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

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

It's Mighty Noisy in Here

From the Ellis Deck, the High Priestess; from the Brownies Oracle, "Entanglement:"
[The real mind] is intrinsically pure. Within itself it's already peaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods...That gladness or sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows these things, it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we who are upset or at ease or whatever. But really this mind of ours is already unmoving and peaceful... really peaceful! Just like a leaf which is still as long as no wind blows. ~ Ajahn Chah 
I have a head full of barking sea lions and screaming sea gulls. Similar to the poor Brownies caught up in the May pole ribbons, these thoughts (sea lions) and emotions (sea gulls) can create a reality that feels intensely authentic. Like becoming tangled in sea weed, they keep me anchored so that the waves of life rock and toss me around. I don't realize until I become still and quiet that beneath the waves lies Original Mind, a calm, spacious place of clarity. The High Priestess reminds me how useful meditation practice is for turning down the volume knob. Then I can realize, as Pema Chodron put it, I am the sky, and everything else is just the weather.

10 comments:

  1. What a beautiful quote , Bev! It is so easy to forget our much needed alone, quiet, meditation time.
    Right now I am curled up in my bed with my tablet reading blogs, whil daughters, SIL and dog are downstairs. And I love it!

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    1. Sounds lovely! Enjoy your alone, quiet time in your little cocoon. :)

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  2. great post. when you wipe away the gulls and sea lions, what is left is the soft shoop shoop of the sea itself.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYXG9rG0Jf0

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  3. Good one today! The Ellis deck reminds me in artwork of the Silicon Dawn. I have always loved the antique Palmer Cox brownies so like this deck too.

    We are having a quiet dayn today too. Too much leaving us jangly.

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    1. It does resemble the SD doesn't it? But this one feels more earthy to me, even with the odd characters.
      Quiet days are good for renewing the spirit. :)

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  4. I love the Pema Chödrön quote, hadn't heard that before :) And yes, I love this deck, too. I know what you mean about it being earthier than the SD - I think it's to do with the colours :D

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    1. Chodron is the teacher I would love to meet one day. That quote is a great one for keeping things in perspective. :)

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