Justice is found where wisdom, reason, tolerance, and compassion all intersect
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Showing posts with label compassion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label compassion. Show all posts
03 February 2013
23 October 2012
Today's Tarot - 10 of Cups
When your roots reach deep, they can reach past fear and anger to find more compassionate, nourishing things.
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14 August 2012
Today's Tarot - The Lovers
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06 August 2012
Today's Tarot - The World
For some reason today, to me, it seems more associated with "fullness of experience"...letting the outer world into your inner world of thought and consciousness.
This idea is a bit inspired by a conversation with my sister-in-law who is really remarkable in how open she is to talking with people, and listening to them. She really is generous with her friends, family and clients that way.
It is a lesson she and "The World" card can teach us. Spending a lifetime wrapped up in ourselves is like living life in a voluntary prison. We miss so many opportunities to help others, and to be inspired by others in those times we are feeling lost or low in energy. This is what Buddhists refer to as "mindfulness". It is putting your full attention to the right-here, and right-now.
It is a low-risk thing to do. At worst, you just observe. Engage the situation by observing it at face value. Then it is your choice if/when/how you act or engage further. If you do, you will be engaging mindfully, compassionately. At best mindfulness will feed your soul and make this moment a full, experienced-to-the-max moment.
Wishing you a full and happy experience of your world, right here, right now.
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06 June 2012
Daily Meditation Tarot Reading - 5 of Cups
11 February 2012
I'm Glad You Were Born
It's not often you get real insight watching the news, but it can happen.
I'm a fan of the Rachel Maddow Show - no secret about that.
What I saw on a recent broadcast was even more heartening than usual. It reminded me a little bit of the 3 of Cups tarot card.
There was a clip from the conservative CPAC or some such thing where a man essentially said he wished Dr. Maddow had never been born. His face was hard and his voice dripping with hate and bigotry, obviously making no attempt to even be civil.
I'm sorry that I forget the name of the lady who followed that clip. Her response was perfect. She told Dr. Maddow "I'm glad you were born."
Even outside of the context of the situation, what a beautiful, compassionate wonderful thing to say! What a lovely, succinct celebration of life and our fellow man! Born not of religion, or doctrine or political policy...it was a spontaneous remark, meeting hatred with happiness.
It put the whole news cycle into perspective. Instead of hating, and whining, and wanting special privileges for a certain point of view, why can't we just be glad we, and each, other was born? At least we are here to have the argument. Better still, we are here to get past it.
I'm glad you were born,
02 January 2012
Tarot "Predictions" 2012
Remember those 'fortune tellers' that kids fold out of paper? That's about the level this is at...just tongue in cheek fun...on one hand. On the other, if we collectively stop and think, if we collectively choose more wisely, then together we can create a better future, no matter what psychics "predict" here at the new year. Yet it is a fun game we all play at this time of year.
As you know from the lack of posts lately, I've been on blogcation from cyberspace. I haven't read any of my favorite blogs or other yearly predictions. I did see a tweet from one of my favorite mediums and astrologers....Joy Star....that she has posted her predictions with a particular eye toward numerology and astrology. Numerology and astrology are not my strong points, so if you are any smidge interested in those things please feel free to check out www.psychicjoystar.wordpress.com
For me, its all tarot. What I'll do is what I call my "four seasons" reading. Each of 4 cards represents each of the upcoming four seasons to give a look ahead at the coming year. It can start at any time of year...it doesn't have to be at New Years.
Shameless self promotion: If you want a four seasons reading personalized just for you, send your name, age, questions and "four seasons 2012" in an e-mail to ereadings@modern-oracle-tarot.com. No appointment needed...available by e-mail only. You'll be invoiced a low total $20 for the reading via PayPal for your privacy and security. I never see your private information other than your email....and you have the reassurance of using a nationally known, secure way to pay. I'm an "identity verified" vendor with them, so you can order with confidence.
Now that the business is done, back to the fun. This reading with be done with the idea that it will apply globally, but keep in mind I'm an east coast American, so I probably will be a bit more dialed into the path and energy here in the U.S.A. But keeping as wide of a focus as possible, as I shuffled the cards, the question in mind was "show me truth for 2012".
Being at the beginning of winter, the first card will relate to winter...now through roughly mid-March or early April. The winter card is the 9 of wands. This has to do with acceptance. I always remind everyone when this card turns up, that there is a difference between "acceptance" and "acquiescence". It is the difference between taking a pragmatic, realistic approach to what is happening and giving up, giving in, blaming others and hiding from the truth.
