Rein Responsibility

I just couldn’t do it, I couldn’t purchase something I have no money to pay for. The reins of the mind are fairly strong, so no bicycle for me.

However, I did come up with a concept for a second necklace based on the Rumi Tarot, for which I already have materials at hand, so I’m sifting that around instead of spending money.

Very often I find that if I get busy on an art project or some writing, the impulse to buy things goes away. It’s not simple boredom that makes me want to buy things, it’s inspiration for my creativity, so once I get that I have no need to buy things. Lately I get a lot of books on inter-library loan so that helps tremendously, but it’s hard to work alone, so an extra jolt of inspiration is always welcome, and I immediately got that from the Rumi Tarot. Those gorgeous, saturated colours: I can’t believe any artist would have the patience to make their own egg tempera. Nigel Jackson and Lorena Moore are the only two artists I know who do this, and I love their artwork.

So, today let’s pick a card from the Rumi Tarot:

8 OF SWORDS

“Untie the knots from my hands and feet”

Hahaha. Yeah, no kidding. I could take this as a clarification of what I wrote above about inspiration and freeing the mind from a dependency on spending. I could also take this literally, as I do have knots in my hands and feet as well as muscle spasms and sciatica.  Chronic pain simply robs me of all the joy in life, the ecstasy of movement and action.

This card. . . . has clouds whispering.

The Brute, the Brute!

Daily Draw July 10, 2009

From the Etruscan Tarot ( a new favourite in artwork):

VIII – STRENGTH

I hear people complain about the usual depiction in this card of a man clubbing a lion. Well duh, it’s Hercules and the Nemean Lion, not a random act of violence. I often wonder at the lack of curiosity in tarot people. I was speaking once on a forum after a complaint about the Washer at the Ford, depicted in some Celtic decks in a literally bloody way, but that’s the story, you know? Work with it.

Okay, he’s clubbing his muscles into submission and realizing that inactivity is causing his chronic pain and muscle spasms. He must go back to the cave and rest and then go outside and move and frequently do the exercises from the book Pain Free to get those muscles to let go. He understands that Canadian Tire has bicycles on sale for $99 CAD so he’s going to try and get one, and damn the money! Damn it I tell you!! There is no money, but he’s the Action Man and  he needs the strength to get well.

Well, the booklet doesn’t say that, the booklet says that the brutish man is fighting against a fair beast. Each has the power to hurt the other, it is a confrontation of intelligence and force, like right and wrong. I am the fair beast who is being strangled by brutish muscle spasms and misalignment of my structural body. Look at those freakish muscles pulling at my neck. . .

Stumped By the Rabbit

Daily Draw July 7th, 2009

I didn’t actually choose this card, I was sitting in the living room reading the biography of Man Ray I ordered from the library, and I saw a motion on the front lawn. It was a brown rabbit, so I picked this card from The Magical Menagerie.

Now, I’m trying to think of the tarot deck that has a rabbit and a tree stump with leaves on the Ace of Wands. It’s one of my older decks I’m sure, as yet the memory bank hasn’t accessed the information, but I’ll post that card too. The Ace of Wands is one of my personal cards.

HARE – PROMISE

Rebirth, transformation, change, and new life. Here we go again, this is most definitely my year of rebirth, abundance and the [promise of things to come. I’m very short of money right now and the health has hit a plateau, but I expect that will change. Stay in the present and act on matters of immediate importance.

I sidestep over to the book Animal Speak by Ted Andrews, who also connects rabbits to fertility and new life. I like the idea of making great leaps and hops in intuition and life movement with the rabbit. Great, I was feeling in a bit of a Stasis Funk today, so this has perked me up.

And the winner of the Ace of Wands Bunny Award is. . . . .darn, I still can’t find it. It was a rabbit next to a big tree stump that had been cut down, and there were small leaves coming out of the tree. I found a similar card in the Tarot of the Old Path on the Ace of Pentacles but it isn’t the one I’m thinking of.

The Flowering of Nigel in a Cistercian Abbey

Daily Draw July 6th, 2009

It’s time again for The Nigel Jackson Tarot and a passage from the book The Flowering of the Middle Ages.

Today’s relevant Flowering passage:

“The close ties between Cîteaux and England during the early 12th century were probably due to the personal taste of the Abbot Stephen Harding, himself an Englishman.”

