This is a time to feel the pain of being human. In order to be fully alive, you must have contact with grief and loss otherwise you only skim the surface with no commitment to the depth of experience that binds us to others and brings us to a compassionate understanding of what it is to be engaged and truly alive. It is so easy to allow yourself to be numb to pain and push it away, but when you are numb, you have lost the capacity for joy and connection with the world. You live a shallow existence cut off from deep experience.
Joy And Sorrow Chapter Viii
Then a woman said, “Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.”
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.
To become aware of the power of belonging to a collaborative and cooperative community that radiates ripples of inspiration and creativity energizing people to grow and expand in ways that feed each other. Adding your singular light to a gathering wave of enlightenment. Leading by a compassionate example.
That which you are was never born and will never die; that is the insight rendered in terms of the solar mystery, the solar light.
–Joseph Campbell, “Thou Art That”
An astronomical question. What would happen if God leaned down and gave you a full wet kiss? Hafiz doesn’t mind answering astronomical questions like that. You would surely start reciting all day, inebriated, rogue-poems like this.
-Hafiz
This is a time to examine and celebrate what is uniquely you and turn your life toward projects that reflect that as well as the uniquely individual nature of each person in your life and on earth as well as the commonality of the life’s journey through days and nights as seasons change around us.
by Subhash Vyam from “Water”
The Sun provides, with the help of the earth’s minerals and life forms, all our needs leading to to the symbol of collaboration and inspiration to create life and art and community. Nothing is done unsupported by a host of contributors. The independent being is a myth and the cause of so much destructive force in the world.
Love and Mystery Tarot by Yoshitaka Amano
Star Hole
I sit here
on the perfect end
of a star, watching light
pour itself toward
me.
It is so easy to let the little day to day worries pile up in your thoughts, nagging paranoid thoughts about work or the future that drape over your spirit like heavy curtains blocking the sun. It is time to throw back the gathering gloom by peeling back the piled on nuisances replacing these with the thousand tiny graces that come unnoticed until we look for them in the corners and hidden under the gathering cob webs and dust. Yep! it’s time for a little mind clearing and window polishing to let the light shine in and out.
You may be brooding over a loss of status or security or material wealth, have some looming potential loss on the horizon that is in a wait and see situation. The best thing you can do is figure out what is meaningful to fight for and focus on any positive ideas that come into view that can help shift the outcome or at least shift your mood to a lighter place. Something will come to pass and that will pass as well. There is only one moment transforming into another. From the moment we fall into this world, the only certain thing is change all else is illusion. Even well planned or so called certain destinations are subject to last minute adjustments, postponements and detours.
“The pain of change is a necessary element in regaining your aliveness.”
From Tarot by Margarete Petersen
The time has arrived for a thorough self-examination with love and care to what should be shed, that which is excess or unnecessary and not integral to the spirit, and what is to be cherished and brought into the light as a sign of the spirit carried forth.
Maybe your worries are like noisy moths making giant shadows on your walls, all sound and flurry signifying nothing in the end.
To live in this world
you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it
against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.
Paradise can live in a single moment born like a glimmering soap bubble adrift on the wind which in its flash of existence encompasses eternities of bliss perfect in its harmony outside and in. All you have to do is pay attention fearlessly to everything that is evolving and revolving into each unfolding moment with the deep wonder of your soul and let this guide your every move.
“That of a bird floating on the wind without moving its own wings, that of a bird which is flown by the wind.”
Zeami Motokiyo (世阿弥 元清) (c. 1363 – c. 1443)
The childlike ease of being and nothing more,
Joy in existence.
Enfolded in the moment dreaming and moving in the rhythms of the world with no purpose.
Dancing to the music in your head because it fits your body
Singing your spirit song in heart of the world
All that is lost is not lost to the heart
“Every moment in time, is a moment of destructive loss and creative gain. These two forces, like upward and downward–facing triangles, represent our place in time and in space at the pivotal place between life and death.”
“Whenever we couldn’t conceive of what’s out there, it was because we didn’t yet understand what the preconceptions might be that were restricting our view.”
Richard Panek
1. The final step has been taken in the previous journey and the new path is made clear out of the blue. A level head must be gained to move forward into the new territory, resources gathered and council taken to make the most of the opportunities glimpsed from the new vantage point.
2. The processes of change have come full circle and the next level reached, but the rules have changed and these must be deciphered by careful testing of limitations. If you can fly now you must find a way to test your wings.
3. There is a split in the road and both paths are beset with dangers and contain wonders beyond your experience. The time has come to choose which you will take and how you will travel.
4. You have taken control of a part of your life that previously was vague and mysterious to you. Enlightenment brings responsibility for consequences. Knowledge and awareness provide opportunities for both miracles and atrocities.
5. Dark clouds have broken up into a glorious sunrise and you can breathe clean air and take stock of what remains and give thanks.
6. Your vehicle has been upgraded with many new options and special settings. There is no instruction manual, and you have places to go.
Vincent Van Gogh
by Subhash Vyam from “Water”
Love and Mystery Tarot by Yoshitaka Amano
Myriad Ways 