Intentional Attention

From the Sheridan-Douglas Tarot, the Ace of Cups; from the Pages of Shustah, the Pregnant Mouse:

          There's no heavenly hand waving this cup under our noses - it just sits in a space with no embellishments. Humans often want to know exactly what is in a cup (relationship) before they take a sip and how it will make them feel. They want it placed in their hands with a linen napkin in their laps. But relationships don't work this way; we have to either take a risk or avoid the opportunity. There is no sure-fire certainty in any connection we make, and what develops will require a lot of effort from both partners to keep it nourished and healthy. The Pregnant Mouse card represents a fear of not having enough. While materially this may be a real concern for some, in the Ace of Cups world it makes me think of FOMO - the fear of missing out. The irony here is that we can only be fully aware of one thing at a time, and the better focus would be on choosing where we place our attention. Otherwise, all that time spent staring at our phones and computers might have some real-life consequences for our relationships.

What we pay attention to grows. This is not to suggest that we should willfully ignore our 'problems;' it is, however, to suggest that attention paid to solutions is far more valuable than attention paid to what is wrong, in our own life, in our friends and family, in the world.

—Jeff Kober

Where's Your Head?

The card drawn from the Sheridan-Douglas Tarot this morning is the Tower:

Lightning destroys what appeared to be a sturdy tower, as the occupants fall head-first to the ground.  The small "sparks" raining down are actually yuds, a letter in the Hebrew alphabet that can be translated "hand" or "to thrust."  These "hands" are what have pushed these people out of their complacency and woken them up.  The fact that they are in a head-down position tells me they need to see and understand from a new perspective.  Alfred Douglas, in his companion book The Tarot writes, "Its enclosing walls of dogmatic opinion become unable to adapt to changing circumstances, and if faced with a major challenge of ideas it can only collapse, leaving the bewildered mind within to cope as best it may with the apparent chaos that surrounds it."  My ideas need to be malleable enough to evolve; life is in a constant flux, and I must be able to flow with the changes.  As a side note, we had a fire next door to us last night.  A two-story building caught fire, but thankfully the fire department was able to put it out before it spread or before anyone was hurt.  Indeed, life is full of the unexpected...

     The card chosen from the Pages of Shustah deck this morning is the "Pregnant Mouse:"

In a stark environment of sand and cacti, a pregnant mouse and her mate search for shelter and food.  The companion book calls this the "card of poverty," but not necessarily of the material sort.  It points to emotional distress and mental restriction that has resulted from negative, limited thinking.  I have been feeling isolated and without purpose lately, and I'm sure these feelings are spilling over into all other areas of my life.  The green cards in this deck deal with growth and progress, and so this image encourages me to continue making an effort and to focus on the good.  Patience and progress go hand in hand...