share food, clothing, company, childcare……

According to The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by A.E. Waite, the Six of Pentacles is described as the following:
A person in the guise of a merchant weighs money in a pair of scales and distributes it to the needy and distressed. It is a testimony to his own success in life, as well as to his goodness of heart.
Divinatory Meanings: Presents, gifts, gratification another account says attention, vigilance now is the accepted time, present prosperity, etc.
Reversed: Desire, cupidity, envy, jealousy, illusion.
Today’s tarot card, the Six of Pentacles, is about finding a balance in the give and take in your life and generosity. It’s a sign that you may need to start to donate more of your wealth to the less fortunate.
Or, on a less materialistic level, the Six of Pentacles could mean that you have a great gift that you need to share more. If you possess wise and healing words, speak them more often; if you have a calming aura, be there more to soothe people’s stresses.
Today’s card is telling you that if you have more than enough, give it away to someone to someone in need. When you’re struggling, and someone offers a helping hand, take the help and express your appreciation. This will help keep balance and harmony in your life and the lives of those around you.
What does the Six of Pentacles want you to donate?
This card is a reminder of how good it feels to share. When you have an excess of something that someone else needs, rather than throw it away, give it to someone who actually needs it.
It also wants you to know that it’s not just money that can you can donate. If you don’t need or use something and another person needs it, you should give it away to keep the balance.
Here are some things other than money that you can donate to others:

• Bring food to your local food bank.
• Give away clothing that you no longer wear or fit.
• Spend your spare time to give company to the lonely elderly in nursing homes.
• Use some of your time and energy to reading books for children at the library.
  Keep in mind that it doesn’t take a millionaire to be generous and kind to those in need.
  Why is it important to donate?
  The Six of Pentacles is here to deliver the same message as karma—give out good, and you shall receive good in return. If you are generous with what you have now, people will be helpful with you whenever you find yourself in need in the future and return the favor.
  Contributing to your community is a great way to make a positive impact on it. The Six of Pentacles wants you to know that you’re also working towards giving yourself a healthy living environment when you work towards building a healthy community.
  Being generous can also be good for your health. It can lower your blood pressure and reduce stress levels. A study conducted by the Queensland University of Technology found out that the more you donate, the lower your stress levels go.
  Research done by the University of Oregon also shows that giving to the less fortunate activates the part in your brain that makes you feel pleasure and contentment.
  What can you do to give your life the balance the Six of Pentacles asks for?
  Get involved with a local charity in your community. Look into what sort of charities are active in your community. Find one that interests you and find out how you can get involved or show your support.
  Go through your stuff and figure out what you no longer need. If you feel that your home needs a little purge and clean-up, go through all your things. Figure out what you need and don’t need. Donate anything you no longer use to a local homeless shelter or non-profit organization.
  Be accepting of what is given to you. If help is offered to you and you need it, don’t be afraid to accept it. Express gratitude and appreciation for everything you are offered or given. Always respond to kindness with more kindness.

in Old October, all things on earth point home…

Thomas Wolfe wrote, “All things on earth point home in old October; sailors to sea, travellers to walls and fences, hunters to field and hollow and the long voice of the hounds, the lover to the love he has forsaken.

Especially those in the military long for the peaceful fire of the hearth and family

My Father Was a Young Man Then


by Maria Mazziotti Gillan

Only 16, when he came from Italy alone,


moved into the Riverside neighborhood


full of Italians from Cilento—all of whom


 spoke the same dialect, so it was as though


they had transported those mountain villagers

to Paterson. At first, America was terrifying,


English, a language they could not master,


but my father was a young man


and he became friends with other young people


and they learned how to take buses and trains


or to borrow a car, and off they’d go


on the weekend to Rye Brook or Coney Island,


free from their factory jobs on the weekends,


reveling in the strength of their bodies,


the laughter and music and the company.

My father was a young man then,


and even when he died at 92

he never lost the happiness


that bubbled up in him,


the irrepressible joy of being alive,


the love of being with friends.

I imagine him in that time


before he married my mother,


before we were born,


before he had a tumor on his spine


that left him with a limp.


Imagine him with his broad smile,


his booming laugh, his generous spirit,


his sharp intelligence,


imagine him as a young man,


his head full of dreams,


his love of politics and math,


all the way into old age,


though his legs failed him,


though his body grew trembling and frail,


his mind never did.

When I’d arrive at the house


all those years after mom died, he’d smile
 at me with real pleasure,


the young man he was at 16 would emerge,


sit in the room with us


and laugh.
 
“My Father Was a Young Man Then” by Maria Mazziotti Gillan from What Blooms in Winter. © NYQ Books, 2016. Reprinted with permission.