Systems and Pandemonium: Letting Go, Moving on (Part I)

So who is this guy? And what’s he so puffed up about?

The word hierophant is a combination of the Greek “hieros,” which means sacred, and “phainen,” which is to “reveal” or shed light upon. While some relate this card to oracles and spiritual guidance, I happen to take another tack.

The Hierophant is a man of traditional institutions, an icon of sorts. He speaks of law, conformity, and playing by the rules and systems within our social norms. At best he is a kind Rabbi, as in the Tarot of Prague, below. At worst he signifies large institutions, big business, and the pedantic inflexibility of the die-hard traditionalist.


So why do you care?

He’s here to remind us to put all our little ducks in a row, so that we may move on to bigger and better.
This is the year to do your taxes now.
No, not in April. Now!

Get stuff like that out of the way. Pay your parking tickets. Get your budget in order. Make sure your insurance is up to date.

Sometimes I refer to this card as “takin’ care of business.”
So do it already!
Take care of your business. Make (and keep) the necessary appointments. File your papers. Renew your licenses. Take care of your yearly medical check-ups. Go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned. Organize your house and clean out your garage (if it isn’t buried in snow, and if it is I'm sure you have a basement that could use some cleaning).


Learn how to work through necessary systems like the IRS and the DMV in a positive way. If you’re like me and it doesn’t work to mention things like the IRS or the DMV and “positive” in the same sentence, it still needs to be done. Just muster up the determination and get these tasks finished.

Remember there is nothing wrong with learning to work within a system, it is only when the system controls you that it begins to become a problem. And if one allows one's valid frustrations with a system to prevent things like payments and doctor’s visits, one is being controlled by it.


This may not be the easiest time of year to get all this blather out of the way. It may actually be markedly more annoying or frustrating. But a few months later, you will be so incredibly relieved that you did.
Be realistic. Persevere.
Get stuff done now when the days are short and the weather’s cold so that when the nights are long and warm you can spend them outside, playing.


Next:Part II – Pandemonium, what?

Images:
1. Tarot of Prague: http://www.tarotofprague.com/
2. Rider-Waite Tarot: everywhere
3. Marilyn Manson's 10 card tarot experiment that got lost in some liner notes.
4. The Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery: http://thealchemicalegg.com/Tarot.html
5. Heather Marie Kosur's Tarot: http://www.rockpicklepublishing.com/images/tarot.html

Making Friends with the Tower

It's the new year, right?
Let's move out, move forward, move up and move on.

Uhh, except one thing. Just like a body of water disturbed by the motion of a storm, the kind of activity left over from last year is not going to just settle.

It's time to move forward. Yet there's a deep-seated chaos left over from the various upheavals of the last 6-12 months.

2009 was a year of challenge for many. It was a year that demanded motion, whether that be evolution or devolution. It was a time for rattled foundations. The Tower expresses all of this perfectly.



The basic archetype of this card is a tower falling due to its faulty foundations. This expresses the fallibility of a status quo that can no longer support the current situation. Although the Tower connotes a time of upheaval, it is a necessary process which allows us to refine and strengthen our base.

Just as this card was used as a visual expression of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, it is also incredibly applicable in regards to the earthquake in Haiti. Although this card does not always denote massive destruction, the tumbling down of certain basic assumptions that can no longer support a society or a person come to the forefront.

This card is a reflection of a crisis and chaos.
It is unsettling.
It must be unsettling, otherwise we can not properly resettle ourselves upon foundations that lack the corruption and false assumption that caused the tower to fall in the first place.

And the positive side of the Tower, you ask?
Well, beyond the long-term goal of rebuilding a foundation that reeks of awareness and integrity, there is a hint on the card itself.

The lightning bolt hitting the top of the tower reminds us that by allowing the failings in the status quo to crumble away, while keeping our eyes open to the process, we are now able to see things clearly.

There were things hidden by the 'old way' of understanding. There is a greater clarity now.

You may not like what you are seeing, but you can now see clearly, in the lucid light of understanding. Like that flash of lightning, new understanding, clarity, and the ability to see through previously accepted illusions, are the gifts that come with the Tower.

With chaos comes swift change.
With crisis comes revelation.
With ruin comes transformation.

This is a great week to spend time really focusing on what it is you want to manifest in 2010. Now that many accepted foundations have fallen, now that new insight is rampant and there for the taking, now that epiphanies are rife in the chaotic air of this late January, use your time and energy to refine and better construct the scaffolding around your best and biggest dreams.

It won't be easy.
It will actually be an incredible amount of work.
It will be worth it.

From Helplessness to Courage to Participation

Feeling helpless, anyone?

This post is an attempt to process the feelings and reactions created by one of the most horrific disasters we have witnessed.

