Capital Spirit

Well, here goes nothing. I was a little too pessimistic last month, and I’ll try not to make that mistake again. Of course, I’ve been saying “mixed to good” for the past two months, and the Caps have been pretty much tearing the roof off the Eastern Conference. It’s that time of the month, so let’s get it started.

Deck: Tarot of the Angels (Scarabeo)
Spread: Celtic Cross
Question: “What does January 2009 hold for the Washington Capitals?”

FIRST IMPRESSION: Individually, when you look at the meanings of each card one by one, this spread is almost wall-to-wall bad news. I don’t know if that’s a reflection of bad energies in the environment–you should have heard the howl of wind that just blew outside my window–or if this really is a harbinger of trouble this month for the Caps. I really want to be wrong here–this is a lot of gloom and doom. Still, it is the answer I got, and I’m not going to sit on it–if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. And besides: Praemonitus, praemunitus. Let’s get it over with.

BASIS: XV, THE DEVIL REVERSED. (Element: Earth) There’s not a whole lot of consolation I can really offer here. This represents not temptation–that would be right-side-up–but giving in to it. And what might that temptation be right now? The only thing I can think of offhand is the temptation of complacency. Yes, the Caps are doing very well right now, and the temptation may be out there to assume that the rest of the season is as close to a foregone conclusion as it gets. But look at some of the games we’ve got this month: vs Philly, at Montreal, at Pittsburgh, vs Boston, at Boston, vs Detroit. Yes, we do host Columbus and visit the Island, but there are some games in here which could be very, very difficult if we think the rest of the season is a given. Resist the Devil, and he will flee. Don’t believe the hype–keep playing hard.

CROSSING: 6 OF CHALICES. The 6 of Chalices, like most cards in its suit, is a sweet card. It speaks to the harmony of the present and past, and general overall success. I’m going to read it as the road the Caps are on, because of what’s in the General Direction position. The fun part is going to be squaring all that against the Outcome, but no skipping ahead. For now, with the 6 of Chalices as a Crossing, there’s a general atmosphere of success which is covering the Devil reversed as the basis. The symbolism here is striking: success and harmony are covering up the complacency. So, is the Caps’ recent success illusory after all? It’s hard to say, but the rest of this layout seems to suggest that it is. I hope the success continues, but I don’t want it to be a cover for something nefarious going on away from public view.

DISTANT PAST: X, THE WHEEL REVERSED. (Element: Fire) At its most basic, The Wheel, when reversed, is about bad luck. Now, the good news here is that this is distant past, so it’s not going to be hanging around forever. The bad news is that it’s not quite off the board yet. So, Dame Fortune may come knocking sometime soon. Trouble is, she may have to knock pretty hard, because her daughter Miss Fortune has wrecked the bell. Awful jokes aside, what we have here, put simply, is bad luck in the past that is still in play as January approaches. While we’re not out of the woods yet, the end may be in sight before the month is up.

RECENT PAST: ACE OF WANDS REVERSED. This card tends to speak of greed, avarice, and both overconfidence and sterility at the same time. Essentially, it means “all talk, no walk.” My instant reaction when I saw it hit the table was, What the heck is that card doing in that position? If anything, the Caps have been walking tall this past month. But then I look back at the two center cards (Devil reversed crossed by 6 of Chalices), and it doesn’t quite seem so implausible. Perhaps there’s some one-upmanship going on in the room that we’ll never hear about. Fortunately, this is in the past, so it’s not something that will hang around (much) in January. Perhaps this means the Caps may be more walk and less talk than they were even in December. THAT is a scary thought…

GENERAL DIRECTION: 10 OF CHALICES. I like this card in this position. I like it a LOT. Again, this is happily-ever-after as the general direction things are heading. That’s great–but the Outcome card is almost diametrically opposed to it, as I alluded to earlier, and as always, no fair skipping ahead. My interpretation of this card in this position, given what else is on the layout, is that the Caps will make progress towards a good playoff run–even if the end result of January is as bad as the Outcome says it’s going to be.

IMMEDIATE FUTURE: 7 OF SWORDS REVERSED. Remember that game we played at the Rangers on the 23rd? The one where the Rangers jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and we still came back to beat them? You could say that the Rangers had a bit of a 7 of Swords reversed moment. The card speaks to having victory in your grasp, but giving up. I have a guy behind me in 417 who always yells, “No let downs!” when the Caps are ahead but seemingly in danger of losing that lead. The subconscious doesn’t understand “no”, so he may be intending letdowns without even knowing it–remind me, I might have to tell him that at tomorrow night’s tilt with Tampa Bay. Anyway, all told, the 7 of Swords reversed as an Immediate Future card indicates a letdown of some kind–having victory in the palm of your hand, and letting it get away from you. Looking at the next five games, I want to say we need to beware of letdowns when we host the Flyers.

TEAM: 2 OF SWORDS REVERSED. When reversed, the 2 of Swords is a warning against bad advice, trickery, and deceit. This is coming up at the base of the staff, so it actually represents forces within the team itself. I’m not going to speculate about what that might mean.

