Flag Oracle #23: How a wild youth can be a perfect match
and gardening experiments
Hello friends,
Growing up, I sometimes fantasized about having a different life. In this life, my parents were well-to-do, had a carpeted house with multiple toilets, and took me to the mall to buy clothes. I could ride my bike to see friends, and take ballet more than once a week. This life, based on TV shows and what I imagined life to be for popular kids in cities and suburbs, contrasted sharply with living in a camper, doing homeschool on picnic table, shopping at flea markets, and wearing hand-me-down and homemade clothes.
And yet, I know I wouldn’t be who I am without this upbringing; none of us would be who we are without our pasts. It is perhaps the biggest gift of my life to have created the life I wanted in San Francisco. The contrast with my youth makes my current life under the redwoods and 10 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge so much more precious to me. Then, it’s easy to see that my past was indeed a perfect match. Let’s look at the cards.
This fir tree’s life got off to a strange start by growing in a horizontal direction. Eventually, it grew vertically like the other trees around it, finding its way toward optimal light.
In the meantime, the tree became a spot for reflection, an object for hikers to duck under, and a reminder that many things—and people—get off to an odd start. Yet every day, this tree gets to witness the wind, the fog, the changing light at dawn and dusk. It followed its Inner Fire and didn’t miss out on anything. Its subsequent mature shape differentiates it from neighboring trees.
If you’re at the beginning of a project or relationship, can you accept that where things are now is where they need to be, and that eventually things will come into alignment? Alternately, you may need to offer forgiveness for where things have been.
Appreciate the vagaries of youth—or new beginnings—as the trail of an inner fire that leads all things toward the light.
On this bright October day, the colors of the Life Had Other Plans flag perfectly matched the blue sky, green foliage, and yellow hills covered in dry grass. While walking with the flag and posing it among these rocks, I experienced a feeling of inner harmony.
As the first photo of the second flag hike, it was clear that this project—the other plans life had given me—was a perfect match for my interests and abilities: hiking, sewing, writing, and photography. The harmonious feeling buoyed me with confidence through every step of the hike, and allowed me to relax and notice sights I had missed before.
Sometimes our best-laid intentions get us to where we need to go to fulfill the universe’s intention, which is ultimately to raise our consciousness.
In the Night position following the Wild Youth card, Perfect Match invites you to consider how seemingly wild events—or new beginnings—are exactly what’s needed for your growth. What you want you wants you, and you can proceed with confidence, even if things feel a bit “wild” at the moment.
My wild youth of gardening
A 7-foot wide floor-to-ceiling window defines the living room of my apartment. Until last month, the view was dominated by jasmine and year-round blooming red abutilon draping over the fence. But it had not been maintained properly and contained a mass of dead branches. About a month ago the Fire Department ordered the property managers to clear it. Instantly my view changed to a bare fence ten feet from my picture window.
Since then, I’ve been investigating options to beauify my side of the fence by visiting nurseries and observing the light more closely so that I can make a good choice (the area gets only a few hours of sun per day). Having spent the last four years just managing the existing plants, I’ve entered a whole new realm: my wild youth of gardening. I’m coming closer to what I hope will be a perfect match, but given my brown thumb, it might take some failures. The hidden benefit of life’s other plans? The plant investigation process is connecting to me to my community as I speak to neighbors and nursey staff.
In the meantime, I bought a basket of petunias to look at. The perfect match is out there, somewhere!
May your week be filled with the secret gifts of new beginnings.
Love, Lee Ann
P.S. You’re invited to visit me and a piece of my art in person at the Marin Society of Artists group show opening for “California Mind” on June 14 from 5-8 pm at 1515 3rd Street San Rafael, CA. It’s part of the San Rafael 2nd Friday Art Walk, so make an evening of it! I’ll have the one and only Flag Oracle deck with me.
One of the 18”x24” prints above will be in the show. All of them are for sale (local buyers only).