I use tarot and oracle cards as tools for reflection and contemplation. Rather than divining the future, they are a way for me to look more deeply at the "now."
"The goal isn't to arrive, but to meander, to saunter, to make your life a holy wandering." ~ Rami Shapiro

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Ends and Means

From the Neuzeit Tarot, the Eight of Wands:
Eights generally speak of setting priorities, getting things in order, and making swift progress.  The peak in the background is a hint that things are about to be completed - there aren't many more steps to take to reach the top.  The two wand figures on the end each wear a magician hat, and the shape above all the wands looks like a lemniscate.  Both of these symbols are a nod to the Magician tarot card that emphasizes not just focus, but using the resources available to manifest one's goal.  The eyes and hands underscore this emphasis, implying that mental concentration must be followed up with action.  In other words, if I want to make swift progress, I better be doing the same.

The roll from Rory's Story Cubes brought the "beaker and world:"
Humanity gets in such a rush to "improve" the world with medicine and technology, we often don't stop to think what we might be harming along the way.  I think of the invention of antibiotics, that are a wonderful gift on one hand, but have been misused on the other.  Overuse has created resistant strains of bacteria, and the unused portions have been flushed so often our water supplies have become contaminated.  These cubes are a warning to look carefully at the fallout of what I might "accomplish," and decide if the end result is worth the ultimate cost.


4 comments:

  1. Just called in to wish you a (slightly late) Happy Birthday my friend....:)

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    1. Thank you Elendil! I'm trying to stretch it into a week-long celebration... :D

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  2. We are poisoning our world with drugs. Fish contains so much hormones they can't reproduce as they should. Also our tampering with antibiotics for massive amounts of farmed animals are having a backlash right now. They found horse meat in lasagna, well, nothing wrong with horse meat only that it is so filled with chemicals from steroids etc that it is not fit to eat. SARS found again in chicken in germany. GMO veggies that we simply do not know the consequenses of long term. All done in the name of 'improving' our lives...

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    1. I agree; but now that we know that some of this is hurting more than helping, why don't we stop? Greed.

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