Fears, Obstacles and a Tarot Card

I recently received a gorgeous Tarot Deck, The Gilded Tarot,designed by Ciro Marchetti. The cards are absolutely beautiful with elements of nature and animals added to them. For me, they are the most positive feeling cards I have ever owned. I decided this week to really open my mind up and randomly select a different card each day to study. I use the book by Barbara Moore and Ciro Marchetti to study each card and supplement it with various other resources. I plan on keeping a journal of each card for everyday of the week and then reviewing what I learned on Sunday.

The first card I drew this week was the lovely Eight of Swords. A blind folded woman with her hands loosely bound by a gold cord is depicted. In other decks she is sometimes bound by loose wrappings and she has shoes on her feet, which I had never closely noticed as a symbol. The swords around her are stuck tip down into the ground around her.

The feelings conjured by this card can be of helplessness or being trapped in a situation and another website suggested that the swords could represent negative words that the person depicted in the card has begun to believe and is being held not by the bonds but by the negativity of the words. The shoes and the spread apart swords show that she could simply walk through them. The loose bonds in the Gilded Tarot deck, suggest once she is ready, she will simply slip through the bonds, remove the blindfold and see her way clear to move through the swords, thus breaking a negative cycle.

I relate closely to that card this week as I have faced barriers in roller derby, my work in progress, my fitness regime and in my daily work. As I look closer at those barriers, I realize no one else is hampering my progress. Fear has become rooted in my subconscious and now I must overcome those fears. In roller derby, I lack one skill completing my ability to participate in actual game day play. I must complete 25 laps in 5 minutes and I am very close. I have absolutely no fear of injury, which may sound crazy at my age, but I have a fear of once again falling short at 22.5 or 23 of those 25 laps. I also realized this week as I analyzed fears in my life, that the fear of getting historical facts correct is slowly progress on my WIP and fear failing in an upcoming fitness challenge allows me to accept excuses I make for skipping workouts.

My writing and derby friend Teralyn, has a great blog post this week here. She describes a member of her writing group that asked for suggestions promoting his book. She asked him an important question and restated his response in a positive manner, only for him to reply that he actually desired more. I honestly believe a fear of some sort is hampering him. When he firmly states his true desire and comes to terms with how to achieve those, I think overcoming a fear will be a major factor.

So what are your goals or desires and what fears do you have or have overcome to achieve those goals? Do you have any suggestions for others in overcoming fears?