When I pull a Tarot card for a message or theme for the day, I especially like to use decks with which I am unfamiliar. This way, I can spend time studying fresh images and attributions before my mind slips into the grooves of old understanding.
Yesterday, I picked the Tarot of the Spirit. I was not thrilled when my daily card proved to be the Five of Wind. This is the 5 of Swords in other decks, which often speak to me about mental conflict and biting tongues; in my personal book of Tarot, one of my names for it is "Harpies crapping on your head". In the Tarot of the Spirit, there are the familiar five swords, but they are broken. The background is dark and murky and seems to be crawling with unpleasant things that might become more unpleasant still if you led your imagination dwell on them. The card is tagged "FEAR".
My inner skeptic and my gut instinct both rose up in the presence of this card. Though 5 of Swords issues are always a possibility, I downright refused to believe that Fear would be an issue for the day. I scanned my body, my feelings and my sense of where the day was going. No way.
Wait. I had somehow managed to leave a card in the pack. I shook it out and found the Father of Fire, equivalent to the King of Wands in other decks. He is depicted here as riding to battle on a great black charger with fiery flanks, lance in hand. Now this is a fellow who knows how to tackle fear, with passion and courage and creative flame.
I marked the second card as part of my guidance for the day. In a Tarot reading, as in any other method of divination, it is the slip-ups and "errors" - the cards that fall from the deck or wait in the wings (as in this case) - that let through the pure stream of synchronicity.
I had a radio show booked for later that day, with Gary Goldberg, the cultured and spirited host of "In the Spirit" at WRPI. It was a delightful and highly animated conversation. Halfway into the show, Gary asked me if I would read a passage from my book Active Dreaming. He had already selected the excerpt, and directed me to page 177 of my book.
When I opened Active Dreaming to that page, I felt shivers of recognition as I proceeded to read aloud the title of this section:
Courage is fear conquered by love
The passage continues: "Courageousness is different from fearlessness. If you are fearless, you may be merely crazy or reckless, or lacking in imagination. Courage is the ability to go through fear because you are driven by something that is stronger than fear. Courage is a quality of the heart; you won't find it anywhere else."
My morning Tarot was correct: Fear was a theme for the day. And so was the Father of Fire, riding the wind horse of spirit, with the passion that carries us through fear.
10 comments:
Like a personal prayer:"Father of Fire, give me the strength to meet fear with courage and through courage, Love."
I was filled with fear yesterday, and it still affects me. It´s hard to breath. But I watched a spider outside my window yesterday evening. (I can´t take its beautiful web away, he/she is working so hard, and soon it´s cold again and the spider has to move to the keller or some other place. It´s a white spider with a cross on its back...can we see it as a sign?). I watched those threads of silver, reflected by the streetlamp, against the deep blue sky. The spider was working, spinning new threads, meanding a big hole in its web (spiders have a lot of patience, I thought). Then I realized that a small insect had caused this hole and was trapped. The spider was weaving its way closer to the insect and then everything was done he/she took his/her meal. I thought, the one who has caused the damage, the hole in the spiders web, becomes nourishment for the spider...It´s really a lesson in transformation, I had there.//Marie
And is there not always a little bit of performance anxiety when doing a radio interview, even if you have done hundreds?
My reactions to negative cards are similar to yours, but just as the cards that fall out of the deck are special, so are the ones that elicit the biggest denial.
Mia - I like how you have turned this into a prayer. May it fill you with that fire and courage.
Worldbridger - Only very rarely, certainly not yesterday. One never wants to lose edge, but I have done thousands (not hundreds) of radio shows and "Fear" is not an issue on this level.
Robert, I read later ina a book by a swedish writer (Solöga) that this spider with a cross on its back has the meaning:
"Your gift is to recieve help. Don´t give up, help is on its way." Those words gave me hope, trust.
I used the fireforce inside me, took the bicycle, 20 km in full speed :) It forced me to breath and to exercise is a good tool to transform fear. In the old nordic mythology is sweat a sign of lifeforce, btw.
I so appreciate the synchronicity of it all for you Robert and for me personally these days. This has meaning for me beyond what I can write here. I can say that it appears "reasonable" for me to have some fear regarding the outcome of decisions that will impact my way of life. I can even acknowledge some apprehension. Nevertheless, my overarching decision has been to walk in love, to carry love and to express love. When I asked a Higher Source for help to speak and act out of love I felt a sense of deep peace. These next few days involve some crucial conversations, pivital to final decisions that will be made the end of this year. And the message you posted confirms my desire to speak truthfully in love: ride the wind horse of passion through the fear. This message strengthens me.
Carol - may love and light be with you and guide you in this challenging passage.
Marie/Mia - Riding with that "fireforce" sounds like excellent self-therapy.
Fear is your friend in certain circumstances and your enemy in others. The ability to tell the difference is survival with attitude.
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