Battlefield to Healing Field

This week I'll be using the Alchemical Tarot Renewed along with the book Alchemy and the Tarot, both created by Robert M. Place and published by Hermes Publications. Paired with it will be the Oracle of the Radiant Sun deck and book set, created by Caroline Smith and John Astrop and published through Eddison-Sadd Editions. The draws for today are the Four of Swords and 'Moon in Libra:'

I've been battling two fronts that I've not had much personal experience with - arthritis and depression. And I say 'battle' because it's as though I'm at war with my mind and body. As Susan Moon puts it, "Physical pain is hard to describe; psychic pain is even harder. I was in intense, moment-by-moment pain, and all I wanted was to get away from it." I would like to be more of a compassionate friend, accepting myself in the way Gina Greenlee expresses: "Embrace those parts of yourself that you've skillfully avoided until now. That's your true adventure." And so in an effort to accept rather than fight what is, I'll try to take some advice from wise teachers:

Look inward and become aware of the still­ness of the body, the silence of the inner speech, and the spaciousness of the mind. As we draw our attention to these three places, we discover the ground of being, or unbounded spaciousness, and the awareness that connects us to this ground, along with the warmth that genuinely arises from this connection. Remember that your true nature is open and clear like the sky and is only temporarily obscured by the clouds of anxiety and depression.
— Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche

[A pyschotherapist] suggested that it’s good to practice with others at least three times a week. You don’t want to become isolated. She also explained that much of depression is brain chemistry, and that if you get your heart rate up for twenty minutes a day by brisk walk­ing, biking, swimming, or running, you will increase your serotonin and dopamine levels as well as produce endorphins. All of these, she says, will help undermine your depression.
She pointed out that it’s helpful to be mindful of what you are running in your head. If you are getting caught in negative loops, it’s good to pause when you notice it, then congratulate yourself for having noticed and find something (anything) that you can appreciate in your surroundings, even if it’s just a pleasing color. It’s helpful to continue this practice of appreciation whenever you think of it.
She notes that an experienced teacher will invite a student to accept what is happening as what is happening and not put a story on top of present experience. The teacher can offer this as a supportive step toward accepting a discouraging internal experience as it is—dis­couraging—while acknowledging that this is difficult for most of us because our common human tendency is to run away from pain.

— Zenkei Blanche Hartman