Ten of Pentacles - Why I Love Oat Cakes and Maple Trees

After making some Nova Scotia oatcakes and picking fresh yellow beans from my garden, I called a dear friend today. I told him about how lovely it is to be enjoying my Summer, sitting under the shaded canopy of the magnificent Maple tree in my front yard with a cold drink. He said that sure made him feel good to know. Of course that made me feel good too, to hear him say this.

I really have been soaking up the small numerous pleasures of the season, and thinking about how very grateful I am to have these things to get so much pleasure from.

The card I drew today, the Ten of Pentacles is all about a sense of completion, contentment, security and having a sense of permanence. We see a happy family who is safe and secure, living a full life of contentment.

I've been thinking about these matters a lot lately and upon drawing this card, I realize as time passes, just how very blessed I am. I'm increasingly more grateful for life and all the gifts that have been so freely bestowed upon me.

In another four months it will be three years since I paid off my house. Each year this reality sinks in more, as opposed to when I first saw the end of my mortgage. It was a little surreal to me then, and hadn't begun to really sink in. I had gotten so use to struggling as a single woman on my own, for so very long, over the past 20 plus years. It's taken time to catch up to experiencing the relief of not having to struggle quite as much as I have in the past, and to know that it will continue to get easier for me. That's a really good feeling.

The symbols of happiness represented in the Ten of Pentacles never seemed possible to me, though I longed for such things in my life. They were elusive I thought, but apparently were a concrete reality for others, not for me. It took me a long, long time to figure this all out.

I see now reflecting back, that I was on a path that eventually lead me to the kind of happiness that comes with completion, contentment, security and permanence. But I didn't reach this phase of life easily. It came very hard, and painfully.

Most importantly, it came with the help of the God of my understanding and with the help, love and support of my family and friends. I believe we never find happiness on our own, but it's absolutely essential to be grateful. If not, it's impossible to find the happiness we seek and we miss seeing the forest for the trees.

Speaking of trees I'm going out again to sit under the Maple tree canopy, with a couple of Nova Scotia oatcakes and a cup King Cole tea, and maybe a cat on my lap!

Nova Scotia Oatcakes Yum!

Shaded Maple Tree Canopy

Ten of Wands - What's The Next Big Thing?

Geez, it almost pains me to look at this card. It's not as negative or overwhelming as it appears, and isn't what it seems, but it is a situation for concern.

Jason has his Golden Fleece, and his great vessel, the Argo, is worse for wear after the long and intrepid voyage. Now his fellow Argonauts seem nowhere to be found. Perhaps they're burnt out, and gone back to their ordinary lives, having grown wearisome of Jason, and his next big adventure. Jason appears to be almost imprisoned, and overwhelmed by his own creative thought, surrounded by the ten blazing wands. The Golden Fleece appears to be discarded on the ground and all but forgotten.

At the beginning of the quest, Jason's expectations were extremely high. He was full of excitement, expectation. with a thrilling and contagious sense of great adventure. He'd been buoyed up by his mates, who believed in him, and that he'd be victorious. He was THE MAN!

The triumphant victory of obtaining the Golden Fleece and overcoming everything else along the way has left Jason feeling that it is all rather anti-climatic  He is no doubt thinking to himself, ok what now? What's the next big thing? It that all there is?
This kind of thinking is a self-inflicted pressure we can impose upon ourselves when we achieve our goals,  have found ourselves the center of attention, with people singing our praises. Being in this state of hyper-vigilance, and an adrenaline rush, is addictive. We find we are always looking for the next bigger and better thing.This state of hyper-vigilance can be very exhausting, for yourself, and for others.

There might be feeling of boredom, when in actual fact, you might find that boredom is the opportunity to simply live life on life's terms. Finding a deep contentment and serenity that extends it's hand to us, if we can accept it, is what I believe to be, one of the best secrets to happiness.

