Drastic internal change. Sometimes our lives take us exactly where we wanted to go most, by the short cut~ that would be the route that goes right by the trash cans, under the fence, over the gravel, across the swimming pool, into the mud, past the junkyard dogs, through the supermarket at night when it is locked, setting off the alarm. Life drags us by the arm like a rough older brother, and says "C'MON, you have to come, no questions, run, now, come with me NOW!" And for some reason you just know it is right, and you go. Your friends are secretly shocked. Your family wonders if you will ever grow up, or ever get some common sense, or ever learn to do the normal things without so much WHACK. You yourself are not sure just why you went down this unlawful road, but you are so sure, wait a minute....are you sure...in fact you are wildly unsure. Wait a minute. In fact you are uncomfortable, mad at this perhaps untrustworthy domineering companion who has pulled you through the trash cans. You don't like the smell of rotting fish and kitty litter. This is not what you had in mind at all!
What is our base? Everyone is different. In the human experience of living, of maintaining some sort of viable stability, each of us has a different type of base. For some, it is the excellence or even the total stasis of the human body~ and we do all kinds of things to keep it stable. We drink until we really can only fall into bed, every single night, wondering if this isn't actually a little dangerous, but keeping the stable base. We eat high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar foods, even if we are diabetic, in an effort to find and keep some sort of stasis. We gain and hold 50 extra pounds, and keep it around our middle like a life raft, to keep our bodies stable. And, we may run crosstraining, crossfit, kettlebell, raw foods, hoop till dawn, kayak the Columbia, whatever we must do, to keep our wondrous human base. Perhaps we value our emotional equanimity more than anything. We need our emotional state to be secure and painless. It is possible to imagine all kinds of things which would accomplish this. "No dear, your father didn't mean that." Or, perhaps our wife or husband will be nicer tomorrow, or our kids more appreciative, or even perhaps we tell ourselves outrageous lies which verge on blind denial, in an effort to look on the bright side, or see the best in people, or never write someone off, declare them hopeless, or give up hope. Sigh. Conversely, perhaps we meditate, channel, sing, paint, cook, run with the dog in the beautiful sunset while our heart simply SINGS, perhaps we roll on the floor and roughhouse with the kids, or help the homeless. We know we want to, we just do it, because it keeps us safe. But is it our mind which is our stable base? If we feed ourselves data, information, youtubes, bookclubs, TEDTalks, seminars, webinars, bestsellers, infomercials, post-doctorate education, night classes, foreign languages, or the stock market, can we keep things streaming in a stable way? If we learn what Plato really had to say, find out what Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus thought, research the Bloomsbury Group~ or watch 6 hours of television or video games every single day, can we keep our good steady state? Suppose we get sick. Life overwhelms us with emotional pain or joy which absolutely defies management. We wake up one day and our memory is not so good and we wonder if the drinking has caused brain cell loss, or if we might have Alzheimers or flouride poisoning, or just don't give a damn anymore, or need more sleep. We have read the books, we took the course, but cannot remember and do not care. What is our base in eternity? How will we stay steady when the deck is heaving under us, and nothing, nothing can any longer be managed? It happens~ when people die, when we lose jobs, when our spouse runs off, when the beloved pet must be released. You know what I mean. The world finally reveals itself as bigger than our managment system. What, oh what, are we going to do then? I mean it. What? Wait, here comes that dangerous older brother, er, angel, with a fast cleanup dash to the place we need to be. We can turn that angel down, to keep our current balance~ no risks! Or we can simply drop the oar and jump. It will not make sense. We will complain, bitch, and cry. Ultimately, we will rejoice in gratitude that SOMEHOW we found the stamina to ride that out, and to forbear silently when all of our reasonable friends and associates are clucking and tut-tutting from their positions of safety behind their currently stable base. It is my suspicion that the final discovery, so obvious, that life is incredibly, unavoidably bigger than we are, is a moment of absolute definition. We may put it off, but one day we will have to deal with this idea of who is bigger, we ourselves or life. If we have to know what the next moment brings and become unstable if we can't~ I know that beyond there, be dragons, and our free-fall can be horrible~ our outrage and disbelief paralyzing and all-encompassing~ we failed to notice the size of life. However, if we discover that life is so gigantic we could never possibly understand, and that seems right, perfect, and beautiful in spite of our confusion, then we are also defined. We noticed the size of things beyond direct experience, and we still can't overcome, cope, or steer, but are somehow in trust. That is a character choice~ a choice, I believe, caused by deliberate investigation and consideration. I think that either eventuality is a personal choice, based on our preferences, and our willlingness or unwillingness to look at reality, to look directly at a streaming primordial ocean of energy and complexity, with its own weather, which we cannot encompass. A personal choice~ to know that we may be swept away in fear or in joy, and not understand. To look, and tell ourselves that we are looking, and to know directly what we sense, and feel, and think, in the fact of our engagement with the living reality. I could be wrong about that. I myself am absolutely stunned by the infinite complexity, astounding beauty, and extraordinary joy of everyday life. I do not understand, but on some level I comprehend at the tiniest level where humans may, in the face of the multiverse, which I believe is alive in its every atom. I embrace the gigantic reality. I trust it~ that is me, entirely.
