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, August 14, 2016

The Experience of Water

This week I'll be using the Legacy of the Divine Tarot, created and self-published by Ciro Marchetti. I'll pair with it the Tea Leaf Reading Cards, created and self-published by Karin Dalton-Smith. Today's draws are the Ace of Cups and Handcuffs:
          A chalice sits on the bottom of an ocean floor, and represents the potential for love and emotional fulfillment. While love is most often thought of as a feeling, it is created by actions such as kindness, patience, and selflessness. In a letter explaining this to his daughter, Richard Dawkins wrote: "All through the day when you are with somebody who loves you, you see and hear lots of little tidbits of evidence, and they all add up. It isn’t purely inside feeling...There are outside things to back up the inside feeling: looks in the eye, tender notes in the voice, little favors and kindnesses; this is all real evidence." Yet the Handcuffs card suggest there is restraint or blockage to such fulfillment. The two fish around the cup remind me of a story. One fish asks another, "How's the water today?" The second fish looks at this first and says, "What the heck's water?" Just being on the receiving end isn't a relationship of love - that's only narcissism. The real deal isn't about how I feel, but what I do. Can I recognize opportunities (the water around me) to act from the heart, especially when someone isn't very kind? Or am I so preoccupied with how everything affects me, that I fail to see beyond my own orbit? My cup will be filled when I offer tenderness to others without expectation; this softens my heart and makes it capable of gratitude. Then I'll begin to understand what the experience of water is all about.

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9 comments:

  1. EllenAugust 14, 2016 at 1:18 PM

    This cup never runs dry! Here receiving is not a prerequisite for giving. I wish I had a cup like that back then...

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  2. Carolyn TindorAugust 14, 2016 at 3:22 PM

    I can't get past those handcuffs. Emotional bondage?

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    1. thesycamoretreeAugust 14, 2016 at 4:00 PM

      I think that (emotional bondage) would be at the other end of the spectrum, with authentic love in the middle and self-absorption at the other end. Codependency can look a lot like compassion sometimes if one doesn't look too closely. This is a good article about that:
      http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/07/27/are-you-codependent-or-compassionate/

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  3. UnknownAugust 15, 2016 at 1:54 PM

    Bev, this is such a significant post to me. Water is my element as I found out when I was studying movement in Mime. Though I am a Gemini my moon is in Pisces so it all makes sense to me.

    Love is like you say often defined as feeling, especially when we are younger and naive. It takes years for some of us to figure out our boundaries, especially surrounding codependency.

    I've learned the hard way, you can't give away what you don't already have, and the more you give the more you receive, but like I said it's takes a while to get that right balance.

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    1. thesycamoretreeAugust 15, 2016 at 1:58 PM

      It's almost like learning how to swim isn't it? It does take some time and experience to find that balance. :)

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  4. UnknownAugust 15, 2016 at 3:07 PM

    That's a good analogy. I learned how to SCUBA dive. We had to do a lot of exercises. Some where really fun and some were scary. On one occasion I looked like a fish of a hook with my regulator in my mouth going around in circles because I couldn't get my weight belt on fast enough, and kept floating to the top, which was better than sinking to the bottom like a stone!

    But I over came and finally got certified with determination and hard work.

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    1. thesycamoretreeAugust 15, 2016 at 3:14 PM

      I'm impressed with you scuba certification - that took some dedication and work!

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    2. UnknownAugust 15, 2016 at 4:46 PM

      I had no intention of doing this. I tried to discourage my ex from enrolling me because I used the excuse I was going to have an operation and I'd never be ready.

      I love the water but wasn't going to do this! I was ready after my operation and jumped in feet first any way literally. Good thing I have such a love of water otherwise I'd never have done it. I loved it and passed with flying colours!

      It's truly is a psychological mind test. The ex didn't do so well and failed his dive tables. That sort of was the best part. ;) They passed him anyway, he was in the military, that's why we got the course for free.

      Honestly we never know what we can do if we can push ourselves out of our comfort zones.

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