Ten of Staves

Back-breaking labor. Enduring struggle. Atlas, with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sisyphus, who labors eternally in vain. Unceasing toil that takes a toll on body, mind, and spirit.

The Ten of Staves is work. Work, with no end in sight. Work, with no guarantee of reward, and certainly without a reward easily visible. Whether this is work for one’s own gain, work for a master, work for pay, it is all, at this point, work.

It is sometimes hard, in the modern western world, to feel a card of hard labor. But even our cushy desk jobs exact their price- higher blood pressure, poor eating habits, the physical stress responses to an office and the endless sitting. The emotional difficulty of pouring yourself into work that does not produce any tangible product or effect, just so many pixels shifted on a screen.

What labor is all-consuming in your life? Can you put your burdens down, even for a rest? Or must you toil ever onward? How can you push forward through the pain, the apathy, and continue simply putting one foot in front of the other?