Journey in 78 Steps

Daily Draw: Ten Staves

my description:

Nine wands are held together by a tenth wand, curved and woven between them, holding them together.  The fan of wands seems to bbe radiating outward from a rising sun and each of the wands are budding new leaves.

Wow, this card is a much more positive image of the 10 of Staves than the usual figure slogging it out to the end of a long, hard journey.  Here, all those 'burdens' or desires are held together and the ten as a successful conclusion - shades of the Sun - are highlighted. 

I described this as a sunrise, but I'm also thinking sunset... the old cowboy cliche where the hero saves the day and then 'rides off into the sunset', job well done and didn't quit until it was.

I like the way the wands are held together so that each stems from a single source (the sun) but stands on its own, knit together by the curved wand... the primary goal, curved because it has been adapted to bring all these concerns together as  a strong united front.  It speaks of keeping ones main purpose in mind and making sure that all the steps along the way work together rather than at cross purposes to it.. not getting lost in the weight and difficulty of each one, but seeing it through for the sake of what one really wants.

I'm writing this a day late because I was having a difficult day - painful joints and things to do that weren't exactly fun.  On a brighter note, I've a houseguest this weekend and really just want to not have to do anything other than visit.  But, we made a morning out of getting my errands out of the way, had a nice lunch out and with the hard stuff out of the way, enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.

If I'd put them off, they'd have hung over my head all day... so 10 of Staves... get it done and then go enjoy your free time.

Daily Draw: 10 of Wands

my description:

Overall color - deep purple, flashes of deep rose, orange figures and staves.  Looks like forced applied with difficulty.  An orange figure wearing metallic armor, back turned, is erect at the bottom center of the card, holding what seems to be a metal staff vertically in front of him and pushing forward with it, slowly and methodically.  The background on his side of the card is composed of small squares - he seems to be wading through them - on the horizon of the sea of squares is what might be surf?  In the center of the card are eight wands, radiating out in pairs to form an X shape and woven together in the middle to hold their shape.  The pair in the NW quadrant are crossed - things have not fully come together, but his task is almost complete.  The upper background of the card is a swirling vortex - things breaking loose after all this effort.

Reversed, there is a figure with much less armor, using his staff to try to untangle the crossed staves, and standing somewhat to the side, as if attempting to avoid the oncoming push of the combination of wands.  He is standing in the vortex and it seems as if the sea of squares is hanging over his head, ready to splash down on top of him.  At  the center of the X, what could be surf seems to be white energy bursting out from the tangle of wands.

The key differences I see between the two sides of this card is  in the posture of the figures (determined forward movement through  difficulty vs.  focusing on one detail and attempting to avoid the onslaught of the rest), starting from a place of stability and moving toward freedom vs. having no stable foundation and needing to deal with the limitations of imposed order, and the amount of protective "backbone" each figure arms themselves with to begin with.

The 10 of Wands in general often seems to be about being loaded down with burdens, but the upright image here seems to be more about preparedness and determination to push through those burdens long enough to complete the task.  And it's not just one task but  the whole collective project - it seems as if too much focus on the details is detrimental.

I've seen many times when I do that...start reciting to myself each challenge, and in the recitation start feeling buried by them.  Or letting too many things go unattended while I focus on one part of the problem and wind up getting swamped by the parts I'm neglecting.  With this card, the sort of energy that needs to be applied is keeping the big picture in mind - including a realistic perspective on it's end point and keep moving at a steady pace without getting sidetracked by the details or the difficulty of it.

It's not an easy card, for sure - but I like the positive advice here about how to handle burdens, rather than simply describing the weight of them.