Less is More

This week I'll be using the Transformational Tarot created by Arnell Ando and published by U.S. Games. The oracle I'll be using with it is the Celtic Book of the Dead, created by Caitlin Matthews, illustrated by Danuta Mayer and published by Edison-Sadd. Today's draws are the World and Island of Many Birds:

          Ando describes this goddess as the World who creates order from chaos. In doing so, she completes cycles that bring understanding and competency. Of course this doesn't mean everything will remain in harmonic balance; a new, more challenging jigsaw puzzle is on the horizon. The Island of Many Birds card suggests there are resources at hand (an abundant food supply). The new challenge is there are so many choices, we can't make up our minds. We make no progress, because we can't make a decision. Psychologist Barry Schwartz declares, "though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically." Other researchers have coined the term "decision fatigue," referring to a cognitive overload caused by too many choices that tends to make us shut down and avoid decisions or to make rash and impulsive ones. Leave it to humans to make a good thing complicated. No wonder we have books galore on how to simplify our lives! But perhaps the World's penchant for order will give us a clue.