The 2s ~ duality
To balance, to deduce, to wait, to connect
Pentacles
~ Embracing
moderation and a healthy sense of equilibrium.
Balance, even-handedness, speculation, juggling, bipolar, mood swings, fairness, equality, aloofness, denial, money, instability
2/Pentacles ~
This is the juggler juggling life on a variety of levels, trying wildly and often in vain to maintain an equilibrium on this journey through life: What if he’s not successful? What if he drops the ball? How will he pick up the pieces? These are all questions that run through our mind with the fluttering uneasy feeling that we are the juggler, and we’re standing upon life’s stage, our weaknesses and our efforts exposed.
It’s best to remember that trying and failing is so much more valiant than not trying at all. And many of us may be quite shocked to discover that trying and succeeding results in an explosion of endorphins and outrageously magical self-satisfaction.
Reversed:
Now is not the time for stagnation, lassitude, or ambivalence. Pick up the god-damn ball and your sense of responsibility along with it. It’s time to test your fortitude, your courage, and your ability to take charge of your own life and all that this entails.
My
Personal Connection:
Money
has always been an up and down mad attempt at a clumsy juggling routine;
earning it, spending it, pinching it, searching for it, trying to hang onto it,
losing it, finding it, being impacted by it’s loss, and confused by it’s
overwhelming unexpected presence. It
started in childhood, raised by a grandmother on social security. Even back then, in the 1960s and early 70s,
living on $400.00 a month was a major challenge.
Did I ever go without? Probably, but I was blissfully unaware of it at the time, at least in that wonderful misty time of early childhood. Did my early experience with money and its impact on daily life affect my attitude and life choices later? Probably. Though I’d have to say that marriage and relationships also played a big part in this scenario as well.
As the juggler on this card is trying to balance the pentacles in both hands, he’s also trying to walk. And I don’t know about you, but this image is an analogy for me, my life, and my financial experiences. I’ve learned that some people can do two things at once quite successfully, and there are those of us who can’t.
Swords
~ Embracing
hesitation and a healthy quest for thorough understanding.
Stalemate, indecision, hesitation, in-the-dark, struggles, defiance, suspension, guilt, incapacitation, delusion
2/Swords ~
There is the feeling of having come to a cross roads and, with our eyes closed, we’re expected to choose a path on this fork in the road: Who has the courage or desire to do this? Not I, you say. So you freeze, and you may feel that you will be stuck at this crossroads, frozen in this shroud of indecision forever.
Sometimes we are kept in the dark by outside forces, but there are other instances where we prefer not to know, and we bury our head in the sand successfully smothering ourselves and our future happiness. The lesson here is that we have to remove the blind fold, no matter how much it hurts.
Reversed:
We are butting heads with another individual, or with ourselves. In the first case, who is the stronger character? Who will present the best argument? Who will prevail? In the second case, we have to convince ourselves that the odds are in our favor, that chance is an opportunity and not an adversary.
My
Personal Connection:
This card wreaks of stalemates, estrangements, and tangled relationships, with my mother, my oldest daughter from a first marriage, several husbands, and the family members that came with them. For me, I think the figure on this card should be wearing a gag as well as a blindfold, because so often communication has been at the heart of these matters. Either all communication was stopped and I experienced first hand “the cold shoulder”, or the communication was misread, taken the wrong way, and quite possibly because sometimes people who don’t like you just choose to take that route. They see things from a skewered perspective because they want to. It makes it easier to dislike you and dismiss you.
The figure on this card has whole conversations going on in her head behind the blindfold, because not communicating was not her choice. Even now, this card is relative to me, though many of the scenarios it represents have long passed. I could easily meet with family, ex-sister-in-laws, ex-mother-in-laws, ex-brother-in-laws, ex-husbands, etc., and take up conversation virtually as if nothing has happened. Obviously, not everyone can do this. These people can’t. But the point is that when I look at the big picture… I’m more balanced and centered than I thought, and more balanced and centered than some of these characters in the past. (She says, patting herself on the back.)
Wands
~ Embracing
patience and the ability to moderate successfully.
Patience, contracts, business, waiting, favoritism, bartering, compromise, distraction, obstinacy, perseverance, long-term, continuity
2/Wands ~
This card carries all the perseverance that comes with the patience of a saint: It alludes to the idea that “all good things come to those who wait”. It personifies quiet dignity partnered with determination. It reaffirms the fact that deciding on a course of action and actually sticking with it will bring positive results. This card is all about that thing which we humans often find so difficult, if not impossible… Waiting.
Reversed:
Patience is a virtue, this card screams. It’s filled with all sorts of platitudes and encouragement. It teases us with the carrot of success dangling from a string, only inches from our nose. But all the while, in our upside down state, the blood rushes to our head, and we grow ever more faint.
My
Personal Connection:
This
card is enveloped and smothered with the energy of waiting, a life time filled
with waiting… waiting for the right man to come along; waiting to write
the first book; waiting to get published for the first time; waiting for
someone to say or do something I’m anticipating; waiting for a paycheck;
waiting for a windfall; waiting for contract negotiations to be resolved;
waiting for a tv production crew to get to my house; waiting for a show to be
filmed; waiting for a show to air; waiting for spring; waiting for the weekend;
waiting for a gazillion other things, some big, some not.
This
waiting has touched all levels of life… personal, professional, and
financial. The big lesson here is that
perhaps too much time is spent frozen in suspension, waiting for something that
either will never come, or will not be what you anticipated it to be. There’s a tremendous sense of regret, wasted
time, wasted effort, wasted opportunities, and wasted money that go along with
the energy of this card.
But, at the same time, when those little victories we’ve almost given up on manage to slip in around all the other sludge, a quiet voice in the back of our mind says, “It was worth it!” And we smile in abject exhaustion.
Cups
~ Embracing
healthy and fulfilling connections.
Commitment, promises, long-term, soul mates, love, relationships, connections, trust, understanding, preferences, stability
2/Cups ~
This card is the epitome of commitment and devotion: Whatever the alliance represented by the two of cups, you’d better settle back and prepare for a lengthy association. You’re in it for the long haul. This card represents continuity, firm connections, faithfulness, and the ability to survive outside attempts to break partnerships.
There will be no doubts, no shaky ground, no miscommunication, no betrayal. The emotions, connections, individuals, and circumstances represented by this card are as solid and enduring as the Earth itself.
Reversed:
Be prepared to doubt everything you ever thought you knew to arrive at new conclusions.
My
Personal Connection:
As a Libra through and through, this cup is the epitome of my base instincts and nature. I have, from my early teens on, been searching for that one special forever-after connection. But interfering with this gloriously over-rated ideal was the cold hard face of The Real World. There was also the confounding and mysterious complexities of our society and culture. And then, of course, there was the mystery and persona of men wrapped up in our Cinderella fantasies.
All of these combined were leading me down the road of failure, or at least to eye-opening revelations.
This card, for me and my own personal connection, flies in my face every once in a while, trying to lure me in, trying to awaken dreams of the Princess Fairy Tale ending. And my response?...thanks, but no thanks. Been there, tried that, didn’t care for the gilded cage and other ramifications that went along with it.
The
two of cups is not for everyone. When
some people see it, they weep in delighted emotional illusionary rapture. And when other people see it, they run.
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