Just a Conduit

From the Ship of Fools Tarot, the Ten of Coins; from the Wisdom of the Four Winds, 'Eel:'

          When Moses left the Israelites to go get the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, the people told Aaron to make them a physical representation of a god. Jewish scholars say the golden calf was probably intended as a conduit for YHVH (as Moses had been), but the Israelites ended up worshipping the idol instead. Humans constantly get confused about things, imagining the finger pointing at the moon to be the moon itself (meaning spiritual teachings are useful only in what they point us toward). The Ten of Coins relays the same message; abundance is nice, but getting attached to it (worthy of worship) can cause suffering. This Eel from New Zealand has a life cycle similar to the salmon but in reverse. It begins life in the ocean, then swims to freshwater rivers to live its life. If a river dries up, it will crawl on land to find another water source. As it nears the end of its life, it goes back out to the ocean to mate. Its message of determination can be applied to spiritual living. Instead of gathering books, prayer beads and attended seminars to try and make us feel secure and good about ourselves, we can do the practices and apply the teachings.