Flowers in the Dark

Tarot, writing 1 Minute

Ukiyoe Tarot – Queens of Swords and Cups

Ukiyoe Queens of Swords and Cups

Normally I draw one card per day, but these two ladies popped out together as I was shuffling (first time with this deck, recent acquisition) so I thought perhaps it was significant. So, what to say? GRRL POWER! Or not. Air and Water. Lots of water. Watery part of Air, Watery part of Water. I’m drowning. My emotions are overriding my intellect. Hmm. Yeah, I guess you could say that. It’s been a tough week, emotionally. Part of me knows I need to just suck it up and deal, but most of me wants to sit in the corner and suck my thumb. Now that the Stressmas season is upon us, I have never felt so bleak. And why turn to a deck full of beautiful pinks and purples and roses and flowers instead of my usual dark, gothy, creepy decks? Dunno. I haven’t had this deck long, and I’ve been hunting it down for years, so I was dying to take it for a spin.

Started what I expect will be a short story yesterday, wholly unrelated to vampires, paranormal, supernatural, or horror. Likely very depressing. I’m pushing all these emotions out onto the page.

Published by D. D. Syrdal

Writer of vampire stories and science fiction. First novel, "Revenants Abroad", available now at Amazon. If you like a vampire you can go out drinking with and still respect yourself in the morning, I think you'd like Andrej.

Published

31 thoughts on “Flowers in the Dark”

  1. that’s the cheery side of your nature refusing to be denied, seeking out those flowers and gem tones in an effort to elbow out the gloom. Respect all your emotions – the dark AND the buoyant – and you’ll feel better.

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  3. What do you have to do that sucks, or is it just the whole getting and spending atmosphere that’s bugging you?

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  4. Those Queens look like they’re sharing a private joke. What is it they’re not telling you?

    I’ve always loved the artwork of the Ukiyoe, but as a tarot I find it inscrutable.

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  5. It may prove that way for me as well. The ‘floating world’ style is just gorgeous, but I find myself gravitating to the more esoteric decks lately (Thoth, Magickal, Hermetic, etc.). The pretty ones are nice to look at, but as you say, often inscrutable. They just don’t speak up. Maybe I’ll just frame some of the cards.

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  6. Sorry to hear you are feeling down. But it’s also perfectly normal to feel that way sometimes. I agree with Mary- respect all your emotions.

    As for the holidays- just refuse get sucked into the commercialism that the US has turned them into. It’s nice here- some decorations go up, and it’s simply a family time. Sure, presents are given, but it’s not about maxing out one’s credit card.

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    1. There will be no maxing out of the credit cards, can’t afford that, and since that’s all the family cares about, there’s not much solace in spending time with them. Having boys kind of put the kibosh on holiday spirit as well, they could care less. If I don’t harangue them about getting together I would never see them. I am pretty much on my own.

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  7. That’s lovely, Gypsy – I say let’s all make a pact to rock Xmas German-style this year. I used to work with a young Polish woman who said pretty much the same thing – they took Xmas as an opportunity to get together with the family, eat simple food, and basically celebrate all being together in good health with a roof over their heads.

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  8. p.s. DD –

    are the “Girls” telling you that you’re drowning, or floating forward? In Joycean mythology, water=women=the River of Life, always flowing, always in motion, yielding, changeable, taking the shape of her container yet constituting the most intense, powerful force on Earth. The protagonist’s wife in Finnegan’s Wake is named Anna Livia Plurabelle, named after Ireland’s river Liffey, but also after life itself, and of course all the plural (“plurabelle”) identities women and their offspring assume. You may think you’re feeling a little soggy, but you’re actually absorbing strength!

    Of course I don’t know the first damn thing about Tarot but that’s what I’m getting out of it.

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    1. Water is indeed the most powerful force, but I think in my case the waters of the subconscious are washing me away. If I could just go someplace that’s never heard of Christmas (Mars, maybe?) it might be bearable.

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  9. But that stuff doesn’t have to stay in your subconscious. It’s seeping up to the front of your mind, IMO – you just have to be patient and listen. Besides, there’s the title of your next sci-fi story: “Christmas on Mars.” Who could resist it?

