The Hanged Man - Letting Go

The Hanged Man – From The Star Tarot

“I sit before flowers, hoping they will train me in the art of opening up. I stand on mountain tops believing that avalanches will teach me to let go.”…Shane Koyczan

I recently read this quote in my Free Will Horoscope (the brilliant Rob Brezny). It has been pressing upon my consciousness for several weeks now. While it immediately made me think of the Hanged Man in the Tarot, the card of Surrender, to me it seemed to be more about what happens when we are able to allow the art of opening up and believe we can learn to let go.

We have all been there; dealing with a life event of pain, suffering, guilt, loss, anger, shame, or whatever it is that has bound us, trapped us, left us hanging out to dry. We try to process it, work it out, understand what happened and “what next.” Friends, who may be tired of listening to the story repeated to them say, “just let it go.”  I always felt that if I only COULD let it go – if I only COULD move on. I wanted to. I tried to.  I could not.

The Hanged Man tells us there are other realms, other ways, other opportunities if we can but trust. It is not an overnight process. I like to think of this card as when we are up all night pacing the floor back and forth, filled with angst. While we pace, we run the same old story over and over through our head but no inspiration or answer is found in that rut of linear thinking. Then something just trips us up, pushes us over the edge and we experience a sort of fall; we just can no longer hold that unresolved pattern any longer. And as we fall, we find we are supported, held by an unseen force or power. We drop out of that linear realm where we are trapped and find ourselves suspended into a new dimension – a void – where we have room to just fall apart and come loose. In that place of hanging we drop into silence, into a place of non-action, of suspended animation. Our resistance is futile. We are held, we are hung out, and we finally let go. 

And out of that other dimension we start to hear the answers, feel the hope return, find ourselves again in space, realigned to our higher self rather than trapped in our limited mind set. It is not a matter of degree or why or judgment; whatever has brought us to the Hanged Man did so because it was time to accept, time to fall, time to let go. Time to receive grace.

There are many levels of the Hanged Man. Sometimes we are launched over the edge without any warning by a disaster. Sometimes, fed up with what is going on, we run yelling and screaming and jump over the edge. Anything is better than this! But the quote about the flowers and avalanches felt to me more like an unraveling rather than a surrender; a graceful coming apart inspired by beauty, wisdom, and the magic of life itself, opening up to an expanded awareness.

The featured card shows a person held by the tendrils of a lotus blossom hanging down through an egg shaped enclosure filled with the night stars – the field of unlimited possibility. In the surrender the aura expands and the chakras open revealing a pendulum of balance. There is a sense of true power here, of discovery and even freedom. In this suspended time and space we come to know that anything is possible; even to be able to let go.

May flowers and avalanches guide you.

…Kathryn Ravenwood  3/23/16

The 8 of Cups - Leaving it Behind

The Eight of Cups – Moving On 

         The Buckland Romani Tarot                                                                                                      The Rider Waite Tarot

I

I love seeing trends when I do readings for people.  Lately the 8 of Cups has been showing up so I decided to take a closer look at it.

I confess that, being a Cancer and easily overwhelmed by my emotions (duh), this card carries a lot of sorrow and regret for me.  Oh gosh, how did I get into this situation?  I was so stupid, bad, thoughtless, vulnerable, gullible, fill in the blank….  But here I am and I am miserable.  

I have been shortchanging this card.  Yes, it is a very emotional place and yes, we have hit an emotional bottom.  But this card is really about hope and movement forward.  It is a place where we come to grips with reality and cut our losses so we can move on.  The past is just that – the past, over, done, never to return.  We can’t change what happened and we can only remain frozen in the pain so long.  There comes a time we just need to get to a better place.  I am never amused when people say, “oh just get over it.”  You know – we might not really ever get over it but we can certainly go on.  This takes not only will power and courage but a sense of surrender.  We just can’t do any more about it.  We come to realize what is done is done and we must cut our losses, turn our backs on that low place and move on.

