Architect’s Hand

Today my manager rings and asks if I can just nip to Bristol. I ask ‘When?’ and she says ‘Now.’ I’m more than delighted as a 300 mile road trip with my favourite person (me 🤣) is plenty of thinking time to mentally write up that D. O. card that’s been waiting in the wings. I think about the above image and during the course of the journey, memories and thoughts weave in and out of the tunes coming from the radio… I recall blogging about the card a couple of years ago and comparing it to the Ace of Swords… I cannot remember the name of the post… I have vague memories of it being about making editorial cuts and ruthlessly killing off ‘precious’ ideas that didn’t have true strength… Of returning with critical eye to see other merits that weren’t immediately apparent at the conception… I wonder if I’m drifting into another D.O. card that currently has working title ‘Sparta Baby’? Probably? This Oracle seems to be what a Statistician may describe as continuous rather than discrete data… No clear cut off point between one card and another… My thoughts turn to an old fieldtrip journey, a very earthy vision, grubbing about between the roots of a tree. A Norn asked me if wanted a sword or a spade to dig a big hole but I chose my hands. My logic being – ‘They’re easier to clean and harder to take off me.’. I got a voice echo from something that came from background TV noise a few days ago. The context escapes me, but the words that returned were something like – Yes you can use a blade to kill, but you can use a blade to heal. A surgeon cuts to heal. You can use a blade to butter your toast. Kill, heal, butter… A blade is a blade it doesn’t care which… That made me smile and think about card readings… In my hands, if I so chose, I can take those pictures… I could if I felt so inclined, butter you up… I could maybe prompt some kind of healing or I could just slay you… My mind flashed back to I’m not sure when. It must be a good while ago as it took me back to a tarot fb group and I ditched all of those many moons ago. My problem is, I see something in a newsfeed and if it strikes me as funny then I slap on a punchline, completely forgetting that it’s out there in public… Too many times I’ve accidentally landed in a forum, thinking I’m having bants with a pal… So, this one day, whenever it was, I saw just one line – ‘Tarot cards are dangerous’ Without thought, I type ‘People are dangerous’. Then the fb nonsense began. A complete stranger to me, decides she’s going to school me… ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about! Tarot is dangerous!’ I stand my ground and I think I made a flippant remark about yeah papercuts sting! She upped the ante and just for good measure started to tag in her buddies… ‘Tarot cards ARE dangerous! We’re not talking about fluffy oracle cards here. Let me put it this way. Tarot cards are electric knives, oracles are butter knives. I wouldn’t leave my child alone at the breakfast table with an electric knife but I would leave him with a butter knife’ She tags in more of her buddies who I don’t know. God knows who see is trying to impress but oh man… She’s brought in an audience and my inner cunt is awaking as I feel the mic drop coming on… ‘Oh, thank you! Now I totally get it! Though if I were you, I wouldn’t leave your child alone at the breakfast table. If he has your brains then there’s a good chance he’ll poke his knife into the toaster… Butter knife, electric knife… I’m pretty sure once in the toaster, the result is pretty much the same Boom!’ Yup… Tools sure are tools… Thoughts drifted back to the Ace of Swords and then in turn through each of the other 3 Aces. In all 4, the hand looms large. Sure there is power inherent in each element but the true power lies in the hand the weilds… Returning home, I decided to rummage through notes… What did I originally write about this card? “The Norns have been really dicking me around… could not for the life of me get Dancers to land… have a really weird image that I’ll shelf for now… may make more sense later… tried a couple more and wax just refused to co-operate… so eventually… I said – OK! What do you want me to see? This came out… it feels to relate back to that earlier session with the what do you want to dig with? Spade or sword? And I said hands… This image appeared and Norns laughed at me! Oi! Goofball!! Pick up your sword!! You’re not supposed to dig down into the dirt… DISRUPTION… take action! Pick up the sword and create an opening!! Cut yourself free and walk out… lol I think that is funny in relation to sleeping beauty… don’t lie there waiting to be rescued… be your own hero… ” I smiled as I remember my working title of “Awaking Beauty”. I decided to rummage further and unearthed some of C’s notes… “Journey five 26.01.16

• Hagalaz (disruption) – Kenaz (opening) – Wunjo (Joy) With Berkano (birth) underneath Kenaz .. Ingwaz (Fertility) and Sowelo (Wholeness) on the sides.

…… The door opened out into a room where a man was at a drawing board. He was using the rune, Kenaz as a set square to measure something out. He kept thinking he’d finished and the Norn kept slapping his hand, saying ‘take your measure properly’. It happened a few times. ‘Go back measure it properly’. He eventually held the rune, Wunjo, to his chest smiling. He knew he’d got it now. The Norn smiled too. Colours exploded up like fireworks.” I smiled and made the editorial decision to put the pun title ‘Waking Beauty’ back to sleep and officially title this card “Architect’s Hand”.I think that’s a glove that’s a much better fit.