I use tarot and oracle cards as tools for reflection and contemplation. Rather than divining the future, they are a way for me to look more deeply at the "now."
"The goal isn't to arrive, but to meander, to saunter, to make your life a holy wandering." ~ Rami Shapiro

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Just Sit Without Speaking

From the Thoth Tarot, the Prince of Swords:
This fellow has an intellect as sharp as his sword, but unfortunately he doesn't have the wisdom of experience behind him.  He knows something about everything it seems, though he has neither tact nor emotional maturity to deliver the knowledge.  In one hand is his sword, and in the other is a sickle, indicating those "pat" answers he loves to offer but not much else.  He reminds me of some religious folks who love to say things like, "It was God's will" or "You just need to pray harder and have faith."  Sometimes it is not words people need, but someone to sit beside them as they work through their pain and problems.

From the Vertical Oracle comes "Divine Intervention:"
No, this is not some angel that comes floating down on a sunbeam, but a "benevolent interruption" as Alli describes it.  It refers to those moments when my racing thoughts or my swirling emotions pause, such as when I catch sight of a heron flying overhead or seeing the individual rays of sunlight come through a cloud.  Those brief moments of beauty and wonder are what can help slow me down long enough to see I'm on a dead-end road, so I can turn around and head in a new direction.

2 comments:

  1. I used to think this card looked rough, unfinished. but then I guess this prince is unfinished and rather rough too. His process (and his tongue) is sharp but not refined. He makes me think of a pubescent boy that just read Ayn Rand and thinks he discovered how the world Should run lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rand seems to have that effect on young minds... :)

      Delete