I am showing two examples of the 8 of Cups – the traditional Rider Waite based image and the Buckland Romani Tarot.  Both express the meaning of the card but in entirely different ways.  The Buckland Romani card spoke to me as I think no other Tarot card ever has.  It absolutely sent a gasp of n ew understanding through my entire being.  I will tell you why.  My father’s side of the family came to this country from Sweden, landed in New York, and continued their journey west as Mormon Hand-Cart pioneers.  I cannot even imagine how hard that must be – HAND CARTS.  No horses or oxen or mules pulling their belongings – they walked and pushed, pulled and wrangled those carts across mountains and rivers and miles of open prairie in all kinds of weather.  I am sure they started out with those carts loaded with every treasure they owned, thinking they could transport their past into their future.  Then along the way they were forced to leave things behind.  I grew up in Wyoming and heard stories about how in the old days people still found remnants of the pioneers’ leavings as they had to lighten the load – dishes, musical instruments, furniture, all left on the prairie along old wagon ruts carved into the earth like the indelible ink of forgotten stories.

I have thought a lot about this – the road became so hard and going forward must have seemed impossible.  Imagine the conversations  “why did we ever leave Sweden? What were we thinking?  I miss the people back home. I want a real meal. I want to sleep in a real bed. How much farther do we have to do this?  We will never get there.  I am too tired. We will never get this cart out of that mud.  It is too hot, too cold, too far…..” In despair, bitterness, fear, overwhelmed to the max, these people had to face reality.  They are here – now – in this predicament.  They have to lighten the load or they cannot go forward.  That means something has got to go and it is going to have to be the heaviest part of the burden.  So out goes the rocking chair where all the babies were rocked,  or mother’s tea set, or the chest of family treasures.  Dump it.  Leave it.  Cry and wring your hands but it has got to go.  And then, yes, the cart wheels finally move, with one last heroic effort it is pushed out of the mud and headed west.  West.  The place of transitions, where the trees, feeling the coming winter, drop their leaves to preserve their strength and lessen the burden to support and keep alive the core of the tree during the cold months.  Where the Shadows lurk and we go between a place of light and dark – into the unknown.

What are the heaviest and oldest burdens you carry?  Are you ready to finally sacrifice them to lighten your load so you can go forward?  I offer this question to you with great love and understanding and encourage you to leave behind that which is so hard for you to bear.  You are moving forward into an unknown future.  My pioneer ancestors did indeed make it and settled in beautiful lands, raised families and created a new heritage.  They built new furniture, acquired new dishes and looked forward more than behind.  They had to.

I hope the 8 of Cups helps you to take the time to evaluate your emotional distress and feel what you are ready to leave behind.  Our lives are indeed vast landscapes filled with mountains and valleys, oceans and rivers to cross.  And we have wide open spaces where we can leave behind what we must let go of.  We move into a new day with each morning and we begin again with each breath. 

Here’s to a lighter load, the cutting of losses, the grieving and the moving on. And may peace be with you on your journey.

…Kathryn Ravenwood   www.kathrynravenwood.com

From The Star Tarot

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

Do you feel it?  The constant pressure to change?  Are you exploring it? Surrendering to it? Fighting it? Ignoring it?  Does it exhilarate you or scare you – well, to Death?

In the image above, The Goddess Nut, our Great Cosmic Mother, is the shining portal of life through which we each pass. She holds back the unlimited expanse of the field of stars.  We are each of us a star in her belly, each a part of the grand cosmos, each in a constant state of coming forth. She gives birth to us, even as she births the Sun God – Ra – shown by the position of the sun disks throughout her body.

