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?

Sagittarius Full Moon June 2017

©2017 ML Monroe

This month's Full Moon in Sagittarius opposes the Sun in Gemini. This particular duality reveals Gemini's logical mind juxtaposed with Sagittarius's intuitive mind. This lunation invites us to find a balance between the two.

It's also about communication and attitude. If we look at our lives, private and public, over the past two weeks, we discover something has been building inside us. The cosmos demands we find ways to express those feelings.

Sagittarius is spontaneous and adventurous so that is also at play during the influence of this Full Moon. As we approach the solar eclipse, this Full Moon gives us another chance to explore and deepen our understanding of ourselves.

The 9th House, where the Moon sits, is all about beliefs, spirituality, philosophy, travel and communication. It is the place where we seek understanding and expanded experience where we envision possibilities. At the same time, the Sagittarius Moon requires that we sort through all the incoming information in order to deepen our practices and to assess where we're headed in that depth. Whatever it may be, it is ours and ours alone. We are in the process of defining our individual purpose. With Jupiter in Libra, we even have the opportunity to work together with others to outline a larger, group direction as well.

What emotions are tugging at you? How do you moderate their expression? What are you feeling at the gut level? What do you believe? What are your spiritual practices? What activities are calling you? Have you written any of these down? begun practicing them? Who in your life calls you to join a larger group purpose? What is your next step?

Knowing and Walking

Anyone who has found oneself on a spiritual path understands this quote from Morpheus. Knowing the path, understanding the tenets, is not the end.

Most people want to find a guru or teacher or master or whatever title they choose to give the person. There is that universal, internal drive to find someone who has the knowledge and the practice, to instruct in their chosen path.

What I've experienced over time is that a teacher can only take me so far. I can learn steps and practices as I gain a mental understanding of the path. That's all good. What takes me to the next step is actually doing the practice, walking the walk, of the path.

More than two decades ago, I studied with a Native American medicine woman as part of a women's circle. At the time, I was fully aware the Red Road, her particular tradition, was not mine. Although it was an amazing journey for me, it was not the course, the path, the tradition, that called most deeply to my soul. Walking the Red Road for a time gave me an incredible foundation. Whenever I find myself feeling out-of-sorts and off track, I breathe deeply into that tradition. It centers me and becomes the springboard for continuing on to the path that does call most deeply to my soul. That path has been pretty much a solitary one. I have uncovered multiple facets of it from an intuitive practice that encompasses my past lived practices and rituals, deep contact with the ancestors, steady communication with the Ineffable One, and use of other tools I have picked up along the way.  None of this would have been possible without walking the paths I walked in my youth as well as the Red Road of my dear sister.

What path calls to you? Do you practice one of your own choosing? Have you experienced others? How do you feel when walking your path stretches you? How does that stretch look to you? What signals that you have gone from 'knowing' to 'walking'?

Don't Go Back to Sleep

Five mornings a week through every season of the year, my drive to work takes me directly into the sunrise. [The rest of the year, it's either full dark or the sun's already above the horizon.]

The scene is often breath-taking at dawn: fog rising off a river, hillsides covered with greenery, clouds playing peek-a-boo with the light. Of course, there is also the traffic, the mile markers and the exits. Yet through it all, what I see, what wakes me up, is the beauty.

These things make up my version of Rumi's world. As I drive through these adjoining worlds ~ akin to Rumi's doorsill ~ I often find myself seeking something. I ask for guidance for the day. Or I express gratitude for the beauty. Or I request blessings on friends, co-workers or loved ones in distress. Until I found and read this poem again, I didn't realize that I was following Rumi's advice to "ask for what [I] really want." The moments of growing light are the grand doorway to the world's beauty. Beauty captures the heart and leaves it grateful.

One of my favorite phrases of Rumi's has always been his charge: "Don't go back to sleep!" In the midst of that morning beauty, it is easy to express gratitude. It is a wonderful reminder of the glory of the Earth and the great gift of Life.

I start my days that way because it is so much easier to 'go back to sleep' later in the day, when the beauty is not quite as breath-taking and visible. If I practice gratitude and awareness first thing in the morning, it creates a rhythm within me to continue to be awake, or to return to wakefulness, later. Rumi reminds us to be mindful of the 'breeze at dawn' because those are the moments when we can breathe in that awareness of the side-by-side worlds before getting bogged down in the mundane routines of our day. It helps keep us focused.

How do you begin your day? What is your 'breeze at dawn'? your 'doorsill where the two worlds touch'? What did you ask for today? How do you make your requests? How do you remind yourself to not 'go back to sleep'?

Loving Your Soul

Teabag Tarot....what an incredible, crazy, wonderful statement to awaken to!

Love. Your. Soul.

The words themselves, run together into a sentence as they are, appear simple to the point of being a no-brainer. Yet the number of people I see who clearly do not love their souls astounds me.

Clearly I don't always love my soul. I don't think about it, consider how the consequences of my actions reflect the care I have, or do not have, for my soul. When I allow stress to take over my life to the point where I eat everything in sight or sit around the house in a stupor....then I'm not showing care for my soul.

I don't show care for my soul when I disrespect myself. That can be by talking in a way that others may approve of, but that is not healthy for me ~ like gossiping or making fun of others. Or it can be the way I carry myself, from wearing clothing to "fit in" to using language I may or may not otherwise use or smoking. It isn't about whether or not I do any of these things, the actions themselves are neutral. It's about my intention when I do them.

Loving my soul ~ loving your soul ~ takes practice and presence. It takes paying attention to my thoughts and intentions. Sometimes it also means taking time to be alone so that I can check in with my soul, recognize how it responds when I act or speak or move or dress certain ways. I want to love my soul. That's where the entire practice begins.

How do you show love for your soul? What practices do you have to stay in touch with your soul? Do you recognize its rhythm? What will you do to keep in touch with that part of you?

After Writing Wednesday

I practiced my writing on Wednesday; fortunately, in the company of a wonderful, amazing, talented group of women writers. We began the day chatting about the writing we were doing ~ sharing our stories of writing and our opportunities to write. Then we drew Goddess Amulets. Mine was the Cow Goddess ~ associated with the moon and holding the meaning of uniting in partnership. Her message suited where I was physically, emotionally and mentally.

We wrote for a couple of hours before we ate lunch, then for a couple more afterward. Mostly in silence. It was wonderful! I continued on a couple of stories I'd begun the previous week, including doing some research on the Sami and Maori cultural traditions, mythologies and legends. It was a very good day.

Driving away afterward, I recognized this was what I wanted to do when I grew up ~ or retired, whichever came first ~ write, solo and in the company of other women writers. The support and encouragement means the world to me. Maybe, just maybe, I've found my corner of the world.

Where do you feel comfortable? With what group do you feel connected? supported? How do you take care of yourself so you can be with those who support and care for you?