hazlit
I'd like to talk about the energy that we access when we read the cards and how seriously we take this energy.
Although I do not label myself as Christian, I'd like to use a Christian (New Testament) example, given that many who have access to these threads are likely to hail from white, anglo-saxon, Christian backgrounds and will be familiar with it, and also because of the example's simplicity. (Emphasis is on backgrounds - I don't mean beliefs. I am aware of the proportion of Pagan membership here and I have no wish to offend anybody!):
Pilate asked Jesus to walk on water. Jesus refused, however, it was well known (according to the New Testament text) that Jesus could do this easily. He chose not to, it is surmised, because: he had no need to 'prove' himself to Pilate, his ability to walk on water was well known to the people governed by Pilate - hundreds had witnessed him walking on water; walking on water was 'situational' for Jesus - he did it because it fit with that particular place & time, not to prove something; he had no desire to prostitute a spiritual act, i.e. buy his life by performing a trick because he was intimidated by the political power of Pilate (as such, he would effectively be in Pilate's employ and Jesus stated many times that the only entity he considered to be his boss, with the power of life & death over him, was God).
(There may be more reasons than this - perhaps others here might be able to offer some. I'm certainly not an authority on theology)
Are there any secular equivalents to this?
e.g. You run a thriving business as a Reiki practitioner or perhaps as a masseur and you have a brilliant reputation because your work has done 'miracles' of healing for your customers. Your reputation has spread far and wide, to the extent that even Oprah Winfrey is extolling your virtues. One day you are summoned before your state premier/governor and in front of a huge crowd of people (probably including many of your customers who have declared your work miraculous) this governor threatens to have you put to death unless you are able to do a Reiki treatment / massage on the spot for him and immediately cure his pronounced limp.
Would you do the treatment? One thing's for sure, if you did you'd be likely to be so nervous that it would be difficult to effectively concentrate your energies, given that this is a life or death situation (not to mention the thousands of people watching the whole thing and the possibilities of stage fright --so maybe it wouldn't work anyway ). Further to this, what happened to your happy customers in the crowd coming to your defence?
The point I'm making is this:
How seriously do we take our choice to access information that comes to us via the Universe to our Tarot/Oracle cards (whatever our spiritual beliefs may be)?
and
How seriously do we take the energy itself (that which places the cards where they fall & connects with the individual reader's & readee's particular consciousnesses at the time of the reading)?
...Do we use our cards to 'prove' to ourselves or others that they will or won't foretell the future / hit the centre of our own/the readee's issue? (If so, is this about our own egos, or about our/the readee's benefit/greater insight?)
...Do we call on our cards at the drop of a hat, in fact so often that we are barely able to distinguish one reading from another (the confusion factor)?
In answering these questions, what place/respect is given to the Universal energy that makes it possible for us to read cards?
My approach is to take very seriously my choice to use the cards and to deeply respect the energy made available to me by ensuring that I thoroughly consider the messages given by the cards (where readings for myself are concerned), over a period of time. Using intuition as channelled by the cards as opposed to intuition that uses no physical instrument is important, but I see both of these as the domain of Justice / Spiritual Law (i.e. balance). In other words, whilst it's wonderful to access the wisdom of the cards, it's also important to me to access the wisdom of my own body/psyche. If I, or my readee constantly rely on the cards every step of the way, we are disrespecting our own capacity for insight and create a potential dependency situation (i.e. on the cards, ipso facto the reader).
But that is only my approach; I'm one amongst very many in the diversity and multiplicity of this Universe we inhabit.
What do you think about all of this?
Given in love, with gratitude & blessings {(~_~)} hazlit
PS - Due to my freshness to this forum I've posted this in 'Talking Tarot' because I felt that it's discussion may be applicable to readers in general, however it may well be more appropriately placed elsewhere. My apologies for my greenness and thanks in advance to those who choose to move it, should they do so.
Although I do not label myself as Christian, I'd like to use a Christian (New Testament) example, given that many who have access to these threads are likely to hail from white, anglo-saxon, Christian backgrounds and will be familiar with it, and also because of the example's simplicity. (Emphasis is on backgrounds - I don't mean beliefs. I am aware of the proportion of Pagan membership here and I have no wish to offend anybody!):
Pilate asked Jesus to walk on water. Jesus refused, however, it was well known (according to the New Testament text) that Jesus could do this easily. He chose not to, it is surmised, because: he had no need to 'prove' himself to Pilate, his ability to walk on water was well known to the people governed by Pilate - hundreds had witnessed him walking on water; walking on water was 'situational' for Jesus - he did it because it fit with that particular place & time, not to prove something; he had no desire to prostitute a spiritual act, i.e. buy his life by performing a trick because he was intimidated by the political power of Pilate (as such, he would effectively be in Pilate's employ and Jesus stated many times that the only entity he considered to be his boss, with the power of life & death over him, was God).
(There may be more reasons than this - perhaps others here might be able to offer some. I'm certainly not an authority on theology)
Are there any secular equivalents to this?
e.g. You run a thriving business as a Reiki practitioner or perhaps as a masseur and you have a brilliant reputation because your work has done 'miracles' of healing for your customers. Your reputation has spread far and wide, to the extent that even Oprah Winfrey is extolling your virtues. One day you are summoned before your state premier/governor and in front of a huge crowd of people (probably including many of your customers who have declared your work miraculous) this governor threatens to have you put to death unless you are able to do a Reiki treatment / massage on the spot for him and immediately cure his pronounced limp.
Would you do the treatment? One thing's for sure, if you did you'd be likely to be so nervous that it would be difficult to effectively concentrate your energies, given that this is a life or death situation (not to mention the thousands of people watching the whole thing and the possibilities of stage fright --so maybe it wouldn't work anyway ). Further to this, what happened to your happy customers in the crowd coming to your defence?
The point I'm making is this:
How seriously do we take our choice to access information that comes to us via the Universe to our Tarot/Oracle cards (whatever our spiritual beliefs may be)?
and
How seriously do we take the energy itself (that which places the cards where they fall & connects with the individual reader's & readee's particular consciousnesses at the time of the reading)?
...Do we use our cards to 'prove' to ourselves or others that they will or won't foretell the future / hit the centre of our own/the readee's issue? (If so, is this about our own egos, or about our/the readee's benefit/greater insight?)
...Do we call on our cards at the drop of a hat, in fact so often that we are barely able to distinguish one reading from another (the confusion factor)?
In answering these questions, what place/respect is given to the Universal energy that makes it possible for us to read cards?
My approach is to take very seriously my choice to use the cards and to deeply respect the energy made available to me by ensuring that I thoroughly consider the messages given by the cards (where readings for myself are concerned), over a period of time. Using intuition as channelled by the cards as opposed to intuition that uses no physical instrument is important, but I see both of these as the domain of Justice / Spiritual Law (i.e. balance). In other words, whilst it's wonderful to access the wisdom of the cards, it's also important to me to access the wisdom of my own body/psyche. If I, or my readee constantly rely on the cards every step of the way, we are disrespecting our own capacity for insight and create a potential dependency situation (i.e. on the cards, ipso facto the reader).
But that is only my approach; I'm one amongst very many in the diversity and multiplicity of this Universe we inhabit.
What do you think about all of this?
Given in love, with gratitude & blessings {(~_~)} hazlit
PS - Due to my freshness to this forum I've posted this in 'Talking Tarot' because I felt that it's discussion may be applicable to readers in general, however it may well be more appropriately placed elsewhere. My apologies for my greenness and thanks in advance to those who choose to move it, should they do so.