Taking Our Place

From the Wheel of Fortune Tarot, the Eight of Disks; from the Oracle of the Dreamtime, Koala:

Affairs are easier of entrance than of exit; and it is but common prudence to see our way out before we venture in. —Aesop

Weaving - both from a loom and from spiders - illustrates this card of prudence. The Eight of Disks is a caution to employ careful planning and attentiveness when we use our skills and resources. It is easier to use our finances, bodies, and material possessions wisely and carefully now, than having to spend time repairing them later. Koala, in the Dharug language, means "no drink" - referring to the fact that this animal receives almost all of its hydration from the moisture in eucalyptus leaves. Thus, Aboriginal Peoples have seen it as a symbol of water stewardship. All that we have is limited and constantly changing. As Linda Hogan wrote, "Caretaking is the utmost spiritual and physical responsibility of our time, and perhaps that stewardship is finally our place in the web of life, our work, the solution to the mystery that we are."