Our Salvation

From the Gaian Tarot, the Guardian of Air (Queen of Swords); from the Goddess Oracle, Changing Woman:

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

~George Bernard Shaw

This Queen uses a crystal singing bowl to focus her thoughts and calm her mind. She tries to explain to others how just a tiny shift - in our perspective, opinions, beliefs or wishes - can radically change our world. All those concepts, expectations and assumptions we rigidly cling to don't affect outer things, but they sure can make us miserable. But those small shifts are like the clouds that suddenly move and uncover the sun; we suddenly see with clarity and understanding. Estsanatlehi (Changing Woman), a figure in Native mythology, is associated with cycles and teaches that natural shifts make things different, but they can also make them healthy. As Barbara Kingsolver wrote, "The changes we dread most may contain our salvation." 

Running with Turtles

From the Gaian Tarot, the Nine of Fire (Wands); from the Goddess Oracle, Changing Woman:

When we're in the middle of a long haul situation, we don't need our energy to blaze but to burn as glowing coals. That kind of inner fire can keep us going without causing us to lose our clarity or equanimity. Rather than indifference, it permits us to stay attentive to what is happening without allowing our thoughts to intensify and magnify it. Changing Woman, also known as Estsanatlehi by the Navajo people, passes through an endless course of lives. Much like the seasons, she grows to be an old woman, and in the course of time, becomes a young woman again. She symbolizes cycles, yet also reminds us that no cycle is the same as before (just as one season doesn't exactly replicate another). No matter what we presently experience, it will change. And though that change may look familiar, our perspective, thoughts and actions can make it a very different experience altogether. 

I don’t mind running with turtles.

— Sondra Faye

Diagnosing the Heart

From the Gaian Tarot, Justice; from the Goddess Oracle, "Changing Woman:"

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

          Like the endangered plants and animals behind him, Justice plainly states my life is off-kilter in some way. My first reaction would be that this is because I've been sedentary of late, as I allow my back to mend. But seeing him with a heart in one hand and a feather in the other, it definitely feels like more of a spiritual message. I've obviously made choices in the past that make my heart feel as if I've tied a net of stones around it. And carrying that heavy burden is hurting rather than healing me.
          Changing Woman represents seasons and cycles, and she immediately makes me think of people I haven't seen in a long while that I suddenly run into again - especially people who've hurt me in some way. I probably think I've forgiven them, as I let them go their way while I go mine. Yet when I see them, it's as if the wound is fresh all over again. Shutting them out of my heart is not real forgiveness. I've devised a quick test to diagnose myself in such cases: I imagine them losing a job or having their car repossessed, then check to see if I'm smiling inwardly. Ah yes, there it is... that hidden, lingering resentment. But with the appearance of these cards today, it looks as though I will soon have a chance to lighten my heart if I choose to do so.