STANDING

~ Gunilla Norris

This morning as I put my feet on the floor
Let me remember how many thousands of years
it took for this act to be possible–
The slow and painstaking development
so that a human creature could rise,
could stand on two feet, and then walk.

From the very beginning, from the very first explosion
Your precise and patient love has been creating us.

The wonder is that now my hands are free
even as I walk or run or stand or dance.

The wonder is that now that I am upright,
my eyes can gaze at the ground,
along the ground, and beyond to the horizon.

I know You have made me
and all creatures for Freedom…
an ever-increasing, evolving freedom.
I am filled with awe by this.
It requires that we face the unknown,
that we rise to it.
You are still exploding in us,
and I am scared.
My trust is so puny.

But You are near. You are here
even as you have been from the very first.
You are the vast time and space
in which life is happening. You are Life itself
providing us with centuries to become
Your conscious image.

With wonder at what You have entrusted to us,
help me to know that You are both
the ground and the being
apart from which there is nothing.
Help me to stand up
in Your Freedom.

Welcome to my new blog! I still have some tidying up to  do with the theme, so bear with me while I and my fabulous designer, Chris Lowrance, put in the finishing touches.

Why “the Iron Wood”? That’s the realm of Angrboda, who came into my life early last year and has been a constant presence. Working with Her often involves journeying through Her lands, and thus, “Walking in the Iron Wood”.

I’ve moved over a bit of content from my prior blog, Tarot Pathways—posts that I feel are relevant to this part of my journey. I wrote there for seven years,  and there’s so much content that moving it all was impractical. Tarot Pathways will  remain online, but will no longer be updated. My new posts, draws, musings, and reviews will be here now.

Welcome to the Iron Wood!

Draw May 2, 2016: Fenja & Menja/Two of Coins; Algiz; Jormundgand/The World

Draw May 2, 2016: Fenja & Menja/Two of Coins; Algiz; Jormundgand/The World.

Welcome to Monday! All kinds of things are going on, most of which you have no control over. So how do you deal with this? Good boundaries (Jormundgand), strong protection (Algiz), and focusing on what you can do.

Which, with Fenja & Menja as the Active Influence, means do your work. Whatever that is—your day job, taking care of your family, taking care of your house, getting the oil changed on your car—today is the day to  buckle down and do it. This is not the day to plot and plan, or to analyze and ponder. Today is the day to make your to do list, and then work through it.

One item at a time, one task at a time, do your work. Focus on doing what you can do and keeping yourself out of harm’s way. The Universe is Doing Things, and you’ll find out what’s going on when you need to know.

The Rival
~Sylvia Plath

If the moon smiled, she would resemble you.
You leave the same impression
Of something beautiful, but annihilating.
Both of you are great light borrowers.
Her O-mouth grieves at the world; yours is unaffected,

And your first gift is making stone out of everything.
I wake to a mausoleum; you are here,
Ticking your fingers on the marble table, looking for cigarettes,
Spiteful as a woman, but not so nervous,
And dying to say something unanswerable.

The moon, too, abuses her subjects,
But in the daytime she is ridiculous.
Your dissatisfactions, on the other hand,
Arrive through the mailslot with loving regularity,
White and blank, expansive as carbon monoxide.

No day is safe from news of you,
Walking about in Africa maybe, but thinking of me.

Draw May 1, 2016: Hela/Death, Yr (r), The Volva/Four of Swords

Draw for May 1, 2016: Hela/Death, Yr (reversed), The Volva/Four of Swords.

Well, isn’t this a cheery way to bring in the May? It would do quite well for a Samhain reading for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere. But it’s what we have today, so let’s take a closer look and see how it might work with the energies of Spring.

Hela as the Active Influence tells you in no unequivocal terms that the situation is done, done, done. There’s nothing left. When there’s nothing left to hold onto, you have to let go and move on.

The Volva as the Hidden Influence reinforces Hela’s message of letting the past go, and keeping it behind you. There is nothing to be gained by revisiting prior events, and the potential to do a lot of damage and derail yourself is high. Just don’t go back there.

Yr is reversed. Often I would read this as a caution against losing focus, but given today’s cards, it reads to me that you do need to lose focus—on the past. Focus on the present moment, focus on the future. Take the day to detach yourself from what binds you and holds you back.

Move on, into the Spring, into the season of renewal for those welcoming Spring, and the season of rest for those moving towards Winter.