9/13/12—Finding Truth in the Gray Areas

Today's Draw: Two of Swords from the Victorian Romantic. Do you believe one presidential candidate is whacked out and the other is reasonable? Do you find yourself using the word "evil" to describe people in your life? What can BJ and Fifty Shades of Gray tell you about how to be in this world?

Day Four of the One Card Challenge and I'm rarin' to go! Since part of my intent for this week was to teach a little about different ways you can read cards, I'm going to do some teachy teachy stuff today, too. 

One of the ways I teach card meanings is to teach all the twos at once, for example. It actually works. There are common lines you can draw and keywords you can reference through each number of the minor arcana which can make remembering card meanings a little easier. And each number 1-10 of the minor arcana (the "pips" as we call them in tarot) corresponds to two, sometimes three major arcana cards. These cards also embody the same basic keywords. 

The majors that correspond to the number 2 are the High Priestess (major arcana 2), Justice (major arcana 11) and Judgment (major arcana 20). The reason these are all twos is because if you reduce their numerical assignations to a single digit, you get two. For example, Justice is card 11 and 1+1=2. 

So yesterday we talked about balance and choice being keywords for the twos. That is clearly seen in the Justice card with the scales of justice and fair reasoning. And it can be seen in Judgment, because the angel is calling your soul to judgment so a choice can be made based on your past experiences. Those are simplistic definitions of those cards, but they work. 

But now to the mother of all twos, the High Priestess. For me, she demonstrates another aspect of the twos...dualism. She is positioned between the dark and light pillars of Solomon's temple, Boaz and Jachin (bet you thought the BJ stood for something else, huh?). All this points to balance. And the High Priestess is the embodiment of the intuitive powers we discussed in yesterday's card. But, to me it also says she stands in that place between black and white. Which is the meaning I want to address in today's entry. 

In both of the Two of Swords cards you've seen, the woman's head is centered between two equal and opposing things...the hands on the Victorian Romantic version and the Swords on the Rider Waite Smith. Somewhere in that intersection between the two extremes is where truth lies. All three of the major arcana cards I've discussed today are focused around truth in different ways...the practical facts of Justice, the spiritual truths of judgement and the intuitive truths of the High Priestess. What all these cards are telling us is that truth lies within shades of gray (cue the jokes about 50 Shades of Gray). 

You see it all the time. Someone is surly and antisocial. So they're a monster, a psychopath, evil incarnate. Or a restaurant has really good pasta, so you've got to go there, everything on the menu is fabulous! We tend to place judgments on people, situations and things based on black and white views of the world. The truth is rarely black or white. The surly person might give of themselves in other ways. And the restaurant might have a really bad cheesesteak. I would like to say "nothing is all good or all bad", but even that statement is an absolute! 

Though I sometimes find myself placing people at things at extremes, it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine. I really don't like the way we demonize some people and deify others. We not only do them a disservice, but we do ourselves one, too. Because we never see the truth. More importantly, though, we put greater distance between ourselves and our god.

A couple of days ago the US commemorated the day when "the evil doers came and attacked our innocent country." That is how many Americans feel. But the thing is, every interaction and every drama we have with someone else reflects something back on us. And when we demonize our opposition and deify ourselves, we hold that reflection away from us, as though it has nothing to do with us. 

Denied in all the violence of that day was a message about the way we're seen in the world. Certainly it was an extreme message and an extreme expression. And I, in no way, excuse what they did or accuse the victims. This isn't about that. It's about how, when we demonize others, we miss the reflection. We say, "that is not me, I am good, they are bad, I am reasonable, they're fanatics." 

The truth is America's not all good. Some of the things the terrorists had to say about our ego focused, money driven society were true. A few blocks away and a few years later, another unfriendly plot was being hatched against our citizens by Wall Street. We may have been taken by surprise by the crash of our economy, but do you think the jihadists were? Of course not. They've been trying to tell us who we are for years. But we didn't listen. Because they're crazy evil doers and we're doers of good. Just ask all the families we've given mosquito nets to in third world countries.

