Day 1: Ten of Disks - The Great View

  11® 26.93" N

075® 07.44 W

Today, December 1, 2015, marks the first day of my annual month of blogging.  I don't recall if this is my fourth or fifth year of doing this but it has at least been long enough to become established as my annual writing ritual.

Each year I write a blog post a day for one month.  I usually register my blog with the BlogHer site for this but as I am currently in the middle of the Caribbean without regular internet access that will have to wait a few more days.  BlogHer also provides a focus for the month and blog prompts for each weekday, which I usually read but rarely follow unless I am at a loss for inspiration.  These prompts are something else I will not have regular access to.  My month of blogging does not usually have a theme though with the year nearing its end there have certainly been more than a few retrospective, assessment of the year and looking back type of posts. 

This year however I am choosing to do something a little different.  I have decided each morning to draw a tarot card to use as my focus for writing each day.  This is a practice that, though not generally done daily, has been a fairly regular part of my personal journaling over the past year. 

I have a long history with tarot cards having bought my first deck when I was about 13 years old. The first person I ever did a reading for was my mother at our kitchen table.  Since then I have had periods of intense study with them and times periods as long as several months in which I would barely touch a deck.  I've used them as a focus for meditation, clarification on personal issues and artistic inspiration.  I've done readings for friends, family and strangers.  I am fascinated with their history, the plethora of decks that have been created and the stories behind each image.  Whether or not you believe in the more metaphysical aspects of their history, there is more than enough inspiration and insight to be gained from the images and stories they contain. 

I will primarily be using the Tarot of Transformation which was created by Willow Arlenea and Jasmin Lee Cori.  This is the deck which I chose to bring with me on my three month Semester at Sea journey and has also been the primary deck that I have worked with over the past year. 

Today I drew the Ten of Disks – The Great View.  When I first look at this card I get a sense of soaring and seeking.  The book describes it as being "both/and," engaging fully in the details of life without losing the larger view or higher perspective.  It also talks of it being representative of manifesting things in the material world while keeping true to one's personal and spiritual values.

This trip, and stepping out of my life for three months, has provided me with the opportunity to not only view my life from a distance but to also ponder some of the details in a way that is more detached than is possible when living in the midst of it.  Even without this card I have come to the realization of my own tendency to be very either/or when it comes to the details and the higher view.  It is very easy for me to get bogged down in the minutia of the day to day, forgetting that each step taken and every small goal achieved is generally in service of some larger goal.  I can also become easily lost in looking far ahead or reviewing life goals and desires; lost to the point of being nearly overwhelmed with anxiety of how I might possibly accomplish all I wish to.  What is needed is the balance of recognizing the role that the small steps play as building blocks of the greater goal and to find ways to not lose sight of that. 

As for the second part, the one of manifesting things on the material plane while being true to one's personal and spiritual values, that is something that has always been an ongoing process for me.  It is why I have chosen to study sustainable business and environmental sustainability.  I believe it is possible to have a life in which my needs are met, I feel personally fulfilled and that I am contributing towards making the world a better place.  Now, I don't have any illusions that achieving any of this will be easy and I expect a heck of a lot of stumbling blocks along the way, not to mention the limitations of my own remaining life span, but it is something I believe I can succeed at. 

I'm looking forward to sharing the next month of blogging with you!  Peace.