Balance and Boundaries

This week I'll be using the Motherpeace Tarot, created by Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble along with Noble's companion text.  Today's card is the Two of Discs:

A mother holds two babies on her hips, feeding one while the other sleeps.  She is surrounded by green - grass, fields, trees - indicating she has created much in her physical world.  The problem comes in balancing her time, energy, and finances to care for and maintain all these manifestations.  Like the two-headed snake, she burns the candle at both ends, and the need to prioritize her projects and obligations has become a must.  This woman stands barefoot on the earth, a reminder to stay grounded in the present moment.  She will lose her secure footing if she is overwhelmed by the "what ifs" of the future or the regrets of the past.  Her other tool will be in her ability to take each day lightly.  As William A. Ward once said, "A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life."

     The other deck I'll be using this week is the Ogham Oracle, created by my friend Carole.  She originally pyroetched these images by hand on wooden tiles for her own use, then scanned them to make a deck for me.  (She's the same artist who did the wooden animal tiles I used several weeks ago.)  Besides the booklet she included, I'll also be using the text Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie.  Today's draw is "Blackthorne - Straif :"

Straif means sulfur, an element that has been used in alchemy, as a mordant for dyeing cloth, and in medicine.  As such, this wood/ogham is associated with transformation.  Change is on the way, and discipline and spiritual work will be needed to manage it.  However, care must be taken not to destroy or harm the vessel the transformation is occurring in.  Blackthorn's sharp barbs remind me of the need for protection during this time; just as the caterpillar needs a cocoon to complete the metamorphosis into butterfly form, so I too will need some boundaries to provide safety and security.