Life is a garden

I hate the garden metaphor!  I don't want life to be a garden.  I wanted life to be a marble statue,  once you had actually finished the difficult and terrible work,  and cleaned up all that dusty mess,  it would stay,  perfect,  in shape and timeless for centuries.  I want a Michelangelo statue of life. 

But life is a garden.  Endlessly growing and changing. You plant something,  it thrives,  you are happy.  You plant exactly the same plant,  in a slightly shadier corner,  and it dies.  You clean it, it's gorgeous.  You go away for a weekend and it's full of debris and two new plants - are they weeds that need to be uprooted or are the new plants that will give joy and beauty? And who decides which?

I hate gardening.  To me it's endless work and repetition.  But I love having friends.  I don't find the tending of friendships endless work.  I don't find our conversations repetition.  So in some cases,  I can garden.  I can even look after my dog,  who is a source of such joy for me.  I don't enjoy the cleaning up after him,  but it's a small price that I am willing to pay. 

So life is a garden (sorry!)  But in this garden, you get to decide what you are going to plant,  which plants matter and how often you need to weed/clean.  While I love an elegant French garden,  I think I'm just going to settle in to my wild English garden and relax... 

9 of pentacles

In this card we are enjoying the finer things in life. Here, after the hardship and work of some of the previous cards, comes a stroll through the park, and a sense of plenty.


This card can be the reward for hard work paying, leading as it does from the industrious 8 of pentacles. Or it can simply be about feeling comfortable in your own skin, happy with the luxuries of life. When you get this card you are letting the good stuff in, be grateful for it and let yourself enjoy it while it lasts.


The Inner Child card gives us the sweetly domestic Christmas scene, with plenty of presents promised, but love and warmth all ready there…