When we say, "all those criticisms are outside of me, they have nothing to do with me, I have no control over their opinions"—when we refuse to listen and see what's being reflected back—we keep the door open for more aggression to happen. When we demonize our detractors, we, in that one simple act, absolve ourselves of responsibility in the dynamic. If god is everywhere and everything, we can't disconnect from others by placing them separate from us. They're not. We are all part of, and a product of, god. We are all of the same stuff, just in slightly different shades of gray with no pure black or white among us.

I don't mean this to be about 9/11 or good and evil, but more to illustrate what we do when we ignore shades of gray. Those men who flew into the towers had families that they loved. They were doing this as part of a holy war in their minds. They were doing this out of devotion to their beliefs.We can debate all day about how screwed up that is, just as we can debate how screwed up America was to enslave men and women based on our beliefs. The fact remains, they were not all bad. And we're not all good. Black and white are only reference points to enable all the gray in between. 

So, in all my story above, we see how the Two of Swords can indicate a mind split into dualistic thinking and show us that our head should rest somewhere in the area between. We can see how the truth lies between those extremes and the role intuition and divine fairness play throughout the twos. And we can also see how black and white thinking is another way of holding others and our god at arm's length. If we're going to evolve and if we're ever going to change the way this crappy world operates, we need to ditch the dualistic thinking that holds our growth at bay and begin to understand ourselves and others in a more divinely intimate way. 

9/12/12—Seeing Within

Today's Draw: Two of Swords from the Victorian Romantic Tarot. Are you on the fence about a decision? Is your indecision driving you batty all throughout the noggin? Is it possible that there's something in the big picture you're failing to see?

For today's look at the Two of Swords, I'm going to use the traditional meaning for the card. Or perhaps I should say one of the traditional meanings for the card. Which means I'm also going to include the traditional image so you can see what I'm talking about. 

Quite different from the one we've looked at the last couple of days, huh? She's blindfolded. And while you would think that would make her more vulnerable, she doesn't seem nearly as vulnerable as she does in the Victorian Romantic's version. For one thing, she's sitting, so she's quite stable. For another, the turbulent skies behind her are gone. And, let's get down to brass tacks. The real reason she looks less vulnerable is because that chick is totally armed to the hilt with those ten-foot-long mammajammas she's holding! :D

Twos in tarot are all about balance and choice. So whatever suit you're in, the twos bring a second thing into the picture that brings balance and a choice. In the cups, it's about meeting your "other half" and choosing love. In pentacles, it's about choosing to balance resources. In wands, it's weighing your options so you can make a balanced decision. And in the swords, it signals two thoughts or ideas, each of which have equal, and sometimes opposing, appeal. 

This is our REAL image of the week.

Somewhere inside you, there's a tie that needs to be broken...a split decision that needs to be resolved. Some consider the blindfold to indicate something you're not seeing. Some consider it an aid in objectivity. Either way, my thought about this version of the card is that all your focus and energy is going into the debate in your head. But there is another factor plastered all over the card that you may be missing—your intuition, represented by both the moon and water. Perhaps that's why she wears the blindfold. To see within. 

Swords is one of the most difficult suits of the tarot because it deals with all that noise inside our heads. Sometimes we get so caught up in strategy and thought and fairness and weighing things that we forget to consult our inner muse. Where does your intuition want you to go? Where are the tides you pulling you personally? Forget about what you *think*. What do you KNOW?

The Two of Swords comes along to reassure us that we have what we need to make the right decision. We just need to make it. But it also tells us that, try as we might to make a decision where everyone wins, swords cut both ways. So if you're holding out for a decision without consequences, you'll be suffering at the edge of life's vast saltwater pond for quite some time. Capice?

6/26/12—Surrendering to Your Inner Knowing

Today's Draw: The Moon from Thea's Tarot. Do you have trouble trusting your intuition? Do you even know which voice up there it is? Given the choice between a gut feeling and logic, which would you choose?