OUTSIDE INFLUENCES: 5 OF WANDS REVERSED. No, no, NO. NOT good. 5’s are not fun. This card speaks of unnecessary competitiveness, spiteful conversation, hurt, and ruin. Come on, cards, are the message boards that bad? Is Ted really getting that much bad email? Are we, the fans, really hurting the team? It’s not a comfortable thought, but it is what it is. I really do wish the fans of the Caps could be more positive, and this card isn’t exactly making me optimistic about that. “Meadowlark Nylander” is currently one of the most recent posts on the board as I type this–again, this goes back to what I’ve written about loving the players we have, as they are. That doesn’t mean you never criticize; that doesn’t mean you compliment a bad job. That means acceptance of the player as a player, and as a Capital. I hope that, should things turn south this month, that the boards won’t disintegrate with all the nastiness, but…

HOPES AND FEARS: 6 OF WANDS REVERSED. The 6 of Wands reversed is about indecision and fear. Does this mean that there are some who, subconsciously, are afraid that December was too good to be true? Is there a worry that some decisions–roster moves, scratches, and so on–may be different from what some would prefer? The only thing we have to fear may in fact be fear itself, but it seems that there is some of that in the room, if only on a subconscious level. And I’ll bet you I know why. Next card, please…?

OUTCOME: 9 OF SWORDS. No way around this one–the 9 of Swords is one of the most difficult cards in the Minor Arcana. Nightmares; loss; cruelty; suffering; disappointment; it’s just wall to wall bad news. The silver lining to it is similar to that of The Tower: after it’s all over, it’s time to begin anew. So even though January may not come out as well as we’d like it to, there may be more hope once February gets here. What’s interesting here is that the 9 of Swords is the outcome, and the 10 of Chalices is the general direction. How do you go in a general direction of 10 of Chalices, and end up at the 9 of Swords? I think the answer here is that January may be a down month, but the rest of the season should be OK. Remember, the question was about January in particular, and the outcome would be the outcome of January only, not just the general direction things are going. So the promise of renewal at the end of a bad outcome, coupled with the general direction of victory, tells me this: Even if things go horribly wrong this month, don’t fear, don’t lose heart. We are still the team to beat in the Southeast, and any misadventures this month will only be momentary setbacks on our road to victory. Expect some losses, Caps fans–some may even be bad ones. But remember that it is only temporary, and the Capitals are still headed in the right direction.

DISTRIBUTION: 1 Earth, 3 Air, 4 Fire, 2 Water. 2 Majors. Fire and Earth energies are slightly off right now, and that generally is an indication to slow down, ground yourself, and perhaps even to be still and know. 2 Majors is unremarkable, but the lack of court cards is a surprise. Not sure what to make of that–perhaps that the team will stand or fall as a team, and no one will really do anything out of character for better or worse.

Puck drops at 7 PM for our New Years’ date with the Bolts–see you there.

CAPITAL SPIRIT
HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Last night on the boards, I was taken to task for, essentially, being ineffective with my healing work for the team.

I normally wouldn’t bother answering that. Skeptics will be skeptics no matter what I say or do, so I’m wasting my keystrokes on them. Folks who are inclined to believe need no further convincing–wasting my keystrokes again. I myself don’t need any convincing–more wasted keystrokes. So I guess my audience with this one is for those one or two whose minds aren’t already made up.

When I do my distance work for the Caps, I do it as a group intention. I don’t name players–I just intend healing for the team as a whole, and leave the decision about who gets healed and how fast up to the Source of these healings. Theoretically, I could name names, but I’m not about to do that, for a couple of reasons.

First, I trust that when the players do heal up, they will come back at the right time for the team as a whole. We’ve had the players we needed, when we needed them. We just rattled off our second-best December in franchise history, we’re 9-1 over our last ten, we’re second in the Eastern Conference, and we’re leading the Southeast by a dozen points on New Year’s Eve. How, exactly, have we been hampered by a lack of healthy players? I would submit that we haven’t. Yes, there are some fan favorites who aren’t playing due to injuries. Yet, we are still winning. A lot. I repeat: We’ve had the players we needed, when we needed them. I trust that there’s a Plan to who will return and when, and I’m not going to try to second-guess it by singling out one player.

Second, it takes the same amount of time for me to do a full-team session as it would to single out one player (usually about twenty minutes, give or take). And for every player who’s out, there may well be another one who’s playing through something minor, but we don’t know about it. It’s not fair to the Boyd Gordons and Matt Bradleys of the team to focus exclusively on, say, Alexander Semin, and leave them out of the picture. And it’s really not fair to those with minor, but playable, dings, to focus only on the players on the injury list. I can’t go down the roster, one name at a time, and guess who needs healing and who doesn’t. And I only have so much time available, so if I can do for the entire roster in twenty minutes, what it might take seven hours to do going one player at a time, that’s exactly what I’ll do.

