Pelvic cradle cloud–

Aunt, Sister, Matriarch’s love

Holds us when earth can’t.

While on writing retreat at Sea Ranch, I had a generational family experience (Ten of Disks) that proved to me that regardless of physical separation, families stay closely attuned and communicate inexplicably with one another. Though I was aware that an aunt of mine had been ill for some time, I was in “retreat bubble,” resting, writing, and catching up with the eight writers that make up the Flamingos.

One afternoon as I floated in the hot tub, ears below the water line, breathing peacefully, I felt a distinct tug in my chest. I began to cry without knowing why. As soon as I let go–stopped trying to figure it out–and allowed the tears to slip into the water, I began to focus instead on the vibrant blue sky above the ocean. I honed in on one large cloud directly overhead that looked like a pelvic cradle, wispy but clearly in pale mobius pattern with its delicate and perfectly symmetrical hollows. Beside it floated a larger thin cloud with wings I though of as an angel and one beside it I dubbed little sister angel.

When I finally rose and went inside, it was to a flurry of messages from my family back East explaining that my Aunt had passed away. My Uncle shortly sent all of us a beautiful photo of a double rainbow he’d seen in the sky at the same time; I felt instantly connected by sky omens despite the grief of being far away on the opposite coast.

In one of my favorite photos, a teen-aged Aunt Kathryn holds my mother (a wee toddler at the time) on her hip…which maybe explains why the clouds appeared in those forms to me. We love you Aunt Kathryn! Bless you for the love you gave all of us and for the role you played helping to raise my mother in that lively and beautiful family of ten siblings. What would Grandma Lila have have done without your help?

Tarot Tuesday: Ace of Wands Writing Prompt

I started posting Tarot Tuesday prompts this spring with the Ace of Cups. Here we are in the heat of high summer, leaping into fire with the Ace of Wands! Or blossoming staffs depending on the artwork gracing your particular deck!

All of the Aces give us the chance to consider the unabated expression of the suit they fall in; wands can be associated with the third chakra and igniting the will to express ourselves across forms or bursting into bloom.

What in your life is being undeniably brought into the light?

What in your life is burning away to give you greater range of motion artistically and spiritually?

What lights you up? Where in your life might you find yourself handed a gift of energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration—free reign and an invitation to proceed with great joy?

Take stock of your Ace of Wands moments to date in life when you remember burning with incandescence, illuminated, inspired, energized and spiritually awake. What did you accomplish in those states (for yourself, for others)? How did you feel? What other Ace of Wands opportunities do you yearn to manifest or be offered? Which project or enterprise or creative or spiritual undertaking do you long to let yourself enjoy? Which garden see flourish, seedling to full blossom?

Feel free to respond in comments here or to join the conversation at Tarot Tuesday’s Facebook page to share your word or image response.

The photos in this post are by my poetry movie collaborator Robyn Beattie.

Related Links:

Ananda’s Line, poetry with Angel Bones photograph by Robyn Beattie

My Bicycle, My Chariot and The Angel Tree: Writing Despite Chaos