So this week's theme is "how do we create more peace in our lives?" This Moon card brings a simple answer—trust yourself. 

Every human comes with a built-in GPS. We call it our instinct, intuition or inner knowing. Before we can learn to trust its turn-by-turn navigation, however, we must first learn how to hear it. It's that whisper that comes without thinking. It's a sudden idea or inspiration. It's the answer you get before you're done thinking the question. That said, it's also that voice we tend to second-guess with "why am I thinking that?" or "is that my intuition or is it just what I want to hear?" or "is that my knowing or my thinking?". So if you're not sure which voice is which in your head, you'll just have to experiment...go with the flow until you're pretty sure you know which is which. Even then there will probably be times you're confused.

The second thing you need to learn about this GPS is something that's critical to experiencing peace—there are no wrong turns. So whichever way our intuition steers us is the place we need to go. 

Think back on your life. Is there any decision you have ever made that didn't lead you to someplace valuable and necessary to your path? Even if you ended up someplace you felt was a bad place at the time, you survived it and came out of it with the kind of information you needed to keep it from happening again. Assuming you're still alive, whatever the situation was, it could have been worse. And the lesson you learned kept you from having to suffer that worst-case scenario. So if this GPS has never failed you, why do you second-guess it?

If you're anything like me, there have been times in your life when you've allowed others to steer you away from your inner knowing. And then, mostly likely, you've found yourself living someone else's version of who you should be. You took the job that didn't feel right because someone talked you into it. You bought a dress that you don't feel comfortable in because someone said it looked nice. Or you ended up lost on a roadtrip because you had more confidence in someone else's GPS than you have in your own. 

This is the worst kind of betrayal. Because its a betrayal of self. You listened to every voice outside of you before listening to the one within. The same is true even when there are no other voices in the mix—when you hear your intuition telling you to turn right and you turn left anyway. Even if the left turn leads you somewhere safe, you didn't honor the one and only voice on this earth that comes without an agenda, can speak faster than your ego and has only your best intentions at heart.

When you placing the voice of your higher self low on your priority scale, you cannot feel peace. There will always be conflict within...a grumbling between your knowing and your thinking...a lack of alignment between the calling of your higher self and the choices you make. So today's path to peace is paved by listening to that voice within and trusting that it cannot steer you wrong, no matter where it leads you.

5/19/12-5/20/12—Following Your Gut

Weekend Reading: Ace of Wands from the Ghosts & Spirits Tarot by Lisa Hunt. This card speaks about "Will o' the Wisp" or "fool's fire", a mirage of flickering light that is sometimes seen in remote marshy areas. Unsuspecting explorers may be pulled into the marshlands by these flickers, which many believe to be spirit energies who provide clarity and illumination on the one hand, and fear and misdirection on the other...depending on the energies driving the spirits. So this weekend, pause and do a gut check before you become drawn to shiny things. They could very well bear the insights you seek to move your life forward. But they could also lead you astray. Follow your own intuition. And if your intuition leads you toward inspiration that then begins to feel "off", don't be afraid to change directions. Your gut will tell you all you need to know. Follow it first this weekend.

4/26/12—Knowing vs. Thinking

Today's Draw: The Priestess from the Gaian Tarot. Do you give more weight to what you "think" or to what you "know"? What is an example of something you've just "known" that turned out to be true? Where do you stand on the topic of "coincidences" like I've written about below.

The High Priestess in the tarot draws a distinction between "thinking" and "knowing". Thinking is about rationally processing the things you see, hear, touch, taste and smell. Knowing doesn't have to be rational at all. It's the inner processing of things see, hear, touch, taste and smell...along with things you don't see, hear, touch, taste and smell. In a way, though, the High Priestess isn't about the five senses at all. It's about the six sense of intuition that we all have...that sense of knowing in the absence of proof. 

