Showing posts with label What is Hidden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What is Hidden. Show all posts
Friday, April 5, 2013
4/6/13-4/7/13—Letting Things Come in Their Own Time
Monday, March 18, 2013
3/19/13—Uncovering What Lays Hidden in the Unconscious
Five of Swords in the Benefits of What is Hidden in the Unconscious position from the Infinite Visions and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Are you capable of harming another creature? Could you ever tell a really big lie? Do you know what you're truly capable of?
The Five of Swords is the "win at any and all costs" card. When I first saw this combination, I immediately thought "shadow side". We all have one. And we tend to shove it as far away from our conscious mind as possible in hopes that it being out-of-sight will make it non-existantant. But that never works. And until we bring it out into the light, we'll never know who we really are. And until we know who we really are, we can never fully understand others.
Every once in a while, something bad will happen. Take Lance Armstrong's lies, for example....his winning at any cost. People get all worked up about it, because they would never do anything like that. Never! Maybe not. But that doesn't mean it's beyond us.
For example, I'm pretty honest about things. But I can think of times in my life when I've felt cornered and maybe I lied or denied doing something. And I kept the lie going because I got caught in a trap of my own making and was damned if I do and damned if I don't. Fortunately those humiliations drifted away as quickly as they occurred. I wasn't on a national stage with so many coming forward to prove I'd lied. Stubborn as I am, I can see an earlier version of me standing my ground. I wouldn't do this today, but the capability is in me. It's in all of us, whether we've ever done it or not.
Another example is those awful videos of predators hunting down their prey...the mountain lion going after a deer or something like that. We shudder in horror when the deer is cornered and the lion goes in for the kill, spattering himself in the blood of his prey. But how do you imagine man got food before farming? That's exactly what prehistoric man would do. He'd hunt a mastodon down, trap it, then hack away it until it was dead, body all bloodied from the attack, smelling of a fresh kill. And we'd all do the same if it meant living or dying. That's in us, too.
Or how about "going postal"? We've all felt stressed and beaten by life and maybe we respond by driving aggressively on the way home, or taking our stress out on a telemarketer. Now imagine that's how your life has been, not for a day or week, but for a much more extended period of time. You'd lose it. We all would. Some of us would internalize it and shut down. Some of us would act out. Maybe we wouldn't kill people over it, but we'd probably do something reckless or feel out of control. We're not beyond taking that extra step.
These are human traits. To say you've never lied is a lie. We've all lied. You may differentiate between a white lie or a lie out of necessity or a lie to save someone's feelings and therefore proclaim your innocence. But you know what a lie is. Lies are lies. And now we know you're not beyond lying, it's really just a matter of the amount of pressure you're under, what's at stake and how much you're in denial before you start telling a lie like the very first lie Lance told about doping. Because, let's face it. The "big lie" was really a series of much smaller lies told over decades...many of which were told to reinforce the first lie. Then once that's told, the second one is easier, the pressure is greater to keep lying. And so on. Sure. You might have made different choices than Lance. Many of us would have. But you're nonetheless *capable* of going down that rabbit hole. Anyone who has ever told even so much as a white lie understands that lies can be justified...if you want to keep from being called a liar.
See what I'm saying? None of us are going to shoot a classroom full of six year olds. Much of that is due to the fact we don't have serious mental illnesses. But do you understand how small the difference between mental health and mental illness is physiologically? There but for the grace of God and, in some cases, upbringing, accidents and heavy drug use go all of us. We are all *capable*. It's just that most of us are fortunate enough to never meet the circumstances that take us there.
The reason I bring all this up is because when you can shove the ugliness of our humanness into a box in the deep recesses of your unconscious, you never have to admit to being a part of it. It becomes something separate from you that you don't have to deal with. So these "monsters"—the liars, the murderers, the whack jobs and the mountain lions—are a whole other thing from what you are. They're a species capable of hurting others, of following their urges, disrespecting others, acting self important...of being fallible, sick, imperfect in some way...of losing perspective, control. They're not YOU. You'd never do any of that!
