Maeve, the Irish goddess of intoxication, has a name linked to 'mead.' One of the Five Precepts of Buddhism is "I vow not to intoxicate body or mind, but to cultivate a mind that sees clearly." Obviously, we can intoxicate ourselves through more than just alcohol or drugs - anger, depression or fear can do the job as well. I came across a quote by Tibetan scholar and teacher Robert Thurman the other day that sounds like he is talking about substance abuse unless you know the context (he was referring to anger): "It's something that people think is helping them because it gives them a momentary relief from something else. But actually, it's leading them into a worse and worse place where they're getting more and more dependent and less and less free." The Water: Seed of Fire card refers to a sort of fatal attraction. It's easy to see how we can intoxicate ourselves emotionally and envision it as proactive behavior. Yet discernment will show us that the problem is not the problem, but how we think about the problem. Time to sober up and get a clearer view of things.
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