Four of Cups (Burdock)

[vaneramos]

I promised to share more images of the Herbal Tarot. This deck is more charming than beautiful. This is the card I drew randomly to meditate on this morning: Four of Cups (Burdock). Interestingly, it also turned up in the Celtic cross I dealt yesterday. A classical meaning of the card is boredom. To me it speaks about daydreams and hidden emotions. In the present context, it reminds me quite eloquently of the necessity of turning ideas into story proposals and pitching them to editors, rather than just letting them float around in my head. I don't know why I should be focusing on this on my day off, as Danny and I are heading into Toronto to see Tafelmusik perform Mozart's Requiem tonight. Maybe it's a reminder to keep my mind open for story material.

(Edit: I don't know enough about the meaning of burdock to reflect on that for now.)

Comments

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

Tafelmusik doing Mozart's Requiem, how cool is that! I hope you both enjoy it a lot.

[snousle.livejournal.com]

I find tarot very interesting as a tool for reflection. I don't own a deck but I have had a few readings, putting together random yet "meaningful" combinations fascinates me endlessly.

Not sure if this is related in anything but name to the kind of tarot you are talking about, but here is one that really grabbed my attention, it means a lot for me:

http://www.daily-tarot-girl.com/2012/11/16/conditioning-osho-zen-tarot-card-friday/

[inishglora.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you read Tarot. I've long felt the 4 of Cups indicates discontent with what one already has in possession (3 of the cups are on the ground or in reality) and not noticing things around you or that are coming into your life (the fourth cup hovering). But I like your interpretation as well, because Cups are emotions and love. To me, the 7 of Cups means more of the "daydreams" idea, or of having to choose from several possibilities that are not yet manifested.

[apel.livejournal.com]

Burdocks are not nice. The seedheads have lots of little hooks and they stick to clothes and fur. This is the burr in the crude saying "He's got a burr up his ass."

Furry animals such as cattle can get burrs stuck in their fur. They are painful and irritate the skin. They often need to be cut off. That can be hard if the animal is in a lot of pain and the skin has become inflamed or maybe even infected. If a burr gets stuck under the saddle, the animal gets very distressed and will often throw off the rider.

Burrs can get stuck to human clothes and skin as well. Removing them as soon as possible is always the best policy, for humans and animals.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I love the music, but as always Tafelmusik's performance was outstanding. Their concerts are always unobtrusively educational. The first half of the concert included some fugues by J.S. Bach and a chorale piece each by J.C. and C.P.E. Bach sandwiched between an early sacred choral piece by Mozart and Ave verum corpus (the latter made me weep). It suggested how much it and the Requiem were influenced by Baroque music and the Bach family in particular.

The alto section consisted of three female and three male voices, which gave it a wonderful brassy timbre.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

That deck looks intriguing, too. I like what you said about the tarot. That describes pretty well how it appeals to me.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you read Tarot.

Well, I didn't. By now you probably saw my previous post, which explained why I started dabbling this week. It sounds like you know more about it than I do. I'll be interested to read your feedback as I'll probably post more about it.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Apel, how insightful! Thank you. We have a lot of burdock around here, so I'm familiar with these qualities, but they hadn't occurred to me.

The deck includes a lot of plants that mean nothing to me, and of course it excludes many local species that hold significant meaning for me. Talking to a friend of a friend about the tarot this week, I got the idea to create my own deck based on local plants. How they fit into the narrative of life (as you so eloquently suggest) might be more useful that considering traditional herbology.