I use tarot and oracle cards as tools for reflection and contemplation. Rather than divining the future, they are a way for me to look more deeply at the "now."
"The goal isn't to arrive, but to meander, to saunter, to make your life a holy wandering." ~ Rami Shapiro

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Start Here

From the Somnia Tarot, the Hermit; from the Lojong for the Layperson deck, Slogan 10 (Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself.):



Rather than standing on a mountain top, this Hermit looks out to the sea's horizon. Does he think of the country he left and the people he left behind? Does he ponder the lessons he's learned in this new place and the wonders he's seen? The Hermit is a symbol of a solitary pause that looks at where we've come from and where we are now. It is a self-inventory of sorts, an assessment that allows us to see if we're traveling a skillful path or if we've taken an exit ramp along the way. Slogan 10 (Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself) suggests that when practicing tonglen, we begin with our own pain. As we inhale, we tenderly hold our suffering (not the story around it), then breathe out compassion and kindness to ourselves. To be willing to attend to the pain of another, we must first be willing to care for our own. When we can experience our pain without disengaging, we will then deeply comprehend the pain of others. For the Hermit, he knows that taking a look at his own struggles will help him when holding his lantern out for others.

Perhaps the greatest irony of healing is that it occurs when we accept our felt experience, rather than rely on willpower or focused effort to get rid of the unwanted. ~Josh Korda


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