Practical Optimist

From the Anima Mundi Tarot, the Eight of Wands; from the Nature's Pharmacy deck, Flax:

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

― Marcus Aurelius

Wyreweden's Eight of Wands is illustrated with the roadrunner, a bird that can outrace a human. They thrive in the harsh conditions of the Southwest desert and can eat venomous prey like rattlesnakes, scorpions and lizards. I had a laugh after drawing this card as I am currently shuffling around due to a back injury. But just because I am moving at a snail's pace doesn't mean the rest of life will too. Flax is a slender plant with delicate looking stems, yet it yields a resilient linen fiber with great tensile strength. It suggests that no matter how fast the day is racing - even if  our bodies are not up for an athletic challenge - we can still meet it successfully if we adjust our minds. There's a practical optimist hiding in there somewhere!

The Self-Seeding of Love

From the Druidcraft Tarot, the Ten of Cups; from the Druid Plant Oracle, Flax:

From the Ten of Pentacles yesterday to the Ten of Cups today, these two tarot cards are different in one major aspect: one can be spent and used up while the other continues to expand and spread. Love and kindness are never wasted; even if the receiver refuses what is given, it still warmly affects the giver. It flows down to future generations and outward to the world at large. Flax has been used, among other things, for making linen cloth. On a daily basis, we are all spinning and weaving the quality of our life with our thoughts and actions. Are we aware of what we are planting and creating? Material things are transient, but not so what comes from the heart.

The rambling, roomy house on Mimosa Drive

Welcomed its first family in 1928.

The Garrisons would grow there and grieve there,

Celebrating an abundance of joyful times and finding refuge during loss.

Throughout the years, its walls, floors, and roof

Were suffused with the affection and devotion of family.

Bulldozers have now crushed its beams and crumbled its foundation,

Yet the love that grew there still remains.

How appropriate that it will soon provide parking space

For those in search of comfort and healing.

~BK

An Auspicious Sign?

From the Deirdre of Sorrows Tarot, the Ten of Cups:

Three generations of a family sit down to a picnic-style meal outdoors. Before they eat, the husband plants an herb, almost as if he makes an offering to the earth for the food they are about to consume. I am happy this card showed up today, as we are going to a meeting about the assisted care facility where my mother-in-law lives. We have heard the owners are filing bankruptcy, and unfortunately many of the seniors there (like my MIL) have purchased their units. Of course they are all frightened about what is to become of their homes. My hope is that a company with morals and ethics will buy the place and turn it into the haven it was originally supposed to be. May this card be an auspicious sign of what is to come.

From the Victorian Flower Oracle this morning was chosen "Flax:"

Until cotton arrived on the scene, flax was the top choice for making linen. It is still used, though its use is more often thought of as a nutritional supplement or wood varnish today. The keywords "skills" and "crafts" the authors assign this plant make sense to me. But what do they have to do with the meeting today? When I am not personally in the middle of drama or chaos, I am capable of being a peacemaker and beacon of calmness. Looks like I better go do some meditation before it hits the fan...