From this portal, Death steps out of the black void of unlimited, yet unknown, possibilities into the defined frame of the world. Simultaneously, the Phoenix is moving up to meet Death.  The shape of the dance with Nut, Death, and the Phoenix is the vesica piscus  - “a type of lens, a mathematical shape formed by the intersection of two disks with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each disk lies on the perimeter of the other.”  In other words – a portal.   The butterfly in the card seems to be flying back into the void as if taking the memory of the most recent transformation back into the great Akashic Field to be recorded in our own Akashic Records.  The whole images gives me a sense of Time  - of slowing down the all encompassing into a fragment that can be experienced as Life.

The frame of our world changes constantly.  Staying the same, or being in continual stasis, is not possible.  Everything is shifting, morphing, transforming.  Time does not stand still. The cycle of birth to death and birth again is the only constant; we see it happening all around us every day at every moment.

So why does change frighten us? If it is normal to die and be reborn, to transform and transcend, why fight it?  Perhaps because we are mortal beings in body there is a strong sense of resistance by the body to change.  The body wants to be stable, dependable and reliable. The body recruits the mind for support in this and constantly monitors all systems of the physical and makes every attempt to stabilize. We experience pain because the body says, after trying in many other ways to get our attention, “Look here!  Trouble! Please fix!” Yet, our resistance is strong; we oppose new routines or ideas and prefer to stay comfortable in our known state of mind and body, even if it is painful. “I will start going to the exercise class tomorrow; I will change my diet tomorrow; someday I will get in the habit of daily spiritual exercises.” With those attitudes, Death has little option to assist us.

Culturally, the idea of Death says time is up – game over. Finished and Done, and that frightens us.  The Phoenix says we are born again from the ashes ever rising up to live again, and again, and that challenges us. But even in that body-mind connection of stability and stasis there is constant change.  Cells die and are replaced. We breathe in and out, recycling air through our entire body. Even stubborn muscle memory can be changed.

So it is not surprising that we experience conflict between that very strong power of needing stability and the unlimited, ever changing nature of our Eternal Being.  How is our Eternal Being supposed to get through this tough, stubborn 3-D trauma to communicate with us? If we were consciously aware of all the body is doing we could not function. If we were aware of all our Spirit/Soul/Eternal Being is doing, we might not be able to stay in the body at all.  We are transitional all the time. All aspects of us.  That portal Nut holds for us opens and closes.  Death is simply the Doorman.

Not everyone believes that there is something for us after we die. But even then the body returns to the elements and is recycled, reused and made into something new. I choose to embrace the transitional nature of my Spirit, trusting more will be revealed, that the portal Nut holds for us will allow entrance to a new vision, a new experience when my mortal body no longer walks this Earth. And, like that butterfly, I will transform into memory, leaving my signature behind in the lives of those I have shared this walk with even as that memory is part of my eternal path just beyond Death’s Door.

 

In the meantime, in body and on Planet Earth, I want to be more in touch with Nut and Death and the Phoenix and embrace the change that is calling to me physically, mentally, and spiritually. May you also find grace and peace in your transitions. May you embrace the change flowing through you and us all. May you connect with the wholeness of Life and embrace the Cosmic Cycles knowing Nut and Death will hold the Door for you.

Love and peace – Kathryn Ravenwood…  05/01/18

TEMPERANCE

From the Druid Craft Tarot

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

 

What is Temperance? The dictionary defines it as “moderation in action, thought or feeling; restraint; a habitual moderation in the indulgence of appetites or passions (especially in regards to alcohol).” However, the Tarot, always encouraging us to think in archetypes, tells us Temperance is alchemy, art, blending. There is a much larger sense of this card than simply using restraint in our consumption of wine. The card is traditionally presented as an angel pours water between two vessels as she stands with one foot on land and one in the water suggesting the eternal blending of all that is above and all that is below.

