Burden of the Mind

This week I'll be using the Cosmic Tarot, created by Norbert Losche and published by U.S. Games. I'll also be drawing from L'Oeil de Lotus (Eye of the Lotus), created by Colette and Gérard Lougarre and published by Vox Arkhana. Today's cards are the Ten of Wands and Winter:

The burden in our minds is always heavier than the burdens on our shoulders.

― Mehmet Murat ildan

Intense pain, in some respects, is like an orgasm; it literally sweeps away every thought in the mind except for the physical sensation itself. We've all felt some degree of it, and usually battle it like an enemy, wanting the pain to go away and stop disrupting our busy lives. But these thoughts add to our pain. Rebecca Li defines suffering as an experience of the present moment to which we add vexations (craving, aversion, delusion). We want our health back, hate our infirmity, and believe it will last forever. But perhaps there is another way. The oracle card Winter depicts the season of cold and starkness - a fitting representation for pain (especially with the man using the cane). Yet this season will eventually pass, giving way to spring. Pain too can fluctuate, sometimes ebbing sometimes surging. It will not stay unchanged. Curiosity rather than anger may be a guide to less suffering. 

The Wages of Complacency

This week I'll be using the Cosmic Tarot, created by Norbert Losche and published by U.S. Games. I'll also be drawing from L'Oeil de Lotus (Eye of the Lotus), created by Colette and Gérard Lougarre and published by Vox Arkhana. Today's cards are the Prince (Knight) of Pentacles and 'Winter:'

          Unlike most Pentacle Knights who seem to be working diligently, this one is dressed in fine clothes and appears to hold his coin rather tightly. The booklet suggests that pleasures (Venus) may sometimes ensnare this Taurus fellow; his efforts then become about pleasing himself instead of hard work. He reminds me of a young man who goes off to college on his parents' dime but chooses to party and play rather than study. The Winter card shows a bare tree and an elderly man walking off into the sunset. There will be seasons of plenty, but they are generally followed by seasons of need. Maybe this young man will remember Aesop's story about the ants and the grasshopper and discover a purpose deeper than smug complacency.

You don’t get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.               — Jim Rohn