A new year looms near and as is customary one looks back, evaluates decisions, experiences, hardships, and accomplishments, while making plans for the upcoming year.
This time I wanted to look at myself and where I stand with pleasure, and what brings me joy. Oftentimes I get so involved in all the immediate happenings going on that I forget to factor my joy. I stop finding pleasure in the moments, and focus on the density of burdens, souring my outlook. Therefore, this time around I have the following to offer myself and anyone that passes by.
I want to share an enchantment with the cards and a poem.
The Birth of Pleasure
At the creation of the Earth
Pleasure, that divinest birth,
From the soil of Heaven did rise,
Wrapped in sweet wild melodies–
Like an exhalation wreathing
To the sound of air low-breathing
Through Aeolian pines, which make
A shade and shelter to the lake
Whence it rises soft and slow;
Her life-breathing [limbs] did flow
In the harmony divine
Of an ever-lengthening line
Which enwrapped her perfect form
With a beauty clear and warm.
-Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1862
And the cards responded in like form, weaving poetry with images.
Cut away all bitterness and regret, divesting yourself of excess to stand under the rays of the moon and feel the coursing of your blood, the flow of life and the pleasure of the moment. Be in the moment, howl, bark, speak, laugh, cry, yell, in the moment letting pleasure and joy flow through you as well. After everything is said and done, we have very little control in this life, no matter how hard one tries to grip the sword, direct, cut, and solve. Do what you must and leave the rest to the waters. Life is meant to be lived and experienced, detach from control and live passionately, with the heart.
As we cross the threshold of 2017, may pleasure and joy flourish in all that we do and experience.
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