The De (Structuring) (5 of wands)

I had a five of wands moment today and was inspired to write this poem.
The De (Structuring)

Deep rooted sentences struck flowered phrases
Frustrated pleas thundered on passive pauses
Scribbled frenzies crossed resigned sighs
Tortuous chats punctuated with warring emoticons

But we had yearned
to capture an essence
to manifest a dream
to reveal a past bookmark
to channel love
to construct a temple
to welcome the Goddess

Effortless was our love, why not our creation
Seamless was our love, why not our vision
Your ink was to flow through my veins
My poems to scent your frame
Divinely ordered, humanly obeyed
In heaven shaped, on earth shattered

Gifted wood with shooting darts
A synchronized stage for rising stars
Those flames kindled in us
But I didn’t acknowledge yours
You didn’t recognize mine

We were ordained
to start the “Raas”
Alas, we had strayed
away from “Maharaas”


Raas: a spiritual cultural Indian folk dance played with sticks.
Maharaas: a state of divine transcendental love between Lord Krishna and his Gopis. The gopis were able to sink in that state when Lord Krishna played "raas" with them.

Poetry Slam

Inspired by Beth Owl's post (http://www.owlsdaughter.com/2010/02/the-5th-annual-cyberspace-poetry-slam-for-brigid/), I too want to participate in the Brigid poetry slam. So I am posting one of the poems I wrote in India this December.

Here goes

The Song of the RiverValley

The starry night has descended
the luminous moon arrives
the fragrant raat rani whispers
the perennial romance of
the river and the valley

the passionate kiss of the sun
melts the pure virgin snow
the joyful river conceived, the valley cradles
longs to merge with the ocean, her source
longs to be her path, her guide
so he may taste the ocean again
so she may be fulfilled again
so they may be love again

he holds her in his heart
he places his love on her heart
kisses, embraces, bows, blesses

the silence of the valley flowers in her heart
her dancing bells echo in his ears
she wildly courses through him
touchs touched
by every stone, pebble, rock
in his embrace, her course is set
in his kisses, her fate is met
no stone left untouched, no drop left untransformed

this course is blessed
her movement, his depth
dancing the lovers kiss again
at His feet, meet again
Rejoin. Rejoice. Reborn.
This perennial dance of rivervalley song.

And, I Think To Myself What A Wonderful World (Ten of Cups)

After my wedding, many rainbows ago, as we were decorating our home, the first painting I put up was titled "Thanks and Praises" (by Bernard Stanley Hoyles). The painting mirrored my feelings ---I felt like thanking and praising every force and person in the universe who had brought us together as man and wife. I remember humming "And I think to myself what a wonderful world" as I was preparing lunch. Everything seemed wonderfully beautiful and I was happy, creative, and content --- a classic
Ten of cups feeling. (Also note that this post is overflowing with the word "feeling" which is not surprising considering it is a "cup" card and there are 10 of them in this one). This feeling of productive contentment is very different from the heady delirious feeling of falling head over heels in love.

The above mentioned song seems to so completely capture the rainbow-hued happiness of this tarot card. Everyone would like to sip contentment from this cup; so here's the song and the card. Hold this picture in your heart and hum the song as you walk/cook/live and let this feeling fill you. Now excuse me, I have a song to sing.

WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD - 24/04/1968

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah

Ushering the Festivities: Past/Present/Future spread

It is wonderful coincidence that a festive me is welcoming the festive season. There has been much happiness in the recent past which has flowed into the present and made the future look hopeful and shiny. Today is Dhanteras (Dhan = wealth, teras: thirteenth day of the Kartik month) the first day of the Diwali (Festival of Lights) celebrations. I have lighted a candle to welcome the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity in my life.
As I move forward in my career and life, I ask my cards for guidance using another three card spread: Past, Present, and Future.

"Past" card: Ace of pentacles
This card is the first card I ever drew for this tarot blog. The Ace of pentacles is always welcome. It usually means a gift of material nature from the heavens. It could an important official document that leads to prosperity (like a job offer, marriage contracts, education degrees) or actual material gain (inheritance etc). This also an excellent card for new beginnings of a material nature ( a new house, a new business venture). For me, it was getting a work permit to work in this country. I think we may label it in the category of "an official document that leads to prosperity". It is indeed a joyful new beginning for the next phase of my career.

"Present" card: King of Wands
The King of Wands is a natural creator and business man, brimming with energy, enthusiasm, and confidence. The gift from the recent past has made my head buzz with new ideas. I just had a great idea a couple of days ago which I shared with my friend who could become my project partner. Wands demand action. So, I need to get my butt off the sofa and act on these ideas. It should be fun since I have the blessings of the King of Wands.

"Future" card: Two of Wands
Again this card is a card that has been discussed in an earlier post. The Two of Wands talk about a partnership in a creative project (Yipee!!). A partnership that is just getting off the ground. This could mean that the time has come to make some decisions in either an earlier partnership or time to work on a new partnership or both. As always, both partners need to put in the required amount of time but this card promises the potentiality of the venture. The 2 of wands also tells us that there are so many possibilities that we almost need to be a eagle and look into all of them.

So summarizing, I am told to be action-oriented, lit my creative fires, and look into all the posibilities. Sounds like a plan. And now, I must soar.

The Real Saraswati

My question for the week : Whom/what principle am I going to embody this week? What will be my strengths and weaknesses?
Answer: 8. Saraswati (Karma Oracle)

Goddess Saraswati is seen as beautiful, simple, humble (she is always dressed in white and wears way less jewelery than Goddess Lakshmi) divine patron of learning and art. So this story surprises me (courtesy Karma Oracle). Saraswati is the consort of Brahma (the creator of the world). All the Gods and Goddesses had to preside over a Great Sacrifice . But Saraswati who was taking too much time to beautify herself had not arrived in time (hmm, sounds too much like me). Since time was of great importance here, Brahma created a second wife (Gayatri) to take her place (It must be nice to be a creator; thank god, my sweetheart is not one). So as the story goes, Saraswati was very jealous of Gayatri and in conflict with her but it was later resolved. Her vanity in this story ties in very well with the picture of the peacock in one of the images shown in the previous post.

Coming back to the card and my question, the following are the strengths and weaknesses of this card and mine too for this week.

Strengths:
1. I come from a past life that has been devoted to beauty, art, music, and dance and feel the need to further improve my talents and transmit this learning to others. Every expressive technique is a means of communication and a joy to me.

I have learnt classical dance and painting when I was younger and I was decent in both these fields but haven't pursued it for many years. However, this week I have started dance lessons again and have talked to a friend regarding art lessons. Yes, I like to dress up but on a slightly different note, I find that no matter how mundane or boring a task or how lazy I feel if I add something beautiful to the task, it becomes a thing of joy and beauty.
The second sentence is completely totally too. Along with dance, tarot readings, and art, this blog is also a wonderful means of communication.

Weakness
"Aestheticism, an obsession for knowledge, eloquence, and image can sometimes change into superficiality"

I can see that. For me, everything has to be colorful and beautiful (from my perspective). Colors rule my life. My books, my home, my kitchen, myself, my laptop, my blog, the list goes on.....
For e.g. I will never buy a simple black folder; I just can't get over it. If I have to use a regular manilla folder, I will write some of my favorite quotations on it or draw something and make it pretty.

My Current task
Follow my path, immerse myself in studies, produce, and improve.
"Not to attach myself too much to my creations: Each one of them is not a destination, but a step forwards towards perfection."
A very profound and important statement.

I was very inspired by this card. So made a list of my five talents and resolved that everyday before going to bed I would make sure I had worked on atleast one talent.