When I opened the book, I stuck my finger on an illustration of an initial from a Josephus manuscript made at Canterbury between 1120 and 1140. This initial shares, with other bits of art and architecture from both England and Cîteaux, a distinctive dragon with pointed ears, a ridged spine, three claws and a spur on its feet, a tail that ends with a bunch of leaves, and rows of beading along his back and wings.

What is a Josephus manuscript you ask? Flavius Josephus (Joseph Ben Mathias) was a Jewish scholar and historian from Jerusalem in the first century AD. who wrote several books on Judaism, which also contained background on early Christianity and the society and customs of his time, and thus it was felt important to copy his writings into manuscripts in the 12th century, to preserve and study his teaching. If you’re interested, much of his writing can be found online at Project Gutenberg.

Here is another initial, from a manuscript of Josephus’s Antiquitates iudaicae (Antiquities of the Jews) that was made in Canterbury, so you can see the colours that were used.

Stephen Harding was an English monk who left to became a travelling scholar, studying in Paris and Rome, and landed in the abbey of Molesme in Burgundy, which was a Cistercian order, where he and others eventually left because they felt the monks and leadership there were lax. They founded an abbey at Cîteaux, and Stephen later became the third abbot there and served for 25 years. His leadership and that of St. Bernard, caused rapid growth of the order, and he founded 13 monasteries before his death. Stephen is now Saint Stephen Harding; over twenty of the abbots of Cîteaux became saints.

Cistercians strictly followed the rule of St. Benedict and were an enclosed order devoted to manual labour, particularly that of agriculture, and spread to hundreds of monasteries over Europe in the Middle Ages. In modern times they have split into groups according to how moderate in austerity and manual labour they are, reflecting the Benedictine order in some cases, and in strict observance they are what we now call Trappist monks. I often find it difficult to understand the difference between various Orders, but this is a basic overview.

Cîteaux Abbey is located south of Dijon, France, and after being sold and bought back over the centuries, it is now a Trappist monastery. They make and sell cheese, honey candies and other products. There aren’t too many monks there now, but it attracts tourists. They have special spiritual visits where people can see the lives of the monks, visit the library and old scriptorium, and have a guided tour into the private areas. You can also visit in a more public way, simply to view the beautiful architecture and grounds.

ACE OF COINS

Terra, Terra, I hold you in my hand.

Nigel Jackson refers to this as the Monad of Earth; a monad being an indestructible unit, or simple and indivisible substance in the Universe, often God. Pythagorean number theory uses the term as did Giordano Bruno and Van Helmont (who based his monadology on the thoughts of Paracelsus.) Leibniz then used this term and popularized it in his book Monadology, and then Kant got hold of that and elaborated on it as did Goethe and Lotze.

It seems the philosophy expanded like Cistercian monasteries. Monad, monastery: both alone units and indivisible substances, yet coordinated with others. The metaphysics of simple substances; the primal aspect of God in Earth. In Gnosticism, the supreme being is the Monad, the One, the highest God, the Absolute, the Perfect Aeon. The emanations of the One are called Aeons and the One is an Aeon.

The Rider-Waite Aces all show the hand of God or perhaps angels, hence the Gnostic and philosophic reference in this card, which is rather a perfect tie-in to earthy dragons with leaf tails and the eons/aeons of Cistercian history. I love a play on words and a play with history.

The Monad of Earth

Tate Visits Ground Control

Daily Draw July 5th, 2009

I pulled two cards today, one from the Phantasmagoric Theater Tarot and one from The Wisdom of Avalon Oracle Cards.

FOUR OF SWORDS
#27 – THE EARTH FAIRY

Tate is tied up in anxiety, trying to breathe slowly and relax so he doesn’t wake up Madam Lola’s cat. It’s important to breathe and relax to overcome stress and tension.

And The Earth Fairy is about physical health, grounding and foundations. Listen to the body, indulge your senses and feel your body and health returning. Get into your body and out of your head! I often refer to myself as a Stratos dweller; someone who lives in the clouds in my own little world of the mind, and yes, sometimes I forget about my body.

Today I wore a new top with some custom earrings I made to match, and while at the grocery store I took my blood pressure in the pharmacy department and it has gone down a bit more. I am now in the High Normal/Prehypertension or Low Stage One Hypertension stage, from being on the brink of Stage Three Hypertension.

Now that’s a good day and reminds me to breathe slowly and relax and let my body heal itself. I need to save up for that bicycle and wheel my way to optimum health. Cha-cha-cha.