Wands have to do with our inner, individual journey and personal growth.
When I apply the 9 of wands to a general, collective look...my mind is drawn immediately to American politics...to politics of any democracy. Wands is internal, individual...the nine is accepting the reality of things-as-they-are. The message here is for each individual to trust their own evaluation of reality, of things as they are here and now...DISREGARDING THE PROPAGANDA AND "MAINSTREAM PARTY LINE". Trust your own evaluation of the situation, accept it is what it is, not necessarily what you want it to be...and then act and vote accordingly.
Here is where my personal bias shines bright...Republicans have been lying through their teeth and out their backside...look at the facts, look at the data, accept the reality of things as they actually have happened over the past 10-12 years. See and accept reality...not the story and spin. Whether it matches your hoped-for reality or not. In spite of any get-Obama sentiment you might have, look at the historical facts and numbers.
This card is encouraging all of us to ACCEPT THE FACTS of our situation and deal with it pragmatically in a realistic, practical sort of way over the next several months, at least.
SPRING, March through May basically has drawn the "Wheel" card. The sense I have of this card is twofold...first that things will change because of the pragmatism of the winter season....we collectively take that cold, hard look at the way things are, and begin to act, feel and believe differently because of that. The other is the momentum caused because of that...first we 'hike up our skirts' and MAKE things better, then further change is brought about because of that initial action causing a chain-reaction of optimism. Things finally start to change for the better and we get a collective glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel...the tunnel being both the economic concerns that have been going on since 2008...and in general spirit, spiritual growth, a sort of brightening of the collective spiritual consciousness as we shake ourselves free of the propaganda and mental shackles . The phrase "THE AGE OF THE FREETHINKERS BEGINS" comes to mind. I deeply hope this is true. It is my wish that all people be free from suffering, both physical problems and mental / emotional oppression.
Summer is the Tower card. It generally means chaos, but the feeling with this card continues in the mental - internal- philosophical - perception tone set by the first wands card. I don't see it as any sort of uprising or physical chaos. My sense of it is more an upset of the old guard of thinking, rather than outright war and conflict. The idea of the occupation of Iraq finally ending, and the potential for drawdowns inAfghanistan begin to take root in the world psyche, and peace again becomes at least a viable IDEA. This throws the old-school 'war hawks' off their guard. The shift toward peaceful freethinking make those with the fundamentalist mindset feel like the world is in chaos, or even coming to an end. 2012 isn't the end of the world...it is the beginning of the end of certain ways of looking at the world. "NEW AGE" comes to mind...not so much the 'woo woo' spirituality we know from the 70s and 80s, but a true new age, another renaissance that to some is the beginning of something wonderful...to others, it seems chaos, mayhem, disaster.
Either way, spring and summer are dynamic, energetic, full of change. The tower card reminds us that when things seem chaotic, and when we feel like we have lost our bearings in an unpredictable, changing, chaotic world...perspective is the solution. Climb the tower, get the overview...FIND THE BIG PICTURE TO FIND THE SOLUTION. This will be the lesson and tenor of the summer.
Fall is calmer...the Page of Cups. It has to do with reconciling old thoughts, with the new thoughts, and finding balance. It has to do with soothing the chaos that change has brought over the spring and summer. There is still a thread of the reality-pragmatic approach. This card has to do with "dealing with demons"...we pay for past mistakes, but that allows us to let them go and move on. Political chickens come home to roost in U.S. elections. Those who believe in the 'end of the world' notions become nostalgic, think of what they might loose....a "bucket list" mentality for some, bittersweet nostalgia for others. For the newly freed freethinkers, there is greater compassion for those on different paths. Maybe a little more unity as we move past the elections and move into the next holiday season.
Moving away from the cards to general impressions: Still politically-minded, I get the mental image of a U.S. map, no state lines, just the national outline, filling with blue from the west to mid-west, some in the northeast, but the southeast being white, not red as is usual with the news graphics. When I look at that white, southeast region I get the words "empty" "crumbling" "old".
I see buttercups...and feel it is related to spring. Yellow, golden tones...often associated with wealth and money luck, but flowers may have more to do with spiritual renewal than physical wealth.
There is a feeling of quiet strength. Growing calm after the summer. Calm knowing, with a tinge of "I told you so".
