Eight is the Word

Today, I flopped down onto my bed with my tarot deck in hand yearning for a bit of guidance or purpose or something. I slid the deck out, randomly cut it and found myself face to face with the Eight of Water. And then I look over at the top of the deck (which I had pulled out of the box face up) and found the Eight of Earth. Interesting.

So I read about the Eight of Water and it says that the card shows a person looking down the path they have strayed from. The picture in the book showed the person standing next to 8 full cups looking longingly down a path that goes between two mountains. My card showed an empty circle enscribed in an empty rectangle on the top of the card and a hexagram containing eight circles housing blooming flower pots on the bottom. The gist of meaning was that although you may have a full life now, it isn't quite the one you were imagining, nor is it the one you are meant for and you need to move forward and work hard to achieve that original goal. I really did have a sense of "Is this what I signed up for?" when I pulled that card since I had just emerged from the shower to find a runny nosed toddler whining about wanting shoes and some other random thing and I just wanted to shower and dress alone. So that seemed sort of a given... but what is it that I am missing? Where did I step off the path and how to I get back on it?

I realized that the Eight of Earth was also speaking to me and that it was my clarification card. The clarification card that I never even asked for! It was just thrown in my face, really. So my book informed me that I am a master craftsman and that I am the envy and the pinnacle that those around me are striving for! Whoa baby! Really? I do get told, quite frequently, that I am able to "do it all" and am "always so calm" and apparently having four children in itself is some sort of a SuperWoman feat. I don't get that. I feel like I'm making all these mistakes and that I am sooooooo imperfect and I have this list twenty miles long of things that I should be doing better. I think what this card was telling me though is that I'm doing okay. In fact, I'm doing more than okay and if I could just let go and accept that, then I will be able to move on to achieve those other things that the Eight of Water was alluding to.

According to Wikipedia, a common meaning for the number eight is power and/or sacrifice. The Chinese meaning is sudden fortune and prosperity. I'm not really sure how that ties in. I was sure there would be something profound about the number eight, aside from being my favorite number. Power through sacrifice leading to fortune and prosperity? I'll have to meditate on that one.

But, what I do know is that it is time to move on. Action instead of reaction. Peace instead of angst and worry. Time to look out from atop this mountain I've built and see where the next step takes me. SuperMom? Who knows, but I am doing alright and now it's time to go after what I really want.