The Etruscans Buy Postcards and Bind Books

Daily Draw July 4th, 2009

It’s a mixy-matchy day today. Mix it up, learn about art and history, don’t take things too seriously, say “No!” and pat your cat, that’s the message here.

I received a gorgeous postcard from Montana this week for my collection, with a montage of my heroes Lewis and Clark on it. Now that’s a keeper.

I finally found a copy of the Etruscan Tarot, and even though I didn’t have the money, I bought it. I’m like that when I want to learn about something or teach myself how to do something. I try to get books from the library as much as possible, but often the books aren’t available unless I buy them. With the Etruscan, I learned there were Etruscans, which had escaped my notice in history, so I’d like to view the art and track down some art history stuff. One of my history books here has two pages on them, not much is known about them, but they did leave art behind. Apparently Achilles and Ajax are on one of the cards. My car is named Hector after that Prince of Troy, who was killed by Achilles, so I’m sure I will enjoy the references in this deck if I can track them down through the artwork.

A recent book I bought on bookbinding has a lesson which teaches the coptic stitch, and you use postcards for the covers. I’m going to try this as my postcard collection numbers about 700, and there are a few odd ducks that would make good practice covers while a learn.

A case in point: Early Etruscans, Late Greek by B. Kliban (the cat guy.) I didn’t realize until I looked on the back of this postcard that Kliban was dead, he died in 1990. He has joined the Ages, no doubt sketching Etruscan cats and continuing further art exploration in Paradisio. I could pair this with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, and on the back cover I’ve got a cat illustration by Tomi Ungerer that I’ll line with a Richard Lindner image of a mod girl of the Sixties that has snippets of the American flag on it for Ben Franklin’s benefit. You can’t go wrong with a mix like that for a blank journal.

Buy Handmade, Help Me Buy a Bicycle

My old bike was ruined when I had a bad fall four years ago, but I put about 3600 kms on that bike. I don’t drive a car and there is no public transport in my area, so a bike is important to get around. I need a bicycle now so that I can exercise properly and regain my health. I am having a bit of trouble walking, and for years I rode a bike, so this would be a good solution.

I need a bicycle with bent handlebars, not the mountain bike type, because the straight handlebars exacerbate my tendinitis, and I’ve priced them out (with tax of course); I need nothing fancy, just a plain old bike with 3 to 10 gears, so that’s the goal.

I am self-employed and have some lovely handmade jewellery on my web site, including one-of-a-kind necklaces and earrings. For orders over $25 CAD I am offering one pair of earrings (your choice) for free. I also have some art journals and tarot bags for sale, and you can get a free pair of earrings if you buy one of those too. I use high-quality materials and enjoy working with colour, and my merchandise shows this attention to detail.

If you see something you like, buy it and support the Great Bike Imperative!

Handmade Jewellery

Handmade Journals and Tarot Bags

Sevens

SEVEN OF COINS

I thought this was a depiction of the parable of sowing the mustard seed from the New Testament, but it’s a generic farmer sowing seed. To have well-being we must sow love and God is like the sun providing growth to our seeds. I’ve always liked the Rider-Waite card for this with the fellow leaning on his gardening tool and looking tired and seemingly impatient for his garden seeds to grow. There is a bit of that here if you contemplate the seed as being the words or actions you give to others and how they come to fruition. That is not always a good thing, and it also takes time.

You know how some days you try and try and put loads of effort into something but it doesn’t work and you feel like you’re going nowhere? That is this card, you can’t rush or make things happen, they unfold in their own time like seeds sprouting.

I will quote a piece from a book called Follow Your Heart by Andrew Matthews that explains a way of looking at this card:

“Take a block of ice that’s been frozen to minus twenty degrees fahrenheit, and start heating it. For some time, nothing happens. Lots of energy for no visible result. Suddenly at thirty-two degrees, it melts. Water!

Keep heating. Again, lots of energy and no excitement. The, at around two hundred and twelve degrees fahrenheit, bubbles and steam! It boils!

The principle? It’s possible to put loads of energy into something – e.g. a block of ice, a project, a career–yet it seems like nothing is happening. Actually, your energy is already producing change, but you just can’t see it. Continue to put the energy in and you will surely see a transformation. Remember the principle, and you don’t panic so much–and you don’t despair.”

