Tarot Tuesday: Worry Tracks and and an Eight of Disks Writing Prompt

Living my Seven of Disks week meant I was in tune with my habitual worries about money, belongings, possessions, and projects. Worries about home and hearth crowned the list, countered mercifully with persistent dreams regarding what my hands can create. As a mother lucky enough to have worked intermittently at home while raising my children for the last fifteen years, I’ve been in a very long and gradual transition back to intermittent work, grateful my husband has been able to provide for us. All along the way, though, I’d say I feel a constant sense of low-grade worry…that I’m not doing enough, not earning enough, to secure stability for my family.

Looking for images today–in addition to the paper world in the palm of Robyn’s hand–I was drawn to Robyn’s photo of grub tracks in wood which helped me “see” my own worms of worry…and think about my patterns and what shape they might take, say, if you could see them in the air. If you look at the image of the tunnelings, you could say this worm burrowing is productive….creating not just a pattern but carving out a space in which to live–not so much worry as drive to thrive.

So maybe our worry serves us too…for a while…and then it is time to put the energy of forward motion into a different vehicle or environment (if we connect the sevens to the Major Arcanum Seven, the Chariot). There’s a line in a song recently on the radio I think relates to this: “you can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness…” (2011 song by Gotye, Somebody That I Used to Know). Maybe unchecked worry creates an alluring sort of lavender field of perpetual sorrow and “not-enoughness.” Beautiful in passing—but not somewhere to live.

I redirected this week’s stress by meeting a friend. Over a cup of coffee and a stellar goat cheese and turkey sandwich and a half a dark chocolate cookie, we traded sorrows and epiphanies. I’m always humbled by the joy I feel when I speak frankly from my heart about my coveted worries–which my friend salves, just by listening, nodding her head, and sharing a parallel truth from her life. May you find a moment this week to share some worry you’ve been allowing to burrow, bringing it out to view in the company of a trusted friend. May that worry spiral up and away like the spiced and pale evaporative scent rings from a wand of incense.

Tarot Tuesday’s Prompt: The Eight of Disks

I love the Eight of Disks in the Thoth Deck which shows us a sturdy tree stem supporting blossoms cupped and protected by leaves. It is a lovely image of a harvest imminent, of something coming into being that is not ready to be fully revealed. Maybe the blossoms still need a little shade, a little more time close to the source from which it springs.

What is still in your cocoon?

What, if you examine the trunk of the tree of your current life, do you know you still could stand to shield before revealing it for others to see?

Which project or objects are you working on manifesting or creating?

Which investments might you keep private or close to your heart for now?

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.