From the Granny Jones Australian Tarot, the Two of Buttons (Pentacles); from the Button Oracle, "Thunderbird:"
Look at Granny go, doing a juggling act while keeping a hula hoop in motion. I consistently draw this card throughout the year, but not because I spend money wildly. On the contrary, I'm a penny-pincher; my unbalanced spending occurs with my time and energy (health). Just as a business can go bankrupt, so can my body. My heart and mind might tell me I should do something about everything, but in the physical world this won't fly. Which brings me to Thunderbird, a mythical hawk brought down by his own ego, who was later given the opportunity to serve the Thunder Beings. The keyword for this button is "humility." Ralph Sockman said, "True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves." Now helping others is a good thing, but I need to be aware of any hidden motives underneath. Am I trying to build myself up in the eyes of others? Am I trying to make a group or person like me? Perhaps before I jump in with my time and energy, I should check in with my true intentions.
This year I am doing a Spiritual Wheel of the Year, a mandala of spiritual principles. I've chosen randomly (from 22 possibilities) a principle for each month of 2016. I will try to do something creative with each one, in hopes it will inspire me to work more deeply with it. Want to guess the one I drew for January?
What a wonderful idea to set a focal point for each month. Beware though, Humility can easily have its hidden agenda's too. This work will ask a lot of your mindful attention throughout the day. I will be looking forward to hear from you experiences and I like your vision board a lot
ReplyDeleteYou are right - humility can have lots of layers. It will require shining a bright light on any hidden reasons for my actions to see if any are done only from a self-serving place. Nothing like starting the new year off with a bang, lol.
DeleteLove this, Bev. I'll enjoy hearing how this unfolds you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rose, though I'm not sure how much I'll make public! :)
Delete30 days of looking at the same wart? Aaakkk...
ReplyDeleteWhere did you draw your 22 words from? Probably your own big bulging brain is my guess.
Not exactly the same wart, but the variety of ways it manifests (in good and not-so-good ways). The goal is not to just point it out/be aware of it, but see how I can use it to make changes if possible.
DeleteI've made hand-drawn wooden tiles with symbols to represent 22 different spiritual principles (that I compiled). Hope to have Deb make me a laser copy, as my hand-drawn ones were a bit messy. :)
That mandala of spiritual principles idea is lovely! In the past, I've sometimes chosen a word for the year, but not always remembered to focus on it every day, or even every month. Choosing for a month sounds like a more effective way of sticking to a regular, self-reflective practice around the word. As others have said, I'll look forward to reading how you go with it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! :) I figured one principle per month would be more practical (plus I need to work on more than one!).
DeleteAs everyone else has said a great idea and I am expecting this to be very rewarding for you. Like taking a big personal inventory. I love mandalas and spiritual principles go hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteThanks Cat.:) For me this mandala is like saying, "This is what I want in my life. Now what are some practical ways I can apply these principles? For what problem areas of my life would this offer a solution?"
DeleteMakes wise sense to me Bev!
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