Inspired by Tarot Cards, the Poet Sketches

I know that believers have different feelings about Tarot cards.  I've used them in a variety of ways.  There's some part of me that longs to predict the future, sure, but I don't really believe that cards or stars or dreams can do that--the future isn't set, so how can we predict it?

I've had cards that I loved for the artwork, like the Motherpeace deck or the Poet Tarot.  But do I use them?  Rarely. When I do use them, I approach them the way I do any text that I'm reading with attention and intention:  I ask questions, and I try to be aware of how the work speaks to me.

When I assembled a creativity bag, I included the Poet Tarot deck and guidebook.  Yesterday, I decided it was time to use them.  First I pulled out the Five of Muses, which the guidebook tells me talks about rejection and disappointment.  Yes, I could see that.  Then, as I was about to put the cards away, I decided to pull out another:  Yeats.  The guidebook reminds us of how many times Yeats reinvented himself.  The guidebook encourages us to think about transformation, both in terms of what we want to create and in terms of what needs to be purged.

I decided to create a sketch.  In future years, I might want a record of what spoke to me.  And so, I made a sketch after I recorded the phrases that leapt out when I read the guidebook:

I love the peacock feather feel of the sketch, an effect that I wasn't trying to create at first.  As the sketching continued, I became more intentional.  I also tried to let the words sink into me.  I have been thinking about my various writing projects and how often I send them out.  I'd really like this year to be the year of a book with a spine--but for how many years have I been saying that?

But it's still a goal of mine, even if it might not change my life radically.  I'm doing many things these days without being sure of how my life might change, but trying to stay open to both possibilities and mystery.