Rest and Retraining

From the Ellis Tarot, the Four of Swords; from the Brownies Oracle, Constraint:

Destructive patterns thrive on being hidden. That is what allows them to maintain their power. But if you are brave enough to arouse these powerful forces, to confront them, and to examine them, you can begin to free yourself from their control. 

―Judy Lief

The Four of Swords indicates it is time not only to rest and heal the mind, but to free it. As the Brownies point out, patterns of thinking that lead to rigid beliefs can constrain us. Choice doesn't matter much when we've developed a closed mind. It's like the lucky bamboo sold in stores and garden shops; straight stems are trained to curve around wires until they form spiral. Our thoughts can be trained the same way through repetition, even if what we assume isn't true. Freedom is surrendered when a certain thought generates a particular feeling followed by a habitual reaction. But the good news is that we can retrain our mind to see with clarity, allowing it to make an appropriate choice rather than an automated one.

Heavy Mantle

This week the tarot I'll be using is the Ellis Deck, created and self-published by Taylor Ellis. Paired with it will be the Brownies Oracle, created and self-published by Doug Thornsjo. Today's draws are the Emperor and 'Constraint:'

          No wonder this Emperor is armored; he has a heavy (sometimes brutal) responsibility to bear. He guides and disciplines his people; he provides for and protects them. He relies on structure and order to do this through the laws he creates. If he is wise, he will adapt and adjust to the natural changes and challenges life brings. Like well-known coaches, he is often lauded when times are good and blamed when they aren't, even if he had little control over either. The Constraint card is often the way the Emperor's subjects feel. They have rights, by golly, and no one should try to take them away. But as the Emperor knows, rights can only be given when responsibilities are taken seriously.

We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense. ~Barack Obama