Each week I pull Tarot cards to inspire practice that cultivates soul wisdom 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 and share them in the comments.
PATH: Use Pile 1 / Majors and Aces to pull a card for the question: What path would it best serve us to walk this week? THE SUN invites us to walk this week on pathways of …
- Earned joy.
- Being in the flow.
- Being open to the beauty of earth and the passionate embrace of Love while still holding in your heart the pain, the grief, and the problems of the world. You are unafraid of this paradox.
PRACTICE: Use Pile 2 / numbered cards for this question: What practice(s) will best serve us to move along this path this week? FIVE OF AIR invites us to practices such as …
- Create a fith-fath, the Gaelic practice of creating a shape shifting spell for times of danger or vulnerability.
- Observe how you react to conflict with and between others without judgment. Then consider how you want to be with conflict in the future. Gather tools to help you with this new relationship with conflict.
- To find a practice that best fits for you, you could pick out the bird in the image that you most identify with first and then…
Defend or Protect: If you are relating to the birds at the bottom, on the branches, near the nest, you may need to defend or protect something important. Perhaps there is a value or cause that is under attack and you are called to defend it. You may need to active by attending a rally or vigil, writing a letter to the editor, or lobbying a politician. Or you might need to protect space and time for dreaming, devotion to art and writing, or for spiritual practice These can easily be eaten up by everyday demands to take action to guard this time: write it in your calendar, close a door for privacy, silence the cell phone. Perhaps these callings are combined: you are called to create art or write about an injustice.
Engage: Is someone in your life acting in an aggressive or unhelpful way? What would it be like to ask them what they need? What would be like to identify what you need? Then perhaps you can dance with that together like the two birds flying around at the center of the card.
Rise Above: If you are drawn to the bird soaring above at the top of the image, just sitting and observing your thoughts while you shut your eyes and breathe, can help you to see them, be more objective, and let the unnecessary ones go. Than an open space the wider perspective can emerge.
POSTURE: Use Pile 3 / People cards for a question such as: What attitudes and behaviors will be most helpful to undertake this practice and walk with path? CHILD OF EARTH invites you to follow your path and practices with attitudes of …
- Wonder
- Total focus.
- Fascination.
- Giving yourself fully to what is happening in the natural world.
- Learning from the physical reality before you (the peeking bulbs, the food on your plate, the animals in your life).
OVERALL MUSINGS: This week you are called to defend joy. Defending joy does not mean that you ignore the difficulty or pain in the world, but rather that you embrace both the pain and the delight. And dance anyway, forgive anyway, hold up Love anyway. Last week, we were shown so many mentors for living in joy. As their slain loved ones were laid to rest, the community of the Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston showed the power of forgiveness, truth telling, and celebration even as they grieved. Same sex couples denied marriage equality for decades finally got to make their love legal and there was so much embracing. Even the White House put on rainbows. So how will you defend joy this week? How will you let joy into your heart to emerge renewed? How will you let joy connect you back to the wisdom wonder of when you were a child?