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

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Play Your Own Music

From the Wildwood Tarot, the Seven of Arows (Swords):
This woman reminds me of one of those movie starlets of the fifties who played a damsel in distress. The kind that nearly always make me groan and roll my eyes. The authors assign this card the keyword "insecurity." How do insecure people act? Some, like this woman, may play the victim (though she is more a manipulator than anything else). Others try to impress by mimicking the dress, words or behavior of someone who is respected. They may even take the ideas of someone else and claim them as their own. In some strange twist of reasoning, they feel entitled to do these things because they don't have what they want. Unfortunately taking from others is not going to fill that gaping hole of insecurity; the skull and bones engraved on the boulder she stands on is a clue for the consequences of her behavior.

From the Shaman's Oracle comes the "Shaman of Song:"
The shape above this figure's head reminded me of the magic that occurs with the mix of sunlight and water - a rainbow. Last weekend I went to a concert put on by the symphony orchestra; for the holidays, they had invited a Celtic group to join them. It's been years since I've been to the symphony, and I had forgotten that "fullness of the heart" effect of such music. By the time the Celtic group was finished, I was grinning ear to ear and felt like I was close to bursting with so much energy. This shaman suggests that I have many ways to transform my feelings; I don't need to tie my boat at the dock of another person and try to live vicariously off their happiness. I've got my own music to play.

9 comments:

  1. Christmas carols are playing while I am typing this comment. Music always lifts my spirit and lately I am finding myself singing more and more. Mostly non existing songs and melodies.Because I cannot remember lyrics very well.:) So you could say I am playing my own tunes too.
    The seven of arrows looks like the eight of swords. But it seems this woman is more trapped and then the other one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've gotten where I love to sing in the car when I'm by myself. I get tickled when I am at a stoplight, singing at the top of my lungs and then notice the person in the next lane is watching me with a smile. I just smile back, betting that they do it too.
      Had it not been for the keyword "insecurity" at the bottom of this card, I would have thought it was the eight of swords too. But I suppose it is that insecurity that may lead us into the eight.

      Delete
    2. Tee hee, your comment made me think about a song I love: Dory Previn's Twenty-Mile Zone (http://www.songlyrics.com/dory-previn/twenty-mile-zone-lyrics/). I love singing, and making up songs, or just chanting. You describe it so well - it fills up my heart :)

      Delete
    3. Oh that song made me laugh out loud!

      Delete
    4. :D Not often I *meet* people who've even heard of her!

      Delete
  2. stripping away the arrows, and looking at what is left...life with cedar trees. Gorgeous, smell great, but they shed and shed and shed and shed and the cedar sticks to dogs and cats and shoes and clothes...Nothing to do with anything, just what I thought of. Good morning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have bald cedars here; they turn a lovely rust color then drop all their needles at once (thus the "bald" description). Hope you are having a good morning!

      Delete
  3. Beautiful post! the music has the power of transforming everything, and specially this kind of music, which touches the heart and the soul, it's a kind of caress and gives peace to our senses. I love opera and gives me peace (although I don't speak Italian- just a little- and it's difficult to understand when sung) but anyway it moves me deeply! I have to say that I always cry when I listen "Madame Butterfly" :) I send you Muchas Estrellas!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Las Magas, you write with the beauty of a poet! :) Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.

      Delete