But as long as you're in denial about it, you're doing little bits of it every day and justifying it as needed. Little lies, little disrespectings of others, little bursts of anger. Acceptable amounts that keep you within the bounds of being able to justify your horror and judgment of others. Separating yourself from "that other thing" enough that it has nothing to do with you. Then you don't have to take responsibility for it
But if we dared to understand who and what we were at our extremes, maybe we could see our way to work on it as a society. You know, like get people mental help instead of an electric chair. To have compassion for minds so tortured that they kill. To understand how someone can get so caught up in what others think that they would disgrace the legacy they worked an entire life to build. It's a shifting from "how could you?!" to "I'm blessed this wasn't my lot to bear in this lifetime."
We've spent millennia separating ourselves from "the sinners" and shaming them and how much have we progressed? Denying the "monster within" so we can judge those whose monster is visible isn't working. So hiding the "win at any and all costs" extreme that is part of the human makeup may benefit us in that we can judge others and deny parts of our nature. But the real benefits come when we can pull it out, see it for what it is and accept it. Ironically enough, if we pull out our ugly sides and acknowledge them, we can experience significant personal and spiritual growth through the heightened levels of compassion, love, forgiveness and understanding we're able to reach by seeing ourselves—seeing the humanity—in the ugliness in others.
The Five of Swords is the "win at any and all costs" card. When I first saw this combination, I immediately thought "shadow side". We all have one. And we tend to shove it as far away from our conscious mind as possible in hopes that it being out-of-sight will make it non-existantant. But that never works. And until we bring it out into the light, we'll never know who we really are. And until we know who we really are, we can never fully understand others. Every once in a while, something bad will happen. Take Lance Armstrong's lies, for example....his winning at any cost. People get all worked up about it, because they would never do anything like that. Never! Maybe not. But that doesn't mean it's beyond us.
For example, I'm pretty honest about things. But I can think of times in my life when I've felt cornered and maybe I lied or denied doing something. And I kept the lie going because I got caught in a trap of my own making and was damned if I do and damned if I don't. Fortunately those humiliations drifted away as quickly as they occurred. I wasn't on a national stage with so many coming forward to prove I'd lied. Stubborn as I am, I can see an earlier version of me standing my ground. I wouldn't do this today, but the capability is in me. It's in all of us, whether we've ever done it or not.
Another example is those awful videos of predators hunting down their prey...the mountain lion going after a deer or something like that. We shudder in horror when the deer is cornered and the lion goes in for the kill, spattering himself in the blood of his prey. But how do you imagine man got food before farming? That's exactly what prehistoric man would do. He'd hunt a mastodon down, trap it, then hack away it until it was dead, body all bloodied from the attack, smelling of a fresh kill. And we'd all do the same if it meant living or dying. That's in us, too.
Or how about "going postal"? We've all felt stressed and beaten by life and maybe we respond by driving aggressively on the way home, or taking our stress out on a telemarketer. Now imagine that's how your life has been, not for a day or week, but for a much more extended period of time. You'd lose it. We all would. Some of us would internalize it and shut down. Some of us would act out. Maybe we wouldn't kill people over it, but we'd probably do something reckless or feel out of control. We're not beyond taking that extra step.
These are human traits. To say you've never lied is a lie. We've all lied. You may differentiate between a white lie or a lie out of necessity or a lie to save someone's feelings and therefore proclaim your innocence. But you know what a lie is. Lies are lies. And now we know you're not beyond lying, it's really just a matter of the amount of pressure you're under, what's at stake and how much you're in denial before you start telling a lie like the very first lie Lance told about doping. Because, let's face it. The "big lie" was really a series of much smaller lies told over decades...many of which were told to reinforce the first lie. Then once that's told, the second one is easier, the pressure is greater to keep lying. And so on. Sure. You might have made different choices than Lance. Many of us would have. But you're nonetheless *capable* of going down that rabbit hole. Anyone who has ever told even so much as a white lie understands that lies can be justified...if you want to keep from being called a liar.
See what I'm saying? None of us are going to shoot a classroom full of six year olds. Much of that is due to the fact we don't have serious mental illnesses. But do you understand how small the difference between mental health and mental illness is physiologically? There but for the grace of God and, in some cases, upbringing, accidents and heavy drug use go all of us. We are all *capable*. It's just that most of us are fortunate enough to never meet the circumstances that take us there.