SEVEN OF SWORDS

Seven swords fall randomly without a pattern as a snake cannot reach its tail. I thought this was the ouroboros, but it doesn’t completely form one according to Place, so it’s like a new beginning that is not quite formed yet, but is coming. The time is right for possibilities but also dangers and who knows how the swords will fall? I think of this as The Sneak card, because in the Rider-Waite tradition it shows a fellow gleefully stealing seven swords.

That would make a great title for a book: “Almost the Ouroboros.” In Almost the Ouroboros time, you have to be on guard and protect yourself from sneaks because you don’t know what is going to happen; awareness and alertness is necessary against those randomly falling swords. Or you could think of it as Almost the Ouroboros, the time when the snake is sneaking up on its tail, ready to complete the circle and start the party. There are two ends to every snake. . . or sneak.

SEVEN OF CUPS

This is a ciborium which is similar to a pyx or monstrance that I covered before in the Aces. The monstrance holds one wafer for show on the altar and it looks like a sun or solar cross. The pyx and ciborium are really the same, although the pyx is often smaller, sometimes more like a small box, and used when priests make visits to people’s homes and hospitals. Ciborium comes from the Greek word for “cup” and does indeed have a cup shape.

I found many images of monstrances and in the Aces discussion you can see the monstrance montage, but my montage of the pyx and ciborium from various ages in history is attached to the discussion of St. Clare on the Queen of Cups.

The path of inner purpose, inner like the inside of a container for the Host or wafers used in communion. The monogram of Christ is on the cup, which is also called the chi-ro. I discussed that in IV – St. Constantine – The Emperor. I like the idea of sanctity with this ciborium, the inner sanctum.

I was recently looking at the meaning of this card in relation to the Nine of Cups, which I found confusing. The Seven can mean wanting too many things or letting your dreams take hold of you to the detriment of real life. Reflecting on that, I can see how some people get a bit too focused on some sort of magic bullet from Jesus to fix everything and give them everything they’ve ever wanted, when the reality of the human condition is that God allows life to take place, not fantasy. I find when looking at Robert Place’s illustration, that I get a deeper sense of the danger of fantasy with the cup of sacred wafers. I wouldn’t have seen that if I hadn’t spent some time a couple of months ago examining this in a thread called The Seven, the Nine, and the Scanner Compared Notes and Ate Some Bickies. Read it if you dare.

So if Jesus doesn’t give you a Cadillac after you prayed hard and ate your communion wafer, don’t sweat it, that’s life. You might feel better for a bit of prayer and meditation, which is also a result, just not the one you wished for in the Magic Cup of Dreamland.

SEVEN OF STAFFS

This is Cain and Abel at the moment Cain kills his brother through jealousy and envy: the original sibling rivalry of argument and violence.

I usually think of this as the Self-Defense card, which does tie-in well with Cain and Abel. Amazingly, you can find yourself defending against those who should support you, like family. I think in general this card speaks to me of sudden defense being needed; unexpected, from unexpected quarters, and because of that your defense might be a bit shaky and you need some bravado to cope with the attack.

It didn’t help Abel though, so have a care.

Sixes

SIX OF COINS

There is a myth that the pelican feeds its babies with its own blood, a myth that became a symbol of Christ giving his blood for mankind. Generosity, nurturing and unconditional love make the world beautiful. Unfortunately, I doubt any human has ever experienced or been able to express unconditional love. Maybe that’s the real myth.

Oh my, how cynical of me, but a bit of cynicism in regard to the Coins suit is healthy I think as worldly matters are never perfect. I think: “A hand up, not a handout” as they say in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Assistance is there, but don’t think someone is going to give their blood for you.

This looks more like a gryphon than a pelican to me. What Place doesn’t tell you in the book, and I found in the Dictionary of Christian Lore and Legend, is that the full myth states that the pelican becomes angry with its young and kills them, and then resurrects them with its blood. Not quite the feelgood myth of unconditional love, but worldly and realistic, much like the death of Jesus.

SIX OF SWORDS

A mother protects her daughter, moving in the same direction of the sword tips. A go-with-the-flow card and the sense of a stronger or higher person looking after you, which Place refers to as a higher source, meaning God I suppose.

I once tried to win a deck online by doing a reading for someone on a forum, and I got this card from the Tarot of the Saints, and matched it with some other cards from different decks. I was scared of the man I was reading for and I kept thinking this was me depicted fleeing in the card. I didn’t win, for which I was most grateful.

Perhaps a notion here that your higher power might also be your own intuition?

