6/20/11—Rocking Your World

Today's Draw: The Tower from the Witches Tarot. Is something good—or bad—shaking up your world these days? Have you recently had a flash of inspiration or an aha moment you feel like sharing? Is there something in your world you could benefit from experiencing in a different, more positive way?

I have to apologize to The Tower. For years I was only able to one side of it. The scary side. And now I'm finally giving myself permission to experience it a different way. 

But first with the meaning. If the card I'm showing here seems intense, it is. But it is actually a very tame Tower card. Most of the time you see people flying out of the Tower, screaming for their lives amidst flying, flaming debris. No wonder the card gets a bad rap. It's meant to symbolize dramatic change...a drastic upheaval in your life. Something that shakes you up, smacks you awake and engages you from 0 to 60. 

Often you'll hear that the Tower is collapsing because the foundation upon you which you've built a certain part of your life is unstable. And through the collapse, it gives you a chance to rebuild on a solid foundation. So the way I've always seen is that "the Tower moment", the moment the card is reading right now, is utter destruction. And in the aftermath, hope takes hold once again and you regain your strength, more solidly than ever before. 

All of that is true. But the last time I drew this card someone reminded me that Tower moments don't always have to be unpleasant. And, after opening my eyes to that, I was able to see how that applies. The birth of a child, for example, drastically changes you. A move or a new job. Even a new relationship, if you're used to being alone, can really shake you up. It can come as a flash of inspiration. It can feel like an initiation or attunement to a higher level. Or it can be a sudden realization that leads to enlightenment.

I've written a few times about how I'm working on a project for publication...and how I'm reading tarot professionally again and am going to start to teach. But the dramatic change I'm going through reaches beyond tarot and seems to be seeping into all parts of my life. In one sense it's a letting go and releasing of barriers I've had up for years...barriers against the discomfort of change. I feel like I'm letting go and letting a larger hand guide me. 

Instead of all of this coming as a dramatic explosion, however, it's coming more like a lovely breeze...one that's strong enough to make the wind chimes tinkle, but not so strong it's screwing with my hair. It's change. It has the potential to turn my life around 180 degrees. And certainly not all of it is pleasant or easy—last Friday brought a couple of bits of bad news. But overall, it's really not so bad and I'm doing my best to just sit back and enjoy the scenery. Because this phase of my life is, in many ways, the culmination of years of preparation and work. And right now, all I can do is go on the ride. It's a little like one of those massive domino displays. You take forever planning it and setting it up. But once that first domino is pushed, all you can really do is watch the show...reap what you've sown. 

You know, these things we say...going through a dramatic change, learning a lesson, reaping what you sow...they all seem to connote that something bad has happened. And we end up placing emphasis and added value, even, on lessons and changes that are hard won. And we write off the lessons and changes that come happily as serendipity and good fortune, rather than advances that can be just as dramatic as the things hard won. So today, think about some of the things that have brought you to a higher level via the wings of angels, rather than through pain and struggle. Think of the good things you've reaped as a result of the good things you've sown. And open your mind and heart to the possibility that, from this moment on, your lessons and changes can take a more pleasant route and still end up on the same higher ground.