Passion
Do what you love, they say...
I asked this gorgeous deck about a particular teaching position. It gave me Passionflower, Passiflora in GW2. I knew without even looking it up* that Knight of Wands that this was going to be about passion.
Tim got me this deck from Kickstarter a few years ago, and it’s so beautiful, I don’t use it often. There’s a lot of gold leaf on everything, and it feels sinful to bend the cards at all, so shuffling is always tricky.
Regardless, as much as I love plants, I don’t by any means know them all. I knew this one, though.
That feels significant.
I want need a job that I can feel passionate about. Teaching in these times is a passion project, for sure. It asks a lot of you as a guide.
As a substitute teacher, I have felt so empowered and confident inside certain teachers’ classrooms. You can feel the absent teacher's energy all around you, and when something resonates with me, I take notes. I have stored up some ideas and dreams for my future classroom. I feel hopeful, and hope is a precious thing in this world.
The Knight of Wands’ official description reminds me to not get too carried away with my passions. It warns of cruelty, jealousy, and obsession. At midlife, I don’t think of myself as any of those things, but I take the warning. I am still a feral little fairy, and we are known for being unpredictable, if nothing else.
I want to be good at teaching. I always have been, but taking on the vocation feels weighty in a way that tutoring and adult art classes never did. A teacher is more than an educator. They are the leader of a small tribe.
Passion is everything in the tribal dynamic.
In terms of herbalism, practitioners** count on Passiflora for:
Actions:
hypnotic (sleep-aid)
analgesic (pain-reliever)
hypotensive (lowers blood pressure)
nervine
anxiolytic (anti-anxiety)
anti-spasmodic
antidepressant
Read more in this great in-depth article from Chestnut Herbs.
Something to think about.