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

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Swarm Behavior

From the RochesTarot, Death; from the Animal Shaman Vision Cards, the Grasshopper:
          The outstretched, welcoming hand and the scorpion's tail on this figure of Death brought to mind a bible verse (1 Corinthians 15:55): "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The first two of the Four Reflections of Buddhism are constant reminders of this card. The first is that life is precious, and the second is that life is impermanent and death inevitable. Life doesn't set out to purposefully punish anyone with endings, that is just the natural order of things. It allows the space needed for new arrivals and beginnings. Humans rarely swallow this easily, except in such cases where pain and suffering overshadow all else.
          Grasshopper shows up with a message of what can happen when we react by desperately holding on instead of accepting the ebb and flow of life. In rainy periods, the grasshopper population explodes; occasionally this is followed by a drought and the disappearance of food sources. Massive populations get pushed into smaller and smaller areas. At a certain density point, serotonin is triggered in the grasshoppers, causing them to breed and inducing swarm behavior. They transform into locusts, rapidly stripping fields and damaging crops. Their behavior is how we often respond when we faced with good-byes or endings. But such grasping increases our suffering, extending our grief and making it unbearable instead of better.
Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth. ~ Pema Chodron

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4 comments:

  1. Carolyn TindorMarch 10, 2016 at 9:56 AM

    After reading your post and the gazing at the cards you have drawn; my thoughts went to the Christian Passover event. Where God sent the plaques of Death, one them being locusts, to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. Death is the ultimate release

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    1. thesycamoretreeMarch 10, 2016 at 11:30 AM

      Passover for the Jewish people definitely represented release; but death itself is, as you mention, the ultimate letting go.

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  2. EllenMarch 10, 2016 at 10:13 AM

    Maybe if we would grief more openly it would become more a part of life. Seriously", how soon do people stop talking about the deceased so we can all go back to "normal" again

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    1. thesycamoretreeMarch 10, 2016 at 11:32 AM

      I don't mind talking about someone who's dead, especially remembering the fondly. But some people seem to feel life treated them unfairly (and go on and on about it), even though everyone in the world has been touched by death in some way.

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