Wheel of Fortune

Ace of Wands in the East

Since I cannot possibly acquire all of the beautiful Tarot decks I would love to own ---sometimes I draw a virtual card. Today from the St. Petersburg Tarot---the Ace of Wands. I recently read an article about the Armenian Orthodox Church---and this old Russian style deck seems particularly suitable. The Orthodox Christian Church has retained so much more of the mystery and ritual that has been lost in the Protestant churches--and with the recent changes in the Catholic Mass. The Orthodox Churches have kept the incense, the lush hymnody, the iconography. Orthodoxy seems to understand that humans are oriented by all of our senses, and that we can use all of our senses to approach the Divine.

In the far-off in-between
smell, the most mysterious sense
the fragrance of paradise
wafts into the garden
a yew-green cloak
a drop of mildew
incense, woods, and sadness.
We repeatedly, transparently connect
wanting not what is right
but what is salvific.