I am drawn to Swords it seems. Indeed, it feels like the whole deck is nothing but Sword cards.  But they’ve got to run out eventually, right?

The Eight of Swords for today, then …

Originally the Texas Tarot Eights were envisioned as cycles of emotion, both sticking points and hope. So, I surveyed the succulent images in the blog and the barrel cactus stood out …

As usual, I slept on it and woke thinking I could mirror the image to create an “8” shape. Or not. I abandoned the notion in short order as maze-like bookcovers called out to be considered and ultimately made the cut because …

• 78 Degrees: the clue to this card is confusion, oppressive ideas, isolation from other people
• Kitchen Table Tarot: the fear is the thing … this card is about being trapped by our own anxiety and allowing it to direct our life … it’s pretty serious
• The Creative Tarot: we want someone to rescue us … to tell us what to do … [but] no one else is coming … you have only yourself to rely on, so it’s either save yourself or quit entirely

As I cut and placed the bits and pieces, I sensed vertigo, sliding down into danger with nothing to grab on to, nothing to stop the slide. But I also sensed something higher …

if only we can find a way.

The Queen of Swords is “a complete badass” according to the Kitchen Table Tarot. But that obviously wasn’t how the card felt to me, because when I pulled out bookcovers, they were mostly soft colors ….

So, I sat with it a while. And pondered. And re-read the books …

• 78 Degrees: The Queen of Swords symbolizes both sorrow and wisdom … she uses the sword of her intellect to free herself from confusion, doubt, and fear
• The Creative Tarot: her love is where things begin as inspiration … so use the sword for the right reasons … know when it’s time to put it down and reach out with your hands

Then I decided to stay with what felt right: a graceful scissortail flycatcher perched on barbed wire, bare branches and green leaves, the trace of water through stone, with passionate intellect underlying it all …

The Queen of Swords, my way …

Back in the day, Don and I heard Marc Cohn perform at the little movie theatre in Williamsburg where there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. While I had favorites that he sang that night (Walkin’ in Memphis and True Companion chief among them), what stuck in my head was a righteous song about New Orleans titled Dance Back from the Grave.  We hadn’t yet been to New Orleans at that point, but listening to it in the here-and-now, recalled our journey there several years ago …

Anyway, the song played in my head as I worked on the Death card yesterday, after which I was more than happy to draw the Page of Swords …

• 78 Degrees: a much lighter card with a very different approach to problems … rather than change them, he finds it sufficient to simply get above them, to find the high ground
• Kitchen Table Tarot: he is chatty and curious, he has tons of energy, and his ideas are flying around
• The Creative Tarot: this card represents honesty and clarity, but also, on occasion, trouble

So, what better representative for the Page could there be than the grackle? A denizen well-known to the city of Austin …

Here he’s landed on a newly completed abstract that Don whipped out the other day …

along with a bit of bookcover underpinning …

I hope you dance …