This week I'll be using the Anna K. Tarot; the edition I have was created and self-published by Anna Klaffinger, though now I believe there is also an edition published by Llewellyn. Today's draw is the Tower:
There's nothing like the Tower to wake you up in the morning, and this one pulls out all the stops: lightning, raging fire, crashing waves, falling people and crumbling stones. But the fear of this card got significantly reduced since the last time I pulled it. That day, I was leading the last of a series of meditation classes, and we were supposed to do kirtan. The CD player and disc I had tested ten minutes before I left the house refused to work. I tried, and several others tried. But I had an inner nudge that this was something that would be helpful, so (with encouragement from the group) I sang the "call" part of the call-and-response of
Oseh Shalom in a cappella. To say this was out of my comfort zone is an understatement - I
do not sing in front of other people. Our voices were ragged and hesitant at first, but then swelled to a powerful, moving sound. Not only did we sing as one, we felt that sense of belonging and community that often accompanies kirtan. Since that experience, I look at this card and wonder what rotting, termite-infested walls are going to be pulled down, and what kind of magnificent, beautiful view I'll be able to see when they're removed.
The second deck I'll be using this week is the Green Man Tree Oracle, created through the talents of John Matthews and Will Worthington and published by Connections. However, since I'm not fond of the companion book, I also use
Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie, published by Megalithica Books. This morning's card is "Blackthorn - Straif:"
Ah, here's another scary card. But Laurie explains straif means "sulfur," a substance associated with alchemy and transformation. And sulfur has long been used as a mordant, an element used to set dyes in material, making dull fabrics colorful and bright. Change always looks scary before it happens, but 9 times out of 10, there is a beneficial result on the other side.
Great post Sycamore. I love your take on the Tower. I agree that our ego build safety walls don't always are so beneficial as we hope to believe Showing your vulnerability to others is a gift to them as well as to yourself. I wish I was there to join in
ReplyDeleteThank you - I wish you had been there too! :)
DeleteI welled up at the description of your last Tower moment - what a beautiful, powerful learning! I hope today's lessons are equally beneficial :)
ReplyDeleteThis is the reason I blog and read other blogs - to connect on another level (not just intellectual) with people. Today's lesson was hard but beneficial; another "How to open your heart to other people's suffering."
DeleteOh, that's a hard one - I often feel like other people's suffering will swamp me entirely. Perhaps that's one of my problems with the element of water. Glad you had a useful time with it. (hugs)
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