Category: swords

  • Gathering In 2017

    Gathering In 2017

    As we move into 2017, I think the most thoughtful and pithy thing I’ve read about it is this XKCD comic. I hope you had as good a 2016 as possible, and that 2017 brings everything you need and desire in spite of the confusion and challenges that the world is moving into politically and…

  • Self-Care Spread–and a Conundrum

    Self-Care Spread–and a Conundrum

    I’ve been focusing a lot on posting my Wooden Tarot card meanings lately and I’ll continue to do so after I sit with the majors a bit. But this blog isn’t just about the Wooden Tarot and I want to do some different things, too. This morning I woke up feeling subtly off-balance. I sort…

  • The Wooden Tarot: Court of Plumes

    The Wooden Tarot: Court of Plumes

            This is part of an ongoing series in which I write about my interpretations of the cards in A.L. Swartz’s Wooden Tarot. You can find the other posts here. Page of Plumes The head and shoulders of a bird with an extra eye appear above two crossed arrows. From the arrows…

  • The Wooden Tarot: Suit of Plumes 6-10

    The Wooden Tarot: Suit of Plumes 6-10

    This is part of an ongoing series in which I write about my interpretations of the cards in A.L. Swartz’s Wooden Tarot. You can find the other posts here. Six of Plumes A Common Mallard swims away, looking over his shoulder with two eyes on the same side of his head. Six dark-brown feathers trail…

  • The Wooden Tarot: Suit of Plumes 2-5

    The Wooden Tarot: Suit of Plumes 2-5

    This is part of an ongoing series in which I write about my interpretations of the cards in A.L. Swartz’s Wooden Tarot. You can find the other posts here. Two of Plumes Two partially folded, white-gray wings appear on either side of a waxing crescent moon. Above it floats a lemniscate. As with the other…

  • The Wooden Tarot: Introduction to the Suit of Plumes

    The Wooden Tarot: Introduction to the Suit of Plumes

    This is part of an ongoing series in which I write about my interpretations of the cards in A.L. Swartz’s Wooden Tarot. You can find the other posts here. Air/Swords/Plumes In both the Suits of Stones and Plumes of the Wooden Tarot, it almost seems as if there are two suit symbols. In the case…

  • The Difficult Conversations Spread

    The Difficult Conversations Spread

    Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen, is a book I’d recommend to anyone. My copy has a thing on the front that says “New York Times Business Bestseller” and it’s categorized in “Psychology/Business” on the back, but I’m glad I didn’t let the association with…

  • Tarot Cards for Dissertation Writing

    Tarot Cards for Dissertation Writing

    I’ve been working on my dissertation since September of 2013, I believe, and I will turn it in to my committee on September 1st, 2015. Over the past nearly two years, my relationship with my dissertation has changed a lot, as have the daily habits that I’ve come to cultivate. I only started studying tarot…

  • Retreating and Advancing

    Retreating and Advancing

    Over the past couple of years, I have had the immense privilege to go on several multi-day meditation retreats. I say it’s an immense privilege because it really is–I don’t have children, the flexibility of my schedule allows me to take the time off, and I have the funds to pay for it. But it’s…

  • “Knowledge is made for cutting”: Swords, Intellect, and Suffering.

    Of the four minor arcana suits, Swords tends to have more than its fair share of dark and scary cards. Where to even start? The confusion of the blindfolded figure in Two who balances crossed swords on her shoulders, the pain of the swords in Three piercing a heart, the unethical behavior of Five and…