Judgment Wisdom Reading

What is the best way to rise up to a higher level?

We get, in an obvious bottom to top order, 0-Fool-Clear Quartz, 4-Emperor-Carnelian, 12-Hanged One-Sodalite.

0-Fool-Clear Quartz:  We have to go into it without expectations.  Yes, it’s contradictory.  How can you want and pursue something that you can only get by not trying to figure out what it is?  I’ve been reading a little bit of Chinese philosophy recently, and this seems like the essence of wuwei, doing by not doing.  And “the way that can be named is not the true way.”  Fool says we have to be open to whatever comes, but also ready and willing to set out on the journey at any time.

4-Emperor-Carnelian:  The journey and goal have to be what you want.  You’re never going to get somewhere if it’s not really your goal.  We have to be self-sovereign.  We can’t rise up to someone else’s version of a higher plane.  Religious and spiritual teachings can help us figure out what we want, but no-one can force us to rise.  Maybe they can force us to pretend we want it, or even that we have it, but obviously that’s not it!

12-Hanged One-Sodalite:  And we have to be patient.  To go from Fool to Hanged One is to go with no expectations to end up nowhere.  It’s kind of the dark night of the soul without the dark.  The blank time of the soul.  Or maybe the wintertime of the soul.  We have to trust that things are happening, that seeds are maturing.  And when we least expect it, we will find that we’re already there!

Sun Wisdom Reading

Happiness is . . .?

Back in the 70s, there was a pre-internet meme, “happiness is.”  I think it started with the Peanuts cartoon asserting that “happiness is a warm puppy.”  Greeting cards, t-shirts, etc. were soon putting forward their candidates.  There was even a song, which concluded “happiness is . . . different things for different people.  That’s what happiness is!”

So the Sun’s question is what is happiness?  And stays with the idea that there are as many “happinesses” as there are people in the world.

I’m back to using the card method today.  I shuffled my trimmed pocket Thoth, cut the deck on the Sun card, laid out 9 cards in a Saturn square order, and dropped 3 stones, removing the cards that didn’t get a stone.  (Obviously, I didn’t take out the majors, so we end up with a (very strong) major-major pair!)

0-Fool-Clear Quartz on Queen of Wands.  Happiness is taking our own path.  The Fool is beginning a journey, one of his own choosing, even though he doesn’t know much about the path ahead or even where he wants to go.  And that’s the way s/he likes it!  The Queen looks out from her place of fertility upon the path through the desert, winding from oasis to oasis.  She would be happy to give her foolish goat detailed instructions on how to get across with the least trouble, but he wants to go his own way, ready or not!

 

4-Emperor-Carnelian on Prince of Disks.  Happiness is having control over our stuff.  The   Prince’s chariot is full of the seeds of abundance and production.  His trusty ox takes him steadily forward, step by plodding step, toward their realization in physical form.  The Emperor is here to make sure this all takes place in the correct way and under his control.  It is a basic human right and a basic source of contentment to have the authority to control ones own property and ones ability to produce more.  This was a strong motivation for the very middle-class American Revolution.  Even though the Declaration includes high-minded words about life and liberty (and we are glad that it does!), the revolutionaries really had those covered as British citizens.  Their main concern was the pursuit of property and happiness.  “Taxation without representation” was the original rallying cry.  And I’m not denigrating all this.  As a Taurus rising, I feel strongly that knowing what’s going to happen with my property is security, and security is happiness!

 

20-Judgment-Petrified Wood on Universe.  Happiness is believing there is something more.  As I mentioned, a very powerful major-major pair (that foreshadows the two readings left in this series!). Notwithstanding the previous happiness, it is of the greatest comfort to me to believe that there is more to life (and the universe and everything) than getting and spending.  Some people might say that’s just wishful thinking, but if so, I wish to keep wishing!  Universe hints that this physical reality where we live is so much larger, greater, and more complex and interesting that we mere humans can ever understand.  And Judgment trumpets that there is even more than that!  There is a higher realm, a better way of life, and mysterious beauty everywhere around and within us, as well as around and within the great, complex, and interesting physical world we live in.  Which is also greater than we can understand.  Unless we can.  Which is just another of the higher mysteries that can bring true happiness whenever we want it.  What a wonderful message from the stones and cards!