 

One way to think of Temperance is along the lines of kitchen alchemy… we read a recipe, say for cake, process it in our brain, gather the ingredients and follow (more or less) the instructions.  Once you start blending those ingredients they cannot be separated. When the ingredients are all mixed together we don’t have cake – that requires the heat of the oven to bring the final magic. Too little time in the oven and the cake won’t cook.  Too long in the oven and the cake burns. But just the right heat and time in the oven produces a lovely cake. We might ruin several potential cakes in the process but we learn, perfect, and can become great cake bakers with continued practice and maybe by attending a class on cake baking. Here we do come to understand moderation – too much or too little just doesn’t work but just the correct combination brings everything together just right.  (Goldilocks and the Three Bears as alchemists?  Just a thought!) We might also accidently invent an entirely new cake that is more delicious and becomes our new favorite.

 

But the archetype of alchemy is so much more than this. In the card above we see Temperance in a magical potion being created. The witch knows how to work her magic, blending her intention, ingredients, and actions into her potion to create the desired results. Like the traditional angel, she pours her formula between two vessels, getting it just right. She has started with an intention. She uses her knowledge to gather the right ingredients and applies her skill to bring her intention through the cauldron and into reality. She is working her magic, her alchemy. Herbs dry in the rafters, magic symbols are found throughout her room, holding their wisdom and powers until called upon. Steam from the cauldron mixes with the air around it, and the open window shows us our witch is part of the world outside as well as in her workspace. A rainbow reminds us of the inseparable combination of air, water, light and our vision to see it. This concept is true from the micro to macrocosm… from the cellular level of her body, the wood beams, the fabric of her dress to the mountain in the distance, the elements of the water, air, fire and earth.  It is all inter-related.

How are you working your magic in the world?  What are you intending, gathering, blending and bringing forth? We are given all we need to live and thrive from an amazingly abundant world. We have talents, inclinations, loves and desires. We have intuition, skill, wisdom and bodies that enable us to move through and interact with that world. We all give back to this world, to the great cauldron of life. We may do it intentionally or with a clueless unawareness, but we are all doing it, all the time. Our own personal blend of magic is a constant force of knowledge, wisdom, practice and creation. Sometimes we end up with results that are unexpected. They could be disappointing or a major revelation. There is always an element of the unknown with our magic and we have to stay open to the process of learning and – well – magic!

 

Temperance is cosmic recycling.  Instead of use/throw away/repeat, we use/re-use/re-purpose, and keep the flow going. We learn from teachers and become teachers sharing vast resources with others whether that be how to belly dance, do math, or bake bread. Nothing stays the same. There is always a moving and flowing going on in the cosmos, our world and in each of us. We are all alchemists all the time. We are taking from the world and giving back using our own unique style and the world is changed by us. When we teach a child to read the potential of that child is changed forever. We don’t know what they will choose to study or how they will use that knowledge, because they take the skill of reading and use it to explore their own interests which can take them anywhere. When we are stagnant, stuck, not actively in that flow, we miss it.  We desire change; we seek out ways to get going again. Our create-ability drives us to look, to learn and to share and joy flows from this process. We are happiest when we are giving back, when we are creating, when we learn, teach and experience the magic of “our eternal becoming*”  Nothing is promised to us except the resources of the entire world.  How we use them is up us – it is how we make our magic.

 

*to quote Normandi Ellis

 

 

…Kathryn Ravenwood March 13, 2018

 

 

 

JUSTICE

From The Star Tarot Deck

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

 

In Numerology, 2018 is a Justice year… 2 +1+ 8 = 11, which is the Tarot Card of Justice. *

We might first think of Justice as in a court of law, in politics, a determination of what is fair, or of just rewards coming back at someone who has “done us wrong” – as in “what goes around comes around.”  We have a sense of wanting things to be balanced, to be assured that things work out fairly. Often Justice is shown as a blindfolded woman indicating that the law is the same for everyone regardless of who they are. While this system certainly does not work all the time, that is the premise behind it.

This makes Justice an external factor but since we live in a world of duality there are always two sides to a story. Our laws are established to help the majority – we know people get a raw deal, slip through the cracks of the system, are ignored or manipulated. We know there is corruption and prejudice in those who enforce our laws just as there are those who devote their lives to making the system work better for more people.

