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CAUTION! Some of you may find this post a bit heretical. I don’t mean it to be, and I apologize before hand to any whom I offend. But I believe the Creator can speak to us through anything he/she/it wishes. (The “appropriate footwear” is in case you feel you need to run for the hills! 😀 )

 

…every happening, great or small, is a parable whereby God speaks to us; and the art of life is to get the message. (Malcolm Muggeridge)

 

I’ve finally come to the realization that if I want to start blogging again it’s going to HAVE to be first thing in the morning after the gov’ner leaves for work since that’s when I have the most get-up-and-go! So he got up and went and I’m going to give it a shot!

While I’ve missed posting, strangely I’ve also missed working with those tarot cards. It was a unique experience to tell a story with them. It was educational beyond imaging for me. But now that it’s done, I have no desire to use that deck again. I actually struggled with whether using tarot cards were good mojo or bad, and yet I came to believe through writing that story that everything God has allowed to be made in this world is good. It’s what man DOES with it that makes it helpful or harmful. It’s all about the intention.

So! I have another deck of cards that I bought on a whim after Spiritual Dragonfly showed them to me. They are earth themed, and I’ve got this wild Celtic streak that runs through me that has a profound respect for the earth. (In fact, prior to going on this trip to the UK in September, I sent a sample of my DNA to see where my ancestors were from. What I found was that all of the places I have ancestors spread over the British Isles, the circles that represent them intersect in one place — Belfast, Ireland. I shouldn’t have been surprised since I’ve always felt my Celtic roots. And there have been some clues. A few years ago when we had a yard sale, a lady from Belfast visiting with her daughter here bought several of my trinkets to take back home with her. Not only that, but when I wrote my manuscript for Glencara’s Bane, I placed it about 30 miles from Belfast. There is just something in me that knows that’s where my heart belongs. But I digress!

The point is I’m one of those people who do much better in my life when I have good boundaries. So the thought occurred to me that I could use my other deck of cards for devotional purposes. Thus, I have developed a little routine to use on Sundays focused on the number 7 (which is the number of days the Creation myth says it took God to make the earth — and then he rested). So I shuffled the cards 7 times, I chose the 7th card, the 14th, and the 21st (which I thought was appropriate since my birthday falls on the 21st) using the theme of Body, Mind, and Spirit. If, during the course of the shuffling, any of the cards happen to fall out of the deck (which two did and I didn’t look at them), I will set them aside until the end and consider they are special things that the Lord needs me to be aware of.

Is this a good or bad thing? I really don’t have a clue. But I did pray over them asking God to guide me and show me where to focus for the coming week. The following is what I drew on Sunday. And I was surprised at how well it served me. I used the Post-it Note program on my laptop to save it on my screen so that every morning I could reread God’s counsel. This is my interpretation of what that reading said…

Body – Gaia (Nurturing)
Gaia (Earth) is the daughter of chaos, and at this moment my body is in chaos. God has made this marvelous human body. He has created it with great diversity. At this moment in time the Creator is asking me to be tender with myself and allow others to nurture me for as long as needs be to bring my life back in balance. (Btw, I’m going to be starting my treatment for Myasthenia Gravis this Friday. The doc told me only 20 in 100,000 people get this crap. Aren’t I one of the lucky ones! ROLLS EYES ALL OVER THE PLACE!)

Mind – Fairies (Earth Magic)
Fairies are related to the Tuatha de Danann who once ruled Ireland. (See! Ireland is rooted deeply in me.) I can only assume the Creator wants me to be more in touch with the Earth he has given us to care for. Though I’m in a place where I need to be nurtured, I too must nurture. That’s the Circle of Life. I think I need to bring more plants to the house. Plants provide healthy, breathable air, which is an issue in this myasthenia gravis I have.

Spirit – Milky Way (Perspective)
There is a warning here for me to not become overwhelmed by my own smallness in comparison to God’s Creation. I am important, too. I need to have a healthy perspective about my situation, allow my internal witness to take over my perspective, and not become myopic!

Special Message – Forest (Breath)
Perhaps this is the reason to be aware of the plants – the production of oxygen and learning to breathe more deeply. Maybe it would be helpful to take the time to set outside under Major Mapleon or the Twins and just breathe for a bit each day. The card actually said my breathing is too shallow! (Who knew? God, obviously, since I’m having to do a sleep test this Friday night to determine that.)

Special Message – Wolf (Instinct)
Loyalty, companionship, playfulness, affection… Wolves exhibit these characteristics, especially with their young. This is where I should invest more time and energy, not only to help in the healing process, but so my family will know how much I love them. The card itself said I need to shun the civilized world for more of the wild and instinctual. I do believe it’s true we’ve lost touch with this intuitive knowing of the Creator. Even (or especially?) in organized religions. The card’s advice was also “Do no harm,” which was one of John Wesley’s (founder of the Methodist denomination) favorite sayings and the words he lived by. (I also loved this card because one of Calen’s best friends with which she communes in her original story is the noble gray wolf lord Huanárë, Hound of Fire — though perhaps I should change it to Hound of Heaven [Menel in Elvish]).

Now I thought it all fit pretty well with what’s going on in my life right now. And it’s been very comforting to read those words first thing when I turn the laptop on. I would be VERY interested in hearing your thoughts on this process. I confess that it really fascinates me. There is a deep longing in me to be in touch with God, and anywhere I can find him in my life I will look. That’s what Seeker was all about…

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Picture Credit: Great Frum Trips