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

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Responsibilities before Recreation

This week I'll be using the Hoi Polloi Tarot, published by Reiss Games. Paired with it will be the I Ching Pack, a deck and book set created by Richard Gill with Anthony Clark and published by Aquarian Press. Today's draws are the Emperor and Hexagram 37:
          There are no scented candles burning or fresh cut flowers in the starkness of the Emperor's world. He doesn't have time for such niceties, as he has a kingdom to run. He's crunching numbers to make sure people will be fed, clothed and sheltered and making sure his troops are prepared to defend. Any rabble-rousers are quickly punished so that law and order reigns. He really isn't a curmudgeon; he's just got a lot of things and people to take care of with no vacation days on the books.
          Gill gives this hexagram the title "Family Concerns" and adds: "Patience and loyalty at home will bring advantage to all members of the family." The two trigrams combine to create wood over fire, a symbol that suggest the warmth and security of a home's hearth. Both these cards remind me that as long as I have group commitments (whether family or otherwise), there will be duties that take precedence over fun at times. Today (Valentine's Day) is a good example, as I will be sitting with my MIL who has dementia, then coming home to do payroll. But that's okay; we've learned to squeeze in the pleasures among the obligations wherever we can; we don't need a special day for them.

2 comments:

  1. I don't know what it is about the Emperor, but I don't care for likes of him. Probably associated with the harshness of my Father, who now I understand did the best that he could. So it most be so with the Emperor, who has so much to contend with that he maybe only seems harsh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suppose I see him on a continuum (as I do all the cards). At times he's a strict because he needs to be, and other times he's inflexible purely out of habit (when he shouldn't be). :)

      Delete