This is no easy fix. There is no easy fix. Disasters have occurred, are occurring, and will so continue.

The best we can do attempt to work on a level of active awareness and remain fully engaged.

Talk. Read. Write. Create. Communicate. Give. Give. Give.

Give and be thankful that you are in a position to give.

Give your tangible resources.

Then give your intangible resources.

I stood outside in the rain the other night at sunset. Looking out over the uncommonly white-capped, southern bay, I pressed my palms in a traditional prayer mudra and sent every bit of love, light, energy, hope, and serenity that I could in the direction of a destroyed country.

Namaste.

Namaste.

Remember, when we give we empty ourselves and become even more full then we were before, all while filling the cups of others.

On Monday I was reminded of what Courage is.

MLK had enough courage that, even while enmeshed a society that denigrated, hated, dehumanized, and regularly killed people of his race, he created one of the finest social movements in the history of the United States. Instead of feeling resentful, bitter, cynical, and helpless, he used his voice, his mind, and his energy to bring about a change that needed to come.

Just as the seed that sprouted the flora above was safe in its husk, so too could MLK have remained.

But he chose not to stay safe.

He chose the Herculean task of proper growth and proper action, even with all of its dangers.

He paired his immense Courage with Participation.

Participation (above) is a mandala created by four figures, each with their left hand in a posture of “receiving” and their right in a posture of “giving.” It forms a “double dorje,” a Tibetan symbol that refers to “a thunderbolt” of enlightenment, derived from the cultivation of a compassion that manifests itself not merely in feeling, but in action that is in perfect harmony with current circumstances.

Each figure in this circle is bringing their own, individual “contribution” to the whole by participating.

Do you see the flower in each card?

Do you see how they echo and resonate within each other?

Can you see how the “wholeness” of Participation begins deep within our reservoirs of Courage?

Can you see how unity and individuality complement each other as they from a whole and yet highlight the beauty of their distinct members?

“ You have an opportunity to participate with others now to make your contribution to creating something greater and more beautiful than each of you could manage alone. Your participation will not only nourish you, but will also contribute something precious to the whole”

The Osho Zen Tarot, “Participation”

“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You see, Harold, I feel that much of the world's sorrow comes from people who are this [she points to a daisy], yet allow themselves be treated as that

[she gestures to a field of daisies].”

--Maude, “Harold and Maude”

Thanks again to the lovely Osho Zen Tarot published by St. Martin's Press.

To Give: http://blog.mgive.com/2010/01/13/mgive-asks-you-to-text-haiti-to-90999-to-give-10-to-red-cross/

An artist's experiences in Haiti: http://elizabethbriel.com/blog/http:/elizabethbriel.com/haiti-art-from-the-rubble-%E2%80%93-part-2/

Challenging the Inevitable: Morality, Awareness, and Integration

As we search out our own, individual paths in life there are certain inevitabilities. When we begin to think for ourselves, it is inevitable that we will be challenged.

Remember, this is a good thing, as it leads us to reconsider our stances and evolve our awareness into something more expansive, inclusive, and well thought out.

When it comes to using tarot cards as an archetypal mirror for my own and others' self-expression there are also inevitable reactions. One involves the "Oh what a fruity weirdo!" and "Where's your crystal ball?" reaction. The other bases itself on the unfortunate premise that the tarot is evil and somehow anti-god. I accept and actually embrace both of these, as I have had these reactions myself, and they remind me, as a mirror does, of my personal growth over these past 34 years.

The card above is Morality from the Osho deck. It warns us of the dichotomy of a rigid morality, one that works as restriction instead of expansion, and reacts with criticism instead of curiosity and a quest for knowledge.

We all grow up with a certain form of morality. It helps the young, developing mind delve into the meanings of right and wrong, and allows us a foundation for future decision making.

Morality is the consequence of our conditioning. This becomes vivid for those of us lucky enough to travel and spend time in a utterly, foreign culture. As we would not judge another culture's dress and traditional customs according to our 'upbringing,' so we must temper Morality with Awareness.

When Morality, applied to ourselves or others, hampers our ability to learn about other traditions and beliefs without simply seeing them as either sinful or virtuous, we lose our innate ability to experience the multi-faceted beauty of the world. Morality is seeing the world through a certain lens.

Awareness (the card below) is taking off the glasses, or 'shades,' that we wear and attempting to see the world through our own eyes.

Although this is not an easy quest, we each have to find our own truth in this world. We must each write and claim our own history. We must create a tradition of our own, one that suits us individually, and is based on a knowledge of and respect for our predecessors' attempts.

Unfortunately many people can only understand their truth only by pointing out what they do not agree with in another person's. This is not awareness. Awareness allows us to pull the veil of illusion from our eyes. Beneath it we see a buddha with the face of a child.

