Tied and Untied

From the Deirdre of the Sorrows Tarot, the World; from the Victorian Flower Oracle, "Primrose and Snowdrop:"

          With Thanksgiving festivities out of the way, I can relax (at least until Christmas rolls around). As such, it seems suitable I should draw the World card. A woman has wrapped herself around the earth like a bow, an apt illustration for the idea of completion. The four fixed astrological signs in the corner made me think of the three Buddhist marks of existence: impermanence, dissatisfaction and "not-self" (our idea of self is based on changeable conditions). Yesterday I touched on the idea of egolessness, but which of the three marks does today's cards represent? Primrose and Snowdrop, popping out from underneath the last of winter's snow, imply change and hopefulness. Pema Chodron encourages us not to be afraid of impermanence:

Impermanence is the goodness of reality. Just as the four seasons are in continual flux, winter changing to spring to summer to autumn; just as day becomes night, light becoming dark becoming light again - in the same way everything is evolving... People have no respect for impermanence. We take no delight in it; in fact, we despair of it... Somehow, in the process of trying to deny that things are always changing, we lose our sense of the sacredness of life. We tend to forget we are a part of the natural scheme of things. Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don't struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.