I can't say for sure, but when I turn my mind to the natural world...it feels quiet. There is a sense of waiting and listening, as if Earth is waiting to see if we will act to heal, or continue to be mindlessly destructive. It is my wish that we all act to be ecologically responsible....green green greenie green green...it is the path to life for Nature and humans alike. As the children who have been raised to be more ecologically aware over the past decade or so come of age, ecological protection, renewable energy, green jobs becomes easier, more natural, presumed, matter of course...not the hair tearing debate that some have made it out to be in the past....again that idea of the old guard falling into chaos, while a calmer, more pragmatic, truth-seeing, spiritual (not dogmatic or religious) generation comes forward.
It is the end of the world...for those who hate. May it be so.
Feels like a quiet year externally...with much energy internally, with change and chaos in the individual and the collective psyche more than anything.
Was watching the Rose parade earlier I think their theme captures the tone and direction of 2012 perfectly...Imagine.
What we imagine, hope and work for can be made manifest, if we stay focused on our better and compassionate nature. That is where the "zone" will be. Those that hold on to the past, embrace divisive, or bigoted ideas are in for a rough year, with questioning and doubt and chaos as old followers awaken to a new way.
Imagine a better place, and act to make it true. Deal with the old demons so they can be let go to make room for a kinder way of thinking.
May this truly be the year that the world of hate, division, bigotry, and violence comes to an end. There is a world of truth and compassion waiting to take its place.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, abundant, magical, imagination filled new year!
23 September 2011
Today's Tarot - 5 of Coins
5 of Coins: Compassion is the ultimate standard by which to measure any decision.
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09 September 2011
When I was drawing today's card, the news was playing in the background, naturally saturated in 9-11 remembrance.
I have mixed emotion about the whole topic of 9-11. On one hand, I feel for those specific bereaved families, and would not want to inflict any further upset onto them. I believe the love they shared with the family and friends they lost transcends time. Any act of remembrance is an act of love, from one person to another.
It is appropriate that we all show support for them.
On the other hand, as a total population, the vast majority of us did not lose someone close to us that day. As a percentage of the population, the injuries and casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan has caused more total impact then the events of 9-11. With all due respect, sympathy and compassion to individual tragedy, as a nation, as a whole, we are at a crossroads. We need to get over ourselves. For those of us not directly involved, there is a point where we turn their personal tragedy into a national wallowing in hyper-emotionality and self-pity. That, to my mind, is an insult to their losses and an insult to the memory of those lost. It is time for us, as a whole, to take a new direction or risk stagnation and darkness. It is time for us to honor those people and those events through courage instead of fear, peace instead of war, compassion instead of intolerance.
For some unknown reason, the last post about the Sun card has been popular. Given the historic context of this weekend, I'm not surprised that the Sun came up again today (all pun intended).
The sun is a symbol of LIFE, of LIGHT, of stability...
When 9-11 happened we could have chosen to react differently. Instead we collectively chose to be afraid, to be angry, to go to war, to villify those who protested the wars as 'unpatriotic', to spy on ourselves, to torture. We chose a world of pat downs and misnomered 'patriot' acts. Some even chose to use innocent military funerals as a means of expressing hate. Sure many, many individuals have acted with courage, vision,even selflessness...like the military, first-responders, NYFD, NYPD....heck, New Yorkers in general. But the national sway, in hindsight, was the opposite.
George Lucas was absolutely right when he wrote that fear and anger leads to the dark side.
Now, at the tenth anniversary, we arrive at a new crossroads. Yes, we should remember those lost...but maybe a kind thought for those lost to hatred world-wide might be order too. In my opinion, the best way to honor those lost is to live with compassion and courage.
Not live stupidly...reasonable safegaurds are, well, reasonable. Not live with war, fear and bigotry. Live with a compassion and courage that would make lost loved ones proud and make war-mongers quake. Down that path we might find the stability so craved since that day ten years ago.
Deep in the human brain, there is a cell cluster of special cells called the amygdala. If I'm understanding correctly, it has to do with dealing with emotions, conditioned fear responses...the pavlov's dogs kind of thing.
Perhaps it is time to reach deep within ourselves and reawaken our national amygdala, to learn to get over our fears, get over ourselves, to stop wallowing in self-pity over what happened. It is a time to choose a path of light instead of a path of darkness. It is time to shake of the dust of "ground zero", put aside fear and anger. If we remember and commemorate by way of compassion and courage, then the sun rises again over the world trade center.
06 July 2011
Today's Tarot - Queen of Wands
Nurturing means giving what is really needed, not trying to impose our desired result. It is an act of compassion.
