8/10/12—Slithering Into A New Way of Thinking

Today's Draw: The Snake from the Dia de Los Muertos Lenormand. What would you want a stranger seeing when they look at you? What benefits do you see from seeing others as different from you? Has learning about the idea of oneness changed the way you see others at all?

To round out Oneness Week—the week that's all about seeing the similarites in people, rather than the differences—we get the image of the snake. Now, the Lenormand is an oracle deck with its own meanings and traditions. I've recently become interested in this system, so I don't really know it well. And since I'm not a traditional tarot reader, I don't imagine I'll be a traditional Lenormand reader, either.

Traditionally this card is read as betrayal and it's associated also with a dark haired woman. So you could read it as a warning of betrayal, or you could read it as a dark haired woman will enter your life, or you could read it as both. It really just depends on the context and question. 

But the way the artist, Edmund Zebrowski, draws it, other thoughts occur to me having to do with Oneness Week. First, snakes mean transformation to me and the two heads facing in opposite directions signals that we all need to do an about face in regards to the way we think of others if anything is going to change in regard to the hate, battling and violence in this world. Moving in the direction of oneness is the way to start. 

Another is that the card number is 7, which is the number of the searcher and seeker of truth. This is the person looking for the reality behind a situation. An introvert. A spiritual person. And someone seeking to move away from the gossip, pettiness and dramas of life. In other words, this is someone likely to be reading this blog and also someone suited to make the tough changes that go with oneness consciousness. Of course doing that means also working on some of the drawbacks of 7 energy, which include a tendency to create "truths" more beautiful than reality, operate as if "my way is the right way" and choose detachment over compassion. 

But back to the betrayal aspect of the card. One of the important things I want to point out about oneness is that it doesn't mean everyone has to be your friend. First, many of the people we separate ourselves from may be criminals, drama junkies, meanies or whatever. The idea is not to cozy up to them, nor is it to look in the opposite direction like the snake's two heads. The idea is to, instead, look straight at others from a other than the perspective of approval. Then ask:

• Why is this person pushing my "separate from me" button and what can that teach me about myself?
• What is this person mirroring back to me, including aspects I consider both positive and negative?
• What can I see I have in common with this person?
•  How can I change my initial "repellant" feelings about this person into compassionate ones?
• What do I think this person sees in me as a result of our interaction in terms I might consider both positive and negative?

Keep in mind that the person pushing your "separate than me" buttons might be someone you admire. I mean, we put people up on pedestals and that's the same thing as putting people in the gutter. For the sake of argument, Angelina Jolie may be taller, more beautiful, richer, more charitable and more universally desired by men than us, but she's no more special than us. We are all born of the same light and we all have paths to walk and we are all special. I mean, I don't see you reading HER blog every day...haha. ;)

In the end, people are people. You can get as spiritual and loving as you want, but others are still going to do what they're going to do...and need to do to walk their path in this lifetime. Some people knowingly allow themselves to get screwed by others as part of their spiritual journey. But that's either too advanced or too stupid for me...haha. Being able to look at others, smile and think "I see you" in the Avatar sense is enough for me. I'm not in an energetic place where I can purposely expose myself to people who seek to hurt without getting hurt. But I can look at them and see "I am that, I am" without feeling a need to denigrate or hate. Well, much of the time. I'm still working on the "denigrate" part. 

So anyway, that's how we're rounding out the week. All that's asked of you is to be honest with yourself, see similarities in others and learn from the experience. You don't have to hang with murderers, just understand that they're not so unlike you as you thought. And, if you can, see and feel their pain, because you've probably felt it before to different results. All we need to, if we're up to the task, is try to leave this earth a little more loving and accepting than we found it. The tipping point may not happen in our lifetime and we may never end the cycles of hate, but at least we'll know we've done good work while we're here.