Eighth Day of Christmas: Fool

How can I honor my teachers and spiritual friends?  How can I be an effective teacher or mentor?
0-Fool-Clear Quartz

As I was thinking about the question, I was considering who my teachers are, and I realize I don’t really have a tarot/divination teacher, probably because I like to go my own way with my studies, and that probably makes me a bit of a know-it-all. 

Fool is an appropriate answer to those considerations!  To be a better student, honor my potential teachers, and be a better teacher myself, I need to consciously cultivate beginners mind.  Someone doesn’t have to know everything in order to teach me something.  And, like the teacup in the famous Buddhist story, if I’m already full of knowledge (and myself!), I’m not leaving any room for more learning to come in.

The humility and openness of the Fool are great assets to a serious student.  And the Fool isn’t just open to learn from anyone, he’s also open to learn from anything, his own mistakes or wrong turns, or those of another, a fortuitous coincidence, or a beautiful sunrise or pretty flower on the roadside.

Fool is also an auspicious stone for New Year’s Day.  It’s the hopeful, open, empty sky at the beginning of the beginning of the major arcana.  May I live through the new year in a way that fulfills the Fool’s shining promise!

I wish you a happy and fulfilling new year as well!

The theme for tomorrow:

Ninth Day, January 2, Friends Day.  This is the feast of Basil the Great, best known as the “Father Christmas” of Greece, a friend to children who brings them gifts on January 1.  He was also a founder of Christian monasticism, organizing and writing guidelines for the monastery where he lived, worked, and worshiped with his best friend, Gregory of Nazianzus, and his brother, Gregory of Nyssa.  How can I honor and help my friends?  How can I be a good friend?

I will read on this later today.

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!