posted December 18, 2013 04:52 AM            

Hope your week's begun well -- my oldest son is back from the Navy, so that's a mark on the good side! On the other hand, I'm off to the dentist this afternoon, so that's a mark on the bad side!

Shouldn't be a bad visit, though. All the tough (and painful) work was done a few weeks ago; this should just cap things off (literally!)

My keystriking and spelling is still off -- still can't feel with my hands - so please excuse any glitches I miss. I'm messing up almost every word, so I think I'm catching most -- but I'm probably missing a few.

I think I finally have everything set up to do Youtube readings -- I'll let you know as soon as I post the first.

Let's jump into this week's reading -- first card offers a starting point; second card offers suggestions to consider that might help us best use the first card.

Our first card is ... the Five of Wands.

Looks like a little tussle -- contention, strife, struggle. Pretty much what we've all got going on every day. This sort of engagement can be fulfilling and exciting -- but it can also be frustrating and discouraging. All depends on how we take it in.

Most of all, we have to be sure not to make it "personal" -- this sort of struggle isn't a value judgement of ourselves -- it's just being realistic. If we go down the "everyone is always working against me" road, that's a losing path. We want to avoid it.

What might we consider to help us best approach this card? Let's look at our second draw ... the Five of Cups.

This card reminds us that we should not focus on things we may not gain -- but instead focus on those things we do acquire. It's kind of a "count your blessings", but it's a little stronger than that. It's close to the Rolling Stone's "You can't always get what you want -- but you may find you get what you need!"

When we put these together, I start thinking compromise and priorities. Maybe we can't achieve everything we wanted -- so let's make sure we at least gain the most important things. Maybe we can bargain and trade-off in order to do so? Maybe we can "lose" some battles in order to ensure we win the one's that really matter to us.
Is it realistic to say "I want everything"? Maybe not -- but I think it's okay to go in using that as a starting point -- as long as you realize it's probably not likely to work out that way. Refine your goals so that you know and understand which pieces are going to be most important to you -- and focus on what you can do to attain those goals.

Hope it goes well for you -- I'll be back later with more!

Woodsong