Check the Lens

This week I'll be using the Tarocchi Celtici, created by Laura Taun and published by De Vecchi Italia. Paired with it will be the Elements of Recovery, created and self-published by myself. Today's draws are Morrigan (High Priestess) and Inventory:

          In Celtic mythology Morrigan foretold the fate of those in battle, often appearing as a crow. This deck gives the High Priestess some unusual keywords: fecundity, patience, loyalty and peace. Anyone who's tried meditation will understand patience and peace; it takes time to let the body and mind settle, but calmness is often the first result. Fecundity may seem a strange association (meaning the capacity to reproduce), yet the mind is an endless spring of thoughts that continue to bubble up even in meditation. Loyalty is perhaps how much those thoughts have their hooks in us (just look for the emotional energy they produce). The purpose of a personal inventory is to recognize how our thoughts, emotions and behaviors are tied to habitual patterns. The three areas most closely investigated are our resentments, fears and our relationships. After writing about these as honestly as possible, we reflect on what was learned and filter the information through these questions:

• Do I recognize how my emotions can sustain and exacerbate my problems?
• Can I identify any irrational beliefs?
• Am I aware of how my self-centered behavior affects my relationships?

Before fixing what you're looking at, check what you're looking through. ~ Mark Nepo

Hard Evidence

From the Legacy of the Divine, the Five of Cups:

“Being a victim is more palatable than having to recognize the intrinsic contradictions of one's own governing philosophy.”
~ Tom Clancy, The Hunt for Red October

I truly don't think we humans would have been given the abilities to cry, feel sadness and overwhelming bewilderment if they didn't have some purpose. They're just part of the "How to Stay Sane While You Heal" package. But if I stay in this place of pity too long, that rut will become a canyon. My thoughts will shift to self-centered beliefs, focusing on how unfair life is, how unlucky I am, or how people don't appreciate me. I have to admit, this woman with mascara running down her face made me chuckle (like looking in the mirror minus the make-up). I really do understand the place she's at, where the water just seems to keep rising. She grasps those two whole glasses with fierce protection but not appreciation. It's like the mother who collects dolls for her daughter, but never allows her to enjoy playing with them. Time to take a big, long drink out of both cups and relish the sweetness they offer.

From the Steps to Serenity deck comes "Inventory:"

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song?

~ Sesame Street

Here's confirmation of a brood parasite - a bird that lays an egg in another bird's nest, and allows it to feed and raise it. I am prompted by this card to take an objective look at my thoughts, and find the misleading ones that are trying to infiltrate my belief system. All I have to do is follow the thread of my emotions back to the thoughts that produced them. The false beliefs are easy to find if I look for assumptions and projections; none of them will have hard evidence to back them up.