I Starve My Belly for a Sublime Purpose
~Anna Swir (Świrszczyńska)
Translated from Polish by Czeslaw Milosz and Leonard Nathan

Three days
I starve my belly
so that it learns
to eat the sun.

I say to it: Belly,
I am ashamed of you. You must
spiritualize yourself. You must
eat the sun.

The belly keeps silent
for three days. It’s not easy
to waken in it higher aspirations.

Yet I hope for the best.
This morning, tanning myself on the beach,
I noticed that, little by little,
it begins to shine.

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for December 6, 2016:
Active Influence: Gjalp & Greip/Five of Wands
Rune: Ul/Transition (reversed)
Hidden Influence: Farbauti/The Tower

Ul appears again today, reversed this time. The work you started yesterday may come to an abrupt halt due to disagreements with others involved, or due to external circumstances. Changes you can’t control may erupt today. While you can’t control the events, you can control how you respond to them. Let others freak out if they must; focus your attention on what you can do. That may be nothing more than removing yourself to a place of safety until the Tower finishes falling. Keep your wits about you, and if all you can manage today is to stay out of harm’s way, consider it a day well spent.

“People need joy quite as much as clothing. Some of them need it far more.”
~ Margaret Collier Graham

With all the political turmoil of late, almost everyone I know has been caught up in emotional turmoil to match. One of my friends mentioned that he felt guilty for doing fun things while so many bad things are happening. This post is for him, and for everyone who feels like having fun somehow makes them seem frivolous or uncaring.

Joy is always important, and especially so when times are difficult and the world is hard. Enjoy the pleasures and cheer each day brings, savor them, share them. You gain nothing by denying them, and you lose much when you do. Let them fill you and sustain you as you move through your day, as you do your work, as you face the darkness, as you create the light that only you can create.

There will always be people who are better off than you. There will always be people worse off than you. Give thanks for your blessings, savor and share them, and let them be your raft on the stormy seas of life. No need to drown in misery.

You do not receive any prizes for being miserable. No one will applaud you for denying joy. Why even go there? A joyless life offers nothing, and we all need much.

A joy delayed is a joy denied, for you don’t know if it will be presented again.

Take joy in all good things, and share it widely.

From “The Sun”
~ Vidyakara
Translated from Sanskrit by Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr.

I praise the disk of the rising sun
red as a parrot’s beak, sharp-rayed,
friend of the lotus grove,
an earring for the goddess of the east.

Red Sunrise over Reykjavik by Óttar Sveinsson

The Giants’ Tarot, Raven Kaldera

Draw for December 5, 2016:
Active Influence: Unn/Eight of Cups
Rune: Ul/Healing, Transition
Hidden Influence: Grid/Knight of Coins

Ul has helped you heal and recover your strength. Unn guides you to understand the timing—what to do when, what to wait before doing. Grid reminds you that you have the strength, skills, and tools to do what needs to be done on all levels—material, mental, emotional, spiritual. Do your work today, promptly and carefully. You may surprise others with your accomplishments, but you know your worth and your capabilities, and how to make the most of them.