Lay of the Land

From the Waking the Wild Spirit Tarot, the Nine of Swords; from the Saltwater Reading Cards, Turtle:

Instincts like fear and sex are important, but you don't want to be acting on them all the time. We need to be able to dynamically control our instinctive behaviors, depending on the situation.

~Cornelius Gross

The Nine of Swords is generally associated with anxiety and sleepless nights. But in this card, the gulls give the sprites a lift, allowing them to get the lay of the land. Instead of relying on an over-active imagination that churns out assumptions and worst case scenarios, the sprites get an actual view of things. Now they can respond appropriately. The Turtle card shows hatchlings instinctively hurrying to the sea before they get eaten. The driver of our instincts is the brainstem; the prefrontal cortex plays a role in keeping those instincts in check. Neuroscientists have shown that the emotional and deliberative circuits in the brain are in constant interaction (some would say struggle), and the former, for better or for worse, often holds sway. Before we 'trust our gut,' we need to make sure our prefrontal cortex has enough facts and an accurate view of what's going on to balance out those brainstem urges.