Tarot Journey

The Journey - Tarot Shaman Challenge

As you may remember from my last blog, I have begun a Tarot challenge as described on tarotprofessionals.com. Challenge number two was to take a physical journey, reflecting throughout on the life journey which has been created to this particular moment in time. Before beginning the day's journey, I sat in my kitchen chair and considered my personal journey, which has helped me get to this point in my life.

Wikipedia tells me there are approximately two billion, three hundred million seconds in the average human lifespan. It's amazing that our lives literally happen within the span of those seconds. The moments...the seconds... that have touched our lives, have created them. At any given moment in my journey, a different decision could have been made, a different event could have happened, and I would have been changed by it. Conversely,  every event needed to turn out just as it did, to be the person I see when I look in the mirror, wobbly bits and all! Two billion seconds. Some over, some not yet created. Each one a part of the journey.

I pulled my card, and drew the Ace of Swords. In this particular deck, the ace shows a picture of roses climbing a sword which is seated, hilt up, in a large grey boulder. The sword itself looks like it is made from glass, strong yet fragile, the hilt topped by a golden crown. A woman in a purple dress reaches out toward the sword,

My initial thought was that the card reflected quests - the crown sitting on the hilt of the sword in the stone reminded me, of course, of the legend of King Arthur and his knights. King Aurthur was said to be brave and wise, creating a round table representing equality among peers. The idea  was striking because it reminded me that all quests - even "sword" quests that represent the conscious mind, intellect, and judgement - all quests begin in our hearts, touching not only our heart's desires, but  also effecting the way we approach our quest, our journey. Values, mores, and ideals all play a role in the way we begin, and the way we go on, in life's journey.  Our passions fuel our quest just as the roses climb the sword, journeying toward the crown.  Both roses and sword, however, have sharp edges. Quests are beautiful and dangerous things, and our considering consciousness, when paired with our ideals, can create for us a holy grail or an eternal hell.

Thinking about my own quests led me to find a quiet spot outside the church I attended as a girl. To me, the church is  a concrete outer symbol of an individual's values, attitudes, and beliefs. As a girl, church taught that I was not alone in this world. I learned that equality, forgiveness, and compassion are central to a good life. A dove was engraved and painted into the main arches of this church, and I remember staring at the bird which seemed to be diving from the heavens. That dove was incredibly symbolic for me as a child, apparently made impressionable by the release of doves when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. That event was monumental, even as a child half a world away, and the releasing of the doves symbolized the potential for peace, harmony, and by extension, a respect for human diversity. The church was the beginning of my journey.

Quests.We decide what it is we will pursue in our lives, which quests we will accept and which we will ignore.  Yet our minds do not own the initial impulse toward them, or often, the manner in which we pursue our dreams. As thoughtful, intellectual, and conscious as they may be, our journeys always begin in our hearts.

Tomorrow I will post part 2 of my Journey adventure - please join me!