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    1. Hell, even Shakespeare borrowed plots…

      Fang and I are pretty much in agreement that our cat is actually a little alien from another planet, sent to spy on us; someday I’ll do my version, an operetta called Xmas on Cat Planet. No crummy animatronics – the whole thing would be done with real cats, milling around the way they really do, dubbed over “Milo & Otis” style.

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    1. Oh sorry! That’s the airport code for the Portland airport, and local shorthand for the city itself. There’s even a tv station, KPDX here. Like I used to do with my military acronyms, I get so used to using it I forget not everyone else does. You see it everywhere around here, everyone uses it so it becomes second-nature to us Portlanders.

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  12. Water is also a purifying element. Could it be that the tarot is speaking to a cleansing aspect? Dreams of strong or stormy waters come to me during a rough or transitional time. As unsettling as it is, it does mean that there is calm after the storm.

    I find these queens a bit removed — they don’t look at you; their glances are off to the side. Inscrutable is right.

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    1. I appreciate everyone trying to put a positive spin on these cards, but if anything I really think they’re reflecting what I’m feeling. Every reader develops their own dictionary, if you will, for interpreting cards. Everything in my head is telling me I have an overabundance of water going on.

      To further muddy the waters (heh) the Q of Swords generally indicates a single woman, whether a widow or just alone somehow, or possibly just a very independent woman whose head rules her heart. The Queen of Cups, on the other hand, is all about being gracious and feminine, loving and nuturing, peace and harmony. But since water takes the shape of whatever it’s contained in, she can be quick to pick up whatever feelings are going on around her, like a sponge. She can become overly sensitive (boy howdy!). These two can be kind of adversarial. I mention all this to give you an idea of how I’m coming to my interpretation.

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  13. Positive or not, they sound like the yin & yang of your nature – all of us have more than one side to our temperament; you are ahead of the game for recognizing that. I stand my my original take on it – acknowledge your emotions, but acknowledge all of ’em, the light AND the dark. The shortest day of the year is coming, and you know what that means: after the Solstice, nature brings us more and more light, however gradually, whether we like it or not!

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  14. Oh you know me, I’ve been embracing the Dark for some time now.

    Speaking of the dark, I just saw this on Twitter. It was ‘retweeted’ by a person I follow known as EvilWylie, the original sender is the RexHuppke person (who I do not follow):

    “RT @RexHuppke: The Christmas tree is up and I’ve placed the poison-tipped spikes in the fireplace. Now we wait.”

    Is it wrong that I laughed out loud at that?

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  15. If it’s wrong, we’re going to hell together, b/c I cracked up, too. On a similarly creepy note, my friend L’Italiana tells me that she has seen BLACK artificial Xmas trees at 2 different stores. I just don’t get it at all!

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  16. Bizarre for Christmas, although many people are now doing ‘Halloween trees’. I wonder if they were leftovers from that holiday? There can’t be that many goths who need a black tree, can there? EvilWylie did point out these decorations on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/f1JHES

    This guy’s a scream, no idea who he really is, profile says he’s a publishing insider.

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  17. The skull ornaments are weirdly appealing – I could see hanging them on a dead branch for Halloween or Day of the Dead, or maybe on a boat with a pirate theme.

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  18. That would be kind of fun, actually, a pirate-themed christmas tree. I can see all kinds of little boat ornaments, fish, shells, little treasure chests… hmm…

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    1. Actually, we have the bare beginnings of that b/c we always bring ornaments back from New England and the Jersey Shore – the star on top of our tree is a real starfish I bought in Mystic. Tell the little ones that Santa showed up this year wearing a bandanna and an eyepatch: Yaaarry Christmas, maties!

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  20. Looks like we’ll have to campaign to move ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’ to December 25. And we’re back around to a watery discussion!

    Oh, I found out who Evil Wylie is, he actually has his real info on his blog.
    http://www.evilreads.com/about-evil-wylie-and-evilreads/

    I also follow Emperor Franzen. The two of them alone are worth the price of admission! (not that Twitter costs anything, but if it did… just sayin’) Check out the Emperor’s pic at the link, the evil emperor from Star Wars, only with Jonathan Franzen’s face in the cloak. He’s hysterical.

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  21. perhaps the Queens are telling you’re going find some sunken treasure, or maybe have a fling with a pirate 😉

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