 

And that’s what happiness is!  At least for today.  What is happiness for you?

Moon Wisdom Reading

What are the pros and cons of divination?

I used the Oldest Spread for this one.  Seemed appropriate!

15-Devil-Hematite on Page of Cups.  Ok, let’s get the cons out of the way first!  (As I was going through the spread, I was hoping I would get a good number of more pairs.  I didn’t want to give too much weight to the cons!)  Divination gives rise to the temptation to obsessively read about romance issues!  I see a single/lone person offering up her/his heart, perhaps foolishly or too soon.  Every reader, including for himself, wants to give a positive outcome for a love reading, but this romantic impulse can lead to trouble.  It could cause the foolhardy action mentioned above (offering too much on small encouragement), or at least make the issue too concrete.  Let’s say I feel a passing attraction for someone.  If I then go home and do a reading about it, the situation becomes something--something I could fail at, lose, or otherwise have a negative outcome.  If I hadn’t read about it, and it comes to nothing, then it was always nothing that I can more easily forget about!

8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye on 8 Wands.  One of divination’s strengths is its immediacy.  It gives us the ability to get the answers we want NOW!

Alternatively, we have to be strong of heart to handle knowing things sooner than normal circumstances usually permit!

5-Hierophant-Orange Calcite on Knight of Wands.  One of the attractions of divination is defying authority and/or its connections with alternative spirituality.

Alternatively, most of us rush right into the practice of divination, and then find out there’s so much more to learn!  This is a pro for me!  Although it might be a con for some people . . .

11-Justice-Aventurine on Ace of Cups.  Although there is the possibility/temptation of delusion in romance issues, divination can give helpful guidance when romance is in first bloom or when feelings are running high.  Calming, balanced Justice means divination can give needed perspective at an emotional time, whether the emotions are positive, hopeful, or negative.

Whew!  I’m glad we ended on a pro note!  I’m a big divination fan (obviously), and it would be just sad if I did a reading saying divination is just not worth the effort or bad for you!

Star Wisdom Reading

What if the whole world were conspiring to shower us with blessings?  (Pronoia, http://www.freewillastrology.com/)

I made 3 drops.  The last drop dropped 2 stones.

2-Priestess-Moonstone.  If this were true, you would know it,but only if you listen to yourself, your inner wisdom, the deep, receptive truth.  Other teachers and authorities and culture, pop or otherwise, will tell you many truths that are opposites to pronoia.  Who will you believe?

14-Temperance-Rose Quartz.  Blessings come in many forms.  The creator of the term pronoia, Rob, is careful to point out that things that seem like misfortunes can be great blessings if dealt with as if they are.  If we take the good with the bad as if they are both blessings, we definitely are living the pronoia life!

15-Devil-Hematite (and 10-Wheel-Botswana Agate).  Pronoia doesn't deny that bad things and random things happen, and doesn't deny that evil actions and motivations exist.  But experiences originating in someone's bad intent can be turned to our own good if worked with as a blessing.

Buddhism's teaching that we should be grateful for people who annoy, bother, or block us is an example.  These people are our best teachers, teaching us to be strong and forgiving, or at least what not to do!

10-Wheel-Botswana Agate.  The same goes for random circumstances.  A monkey wrench in our plans can be a curse or blessing, depending on how we perceive and work with it.

Which brings us back to Priestess.  The truth of pronoia is within.  It may not be scientifically true, but it can be true if we live as if it is!

Tower Wisdom Reading

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
            “Anthem,” Leonard Cohen

How do I let the light in?

6-Lovers-Rhodochrosite.  Love is the answer.  The light is love, and love is light.  A broken open heart lets the light in only if love is still within it.  Suffering is redemptive only if it causes compassion.  And don’t forget love and compassion for oneself, of the past, present, and future.

The striations of Lovers-Rhodochrosite once again say this is a world of opposites--pain and love, suffering and light.  And there is never one without the other. 

