Self Check

From the Light Seer's Tarot, the Seven of Swords; from the Celtic Lenormand, Birch Rods:

          This person must not be too bright to steal from crows - their raucous calls will alert anyone nearby. It seems he or she is stealing feathers; it is illegal to sell feathers as people will kill rather than collect them when a buck is to be made. Yet the Birch Rods bound together as a broom imply that I need to take my own moral inventory (sweep my own side of the street) before pointing any fingers. One of the precepts I recite daily says, "I vow not to take what is not given, but to practice generosity." This intention goes much deeper than just material things. I must be generous in my conversations with others and in my judgments about them. My demands of any kind should never exceed what I would be willing to give.

Generosity takes many forms—we may give our time, our energy, our material possessions, our love. All are expressions of caring, of compassion, of connection, and of renunciation—the ability to let go.

—Joseph Goldstein

Self Subjugation

From the Navigators of the Mystic Sea Tarot, the Devil; from the Celtic Lenormand, 'Birch Rods/Whip:'

          Turk assigns the keyword 'subjugation' to the Devil, the act of controlling and subduing. We can be subjugated through pleasure (what we crave), through pain (what we fear or hate) and through ignorance (what we ignore). It looks like this card illustrates all three methods. How easy it is to 'put the ox's load on the cow' - in other words, to put the weight or blame on something or someone that doesn't deserve it. My attachments, aversions or the bag over my head is at the root of my suffering, not something external. The Birch Rods have both a negative and positive connotation: as self-punishment or as a way to clean and clear things up. The realization that I've screwed up can easily turn into self-hatred or criticism that doesn't help anything. That kind of guilt and aggression towards myself is just another link in the chain that will keep me in that hell hole. Yet if I can focus on self-compassion and kindness (rather than self-pity or self-indulgence), I'll find a way to free myself.