Skillful Practice

This week I'll be using the Ship of Fools Tarot created by Brian Williams and published by Llewellyn. Paired with it will be the Wisdom of the Four Winds created by Barry Brailsford, illustrated by Cecilie Okada and published by StonePrint Press. Today's draws are the King of Cups and Albatross:

We need to be aware of what we are practicing in any moment. Because whatever we practice, we get better at, whether it’s the skillful or the unskillful.

―Christina Feldman

This kind and generous King appears to be offering his cup to the fool. What will he do if the fool steals the cup or throws it on the ground? Will he seek to punish him or vow never to be benevolent to commoners again? Humans are easily provoked for a number of reasons, but especially when a kindness is returned with spite or insolence. Yet this King has trained in maintaining his composure and compassion, regardless of the circumstances. He knows rage and bitterness have no beneficial results and will only destroy his equanimity. The Albatross, after spending a year riding the ocean winds, will return to his island to find his mate. In the same way, our aspirations can be our compass, returning us to our center so that we don't allow emotional drama to throw us off course.

Let my heart turn to practice.

Let practice become a path.

Let this path dissolve confusion. Let confusion become wisdom.

~Gampopa

Re-Wiring

From Waking the Wild Spirit Tarot, Connection (Star); from the Saltwater Reading Cards, Albatross:

We are all wired for connection.

~Gabor Maté

When we take a blow that knocks us to our knees, we feel confused, scared and hurt. But even worse, we can feel separated - from any spiritual source, from other people and even ourselves. We may immediately try to recover what was lost, when we would do better to pause and give ourselves time to heal and reflect. As Toni Cade Bambara writes in The Salt Eaters, "Are you sure, sweetheart, that you want to be well? … Just so’s you’re sure, sweetheart, and ready to be healed, cause wholeness is no trifling matter." Albatross is a sea bird that spends much of its life riding the ocean winds and has adapted to be able to drink salt water. It's message is one of endurance and resilience as we deal with challenges and loss. Life is hard, but it is also wonderful if we look wide enough. And when we see that, we'll see any separation we feel is only an illusion.

What Women Want

From the Ship of Fools Tarot, the Empress; from the Wisdom of the Four Winds, Albatross:

The chains in this illustration of the Empress make me want to spit nails. I'm sure she is told things like, "it's for your own protection." So she's destined to be sequestered away, as if she didn't have a brain, popping out heirs for the king like some queen bee. This card brings to mind a story from the legends of King Arthur. While the king was hunting one day in the woods, he was accosted by a knight. The knight told him he would spare his life if he could answer within a year the question of what women most want. Arthur's luck almost ran out until a woman (of course) gave him the answer: "What women want most is the same as men want, sovereignty over their own lives." Women want the freedom to choose how to live their lives, what to do with bodies and minds, and how to nourish their spirits. Please, men, do not even attempt to consider you know what's best for us. Albatross is a seabird with a large wingspan, making it capable of riding the ocean winds and gliding for hours without rest. Mariners said they were the souls of lost sailors; killing them would bring bad luck (thus the saying "an albatross around your neck"). Albatross tells us to return to our navigator within, to seek our own fulfillment instead of letting someone else decree it.