20 May 2011
Thank you rapture people
Richard Bach famously said that "there is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands"
I'm not saying that this end-of-the-world on May 21 thing is a problem for anyone except the poor people who actually believe it. Come tomorrow night, Sunday morning at the latest, they are going to have some reality to check and some rationalizing to do. It would be mildly interesting to be a fly on the wall to see how they 'splain things when everybody is still here. How they can justify the money they've spent on billboards and the like....especially when there are so many other, kinder, more compassionate, more christ-like ways to spend that money. So yeah, it might be a bit of a problem for the people who were advertising, promoting and proselytizing the event, although I suspect they will have some rapid, shallow not-reality-based, god-and-bible excuse for why they were wrong. I kind of feel sorry for them...nobody likes being wrong. Nobody likes to see well-intentioned people being taken in by shysters. And the whole rapture thing, as whole, specific date or no, is taken seriously by a lot of well meaning people. I wonder if this will prompt any of them to think about religion, evaluate what they believe, make some conscious choices. If that happens, then the pseudo-end-of-the-world will have done some good. It doesn't matter what religion they choose, or don't choose: it is the thought and choosing that really matters. It's making a choice, not the final decision.
On the up side, though, it has given the rest of us a much-needed chuckle. Don't worry about mowing the grass, forget the diet, it the end of the world as we know and we feel fine. BYE after-rapture "parties"...(bring your own everything, including venue) are springing up at least in social media form. That alone is a good thing for the smile it brings.
If nothing else, the rapture people, deluded, mislead, manipulated and taken advantage of as they may be...the whole thing has reminded us to enjoy life a little. It shows us a little appreciation for value of a little hedonism...a little appreciation for the simple pleasures. I mean, what would you do if today was your last day on earth?
If anything this rapture nonsense is a reminder to live and love here and now...you know like the taoists and buddhists say all along...but that is just me. That is the lens through which I view life. It's a custom prescription lens...as is everyone's life lens.
Let's take a peek through their life lens for a minute. If the end was neigh...what would you do...what beauty would you behold. No time for travel...what from your life right there, right now would you miss if it were gone? What would you savor and remember and want to take with you to the pearly gates?
Apparently I'm more Pink than pearly...so I'll be raising a glass and celebrating my freedom from christian dogma...and being a little more patient with the kids, and giving my husband an extra kiss and plenty of "I love you"s all around. Bring it on...see you at the after-rapture party!
Like U2 famously said..."It's a beautiful day"
Baihu
21 March 2011
When psychics fail
n my experience, there are no magic bullets.
It seems like a huge paradox. All things are one, all things are a part of the greater cosmos. Yet, at the same time, there are no panaceas, no one person or philosophy that has all the answers.
I like to think of it like a diamond...all things are one. A diamond is interconnected at the deepest atomic level, a carbon lattice. But to understand it, to see and appreciate its deepest beauty, we humans carve it into smaller shapes we can handle...we put facets on the diamond. No one facet, no one point of view, understandable though it may be, gives us the full beauty of the diamond. Only by seeing it from different angles, seeing the play of light through the angles...only then we see how beautiful the crystal is.
The same is true of psychics and intuition. It works well...a lot. I know from direct, first hand experience that intuition and spirituality helps to deal with crisis and intense emotion.
I know, from direct personal experience that it doesn't cover everything. Sometimes life demands practicality, logic, and just plain hard work. Sometimes a "cigar is just a cigar" as Freud said.
Sometimes, something happens that is so large that it defies both sides of our brains, and our hearts besides.
And so it seems with the Japanese catastrophe. It tugs on our heartstrings longer than most sad news that we aren't personally involved with. The individual tragedies that touch us individually and personally are another matter. The science explains what happened and, on one level, why.
Religion, spirituality, intuition, flounder in the face of it all. The reason why terrible things happen to good people is a timeless, seemingly unanswerable question.
Sometimes psychics fail. Sometimes all our platitudes and spiritual principles fall mute and worthless in the face of pure dumb bad luck. Science can explain it, but does nothing to touch the heartbreak.
Sometimes, it seems, we are left with nothing but silent compassion. No facet on the diamond can explain or eradicate what happened. No one facet makes sense of it all.
Psychics don't have all the answers, no on does. If there is anything close to a magic bullet, it is simple compassion...a willingness to do what one can, and that being done, to send a healing intent and thoughts of healing light to site of tragedy, in this case to the land where Reiki was born.
Sending my condolences...