Third, we’ve already had players returning from injuries–just not the popular ones. I could, if I really wanted to do all that research, look at each player’s game-by-game log and note who’s been out for more than a couple of games, and then returned to the ice. But I’m not here to keep score like that. Again, I trust that there is a Divine rationale for who returns at what point, and that we will continue to have the players we need, when we need them. That’s not the same as having the players we want, when we want them.

Fourth, I’d much rather see our superstars coming back at 100% in, oh I don’t know, April, and be healthy enough to go, say, another two months. If the alternative is to have them back at 75% in January, only to get re-injured by, oh I don’t know, a crosscheck in the back that doesn’t get called, I’d rather they take all the time they need to heal up to 100%. Especially if we’re still winning while they’re getting better. Think about it–if we’re this good with reserves and call-ups, how good will we be when the big guns get back? Better we find that out in April than January, yes?

One thing they teach you when you learn Reconnective Healing is not to focus on one specific area. For example, if someone comes in with really bad migraines, don’t just work around the head–work where you feel the disturbances, wherever those happen to be. Don’t focus on one area so much that you neglect to treat the whole person. Essentially, I’m doing the same thing for the Caps–not focusing on one player so much that I neglect the rest of the team. Therefore, it’s best to just do what I’ve been doing–sending intentions for the team as a whole, not any one specific player.

Believe you me, as a Caps fan, I really do want to see our superstars back PDQ. But I can’t get so hung up on one person that I neglect everyone else on the team–particularly if it’s not in the team’s Divine plan.

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, I am doing the very best I can as a healer–no more, no less. If I am sincerely doing all I can, then the discouragement of a few message board mavens will be inconsequential. If I am not doing enough, then the consolation of a thousand angels would fall on deaf ears.

I’m not going to allow myself to fail. Not now, not ever. And if that’s not enough for some people, then that’s their problem, not mine.

CAPITAL SPIRIT
NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT

I opted to take in the Caps’ practice this morning, something I haven’t been able to do yet this season. It was a full house: most of the bleachers were occupied, so it was a bit tricky finding an open place to sit down. I found a spot, settled in, and watched practice. I don’t see enough of those to write with any authority on what transpired there. The real adventure wasn’t practice itself–it was what happened afterwords.

I moved out in front of the players’ exit, and caught Brent Johnson after about a 20-minute wait. I had nothing to sign–just offered belated holiday wishes, best of luck in ‘09, and a get well soon.

Nobody else came out after that, and a lot of the players’ cars were being valeted away, so I reasoned my chances of seeing anyone else weren’t that good. And man, was my stomach grumbling…oh, heck, I’ll do this some other time when the crowd is less.

I headed down to one of the local eateries, and grabbed a spot at the bar. Diet Coke, sandwich…wait…is that BROOKS LAICH who just walked in?! It was. He took a seat at the bar not too far from where I was sitting. I was a little too nervous to say anything at first. I finally decided to speak up when I noticed Brooks was reading the Sports section of the Post. “Business section?” I quipped. Brooks said it wasn’t, and I joked, “For you, it is, I’m sure.”

“It’s for fun, too,” he replied, and I left him to ordering his lunch. 2 more players walked in shortly thereafter: one whom I could not recognize beneath a winter hat, and the other whom I assume by the hair was Milan Jurcina. Mike Green came in shortly after that, and I offered some belated Christmas greetings to all four. Those were well-received, and I opted to leave the players to their respective lunches at that point. I had pretty much finished my sandwich, and was about to ask for the check, when the ice somehow broke, and we ended up talking shop for a bit. Laich and Green were both quite engaging, while Jurcina kept mostly to himself, and the fourth member of the party kept such a low profile that I never even found out who he was.

The conversation was not for attribution, so I’ll refrain from offering specifics of what the players said. I will say that I told them that I wasn’t trying to be the best fan in the building–I just wanted to be the best fan that I knew how to be. I was asked if I’d like to see others duplicating my attire, and I said no: I’d rather encourage other fans to be the best fans that they know how to be.

The longer answer to that–which I didn’t say there, but will give here–is that every piece of my outfit means something specific and significant to me personally. I’d rather encourage other fans to find their own symbols, their own meanings, to their own outfits, and dress accordingly. I’d rather see 18,276 fellow Caps fans done up in their own version of “hardcore Caps fan,” than see even a hundred other cloaks which mean nothing beyond looks to their wearers. And while I do offer links where other fans could purchase what I wear, those really don’t get a lot of clicks. But, you know something? That’s great. I take that as a sign that others are being themselves, and not merely trying to duplicate me. Anyway, back to what happened…

We were trading respectful shop talk, when all of a sudden, in walked this incredibly beautiful woman, who started talking to the players. I respectfully kept out of the conversation, and waited for her to leave before picking up the conversation with Laich, Green, and Jurcina. Meanwhile, the radio overhead was playing song after song of a “boy-meets-girl” nature, and all three of the players were kidding that it was a sign, and hey, don’t you believe in those?

I said that I did, but that the pretty ones were always taken. Brooks said he knew for a fact that she wasn’t. To which I countered that she may very well be available, but she was probably about two call-ups out of my league.

