Rise Up Unafraid

From the Hezicos Tarot, Judgment; from the Way of the Horse Oracle, 'Close to Shore:'

I’ll rise up

Rise like the day

I’ll rise up

In spite of the ache

I will rise a thousands times again. 

~ Andra Day

          The merfolk and fish rise from the water as the mermaid sends out the call. The image made me think of a spiritual awakening, a point where our perception and perspective of life so radically changes that we no longer emotionally react but thoughtfully respond to it. This awakening doesn't cause us to sit on a pink cloud high above the rest of the earth's struggles and hurts but to dwell in the middle of it all with our hearts open and vulnerable. It makes us present to all that is happening - we don't duck or run from any of it. The Close to Shore card shows an elderly mare making her way to the shore. The spirit horse in the clouds suggest she won't be alive much longer. It is sad that she is alone and without companions, yet the mare knows that death brings predators so she moves away from the herd. Many humans would likely be grateful if the sick and dying isolated themselves, so they wouldn't have to witness what they must one day endure. But part of awakening is compassion, the willingness to sit with another's suffering and not turn away. Sometimes that includes bearing witness to our own suffering too.