Eight of Wands: Speedy Poetry
Eight wands fly through the air in the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot. The bottom wand mingles with green earth, with the river. The rest will shortly follow.
The above card is from the Tarot of Marseille-Waite by Iger/Laverty, a wonderful decks that blends the minors of the Rider-Waite-Smith and the majors of the Marseille Tarot.
From the perspective of the Green Tarot project, where we experiment with the cards in relation to Nature-connection, here is an urgency to connect: a drive to pay close attention to Nature, right now.
Eights are one of the most powerful numbers in Tarot. The suit of Wands embraces our creativity. Decks inspired by the Waite-Smith Tarot show us images of speediness, of urgency. And so, in this precise moment, how about a quick haiku poem about an aspect of Nature that is around you at the moment?
Haiku is an ancient, simple and unpretentious form of poetry that originated in Japan when Zen Buddhism was at its most influential.
Please take out your phone or a notebook, or anything that is nearby that you can use for note-taking.
Well, go on, then!
(If you don’t have anything to hand that you can make notes with, perhaps you can close your eyes and do this in your head.)
The rules of Haiku are simple:
The poem must have three lines.
The first line has five syllables.
The second line has seven syllables.
The third line has five syllables.
That’s it.
Your task is to write a tiny poem about Nature; something that is taking place where you are at this precise moment, this place where you read this post. It could be a poem about plant in the room, a view from your window or a weed growing from a crack in the wall. If you are really stuck, a special memory of Nature that you can conjure will do just fine.
When you have finished your little poem, don’t overanalyse what you wrote as good or bad. The moment is gone. It was a Nature-connection activity, not an exercise in creating great art.
Next!
Above: Eight of Candles (Wands) from the Dharma Tarot by Michelle Sellers.
That’s all for now, friends. Thank you for being here – and please check out my Therapeutic Tarot Sessions and my courses embracing Tarot and Nature if you’d like us to work together. You can also sign up for the Tarot Blog newsletter (different to my main newsletter) below to receive occasional email updates (roughly monthly) with the latest posts.
Smiles from Scotland,
Stephen