I swear Mike Green about choked on his lunch he was laughing so hard.

Finally, a fifth consecutive boy-meets-girl song comes on the radio, and Brooks Laich gets out of his chair and tells me he’s going over to make introductions, with or without me. Gee, Brooks, why not grab my hood and drag me over there kicking and screaming, while you’re at it….

Brooks Laich did indeed make an introduction, as promised, and I sat down and started talking, trying to avoid making a complete fool of myself. It turned out this was a long-distance Caps fan from Boston, who occasionally comes down to DC to catch Caps games at the Phone Booth. We must have spent a good hour in conversation, and I was later getting home than I had initially planned. But it was worth it.

Jennifer, if you’re reading this, thank you for a wonderful conversation, and I hope to see you at a future Caps game. Just don’t take offense if I blank on your name, OK? (Oh, and you’re a better tarot reader than you think.)

Brooks, if you’re reading this, thanks for the set-up. For all of you, thanks for allowing me to share part of our afternoon. It was a privilege. Good luck against the Leafs tomorrow, guys.

CAPITAL SPIRIT
IT’S TRUE, I TELL YA

When the alarm went off at 7 AM, I came swimming out of my sleep thinking, “Huh, what?…Alarm?…Saturday?…Oh, yeah, road trip.” I got out of bed, showered, and got dressed in full Capitals regalia. One change: I opted to wear A*Men for my cologne instead of Lucky You. Other than that, I dressed as I normally do to Verizon Center: cloak, rave lights, cards on my belt, the whole ensemble. I’d been advised by some fans to tone down my outfit, but I would have none of it: this cloak doesn’t run.

Before I left home, I had a word with Archangel Raphael, to ask for safe travels. I then asked Archangel Michael for personal protection in the enemy’s arena. His exact words to me were: “If anyone lays a hand on you in anger, I will have failed. And I don’t fail. I’ve dealt with some of the nastiest, most evil enemies of the Light, so I think I can handle keeping you safe from Flyers fans.” He was as good as his word, too, as it turned out. Little did either of us know that it was a Capitals fan I’d eventually have to worry about.

The weather was extremely foreboding: gray skies, rain haze, and enough of a breeze to make it uncomfortable. The early part of the bus ride was full of lively hockey chatter, a trivia contest, and the customary first-goal drawing. I drew Victor Kozlov and Sean Collins, and I didn’t like my chances that much.

We took I-95 straight through, and I remember casting a slightly homesick eye on the Baltimore skyline. I haven’t been back to Baltimore City since I moved down here to Washington a couple of years ago. I still remember bringing everything I had in my office with me to Camden Station, and buying a ticket to Union Station, one way. It was the first–and so far the only–time I’ve ever ridden the Camden Line. There are some things about Baltimore that I definitely do not miss. Yet, every time I pass the city on 95, and see that familiar skyline, I can’t help but feel a little bit homesick–even though I know that I’ve chosen to become an adopted Washingtonian, and even though I know that, in all likelihood, I may never again call Charm City my home. The colorless, mournful sky only added to my sense of loss, and I can’t remember if my eyes stayed dry or not.

The conversation flagged a bit as we approached Harford County, and I remember seeing a lot of the familiar exits of my youth roll by: Joppatowne, Edgewood, Riverside, Aberdeen, Havre de Grace. It’s been a very long time since I last set foot in Harford County, my home in those combative, lonely years we refer to as “adolescence.” I’ve been through there many, many times, but always in transit: I’m either on a train bound for points north, or I’m on 95 and not venturing off the interstate. As we rode past the Ironbirds’ ballpark in Aberdeen, I had to wonder what, if anything, was left of the Harford County I knew growing up. You can’t go home again, true enough, but would I even recognize the neighborhood? Not that it mattered–we drove on, as we had a hockey game to catch. As we crossed the Susquehanna, I was struck by the reflection of the sunlight on the river. It had a greasy, feeble look to it, as if the sun itself didn’t want to be out of bed today.

Most of the trip through Cecil County was occupied by the trivia contest. One of the questions was to name every player who’s played for the Caps so far this season. It says something, I think, that there were several players who slipped my mind. Either we’ve had a whole lot of players don Capitals sweaters this season, or my mind’s not as sharp as it was…or I needed a cup of coffee. Hey, Chesapeake House has a Starbucks! Cool! We took a brief layover to get out of the bus, walk around a bit, and–in my case–grab my usual at the coffee shop. The barista couldn’t believe I was asking for eight shots, and gave me a very amusing look when she placed it on the bar (wish I’d had my camera!) As we left Chesapeake House, I remember joking, “Next stop, the City of Brotherly Shove!”

We arrived at Wachovia Center at 11:30, which was a little early. No angry mobs were there to greet us, and we got inside without incident. I remember the guys at the turnstiles giving me some good-natured kidding: “Hey! No capes in here!” It was said with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin and a bit of a laugh, but they scanned my ticket and waved me on through without incident. There was a piano player near the entrance who was playing “Linus and Lucy”–and doing a very good rendition of it, I might add–as we walked in. He saw all the red jerseys, and started up on some twisted tunes–close to the originals, but bashing the Caps in a couple of places. You get that on the road, and you just have to let it roll: they’re just supporting their home team, and it’s not personal.

