Taking Time to Practice

From the Songs for the Journey Home Tarot, the Magician; from the Magic Neko Deck, Kendama:

Sometimes, magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect. ―Teller

The work of a Magician has no end point; it is a willingness to apply one's intention and effort in the world on a daily basis.  This particular magus seems to be a student of the Earth, learning from and working with nature. He knows that growing a tree or flower is a special kind of magic, and creating a way to use resources sustainably is just as astonishingly wonderful. The Five of Diamonds shows a kendama ("sword and ball"), a Japanese toy that is a version of the cup-and-ball game. It requires a lot of practice and good eye and hand coordination to handle it skillfully. It's message is something the Magician understands well: the more you practice with focus, the better you get.

If We Come To It

From the Tarot of the Masters, the Five of Wands; from the Key to the Kingdom, the Five of Diamonds:

We, this people, on this small and drifting planet

Whose hands can strike with such abandon

That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living

Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness

That the haughty neck is happy to bow

And the proud back is glad to bend

Out of such chaos, of such contradiction

We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

When we come to it

We, this people, on this wayward, floating body

Created on this earth, of this earth

Have the power to fashion for this earth

A climate where every man and every woman

Can live freely without sanctimonious piety

Without crippling fear

When we come to it

We must confess that we are the possible

We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world

That is when, and only when

We come to it.

~ excerpt from “A Brave and Startling Truth” by Maya Angelou