Teabag Tarot: Today's Gratitude

Buddha Tea

This morning I woke softly with gentle wisps from a dream circling my head. Not that the dream itself was soft or gentle. So much more than that, it was significant.

The details remain deep within me. They provide a pattern of explanations for much that I've been experiencing these past few weeks.

So, what does that have to do with being grateful? I'm grateful for the nudging of the issues which arose recently. Honestly, some shoved more than nudged. All seemed relatively small and even unrelated, until the dream. I'm grateful for the perspective.

When people talk about being grateful for adversities which arise in our lives, I generally get annoyed or even angry. "Be grateful for your car accident." or "Thank the Divine for being downsized out of a job." are absurd statements that border on being abusive for so many reasons. Adverse situations, feelings of fear or personal losses are nothing to make flip comments about.

My issues tugged at me, took me into dark moments, created feelings of fear or overwhelm. They nagged at the back of my mind as I slept. Enough so that I lost sleep over them. Enough so that I dreamed about them. Then, last night, the dreams coalesced into one ~ and took me for an unexpected ride into my past and my emotional attachment to a story I had from it. Like an arrow, they pointed to one particular incident and one forgotten feeling. Shot by that arrow, I woke chuckling quietly and thinking, "Oh! So that's where all this is coming from!"

Gratitude is a practice. I could have gone through that entire dream process and never allowed it into my heart. My practice of gratitude ~ noticing and being thankful for even the littlest things in my life ~ helped seal the lesson in place. I'll probably continue to work with it. Each time it surfaces, the lesson will go a little deeper until I finally shower it with enough light and gratitude to break it apart. For that, I am thankful.

What little things nag at you? How do they show up? Do they ever join together? What do your dreams tell you about them? Do you practice gratitude? If so, how does it affect your life? If not, why not? How does that affect your life?

Teabag Tarot: Light and Dark

I take my tea seriously. Well, maybe not my tea as much as the Teabag Tarot which accompanies it. This one was especially poignant since I've recently gone through a rather dark moment.

Dark moments happen. Our reflection seems a bit dingy. Our minds quietly turn toward melancholy. Our hearts feel too heavy for breath. These moments last however long they last ~ days or weeks or years. We may tumble in for an extended period or cycle in and out as the moments capture us.

When we're in the midst of them, we struggle to believe in, much less see and feel, the light. No matter. The light is there. Feeding us. Supporting us. Reaching toward us. As we emerge from our dark moment, we recognize that. We may rage against the light, howling about its desertion of us. Again, no matter. The light moves toward us, surrounds us, nurtures us. We breathe it in and move on.

Details of my dark moment stacked one upon another, consisting mostly of watching friends going through painful transitions that ranged from an unwanted move to significant health issues to the beginnings of dementia. As I slid from one to another of my friends' issues, rest eluded me. I slipped into an anxiety of my own, compounded by juggling connections and too much busyness. Little things that normally would glissade past, now crowded onto the stack. I watched sleep pass further out of reach. Sound familiar?

The four charges in this Teabag Tarot resonate like proverbs in my ear. We hear them, maybe even say them, with increasing frequency. Live light. Keep your life as simple as possible. Open yourself to the beauty around you. Travel light. Don't take or take on more than you can carry. Be ready to give up whatever doesn't serve you. Lighten your own load. Spread the light. Share the beauty within you. Listen to others. Give of yourself. Be the light. Live with self-understanding. Be an example of vulnerability and courage for others. When I remember these charges, when I actively practice them, they don't make the dark moments go away. They simply remind me of the balance of light and darkness in my life, our lives and our world.

What dark moments have you gone through? How did you get through them? Where are you now in the movement from light to dark? What practices help you find balance? What practices do you want to increase? diminish? maintain?

Find Your Tribe

Yesterday, I wrote very briefly of the significance of our tribe ~ the people with whom we feel most comfortable. This motif has repeated itself recently, including bringing forth this image and quote.

Though we hear the call to live our passion, we don't always do that every moment of every day of every year. Many find ways to keep it alive within us even when expressing it is difficult.

The more important task is finding those who help kindle our passions and those who inspire our pursuit of them. These people comprise our tribe ~ the ones who call us on our laziness and support us through our dark moments.

Our tribe doesn't always reside in the same place. Sometimes those individuals we call part of our tribe don't like or even know each other. We aren't stagnant, single fixtures even with our passions. So our tribe may not be either.

Obviously, I write. Each person who reads my blogs is part of my tribe. By showing up and reading it, you encourage me to continue to write. Is that important? Yes. It fans my personal flames even when I feel discouraged.

I have other writing tribe members. Some are friends who've read my letters, blogs and stories over the years, encouraging me to continue. Writing course and group members who point out phrasing that strikes them in a positive or negative manner. Writers whose works I read and whose style I may in some way emulate or incorporate into my personal voice.

Beyond writing, I have tribal membership with spiritual groups. I have learned about different forms of divination, including tarot, dreams, astrology, shamanism ~ each of them calling forth their own tribes. These tribes sometimes overlap with each other as well as with my writing, family or work tribes.

Everywhere I go, in every form of passion I have, I find people who fan my flames. And whose flames I, in turn, also fan. Being part of a tribe is like that. It's as important to have others who provide you with true inspiration as it is to provide them with inspiration.

What tribes do you belong to? What passions are awake within you? Who fans the flame of those passions? How do you fan the flames of others' passions? What support do you need? How do you ask for it? What support are you willing to give others? Do you find yourself supporting others who do not support you? Do these relationships feel tribal to you?