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, July 19, 2015

Uncarved Block

This week I'll be using the Thoth Tarot, created by Aleister Crowley with Lady Frieda Harris and published by U.S. Games. As a companion book for this deck, I'll be utilizing The Crowley Tarot, written by Akron (Charles F. Frey) and Hajo Banzhaf. I will also be drawing from the Vertical Oracle, created by Antero Alli with Sylvie Pickering and published by Vertical Pool. Today's cards are the Hanged Man and "Zero Point:"
          To bring me to a point of powerlessness and surrender, I have to be like this fellow - metaphorically having my feet and hands immobilized. All the avenues for struggle and fight would have to be removed. Yet even then, the battle goes on internally in the mind. I can sort through every file I have in my memory, attempting to use logic to solve the problem. Hopefully I will eventually exhaust myself, allowing me to relax into reality. Through accepting "what is," I realize I can't know or solve everything. Uncertainty is an uncomfortable place for me, but if I can stay there long enough, answers might come in unexpected ways.
          In geometry, a single point contains the potential of all possibilities. If it expands evenly outward in all directions, it might become a circle; going straight in one direction, it might become a line. Alli suggests this is a fresh start, "a clarity born from surrender to the moment." The Hanged Man often shows up when I am like the line - I have a very specific goal and one way to get there. Zero Point, on the other hand, encourages me to be like Taoism's "uncarved block." I must empty myself of preconceived ideas and expectations, so I can become the point that expands in a whole new way.

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10 comments:

  1. Sharyn Mallow WoerzJuly 19, 2015 at 9:13 AM

    Nice pairing this week. Funny how often we forget a point is just a point until we move it.

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  2. RoseJuly 19, 2015 at 9:51 AM

    Expansion, contraction, hanging upside down, emptying...and all I can hear is that Olivia Newton John song, "Let's get physical", in my head (where it will likely stay all day long). Surrender as workout lol.

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    1. thesycamoretreeJuly 19, 2015 at 11:32 AM

      Surrender as workout that ironically doesn't require work. :D

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  3. EllenJuly 19, 2015 at 10:20 AM

    Indeed a great pair of cards. How difficult it is to surrender to what is. I like to go from A to Z in a straight line too but life has often different ideas.This post reminded me of the beginning of a mandala: a circle with a point in the center and endless possibilities to fill the blank space.

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    1. thesycamoretreeJuly 19, 2015 at 11:33 AM

      I'm a linear type thinker too; I would love to naturally expand outward in all directions like the mandala instead!

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    2. EllenJuly 19, 2015 at 11:41 AM

      Maybe a big mental leap but isn't this what casting a circle is all about, if you would approach it as a spiritual practice?

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    3. thesycamoretreeJuly 19, 2015 at 11:55 AM

      I can honestly say I have no idea - that's completely out of my purview. :)

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  4. Bridgett MarieJuly 19, 2015 at 7:12 PM

    I don't know of any two cards that compliment each other better than these. My most difficult task is to quiet my mind. I can't even do so when it is time for bed lol.

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    1. thesycamoretreeJuly 19, 2015 at 8:35 PM

      Meditation won't stop those whirring thoughts, but it can help slow them down! :)

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