Tarot Dragonflies: Symbol Hunting for Joy on Election Day and January Classes

Artwork by Lisa Rizzo

Election results day, after delivering the children to school and pulling over to listen to Hillary’s concession speech, I walked beside the sea with my husband who took part of the morning off to be with me. In Hillary’s voice, I could hear the woven pain and promise when, near the end of her talk, she addressed women, young women, and little girls:

And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.

Back at home, overcome with a sense of immoblization, I rested face-down on the floor in a stripe of sunlight. Gradually, the seed-bursting warmth returned me to my body, my now. I sat up and looked out the window. The sun, now blocked perfectly by the spine of a palm tree, gave off a pale silver blue halo that enveloped the spine of a second palm tree just four feet away from the first tree.

Between the two trunks, in twos and threes, dragonflies lazily looped and landed, their wings backlit. A pair flew down into the yard, resting on the dried tips of the Bird of Paradise plant. I thought of my friend Lisa, who I worked with last month as we created our personal cards for Tarot’s suit of air, often depicted as swords in traditional decks. Here was Lisa’s suit of dragonflies, dozens of them—coming in form—so kindly, so gently, as if to say wake up, you are not alone! Lisa’s dragonfly, at the top of this post, lovingly visits here with her blessing.

In addition to the Tarot/art visitation, I am so very grateful for the beautiful newsletters from artists, writers, and healers that came to my inbox last month. Though I lost the path to my own words, I took solace in their words of hope, their grapplings to understand and chart a course to action, and their struggles to consider avenues to bridge-mending and even thriving again.  In that spirit, I’m offering courses in the New Year hoping to give sanctuary to others looking for a way to take up the pen again.

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Responding to the Election: In Election Blues: The Gift of Agency in Poetry, we will look at contemporary election/political climate poetry and write our own poems based on a range of prompts from election night experience to candidate expectations to letter poems to the next generation and more. This is a virtual write-in present-time class that will meet over Zoom starting Friday, January 6. For more information: Visit Election Blues: The Gift of Agency in Poetry.

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Practicing Gratitude: In My Cup Runneth Over: The Tarot Suit of Cups, we will move sequentially through the Cups from Ace to Ten, one card per week, and write personal responses to the card to deepen our relationship to the Tarot and to encourage a sense of heart-based gratitude as we connect the cards to our experiences of joy. This too is a virtual, live, write-in-present-time class that will meet over Zoom starting Thursday, January 5. For more information: Visit My Cup Runneth Over: The Tarot Suit of Cups.

Artwork by Tania Pryputniewicz

Making Your Own Deck: I am continuing the Tarot Dreamers: Make Your Tarot Deck series that I’ve been offering this fall; we pick up with The High Priestess. These classes are designed for soul-seeking women looking to connect artistically with their inner symbol world. We combine writing and art in the service of creating Tarot-inspired vision cards that function as beautiful physical reminders of the joys, dreams, and desires within.

The High Priestess, sometimes known as the card signaling, “the journey homeward” or a “return to oneself,” will be the focal point of our vision card making, along with the four ways we experience the High Priestess as we go about our daily lives: Two of Cups (navigating exchanges of the heart between equals), Two of Wands  (balancing our will before action), Two of Disks (juggling projects and commitments to finance while staying spiritually aligned), and Two of Swords (working to maintain a peaceful and loving set of thoughts in relation to ourselves so we can thrive internally as well as externally). For more information: Visit Tarot Dreamers: The High Priestess

In-Person Monthly Themed Poetry Workshop continues at San Diego Writers, Ink. January's theme is Outer Space. Come out and join us; we are a lovely, intimate circle of poets and welcome a few more bodies for sure. Sign up here:

Tania's First Tuesdays Theme Set Go Class

Additional Links of interest:

Artwork and Photo Credits: As noted by caption: by Lisa Rizzo and Robyn Beattie

A beautiful post my co-blogger at Tarot for Two, Mary Allen: The Lovers and the 2016 Election.

An excerpt from an inspiring interview with Tarot Deck Maker and Jazz Musician Art Lande of the Art Tarot:

We are really talking about your singing self. Let’s sing: something simple, like you would sing when you were two years old. We will sing together and we will listen together. What is honesty? What is innocence? What is resonance? It is something we feel, know in our hearts. Innocence, resonance, and looking at the heart of the matter together—whatever it is—we are all teachers and learners. And all the divisions, right vs. wrong, are heartbreaking. We’re all the same: We all want to be moved to the core.

Read rest of interview here: The Art Tarot.