Seven Supports

From the Roots of Asia Tarot, the Seven of Wands; from the Mahjongg Oracle, the Seven Stars:

We learn that our insistence that life, other people, and ourselves be other than they are has the immediate effect of intensifying the tangle. ~Christina Feldman

It can be bewildering when our philosophy of life makes us feel like we're on the opposite side of the fence from those we considered friends and comrades. What do we do? The keyword given for this card is equanimity. Equanimity is a relational way of being with life that takes an objective interest in whatever is occurring, allowing us to embrace extremes without getting thrown off balance. Gil Fronsdal offers seven supports to develop it: integrity (of words and actions), faith based in wisdom (a clear view of reality), stability of mind (mindfulness and concentration), self-care, insight into how conditions shape people (not taking things personally), remembering the nature of impermanence, and freedom from our reactive tendencies. The Seven Stars symbolize imagination, something humans do well, but mostly in a negative sense. Equanimity would ask us to consider that there might just be some good outcomes too.