The King of Wands Card indicates new opportunity and success on the horizon…

king-of-wands

The Queen of Wands fills the room with light…

queen-of-wands

Three wise women would have come to help deliver the baby, and make supper and clean the stable…

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A strory from Garrison Keillor:
I did a show in New York a couple weeks ago and at the end I had the audience sing “Silent Night,” the verse about calmness and brightness and also the shepherds and heavenly hosts and then we hummed a verse which, a capella, was so tender and haunting and beautiful, I saw people dabbing at their eyes, but at the same time I knew I was out on a limb, it being New York, there being so many unbelievers in the crowd and –– Hello? It’s New York? The handclapping to “Chanukah O Chanukah” an hour before told you that the Bernsteins and Brusteins and Blooms were in the house, and had they paid $109.50, to attend a Lutheran service? I don’t think so but I’m not going to speak for them.

They all knew the words: this came through clearly. Maybe they were Orthodox Chasidim from Crown Heights but they knew “Silent Night” and you can call it colonial acculturation but it sounded authentic to me and my purpose was only to give them the pleasure of joining a 1500-voice choir, a rare privilege in our fragmented society, wary people edging away from each other, and shouldn’t each of us at least once a year consider the possibility that the Creator of the Universe of galaxies known and unknown billions of light years away should come to this tiny insignificant planet in the form of an infant in order to better understand us mortal beings? It’s beyond our understanding but then so is the Universe.
In return, I will consider that maybe the Chasidim are right and I have wasted a great deal of time listening to sermons on the Pauline epistles.
I do believe in the Christmas story, that God put his omnipotence on a shelf and became an infant child –– it’s in keeping with Christ telling his disciples, “What you do for the least of these, ye do for me.” I believe, except for the three wise guys. How they snuck in is a mystery. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh are not suitable gifts for a newborn. Three wise women would’ve brought something useful and arrived in time to help deliver the infant, make supper, and clean the stable.

Eternal Vigilance

LouisLevyLima2

illustration by Louis Levy Lima

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Hilary Mantel
recently wrote: “The most frequent question writers are asked is some variant on, ‘Do you write every day, or do you just wait for inspiration to strike?’ I want to snarl, ‘Of course I write every day, what do you think I am, some kind of hobbyist?’ But I understand the question is really about the central mystery — what is inspiration? Eternal vigilance, in my opinion. Being on the watch for your material, day or night, asleep or awake.”

“I want to live other lives. I’ve never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler

Begin

Oliver&Annika

I begin with watercolor
I begin with pen
I begin with color pencil
I begin to when

I begin with inspiration
I begin with sweat
I begin with cool perspective
I begin to fret

I begin to swing the lines
I begin to shade
I begin to add details
I’m so glad I played!

Definition #277 Illumination

Denis Brown's work

Denis Brown’s work

teenage hormones sluice

through pages gilding golden

illumination

Pattern #25 Cross

Photo by Quenby  Intersection

Photo by Quenby
Intersection

Right angles pierce di-
mensions; divine to earthly
separate nevermore!