Beginning today, I will be posting a card of the day. #COTD

The King Of Cups is an excellent #COTD. Today is Valentine’s Day. It is a day set aside to express ourselves more openly that we ordinarily think to do with small gestures of love and gratitude that remind those important to us that we value them.

To me, this card is magnificently designed. Poseidon, The God Of The Sea, Horses and Earthquakes. Here he is depicted as calmly resting in a bed of blue lotus blossoms that are nestled among grand lilly pads.

As the God of Water, he is sleeping on the surface of the water in a blissfully calm state of rest. In dreams, lilly pads and lotus blossoms cover the surface of the water masking the muck beneath it.

Most of my memories of Poseidon are in contrast. Poseidon is most often depicted as holding his trident high in anger stirring up the ocean by shaking the ground under the water causing great storms. He appeared to be a man of strength and rage. His storm made the water look terrifying.

As a little child, I was not allowed to venture deeper than ankle deep at the edge of the river. However as time went on and I grew in awareness, I learned to read the signs within the water, and I learned that the river that I was taught to be wary of really was quite predictable.

I learned that water is deceptive. It appears to be one depth on the surface but in reality the conditions beneath the water were just as uneven as the ground that was not covered in water. I learned to be careful when I walked deeper into the water because one minute I could be walking in knee deep water and suddenly step into a deep drop off. The further I ventured I began to notice the changes in the color of the water to read its depth.

I also learned quickly that water was unpredictable beneath the surface. While playing in the water, I remember feeling the water calmly wrapping around my legs as I stepped through the water hugging me gently like an old blanket then suddenly it would shift and become a strong undercurrent that could pull me under in a matter of seconds terrifying me. I learned to pay attention to the movements of the water while in the water.

I learned that there were patches of muck in the water that I would sink deeply into, laughing at the sucking sound the mud made every time I took a step. Other places were grassy and full of life with smaller shrimp, clams, scallops and fish all hiding from the larger predators that were constantly on the lookout for a slight ripple in the water that indicated that dinner was very close by. Whenever I wanted chowder, I would bring a bag along with me to collect these treasures that my Grandmother would make into a delicious stew, unknowingly making me the predator. Over time, I even learned to read the surface of the water to know when a storm was coming and to know the intensity of the storm coming by the size of the waves on the surface.

The longer I lived and grew up by the water I began to master the element by reading the signs within it. I now know that Poseidon was not out of control with his rages at all. He ruled it with Mastery. Shaping it into a perfect, ever changing environment thus creating crevices and nooks for the life within it to survive.

Like Poseidon ruling the waters, I too learned to master my own life by learning critical thinking and interpersonal communications skills. I learned to read my environment including my own self. I began to study people and the many ways we communicated with other. Learning to read my emotions was very much like learning to read what was going on beneath the surface of the water.

Some people only desire to know just enough to get by in life. They are like the aquatic life huddled among the reeds and grass staying in the safe zones. However, there are a few of us that seek a higher path and seek to master the elements, venturing further and further into its depth until we get to a depth in which the feet no longer touch the bottom of the ocean. We learn to swim and to float on the surface. By crafting boats and flotation devices we were allowed to continue our exploration. We are the Poseidons. We are the King of our element. In learning where and when to be on top of our game and why it is necessary to sometimes raise our trident to rage against the storms in life, we learn where to go to drift lazily among the beauty of the lillies that hide the turmoil just beneath the surface dreaming of our next big adventure.

Be brave today, venture a little further out than you have dared to go before. Find your paradise. Express yourself and feel life in a way you do not ordinarily do. Don’t rush and jump in over your head before you are ready. Seek to master your emotions and your life one step at a time. Know the depths before you take the leap. Mastery comes through taking the journey.

The Mary-El Tarot; Landscapes Of The Abyss By Marie White