The reason I bring all this up is because when you can shove the ugliness of our humanness into a box in the deep recesses of your unconscious, you never have to admit to being a part of it. It becomes something separate from you that you don't have to deal with. So these "monsters"—the liars, the murderers, the whack jobs and the mountain lions—are a whole other thing from what you are. They're a species capable of hurting others, of following their urges, disrespecting others, acting self important...of being fallible, sick, imperfect in some way...of losing perspective, control. They're not YOU. You'd never do any of that!
But as long as you're in denial about it, you're doing little bits of it every day and justifying it as needed. Little lies, little disrespectings of others, little bursts of anger. Acceptable amounts that keep you within the bounds of being able to justify your horror and judgment of others. Separating yourself from "that other thing" enough that it has nothing to do with you. Then you don't have to take responsibility for it
But if we dared to understand who and what we were at our extremes, maybe we could see our way to work on it as a society. You know, like get people mental help instead of an electric chair. To have compassion for minds so tortured that they kill. To understand how someone can get so caught up in what others think that they would disgrace the legacy they worked an entire life to build. It's a shifting from "how could you?!" to "I'm blessed this wasn't my lot to bear in this lifetime."
We've spent millennia separating ourselves from "the sinners" and shaming them and how much have we progressed? Denying the "monster within" so we can judge those whose monster is visible isn't working. So hiding the "win at any and all costs" extreme that is part of the human makeup may benefit us in that we can judge others and deny parts of our nature. But the real benefits come when we can pull it out, see it for what it is and accept it. Ironically enough, if we pull out our ugly sides and acknowledge them, we can experience significant personal and spiritual growth through the heightened levels of compassion, love, forgiveness and understanding we're able to reach by seeing ourselves—seeing the humanity—in the ugliness in others.
Monday, January 28, 2013
1/29/13—Entering the Hidden Realms
Today's Draw: The Ten of Water in the What Is Hidden position from the Book of Shadows Tarot: As Above and the Deck of 1000 Spreads. Have you been getting signs lately that someone in this world or another is trying to connect with you? Are you just ignoring it and hoping it will go away? What do you think they might be trying to tell you?
Something kind of odd is happening as I use my Deck of 1000 Spreads to give context to these daily draws. On the one hand, it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do...put the chosen tarot card in context. But on more than one occasion, the spread position and the card have meant essentially the same thing. For example, last week we had the position of What to Leave Behind, and the card chosen in that position was a person burning the baggage of their past. That answered the question, yes. But the card showed a "leaving behind" in the position of What to Leave Behind.
Today is another example of that. We get the spread position of What is Hidden and a card that shows a seeking in the dark for what is hidden. I bring this up as odd, because I don't notice this happening so much in regular readings. But it's happened here a couple of times in a week and it's freaky. So if you ever wonder if tarot readers sometimes get freaked out by what cards say or do, yes, we do. Not often, but even after 25 years I'm still amazed at how this whole process can work.
OK. So on to the reading. In most decks, the Ten of Water (or Cups) would show a happy family scene, full of love and abundance. But this is a non-traditional deck, so that's not the reading you get today. Sorry. :D
This card depicts Hecate as a triple goddess. She's in charge of the spaces between realms...reality and illusion, life and death...the places where seekers often lose their way. So the Ten of Water brings us to that place of uncertainty and fuzziness that she rules—the crossroads between here and "there", wherever "there" is. She is, in essence the Goddess of what is hidden.
And What is Hidden in this case is some sort of connection. There are people you need to find, but don't know how. Or there are spirits—either deceased loved ones or spirit guides—that you need to connect with. Or perhaps a power animal or other guide has something to share with you. Whichever of those options sounds most right to you, you can no longer allow the distance between you and this being to grow. It's time to make the connection.
If you're like me, you can think of a number of options. I could use to connect with and strengthen relationships with my spirit guides. I would like to have contact with loved ones who have passed over. For me, I don't know that there's anyone in this realm that would qualify. But if you're estranged from someone who's alive and don't know how to find your way back to them, then that's a situation that would apply here, too.
The interesting thing is that I've had some odd happenings lately in my house...sounds. Sounds that sound like someone is in this house, when they're not. All kinds of stuff could be responsible for that, but I've lived here for 13 years, so I know what's what. Some of these sounds are borderline curious and some are just plain freaky.
