Balancing on the Edge

From the Ship of Fools Tarot, the Two of Coins:

With his arms outstretched and his feet lined up heel to toe, I could draw a line underneath this fool and turn him into a tightrope walker.  But with his head turned back, he looks as if he has become distracted and in danger of losing his balance.  When I have a lot of my plate that I'm trying to take care of, it's extremely easy for me to get sidetracked by something other than the task at hand.  Last week I was working out in the yard, and I was supposed to be cutting down weedy trees and brush growing along the fence line.  But then I noticed some weeds that needed to be pulled....  And then I noticed the hummingbird feeder needed to be refilled...  And then...  Well, you get the picture.  Though I may have a lot to juggle, concentrating on one obligation at a time will help me get things done faster than losing my focus as I run around trying to do everything at once.

From the Wisdom of the Four Winds comes Atares, "Knowledge:"

Atares is a bright summer star in the Maori world known to them as Rehua, keeper of lore.  The star shared her knowledge with the people, but they discovered that such information contains both light and darkness.  The authors suggest we need wisdom to deal with what we learn, as we walk "the blade of a two-edged sword."  I remember when I discovered the director of a charity I supported was a power-hungry, vindictive bitch with a few screws loose.  I immediately wanted to withdraw my aid and convince everyone else to do the same.  But I eventually realized that the women this program was helping would ultimately be the ones who were hurt, not the woman who ran the organization.  A two-edged sword indeed...