A Double Dose

This week I'll be using the Roots of Asia Tarot, created by Amnart Klanprachar with Thaworn Boonyawan and published by AGM Müller. I'll also be using the Mah Jongg Oracle, created by Derek Walters and published by Thunder Bay Press. Today's cards are the King of Wands and Bamboo:

One uses power by grasping it lightly. To grasp too strongly is to be taken over by power, and thus to become its victim. —Frank Herbert

The King of Wands has a double dose of fire, giving him a creative power that can be used to benefit all or for only personal profit. How do we know if we've succumbed to the fiery wiles of ego? If we are grasping and demanding what we think we deserve or guarding and resisting what we fear some imagined other will take away, there's a good chance we have become ensnared by a selfishness that sees no other desire except our own. Our perspective is being governed by the three poisons of greed, hatred and delusion rather than reality. Bamboo has many uses, including the Chinese brush for painting and the Chinese pen for writing. It suggests that putting things down on paper can help us challenge our emotions and thoughts instead of impulsively acting on them. We have a chance to consider them as we write them down, then again as we read them. As Noam Dinovitz explained, "Our brains simply do a better job when they can evaluate something that is tangible and concrete in from of them rather than a passive, intangible thought."