Not What I Thought

From the Alchemical Tarot Renewed, the High Priestess; from the Oracle of the Radiant Sun, Escape (Mars in Pisces):

          Place's High Priestess puts a finger to her lips; unlike the Hierophant who seeks to impart knowledge through teaching, she knows wisdom isn't spoken but found within through direct experience. Most beginning meditators bring an agenda to the cushion or chair - a strong desire to find a solution or answers. They might as well bring shovels and metal detectors. Like the Escape card, they want a quick fix to get away from their worries. (The Buddha illustration acknowledges the part spiritual bypassing often plays.)  Yet what they need is open receptiveness, a willingness to be still, listen, and observe. Diane Musho Hamilton uses her personal experience to explain:

In the beginning, meditation was an attempt to alleviate my suffering. In a regular dose, repeated again and again and again, it was an antidote to confusion and a troubled heart. I think it worked, but not like I expected. It didn’t take away the pain but taught me to sit quietly with it. It eliminated the unnecessary fretting and showed me the beauty of how things come and go—empty, as the masters would say. It showed me that there is more to life than my thoughts about it, that my feelings weren’t the full truth, and that existence is vast and interconnected, including far more than I imagined.