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I am a teacher, and like many teachers, I am a very busy person. Between the two community colleges I teach at, I have a full time load, I have writing projects that I'm in the middle of, I have my part of the housework in the house I live in to take care of, I've got my tarot reading and other spiritual practices that I'm trying to make a part of my life, and I've got a romantic relationship and a whole load of friendships that need to be kept up. Because of all of this, I often smile when I see pagan writers talking about October as the time when things "slow down" and the land rests after harvest. That may be true in agricultural settings, but for me, October and November are my busiest months of the fall semester. My classes are in full swing, papers are being turned in left and right, November is National Novel Writing Month, and at least three or four people in our group of friends have birthdays, including my partner. A lot of times, by this point in the semester, I feel like I'm in the middle of a hurricane of grading, parties, and class preparation, and I have no idea how I'm going to be able to handle all of it and keep what's left of my sanity.
And so, for times like these, I came up with my "Eye of the Storm" spread.
First, sit down and make a list of all the things that are contributing to the sense of chaos or being overwhelmed. You can be as specific or general as you would like to be. It might look a little like this:
Teaching/grading
Writing (especially NaNoWriMo)
Spirituality (tarot and local group meetings)
Housework
Parties/Birthdays
Need to spend quality time with partner
I've done this spread assuming that you've got at least six things going on, but you may have more. List as many as you can think of, and write them down. If you only have two or three, try breaking them down into different parts. For instance, I might break "teaching" down into "Class preparation," "grading" and "student conferences" if I needed to.
Second, when you've got your list, shuffle and choose your cards as you normally would, and lay them out in this pattern. It's supposed to resemble a hurricane with one card as the eye and the other cards forming the actual storm. (Again, this layout assumes that you have six areas of concern, but you can always add more cards to the outer rims of the hurricane.)
******************3**************
************2********************
****************1********4*******
******7************5*************
*************6*******************
Layout meaning:
Card 1 represents you. You are at the center of all of these different issues, and this card can give you advice for how to navigate all of them and put each of them in its proper place.
Cards 2-7 (the rest of them) each represent one of the areas of your life that you put on your list. Each card tells you something you need to know about that specific area and how to make it run more smoothly.
And so, for times like these, I came up with my "Eye of the Storm" spread.
First, sit down and make a list of all the things that are contributing to the sense of chaos or being overwhelmed. You can be as specific or general as you would like to be. It might look a little like this:
Teaching/grading
Writing (especially NaNoWriMo)
Spirituality (tarot and local group meetings)
Housework
Parties/Birthdays
Need to spend quality time with partner
I've done this spread assuming that you've got at least six things going on, but you may have more. List as many as you can think of, and write them down. If you only have two or three, try breaking them down into different parts. For instance, I might break "teaching" down into "Class preparation," "grading" and "student conferences" if I needed to.
Second, when you've got your list, shuffle and choose your cards as you normally would, and lay them out in this pattern. It's supposed to resemble a hurricane with one card as the eye and the other cards forming the actual storm. (Again, this layout assumes that you have six areas of concern, but you can always add more cards to the outer rims of the hurricane.)
******************3**************
************2********************
****************1********4*******
******7************5*************
*************6*******************
Layout meaning:
Card 1 represents you. You are at the center of all of these different issues, and this card can give you advice for how to navigate all of them and put each of them in its proper place.
Cards 2-7 (the rest of them) each represent one of the areas of your life that you put on your list. Each card tells you something you need to know about that specific area and how to make it run more smoothly.
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