Monday, January 23, 2023

Dogs and a Tarot Deck

          

          Recently, I made a very dumb mistake when I headed across the street to play with my furry neighbor, a golden doodle named Cooper. I had my deck of little Rider-Waite Tarot cards in the pocket of my coat. I wanna tell you about that and also share something quickly about how I get 'yes' and 'no' messages from my Higher Self, just in case this tidbit ends up being helpful to you.


 

           Man, what happened with the Tarot cards was so dumb. My only copy of "the Star" fell to the ground and attracted Cooper's attention. He ran around with this thin, waxy-textured new toy in his mouth for a good while, chewing the thing into a lumpy, hole-riddled piece of crap. It was joining the Three of Cups, the back of which was so stained that I could always identify it from the back and the poor Hermit card was damaged, too. I thought about when to make this Rider-Waite deck a back-up and head over to my favorite local metaphysical shop to pick a new one. In a moment of being short-sighted, ignorant and whatever else (maybe selfish without acknowledging it?), I worried that I might actually eat the card and thought that I should notify Cooper's human, my neighbor. I told her what happened...and then...0n New Year's Day, I visited Cooper again and received a Christmas gift!

                                                           

                                                       
And look! The angel is a pibble terrier!

           I told a friend this story recently and she rightfully teased me. After all, what if I totally gamed my neighbor, getting her to buy me a new Tarot deck as if I didn't want to?! Ohmydog. 

          In case you're wondering about the name of this deck and its creator, I found a likeable photo of it that at least used to be on Etsy. 

                                                 https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2Fth%3Fid%3DOP.IWiWvNMTSPw%252f4Q474C474%26o%3D5%26pid%3D21.1&f=1&ipo=products                                                    

          Dogs represent some deeply necessary things and as such, can set an example for me. These animals remind me of the pure, essential innocence that radiates both from them and from toddlers. Our species each are born in possession of playfulness and an open mind and it's so f&#$ing important that I not stay in the habit of forgetting that mindset.


Other neighbor friends! From left: Luna, a black lab and Mayberry, a champagne Newfoundland.

         

           I learn a lot from dogs in countless interactions, which is humbling and relieving. After originally publishing this post on January 23rd, I decided to revisit it on February 7th after some consideration, looking at my relationship with a couple of blue tick hounds I met recently. They're housemates and may even be sisters, but what I know for sure is that they are pretty, pretty girls named Libby and Gertie and although their penchant for barking is annoying, they're fun to observe, fun to play with and honored me with their decision to make me a friend. They approach every time they see me and Gertie in particular will come up close and want to be petted. Just by each doing their own thing, these talkative, fuzzy-faced dogs remind me about patience and not overreacting and the importance of just focusing on sharing an affectionate moment with someone, doing your best to think of nothing else. 

          

Finn, a Boerbel.
  

           

          Hey, on another note,  I learned something today that surprised me: There's a decision I've been making every day for a good while that I just learned was the choice that made my life a little harder. I had checked in with spoken to the Other Side multiple times over the course of months, thinking that I was being divinely advised to make this choice and it turns out that I misinterpreted. I looked again at my schedule for tomorrow and decided to have that be the first day of implementing the old habit I abandoned months ago. Let's give that reestablished routine a two-week trial and see how it (I assume positively) impacts my current life! After all, I'm training at a new job right now and maybe the reestablished habit will make that experience less stressful with better results! Speaking of better results, I may have told you before that I've been trying to get my answers to many questions with a squeeze of my left elbow for 'no' and a squeeze of the right elbow for 'yes', but it's now glaringly obvious that this was not a good enough system, so in the moments when I utilize clairsentience, I'm gonna try to have 'no' be the left elbow and 'yes' be my right shoulder. Let's see how that goes (though literally, as I type this, I'm getting a pang in my chest, the left pectoral muscle). 

          *Deep inhale* So. More on this later.

         

            I'll tell you more another time. Just know that I'm catching up on TV and movies, making a variety of homemade soups and some lemon pepper asparagus and drinking plenty of espresso. We'll talk later. I'm gonna go spend time with my two different furry friends named Nala, one of whom you can see in her first TV appearance right here!