Ten of Cups

I spent Christmas with some very dear, and close friends yesterday. I consider them to be very much like family. My good friend Lois, is like the sister I've never had. It was truly a beautiful day, and I was very grateful. After Christmas dinner, my friend and I were in the kitchen, having a heart to heart talk. She said she worried about me, when I spend Christmas by myself. I told her not to worry about me. They go away every other Christmas, and so I don't spend it with them as I usually do, as they travel to the States for Christmas.

This got me to thinking, as I drew the Ten of Cups this morning, a card that represents "ongoing contentment and permanence in the realm of the heart ", when I then happened across this very wise, fitting, comforting, and truthful quote.

I have spent a good portion of my life in my own company alone, and so I've learned to get comfortable in the my own skin. I wasn't always comfortable with being alone, but once I sobered up, it became much easier and I actually value living alone. 
I really strive to be my own best friend, and to learn how to be alone, whether in a relationship with another or not.

 I heard on CBC radio this morning, an item about people experiencing loneliness, particularly the elderly, and how they do not have as long of a life expectancy, as others, if they have few social connections. I believe this to be true. Thankfully today, many elderly folks can socially interact through Skype and other online services, but many are still ignored, and neglected especially during the holidays. As the old adage often seems to hold true, ' Out of site out of mind '.

The radio program late last night, featured a 94 year old woman, who over the past eight years, had been using the internet. She Skyped with her friends and family. She stated how much it had changed her life. She'd grown up in South Africa as an orphan, were she was never shown any signs of affection. It was a very touching story she had to tell, one of hope, and a woman's inner soul strength. 

A few nights ago I was re-reading, as I often do, my most cherished book, Women Who Run With The Wolves, by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. I was reading about the definition of the word alone, and the story of the Sea Maiden, or Seal Skin, Soul Skin, which is about ' Returning to Oneself. '

Originally the meaning of alone, consisted of two words , all one, which meant to be wholly one, which is related to intentional solitude. In ancient days solitude or the all one state once was palliative, preventative, and a way of listening to the inner self, and used as an oracle, a way to call up the soul, take a personal inventory and assessment our lives. Doing this I believe this is the way we draw our soul strength.

Seal Skin, Soul Skin - Catherine Meyers

Carl Jung said, " It would be far better simply to admit our spiritual poverty....When spirit becomes heavy, it turns to water....Therefore the way of the soul...leads to water. " The return to home and the intervals of conversing with the seal from the rock in the sea are our acts of innate and integral ecology, for they all are a return to the water, a meeting with the wild friend, the one who above all others loves us unremittingly, unguardedly, and with profound endurance. We need only look into and learn from those soulful eyes that are " wild and wise and loving. "  - Women Who Run With The Wolves, Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Winter Wolf

Ten of Pentacles - Permanence

My apologies to my readers for having no posts as of late. My internet had been up and down, but mostly down the past few weeks, the result of power outages due to Spring snow storms, and problems with my new devices for my internet settings. Thankfully it's all good now!

In spite of nothing in this life being permanent, the internet appears to be, unless it doesn't work! One can get the impression that the internet, and our online presence will live on forever, even after we leave this mortal coil.

Ironically, the card I picked today from the Minor Arcana is, the Ten of Pentacles, the card of permanence, signifying what outlasts us, and the legacy we leave. It can be in the form of material possessions, and life achievements, that are passed on to others and the ones we love. This legacy can also be the creative ideas that endure through the example we have imparted, through our values and beliefs. These creative ideas can  also be in those tangible ways through a book, writing, a painting or other artistic achievements. What is passed on to us or to others matters greatly. What we have achieved , whether it be in material inheritance is something not to be squandered or misused. It can give us not only a feeling of security and contentment, but perhaps more importantly, it gives a deep sense of belonging, and the knowledge that we are loved.

There is a lesson that can be gleaned here, in that we need to pass along, or pay it forward, what is so freely given to us.

Today I saw the return of the Canada geese on my frozen over salt marsh. They come every Spring, and that seems also to be permanent. I hope for their return always year after year.

The one thing that is always permanent is hope, which really does spring eternal, in spite of the storms of life that come our way. It is my hope that Spring will always come again.