Practical Advice

From the Ferret Tarot, the Ace of Coins; from Nature's Wisdom Oracle, 'Scarab Beetle:'

          Americans have a love affair with money. I have a friend who says, "It might not bring happiness, but it sure makes living easier." But that's only if you have the knowledge to manage it and the discipline to wisely use it. Economist Jay L. Zagorsky wrote: "Studies found that instead of getting people out of financial trouble, winning the lottery got people into more trouble, since bankruptcy rates soared for lottery winners three to five years after winning." If that ferret is going to seize an opportunity to make some money, he needs to focus more on saving or investing than simply spending. The Scarab Beetle, a symbol of the Egyptian Sun god, carefully rolls dung into large dung balls for his mate who lays her eggs in it. It provides food for the beetle larvae when they hatch. Its message is that if we think creatively, we can often make something beneficial out of what appears to be useless. To practice living simply and wisely with what I have can be a practical training ground for when the coffer is overflowing.

Rolling a Dung Ball

From the Ferret Tarot, the Devil; from the Nature's Wisdom Oracle, "Scarab Beetle:"

          The Devil shows a duel between this ferret's inner demon and angel sides.  Moertl's phrase for this card is "Damned if you do, but figure out why." The last part of that message seems to be repeated in the beetle's card - there's a reason behind my actions, for what I create in my life. Often though, I'm not aware of it. I've been reading about the "Eight Worldly Concerns" that dominate a person's life: pleasure/pain, praise/blame-criticism, acclaim/disgrace and gain/loss. While it is quite human to want to experience only the good stuff, it's not very realistic. For me, I've found I take on one of three personas when I'm faced with dealing with these concerns. Sometimes I'm the street-fighter, ready to physically defend what's mine or aggressively go after what I think should be mine. I may become the chess player, mentally coming up with strategies for getting what I want and avoiding what I don't want. Or, I can become the drunkard, emotionally numbing myself to whatever is happening (feeling I have no control over anything). Here's the question I need to ask myself: "Is this dung ball I'm working so hard on going to make an actual difference, or is this just a reaction based on fear?"

When we figure out that the eight worldly concerns are terrorists posing as sweethearts, we will let go of many misconceptions and won’t have to battle with attachment so much, because there will be wisdom that says, "This is nice and I enjoy it, but I don’t need it." When we have that attitude there’s so much space in the mind because then whatever we have, whoever we’re with, we are satisfied. ~ Thubten Chodron 

Making a List, Checking It Twice

From the Ferret Tarot, the High Priestess:

I really do wish tapping into my intuition and Higher Self was as easy as scrying in a bowl of water. But you see, in my bowl there sits an ego the size of an ocean liner; I have to be patient, quiet and still long enough for it to sail past. Still it's hard to muzzle my ego. It has gotten clever at disguising information - at first glance it appears as hidden wisdom that has come out of hiding. I ran across a post by Steve Pavlina in which he lists four ways to tell the difference between messages from the Higher Self and messages from the ego:
1) False guidance is rooted in fear; true guidance is not concerned with being in control.
2) The ego wants external results; wisdom is happy with internal results.
3) Win-lose is how the ego wants to finish (with it winning of course); Self would like all to benefit.
4) Ego will try to justify itself through logic; the Higher Self is heart-centered.
The next time I think I've uncovered an important bit of guidance and information, I think I'll compare it to this checklist.

From the Nature's Wisdom deck comes the "Scarab Beetle:"

Why in the world would a beetle spend so much time creating a dung ball up to fifty times its weight? The scarab rolls the ball into a burrow, where the female lays her eggs. Newly hatched larvae will use it for food to survive. My ego wants me to create so it will get the praise it thinks it deserves. But my Higher Self would remind me to look at that list above and create from the heart.

Gardening with Pain

From the Ferret Tarot, the Queen of Swords:

I quite like this Queen of Swords - most RWS type decks depict her as an emotionless shrew with an ice-cold heart.  But here is one who is familiar with pain and grief, yet instead of letting it close her heart she lets it open it further.  She knows it is truth rather than illusion or denial that will bring healing, though it may also bring pain.  She won't sugarcoat anything, but because she's gone through it herself, she'll be a good mentor in how to successfully go through it and come out whole on the other side.

From the Nature's Wisdom Oracle comes "Scarab Beetle:"

The dung beetle rolls huge balls of poo and deposits them in its burrow.  Its larvae will use it for food when they hatch, which is why Lighthipe gives the scarab the keyword of "creation."  The wisdom of this insect teaches me how to take what might seem useless and create something of value.  In combining this card with the queen above, I am reminded to use my pain or challenges in positive ways.  Dung is a great fertilizer with which to garden...