A friend of mine has been posting the incredible things that come out of his son's mouths. They are 'incredible' because children are blessed with an unbiased and curious awareness. They see things without the lens of dichotomy distoring their vision into the segmentation of either/or.

 

As we each strive for Awareness again, later in life, we find that we have become segmented. We have become divided into strange little boxes of good and bad, of work and life and home and all the bullshit and memory and experience in-between. It is then that we may sit with our Awareness and Integrate our experiences and knowledge with our understanding of truth.

Integration (the card directly above) symbolizes the perfect equilibrium of the "middle path" in Buddhist philosophy. It is the unification of everything that was once perceived as oppositional. It is a blossoming awareness that allows one to see that each half of the assumed dichotomy is not a division but is merely an expression of true wholeness. Through Integration we understand that shadow is only seen with light and that light is only seen with shadow. Integration allows us to move past the limitations of dichotomy and Morality, through our Awareness. Joseph Campbell's writings on religious traditions across cultures and times are excellent examples of integrative thought.

Integration played a huge part in my experience of the holiday season this year as I struggled with my annual alchemy of Jewish, Buddhist, Pagan, and Christian traditions. After reading posts and articles rife with conflict and negativity, like children fighting over presents under the tree, I found my own truth and my own tradition.

For me it was the simple realization that we all light our candles. We may give them different names but whether they are in a Menorah or an Advent wreath, whether they are arranged according the ancient Pagan customs or the newly renovated Kwanza traditions, we all light our candles. We all yearn for warmth, light, and the connectedness of family and community during those long December nights.

So how can you embrace your experience with Morality?

How do you find and exist within that place of lucid Awareness?

And how can you Integrate everything in this plenum-world with your own experience and come to the enlightenment of union over segmentation?

I exist as I am, that is enough,

If no other in the world be aware I sit content,

And if each and all be aware I sit content.

                                                  - Walt Whitman "Song of Myself"

The Osho Zen Tarot is based on the teachings of Osho and is published by St. Martin's Press. It's a great deck for your inner Buddhist. I find this deck is utterly amazing for looking deeper into our motivations and a great encouragement for wholeness in times of division.

New Year at the Zero Point

Welcome to a new year and my new spot!

Honestly, I'm waiting 'till the 15th to truly welcome in 2010, as everything still seems to be in quite a state of flux. We're all in that strange, post-holiday limbo. 2009's over and many of us are more grateful than usual to have a new year to look forward to. Yet there's a stillness that comes with this time of the year, whether it's the cold or the feeling of a million false starts. Either way it can feel like, even within our own stillness that we are subtly shaking or shivering.

It is fitting then that working with the Vertical Oracle deck that this card would make itself known.

Reminiscent of T.S. Eliot's "zero summer," this card, the "Zero Point," is a perfect reflection of the uneasy hope many of us feel right now. It symbolizes what sculptors see in unhewn wood and stone. It is the inkling of an idea that comes from the form when it is still formless. It is the empty page with the pen hovering just above it, attempting to suss out the best ideas with the right words.

It is an open time of the year, the cyclic anomaly of starting over again at zero, as the circle made of circles illustrates. Things may be seen clearly through the transparency of the freezing air, unhampered by warmth and moisture.

So the question is, where will you make the first cut in the wood? What is the best way to bring out what you see deep within the marble? How can you manifest your authenticity upon what is currently formless and only exists within its own possibility?

Take this odd, in-between time of the year and use it to make sure that your vision is precisely what you want and not polluted by wrong desires for the wrong things. Sit calmly and entertain your possibilities as if they are visiting children. Listen to your intuition and be aware of your perception. Although it may seem like a long, cold, empty few weeks, it'll be over in a flash and when it is, the "Zero Point" will have us thoughtfully moving in our own proper directions as long as we have managed to make our wishes wisely.

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.

                                                 - T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton"

The Vertical Oracle came to my attention as it's the deck the wonderful Rob Breszney uses in his online astrology readings. It was created by Antero Alli based on images by Sylvie Pickering and is published by Vertical Pool. It's an oracle deck of 52 cards and although it's one of my newest decks, I find that it works well as a "one card draw" to check the general direction, inspiration, and challenges of the day.

Post-Blog Re-Blog

This little space in the deluge of information online has been forgotten for years.
So this year, it's found and re-found and redone.

Check in here, if you will, whenever you will, for my rundown on my experiences with the tarot, writing, and experience itself.
Even if you're not too interested in "that sort of thing," I'll try to keep my writing thoughtful if not competent.

Drop by. Drop off your comments, critiques, appreciations, and any inquiries. Enjoy the reads.
Forgive me for the ads as they are necessary right now and will hopefully go away sooner or later.

Enjoy and namaste.