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Hello everyone. It is far into the night, and I am in Terrell, Texas, out where the wild winds blow, the longhorn steer amble about, the roadrunners run, and the nightwalking esoteric adventurer heads to the truck stop for a vanilla Moon Pie. It is time for some rambling about, about life, about about. It is 3am. The sky is dark and filled with stars. This far beyond Dallas you can see so many stars that it is immediately shocking to realize that you have not seen stars in years. I haved not seen the stars in years. Why is that. Why didn't I notice?
There are white-tailed little bunnies running about. Cottontails. It seems I have forgotten those rabbits, in the same way that I forgot the stars. They are being born everywhere~ it is very early spring. Spring in very early February, which reminds me that I am in Texas, where it is possible to have 72 degree Fahrenheit weather on February 4~ daffodils and narcissus springing up out of the ground, sap starting to rise, and the perky nose of hope smelling the breeze while you stand there astounded. Long horn steer? I was driving to the library, winding around on Route 314 to the unknown part of somewhere, and there they were, eating grass. I think they were eating grass. I have to ask the locals, to be sure that is correct, or even possible. These same locals tell me that I should not stand at the fence and talk to the bulls while they munch presumably grass. It is apparently not good to rile up the bulls, Ferol. But I was only talking to them. Bulls, for pete's sake, have a sense of these things. I know they do. The grass tells me this. Should I trust the locals, or trust the bull? You tell me. I know what I think. About what? About that. The Amazing Experience of Life. Step up and breathe. The glory of standing there will knock you out into the stars. Past the daffodils and spring bunnies. You won't believe it. It was there all the time. ~ ~ ~ Adventure! I have in my hands Aunia Kahn and Russell J. Moon's beautiful Silver Era Tarot, by Schiffer Books. I have been curious about this deck since stumbling across Aunia Kahn on Facebook in 2009 as I was messing around looking at things. Let's see what this lovely Tarot will do in a reading. Hmmm. What shall I ask. Ah! "What is the true value of The Silver Era Tarot?" I am the creator of The Ferol Humphrey Tarot Method~ I do not read any Tarot card the same way twice~ I respond in a fresh, intuitive manner, and knowledge-based manner each time I see the card. My response to the image changes with the question and context. So here we go! Using my 5-card Spiritual Commentary layout, I shuffle. Card One, The Short Answer: The Five of Pentacles. The Silver Era Five of Pentacles is almost colorful, in a pleasing and uplifting way, which is a bit of a surprise, given the traditional view of Five of Pentacles. In most Rider-Waite-Standard Tarot decks this card is viewed as somewhat negative, often indicating poverty or poverty of spirit, at the very least. In The Silver Era Tarot, two people are moving past a window, looking straight ahead, rather than up and around at the world. Floating unnoticed in front of this window are five balls~ teal, grey, and black, containing pentacles (stars). They are quite colorful and rich, attracting my eye in this otherwise restful color palette of greys, tans, creams, and browns. What meaning do I find in this set of elements for the true value of The Silver Era Tarot? This: The Silver Era Five of Pentacles tells us that first and foremost life is a miraculous vital environment, where subtle, beautiful, and surprising things often happen, in conditions which would seem to preclude subtlety, beauty, and surprise. We may become dulled or immured in the drudgery or constant challenges of life, often living as though we are in a trance, riding a conveyor belt without volition~ but we can always awaken and look around ourselves. Perhaps mystical colored stars are floating in the windows of our lives even in difficult times, and in this incongruous experience we may find solace, value, and new direction. Now, let us find more detail.
Cards Two, Three, and Four: The Long Answer: The Six of Wands, The Fool, and the Ten of Cups. This group of cards may be interpreted individually, globally, or as a sentence. I read them left to right very quickly, indicating that in the matter of awakening to the unsuspected in average experiences, people may ride to success even in a dark place. If we remain in a state of open trust in the process, expanding to meet circumstance in an almost dancing manner, we may use this momentum to find ultimate pleasure and companionship in the natural world. Finally, a bit of perspective. Card Five: Counsel, Advice, or Spiritual Commentary: The Two of Wands. This beautiful Two of Wands shows us color in the palm of her hand. The world she is holding looks almost like a crystal ball, containing all possible futures. She looks beyond what may be controlled and contained, seeing into the distance. She is watching, tuning into the ground, feeling the wand in her left hand, the cloak around her shoulders, a huge open sky, and the bridge beneath her feet. Behind her another wand seems to rise from the bridge itself. What counsel is this? The Silver Era Tarot Two of Wands tells us to remember that the color in our world is contained in our own hands, and that creation and quality of life are a partnership between ourselves, the infinite, the unseen and unnoticed past, and the deliberate future. We will have our best experience if we join with the natural world, bridging ourselves to the infinite, with a clear, receptive, and intentful vision. Well, I like that! I must now ask myself, is this what artist Aunia Kahn intends as the quintessential meaning of her Tarot deck? Would author Russell J. Moon agree? Does Schiffer Publishing see these values and messages in the deck they have published? I think that no one will experience the true value of The Silver Era Tarot exactly as I have. Who would want to limit the potential of such a unique and beautiful vision, anyway? So I advise you~ obtain your own Silver Era Tarot, mix your cards, and ask. http://tinyurl.com/SchifferAuniaKahnSilverEraTaro. Join us in our enthusiastic discussion of this lovely deck, at Living Tarot Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/LivingTarotFacebookSilverEra Till next time, my friends! Ferol ~ ~ ~ |
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