A Change Gonna Come

From the New Liminal Tarot, the Hierophant; from the State By State playing cards, the Seven of Spades - Mississippi:

Cline’s choice for the Hierophant immediately made me think of Peter Wohlleben’s book, The Hidden Life of Trees. The forester describes how trees communicate to each other through chemical release signals and through an underground fungal network that connects their roots, allowing an exchange of ‘news’ and nutrients. Wohlleben writes: “A tree is not a forest. On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather. But together, many trees create an ecosystem that moderates extremes of heat and cold, stores a great deal of water, and generates a great deal of humidity. And in this protected environment, trees can live to be very old. To get to this point, the community must remain intact no matter what.” Yet the Seven of Spades shows the Mississippi River, symbolizing flow and movement. As Sam Cooke sang, it might be a long time coming, but change is going to come. Communities of any kind will need to be flexible rather than rigid, able to adapt and embrace the changes that come.