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

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Embracing It All

This week I'll be using the Da Vinci Enigma Tarot, created by Caitlin Matthews and published by Connections. Along with it, I'll be drawing from a self-published oracle created by Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle called the Insectorum Divinorum. Today's cards are the Three of Air (Swords) and the "Cicada:"
          The questions (dimmi, literally "tell me") for this Three of Air sketch of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian are: What are you mourning? What is painful? Nothing like getting down to brass tacks. I didn't even have to think too hard for my answer. I'll be with my extended family for the holiday, including the the young adult children of my cousins. These "kids" are smart, outgoing and making fast tracks in the worlds of education and career. I always feel like I'm in a Sesame St. show that illustrates "same and different" when we gather. With a young adult child who struggles with mental health issues, there is an obvious difference in the room. My heart ache and pain are for her; I have no doubt she would give anything to shake off her shackles and live with the same buoyancy as they do.
          The Cicada is one of my favorite insects; the larvae live underground from 1 to 17 years (depending on the type). Every year, in late spring and summer, some of them emerge and become winged insects; the days and nights are filled with the male's thrumming, buzzing calls. The sound becomes like the rise and fall of ocean waves. As a result of their life cycle, Rupp-Spangle suggests the meaning of this card is a "protracted waiting, followed by an explosion of creativity, energy, life force and drive." Perhaps my loved one will have her day in the sun after all, just not on schedule with everyone else. The Da Vinci book does mention an important point in reference to my pain: there is no need for resentment or jealousy. I can embrace all with an open and patient heart.
We have a choice. We can spend our whole life suffering because we can't relax with how things really are, or we can relax and embrace the open-endedness of the human situation, which is fresh, unfixated, unbiased. ~ Pema Chodron

8 comments:

  1. "My loved one will have her day in the sun after all" what a lovely way of putting how our girls live their life on different schedule. I have never yet met a young woman with so much inner wisdom and gentle kindness as my youngest. Some qualities can't be measured with grades and diploma's. I am sure this is also true for your girl

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    1. I think what society would say is their weakness is in fact what makes them strong. My daughter is a champion of the downtrodden, scapegoat, underdog and outcast because she knows what it feels like to be in that place.

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    2. Than I think her sun is already shining brightly

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  2. Oh boy, I wanted that insect deck so much but she has stopped printing it. Maybe it will come back?

    The Da Vinci Enigma got panned but it's one of my favourites, so keen to see it used this week by you.

    Cicadas--we keep getting references to them this year Bev, it must mean something. I like the idea of cycles and time waiting, and things hurting. You know, the whole mental health issue reminds me that 100 years ago people were locked in asylums for things we now know are not mental instability. Think of that. Societal bias and misinformation lingers on.

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    1. I would love to see her reprint it, BUT I would like to see a poker size rather than mini size with the colors a bit lighter. Her lwb is excellent.
      The Da Vinci is one of those decks that at first glance doesn't look like much. The book that comes with it has a lot to do with why I like it so much (especially the "dimmi" for each card).
      I suppose all things eventually change, but some of those changes are like watching the grass grow!

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  3. hugs to your daughter, I think of her often, which is odd considering I've never met her. Sorrow and Hope by extension I suppose.

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    1. Thank you friend; you have had your share and more, so I appreciate the hope you extend her way.

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