Stigmatized

This week I'll be using the World Spirit Tarot, published by Llewellyn and created by Jessica Godino and Lauren O'Leary. The oracle deck I'll pair with it is the Mystic Glyphs; it was published by Red Wheel and created by Barb Rogers. Today's draws are the Six of Pentacles and Morning:

Poverty is neither a crime nor a character flaw. Stigmatize those who let people die, not those who struggle to live.  —Sarah Kendzior

I have seen several homeless people with pets lately; it isn't a surprise that outcasts look for four-footed friends that have also been rejected by society. But the point of this card is to ask ourselves - when there is a request to be kind or generous - whether we are making a judgment about worthiness or actual need. As Tim Wise wrote, "We are a nation increasingly ‘under the affluence,’ meaning not only the power of those with excess wealth, but also subordinated to a mentality and ideology of affluence, the effect of which is to rationalize and normalize inequities, no matter how vast and how deep." Morning suggests a new beginning and a fresh perspective. Instead of making sweeping assumptions and generalizations about "those people", can we just see each person individually, just as they are? Even if we don't have money to give, we can offer them dignity by bearing witness to their situation.

Depths and Do-overs

From the World Spirit Tarot, the Seer (Page) of Cups:

I was pleasantly surprised to see the creators, O'Leary and Godino, dedicated this card to Pamela Colman Smith.  This Page is intuitive and emotionally sensitive; she might not be as intellectual as someone from the swords suit or a go-getter like those in the wands clan, but she knows how to connect on a deep level with others.  For me to connect my head with my heart often takes more than just reading words on a page.  Colman tapped into this ability through her artwork and storytelling.  Nate Summers, of WildernessAwareness.org, wrote in a recent newsletter: "If information is delivered in the form of a story, we tend to retain 70 percent of the information shared. If the information is just presented as statistics or dry facts, we only retain 10 percent of what is shared." Today's message encourages me to go beyond the surface of intellect to find the heart of wisdom.

From the Mystic Glyphs comes the card "Morning:"

Anyone who has ever spent time with a young child knows about the "do-over" when playing a game (especially when not playing well).  This morning is my do-over after a night with a migraine.  What a relief to realize the pain is gone.  Not only that, but after a long spell with no rain and hot, dry days, we finally had a good shower last night.  As the tarot card above reminds me to look below the surface, I see this as a new start.  If I don't like how my life is going, now is my chance to do something different.