Wheel of Fortune

temperance 2

In the Tarot of the Saints the 14th Arcanum Temperance is represented by Saint Benedict. By holy coincidence, the theme of todays lesson in the 7-day e-course I am following on "How to be a Monk in the World" speaks of Benedict and his rule of hospitality. The lesson is not only in extending hospitality to the stranger----but also of extending hospitality to oneself. All of those unacknowledged, unaccepted parts of one self. It's about blending light and shadow together to create a full spectrum.

For so long, I have been trying to force myself into a mold deemed "worthy" by the norms of society. To be ambitious, a consumer, an achiever, a mover and a shaker. I am not and have never been any of those things. I have always been a dre3amer, an idealist, a putterer....I NEED lots of down time. My power animal is clearly the manatee....gentle, slow....endangered. I am an old sea cow....an old mermaid. I need to be in and around water, I need time to dream, to think, to pray, to read, to write. I am tired of feeling badly about all that. As i get older, I plan to get on going on being as weird and as goofy as I wanna be. No power suits for me. Floaty skirts and T-shirts are about it.

I am married to a kind, gentle man...who is always in motion...but not a mover and a shaker, either. This is a man who loves watching Keith Olbermann read from James Thurber on Friday nights.

So here's to acceptance, temperance, and hospitality.