Pull at least three cards and use them to… tell us a story about a pair of shoes.
There’s smooth wood under the his soles as he sits on the porch. Once upon a time he was young and spry and new (Ace of Cups). But heat and cold and time has taken their tole upon him now and where once his soles were flat and strong, now they are brittle and curled slightly up at the toes. (Ten of Swords)
That’s because the leather is dry now. And as it dried, it made his toes curl up a bit, as giving him a different view over time. When first set here, he could see out over the wooden planks and watch the children play in the yard, the come and go of the mailman each day, and the passing of cars on the old dirt road.
But as toes curled, his view changed. Winter came and he watched the snow fall as temperatures plummeted, and then the world became warm again. Where once he could see the grass, by the time summer came again, he could no longer (Four of Swords). He couldn’t watch the boy that mows the lawn and dream about those grass stains anymore, instead his view began at the road and the trees on the other side, and just a peek of the sky (Four of Cups).
And he waited. Loyal and patient. He waited for someone to remember about the old pair of sneakers once new, and now long hidden under the rocker on the porch.
But winter came again and the cold gripped the world. The leather tightened further, dried out by the chill in the air (Nine of Swords), and his view again changed.
Now he can see the sky and the trees, but by the time summer comes again, the road is now gone. He sees planes that fly overhead, and watches the fall of rain as it splats and patters on the ground he can no longer see. Long nights filled with crickets songs and days filled with the squeak and slam of the screen door as the children come and go.
One day a windstorm came (imagery from the Three of Staves) and tossed branches from the trees nearby onto the porch, and during the cleanup that follows he is finally found. Alas! He is discovered! Picked up and brought inside, he is cleaned and moisturized, and his leather sighs in relief as oils are rubbed in (Princess of Cups) and he’s set upon the table to dry (Temperance).
For a full day, he watches the light come through windows and the comings and goings of the big, happy family (Ten of Cups). He is picked up by many, and tried on by some, and as night falls he thinks of his porch and the crickets and misses the moon (The Moon).
The next day, he is taken up and brought back outside, but he is not put on the porch. Instead, he is taken beyond the yard and along the road past the trees he’s known for so long (The Chariot). In town, he is handed to another and by the end of the day he is among other shoes (Seven of Cups), sitting on a box in a display window in town.
Then a day came while sitting in the window that a woman (Queen of Coins) and her small son stop to look inside and the little boy points to him through the glass (imagery on the Six of Cups).
They come inside, and in short order he is fitted on the little boy’s feet (Two of Cups). The boy wiggles his toes, tickling the shoes and causing a spark of glee, and the boy giggles happily in response to the energy created (Ace of Cups with Four of Staves).
The boy does not take off the shoes, but walks around the small shop with them on his feet as his mother deals with haggling and payment, and then… he tastes the joy of service after years of misuse (Six of Swords) as the little boy wears him out of the store and a new adventure begins. (Eight of Staves)
DECK USED: LIGHTEATER’S TAROT
Today’s meditation was ten minutes long, and was a guided meditation that focused on how it’s okay to be kind to yourself about missing meditation practice now and then… and how it is important to not look at your meditation practice as some kind of chore or task.
Today’s meditation was just over twelve minutes long, and was focused (again) on the new year. It spoke of new years resolutions, and how they don’t work. Not because we don’t want them to or don’t have every intention of following through with them, but because change is often something that needs to be integrated into our lives one small step at a time so that we have time to adjust and adapt.
Twisting the Leaf 