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

Saturday, December 23, 2023

Not a Choice

From the Nigel Jackson Tarot, the Devil; from the Wolf Pack, Communication:
 Addiction is not a choice anybody makes, it is a response to emotional pain.
~Dr. Gabor Mate

Dionysos Melanaigis ("of the Black Goatskin") instructs his followers on all the ways of pleasure and merry-making. Wine played a large part in his rituals; it was thought to "ease suffering, bring joy, and inspire divine madness" (Dionysos in Archaic Greece). We all enjoy time to unwind - it can help us feel relief from pain and stress and perhaps a sense of connection and belonging. But what happens when use certain behaviors as a constant buffer to life? When they become the main focus of our life? As Gabor Mate stated, "When we're alienated from who we are, disconnected from who we are, we suffer." Judging by the faceless bodies in the robes, this has happened. Communication implies that the way out of our madness is by reaching out to those who have found a way out and can offer us guideposts. 




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