Habitual Thinking

This week I'll be using the Ancient Tarots of Lombardy, a deck originally created by Ferdinando Gumppenberg in 1810 and later republished by Lo Scarabeo.  Today's draw is Death:

There is a wooded lot filled with large, old trees that I pass on my walks every morning. In late spring and early summer, a throng of shade-loving wildflowers bloom there. Recently I enjoyed this lovely sight, only to come back the next day to find the city mowers had cleared the lot. Sudden, unexpected endings can shake me and make me look at the world from a new perspective. They are like zen koans that force me out of my habitual thinking and allow new ideas to be planted.

The oracle deck I'll be using this week is the Lenormand de Marseille, created and published by Edmund Zebrowski.  This morning's draw is "Clouds:"

Here in the South, clouds are usually welcomed as they bring shade from the intense summer sun and rain for the farms. But if you're trying to see something clearly - for instance driving during a thunderstorm - the decrease in visual clarity is not so well received. Thus this Lenormand card is often tagged with keywords such as confusion, uncertainty, and instability. In pairing the Clouds with Death above, I couldn't help but think of the recent passing of a gentle, kind, soft-spoken man I have known for  years. Though not young, he was not elderly either; I have battled the "but why" question ever since I saw his obituary. Trying to find those kind of answers is as useful as nailing jello to a tree.  They only create more confusion and frustration with no positive returns. I must accept that life is full of natural changes, beginnings and endings; as Lao Tzu stated, "Let reality be reality."