Creaitve Draw of the Day: Eight of Wands

I love this card. Eight wands flying through the air--either about to collide with something, or about to ground themselves. Either way, it's good news; perhaps a character will be slammed by the creative spark wands provide. Or maybe her seemingly out-there ideas will finally come down to earth.

Ok, ok. It's not always good news. A character can be slammed by someone's explosive temper--wands represent the element fire, after all. Or she can be slammed by a flash of insight that forces her to confront some unsavory truth.

In fact, I think I'll take that last option with this card, and apply it to Ross Edmund. He can experience a shocking revelation about his family . . .

Creative Draw of the Day: The Chariot

Although I've never seen any book on the Tarot mention this, I believe this card is based on Plato's chariot allegory, found in the dialogue Phaedrus. Plato describes a charioteer who is trying to control two horses. One horse is a well behaved white steed, the other a troublesome, stubborn black steed. The charioteer represents the intellect and reason of our souls, the white horse represents the best of our passions, while the black horse represents the dark, dangerous aspects of our passions. The allegory ends up explaining how a soul incarnates.

I like to connect this card to the Jewish teaching of the good impulse (the yetzer ha-tov) and the evil impulse (the yetzer ha-ra). We all have both--and we all need both. The good impulse is our moral compass and moral sensitivity; the evil impulse is our ambition, willpower and chutzpah. The evil impulse is dangerous--if we don't strenuously regulate it, we become monsters. But without it, we'd never have the gumption to accomplish anything.

An old Star Trek episode--The Enemy Within--illustrates this. Kirk is split into two people, one exemplifying his yetzer ha-tov, and the other exemplifying his yetzer ha-ra. His 'good' side is benevolent and compassionate, but incable of making a decision or leading effectively. His 'evil' side is proactive and determined but a thorough bastard. See Sum of His Parts by David Holzel for a more detailed analysis of the episode and its (accidental?) relationship to the teaching of the good and evil impulse. (A nice Jewish boy like Shatner must have made the connection, right?)

The lesson I'm going to take from this card is to examine my characters and see how well each balances the two impulses. They'll be more intriguing, I suppose, if they haven't got the balance right . . .

But that's my take on The Chariot. As I said above, I've never seen a book that links it to Plato's chariot allegory. I've never seen a book that links it to the Jewish teaching of the good impulse and evil impulse either--although some have said essentially the same thing without mentioning the yetzer ha-tov and yetzer h-ra. But I'd like to hear other interpretations. What's your take on the card?

Creative Draw of the Day: The Page of Pentacles

Pentacles correspond to Clubs in the modern deck of playing cards: they represent the element earth. (According to some traditions, reality is, mythically speaking, composed of four elements: fire, earth, air and water.) Earth represents--well, earthiness. You know: practicality, pragmatism, wealth, security, artisanship. Pentacles imply all of these.

The page represents a young man or woman--in this case, I'm going with a man. So we have a level-headed but inexperienced young man who's practical and, in all likelihood, a good number cruncher. Perhaps he's fresh out of grad school with a degree in Economics.

Ok, his name will be Ross Edmund. I'm going to make him the younger son of Stephen Edmund for my Roxburg stories. He can clash with both his father and his older brother as he vies for his own position in the family business.