The Fan Club members ended up assembling behind the Caps’ cage for warm-ups, and we did have to move aside for a couple of ticketed seat holders who were very, very polite, when you consider that we were fans of their opponent and sitting in their seats. We made pleasant conversation, intercut with me maing a few common-ground quips (hate the Penguins, don’t much care for the Rangers, think Sabres fans are obnoxious, etc.) There were no unpleasantries at all, and I made my way up to the concourse after warm-ups without incident–not even a Harry Potter reference.

One thing I did notice about the game was how much Christmas music they played throughout. They even had a special intro set to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24),” which was almost worth the price of admission all by itself. (I LOVE that song–love it, love it, love it.) It was a marked contrast to the Caps’ musical choice this December. I really wish the Caps would have done more Christmas music during the season this year, or at the VERY least, at the last game before the 25th. (The Grinch in a Blues jersey didn’t work for me the other night. Sorry.)

As for the game itself, there’s nothing I can say that won’t be better said by other writers. My personal road record falls to 1-2, and I’m 1-1 in Philadelphia.

But that’s not what you surfed over here to read, was it? You wanted to hear about how bad the Philly fans were, right? Well, this is the shocking part.

On the concourse, I was listening as hard as I could for any HINT of trouble directed at me personally. Nothing: the Flyers fans pretty much left me alone on the concourse and in the comfort stations. I actually got more than a few compliments from some of the Flyers faithful, and one fan who asked what the cloak symbolized. I offered her a card for this blog, and it was accepted. Literally the only verbal jab I got directed at me personally was one lone “Harry Potter” call coming back from the second intermission. One. That was it. I’ve gotten more of those–and more abusive–from fans at Verizon Center. (“Harry Potter sucks!” the other night at the Blues game, to wit.) Everyone else was either curious, complimentary, or just content to leave me alone.

True, the Flyers fans did their dead level best to make it known that this was their house. We got our lumps from the fans around us, but you tell yourself that it’s just your team they don’t like, and not you personally. So when one of my fellow Caps fans started mixing it up verbally with some of the Flyers faithful in the next section, I tried to yank him down into his seat, and once he was seated, I reminded him that he represented the Capitals and the city of Washington, and to be a polite guest. Whereupon he threatened to punch me in the face.

It was the only threat of violence I got the whole game. And it wasn’t from a Flyers fan.

What I got from the fans in Philly was, from my experience, the typical crowd reaction you get on the road. Some words got exchanged here and there, but that was strictly business. However, NEVER–not once–did I detect any personal hostility from the Flyers faithful. Now, I’ll grant that it did get awfully lonely toward the end of the game with the Flyers cruising and the fans yelling, “Start the Bus!” (Great line, by the way, guys! Would any of you Flyers fans object if I used it on the Penguins?) But it was never personal, and I never once feared for my safety.

In fact, I’m going to go so far as to say that, on an individual level, I got more respect in Wachovia Center than I sometimes get in Verizon Center. It pains me to type that, but it is what I felt at today’s game. I heard “Harry Potter” once, and that was the end of it. After that, it was all impersonal, generic Caps-fan-bashing, which you have to expect–and let slide–on the road. One-on-one, I got a lot more curious and complimentary comments than I got negative ones. So, after allowing for the expected denunciation of visiting fans, my opinion of Flyers fans remains where it was at the last game I saw there, and that is fairly high.

The mood on the bus was melancholy as we set out for home. We’d just traveled 120-plus miles to watch this game. We had then witnessed what I believe is referred to, in Net slang, as an EPIC FAIL. We now had 120 more miles to go to get back to Washington. Worse, traffic was crazy for a Saturday night–we hit several slowdowns on I-95. I wasn’t much for conversation, so I retreated to my iPod, and VNV Nation’s album “Futureperfect.” (I’ve about overdone it with the TSO this December, so I needed a change of pace.)

