The Guard at the Veil

From the Gaian Tarot, the Priestess; from the Goddess Oracle, 'Vila:'

          The symbols of the Priestess hint at hidden wisdom and healing. These keys are not given from another, as in the Hierophant, but found within. Yet there is a guard at the veil. In the words of Lewis Hyde, "Likes and dislikes are the lapdogs and guard dogs of the ego, busy all the time, panting and barking at the gates of attachment and aversion and thereby narrowing perception and experience." With ego at the helm, we see only fabrications of reality - what we expect and what we want, but not what is. Meditation is one way to dive below the ego and access our wisdom and compassion, though there are surely other practices that will allow us to do the same. Vila is a goddess whose energy moves through all of the earth and enlivens nature. Her message is shape-shifting, not in a literal sense, but a metaphorical one. She would encourage us to lay aside our fabrications of people and situations, and step inside a perspective that is not our own. Instead of a self-centered view, we objectively experience real life in all its forms.