Daily Diary

Days of Note: Flamekeeping, New Moon

Sun: scorpio, water/fixed (water, west, emotions, calas)
Moon: fire friend - new moon, scorpio
Earth: gray, just above freezing, call for some precipitation, possibly snow-rain-mix

Thoughts: how out of practice I am with daily meditation after less than two months of interruption; strange dreams last night about a pirate ship coasting through flooded streets on a stormy night; brainstorming a post on anarchism and democracy; wondering what new responsibilities will come with the PNC editorial coordinator position; wondering about the slightly cold-shoulder reception in DOTR forums; thinking about Brigid as Mystery and the use of the word "mystery" in initiatory witchcraft traditions; wondering what Jeff has planned for Samhain ritual with the kids, other than what we went over last night; wonder if Savanah will remember to bring her new Tarot deck and be ready for her first lesson (better think of an alternate lesson plan is she forgets)

Actions: go to Mocha Café for morning work while Jeff picks up kids; post Keeping the Days post to Meadowsweet; reformat craft project post; read two articles on Brigid as creatrix/fire-in-wate; Samhain ritual tonight; dinner and gift exchange — wrap Josh's birthday gift; finish craft project to see how it turned out (maybe do some painting this afternoon? kids will ask to do it, too, which will be messy and use up a ton of paint)

Connections: some down time today, plenty to think about but not too many things that absolutely need to get done; the irony is I used to spend these days waitressing, which required a certain amount of mind-emptying and focus, now I spent so much time thinking about everything and planning, but rarely have any "down time" mentally; this may be why meditation has become so much harder recently - waitressing itself used to be a kind of meditation for me; crafts now act as a kind of "down time" — but with four kids, it's impossible to do crafts around them without them asking to do it, too, and (I don't know if they get this from their mother or what) they go through craft supplies like they grow on trees — Josh once cut up several sheets of paper into tiny squares just b/c he was bored! — which would be fine, if there weren't four of them); so I resist wanting to do crafts with them — which maybe isn't the best attitude to have... sigh....

Daily Tarot Card: Justice (XI) weighs all sides of the issue with fairness and impartiality in mind, seeking balance and harmony, equilibrium between the subconscious and the conscious, between responsibilities and desires. An inward-looking card, its challenge is to look within with humility to see how conflicts in the external world mirror or arise from internal conflicts. On the card of this deck, Justice holds a feather like a sword, and the soul-self must be weighed against it — which calls to mind the necessary lightness of being and nonattachment the Buddhists talk about, balance and equanimity towards all things. (What is the deal with all these Major Arcana cards coming up recently?)