Loss and Freedom

  The card drawn today from the Granny Jones Tarot is the Five of Buttons (Pentacles):

Poor potato-head fellow...  He's got a "Dear John" letter in one hand and a bill notice in the other.  Even with a bum leg and tattered clothes, it appears he's being robbed of what little he has left (burglar in the background).  The fives in tarot deal with the challenges of being human - what we gain, we can lose.  I've pared my life down to simple things, but I would be upset if I lost these, particularly my health.  But on some level, I know I am more than what I own or my body.  The one ray of hope (quite literally) that Granny gives in this card is the sun emerging from behind the cloud, shining on what appears to be a doorway on a hill.  Perhaps there are people waiting there to help him - a doctor, a job, friends, or a new relationship.  But he's got to stop crying long enough to make his way up that hill...

     From the button collection today was drawn "Horses - freedom:"

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." ~ Nelson Mandela

I was lucky enough to camp on Cumberland Island, GA for a week, where there are herds of feral horses.  I will never forget, as I was cooking breakfast one morning, seeing them come thundering by on the way to  the seashore.  Their power and freedom was almost tangible.  This button reminds me that there are things I have and hold on to that seem important, yet when I lose them, I realize what freedom that loss has given me.  "More" often brings more things to worry about and more obligations.  Letting them go is not necessarily a bad thing.