Cocoon and Release

As we march bravely toward the light, many things are percolating in my head. Ideas, plans, images.

I have been cocooning, regaining much needed energy, while the weather conspired to allow me to do so. My car is resting in drifts of snow, and thankfully I don't have any pressing errands to run. Well, not pressing. I do have a couple of books to pick up for my goddaughter, and the makings for a hostess gift for Emily's mom that I am making, the ingredients for the dish I am going to take. Yes, yes, I need to do all these things, but I don't want to budge from my home.

I have been designing the Tarot deck like a mad woman on a mission. The Balloon suit is almost done and it will have its grand unveiling soon. It's been difficult, I have to admit. I have been trying to clear my head of the preconceived images and meanings of the traditional decks with which I am so familiar.

The Balloon suit has been the most challenging. If you are at all familiar with the Swords suit in the traditional Tarot decks, you will know why. Most of the cards speak of despair, depression, and defeat. These are the emotions I do not wish to encapsulate in mine. It's not that I am in denial (another "de" word), it's that I want this deck to uplift and guide. In my many years reading the Tarot, I have always felt my energy spiral into an abyss any time one of the swords appeared, knowing that the person I am reading for is feeling the same. So how do I touch upon challenges without sending myself and the person I am reading for into the pit of darkness?

To illustrate this, I have included the counterpart from the Ryder-Waite deck.

This card speaks of emotional baggage that is weighing us down and not allowing us to go forward - to reach shore. There is a sense of bleakness and despair in the realization.

Okay. We have all been there. In the tunnel, with no light. Baggage hitting us in the shin.

"Drop the baggage!" Our enlightened soul sings. "Let go!"

So instead of depicting the difficult passage that has the person frozen in a stalemated journey, I depicted the Release.

The release of the baggage, the letting go of all the things, events and people that have stifled our growth, and the sense of freedom it brings.

The red balloons fly away behind us, as we lift our arms and faces to the light, and negotiate our way home.

That is the feeling I want people to have when they see my interpretation of this card. I want them to feel the weight lifted, as the baggage drifts off into space, where it can be absorbed by the cleansing Universe.

If you are feeling like the road is endless and nonnegotiable, if the weight of problems is burying you, my wish is that you find the courage to let go. Let go of those toxic things that stifle you, and be free, be free to sing, and find your way home.

Blessed be :)