Just Don't Look Up

I found my tarot cards. Besides the sweet surprise of rediscovering something I'd forgotten I had, there's the enjoyable bonus of playing with the cards. My deck is Kris Waldherr's Goddess Tarot. Contemplating the deck perhaps a decade after acquiring it, some of the images are more evocative than I remember; still, the choice of deck is mostly reflective of how drenched in CA culture I was at the time.

I pulled two cards a moment ago: the Two of Cups and the Seven of Pentacles (images in this blog post are not from the Waldherr deck). One interpretation of the Two of the Cups has a noteworthy relevance to my post earlier this week: "Willing to Reconsider"

The Two of Cups shows that a deep understanding is set to develop. Be prepared to see the other point of view....

Yes....that's what I want "other people" to do and this card encourages me to be about nurturing the same capacity within myself.

Drawing the Seven of Pentacles today is also timely: I woke up intending to blog about an interview with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh that I heard recently on New York public radio. Specifically, I was struck by his comment

"I'm a big believer in just not looking up from your work. Just stay focused on what you're doing and don't get distracted by the other stuff."

I heard a similar rigorous injunction in Steven Pressfield's book "the War of Art." Pressfield's discussion focuses on "resistance" but in many instances "distraction" can be substituted without perverting the message.

"Resistance seems to come from outside ourselves. We locate it in spouses, jobs, kids... Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. ... Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work..."

I know what he's talking about. When I'm not doing my work, the distraction is rarely shopping or watching TV or gambling or drinking or talking on the phone or hanging out in the FaceBook Lounge. For me, it is the folly, analysis, conjecture, reminiscence, etc. fabricated in my own mind that lures me away.

I never feel I work hard enough. I never feel I'm focused or devoted enough.

The message of the Seven of Pentacles is "Harvest the rewards but don't rest on your laurels." An online tarot site interprets:

This card is a clear sign that you should ...continue on your path, any frustrations should be laughed off, ... This card arrives just prior to very well laid plans coming to fruition and a celebration is indicated.

If I set aside all the stuff in my head that has nothing to do with being a transformative artist, it's clear that the work I'm doing now is continuation, culmination and celebration of the plantings and harvests of my whole life. I like being reminded.