The Tarot card above shows Justice without a blindfold. She calls us to shift from the view that justice happens someplace outside of ourselves and tells us to look inward. Justice is associated with Karma which is the Cosmic Law that every cause creates an effect. Every action creates a re-action. To come close to making those Cosmic Scales balance and wield the great Cosmic Sword fairly requires awareness of our past actions and taking new action to change/correct our future.  This is how we grow spiritually, how we create a more balanced life, and how we are more aligned with Justice as a higher truth.

We see in this card that the Scales are balanced through Justice’s Third Eye and aligned with the Sun and Moon. The Sword is balanced on a finely honed point in the water in front of her – water representing Spirit. She stands between two columns carved from trees – very reminiscent of the two columns the High Priestess stands between. The High Priestess is card 2 of the Tarot and when we add the 1+1 of Justice’s number 11 we get the High Priestess number. The High Priestess represents Truth in the highest form but holds it hidden or veiled letting us know that Truth is something we must seek from within. This very beautiful card gives us much to visualize and take in regarding the Nature of Justice.

Another aspect shown in this card is the direct connection between Justice and nature. We are truly a part of nature. We are made from the Elements as all other Earthly beings are – Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. We cannot go through our life even one day without interacting with another Being – plant, animal, rock or human or the Elements themselves. We cannot move without disrupting an existing energy pattern. We are an integral part of Nature and our own Nature is made of all the choices we make and their resulting experiences.  Even choices made FOR us, such as by parents, or superiors in our jobs, or politicians change our experiences and eventually our Nature. We truly are all interconnected.

 

As we move into 2018 and a Year of Justice I am sure the media will bombard us with countless viewpoints of how Justice is or is not being served. Instead of feeling like we have to take one side or the other, I hope we will look within and align with our own Truth on the matter and find a way to take appropriate action.  One person may not change the world – but then, you never know how things will work out. 

 

…Kathryn Ravenwood  1.23.18

 

*There is a variance in Tarot regarding the Justice and Strength cards. Some decks use #8 as Justice and #11 as Strength.  My studies lead me to embrace #8 as Strength and #11 as Justice. This article will not explore those differences.

 

 

The Six of Cups

Love and Joy

From the King’s Journey Tarot

As this year draws to a close, I think of how much tumult we have experienced not only in the world and political scene, but in our personal lives as well.  We have had joys, fears, disappointments, betrayals, and triumphs. So much has happened. In a seemingly constant state of overwhelm, it has been hard to find any balance. 

We all need to take the time to take a breath – or two – and find the space to relax and allow ourselves to be surrounded by the things that give us joy.  In the card above, a happy couple celebrates Christmas with their small child. They are warmed by a cozy fire, sharing wine, bread and cheese. The cups in front of them represent the loving gifts they have given each other; the unwrapped presents let us know more joy is yet to come. In this moment they are in harmony enjoying the life they have created together.

The world may be in chaos and storms may rage around us, but we have the choice to reach inside our own awareness and find that place of peace, gratitude, love, and joy within us.  This morning I drove into early Yoga just before the dawn. I waited at the stop light having just come off the interstate onto the overpass and watched the traffic below me. Speeding lines of red tail lights were heading west in the constant drone of high speed engines and tires spinning over asphalt.  The scene looked to me like a condensed layer of  chaos. Suddenly my awareness was lifted up and I saw the beautiful sky above; not yet light but no longer dark.  I had an immense feeling of space above me, above the hurried and crowded world in which I live. That space seem to me to hold all the possibilities of peace, fulfillment, love, and creativity. I wondered why it is I don’t notice this more – why I live small and cramped when just above me are spacious and vast realms.  It felt so good to see and feel this.

