is also a sense of isolation though the tree provides some shelter and support and my mind latches on to the idea of allowing my body to support me during rough, emotional terrain through dance, authentic movement, hiking or even the solidity of sitting practice. With this idea of kinetic prayer in place I move on to my second card.

Tiger, Three of Pentacles. Ah, this feels grounding and directional and I sink into the feeling of my own paw as it steps into the pond and creates widening ripples across the surface of the water. Tiger here is majestic and walks fearlessly though intentionally towards the pond. Her power is evident simply by her bearing. There is no wasted energy here and her effect is far-reaching if the ripples on the pond are any indication. 

My usual keywords for this card are along the lines of 'master craftsman' 'creative integrity' 'sacred artistic vision and skill'. The RWS version depicts a craftsman working with the support of patrons. Here that element is less obvious but there is clearly the sense that moving with intention and grace through the world has far-reaching ramifications. I have an image of the self as a pebble tossed into the waters of Spirit and Spirit sensing itself being received through the widening rings of experience. Perhaps all that tension in the Three of Swords might be offered up to this pond, to Spirit and be allowed to widen into something much larger than the tightly held self with its circular thought processes around grief, hurts and the like.

Hummingbird encourages me to soak up the beauty of each ruby-throated moment, even the 'un-beautiful' moments of the Three of Swords. If they can be looked at through this lens then perhaps they can be put to use to create something of value. Perhaps simply revisioning them through that lens is the key that opens the door of the self. Rilke again comes to my rescue as guide with a poem, Les Roses, from his collected french poems...

One Sufficient Word

A rose by itself is every rose.

And this one is irreplaceable,

perfect, one sufficient word

in the context of all things.

Without what we see in her,

how can we speak our hopes

or endure a tender moment

in the winds of departure.