The Sharpness of Anger

This week I'll be using the Greenwood Tarot, created by Chesca Potter and published by Thorsons. The oracle I'll be using is the Rune Cards, created by Tony Linsell and Brian Partridge and published by Anglo-Saxon Books. Today's draws are the Five of Arrows (Swords) and Thorn (Thurisaz):

          An ibex leaps swiftly away from a hunter whose multiple arrows miss their mark. Potter gives this card the keyword 'frustration,' an emotion that can easily blur one's focus and result in impulsive rather than thought-out action. The Anglo-Saxon rune poem for Thurisaz reads:

Thorn is very sharp for all men.

Struggling with them is painful for any warrior.

They are severe to those who live among them.

Those passionate emotions that seem to surge over us like a wave can be a challenge. Often people say, "How do I deal with this anger?" as if it is something that can be eliminated from our lives. Buddhist teacher Judy Lief offers four steps as a way to relate to our anger instead:

• At first, we are desperate to do something with this anger, either to feed it or to suppress it. The practice is to stay with the physical experience of anger rather than the mental thoughts about the situation.
• Once we are able to be with anger with more openness and less judgment, the second step is to look at it more precisely. Examine as directly as you can. What are the roots of this anger? What is feeding it? Go level by level, deeper and deeper. 
• In the third step, we contemplate what it is about anger that is harmful and what might be of benefit. Normally we are too caught up in our personal struggles to connect with this wisdom, but anger is a messenger that something is wrong, that something needs to be addressed. We can listen to the message but drop the messenger.
• When we can practice these steps with ease, we may finally begin to be able to make use of anger as a tool or skillful means.