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

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Back to Now

From the Morgan Greer Tarot, Strength; from the Celtic Book of the Dead deck, the Island of the Falcon:


Strength may suggest courage, but it often refers to the ability to calm our emotions so that we can see a situation with clarity and respond appropriately. As Joan Sutherland explains, "If you and I are having a conversation and I become angry, I might find my emotions so compelling that suddenly I’m not in a conversation with you anymore, but with my anger." My feelings are what take center stage rather than the person I was talking to or what we were discussing. On the other hand, if we can let this energy move through us and dissipate without reacting to it, our mind has a chance to clear. As Sutherland states, "[A] response emerges from the whole of oneself, grounded in the whole situation, with each element assuming its true size and shape. In responding we’re not doing something about a situation, but participating in it." The Island of the Falcon card illustrates the voyagers being led out of the Otherworld by a falcon. It suggests finding a way to be grounded in the present, with both feet on the ground. Using our senses, whether that is feeling the grass under our bare feet or listening to the wind in the treetops, is a simple tool for re-emerging when we've been hooked by our emotions.


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