What was odd, in a very strange, meta-music kind of way, was how the album ended up being the perfect narration for the balance of the trip. I cued the album up at a traffic jam, and the slow strings on “Foreword” went perfectly with the standstill pace of the traffic in the tie-up. The angry, frustrated lyrics of “Epicentre” went well with most of the rest of the delay, and traffic began moving again toward the end of the song. During “Electronaut,” we were making good time, and there was something poetic about the rhythm of the oncoming headlights matched up with the beat of the music. It’s hard for me to put it in words, but the headlights seemed to be almost dancing to the music. That’s the best I can describe it. “Liebestod” went perfectly with the wait for the Fort McHenry Tunnel Toll Plaza. “Holding On” was up next, and the second verse was coming on just as the Baltimore skyline was in view on the right. The effect of the skyline and the music combined was more contemplative than Ronan Harris ever intended for that song, I’m sure. As the album moved to “Carbon”, we were south of Baltimore, in an area with a lot of street lights. That lent a certain extra weight to the opening lines about “a million points of light, ascending to the sky.” As the song progressed, and we drove south, there were fewer outside lights, until we were about–guessing–somewhere a little north of Jessup. The darkness outside the window made the final lyrics of “Carbon”–”By our blindness and stupidity, we kill everything”–that much more depressing. Depressing song, depressing scenery, depressing Caps loss–yes, I wept. “Genesis” was the perfect cure: we had hit the Jessup exit, and there were very bright lights overhead to light the road. And I caught myself contrasting “Carbon’s” “million lights that no one can see,” with “Genesis’s” “God saw the light, that it was good…” And it got me thinking about the nature of the light of humanity compared to the Light of God…but that’s a subject for another day. For “Structure”, I remember watching the traffic and the road, and seeing how it fit with the music (which, surprisingly, it did.) The last song before we hit the Capital Beltway was “Fearless,” and the lyrics of that song seemed to make the perfect conclusion to the trip (even though it wasn’t the end of the album). I did, however, manage to get all the way through “4 AM” just as the bus was arriving in Greenbelt. The atmosphere of that piece pretty much summed the whole trip up.

So now, here I am, at home, it’s quarter to one in the morning, and that Christmas shopping I said I’d do is going to have to be done tomorrow. So I have to get to bed.

Caps fans, I’ll see you next Friday for the Caps-Sabres contest at the Phone Booth.

CAPITAL SPIRIT
ROAD WEARY

TO: THE FANS OF THE PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

This Saturday, I’ll be joining the Caps Fan Club on a road trip to Philadelphia, to watch the Caps take on your Flyers. I’ve been to your arena exactly once, and you Flyers fans actually treated me well. I got some verbal jabs, as expected, but never once did I feel like I was in physical danger. You were, for the most part, gracious hosts last time I was there: so much so that I promised myself, after I left Wachovia Center, to return in some future season.

Now, I’ve heard from other Caps Fan Club members that such was not the case in last year’s playoffs: they DID feel threatened up there last April. I’m going to chalk that up to it being the playoffs, and give you Flyers fans the benefit of the doubt for Saturday’s (ahem) regular-season contest.

But, just in case, let me offer you all a bit of an incentive. If the Capitals win on Saturday, I will do a distance healing session for the Flyers at some point on the bus ride back to Washington. PROVIDED! Provided that I am treated as a guest, and as a fellow hockey fan, NOT as an enemy. A couple of playful verbal jabs here and there is fine–I know it’s your barn, sticks and stones, yadda yadda–but keep it light, keep it hospitable, and keep it in good fun. You do that, Flyers fans, and I will, upon my honor, repay your kindness. If the Caps lose, I might still go through with it, but only if the rest of the experience was positive. However, regardless of the score, if the rest of the experience is bad, then I will offer nothing. I don’t do curses–those have a way of biting you back–but I will have no reason to offer a blessing if it won’t be accepted.

Now, I’ll admit, looking at your injury report, that there are a couple of guys on the list that Caps fans don’t much like. As a healer, that’s not my concern. My allegiance is to more than just my sweater: it’s much higher than that. I believe in the power of God’s Love, and I believe in loving my neighbor as myself. And hey, won’t there be only five days until Christmas? Let’s enjoy a great game as fellow hockey fans, regardless of what sweater (or cloak!) we wear, and show some Christmas spirit while we’re at it. You guys up to it?

I look forward to Saturday’s contest, and to seeing two exciting hockey teams do battle. It’s true: our respective clubs have played some very emotional games in years gone by, and last year’s postseason was no exception. But my hope is that no matter what the final score on Saturday, we all remember this: no matter what colors we wear, and no matter what players we cheer for, that we are all united by our common passion for the coolest game around. (And, perhaps, a mutual loathing of the Pittsburgh Penguins!)

Philadelphia, I will see you on Saturday. I hope to come home as impressed with you this season, as I was on my last visit. I hope to see a good hockey game; I hope to be treated as your fellow hockey fan; but most of all, I hope that, in Love, I may be able to offer,

Blessings, Flyers Fans–
Capital Spirit

Well, it’s that time again, and I want to get this over and done with before tomorrow night’s game against the Panthers. So here goes–my look at the month of December. Recap and evaluation of November is something I’ll do a bit later this week, as time permits. But with two Caps games in the next three nights, I am going to be otherwise engaged for a while.

Deck: Tarot of the Angels (Scarabeo)
Spread: Celtic Cross
Question: “How will the Capitals do in the month of December?”

