No, He Really Didn't Make You Do It!

hope your week's begun well -- I'm actually staying home this week! It's nice to catch up on Houston stuff -- and do things like errands, laundry, kid's school stuff, etc, etc.

Not a whole lot going on right now -- my American Idol pool is about to begin and I have no idea what to do. The way our pool works is that you have to pick positions 1,2,3,4,5 and 10 -- you get points for each one exactly correct. My first year (Carrie and Bo), I got 1, 2, and 5 correct and ended up in third place -- my big pick was picking Constantine to go before Scott. Got lucky there!

Last year, I didn't get any correct. Yep -- missed every single one. I had the correct top 5, just in the wrong order.

This year is going to be tricky -- here's how I see 'em. Melinda's looking good for the top spot; I think Lakisha is going to eventually do a Tamayra and mess up by picking the wrong song, Jordin's looking strong (maybe Melinda and Jordin top two?).

It's the guys that are confusing me -- I have no idea where the two Chris's and Blake will end up. Sanjaya? Can't figure that one out at all -- he could finish anywhere from tenth to second. These aren't necessarily my favorites, just the way I think they'll finish in the voting.

I've still got a week before my picks have to be in -- will have to puzzle it out by then. By the way -- when I was in L.A. last week I checked into American Idol tickets -- $1150 a show! Way, way, way, way out of my league!

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.

The cards are:

The Devil

Knight of Swords

Remember Flip Wilson and his Geraldine character? She had The Devil depicted perfectly when she said -- "The devil made me do it!" Of course, the devil doesn't make you do anything -- we all choose to do what we want to do. Sometimes we make stupid choices -- and rather than take responsibility for those choices, it's easy to say "The Devil made me do it!"

The Devil refers to that little bit of devil that's inside all of us -- the one that encourages us to made poor choices and do stupid things. It doesn't force us to do anything -- the choices remain ours to make; we are always in control! However, sometimes staying in control takes an effort we're not willing to make -- and a poor decision is the result.

The card depiction actually helps us understand this -- look at the two figures bound by chains in front of the Devil. Sure, they're bound -- but the chains are quite loose. It would be easy to free yourself -- just make the effort to lift off the chain.

Same way, it would be easy to make good decisions -- just don't do things that you know aren't smart. Well, at least, it should be easy ... but we all know that sometimes we don't make that effort. This card reminds us that freeing ourself is easy -- but it does take effort on our part.

Let's try and get an idea where this reading is heading by looking at our second card -- the Knight of Swords. I find it interesting that we had the Page of Swords last week -- and the Knight of Swords this week. In general, Pages like to dream and plan, but aren't so good at actually doing. Knights tend to be energetic at doing -- but aren't so hot at finishing.

I'm going to digress for just a second. There are several cards that, when I seem them, I immediately think of some catch phrase. When I see the Page of Swords, I think of "Hey, who let the kids play with the power tools!" When I see the Knight of Swords, I think of "Ready, Fire, Aim!"

This is because the Knight of Swords is always eager to jump right into something -- but doesn't really have a clear plan of how to actually accomplish what he's trying to do. He hasn't thought things through properly and probably doesn't have all that good an understanding of the major issues. Although he begins with lots of energy, this lack of planning suggests he'll flounder before too long.

Let's put these two cards together: The Devil suggests we may feel bound to something that's not so good an idea; the Knight of Swords suggests we may not have thought things all the way through.

When you find yourself in this situation, the way out seems clear -- why are we bound to a poor position? Because we haven't thought things all the way to the end -- we may not see the ultimate reason it's a poor choice. Or -- we may refuse to see it because we don't want to.

In either case, the way to free ourselves from the Devil's loose chain is to use our own abilities to think things through to see the correct course of action. Oh ... and then we have to actually do it -- and complete it!

And that's about it this week; I look forward to seeing you again next week. As always, if you're interested in a private reading, please check out some of the super readers I work with at http://www.woodsongtarot.com/readers.html. I also welcome your comments at http://woodsongtarot.blogspot.com!

Woodsong --
v

Past Choices Affecting Future Possibilities?

I hope your week's gone well -- mine's been pretty busy; returned from vacation on Wednesday, then have been trying to catch up ever since.

Disneyland was really nice -- I've always thought Disneyland was much higher quality than Disneyworld although it was much smaller. However, I've also always felt that you felt much more of a Disney "experience" at Disneyworld over Disneyland. Things have changed a bit, though The area surrounding Disneyland now fits well and feeds into Disneyland very well. This helps you feel more surrounded by Disney -- much like you are when you're at Disneyworld. Plus, the new California Adventure park right across from Disneyland adds a number of nice rides and attractions. My daughter and her friend pretty much spent their entire time at California Adventure riding the roller coaster and the Tower of Terror. We old folks enjoyed finding the Muppet 3-D show and also really enjoyed the Soaring Over California attraction (you feel like you're hand-gliding over California).

We also enjoyed the Disney Village right next to the two parks. Little Richard was playing at the House of Blues in the Disney Village the day we arrived -- we weren't able to make the show, though. Darn!

We old folks spent most of our time in Disneyland. Rode "Small World" more than once, too. I just really enjoy the quality and attention to detail you find in Disneyland. The best ride may be the Indiana Jones ride (they don't have it at Disneyworld), but my all-time favorite is the Haunted Mansion. I've been spending a lot of time on the Doom Buggies site -- a tribute to the Haunted Mansion attraction -- have learned quite a few things, too! Oh -- they've also made "Captain Jack Sparrow" more of a player in the Pirates ride!

