Ideas Come, Ideas Go

This week I'll be using Tarot of the Secret Forest, created by Lucia Mattioli and published by Lo Scarabeo. I'll also be drawing from the Faeries' Oracle created by Brian Froud with text by Jessica Macbeth; it was published by Simon & Schuster. Today's cards are the Two of Swords and "Taitin the Sylph:"

          On the edge of a cliff grows a small evergreen tree while the large stump of another stands beside it. Is it necessary to cut down the other tree too? Was the weight of the overhanging tree causing problems, or did it just impair someone's view of the valley? Will erosion happen with no trees there, creating a mudslide later? The booklet states it is time for analysis and decisions made without the interference of emotion. The only problem with being disconnected from emotions is that the benefits of it may focus on one person or one group and leave out all others. Enter Taitin the Sylph. She is connected with mental quickness and discernment, yet she also represents the characteristic of ideas and minds - it is their nature to change like the wind. Remember the pesticide DDT that was sprayed indiscriminately during the latter half of World War II to control malaria and typhus? It seemed like a great idea at the time, but Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring would uncover the devastation to wildlife it caused. It was a passionate plea to stop the widespread use of the pesticide, but it was also firmly based in fact. Sometimes such passion can help us hear and see what we might overlook; then we can take a more scientific approach when it is time to choose.