10/10/11—Gathering Your Energies

Today's Draw: Nine of Wands from the Abyssal Tarot. Do you have a chronic issue that you never seem to make headway on? Is it possible that, instead of addressing the root of the issue, you're too focused on addressing the symptoms? Are you ready to try a new approach?

As a quick note, the image accompanying this post is the image that's on the card, not the card itself. The actual card bears the word "Waiting" in addition to identifying it as the Nine of Wands. Also, today's card was chosen by a guest chooser whose name I didn't get. :)

Traditionally, the Nine of Wands is about heroism and commitment to a cause. In some decks, it's also depicted as making one last push on the way to succeeding at something. And that's more along the lines of where this card takes us. 

The woman in the picture is gathering energy from within and around herself in preparation for a final confrontation. Strategy, preparation and vigilance are key aspects of her defense. In this way, she's not just reacting to stimuli, she's able to detach from the stimuli and form a holistic defense aimed at the root cause. 

We often get caught up in responding to individual stimuli as they happen. Stuck in that pattern, we end up constantly swatting flies rather than finding the source of the flies and taking care of that. This Nine of Wands is mounting her strategy at the source of the flies so that she doesn't have to deal with the swatting any longer. 

An example of this might be a couple who bickers about leaving the toilet seat up or who's turn it is to take out the trash. As long as you're confronting issues on that level, you don't have the energy to address the underlying lack of respect and consideration...the underlying hurt and unmet expectations...whatever is underneath. And as long as you don't address that, it grows to the point that one day you have a fight over a towel left on the bathroom floor and one of you leaves the relationship "suddenly and without reason".

The Nine of Wands comes to remind us that when we find ourselves battling over petty matters, there's something much deeper at work. And her caution about waiting is to stop wasting energy on the symptoms of the underlying issue so you can gather your thoughts and energy to address what is really at the root of the matter. As this past weekend's reading indicated, the problem might not even have anything to do with the other person. 

We owe it to ourselves and to our partners and friends to excavate deep enough to know what is at the root of the issue before we make any rash decisions. Most of the time the cause is rooted in fear or hurt. But until we know, we stand no chance of fixing anything. And the longer we focus on symptoms, the more broken the issue becomes. So don't take the bait of the symptoms. Wait that knee-jerk anger out, gather your energies, focus on the root cause and move forward from a genuine point of power.