Headaches

 

Another nine, interesting. 

I bought a walking stick awhile back hoping that it would help me get about easier when walking in park. Well that has not yet happened as my legs have been a bit more challenging lately. I read somewhere recently an interesting fact that walking sticks were also used as a recording device. When most of us or our ancestors were nomads, moving from place to place, taking with us only what we could carry, the walking sticks were used to record events. Information handy and portable. Taken with them wherever they traveled. Reminds me of our parents pencil marking our growth for us on a wall or back of a door. Today we have the tv with its reports and cell phone cameras at the ready, with overwhelming information, that burdens us. 

The Linestrider's Tarot

Repeating lesson

 

I may have declared that I was done with winter, but Winter has answered "not so fast, I have a say in this decision too!"  Must be a lesson that still is not learned; endurance, be in the moment, because the moment is all we have.  If I wish for Spring, I spend several months lost in wishfulness and not present in my day. Ugh, a new lesson for me to consider. This Nine of Wands is a reminder that hard times do no last. As my friend Sharyn reminded me yesterday, already the days are longer. The Earth, bless her, is already changing her attitude and tilting towards the Sun. She knows that a change of seasons is good for her and so I must respect that, and know somewhere along the line, it is good for me too.

Artwork: In the Wild North - Ivan Ivanovich

MAJESTIC EARTH Tarot ~ J.D. Hildegard Hinkel

Comfort when needed

 

This knight seems relatively unscathed as he returns from his patrols. Some battle scars are not visible to others.  The remembrance of an incursion and body wounds healed, are not always obvious.  The hurt doesn't always show but painful memories linger in the Nine of Wands.

Thank goodness I have Kitty to come home to at the end of those days that I still work.  She doesn't have thumbs so she can't open the door, but she awaits on the other side.

Marco Polo Tarot

Ability and Means

 

Many of us have the ability and means to do something, that something that calls to us. Walk your own path, even if you have to walk away. 

I watched the interview last night and thought how courageous the pair were to face the institution and the pain of having to turn and find their way. 

Enchanted Forest Tarot

Done is done

 

Finito, over, done.  Are we ever done with a thing, person, or place? Not really I think.  Time and energy vested in said thing, person, or place weaves in the structure of ourselves. Still we can give ourselves a clear signal; Done is Done.  

The Tarot of Durer

Go the distance

 

Go the distance! Sometimes you just got to dig deep and find those wells of reserve within oneself.  This fairy has put on her best face and refuses to let the world know how weary she is and what is typically shown in a Nine of Wands.  Her makeup has been expertly applied so none see the lines of stress around her eyes and grimace of her smile. She knows she can complete and go the distance. When she finishes she may look and feel battle weary, but today she puts on her brave face and gets it done.

The Fairy Tarot

Dilemma

Power * Perseverance are the the keywords for this Nine of Wands depiction. 
There are times we push forward, push ahead, and there are times we retreat and review.  This Nine advises to go the distance and finish.  Can we when we are weakened and tired?  Will the finish be all that it could be if we paused and then finished?
What was the message that flashed forward in the Eight to propels us on in the Nine of Wands?





Spiritsong Tarot

Me, mine

Step away from what's mine.
Sometimes we hold on to things for no good reason.  Let 'em go. Share them.
I have not been painting rocks lately, kind of got out of the habit. They wait for me to pick up my brushes again, and soon I think I will.  There are some on my counter that have been with me for a couple of years. Painted them, liked them, kept them. Maybe to make similar ones or what I think of as my 'pattern rocks.' Maybe it is time to let them go. When I start again, a clean slate will be a good place to start.




The Green Witch Tarot

Perseverance

Work through it, push through it.  How many times do we hear this throughout our lives? "You can do this"  Sometimes those words are of encouragement and sometimes a taunt.  If it is not something we really want to do or think we should do, what do we lose trying to prove something?  More, harder, longer, conquer, conquest, do, do, do.
As I was looking at the word Perseverance, smack dab in the center is 'sever.'  Embattled, what do we lose of ourselves? Do we walk away or continue to push through?  When is enough, enough?

Pick up sticks.

Does there come a time when we don't always have to be or need to be at the ready?  When we can let go of the fears and burdens of past mistakes.  A clean slate?  I woke this morning counting some of my wrong doings throughout my life.  Now why would I wake up thinking these things unless my mind had nothing better to do during the night?  Turmoil can do that to one's mind.
Everything seems nice and tidy. But at what cost?  My head hurts.

Recovery

Me.  I am at the moment in Recovery.  Too much tv and updates on the health of the nation.  I started watching the news yesterday and decided enough.  I am still going to hear reports from just about everywhere, but I am not going to sit for an hour or more and marinate in the doom and gloom.   Enough.  Beyond the grid are green covered vistas.  That is a better use of time and it's healing.  Take a walk, in my bare feet while it is bit warmer.

Hackles UP!

Now that he has finished his wands he fears others will take what is his.  The thing is, does he need so many wands?  Everything and everyone moves on.  No stopping The Wheel of change.  Coveting a person, place, or thing is a prison unto itself.  Share and enjoy the pleasure of giving.

