My blog--I pull a card--if it doesn't speak to me...perhaps it is for you? |
I pull a card...if it doesn't speak to me...perhaps it was meant for you? How to Read the Tarot Begin by brewing a cup of tea, a nervine, lemon balm or chamomile, this is after all, your future. A reading at the dark of the moon is best, before the night creatures crawl and bad humours fill the air. Pick a circular deck, with a fairy-tale motif, and no reversals. Hold a question in your heart, shuffle the cards and place them on the table. Choose only two. Like the ancient Israelites, these are your seer stones, Urim and Thumimm, black and white, yes or no. Isn't that all you were asking? |
Believe XI I am staying up tonight, though it is less staying than waking disturbed in the early morning hours. I had read somewhere that 2:22 am is the hour of the Mother---the hour when she comes to speak to you. Tonight I wake--fueled by Covid dreams and anxiety, take my St. Anne chaplet and go down to the retention pond. I pray my last day of this novena--protection and health and safety for my grandchildren--for all the world's children. St. Anne is the patron saint of grandmothers. Sybylla, my veiled mermaid does not appear tonight. I leave her an offering of seaweed salad and vegetable broth, a bit of my good homemade bread. They are offerings to her, to St. Anne, and to Nana the Candomble deity with whom St. Anne is syncretized. We need all the Divines we can call at this disordered time in our world. I go back up the stairs to our condo. I doubt that sleep will come. Pholarchos Tarot--11--Strength--Let your resolve and your fortitude shine forth. |
Altar My home altar is a messy one icons, incense, candles by the ton I call my ancestors and they come worlds rise, collapse and return undone. Form: syair, 4 line stanza, rhyme scheme AAAA The Herbcrafter's Tarot--Eight of earth--Turmeric--Let your tasks be an embodied prayer. |
A lone bumblebee there is enough pollen dust for a colony Herbcrafter's Tarot--11--Justice-Cannabis--Politics is personal.Consider the consequences of your actions. |
Independence Day I scoop bugs and frogs from the pool's chlorine waters Is freedom measured by scale All are connected in this mad spiral of life we rise and fall together Form: Mondo--2 stanzas, syllables 5-7-7, a question and an answer, gleaning meaning from nature Tarot of the Crone--Ace of Disks--Experience touch and taste, your life, your self, all that you own. |
Believe X In France and Japan the lavender fields are blooming. Here in Naples, Florida there is heat, humidity and Saharan dust. I resigned from my full-time job as a nurse in an assisted living facility a month ago. Against my better instincts I accepted a part-time position as an LPN in a new facility a mile away from my house. On Saturday I worked a 3-11 shift and had the worst shift of my life. Yesterday, I resigned. Because of Covid-19, because I believe I am "burned out" I am going to try and lie low for a while. I scoop bugs and frogs from the pool's chlorine waters What freedom is this? I came to the retention pond as the sun was rising this morning. Because of the heat, algae has formed at the pond's edges. Sybylla my veiled mermaid that lives in the pond tells me the algae is not toxic. Nevertheless she has said that she may have to be moved elsewhere as the lawn fertilizer that runs into the pond has begun causing skin irritation. I don't know how she and her sisters move about and she only tells me that it is a secret she cannot divulge. I wake every morning heavy with anxiety. Going to the pool helps. Praying the rosary helps. Cooking helps. The news does not help. Tarot of the Crone--7 of Cups--Fantasy--Seek the vision that speaks to your whole heart. |
Annunciation In the Sar river the grey granite Madonna heralds the solstice Author's Note: Earlier this week a 700 year old Madonna state was found in the Sar river in northwest Spain. Tarot of the Crone--Grandmother of Wands--the Matriarch--Embrace the power of the Matriarch---it is yours. |
As old as the hills... When the wild goddess comes to your table she will demand bread and wine paniverous and ooenaphile the earth is her body the sweet waters her blood. When the wild mother comes to your door she will not knock but enter unannounced bringing nightmares and prophecies. When the wild grandmother comes in a vision she will require you to sing of no order left of love spreading like butter on the surface of everything. Author's Note: Poem inspired by Tom Hinoy"s "When a Wild God appears". Pholarchos Tarot--3 of Coral--the glory of expansion, friendship, sharing |
Initiative I make the first move and sit in his lap face to face legs wrapped around him He is my prisoner now The Manara Tarot--3 of Fire--Take the initiative. A Japenese poetry form--JueJu |
Believe IX I have kept a ghost light on since the day of George Floyd's murder. In truth it is an enclosed solar lantern hanging from a tree out by the lake in back of our condo, at night, I can see it's faint light flickering. I imagine that Sybylla can see the light. I have not visited her in days. On Broadway the ghost light remains on even when the theater is dark. The lights are on, even now, as all the theaters are dark. I am visiting Sybylla, my veiled mermaid, today in the grey and the drizzle. I know like the trees, the grasses, the furred ones and the winged ones that she is aware of the tremors shaking our world. I think we humans are always the last to hear. I am going today to see my grandchilden. I will wear an N95 mask and limit the visit. To protect them, to protect me. I will hug them then sanitize my hands. Sybylla comes to the surface of the lake and pushes her veil aside, "Leave the light on", she says, and returns to the deeper waters. Pholarchos Tarot--8 Justice--Listen for the patterns that weave along nerve cells, consider the soul grammer. |
June 2, 2020--Naples, Florida Protests in the street and at just one glance I knew we survived the night The Herbcrafter's Tarot--4 of Water--Mint--Quench your thirst with gratitude |