7/26/11—Pinpointing Beginnings and Endings

Today's Draw: Eight of Wands from the Tarot of Fire. When does life begin and end? Or does it ever? When does any eternal cycle begin and end?

The Tarot of Fire draws upon myths about fire around the world. The Eight of Wands is based on a Russian myth where the energy of the summer solstice is channeled into these wheels, which in turn head out to help the sun. On a more symbolic scale, it's about the "culminating moment of an eternally repeating cycle", according to the book that came with the deck. 

Of course they're talking about a cycle akin to midnight on 12/31, but as far as eternally repeating cycles are concerned, isn't a "culminating moment" rather a random choice? Sure there's a logical end. Take for example, a person's life. The culminating moment would be death. And the beginning moment would be rebirth...or the beginning of the afterlife...whatever actually happens. But can't a cycle begin or end in the middle and still be a cycle? 

So in a cycle that includes birth, death and afterlife, maybe death isn't the culminating moment. Maybe birth is. Maybe loss of love isn't the culminating moment, maybe it's the healing from the loss. Or the moment you feel comfortable with the next person. The point I'm trying to make is that maybe endings aren't endings. Maybe beginnings aren't beginnings. Everything is just another point in the cycle. And our concept of what the beginning is and what the ending is just random or based on ignorance or part of some closed-minded folly that we've entertained for far too long.

Different cultures have different ideas of when manhood or womanhood begins, for example. For some, it's an age. For others it's a physiological process. For others, it begins when the individual is mature enough to be called a man or woman. There's no science to it. It's random. I didn't feel like a woman until long after I began my period and even long after my 18th birthday, for example. It's not that I felt like a girl prior to that, just that I didn't feel like woman. So where does that cycle begin and end?

There is so much we don't question or muse over. So much we don't decide for ourselves. I don't know when a human's life and experiences end. I don't know when the personality splits from the eternal soul or if it ever does. We accept so much at face value. Who decided Monday was a Monday? I mean, did they just start randomly at Sunday? What if the Sunday they started on was meant to be a Wednesday and we've been getting it wrong all along? For that matter, when does a week begin? The calendar says it begins on Sunday, but my internal clock says it begins on a Monday.

I know it makes things easier for us all to agree on stuff like this, but really, it's random. And we give beginnings and endings so much weight and meaning when they're really just points on an eternally spinning wheel that has no beginning or end. Every ending point is also a beginning point. Or you could consider it a mid-point. Again, like yesterday's post, it all depends on your perspective. So is it productive for us to fear or mourn endings when they're also beginnings and mid-points? I'm really just considering this tonight anew, so what do you think?