MS-0015 · The Holding · card 1 of 7
Ballast
Every stone he lays in the boat steadies it, and every stone makes it harder to lift.
- Element
- Earth
- Tense
- Habitual
- The hand
- That could not release
The card
He wades out with a banded stone in both arms toward a boat riding too high in the water, and lays it low in the hull beside the others. The stone does nothing, goes nowhere, and produces nothing — it exists only to keep the vessel from turning over in the first real wind. He has done this many times and there is no drama in it. This card names the weight taken on deliberately, and insists that what looks like burden is the only reason anything stays upright.
To sit with
What have you taken on to stay steady that you've never weighed again?
What would still keep you upright if one stone came out?
