Each week I pull cards to inspire contemplative / personal development practice for readers of the blog as a group using the Gaian Tarot. (If you want to read more about the process, check out Sacred Practices of the Gaian Tarot: The 3 P’s).You are invited to use the cards below to inspire your practice, and, if you like, share your reflections in the comments. You are also free to draw your own cards.
PATH: Use Pile 1 / Majors and Aces to pull a card for the question: What sacred path would best serve the group this week? ACE OF WATER invites us to walk this week on pathways of …
- Moving from the place of a wide open heart.
- Embracing new life after struggle.
- Flowing with emotions and inspirations.
PRACTICE: Use Pile 2 / numbered cards for this question: What contemplative practice will best serve us to move along this pathway this week? TWO OF AIR invites us to practices such as …
- Color meditation, spending some extra time with blue and indigo.
- Listen for the birds. As you listen to this external sound, what is stirred up from your inner depths?
- Visio divina with a Tarot card, an inspirational image, or sitting outside and focusing on a spot in the natural world.
POSTURE: Use Pile 3 / People cards for a question such as: What attitudes and behaviors will be most helpful to me in undertaking this practice? ELDER OF WATER invites you to follow your path and practices with attitudes of ….
- Taking your cue for movement from the highs and lows of the tides (perhaps truly if you live near the ocean or metaphorically if you are more inland). When will leaving the shore be easiest … when will returning?
- No forcing of action, but neither any holding back (from the poet Rilke’s phrase: “no forcing, no holding back.”)
- Embracing the changes of life that can be as beautiful and mysterious as the sunrises and sunsets of each day.
OVERALL MUSINGS: This Thursday brings the Equinox when day and night are equal, but we are turning into the light. Spring is making her way towards us. Although different from some systems of elemental correspondences, I see spring as connected to the element of water. The ground thaws, invites the earthworm to wiggle to the surface, and robin returns to take the offered meal. The snow melts, the rivers rise and sometimes rage. The dirty end of winter is made new with the return of liquid water. We can’t control this flow, but we can find a way to align ourselves, let ourselves be shaken and awakened from winter stiffness, let ourselves enter new depths.