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.

Clearing the Clouds

When life seems so complicated that I don't even know what to ask; ironically the best option is to ask the simplest (and most effective, imho) of questions. So,

Deck Deck on my writing desk
what does the universe want me to know right now?

Deck (aka the Universe): 2 of Air (2 of Swords) Schizophrenia

Ha, ask and you shall receive. Indeed. Thank you for hitting me with the obvious. This card has hazy nebulous clouds (not in this picture but in the corresponding card in the Osho Zen tarot deck ) that have clouded my judgement so much that I can't decide. A stalemate. My "no" nor my "yes" have any meaning because my "no" contains a teaspoon of "yes" and my "yes" contains a teaspoon of "no" stirred in it.
According to Osho, the way out of this lies not by playing mind games, or making a pro and con list, or letting your mind make more hazy clouds (the mind seems to excel at this cloud creating game) but in following your heart. What if you don't know what your heart wants, you ask (I hear, I hear). Then, says Osho, just jump and make a decision and then your heart will beat so fast that you shall know.

If we don't make a decision, our choices get worse. The clouds condense and freeze your heart or disperse and break your heart (3 of swords), this then leads to the slippery slope of procastination and we go deeper and deeper into more negative states. This path is so many hyperspace jumps away from the path of celebration and the path of totality.

May the universe bless me with the intuition to hear my heart and the strength to follow it!! May I have the decisiveness to use the two swords to kill the half "yeses" and half "no's"!! May I remember that my life is a dance of celebration not an awkward attempt to hold on to challenging situation!!

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

A Spread fit for the Chem Grad

A couple of months ago, I found several fun three card spreads posted by Jen on http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18850. One of them has Velcro-stuck itself in my head.

It is the Gas/Liquid/Solid spread for Chem lovers (Especially to be used, according to Jen, when one is checking the status of what one is trying to manifest). I can think of so many fun ways of tweaking this spread and using it for a ton of questions. But here I am using it in its original form. As I mentioned in the last post, the current focus in my life should be manifesting my two assignments and finishing my coursework, so this spread will be perfect.

My reading:

Gas: What's still in the form of pure energy or thought in your life/What's "hanging out" in the ethers
3 of Pentacles.
The 3 of pentacles refers to those practical skills that integrate personal talents with the social environment. Teaching is definitely fits the bill. So according to the card and its position, I could earn a living and materially prosper in this field as long as I further perfect my skills and allow the spiritual to enter into my material work.

Liquid: What's starting to flow and slowly come into your life.
11. Justice.
"As you sow, you shall reap". I shall be able to manifest these assignments if I put in the necessary amount of time and effort. Fair enough (pun intended).

Solid: What's completely manifested and visible to you.
4 of Swords.
To complete this work, I need to minimize my social relationships and maximize my relationship with myself. That I can attest to and I have understood that.

A three card reading : Body/Mind/Spirit

Situation
I have to finish some pending coursework and submit it on 26 th October. This has been duly noted on my shocking pink Issac Mizrahi designed diary. The files for the two pending assignments have been duly decorated to make the assignments more attractive. So half my work is done. Even though, I am the patron saint of last minute assignments, I sometimes need to start atleast thinking about my work in advance, since the next 10 days are Navratri and I shall be busy appeasing the Sacred Feminine Energy, Shakti.

So today, is the day I start working on the other half. Tarot cards of course have to be consulted and I am doing a quick 3 card Body-Mind-Spirit spread.

Results

Body : King of Wands
I need to be very physically active, social, optimistic.
Good for me, I did some exercising in the morning and am headed to my dancing class this evening.
Mind: 5 of wands
The mind is in conflict. Yes. There are so many thoughts. All running in different directions wanting to post on the blog, write comments on orkut tarot communities, watch TV, make chocolate, start on the assignments, do the dishes---all at the same time. Poor me.
Spirit: Magician

Looks like I have to summon the magician. In this case, the magician seems to represent the ability to manifest what it desired.

I need to *manifest* these two assignments. So off I go.

TC (Today's card) : 2 of wands

As Sun pointed out to me today that I hadn't done a TC in a while. So here it is. The question was: How will my day be?

