Quest 2016 continues with personal growth pioneer Jen Louden. She asked questers:

What’s the story you most desire to bring to life in 2016?

 What’s the story your just right client most desires to bring to life in 2016?

 Where do your two stories overlap?

The Knight of Swords as a depiction of the story I wish to bring to life:

The Knight of Swords offers a youthful male perspective. Notice his aerial view, the heights to which he and his steed have attained in the sky thanks in part to the knight’s dragonfly helicopter wings secured to his helmet. I also love the three helper birds or extra eyes below him skimming the cloudline.

The Knight of Swords represents the part of me ready to surge enthusiastically into the past or into the query at hand to retrieve what is most useful in order to bring each querent more fully into the now and the know. If this knight had a rallying cry, it might be, “there’s more here to be gleaned, repurposed, and healed.” This is the  knight in role of accompanying witness.

The Sun Card as the story my just right client most wishes to bring to life:

No matter the sun sign of my just right client, they wish to bask in the sun again and to remember their birthright’s joy as perpetual children (in the best, most innocent, sense) no matter what earth age their bodies happen to be at the time. Many of us long to have the sun come out again in our lives, to fulfill our dreams, and to feel happy and light as the winged children dancing on the green hill.

The Princess of Cups as an image of how our two stories overlap:

I recently wrote about the Princess of Cups at Tarot for Two. Here’s the opening paragraph:

In the Thoth Deck, she floats in blue sky or water, pale green slippers supported on vines or arms of a leviathan octopus. One hand loosely grasps a lotus and the other holds out a basin supporting a sleepy looking turtle whose shell floats up off his back. Turtle, lotus, and edges of the Princess gown splay out in rays towards us in a unified field of letting go. (Read rest of post here, The Princess of Cups and Lust).

The Princess of Cups has the ability to detach with love and to love unconditionally. She is learning more about herself and others through the lessons of the heart.

Our two stories overlap at this juncture of willingness to plumb the depths of the heart in service of coming to know the self and one’s yearnings in such a way that one can revive the core child self inside. Through such inquiry, one can hone in on next layer of fulfilling the dream life or project at hand. Treading down into emotional terrain with the Princess of Cups reminds us to observe without submerging, to love deeply, to forgive, and to trust we are loved ourselves.

Today’s in-process drawing:

Here’s my attempt at capturing the elusive rainbow fish of dream as it leaps into daylight consciousness. Inspiration comes from Lady Frieda Harris’s Princess of Cups and an actual night-time dream I once had about a rainbow fish leaping out over the canyon.

More about Jen Louden, author of today’s Tracking Wonder prompt:

Jen Louden helped launch the self-care movement with her first book The Woman’s Comfort Book (HarperOne 2005). Hailed as a personal growth pioneer, Louden is the author of 7 additional books on well-being and whole living, including her most recent book, A Year of Daily Joy (National Geographic 2014). She believes self-love + world-love = wholeness for all.

A sampling of posts by other Questers responding to Jen Louden’s prompt:

Side by Side Stories with Connections by Kate Arms

Princess Stories by Vanessa J. Herald

Quest 2016: Two Stories by Kimberly D. Houston

Only Connect by Brenna Layne

Introducing self to Self by Philippa Rees

Big Mountain by Janet St. John