The Welfare of All

From the Tarot of Durer, the Lovers; from the Philosopher's Stone, Insight:

We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same. 

–Carlos Castenada

The Lovers motto can be translated "Nothing is difficult for the one who loves." Watch couples who lose a child or those who are aged and dealing with health struggles, and it is easy to see where love makes strong or blame and complaint make miserable. If I break a finger on my left hand, my right hand will not wag a finger or make obscene gestures; it will do all it can to help find relief for its partner. That is the loving connection of true partnership. Insight suggests that we not only acknowledge our relationship with those we love but recognize our interconnection with all beings. As Helen Keller reminds us, "The welfare of each is bound up in the welfare of all." 

Bottomless Pits and Perspectives

This week I'll be using the Tarot of Durer, created by Manfredi Toraldo and Giacinto Gaudenzi and published by Lo Scarabeo. The oracle deck I'll also be using is the Philosopher's Stone, created by De Es Schwertberger and published by AG Muller. Today's draws are the Seven of Chalices and Insight:

Greed is a bottomless pit which only gets deeper as you feed it.

– Jaimie Lynn Bechtold

We all wish to be fulfilled, to accomplish something in our lives that makes us feel a pleasurable satisfaction. Yet these cups depict some avenues that seem more like vices: revenge, greed, spiritual bypass, and lust. Does anything provide contentment and ease when it is motivated by intense emotions? As Bechtold states, that seems to only dig a deeper hole the more we try to fill it. Insight is not simply knowledge or an observation, but a deep understanding about the reality of things. It offers a fresh perspective that allows us to respond in more skillful and wholesome ways. Perhaps with it we might discover that fulfillment requires genuine friendship, love, and connection, in whatever shape or form that may come in.

Toxin Removal

From the Slavic Legends Tarot, the King of Cups; from the Urban Crow Oracle, Insight:

The first thing I notice about this King is that he is completely surrounded by cattails (Typha). These water-lovers do have their uses, including being a tool for phytoremediation, the use of plants to remove and control environmental pollutants.  Cattails have been useful in absorbing arsenic, pharmaceuticals, and even chemicals from explosives. This card suggests a compassionate, objective listener can be useful in helping us to recognize and remove what harms us. The Insight card - showing a crow raising the water level with stones to get a shrimp -  adds to this information. We must not only grasp the message, we understand the relationship among the parts that make up the whole. We can know that our obsessive thinking is causing us emotional turmoil, but it is making an effort to change those thoughts than can make a difference.

If you want to make your own internal experience more hospitable, only you can do that work. Others can always support and guide you and spark insights, but ultimately you are your own boss and the agent of understanding your mind and opening your heart. —Ethan Nichtern

Emergency Preparedness

From the Tarot of Durer, the Two of Swords; from the Philosopher's Stone, "Insight:"

Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place... This hen must decide whether to stay and protect her egg from the fox (and likely become its dinner) or fly away and save herself. Like her predicament, we may find ourselves in an emotionally charged situation with no easy answer. It would be nice to have time to mull things over, but the hungry look in that fox's eyes suggests she better not wait too long.
The Insight card reminds me of the eye pillows I made for my yoga buddies one year with flax seed and dried lavender. They were a physical aid to shut out the visual field and move our focus within. This kind of inner attention may result in what some folks call a spiritual nudge, intuition or "listening to their gut." Its purpose is to find guidance that is helpful (though perhaps not perfect) and prevent an emotional reaction (which is often detrimental). In the hen's situation, she's got a few seconds at the most to make a decision. In such cases, I find having a way to center myself quickly, such as with a breathing technique or a mantra, can be immensely helpful. But it generally only works well if I've been practicing it regularly.