Button Sunday

In a conversation with a longtime friend who hasn’t worked with tarot cards in many years, she wondered if I was doing so on the regular as my blog seemed to indicate. Not at all. I’d gone years without doing readings for anyone, even longer since I did them for myself.

I think one reason I recently pulled out any decks at all is because in my next saga (if this one ever comes to a close and right now its title seems to be 1974 Lasted a Century), there’s a character who has always intrigued me because she’s a young woman of contradictions. I’d been thinking of her (the second series is connected to this first one) and trying to recall things about her. And I remembered that she’s artistic and had once created her own tarot deck and there was a little story activity around that.

Then: I’ve occasionally featured some of my boxes on here, and that’s where most of the decks live, in wooden boxes. Then in September, I did the Idol Challenge with Dennis Wilson as my subject, and a couple of times I’ve shown the Dennis box I made, and it holds tarot cards.

Then: For fun, I did readings for a fictional character or two (not the one I’m speaking of above) and realized random cards could actually offer fiction writing prompts for my characters if I feel stuck.

Then: I had some writing challenges last year, so since I’ve been looking at the decks, I decided to see if pulling a few cards would help me better organize my thoughts on writing and not let other people make me doubt myself.

Then: I am always thinking about muses and I love the corvids, so the Muse and Crow decks jumped out at me. I always figure there’s a reason (beyond just, I AM IN A DAMN PANDEMIC AND ISOLATING AT HOME I MISS MY FRIENDS LET ME SPEND A LITTLE MONEY ON MORE STUFF SO I CAN DIVERT MYSELF–apparently my inner voice is an uppercase one, maybe even cursive, who knows) so I go with it, figuring it’ll be clear at a later point.

In other words, several things converged, and when Mark asked me how many decks I have, I figured why not do a regular Thursday post with tarot cards as the subject, because they both start with “T,” and though this blog has many random subjects, which is how I like it, that randomness may be a foolish idea because without focusing on anything, I’m not reaching a readership that wants that one thing, whatever that one thing is. Then again, you know what else I’m not reaching? Trolls who wander through people’s social media accounts to say hateful things to them or their readers/commenters. So…all good.

The blog’s just a gander at whatever pings my brain at any given time, and designating certain days (Button Sundays, Mood Mondays, Tiny Tuesdays, Tarot Thursdays, Photo Fridays) keeps me from having to think too hard of a subject. That was most helpful when I was employed and working 16-hour days, and now it’s helpful when I try to manage my creative time better. Fiction writing comes first, and by imposing a little structure on my blog, I don’t have to use a lot of energy trying to figure out what to post about and can spend my blog time actually writing text and finding photos.

If that all makes sense.

If there’s anything at all that I ponder or reflect on or wonder about, especially whether my muse or my higher self or my subconscious is trying to get through to me, it’s the random music–from a vast repertoire of music I own or remember or love or connect to people, places, and times of my life–that pops into my head.

But I have to confess, I have NO DAMN IDEA why “My Wild Love” is in my brain right now. I haven’t been listening to The Doors or thinking of The Doors or thinking of Jim Morrison. It’s my ear worm for no apparent reason. Which is how I came to choose today’s buttons from my own personal collection, and I may or may not have used them here before.

So yeah, sure, hi Jim Morrison, hi Doors, hi the friend who’s part of my personal zeitgeist that includes The Doors. Happy to have you visit my brain.