The cards I've pulled lately have to do with success in one way or another and today's cards are no different. Success is a fleeting thing, as well it should be.
The High Priestess is contradiction. She obscures and she reveals.
Clad in a diaphanous gown, she floats above the waters of consciousness with one toe barely skimming the surface. Crowned with a diadem of stars that represent the nine planets of our solar system, she hangs between two pillars capped with machines of unclear purpose, impossibly intricate and logical and yet enigmatic. The night sky behind her is a poetic mystery comprised of the logical course of the stars and planets while the music of the spheres is a haunting refrain just out of reach on the edge of understanding.
The High Priestess is beguiling, promising knowledge that can prove dangerous. Accept her energy and wisdom with caution. The knowledge she offers is beyond logic, a wisdom that should be guided intuition. Understand that science is but one path to wisdom, a path illuminated by the other senses. Inspiration is useless without action. Honor the muse, but don't be here slave.
The 4 of Pentacles shows a wealthy man dressed in rich robes and holding a shining pile of pentacles. He takes pleasure in his wealth, much like King Midas, caressing his hoard as though a lover, jealous of anyone or anything that comes between him and his prize.
Wealth is an abstraction. It represents the ability to obtain the necessities of life. In and of itself, wealth is static, pretty to look at, but not useful unless it is traded for services, food, clothing and shelter. Wealth is beautiful, a shining pile of gold, silver or coins, a bank balance ending in lots of zeroes, but it is not real.
Like Midas who loved his gold and was granted the golden touch, he found that gold is tasteless and provides no nourishment. Gold was an anchor that weighed him down and destroyed everything he touched, even the golden curls of his beloved daughter. Midas learned the hard way that gold must be shared, a resource that renews itself only when it is put into circulation.
Like Midas, writers must learn to use their resources and not hoard their writing like gold in a vault. Writing must be shared and practiced in order to flourish. Even mushrooms that grown in darkness, must have nourishment. Writing can grown in darkness, but must seek the light in order to evolve and mature and grow.
Midas learned the hard way by losing what he valued most. Writers cannot afford to lose if they are to succeed. The wealth of inspiration and ability is nothing, an unfulfilled future, unless it is used wisely and well. Don't give everything away until you have nothing left. Use your wealth wisely.
The World is mastery. A woman holds a wand in each hand, surrounded by the laurel wreath of victory, balanced and assured. The wands represent the balance and mastery of will in tune with the conscious and unconscious. Now is the time to celebrate great accomplishments, to be recognized by the world and the self upon completion of a hard won accomplishment. The woman is in unity with the universe and knows mastery over herself that is natural and effortless. She moves to the rhythms of nature and her own heart. But beware the false sense of security.
The woman does not rest on her laurels. She is in motion and knows that success is temporary. In order to grow, she must move forward, evolve and experience life and the world. She takes a moment to enjoy the freedom success provides, understanding that once a task is completed and the goals accomplished, it's time to move onward and upward, take the next step to a new level. Life is a learning experience and learning requires action to absorb and to build on.
In vampire lore, the vampire is a static force, locked in stasis, a relic of an ancient past. Anne Rice characterized it by vampires turning to marble when they couldn't not evolve and move with the times. That is why Lestat chose to make Louis. He needed someone who understood and moved easily in a world where Lestat was an anachronism.
An mid-list author learns from his doctor he has less than two years to live. There is a book the author has been meaning to write, but has put it off many times. Now that he knows how much longer he has, he decides to pull out the manuscript, finish it and get it published, using his terminal illness as a way to push the book through the slow moving publishing industry and to promote sales. The book is an instant success and the author becomes a very wealthy and famous writer. He enjoys his success, but as the last months of his life wind to a close he finds out that he's not going to die.
What will he do? Will he choose to die and leave a success or will he admit the truth and continue to write the stories he has held back, stories that would have made him famous without the death sentence.
How would you finish this story?
Until next week, may all your stories be successful.
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