Drunken Monkey

From the Victorian Fairy Tarot, the Six of Winter (Swords); from the Haindl Rune Oracle, Elhaz/Algiz:

          A group of fairy refugees flees the Winter court, hopefully to a place with less quarreling and strife. But what if they are taking the problem with them? Perhaps the outer chaos is only a trigger for the inner turmoil. If that's the case, then what's needed is an inner change of attitude and thoughts, otherwise (in the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn) "Wherever you go, there you are." The Elhaz/Algiz rune can signify protection in the mundane world, and 'rising above' in spiritual-speak. Both apply in this situation. When we are constantly in conflict, it can feel necessary to protect ourselves, but often what we are protecting is simply a rigid set of beliefs and opinions. To 'rise above' would mean we stop looking for something outside of ourselves to make us happy or feed our ego. We may still need to get away from a group to maintain our sanity, but we want to make sure we are taking a healthy mindset on the journey.

In the attempt to get away from being with ourselves, we search for something or someone to make us happy; the grass constantly appears greener someplace else. But in every relationship and every situation, there we are again. Meanwhile, our mind is like a drunken monkey doing its best to distract us by jumping from thought to fear to drama to anything that will keep us trapped in an endless round of worries and concerns. ~Ed and Deb Shapiro