“If you promise to stay alive just a little bit longer I promise that we
are going to make this world a place worth living in by any means
necessary. I ain’t giving up. I swear.”
Spotted in Clackamas, Oregon
I can’t stop thinking about this message, so I spent a while trying to isolate just the writing and make it transparent. I might order a shirt with it
Whoever in Clackamas wrote this message on their bus stop, I love you
“The primordial unbound state is nothing. All things are independent yet interrelated. The worldview is that all things come from the One Thing, or First Cause. Beyond delusory illusions of projection and archetypal possession, those who value human imagination and perceive cosmic oneness in worldly differences, can transcend the worldly vision, with meanings and revelations.”
Joy Mills, from The Nature of the Mystical Experience
Text ID: The central characteristic of the mystical experience―ineffable, noetic, fleeting, timeless―is the enveloping sense of oneness with a universe suddenly known and felt as luminous within.
Like the Two of Swords the Two of Pentacles strikes a precarious balance, though in general a happier one. We see, in fact, the very concept of balance in the image of the juggler. At times the card means juggling life itself, keeping everything in the air at once. More simply, it carries the idea of enjoying life, having a good time – similar to the Nine of Cups, but lighter, a dance more than a feast.
Like so many Pentacles, the card implies a hidden magic in its ordinary pleasures. The juggler holds his magic emblem within a loop or ribbon shaped like an infinity sign, the same sign which appears above the head of the Magician, and the woman in Strength. Some people believe that spiritual development occurs only in serious moments. Pleasure and amusement can also teach us a great deal, as long as we pay attention.
Rachel Pollock. 78 Degrees of Wisdom
Often understood as a card about creating balance, the Two of Pentacles might also invoke creation itself. For some artists and readers, the card represents the relationship between creativity and destruction. In general, the card points to those moments when life becomes a juggling act—when our best efforts require an ability to create flow. In Colman Smith’s imagery for the 1909 Waite-Smith deck, behind the juggling figure we see two ships riding the waves. In a very real sense, we’re all waiting for our ship to come in. (We’ll see the same adventurous seafaring imagery in other cards, like the Three of Wands.) We all invest in the world. We all put ourselves, our abilities, our material capacities, “out there.” We hope for gain and return, but inevitably our investment brings uncertainty. When it comes to those wavy vicissitudes of life, there’s only so much that we can control.
The Two of Pentacles reminds us of the importance of fluidity in our efforts and engagements in the world. Our ship may not come in. We may not get what we want. Everything may founder and crash. It’s important to keep supple in our relationship with nature, in our relationship with the world of resources.
A friend of mine calls this “keeping your knees bent”: the wide, supple stance of a surfer. I only know about surfing from riding the El as a teenager in Chicago. But subway-surfing is a great art. Avoid getting too rigid. Keep the knees bent. Learn to let go of the strap and pole! Keeping ourselves supple is the only way to absorb the shocks and shifts of our busy, multitasking lives. The Two of Pentacles, with its nimble, bent-kneed figure, reminds us to ride the waves.
Tori