Ten of Rods

The Ten of Rods:  Responsibility, oppression, hard work, burn-out…

In the Hanson-Roberts interpretation:

“An old man (left) is staggering under the weight of many burdens.  Feeling burnt out? The pressure will ease soon.

Physical exercise and relaxation will help you maintain your health.”

My take on this card:

This is a difficult time.  You are under a lot of stress.  Perhaps (referring back to yesterday’s card and the mission that underlies it) you took your burden up, yesterday, with the Knight of Cups offering help and everything being very positive;  today though the Knight may be otherwise occupied and the long road stretches ahead of you; your burden is heavy and you feel weighed down.

The main image (top) struck me:  While in the Hanson-Roberts deck, the old man faces a fairly straight road to a very nice abode (a castle in the sunset), in the first image (Simon Christopher’s creation) the man faces a gaping abyss before he can reach destination. There are other cards that only depict the man, not his destination.  However the Simon Christopher card struck me as we often seem to be faced with insurmountable obstacles, and somehow must find our way (no choice).

But in this first card, too, the skies are golden with sunset (or sunrise?), and the destination seems worthwhile.

Perhaps you need to stop along the wayside, take a little rest, and appreciate the golden skies before continuing; but continue you must, knowing that where you are headed will make it all worth the effort.

Look on the bright side:  Nobody is attacking you; these are burdens you took upon yourself, by choices you made.  You even have the choice to lay them down, but do you want to decide that?  Didn’t you take them up because the destination is worthy of your hard work?

Wishing my blog pals much energy and courage for their burdens today!  

AQ

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