Your Choice -- Free or No?

Hi! I hope you and yours have had a wonderful holiday season so far -- and it's not over quite yet!

I buy a lot of fabric online from http://www.fabric.com -- and just received a very nice message from them (well, it wasn't just me; it was everyone on their mailing list!). Anyway, the sender expressed a wonderful end/beginning of the year wish and I'd like to pass it along:

"We end a year and a decade that has been tumultuous to say the very least. If you are one of those less fortunate, who have suffered personal, physical, or financial loss, our collective thoughts go out to you, with a prayer that the coming year will be uplifting, rewarding and peaceful. If you have been blessed with good fortune, as we have here, please join me in expressing appreciation for those blessings by tangibly reaching out to those less fortunate."

This has been a topsy-turvy couple of years given the financial and political climate -- I hope everyone is weathering events well and I hope things look up for all of you. Let's all look forward to making this a great New Year!

I misplaced my favorite deck of Tarot cards about 2 years ago -- my original Robin Wood deck. I purchased a replacement (actually, a couple of copies), but that original deck had travelled the world with me and had visited some very special places. Anyway, I was doing some clutter-clearing and found the missing deck! I'm glad to be using it for this week's reading! How about we get to it!

We'll again pull two cards -- the first suggests something we should focus on for the week. The second suggests things we might consider in order to fully benefit from the attributes of the first card. Our cards this week are:




Eight of Swords
(Reversed)






Two of Cups






We've seen this Eight before -- to understand it, just look at the card image.

We see a woman, bound and blindfolded. She's "trapped" inside a cage of swords. We feel for her as we can easily imagine all those times we feel trapped or controlled by circumstances -- when we're unable to implement our own choices and actions.

But -- if we look at the image a little closer, we see that the cords binding her are not tightly tied -- in fact, they look quite loose. A little bit of wriggling and shifting and those bounds will fall free. Furthermore, that "cage" of swords has some fairly large gaps in it -- once free, the woman can easily lift her blindfold, slip out, and walk away free. All it takes is a little effort. Some people will not make the effort -- they'll accept the entrapment; some people will make the effort.

The same way, if we look at those situations where we feel helpless a little more closely, we'll likely find that we're not as deeply trapped as we might think. There are things we can do -- choices we can make -- that can help us break free. We always (ALWAYS) have options -- it's up to us whether or not we wish to implement them.

Since this card is reversed, we might think of situations where we're not recognizing that we do have options. If you're thinking of something where you feel helpless, like you have no control, then that's likely exactly the situation you need to review. You do have control -- all you need to do is look at things a little closer.

Our second card, the Two of Cups, offers some thoughts to help us along. This Two suggests a new (or a renewal) emotional bond. This could be a new romance or friendship, it could be a renewal of family bonds, a growing sense of your self, or perhaps clearing up petty disagreements that stand in your way. Hmmm ... petty disagreements hindering a deeper friendship sound a lot like loose bonds and a loosely-built cage, don't they? They're easy to fix -- they just take a little bit of effort -- and the payoff is valuable.

Weigh the cost against the benefits gained -- you'll likely find the long-term benefits far outway any short-term costs. We always have choices and options to make things better -- it's up to us whether or not we use them!