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
~Winston Churchill





The Green Witch Tarot - Ann Moura

At the Gate

Thankfully I have come to the point in my life that I don't always need to be right.  I work with two such people, it can be exhausting.  Both in their late fifties, you would think it was time to let go of their need for control, or at least loosen the white knuckled grip.   While one I realized is trapped by their insecurities I now recognize the other is as well, though much more covertly disguised.  I wonder how long I can wander between the shrouds of their misery at the office.  Pretty sure I will not survive four more years of maintaining a defensive posture.
Right has might, but the need to be right is another thing altogether.





Celestial Tarot

I'm okay, You're okay

Nine of Wands, don't give up and don't give in.
Also a line in a song by Mike and the Mechanics,  "and if you don't give up and don't give in, you may just be okay."
I recently heard an affirmation that I am saying to myself almost constantly "My priority is well-being through self-awareness"  This affirmation is more fitting for this Nine of Fire (Wands)
Why bother trying to stay on top and keep ahead of the pack when working  on bettering oneself is an option.  Both are challenging, one I think, is more rewarding.




The Gaian Tarot

Posture

Drawing this card reminded me of time back when I was twenty-two, a waitress and doing really well with my income. All of the serving staff was; life was good and I/we were having fun.  The Manager one evening pulled the staff aside and cautioned us that times ahead were going to be tough and we needed to start saving and planning for that which might be forthcoming. We lived day to day and he was living in the future. When I quit living in the here and now and started worrying about the tomorrows, life changed.  I still hold that posture, though not as rigidly.
This morning I had a curious dream about twins named Hope and Love, they are the Light of the World. But to protect themselves from would be destroyers of hope and love they learned to defend themselves, thus their shadow-sides of Anger and Fear came into existence.
Something to ponder on, on this Nine of Wands day.

Fairy Tarot

All In

"Never laugh at live dragons." - J.R,R. Tolkein

Sometime you have to dig deep.  That inner core of strength to get to the finish.  This Nine of Wands speaks to me to give it my best and finish it up. 
All In.  If you are going to do a thing, might as well do the best that you can do. 







Celestial Tarot

Another fine day!

A job worth doing is worth doing well.

Seem to have a theme going these last few days about the fruits of one's labor.  Here is yet another doing what he does best.  It is possible he picked up a tree limb and saw the wand that laid within, yet it still took years of practice to fine tune his carving skills and the art of wand making.  With a bit of fairy dust to waken the magic of  the wands and they are complete. 
We put our pride into our work and hope others appreciate what we have done or created.  Do what you love and others will notice; if not there is still self-satisfaction of a job well done.







The Green Witch Tarot

This one or That one?

The road not taken was not your path.

Another nine today. Something ending. The typical Nine of Wands has a theme of hardship, calling on some inner strength to finish the task taken up in the Ace of Wands. This fairy gal seems to have enjoyed her challenge and looks back to see how far she has come.  Good advice, worry not on what's ahead but congratulate myself on what I have managed to accomplish.

"There are hundreds of paths up the mountain, all leading to the same place, so it doesn't matter which path you take.
The only person wasting time is the one who runs around the mountain telling everyone that her or his path is wrong" -Hindu Proverb

The GOOD Tarot - Colette Baron Reid.

One more

The struggle is real.  I see this 'fox man' with his bandages and wands.  He has come far with his struggles and has accumulated some battle scars and still he stands upright, not defeated.

This without a doubt this is me.  I am leaving shortly for at least the ninth dental appointment to fix something with my teeth.  When I was hurt five years ago my teeth really took a beating.  Some lost, broken, and chipped.  I couldn't have work done on them while head wound and broken neck healed.  I am having a cap re-installed on one of the capped teeth and a cavity filled.  It should be the last of it. With my partial and all the capped teeth, hopefully I am done with that part of healing.
I like the salamanders on the socks, definitely a nod to the Wands energy represented in Rider Waite Smith tarot cards.  The salamanders mouths are not touching their tails so my healing journey is not yet complete.  Forward Ho!

The LINESTRIDER'S Journey

nine-ten a big fat hen

Today I have drawn the Nine of Wands to quite possibly see what happened just before the ten of wands yesterday.  If I see the cards following a time-line between the Ace and the Ten, then pondering the card before the card of the daily draw or a reading just might help me conclude my interpretation of the Ten of Wands yesterday.

This Magician's apprentice is very protective of the wands in his care.  There are actually ten wands counting the one in the cup, which is still soaking up the magic potion the Magician has made to enchant the wands. It takes courage and strength to watch over these magic wands (and fear that the Magician might turn me into a toad.)
Add to the tense situation are the mole and the fairy.  Helpmates from above and below?  I believe these wands are the ten wands of yesterday that are being carried to the Stone Circle for the Summer Solstice Rites.  Together they are things not yet finished before I celebrate the coming of a new season.  Finish up what has been started so I can continue on the Fool's journey.

The Green Witch Tarot -Ann Moura