Feared and despised Tower gives us a perennial opportunity to be perfect in our imperfection.

Devil Wisdom Reading

Why does evil exist?

There are many formulations of the “problem of evil,” some presupposing an all-powerful and all-merciful deity.  (If God loves everyone and can do anything, then why does he allow bad things to happen to people?)  But my question is more encompassing, with fewer assumptions:  Why is there evil or bad things at all?  Why do people do things to hurt other people (sometimes on a spectacular scale), and why are there earthquakes and tsunamis that kill and destroy?

While I was gently pouring the stones back forth and between my hands and thinking of the question, 20-Judgment-Petrified Wood pretty much jumped out of the pile to the table.  I thought it probably needs some back-up, so I dropped two more stones near it,  which turned out to be 3-Empress-Malachite and 12-Chariot-Amethyst.

Judgment makes me think of the Christian idea that this life is a vale of tears, just a testing place for souls headed to some other eternal destination.  Evil exists because that’s what humans are destined for.  To be tested.  Doesn’t really sound like the work of a merciful God, but maybe it’s tough love.  Just as a teenager thinks she can’t bear the agony of missing the party of the year while her father knows that grounding her on that Saturday night is the best thing he can do for her growth.    

Buddhism also teaches that this world is a mixed bag of good and bad for a reason.  We are lucky to live in this world because there’s just enough suffering for us to realize that we want to try to be released from the endless round of birth and death, but not so much suffering that we are unable to find the right way or have an opportunity to try it. 

And probably all religions teach that most evil in the world is caused by people who are doing the wrong things for the wrong reasons, hurting other people in the process.

But Judgment says that’s not the way it is everywhere, all the time.  There is a higher level we can rise to.  There is a heaven or a deathless realm or a nirvana, above or surrounding or within this world of bad things happening to good people.  And the best way to get there is to try to create it where we are right now, beginning within ourselves.

Empress backs all this up by saying, life itself is a mixture of good and bad (especially from the individual organism’s viewpoint).  Humans are born in pain and usually die in pain.  There has to be death in order for there to be life.  Living things eat and are eaten.  The same operations of the planet that make life possible also make weather and geological disasters inevitable.  This world, by its very nature, is a vale of tears--and joys.

Chariot says “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”  (Winston Churchill)  “The only way out is through.”  We’re here in this world of tears and joy, so we have to live by its rules.  Our choices are despair and give up or do the best we can with what we’ve got. 

So I guess the answer to the question of evil is “That’s just the way it is.  Live with it.”  But there is the intimation of something better, something greater, if we keep going in the right direction.

Temperance Wisdom Reading

Temperance wisdom question:  What opposites most need to reconciled at this time in our culture?

I decided to drop two stones and hope they are opposites or could be made to be!

And I got 18-Moon-Mother of Pearl and 8-Fortitude-Tiger Eye.  Interesting and, yes, arguably opposite pair. 

We need to reconcile illusion and imagination with surface appearances and materialism.

Imagination is a wonderful thing.  We need to be able to dream and visualize possibilities before we can pursue them and make changes to the way things are.  But often in our culture, our dreams and imagined worlds (and goals) are manipulated to serve someone else’s agenda (to sell something, or some other, more power-hungry agenda).  That’s when we need a good dose of reality, often of the surface appearance kind.  (If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck . . .)

On the other hand, scientific materialism is the superstition of our age.  If an M.D. doesn’t agree with it, it can’t be possible.  Religion is the opiate of the masses.  Or at least more than a little kooky.  You get the idea. 

A negative (nefarious?) reconciliation of these opposites was the perpetration of the global warming denial hoax.  Smoke and mirrors, bought with very deep pockets and untold political influence, were able to blind people to the plain scientific truth just long enough so that there’s nothing that can be done to prevent serious repercussions.  So we might as well burn the climate and environment down.  (Hopefully, that’s another illusion that we can awaken from . . .)

A positive reconciliation would be a society that values the two truths, those of imagination and the spirit and those of science and reality.  We can dream of a world in which most people live in comfort and justice.  Then we can think of and act on a sensible, solid, practical way to make that a reality. 

Stranger things have happened!