Like the knocking at the window. It's usually just three raps and sounds just like someone's knocking at the window. It often wakes me in the morning. I've got a woodpecker that hangs out in the trees around my house, so I blame it on him. But, honestly, it sounds like knuckles on window. The other morning it happened and I know I wasn't the only one who heard it because all the dogs popped up their heads. But none of them barked or seemed to pay attention to it once it had happened. And it wasn't just one set of three raps, it was three sets of three raps coming from a window that is out of reach for humans.
So that makes me think. Is someone trying to get my attention. And if so, what can I do? What can any of us do when we're not familiar with the foggy meeting places between worlds?
We can start by getting very quiet in a place with no distractions. We can imagine a white light of protection around us. We can ask who is there for us. And we can listen for an answer. The answer (or images) will likely come to us in our head, instead of being audible to our ears or visible to our eyes. So we have to trust that what pops into our head is real.
Another thing you can do is invite the spirit into your dreamtime (invite "only the highest and best" spirits) and affirm that you will remember your dreams upon waking. Or you can go to a medium. It's possible that the person or spirit you'll hear from is not the one you expect to hear from, so keep your mind open.
The position this card is in—What is Hidden—could suggest that whoever this is, they could hold some key information for you. Which is why they're trying to connect with you. And if the prospect of that isn't too scary, now is the time to answer the call.
Today is another example of that. We get the spread position of What is Hidden and a card that shows a seeking in the dark for what is hidden. I bring this up as odd, because I don't notice this happening so much in regular readings. But it's happened here a couple of times in a week and it's freaky. So if you ever wonder if tarot readers sometimes get freaked out by what cards say or do, yes, we do. Not often, but even after 25 years I'm still amazed at how this whole process can work.
OK. So on to the reading. In most decks, the Ten of Water (or Cups) would show a happy family scene, full of love and abundance. But this is a non-traditional deck, so that's not the reading you get today. Sorry. :D
This card depicts Hecate as a triple goddess. She's in charge of the spaces between realms...reality and illusion, life and death...the places where seekers often lose their way. So the Ten of Water brings us to that place of uncertainty and fuzziness that she rules—the crossroads between here and "there", wherever "there" is. She is, in essence the Goddess of what is hidden.
And What is Hidden in this case is some sort of connection. There are people you need to find, but don't know how. Or there are spirits—either deceased loved ones or spirit guides—that you need to connect with. Or perhaps a power animal or other guide has something to share with you. Whichever of those options sounds most right to you, you can no longer allow the distance between you and this being to grow. It's time to make the connection.
If you're like me, you can think of a number of options. I could use to connect with and strengthen relationships with my spirit guides. I would like to have contact with loved ones who have passed over. For me, I don't know that there's anyone in this realm that would qualify. But if you're estranged from someone who's alive and don't know how to find your way back to them, then that's a situation that would apply here, too.
The interesting thing is that I've had some odd happenings lately in my house...sounds. Sounds that sound like someone is in this house, when they're not. All kinds of stuff could be responsible for that, but I've lived here for 13 years, so I know what's what. Some of these sounds are borderline curious and some are just plain freaky.
Like the knocking at the window. It's usually just three raps and sounds just like someone's knocking at the window. It often wakes me in the morning. I've got a woodpecker that hangs out in the trees around my house, so I blame it on him. But, honestly, it sounds like knuckles on window. The other morning it happened and I know I wasn't the only one who heard it because all the dogs popped up their heads. But none of them barked or seemed to pay attention to it once it had happened. And it wasn't just one set of three raps, it was three sets of three raps coming from a window that is out of reach for humans.
So that makes me think. Is someone trying to get my attention. And if so, what can I do? What can any of us do when we're not familiar with the foggy meeting places between worlds?
We can start by getting very quiet in a place with no distractions. We can imagine a white light of protection around us. We can ask who is there for us. And we can listen for an answer. The answer (or images) will likely come to us in our head, instead of being audible to our ears or visible to our eyes. So we have to trust that what pops into our head is real.
Another thing you can do is invite the spirit into your dreamtime (invite "only the highest and best" spirits) and affirm that you will remember your dreams upon waking. Or you can go to a medium. It's possible that the person or spirit you'll hear from is not the one you expect to hear from, so keep your mind open.
The position this card is in—What is Hidden—could suggest that whoever this is, they could hold some key information for you. Which is why they're trying to connect with you. And if the prospect of that isn't too scary, now is the time to answer the call.
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