A New Framework

From the Tarot Lukumi, the Six of Swords; from the Diloggun Cards, Oyeku (two mouths):

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk.

—Doug Larson

The Six of Swords is about a transition, a radical change in ideas and attitudes, in order bring calm and harmony to our mind and life. Imagine being possessed (as this priest), and suddenly experiencing everything from another's perspective. It's so hard to get past our habitual ways of viewing things and glimpse another viewpoint. But in this case, peace comes with a price - letting go of our usual frame of reference. The prophecy and proverb for Two Mouths are:

Ifa: The prevalence of temper outbursts and cursing are the causes of difficulty in one’s life.

Proverb: Ashes fly back in the face of he who throws them.

Anger and resentment are perhaps the two biggest obstacles to adopting a new frame of reference. But if we become miserable enough, perhaps we might be willing.

No Other Life

From the Lukumi Tarot, the Six of Cups; from the Diloggun Oracle, Oyeku (two mouths):

          Six orishas party happily together; not even the Greek gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus managed such a feat. They seem content with the power they have rather than wanting what another has. People who look back at their lives and angrily feel like they deserve better and more generally are a miserable breed. They spend so much time in the past that they fail to seize the joy at hand. Oyeku's ethic and proverb read:

Ifa: The prevalence of temper outbursts and cursing are the causes of difficulty in one’s life.

Proverb: Ashes fly back in the face of he who throws them.

When we regurgitate the painful past we find ourselves with emotional reflux, a constant feeling of bitterness and unhappiness. We would do well instead to take Henry David Thoreau's words to heart:

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”

This is Your Life

This week I'll be using the Tarot Lukumi, a deck created by Caelum Rainieri, Ivory Andersen and Raphael Montoliu. It is published by Dal Negro and the artwork was done by Luigi Scapini. The oracle deck I'll be using this week is the Diloggun Cards, a digital set created through the use of art by Mase Lobe. Each card is associated with an Ifa ethic as well as a proverb, with information from a book by Ifa Karade called The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts. Today's draws are the Wheel of Fortune and Oyeku (two mouths):

          This card shows the Tablet of Ifa, a divination tool of Orunmila (the spirit of wisdom)that uses nuts. The horse tail whip (iruke) was used to chase away bad energies while the deer antler was associated with Ochosi, the Orisha of justice. It is thought that through sacrifice, bad energies could be changed into good energies. This Wheel of Fortune feels a bit like walking onto the stage of This is Your Life, but with an intervention twist. Life is not all about the luck of the draw; a lot has to do with my attitudes and actions as I navigate the world.
          Oyeku (a throw with two cowrie shells up) is associated with the following ethic and proverb:
Ifa: The prevalence of temper outbursts and cursing are the causes of difficulty in one’s life.
Proverb: Ashes fly back in the face of he who throws them.
Blame, self-justification and rationalization are easily employed when life isn't progressing as I'd like. But the bottom line is that the thoughts I focus on, how I communicate, and my behavior has a lot to do with how the scales are weighted. 

Pure awareness transcends thinking. It allows you to step outside the chattering negative self-talk and your reactive impulses and emotions. It allows you to look at the world once again with open eyes. And when you do so, a sense of wonder and quiet contentment begins to reappear in your life.

~Mark Williams and Danny Penman

Our area had an internet outage for the past four days in case anyone wondered where I've been. :)

The Power of Sweetness

From the Tarot Lukumi, the Ten of Cups:

One of the first things I noticed about this card is the empty well behind the male. This is Orunmila, the Orisha of wisdom, knowledge and divination. Having a passion for science, philosophy and intellectual thought can only bring partial satisfaction, which is where the Orisha Oshun comes into the picture. She reigns over love, beauty and diplomacy - she represents what makes life worth living. I have friends and family that I enjoy sharing cerebral hobbies and activities with, yet I am certain that our relationship would not be sustained over time without our deeper, emotional connection. I am encouraged by the Ten of Cups to find a balance between knowledge and love if I want to fill all those wells.

From the Diloggun Cards comes "Oyeku (2 mouths):"

Ifa: The prevalence of temper outbursts and cursing are the causes of difficulty in one’s life.
Proverb: Ashes fly back in the face of he who throws them.

I find that the people I love the most are the ones I get angriest with. Is it because we intimately know each other's tender, painful spots? Or is it because we expect more from people who are supposed to care about us, and we get offended when they don't meet these expectations? I often forget about the "unconditional" part of love that I supposedly espouse. The Orisha Oshun above would suggest diplomacy and respectful communication, otherwise I'm going to put a crack in that well that no amount of cement will ever fix.