Unfettered Mind

This week I'll be using the Albano Waite Tarot, a recolored version of the RWS created by Frankie Albano and published by U.S. Games. The oracle deck I'll be pairing with it is the Rumi Cards, created by Eryk Hanut and Michelle Wetherbee and published by Tuttle Publishing. Today's draws are the Queen of Wands and 'Humiliated like pharaoh:'

          The Queen of Wands holds a sunflower as her scepter - a good symbol of how she rules and views life. She prefers to look at the sunny side of things and insists folks be as flexible as her cat in their thinking. Sure there are plenty of things that are wrong, but if that's all we concentrate on, we'll never get off our bums to do anything. Knowing pessimism will drain the energy out of any group or project, her strategy is to dwell on solutions rather than just the problem. The Rumi card brings up the story of Moses who led the Hebrews out of the Pharaoh's slavery. While confidence is a needed trait in a leader, Rumi's words suggest that humility is also a must-have. In the Queen's case, it makes no sense to expect other people to have an open mind if she can't also make space in hers for other ideas or ways of doing things. Rather than get stuck defending her own views (which will stagnate any progress), she can open up to other possibilities. In the words of Pema Chodron, "If your mind is expansive and unfettered, you will find yourself in a more accommodating world, a place that's endlessly interesting and alive."

Remembering My Worth and Place

From the Albano Waite Tarot, the Sun:

"...a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: 'You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!' If that happens to us, we experience grace. After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed... And nothing is demanded of this experience, no religious or moral or intellectual presupposition, nothing but acceptance."

The above excerpt, written by Paul Tillich, was taken from his book The Shaking of Foundations and describes the feeling the Sun card elicits in me.  There is such a sense of freedom - a naked child riding on a horse with no saddle or bridle outside of an enclosure.  The sun radiates energy and the sunflowers represent happiness and health.  As Tillich implies, that freedom and joy doesn't come from being well-behaved, doing good deeds, and following a set of rules.  It is an inner awakening that allows me to realize I am loved and cherished for who I am, regardless of my many quirks and flaws.

     From the Rumi Cards:

Whoever doesn't show himself humble today
Will tomorrow be humiliated like Pharaoh.

For me, humility means seeing myself on the circular edge of the medicine wheel along with everything and everyone else; all are equidistant from the center.  No yardsticks are needed to measure "greater than" or "less than."  If I can maintain this attitude when I'm having a rough week, it makes it easier for me to reach out to others.  And when I am riding high on life, it helps me remember the people, places, and things that helped get me to that spot.  If I forget my "place," I only need to see an image of the wheel to remember it again.