It's So Easy

This week I'll be using the Tarot of the Master, created by Giovanni Vacchetta and published by Lo Scarabeo. Along with it, I'll be drawing from the Paracelsus Oracle, published by Lo Scarabeo with instructions written by Gina di Roberto. The cards drawn for today are Love (Lovers) and Tristitia:

At the beginning of all love there is a private treaty each of the lovers makes with himself or herself, an agreement to set aside what is wrong with the other for the sake of what is right.

—Salman Rushdie

There's a breezy song by Olivia Dean that's getting a lot of radio play right now: "I could be the world to you, the missing piece, the extra sentimental kind of chemistry. Cause I make it so easy to fall in love, so, come give me a call, and we'll fall into us." Well, she's got the falling part right - it's the staying in love that's more difficult. It's probably why at the top of this card there is the Latin phrase Dolce travaglio, meaning "sweet labor." Tristitia is a Latin word meaning sorrow; early theologians used it to describe a despondency that caused someone to give up all hope. Partners may discover they are just too different in views and values to stay together, or cruelty and dishonesty might break them apart. But if, as Pink sings, "It's been written in the scars on our hearts; we're not broken, just bent and we can learn to love again," then maybe wise hope should be our compass.

Letting Go

From the Tarot of the Master, the Four of Swords; from the Paracelsus Oracle, Tristizia/Tristitia:

There is a time when the sanest thing we can do is to lay down our helmet, gloves and sword and cease fighting anything or anyone. There are some battles we can't win, problems we can't solve and people we can't make better. Tristizia ('sorrow') and the keyword for this Four of Swords (meditation) suggest we surrender our weapons and rest our whirling, grasping mind. This is a response that seems counterintuitive to most of us; we have been trained otherwise. Yet we need time to process what is happening or has happened, to grieve it and to release our grip on it.

While letting go can be extremely beneficial, the practice can be even more significant when we also learn to let go into something valuable. From this side, letting go is more about what is gained than what is lost. When we let go of fear, it may also be possible to let go into a sense of safety or a sense of relaxation. Forsaking the need to be right or to have one’s opinions justified can allow a person to settle into a feeling of peace. Letting go of thoughts might allow us to open to a calmer mind. By letting go into something beneficial, it can be easier to let go of something harmful.

—Gil Fronsdal

An Education in Frustration

From the Tarot of the Master, the Ten of Wands:

I can almost hear the thoughts in this little toad's head. He's hungry, but the bugs and snails have found a lattice of rods to crawl up to get out of his reach. Not only is he worried he won't get a meal, he thinks the birds will soon find them and then they'll be none left for him. According to the little booklet, the suit of wands deals with masculine energy. But in this particular card, that energy has been stymied, resulting in a feeling of frustration. But who has restricted this toad to only this little patch of the garden? He's the one who refuses to leave "his" domain and look for grub elsewhere.

The geomancy figure created this morning is "Tristitia:"

This figure's name means "sorrow," and it refers to the difficulties and disappointments we often face. With his head bowed down, this man stands at the edge of a mountain, probably feeling as if he is at the end of his rope. The celestial body that rules Tristitia is Saturn, a taskmaster with the objective of teaching life lessons. Wisdom, patience and discipline are going to be needed now if I want things to get better. I might as well move away from the edge and settle in for the lesson...