A Journey
~ Edward Field

When he got up that morning everything was different:
He enjoyed the bright spring day
But he did not realize it exactly, he just enjoyed it.

And walking down the street to the railroad station
Past magnolia trees with dying flowers like old socks
It was a long time since he had breathed so simply.

Tears filled his eyes and it felt good
But he held them back
Because men didn’t walk around crying in that town.

Waiting on the platform at the station
The fear came over him of something terrible about to happen:
The train was late and he recited the alphabet to keep hold.

And in its time it came screeching in
And as it went on making its usual stops,
People coming and going, telephone poles passing,

He hid his head behind a newspaper
No longer able to hold back the sobs, and willed his eyes
To follow the rational weavings of the seat fabric.

He didn’t do anything violent as he had imagined.
He cried for a long time, but when he finally quieted down
A place in him that had been closed like a fist was open,

And at the end of the ride he stood up and got off that train:
And through the streets and in all the places he lived in later on
He walked, himself at last, a man among men,
With such radiance that everyone looked up and wondered.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for January 19, 2017
Active Influence: Ymir/The Fool
Rune: Gebo/Gift
Hidden Influence: Gerda/Page of Coins

Today, enjoy the newness of things, even if they are not yet fully formed or set into place. Be open to receiving new ideas and new knowledge. Teach what you know to someone for whom it is new information. What you can learn from them is as valuable to you as what they learn from you. Be confident in what you have to share, and be gracious in what you have to learn.

Like the Coffee ~
Mahmoud Darwish

And you became like the coffee,
in the deliciousness,
and the bitterness
and the addiction.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Active Influence: Fafnir/Four of Coins
Rune: Ear/Grave
Hidden Influence: Vafthrudnir/Two of Swords 

Your ability to see both sides of the argument is not helpful today. You are far too likely to convince yourself that you are absolutely totally completely in the right, and that’s not the case. Worse yet, you are rationalizing yourself into a more difficult situation. Be honest (with yourself, if no one else) about your motives, and compare them to what you truly need. Let go of old ideas about what makes you happy, and discard outmoded notions of what you want from life. Use your ability to see the situation from multiple angles to find a new, honest, and constructive approach to things.

The Unequal Fetters
~ Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea

Cou’d we stop the time that’s flying
Or recall it when ’tis past
Put far off the day of Dying
Or make Youth for ever last
To Love wou’d then be worth our cost.

But since we must loose those Graces
Which at first your hearts have wonne
And you seek for in new Faces
When our Spring of Life is done
It wou’d but urdge our ruine on

Free as Nature’s first intention
Was to make us, I’ll be found
Nor by subtle Man’s invention
Yeild to be in Fetters bound
By one that walks a freer round.

Mariage does but slightly tye Men
Whil’st close Pris’ners we remain
They the larger Slaves of Hymen
Still are begging Love again
At the full length of all their chain.