78 Degrees of Tarot : March Challenge

So, for March, I've decided to do a Tarot Challenge. I have been reading Tarot personally, and for a little while professionally, for several years.

Unfortunately, my deck has been collecting dust for the past few months, so I thought this challenge would be a good way for me to get back into the habit of using it again. Hopefully, these card pulls will help you and you can relate some of these things to your life.

I've decided to not try and play catch up and just start on today, so March 11th's question is "What Holds Me Back/Why".

The card I pulled was the :

Court cards in a Tarot spread are traditionally read as people in our lives, but I feel uncomfortable putting the blame on someone else outside of myself for holding me back. Ultimately, if someone is holding me back, I'm still to blame, because I'm the one who put them in the position to do so. So instead, I'll read this for qualities apparent in the card.

The main thing that strikes me about this card is the stillness of the figure. She's a queen, she has a great deal of authority and yet... she's not doing much. There's a lot of potential energy, but not much kinetic energy. Her hand is outstretched, as if she's saying something, but her mouth is closed. Her upraised sword is still and immobile. She's wearing her crown, she's wearing her royal robe, sitting on her throne, but she's not exercising much of her power.

And admittedly the card is a bit of a close-up of her, but there doesn't seem to be any audience. The only witness to her being there is a lone bird, far off in the sky.

Also the Swords suit corresponds to the East. The sun rises in the East, just as the day begins. Perhaps not a whole lot has been done, but there is a lot of potential to be done. The suit also corresponds to the element of Air. While air is very important, it also can mean something that doesn't have a lot of substance.

I do have a problem with daydreaming. In and of itself, it's not a bad habit, unless you get lost in the clouds so much, it keeps you from actually doing something. I'm always a person who loves to come up with ideas or concepts for stories, but not in actually writing them down. I cringe to think of all the stories I've "lost", because I didn't even take notes and then forgot them altogether.

I certainly have the authority to do whatever I want with my creativity, but sometimes it remains just a potential, not something that has been acted upon. I realize I've wasted a lot of time, raising my hand, planning to say something, but never actually getting around to doing it.

While I've written and published several novels and short stories, every new project is a different animal. Just because you've been writing for years, doesn't mean you have it "all down". It just means you've written such and such and then the next new project, will be its own thing - with its own demands and problems to be solved.

And while that "always something new" can be exciting, it can also be daunting. I hardly wish for boredom, but sometimes, I'd like things to not seem so challenging all the time. Sometimes I think it's the fear of the situation that gets to me. It reminds me of something that Paulo Coelho wrote in "The Alchemist".

"Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself."

I don't know how many times I've been in supreme apprehension about something and then when it comes to pass, it's not near as painful or bad as I thought it was going to be. Being more mindful of this, I believe may help me just go ahead and do things, rather be anxious of what mountains I might run into if I do.

Thank you so much for reading, I'll hopefully have another tomorrow. If you enjoyed this and think it might be beneficial to others, please feel free to share using the Facebook and Twitter buttons below. Thank you!