10 Batons - how may it be read?

lark

Sorry if this post seems off the wall...
Whenever I look at this card I have the intense desire to fold the 4 batons on each side upward.
Then fold the leaves over them as a design and extra stablizing force. (I imagine them made of metal.)
And the 2 batons on top and bottom are folded together to touch each other on the top and form a handle.
And presto! A square woven basket with a strong bottom and vented sides.
Excellent for carrying all those things we need to handle in life.
But NOT for hiding things away in storage.
The vented side suggest the need for air, and peeking in from time to time to see how it is doing as we carry it through a situation.
Like taking the cat to the vet. :)

So whenever this card comes up for me I am grateul for the help it brings.
The stability and the organization it provides.
It allows me to contain something for a time...
Gives time to reflect, or time to carry it to another destination.
But I know it's not the end of the story.
You have to open the basket and take what's inside out at some point.
So then it's time to pull another card.
 

Jewel-ry

I almost always see this card with a person trapped behind the batons. Hands and feet peeking out from beneath the tightly woven batons. Always lots of energy, lots of creativity and a lot going on. Sometimes a struggle to see the wood for the trees. This is one of the few cards for which I can well understand the RWS meaning - 'burden'.

That said, the 'hands' at the side reach for space so all is not lost. Maybe, a change in tactics is necessary?

:)
 

kwaw

I associate batons with the astrological lights [sun and moon, see thread here http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=28422 for astro-numerological basis], hence to agriculture and husbandry [which fits in also with the association of batons with peasantry] and by extension work, toil, labour in a generalised sense. JMD's observation that the batons have the image of lights upon them, in the form of candles, I think fits in with this really neatly.

Kwaw
 

tmgrl2

Lark, I love your view of the Dix de Batons!!

I see this card as offering us that final push we need as we near completion of a huge project.

I remember that when I was cramming in 30 credits while working full-time when I was in my forties, I felt that the last nine credits were not going to get done. This to me is a Dix de Bastons situation. It's as if I am being given all the necessary fortitude mentally and physically to complete some earthly task here on this plane....a task that has become a great burden, but somehow can be faced and completed because one is so near the end.

It's as if the fire has been renewed and we are not only given what we need to finish but as a ten, we see the light of the one shining through the tunnel, calling forward to the next level or next task.

All burdens can be carried! The goal can be achieved!

I love the basket, Lark. I will see that whenever I see this card.

terri
 

lark

Terri, So glad you like my funny way of seeing the 10 of Batons.
I made a scan of it and enlaged it a little, cut it out, folded it, and taped it together.
It actually made a little basket!
Just though I should test my crazy theory.

Seeing it as a basket gives me the feeling of help too.
The burden may be heavy but the basket is there to contain it and give me a stable handle on the task.
So I have the strength to carry it to the end...to completion.
 

tmgrl2

Lark...it reminds me of the old saying, "When life deals you lemons, make lemonade."

So, a basket formed from the burden...carries us as we carry it.

Lovely.

terri
 

TemperanceAngel

lark said:
Seeing it as a basket gives me the feeling of help too.
The burden may be heavy but the basket is there to contain it and give me a stable handle on the task.
So I have the strength to carry it to the end...to completion.

lark your insights never cease to amaze me!!
jmd I also like the seven candles imagery.

At the January Tarot Cafe we did an annual spread for the year. In mine I had this card in the interpersonal section. I have pondered it ever since. What struck me was the interwoven section in the middle. It made me feel a bit ill in a nauseus way. We were doing the reading in a group and my friend looked at it and pointed the same thing out that I was staring at. He said:

"That is exactly what your life is like!!"

Now, you see, I can't decide whether that is a good thing to have everything interwoven in that fashion or instead that it may be a burden.

In the interwoven section there is also a differing of colors too. The deck used was the Dodal.

Nothing to say here really, just ponderings....

I think that is why I liked larks analogy so much. There is a strength to the basket.
 

lark

Thank you TA. :)

Your post reminded me of weaving a basket.
There's a point where all of a sudden it feels confusing and you freeze and don't know which strand to fold and which to pull.
Did you ruin it...did you make a big mistake?
Nothing looks familar and your hands have stopped working automatically.

That's the point where you take a deep breath, suck it up and make a move for good or bad, because if you turn back it all unravels.
Your eye needs to be on the basket as a whole, not the individual strands that make it up.
And once you make that move your hands find the natural rhythm and you're weaving the basket again.

So I think you were weaving the ten as you were looking at it.

Does this make any sense?
 

TemperanceAngel

Thanks for your reply lark :)

So how I ascertain it is that I spend the year weaving the basket, sometimes I find it quite easy. Other times I have to breathe and pause, slow down, to make sure I weave in the correct way?

Oh thank you lark, it is all suddenly starting to go CLUNK!!
 

lark

Yes I think so.
I'm not basing this on anything but intuition in looking at the card, but that's how I see the 10 batons.
And what material we use and how well we weave determines the size and shape and strength of our basket.
Glad I could help you get to the CLUNK!!