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.