pleasant little adventures

So decided to do a final little two card draw this morning before switching off to a new week's deck...

Seeing these, it immediately brought to mind my day yesterday. I really like this deck's take on that three of wands...we have the ship in the sea, sailing, the possibilities, opportunities, horizons, travel aspects of this card...but also the dolphin the the foreground. We have a dolphin playing, enjoying itself. A bit of whimsy. A message to make the most of the moment, of whatever you happen to be doing. Enjoy the adventures you happen to go on. The sun really emphasizes that point too. Two kids, playing together under the sun's bright light - optimism, fun, a good attitude.

It was a very sunny Saturday yesterday. A got myself motivated, gathered up the energy to get up early and go out. There was an open house event at the embassies of the EU. I visited the embassies of Finland, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, Croatia, Lithuania, and Romania, as well as going inside the big Islamic center/Mosque which was also having an open house type event. It was a lot of walking, a nice day spent exploring. I enjoyed spending the time alone doing positive, interesting things. And in a legal sense, I visited the sovereign soil of quite a few nations indeed, ha.

So yes, I felt quite a bit  like that dolphin, moving around, checking out the possibilities, take advantage of an opportunity (the event is only hosted one day a year) and enjoying the weather, the sunshine.

I also like the dynamic movement of the two cards...the dolphin is swimming, dancing in the water, and the two kids are dancing on the grass...a message there, I think, about making your own pleasures, about taking an active part rather than sitting around and just...thinking. Or even just the fact that, nice as sedentary activities can be...when the weather is right, doing things that require some physical movement - walking, running, skating, biking, dancing, swimming, whatever - can be really beneficial, both physically and mentally.

sweet, sweet freedom

So after yesterday's long reading about how to approach all the many things I have to do, todays cards have quite a different message/focus for me:

Enjoy the newly regained freedom that comes with no longer being deluged with four classes worth of graduate schoolwork. Enjoy the intellectual freedom especially. Because on the one hand, yes, I do enjoy being challenged, being pushed to the limits of what I can do, having so much to read and write all the time that just keeping up with that takes up the vast majority of my brain power.

On the other hand though, after doing that from September to May...being free to just READ whatever I want, as much as I want...all those books I've had piling up around me...science fiction, fantasy, non-fiction about things I want to learn...now I can start making my way through them. It feels really nice to be able to jump into reading ANYTHING that I want to read because there is nothing that I HAVE to read.

It's nice to be able to watch episodes of TV shows online without feeling guilty because I am WASTING TIME that I ought to be using to get x, y, and z done. It's nice to have the option to work with some decks that require more reading/study, to work on my self-help books a bit, to actually properly sleep.

So yeah, obviously, as the previous reading focused on, there is a lot I still have to do and sort through as I [rather rapidly] move forward with things...but nonetheless. I think the message here is to have some patience with myself. Let myself rest, do a few things, silly things even, frivolous things, that make me happy. I like this 7 of pentacles because, rather than focus on the growing aspect of farming, like many decks do, it focuses on the harvest time, and a completed-harvest at that. A different kind of patience, a different kind of rest.

(Also, not sure how it could apply to me, but I rather like the theme of the dog in these two cards. The loyal companion, reliable source of comfort...sometimes it snips at your heals, warning you of danger. Sometimes it lies beside you, as ready for a rest as you are...)

So yeah, it's nice to have a bit more time for me again. :]

Some more two-card quotes

Because it's nice brain exercise to look up quotes that seem appropriate to a pair of cards, and a nice way to get to know a new working deck a bit better, and well...why not? So then...

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."

- Henry David Thoreau" 

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."

-Louisa May Alcott

"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to."

-Kahlil Gibran

another story time

So since it's been a while since I last did it, decided to try the story exercise again with new week's deck, the Sheridan-Douglas...

There was a girl once, a girl with a strong mind and many ideas. They floated around her sometimes, twisted and curled, giggled and spoke. There were so many possibilities and dreams, too many for a girl of her youth to know what to do with. But the girl lived in a place, a land, a house surrounding by cups, and in those cups there were nectars, juices and wines. They tasted sweet, and they made her head spin. They made her body light, and they made her laugh at almost anything. It was easy to smile, to be satisfied with simply sitting there, drinking from those cups as one day melted into the next and nothing was changed and nothing was done, but what did it matter, when there was always another cup nearby to empty?

And so the days went by, and nights. Slowly the girl grew tired of the sickly sweet taste that always surrounded her. She grew tired of the meaningless laughter, of only-half feeling her body, of so much time passed with nothing to show, with ideas always ideas that merely floated, slowly, away from her. One night she realized she'd had enough, that she would never be able to stop so long as she stayed here, in the land of the cups; she realized that as long as she stayed she would never make anything more of herself. On that night she packed up her things, the few she couldn't do without, and she walked away. She walked over the bridge that separated this land from the outside world, walked without looking back, without pausing, without giving herself the chance to change her mind, to succumb to the temptation of one more sip.

The new lands she entered were strange, quite unlike the one she had grown to know so well. They were harsher and colder, more difficult to climb through. There were challenges that she could never have imagined. But now all her funny ideas, the ones that used to tickle and curl and float away as she drank and laughed...now she could reach out to them, grasp them, harness them to her will, to her plans: and these plans worked. Slowly she succeeded, grew more powerful, earned allies, earned friends, until finally the girl, now a woman, sat on her own throne, the ruler of her own domain. Now her ideas went forth like little flames, illuminating the land for her subjects, feeding the common good. Now, when she smiled, it was the smile of accomplishment, and smile of looking down at all the good she had achieved.