SHUFFLE: This doesn’t happen often. As I was shuffling the cards, one of them jumped out. That doesn’t happen often, and when it does, you’re supposed to treat that as significant. The jump-out was the KNAVE OF PENTACLES REVERSED. Interesting. If it’s a player, they have two years or less of NHL experience. With all the minor-league call-ups on the roster as December opens, I really can’t pin this down to one player. But Pentacles are about Earth, and all things physical and material. This Knave is reversed, so he’s a knave’s Knave–someone whose Earth energy is out of whack. Think greedy, materialistic, or in hockey terms, too physical for their own good. Too much hitting, not enough passing, not playing the puck enough, are the impressions I’m getting. If this isn’t a player, then it may indicate a serious lack of basic material resources. That’s a very simplistic way of reading it given all the injuries we’re dealing with right now, but it is a possibility. I’m not sure where this fits in with the rest of the cards, but it is a jump-out, so I will read it and type it out for whatever it happens to be worth.

BASIS: QUEEN OF SWORDS. If this is a player, it’s one who has six to nine years of NHL experience, and who has a very mental dimension to his game. I do have a list of players by rank, and the only player off that list that jumps out at me at this point is Brent Johnson. In a way, that really is a good place to start: the goaltending seems to be the only centering force on the team right now, as the rest of the lineup is getting hurt right and left. If I’m reading this correctly, then there may be more pressure on Johnny than we perhaps realize as December commences. I’m getting the impression that Theodore may perhaps be unavailable for part of the month, and I’m going to put that out there for whatever it may be worth. The Queen of Swords can also represent mastery of the mental domain, but I don’t think that’s the right message here. My intuition is telling me that Brent Johnson is going to be, pardon the cliche, Johnny on the spot this month. As he goes, so may go the Caps: if I’m reading this in position correctly, his energy, positive OR NEGATIVE, will determine what goes on up front.

CROSSING: 10 OF CHALICES. Interesting. Normally, if I see the 10 of Chalices, particularly when reading for the Caps, it’s usually a very good sign. Readers who’ve seen this card come up before know that I refer to it as the “happily ever after” card. But it’s coming up as the Crossing card, and that means that it’s a mixed blessing. I want to be able to read it as “the road the Caps are on leads to victory this month.” But I can’t quite do that: the General Direction and Outcome cards aren’t very optimistic. So, how does that affect the 10 of Chalices as a Crossing? The optimistic read would be something like this: despite some so-so predictions for how things turn out, the Caps still make progress this month on their journey to happily-ever-after. The pessimistic read would be something like this: there will be a very strong energy of success and victory around the team, but it’s illusory, a house of cards, if you’ll pardon the expression. Getting too carried away with this success or that may end up causing trouble down the road. I reluctantly have to be pessimistic here. So my read on this position is this: the Caps can’t afford to let any one win–for wins they will have–get to their heads. They can’t believe they’re the team that just beat this good club by this good score, or they just might lost to that bad club by that bad score shortly thereafter. Follow the middle way.

DISTANT PAST: KNIGHT OF WANDS. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this is a reference to Alexander Semin. Sasha has helped the team get to where it is now, that much seems clear. Now, does this mean that he’s soon to return, and come charging out of the past to carry the team forward? Or does this mean that as of now, Semin is officially yesterday’s news? The card is face-up, so I’m going to be optimistic here. I won’t go so far as to say we’ll have him back on the ice by month’s end, but his influence will still be felt this month.

RECENT PAST: 7 OF WANDS. This is a visual read. The scene on the card is of a youth, working hard on ground that is dry and parched. Six of the wands are stuck in the hardpan, and the youth is still stubbornly working the ground with the seventh wand. Above him, an angel holds a shield of light reflecting the Light. Visually, the message seems to be one of working, and working, and working, and having nothing to show for it. November wasn’t a horrible month by any stretch, but we did have a couple of games in there which seemed to be very “oy vey, why?!” type of losses. Now, the good news is that that’s passed, and receding. However, that type of energy is still trying to hang around, even as it’s on the way out. So there may yet be a few “stubborn” energetic events left to go before we completely lay November’s ghosts to rest.

GENERAL DIRECTION: 6 OF SWORDS REVERSED. Hey, play nice! The 6 of Swords is one of the less unpleasant Swords cards, but reversed, it’s not that great. Upright, it’s about knowing where you’re going, and going there. Reversed, it speaks to indecision, or lack of knowledge. It’s kind of a “quo vadis?” kind of energy: where to? Now, bear in mind the numerical order here: 6 comes right after 5, of course. So what’s the 5 of Swords? Defeat. And from defeat, you realize the next step to take, and take it. That’s what would happen if the 6 of Swords were face-up. Reversed, you don’t quite know where you’re going. It’s like you’re driving from Washington to Baltimore on I-95, they suddenly close it for an emergency, your GPS system is on the blink, and you have no idea what road to use. That’s kind of what the 6 of Swords reversed is about: knowing where you came from, and knowing where you want to go, but not really knowing HOW to get there. And sometimes, even when you figure out a Plan B, you find you suddenly have to develop a Plan C, or Plan D. The quote I’m getting is, “The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry,” and I think that about sums it up. Expect the unexpected in December.