16 March 2011
Daily meditation - Justice - 16 March 2011
Interesting progression to have Justice right after the Pope like that. I shuffle the cards and draw one at random right as I sit down to write these daily meditations, so I think these kinds of progressions and connections can be significant, just like in any larger reading.
The traditional meaning of Justice is "wisdom". This also speaks to an inner moral compass, and individualized compassion rather than sweeping dogma and ideology.
My mind is drawn to a story I heard once about Confucius. Two of his students asked him similar questions about applying what they had learned from Confucius. One student he told to go apply what he'd learned right away, don't wait. The other he told to think about it, talk it over with his family, and be very sure of it before applying what he'd learned. A third student heard both answers and asked Confucius why he gave two seemingly opposite answers to the same question. The teacher answered that it was what the students needed...one was very shy, and reticent by nature, and needed encouraged to act, while the other was rash and impulsive by nature and still needed to learn some restraint.
That is the kind of wisdom and adaptation the Justice card suggests.
When the Justice card comes along in a reading, I think of the words I heard from a psychic and teacher, Sallie Christensen, nearly 20 years ago now..."the highest and best for all concerned". Yes, we must have compassion for ourselves, but there are times where wisdom, and concern for all are the over-riding factor.
Wishing you a day of peace, wisdom and justice.
Baihu
04 March 2011
Daily meditation - Major arcana Death card - 4 March 2011
Each day, yesterday dies. Each day, we are reborn with a chance to do things differently, more compassionately. Each day we are given the chance to plant the seeds for tomorrow.
"All changes, even the most longed for, require that we die to one life before we can [be]born into another"...tweeted by @Joy_Star
22 December 2010
Wonderful Life
20 December 2010
The Wheel - Arcana in Balance series
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It seems odd to talk about change in a time of tradition like this.
Yet it fits. Nothing is as inevitable and inexorable as change. It is more fundamental to the universe than any holiday tradition. It is the universe, it is life.
Here in the winter holidays, we celebrate life. We celebrate the light of human life, and enlightenment, love, compassion and all that light represents. Light is a symbol integral to life. Light, is in a fundamental way, essential to life. No light, no crops, no food, no life.
Change is just as essential. Ironically, it is the most feared essential thing.
If things are good we fear loosing it. If things are bad, we fear it won't change.
Change, the essential element of the Wheel card is essential to life. If there is no change there is no growth. If things don't decay or change, there is no room for the new.
Change is hope. Change is a new start when we need it. Change can be for the better.
The Wheel card, though, captures one very comforting element of change. It can happen in different increments.
At the axel of a wheel, it changes little at all, change is the wheel hub around the axel. At the hub, and spokes near the hub, the arc of movement is smaller than at the rim, where the circumference is largest.
This gives us a model to deal with change with courage.
Keep the treasures on the inside. Through tradition, memory, love, priorities, appreciation - we can keep the times and people we treasure most with us, closest to heart.
The things that need changed, that need refreshment, renewal can me moved to the rim, for the biggest trip around the wheel: the most change.
It's all relative. From any point of view, a spinning wheel is always half moving up and half moving down. Whether a certain change is good or bad depends on which direction you are watching the wheel at a given moment.
In this time of tradition, may your circle of friends, family and loved ones be near. In this time of tradition may the hub or your wheel be strong, with all the mud and negativity thrown off as we spin toward the new year.
06 December 2010
Portal
Someone once asked "how are you going to spend eternity"
"Eternity" includes all time...the infinite past, and the infinite future. Even the short time of the recent past, enlivened by memory alone, is less than an eyeblink in eternity.
NOW is our only portal to eternity. The only time we experience directly is right here, right now. By making the moment the best I can, I spend eternity content and happy.
22 July 2010
Rule of threes
Act and speak from a place of honesty and compassion, then you can trust that when things come back to you threefold, it will be ok in the end.
15 July 2010
9 of wands
9 of wands: Accepting yourself as you truly are is an avenue of compassion towards others as they are.
06 January 2010
The Empress
New blog post in EXCLUSIVE kindle blog series "arcana in balance" Subscribe to Modern Oracle Tarot on KINDLE for exclusive content, card readings, faq and more!
The Empress: Nature vs nurture...we are not puppets or our genetics or our upbringing. We choose each moment what is right
Baihu
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The Empress: Nature vs nurture...we are not puppets or our genetics or our upbringing. We choose each moment what is right
Baihu
www.modern-oracle-tarot.com
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