SIX OF CUPS

Jesus washes Peter’s feet with love and humility. This card concerns nostalgia or old memories in the Rider-Waite tradition, in the sense of remembering childhood dreams or not letting past glories keep you stagnant.

Robert Place has very brief write-ups for the Minors, which is a shame as this one needs a bit of clarification to my mind. What was he thinking? I’m not sure.

There is a sweetness here of caring for good friends, and not letting position determine how you interact with people. Perhaps a remembrance of younger days when you met people with trust and affection? Not the rabbi or teacher, but simply a friend caring for another friend with love, as Jesus would have done before he became revered. Remember where you came from and who you were perhaps?

SIX OF STAFFS

I always think of this in any deck as the Victory card. The one I remember best is from the Victoria Regina tarot with dear Bertie riding high on his victory steed.

Here is Jesus riding into Jerusalem triumphant with people lauding him and throwing palm leaves before him, and thinking of the betrayal and loneliness as well as physical pain that was soon to come for him, it gives a sense of fleeting victory. The applause dies, people forget you, they lie about you, it all winds down to bitter rejection and The Judas Kiss, and hours of blinding pain and emotional wounds.

Yikes. Something to remember amid the accolades of Victory.

Victory can also be the pleasure of enjoying the Self, without worrying how other people treat you or what they say about you. That’s a quiet way to remember this card as well.

XV – St. Margaret and The Devil

I like the way Robert Place describes St. Margaret’s veneration as being “suppressed.” The Church that allows the veneration of supposed toenails of saints and apostles, the foreskin of Jesus, and “true” pieces of the cross, won’t allow the veneration of the lady swallowed by the Devil.  Imagine.

A qualification here:

It’s very hard to put yourself in the mind of medieval worshippers. It’s not so much an attitude of ridicule as incredulity. Remember that many people were illiterate or protected from information in other ways, so if they believed such things it was more from innocence than ignorance. I come across such passionate beliefs in Dante’s writing all the time, and it makes me feel he was a sweet man, rather than a stupid or unlearned one. I wrote about his very logical explanation in Convivio of the hierarchy of angels once, and it is unbelievable to me, but he felt very strongly that this was how it happened, and he outlined and explained it very rationally.  I don’t understand, but I must accept that these things were true and right in the time they were written. Some of the stories of the saints can best be viewed like this. Set aside what you believe and wrap yourself in their belief for a time. Accept it.

Similarly, I try to accept deck creators as they come and thus use their system and their analysis when working with their decks. It does no good to get self-righteous as I’ve seen others do and say “Robert Place should have put Mary on the Empress card.” He didn’t, and he’s got St. Margaret on The Devil card, so what can I learn from that? I find it fun to look into his mind and see what he has to say. Authors’ systems and classifications are interesting to study in card decks. I suspend disbelief and ramble on in the door and see what’s up.

This one’s a doozy of fantasy and faith, but nonetheless a fascinating window into belief and history.

Sainte Marguerite, as she’s known in France, is depicted on the 3 of Hearts in Les Saints Guérisseurs playing cards. The image is from a French manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. As a beastie the Devil seems more like a grotesque figure found in the margins of manuscripts but it makes a good contrast to Robert Place’s monstrous depiction of the Devil. Notice that she is holding the palm of the martyr like St. Stephen.

Margaret’s family banished her when she became a Christian, or she was brought up by a guardian who influenced her conversion to Christianity–the story varies. She looked after sheep until the governor of Antioch tried to seduce her, and when she refused he denounced her as a Christian and fed her to a dragon. She escaped by cutting her way out of the belly of the dragon (with a miraculous cross that appeared after she made the sign of the cross), an act which Place compares to being in Hell and then escaping. In Medieval and Renaissance art, a dragon’s mouth was often depicted as the gaping mouth of Hell, where people were swallowed to their spiritual doom, hence the composition from Place.

The Devil is like a gateway to God, you have to meet him and go through him to get to heaven. So if you endure and break free you will continue on to better things.

Or in Margaret’s case, you’ll be subject to more trials such as fire and boiling water and then beheaded, but she got to Paradise regardless. She was very popular in the Middle Ages and considered one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, saints that were particularly helpful in sickness and helping you with a good death. Margaret might have been a real person, we don’t know, but the fable that grew around her is lost to believers in time.

I love this holy card from the book Patron Saints as it echoes pages in illuminated manuscripts.