The Greater Part of Life is Sunshine

But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine. – Thomas Jefferson

Sun Card from the Touchstone Tarot

The Sun card is exactly what you would think: Success, happiness, achievement of goals and dreams. The sort of feeling you get when everything seems to be going your way. Standing in the sunshine, basking in the wonderful warmth and life-giving light. With spring around the corner we should all be seeing more sun (well, most of us. Maybe not here in the Northwest for awhile yet). The card speaks of more than literal sunshine, it’s dreams coming to fruition, joy. Like the innocent baby merrily sitting astride the lovely white pony, sunflowers reaching to the sky, we’re about to experience abundance, strength, vitality.

White horses have been long held as sacred in many cultures, and heroes and gods and goddesses were often described as riding white horses. Even Gandalf’s horse in “The Lord of the Rings”, Shadowfax, lord of all horses, was white.

So, saddle up my friends. Brighter days are coming.

Pick-Me-Upper

In an attempt to get myself through this period of the blahs, I did what any red-blooded American woman would do: I went shopping. Well, just a little. I treated myself to a new and fabulous Tarot deck, the new Touchstone Tarot by Kat Black. I’d seen the main Web site for it, along with 78Friends site that shows each card, and I have to say they are more beautiful in person. I’ve never seen gilt edging quite like this, it’s almost a mirror finish. I tried to get a photo of the side so you can see how reflective the gilt is. You can also see in this picture how thick the companion book is. (click to enlarge)

The cards measure 5″x3″, larger than many decks. They come in a sturdy hinged box covered in decorative paper. The little book that comes with the deck is nearly as tall as the deck, and is half an inch thick. It’s all black and white, but lists the source paintings for the collage images used in the deck, as listed on the 78Friends site. It’s really gorgeous, the colors are rich and the cardstock is good. It’s not quite as thick as that used in playing cards, but not paper thin either.

I’ll definitely be spending some time working with this deck over the next few weeks.