Self Check

From the Light Seer's Tarot, the Seven of Swords; from the Celtic Lenormand, Birch Rods:

          This person must not be too bright to steal from crows - their raucous calls will alert anyone nearby. It seems he or she is stealing feathers; it is illegal to sell feathers as people will kill rather than collect them when a buck is to be made. Yet the Birch Rods bound together as a broom imply that I need to take my own moral inventory (sweep my own side of the street) before pointing any fingers. One of the precepts I recite daily says, "I vow not to take what is not given, but to practice generosity." This intention goes much deeper than just material things. I must be generous in my conversations with others and in my judgments about them. My demands of any kind should never exceed what I would be willing to give.

Generosity takes many forms—we may give our time, our energy, our material possessions, our love. All are expressions of caring, of compassion, of connection, and of renunciation—the ability to let go.

—Joseph Goldstein