This week, I have decided to shift the weekly card pull to Sunday. I'm planning on sticking to this schedule. Tonight is a new moon and I think it's a good time to start a new ritual or adjust a current one.
I have decided to use Grandma Baby's Black Gold Lenormand Deck by Grandma Baby Apothecary. It's a beautiful deck full of ancestral wisdom, stunning pictures and a guidebook that delivers the word needed each time.
The card I have drawn is called Mountain (XXI). This card is the 8 of Clubs, a fire element and is called "Delays". The imagery depicts a mountain of cotton. The caption says it's from "Cotton on porch of sharecropper's home. Maria plantation, Arkansas" (October 1935) by Ben Shahn. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. When I see this card, I immediately think of labor and profit stolen. When our ancestors worked as sharecroppers, this was still a form of enslavement. They were often made to pay rent for equipment, land and housing while living on the plantation. They farmed and produced all of the crops and then were vastly underpaid for their crop and their labor. It was robbery.
I see the word delays and think of the ways money can get delayed, whether deliberately or by an obstacle. You may have to wait a bit longer for an expected check, for someone who owes you money to pay you back or even have to deal with an employer or client who isn't paying on time. This delay may add to some stress you already have about a variety of issues.
However, this card is in the suit of fire. It is not a diamond, which is the suit if earth. Which means this is about the way we handle a delay or being told no. It is not particularly focused on our finances. Maybe we had a goal we wanted to reach this week that may take longer. Or have plans that get to cancel at the last minute. All of these things are frustrating and can be upsetting. How do we cope with the frustration? How do we cope with obstacles when we face them? Often, we tend to blame ourselves or lash out at others. Please consider using another coping skill. This also calls on you to consider the source of the delay or obstacle and start there. Fire is about creativity. Creativity can include finding ways to fill a gap, prepare for a change in situation and adjusting our viewpoints so we can take several points of view if needed.
This week is a great time to breath, accept whatever delay has occurred, rest and then work towards your next goal. Take some time to sit with your emotions and acknowledge your disappointment. Then decide how you want to proceed. It's important to grieve not just loss, but disappointment. Dance, sing, move your body in ways that feel good, write, scream, express your anger or hurt in ways that don't harm others. It's ok to feel and take a pause. After that, you'll have a bit better foundation to decide which direction you want to continue in.
Disappointment is not failure. Set backs are not failure. And even if it was, failure is ok. We have to fail to learn sometimes. So this card of the week is asking you to take time to learn a bit more about yourself. Dedicate yourself to learning from the ways you haven't succeeded as much as the ways you have. And don't internalize these moments. There are so many barriers to achieving our goals in an anti-Black and capitalist world. Sometimes we are working for things we think we should instead of working for what we really want. When that's the case, our ancestors often place barriers to assist in your change of course.
The mountain of cotton in the card isn't just a legacy of theft and slavery. It's a legacy of our ancestors ability to know exactly what they were up against and still find creative ways to love, live and create as a community. To pass on their legacies despite every effort of those who owned plantations and turned a blind eye to the horrors of slavery. This is a miracle. And also hard work. Dedication. And love. Our ancestors didn't just pick this cotton as sharecroppers because they had no choice (though that's part of the story). They also did it to have a piece of their own land, independence away from plantation owners and space to pass our history and culture down to those who eventually, would be doing something different.
On that note, it's a great week to leave an offering for your ancestors.
Please use this reading to assist throughout the week. Utilize the questions if you'd like to journal, draw, etc. Take a look at the card and intuit what comes up for you.
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