The Rhythm of Life

I love it when tarot can pull you off to some place else. Take this morning. On drawing my card for today, I was off, finger-walking my way through YouTube, watching videos about shamanic trance-dance, of which I knew nothing about before. That's what the young woman is doing in the illustration for the 5 of Vessels. Entitled Ecstasy, she is shown dancing within the light of her pentangle. Against a background of the starry sky, I like to think of her as communicating with the rhythm of life.

Those who practice kabbalah learn to tune in to what is called the 99% realm. The remaining 1% is what we perceive in our physical world through our five senses. We can arouse the 99% in dreams, through acts of kindness, love, sex, and meditation. To me, it seems as if the girl in the 5 of Vessels is doing the same kind of thing. She is being taken over by inspiration and joining a world outside of the mundane one that we can see and touch.

For those who are used to the Rider Waite pattern of tarot, this card takes quite a diversion. I wonder how many people will buy this deck because of the art and then render it unusable, due to it not being familiar enough to Waite's tradition. Rather than feelings of loss and emotional withdrawal, the 5 of Vessels is about connection, union, and inspiration. So what could this mean for me today?

In one of the videos I watched, a woman called Jennifer Masters suggests that one of the keys to shamanic trance-dancing is being able to let go. She says that we must try and push away our inner chattering, which I have heard described in Buddhism as the Monkey Mind. The Monkey Mind is a metaphor to characterize those times when our mind keeps jumping from one thing to another, just like a monkey restlessly moves from tree to tree. Instead, both our body and mind must surrender to the music and rhythm. This reminds me of how some people are taken over by spirit in their religious practice.

I felt drained this morning. I have days like that, and rather than fight it, I went with it and let the rhythm of tiredness ride me. I slept for an extra hour, and now I am up, I plan to get on with some art work. I think that this is where today's card lays. I find it very hard to stick with projects. If I start something and it doesn't go the way I had envisioned, I often abandon it pretty quickly. And this is not what this card wants me to do. The 5 of Vessels is asking me to quieten my monkey chattering and ignore those thoughts about my work not being right, good enough, or heading towards the bin. The card suggests that I simply link in with the rhythm of the piece and simply create, without any conscious worry about where the work is going. Easier said than done? Maybe, but I shall give it a go, all the same.

My friend bought me this pack of cards for my birthday. It is one of four decks I have that is illustrated by Will Worthington. However, this one has a slightly different style to the other three. These are lighter, where as the paintings in the others are more dense. For a moment, I wondered if they are actually line drawings, coloured up on the computer. If not that, then watercolours. There is something fresher about these. They remind me of children's storybook illustrations, since they have a lot of energy about them. I have heard that the deck has provoked a lot of controversy and criticism, due to being linked to a long-out-of-print deck called The Greenwood. I don't know what the collective beef is with The Wildwood, but I am guessing that it has something to do with the merchandisers jumping on the back of Chesca Potter's visionary original paintings. It amazes me how so many people can show such unyielding loyalty to one artist or deck, and then turn a blind eye to the thousands and thousands of rip-offs of Pamela Coleman Smith's Rider Waite illustrations.

I have never really tuned in to what was so wonderful about the original deck, so none of the controversy makes much difference to me. I am excited about getting to know it for what it is, and not for what it isn't. There are some striking illustrations in the set, which I know will be lovely to use out in nature, as well as at home here. As with other decks I have, it is made all the more special through being gifted by a very close friend.



Illustration from The Wildwood Tarot by Will Worthington