Where Are You Going?

From the Sun and Moon Tarot, the Hermit; from the Jade Oracle, Ometeotl:

You can't really know where you are going until you know where you have been.

~Maya Angelou

Shiva's trident/lantern held by this Hermit is a reminder to pause and consider the past, present and future. We can't know how we got to the present unless we take a close look at our past, and we can't make an educated guess about our future unless we honestly examine our present actions and beliefs. The seeds planted in the past through our thoughts and behavior are coming into fruition now. If we don't like the results, we can stop nurturing them by making changes. If we want a different future than what our present shows, we need to plant and nurture different seeds. But as the Hermit's hourglass indicates, there's a time limit, so we need to get moving. Ometeotl means 'deity of duality' and was comprised of a husband and wife duo that created the universe. This card emphasizes the importance of the yin/yang balance in all things; we can't just think about change, we must practice it. Such changes will be both internal (our thoughts) and external (our actions).