A conversation with Death

12/04/201519/07/2015 ~ Jill Brown ~ Leave a comment

It’s quite a natural thing to be fearful of death. It’s nature’s way of keeping us alive of course and having a strong survival instinct means our genes get passed down and evolution can carry on doing what it does best.

After all, the survival of the fittest process would soon go to pot if we didn’t have a basic primal urge to stay alive.

But what about when the fear of death becomes pervasive and stops us enjoying our life?

I’ve heard it said (and I can’t remember where or by whom) that we can never be truly alive until we come to terms with the inevitable reality of our own death.

So is it ever a good thing to put the thought of death to the back of your mind and concentrate on the day to day matter of life instead?

Continue reading “A conversation with Death” →

Transcending Tarot

19/07/201427/12/2018 ~ Jill Brown ~ 1 Comment

I find symbolism fascinating. Perhaps that’s the reason I became interested in the subject of metaphor and maybe that’s why I like the tarot too.

Not that I believe Deck of Tarot Cards for Fortune Telling I can tell the future or anything, but I love the way the symbols can mean so many different things to different people.

There’s really no end to the many ways the pictures can be interpreted and I’m intrigued by the mystery that surrounds the cards.

No one knows for sure where or when or why they originated but they can be traced back at least as far as the mid 15^th century and seem to have found their way to Europe via Egypt and Italy. It’s believed they started as a set of playing cards but over the centuries they’ve become many different things to different people.

Continue reading “Transcending Tarot” →

Life is a Journey

18/06/201417/06/2015 ~ Jill Brown ~ 2 Comments

Some people love to travel.

It’s in their blood, they’ll often say. They love to discover new places and meet new people. They find that travel broadens their mind and makes them feel alive. Their feet begin to itch when they’ve been in one place for too long, however long is too long for them.

Some are content to stay put. They feel no need to go beyond their own horizon and be it ever so humble, there’s no place quite like home for them.

Others are somewhere in between the two extremes. They like to go places and have a break from routine. Before too very long though, they like to return to familiarity and be king or queen of their own castle once more, however humble or palatial it may be.

But whoever we are and whether we like it or not, there comes a time for all of us to set off on a journey of one kind or other

We may be travelling for some time and for some distance and the journey might have a definite purpose, maybe to attend to business, or take a well-earned break, or to pay a visit to loved ones abroad.

For some that’s what it’s all about – to get from here to where they need to be, but there are also those who seek no particular destination, because the goal for them is the journey itself.

It’s said that life is a journey, so maybe we’re all travellers at heart and it’s just that for some the journey takes us inside instead of afar. And sometimes that’s even more of an adventure.