The Dream of the Earth

The Warrior ~ Psycards

No, this isn't a repeat of yesterday's post, I drew this card again today. Not totally thrilled to see our friend show up two consecutive days running but apparently the universe seems to feel lessons in this area still need to be integrated. Ahem. Included with the pic above is the mala I used during my week of teaching. It broke after the last class, an auspicious happening that sometimes suggests lessons have been assimilated. Time will tell on that score but it seems fitting to place it beside this card of determination, courage, steadfastness and higher ideals, all of which I had to draw on that week. So I'm seeing this card as a reminder of the potential strength that can be called out of us when the moment arises.

Eight of Pentacles ~ Hudes Tarot

I've drawn the Earth all this week, including the day I drew the Empress and Emperor, and here we see the element again. The Eight of Pentacles which seems to have shown up on a number of blogs today. I like the feminine depiction in this card of one-pointed attention, craftswomanship and productivity. She's moved from contemplating her task in the Seven, which I drew earlier this week, to actually doing it and she is fully absorbed in the embodiment of it.

Her face is meditative and calm, she wields her tools with skill and the Pentacles behind her suggest not only that she's used to working hard but that their position in an arch above her head elevates her work into something exalted. They crown her.

The clear, blue sky behind her reminds me that it's good to look up every now and again for perspective and as a way to bring some spaciousness into the intensity of work. This is also a card that I associate with dedication to service, the sense of working within a container of higher/wider good.

What am I working on today? What tasks do I need to complete? Beyond the basic housework and overseeing of ds's practices and schoolwork I also have a class to attend this evening. If it works out it could be the beginning of a longer term study which might allow me to become the woman in this card, to undertake the development of mastery, of harnessing my productive energy. We shall see.

The Hanged Man ~ Hudes Tarot

The Hanged Man comes along to offer me a new perspective, a new way of looking at my work, at the fire I might bring to my tasks. I like the faces lined up on the tree, the sense of views/ideas and so forth literally coming out of the woodwork, revealing what was previously hidden from sight. The sky has become his earth, the earth has become his sky.

He's motionless, suspended between earth and sky, time and space. I often think of this card as the 'die before death' card coming, as it does, right before the Death card. The implications here are literally groundbreaking with new perspectives changing up our world entirely.

The vast blue sky behind him gives a feeling of spaciousness and makes me think of the Dzogchen practice of sky-gazing. Often when I draw this card I spend some time lying on the ground looking up at the sky or ceiling if I'm indoors. It's yielded some interesting results if I do it in relation to an issue I'm working with. I've already done this today and it was fruitful and yes, perspective-altering in a not altogether comfortable way.

Seen as a trimvirate perhaps a change in attitude is being asked of me today, time to bring the seemingly opposite qualities of steadfastness and inspiration to my tasks today. I want to add my son's unique interpretation which he offered as he walked by. Based on his observation of the appearance of the Warrior in yesterday's draw he saw the Warrior as progressing to the first stage of service in the form of Justice and today he sees the Warrior having reached a second level of attainment in the renunciation of previously held views as seen in The Hanged Man. The Warrior theme is key for him in a way it isn't for me. I like it!

Hudes Tarot ~ Psycards

One figure is sitting, one is standing and one is upside down. That's a lot of movement in these three cards, a progression of sorts. What do the tasks of the Eight look like from The Hanged Man's perspective, what does The Warrior look like from a reversed vantage point? Earthy perspectives to ponder today in this excerpt from John O'Donohue's poem, In Praise of the Earth...

Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.

The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed's self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.

Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons...

That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit and light.