My ramblings:
I see, a man ( he looks like a trader or merchant to me) with his feet on the ground; two "living" wands on either side of him seem firmly planted to the ground. The word "foundation" comes to me. The man holds the globe in one hand. What are his intentions? Does he seek to make his mark on the world in some way? Do the wands as usual suggest action and creativity and the number 2 a partnership?
There is a picture on the wall which shows a cross, rose, and a lily. Am I at the crossroad; what are the roses (love) and lilies (faith) telling me?

While I am writing all this, I have an epiphany. I know exactly what this card is telling me. This card isn't talking about my day but is directly addressing some thoughts that have been hovering on the border of my conscious and unconscious mind. So I have had a creative idea that combines my mystic and expressive side (to achieve worldly fame , I kid you not ). I am in partnership with someone I "love" and have "faith" on this project. A new situation that was not expected has entered this equation and now I am at crossroads. According to the "Pocket guide to the Tarot" by Alan Oken, I need to make a decision so that I can move forward.

Very true. Sometimes the card don't necessarily answer the question you put to them; they give you answers to questions that you want to know but don't ask. Which is why they are special.

Today's card:

As they say in poker lingo, today I played it "blind". This was a wonderful suggestion given by one of my friends. I asked the heavens to give me an indication of what my day was going to be like through a card. So I picked up a card this morning and have put it aside. As I write this, I still don't know what my card is. So the plan is to write about my day and then see the card and see if the card makes sense. The rationale is that this way I will not be influenced by the card while I write about my daily activities.

Today was a highly efficient day for me. A dear friend of mine gave me the most wonderful and delightful news. I made several personal and business calls, completed some pending correspondences, grocery shopped, cooked, and went to the gym with my sweetheart. I listened to one of my favorite albums and got nostalgic and emotional. In between, I also managed to follow a thrilling cricket match between arch rivals, India and Pakistan. Needless to say, I had a pretty wholesome day and I feel good about it.

I am trying to predict what card could I have got. Maybe I'll try predicting another time.


Ok, so the card is : King of Cups
Yes, I did have an emotional day (Cups) but then I was so efficient and practical too, so I didn't venture a guess. The King of Cups could represent a kind, wise man in my life who gives wonderful advice and is a healer. But today, I don't feel like a King of Cups visited me. So maybe the circumstances embodied the King of Cups. The K of Cups represents a situation where the emotions are just right and beautiful. I guess I felt that when my friend shared something beautiful with me and then again when I was listening to a certain album, some things opened up in me and I was in tears. The King of Cups also means giving your feelings a creative outlet. I wasn't really creative unless you can count dancing passionately while being emotional. Actually, I did have sort of an idea though. I was missing my parents and I thought my Dad would enjoy reading this blog too so maybe I should take a printout of some of my postings and mail it to him. But still, if I have to be objective, I would say that I wasn't channeling my emotions into creative pursuits (practical maybe).

Today's Card: 2 of Cups

Today's card was one of my favorite cards (you may hear this expression often). The number "2" typically symbolizes a partnership and the cups symbolize the emotions. So by just combining these two ideas (pun intended) you can arrive at the very romantic word "union". For me, this card is the union of equals. Like Arjun and Krishna (the two main characters of the great Indian book the "Bhagwad Gita"), it can be platonic love but it is between equals. This card reminds me of a line from one of the poems (which incidentally was read at my wedding) by Khalil Gibran.

On Marriage

"Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
......................................................................................
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."

Infact, this card in the Osho-Zen tarot deck shows two trees (one with pink blossoms and other with orange) growing near each other but yet there is space between them for love to flow.

How was my day today? Well, I just want to say that I want to go back and live every moment of this beautiful today.

Today's Card: Ace of Pentacles

I am so excited about drawing my first card. Here it is : The Ace of Pentacles.
Such a beautiful card!!



My first thoughts about the card:
The card shows a divine hand coming out from the clouds holding a pentacle. My first instinct is that I will be receiving a gift from the heavens. This gift shall be on a physical plane. The garden under the pentacle is very fertile and abundance and points to the abundance this card brings.
I will keep this card in my thoughts and will touch base in the evening.