Unconditional Embrace

From the Tarot of the Crone, the Grandmother (Queen) of Cups; from the Transforming Dragons deck, Pitog:

          There are no black sheep or outsiders in this Grandmother's embrace. Everyone deserves to be loved, listened to, and treated with kindness. She welcomes all without exception or expectation. It reminds me of a poem by Daniel Ladinsky (in the literary form of Hafiz):

Even after all this time

The sun never says to the earth,

“You owe Me.”Look what happens with

A love like that,

It lights the Whole Sky.

Though it's easy to ostracize those who are different or seem weird, Pitog (who represents violence) shows us the result. His attacks should not be excused, but the roots of his rage might have been cut off if someone had offered compassionate attention before it grew to such a terrifying intensity. In the words of Parker Palmer: "Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering."