Ace of Pentacles - Choosing Hope Over Fear

Entering this New Year of 2017 like many others I'm sure, my thoughts turn to the state of of world. 2016 seemed full of sadness and pain, that seemed prevalent throughout the world. So with this in mind today, I was happy to draw the Ace of Pentacles a very positive card, full of potential and manifestation. This is a card of great creative energy, tremendous growth and material achievement, and it leaves me feeling very hopeful.

The plague of terrorism, refugees fleeing civil war and the rise of the alt-right is very disturbing, and sometimes leaves a person with feelings of hopelessness. But there have in fact been many positive things that have happened in 2016, in spite of the media coverage and barrage of negative stories that sell copy and ratings but only perpetuate an already existing climate of fear and division.

I also felt hopeful finding an email from Ricken Patel, the Canadian/British founding President and Executive AVVAZ with messages of why 2016 has been a great year for humanity. My immediate visceral and cynical reaction was, you've got to be kidding?! Given more thought I came to conclude that we must have hope, the opposite of fear. Hope is not simply a feeling, it's a choice. I choose hope over fear and division for 2017 and beyond. My hope for 2017 is that you will too.

Ace of Cups - No Energy Versus Raw Energy

I have about as much energy today as a popcorn fart. Don't ask me what that is, I really don't know. But I think it just doesn't have much energy behind it.

Not enough sleep last night is what I attribute my laziness to today. Gray skies on a Saturday, feels more like a Sunday, and so drawing the Ace of Cups is just what I need to see to encourage some needed oomph . A very encouraging card, that indicates having a cup that is overflowing with raw creative energy, and an abundance of love.

The beginning of this year presented some challenges, but no sooner did they arrive...

I had to stop this post mid sentence because another Santa arrived with more fire wood! Wow talk about having a full cup! I've needed wood but didn't have the money to get any and so some one so very kind has given this to me, making sure I'm warm this Winter, not once, but four times this kind of thing has happened to me this New Year!

As I was saying, things have had a miraculous way of turning around 180 degrees for me and this New Year of 2016 is off to a stellar start. I found out yesterday I have the opportunity to facilitate some art programming to kids and actually get paid for it too! I am feeling very blessed!

It's 8:00 o'clock here, and I've worked straight out for over three hours stacking wood to make room for another load that's coming! I'm so exhausted. And here I thought I was being lazy with no energy. Nope. Now I really have no energy, but managed to make myself a couple of homemade pizzas for a late supper.

You know it's a wonderful feeling, knowing that we're cared for, loved by others, and by the God of our own understanding when we can't seem to love ourselves. It's truly just as important that we really know what it means to love ourselves, because we can't give, what we don't have.

I'll very gratefully sleep well tonight, feeling very loved and blessed.

Oh, and according to the online urban dictionary, it has a number of descriptive sentences, using the adjective, popcorn fart. The one I like most is, a faint, non-smelly fart, hardly worth the effort. I was feeling that not much was hardly worth the effort today, at the beginning of this post, but that sure changed in a hurry! And now I just feel like a very big ole happy fart.

The Ace of Wands - Work Vs Drudgery

 I'm in the thick of what I call my painting project adventure. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed, that I'm about to go doolally thinking about what this involves, but my approach is, one painting at a time, one brush stroke at a time. It is the the same outlook I have about life. It's an adventure, one day at a time. It's not all fun and games til someone gets their eye poked out. It's about fun, discipline, work, balance and living life to the fullest. the good, bad and the ugly.

So, drawing the Ace of Wands embodied in the mythic figure of Zeus, is certainly an affirming card for me today. It speaks of having abounding energy for a new project, enterprise or course of study. I certainly can use all the creative energy I can get right now!

I often hear it said, when you have a job that you love you, you'll never work again. Well I don't agree with that statement. There is work, then there is drudgery. Whatever your vocation or chosen career,  I believe it is vital to one's happiness and health, that you have a passion for your work or at least feel it gives you a rewarding kind of satisfaction, and is not drudgery. But doing what you love does not mean it is not work. There are always going to be days when you'd rather being doing something else, or nothing at all, regardless if you are very happy with what your work is.

Even having the worst jobs in the world, you can always find something positive about it I think, but who wants to be spending all their energy doing work you don't love or enjoy or you can't stand. I've had a few jobs that were pretty rotten, like repairing stinky, maggot filled milk stainless steel tanks. We've all had a crappy job, because we have to work to sustain ourselves one way or another. These jobs always build character and you learn what you're made of. They also make a person very appreciative and grateful when you do find employment that not only suits you, but is very meaningful in some way, especially if it is a vocation.

Work should not be your life nor should life be about work. I have heard it said, that workaholic-ism is worse than alcoholism because you are never home at all. If you are sloshed at home, well you are home, and maybe not sloshed all the time. I know that might sound crazy. It sure as heck is not the ideal home life and both of these behaviours are extreme. I speak from personal experience.
Having a good balance between life and work, makes all the difference to your well being.

My work is my art that I create. As an artist, creativity is my lifestyle, the way of thinking that gives me a sense of freedom and purpose. Being creative is really what makes me happy. If I choose not to create art, I still don't have to be an artist to be creative, because it is a way of thinking, a lifestyle and as the Ace of Wands represents, a force of nature.