Eight of Discs:
1 to 10 degrees Virgo; Ruled by Mercury (Ceres), Saturn and Sun; Lord of Prudence; “Changes in Enterprises.”
In the knitting basket,
eight skeins deep
the new scarf in the variegated yarn
is nearly finished.
The plump balls come unraveled,
they seems bent on escape,
rolling under the furniture,
leaving a trail of a single strand of yarn.
Hiding in the yarn bag,
deep in the inside pocket
the favorite wooden knitting needles
at the ready,
dreaming up the next project.
King of Discs
More than Jack
’s magic beans,
Every act is a ritual.
Honor the land to honor me;
Charged to care for the vineyard;
empty vines are disobedient;
it is good land, where grapes grow.
Make harvest not war.
Count the yield in the third hour and then again in the sixth;
clear away the stones, nettles, and thorny ground;
do not trample down the starts, nor destroy my portion.
Look to my holy mountain, and the fertile hills;
Mark each seed;
plant a fig tree in their midst.
Sing the song of the vineyard,
‘Plowman dig my earth’.
like the ox, the wolf, the lamb; and the lion,
I will eat straw.
My toil will make firm the feeble.
I will keep it day and night.
Perishables grow in my garden,
yet Death is swallowed up
my tiny seeds.