Until I drew this card, I hadn't realized that, in the last 24 hours, I had been carrying on conversations with two of my real-life friends and colleagues. Both of them are mediums. And both of them, in one way or another, gave me the same message. 

One received her message from beyond. It wasn't even meant for me. She sent it in a newsletter to all her peeps. A spirit person came to her and said that he worried about the people he left behind because they still grieved him. And not so much because he was gone, but more because of the pain he endured, the length of time he suffered and all they went through when he was alive. He wanted them to know he was free of that now and that he didn't want them to think of him that way. He wanted them to think of him at peace and the way he was before his illness. 

The other sent me the following poem: 

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there, I did not die!
—Mary Frye (1932)

Over the next couple of days, my family is going to say their final goodbyes to my brother and bury his body. But that's all they'll be burying—a vessel that has ceased to serve. Even without any mystical mumbo jumbo, his spirit will never leave the hearts and minds of those who loved him. But WITH the mystical mumbo jumbo, he's still here. I know it.

I'm a late to bed, late to rise person, so I almost never see any time in the 6AMs. But three times in the past week, I have awakened at exactly 6:50 am. Even though each time I felt oddly refreshed upon awakening, I managed to go back to sleep two of those times. But this morning was different. 

I think most people who knew my brother wouldn't blink at the notion that, if he were to return in spirit, he would, at least, be a little mischievous and, more likely, a full-on pain in the arse as he tested the limits of this new-found "power" of his. He was never really a practical joker, so much as he was a joker. And a poker. 

So, anyway, this morning at 6:50 am, my smoke detector buzzed. Then it buzzed again a minute later. Then it buzzed again. Figuring this would continue at intervals throughout the day, I just got up and changed the darned batteries. Then I started my day, got all my deadlines done and had time to take a nap before writing this and going out to do family obligations. 

The rational "thinking" mind says the batteries were dying because I'm a bad homeowner and the batteries died and it was just a coincidence that it happened on this day at 6:50am. Truth is, I was supposed to change them at "spring forward" and didn't. I won't deny that.

The High Priestess tells me that it's no coincidence at all, however. Just as it's no coincidence that there were 6 of us and now there are 5 and I've woken up at 6:50 three times in the past week. I smoked cigarettes for 26 years and even now, nine years quit, I'm still extra careful around candles and incense and whatnot, based on the paranoia I developed from the threat of poorly extinguished butts. My brother was a smoker who died of lung cancer. And it was the smoke detector that went off. 

One of my medium friends said she has many clients who wake up at the same time every night. And spirits have told her that it's them and that the person is awakened by the changing energy in the room. Of course there are more rational explanations for this, I'm sure. But I "know" different. And I'm pretty sure I can hear my brother laughing his ass off about the smoke detector in heaven as we speak.

3/16/12-3/18/12—Letting Intuition Be Your Guide

Weekend Reading: The High Priestess from the Evolution of Becoming, a Photo-Based Tarot Journey by Michelle Kelly. Here, the High Priestess peers behind the veil of what is seen or perceived by humans and peers into the light of truth. Hers is a world of instinct and intuition, not of reason and thought. She doesn't question her ability to interact with spirit, nor does she question her worthiness. She just "knows". This weekend, she wants you to look beyond appearances by looking inside, to your inner knowing. We've all been in situations where everything looked on the up-and-up, but something inside told us to walk away. And we stayed anyway. This weekend, listen to that voice. 

And if you've been resonating with the messages we've been getting all week, let your intuition guide you there, too. We're so used to taking our cues from the people and events in our lives that's it's hard to even pinpoint and isolate the cues that come from within. But start listening anyway, even if you're not sure you're doing it right. Soon your path will be lighting up before you without even trying.

Today's card was chosen by the artist.

 

This beautiful Majors-only deck is still a work in progress and is currently in the funding phase at Kickstarter. You can fund this project, see more of the cards and secure a future copy of the deck here.

Michelle Kelly is a WV-based commercial photographer. You can view her portfolio here.