Pent-up Tension

This week I'll be using the Brady Tarot, created and self-published by Emi Brady with a companion booklet by Rachel Pollack. The second deck I'll be using is the African American Wisdom Knowledge Cards, compiled and illustrated by Bob Johnson and Mary Margolies with publishing through Pomegranate. Today's draws are the Nine of Feathers (Wands) and 'Miriam Makeba:'

          A Costa female hummingbird stops sipping nectar from a saguaro cactus and attacks a male who was simply flying over. The booklet states that those who've had to defend themselves over a long period of time usually become tense and worn-out. Hair-trigger reactions are the result, producing a backlash that doesn't match the provocation (that likely wasn't meant as a challenge in the first place). Our bodies and minds aren't meant to be on high-alert forever, and we often pay a steep price for maintaining such a state. Miriam Makeba was born in South Africa and worked as a teen under the harsh conditions of apartheid. Her participation in the anti-apartheid film Come Back, Africa, made her world famous but also got her exiled from her homeland for 31 years. She continued her singing career, testified at the United Nations about South Africa, was active in the civil rights movement, and campaigned for humanitarian causes as a U.N. ambassador. Instead of stirring the pot of her pain and fear, she used it to create knowledge of injustices and channeled it into acts of goodwill - a much better use for pent-up tension.