One big difference (other than size and quality) we found between Disneyland and Disneyworld is that Disneyworld is for smokers, Disneyland isn't. We never saw anyone smoking inside the parks themselves and only saw two or three smokers outside the park the entire trip. Disneyworld is a far different story -- it seems like almost everyone is smoking. The cigarette butts in the street (and on the rides!) really stack up by the end of the day.

All in all, it was a fine trip; if you have a chance to visit the Disney parks in Anaheim, I highly recommend you do so! I think you'll really enjoy them!

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.

The cards are:

Ten of Wands (Reversed)

The Lovers

The Ten of Wands reminds us that we sometimes have to work really hard to get what we want -- or to get where we want. Another word for this is struggle! It's nothing to take personally -- but it is true that long and tough effort is often the asset most needed to accomplish our desires.

The problem with long and hard effort is that we can become discouraged -- we may feel we'll never reach the end. In fact, when we look forward it might seem all we see is more hard work waiting for us -- there's never an end!

When we face this sort of discouragement, I always suggest we ask ourselves two questions: First, can you honestly say you've really been trying? Second, if you feel you have made an honest effort, then have you made at least some small progress somewhere? If you can honestly say you've tried, and can recognize even a teensy bit of progress, then you know you will succeed eventually. Sure, it would be nice to finish everything all at once -- but the really important thing is that you will eventually win. It doesn't matter if it's long, time-consuming, or a grind -- the end result is what's important. Dont' be discouraged simply because something seems difficult -- the Ten of Swords reminds us not to quit when times seem tough -- and to be confident in your ability to reach your goal.

The reversal here likely suggests we may find ourselves concentrating on the "grind" portion of a task rather than the end result. Let's see how our next card can help.

The Lovers is really a choice card -- we have a chance to make a choice that will affect the outcome of our struggle. In fact, I often see The Lovers as suggesting a choice that we've either already made or a choice that we're leaning towards making.

When we put these cards together, can you see how choices you've made may affect your efficiency in meeting your goals? If you see choices that are affecting you adversely, remember that choices are not static -- you can change or alter them. You don't have to abandon them -- but they may need some tuning! When times seem tough, consider changes you may be able to make that will help you better face your challenges -- always look to strengthen and better yourself!

And that's about it this week; I look forward to seeing you again next week. As always, if you're interested in a private reading, please check out some of the super readers I work with at http://www.woodsongtarot.com/readers.html.

Choose Wisely

hope your week's been going well -- this was supposed to be a slow week for me, but somehow I always end out having more to do in slow weeks. Don't know why that happens.

It's Spring Break time! We're taking my teenage daughter and one of her friends to do the Disney thing in Los Angeles for a few days. I grew up in Louisiana, so have done DisneyWorld a bit, but I always enjoy DisneyLand more. It's much, much smaller, but it just seems so much nicer. Everything seems higher quality and there's much more attention to detail. Crowds are not as bad, either -- plus the ticket prices are a lot better.

Houston's been a bit of fun lately; it's Rodeo time. Every spring, we have the Houston Rodeo. It's a three to four week event; there's big name country and popular music stars every night, plus livestock and traditional rodeo. I never thought a rodeo sounded that interesting -- but was really entranced when I went. The last time I went, the rodeo was held in the Astrodome; they've since moved to Reliant Stadium. ZZ Top closes out the last night -- unfortunately I'll miss 'em.

The Friday the Rodeo begins is known as "Go Texan" day. Everyone in town dresses up in cowboy and cowgirl gear -- that banker you saw yesterday in the three piece suit will come to work looking like Roy Rodgers. Many of the freeways in town are closed down because of thousands of trail riders coming into town.


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.

The cards are:

Two of Swords

Page of Swords (Reversed)

The Two of Swords suggests decisions -- especially decisions that need to be made. When I look at the figure on this card, I'm reminded of the traditional figure of Justice -- as in a blindfolded Justice holding a set of scales.

That's fairly appropriate because you really need to implement many of the same skills in order to make a fair and good decision. Things like fairness, honesty, and objectivity. These aren't always the easiest skills to implement -- especially when it's a very personal or difficult decision. It's often hard to be objective if we're intimately involved with the decision.

When this is the case, what quite often happens is that we put off making the decision -- we do nothing. If you think about it, though, doing nothing is in itself making a decision -- because it commits us to a course of action. The downside is that the result of doing nothing is usually a course that we don't control. My personal feeling is that it's always better to do the hard work in order to make a fair decision so that we can control the course -- that's just me, though.

Tough decisions are hard -- that's what makes 'em tough. Let's look at our next card to see if we can find a little help.

In this case, the reversed Page of Swords suggests to me the result of not making the effort to make a decision. I think of this Page suggesting what happens when you commit to a position before you've done the proper thoughtwork. You'll have made a move you're not ready for yet.

I think the reversed Page of Swords suggests that we treat our decisions seriously -- and that we don't put them off because they're tough. If the matter is important, then it's worth our effort to do the necessary work to evaluate things fairly and honestly. Only in that way can we take control of matters -- rather than letting them control us.

And that's about it this week; I look forward to seeing you again next week. As always, if you're interested in a private reading, please check out some of the super readers I work with at http://www.woodsongtarot.com/readers.html. I also welcome your comments at http://woodsongtarot.blogspot.com!

Woodsong --