Drawing The Devil

The Dragon Tarot by Nigel Suckling

This morning, I decided to draw a card from The Dragon Tarot deck. My query was "a strength for the coming week." Every now and again as I was shuffling the deck, I found myself asking for a "theme" for the week. I redirected my mind back to the "strength." I wound up with two cards..... for my split questioning? or because the cards themselves stuck together as I drew them? Does the reason matter? Not to me. I figure if two cards arrived, there was a reason.

The Devil was card #1 ~ the "strength for the coming week." What a card to draw! In the guide book for the deck it reads:

Whether or not you are fully conscious of it, your or someone in close proximity are already bound to some self-destructive attachment that can only end in tears. It is time to listen to your own inner voice of wisdom and a way out will soon become clear. The misfortune threatened by this card is not a force of nature, but a consequence of choice.

When I began reading the entry, I was thinking: Didn't I do this last week? I thought I was past this. Please don't keep it happening.

Then I read the last two lines and a new realization dawned. This card is a strength if I let it be that. If I listen to my own intuition and not second guess it or follow a course of action because I'm worked up about something. The results this weed are "not a force of nature" but open to be different according to what I choose to do. The 'strength' is awareness; an opportunity to stay awake to self-destructive attachments. I can choose how things will turn out.

Have you drawn a card randomly from a Tarot deck? What did you draw? What did it mean? Did it help you move forward? or make you freeze in your tracks? What other form of divination do you use or have you used?

Winter Morning at the Coast

Another day at the Coast. Today the sky was overcast when I went down to the beach. Yesterday was sunnier; the previous day was glorious with light. Such subtle yet powerful differences in three days!

According to the tide chart, I was there with two hours until high tide. ~ I thought I had time for a quick walk on the beach Ha! When I reached the beach, the rising water left about 10 feet of sand ~~ and it was still rising. I decided to take some pictures and climb the hill back to the house.

How many times in our lives do we set out thinking we have time enough..... for our children, for our dreams, for travel, for .... (fill in the blank), only to find that something has changed? Our children have grown. Our dreams have deflated. Our longings and passions have dissipated. Or that we are no longer the person we once were. Sometimes Nature and natural forces, like the tide, intervene. We need to recognize what we can change and what we can't and move on from there.

What can you change in your life to make it align with who you want to be in 2014? What is out of your control? How will you deal with that out of control part?

Crashing Waves

Walking the beach today at low tide, I saw more roiling water and more crashing waves than I experienced when the tide was high. I took this picture of a wave crashing against a small rock outcropping not far from shore. The spray was wild and the waves were powerful.

Afterwards, I thought about the power of the water. It rocks back and forth. It raises and lowers with the tide. It curls and slams into anything in its path.

How does that relate to my life? Sometimes the forces flowing around me crash like the force of the water against the rock. I feel solid, planted in one spot, yet all of this force moves me and keeps me focused. Is it important to move? Is it significant to face the forces of nature within and without? How does a crashing wave fit as a metaphor for your life right now?