IMMEDIATE FUTURE: KNIGHT OF CHALICES. Well, we’ve gone from the Knight of fire–Wands–to the Knight of water–Chalices. I’m thinking this is Ovechkin: the experience level fits, and he is an emotional player. So if I’m reading this correctly, his cup may run over with blessings early in the month. I’m not guaranteeing that he’ll hang five goals on the Panthers tomorrow night, but he could perform above his average over the next few games. And Alex Ovechkin’s idea of “above average” is about where most people start thinking “superhuman.” I like it!

TEAM: 7 OF SWORDS. Not great, but not the 5, so I can work with that. The 7 of Swords speaks to instability. It’s not instability and certain defeat: to the contrary, the 7 of Swords says you can indeed succeed, despite opposition. But there are a couple of caveats to that. One, be cautious in the face of extreme adversity. And two, victory must come from MENTAL effort. In hockey terms, this means that you have to play smart: don’t take boneheaded penalties, have a purpose to your actions, and remember to win by matching your wits, not necessarily dropping your mitts. With the lack of consistency the Caps have shown–they seem to be two different teams depending on if they’re home or away–I find this particular card quite appropriate. Be smart; then be consistent; THEN can you be victorious.

OUTSIDE INFLUENCES: 6 OF WANDS. This just came up last month to represent the Caps, and now it’s turning up again to represent the outside influences. This seems to me to be an indication of tremendous fan support, and wonderful energies coming to the team from outside. Could it be that all the fans who are now packing Verizon Center–even though the season is still young–are already starting to believe? Granted, the Caps haven’t been that great on the road, but at home, they’ve been lights-out, leaving (so far) only one point on the table at home. I’m not a huge fan of the wave at hockey games, but I’ll take a high-energy crowd anytime. And with all due apologies to Fats Waller, “The red is rockin’, the fans are flockin’, We all scream to cheer our team, I mean this joint is jumpin’!” We, the fans, need to continue being a positive force in this position.

HOPES AND FEARS: XV, THE DEVIL (Element: Earth) The Devil is an Earth card, and that might seem counterintuitive at first glance. He’s burning in Hell, so shouldn’t he be a Fire card? No–fire represents spirit, and the Devil is a tempter. And what’s the best temptation? Why, material stuff, of course. Earthy stuff. Think of some famous “sold his soul” stories: The Devil and Daniel Webster, perhaps even Charlie Daniels’s song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. The Devil isn’t going to get very many Marlowian Fausts who would sell their souls for knowledge, so there goes Air. Water? Nope–that’s emotion, and a very hard sell indeed. So this a very Earth-y card, a very physical card. Why, do you ask, am I belaboring the point with this? Because The Devil (the card) can represent material fear. In this case, fear of lack of material, be that players, or be that physical health. Now, the card is face-up, so it doesn’t represent pure evil (which, if reversed, it would). What it represents here, as a Hopes and Fears card, is fears of impulse, temptation, and lack of material. Now, The Devil is no small fear, but if you put up any kind of fight, he’ll move on to softer targets. The key is to know you’re being tempted, know that’s what you’re scared of, see it, acknowledge it, and move past it.

OUTCOME: KNAVE OF WANDS REVERSED. Yuck. According to the list I have, Mike Green has only two years of experience, so that makes him a Knave. And of the players who are ranked as Knaves, his name was the only one that really jumped out at me and screamed, “Knave of Wands!” Might a bad month by Mike Green be the biggest factor in how the Capitals end up performing? I know I said back at Basis that Brent Johnson would be one to watch, and I’m going to have to add Mike Green to that list of players I’ll be keeping a spiritual eye on. The other possibility is that this card represents a spiritual beginning that gets off completely on the wrong foot. I’m not sure what that might be, but it is something I’ll mention for the record.

DISTRIBUTION (11 CARDS): 2 Earth, 3 Air, 2 Water, 4 Fire, Majors 1. A little long on spiritual energy, but not at the expense of any of the other elements. 3-3-3-2 would be “normal” for eleven cards, but this is close enough as to be unremarkable. What’s notable is the lack of Major Arcana cards: there’s only one of those out of 11 cards, and with 11 cards, a “normal” number of Majors would be 3. Five Court cards is also notable, but those are Minor Arcana, so they are free-will as well. So there’s not a lot of hard destiny here. This situation is almost completely subject to change, and what I see now can definitely be improved upon.

FINAL THOUGHTS. There’s nothing I can really point to here and say, “THIS IS BAD!! REALLY BAD!!” There are a couple of cards here of which I could say, “This is AWESOME!” But for the most part, the news here is fairly neutral. Now, overall, it is on the positive side of neutral, which means we may see even more success in December than we did in November. However, I do need to put out that this is all very open to changes, and the mixed-to-good news that I see here is not set in stone. The energies in play here are, for the most part, up to the players to work out. If the Caps work hard, play smart, and continue to receive positive support from the fans, this could be a December to remember. I’m not going to sit here and guarantee a great month, or even a good one. What I can say for certain is that the energies are in place for the Caps to tear up the pea patch this month. It’s up to the players to harness that.

See you tomorrow night at the Phone Booth.

CAPITAL SPIRIT
PRE-ORDERING HIS NEW YEAR’S DAY DISH OF CROW