During Yoga I led my class in breathing; exhale and ground into the Earth. Inhale and allow the lifting and expansion to move through their bodies, through their awareness.  Tomorrow is the Solstice – feel that balance of being in the Earth and in the Above.  Widen, lift, lengthen. Let the brand new morning light shine into you and remember that YOU are the Light – you are the Hope – you are the Peace – you are the Love and that you take this with you every place you go and to everyone you encounter.  We breathed together and a sense of peace filled the room.  Even with my eyes closed I could see individual bodies of light sitting in front of me.  In that moment, all was in harmony, all was at peace. 

I send you all immense love and joy for being a part of my life and for me being a part of your’s.  May this Solstice and Holiday time bring you peace. May you find that place within you that is as big as the universe and as warm as a cozy fire on a winter night.  May you see the gifts you give and receive the gifts that are offered to you.  May you see the Gift that You Are.

Blessed be.

Kathryn Ravenwood

….December 20, 2017

The Four of Swords

The Star Tarot Deck, Cathy McClelland

Original Writing by Kathryn Ravenwood

November 22, 2017

 

The Swords are the Suit of the Mind and are traditionally associated with the East. The Four of Swords  is when the agitation of cruel and self-punishing thoughts are put to rest. We go to sleep without the hamsters racing on the wheel all night. We have found a mental stability that allows us to re-group, re-organize, and re-establish our thoughts. We reach a state of  mental truce.

I especially love this card which is oriented towards all things of the West, the time of year we are currently enjoying. We have the Bear, the traditional Spirit Guide of the West, who brings protection. Bear is hibernating between the worlds of present and future reminding us we can also go “between” by surrendering our conscious world of thoughts through deep rest and by entering the Dreamtime. Salmon in the Water is also a sign of the West. As this great fish returns home at the end of a long cycle, it surrenders its worn out and expended body to become food for the bears.

Deep within a cave, under the starry sky, a man sleeps with the bears as they watch over him yet share his hibernation.  He is surrounded by the same night sky as we see above the outside ground, showing us he has entered the Dreamtime. The four swords imbedded in the trees offer a sense of peace, of surrendering all thoughts and conflict to allow the space and time to process. His hands crossed over his chest remind us that heartfelt thoughts bring us peace of mind. 

The ability to surrender our thoughts is a course of mastery we work at our entire lives. We are daily exposed to an onslaught of information. We cannot possibly understand or internalize it all and nor should we! What is true? What is false? How does that information apply to me? Whose opinion is this?  Why do I even think what I think?

Depicting this card in a West setting opens us to approach things from a different point of view. By re-orienting our thoughts we discover new worlds within us that call to be explored. We find truths buried beneath layers of unconscious, rote opinions. By going deeper into our subconscious mind we are released from superficial mind clutter that over burdens us.

What Swords could you lay down? What thoughts are you ready to surrender to negotiate for yourself a new way of thinking that brings win-win situations to your life? When was the last time you consciously chose to take a time out, to rest your mind and be quiet?  Does your thinking process tell you that you always have to be right? Is that some kind of control issue? What IS Truth, anyway? Opinions are very polarizing yet they express different sides of the whole. How we sort out our own Truth helps us discover more of the Whole and how we live and function as a part of it.

How do you defend The Truth? Sometimes we have to take up our Sword, draw a line in the sand, and take a stand to be the defenders -  but that is different Tarot card. For now, with the Four of Swords, we allow ourselves to be a peace and regroup our troubled minds.

One of my favorite quotes is from an old Donovan song: “love is hot – truth is molten.”  In its molten-ness, Truth cannot be contained, will burn through everything blocking its advancement, and eventually, like hot lava reaching the ocean, build up new islands of firm ground. Perhaps the molten quality of Truth calls us to a larger thinking to create new pathways in our brain, to expand our capacity of thinking to better allow Truth to burn through us and reform us.

This is what our minds are capable of.  This is what our minds do.  The more we open and expand, the more capacity we gain, and our restricted, constricted thought patterns get burned up in the molten advance of the Truth through us.

We become the Dreamtime. We become the Protectors. We become Truth.

…Kathryn Ravenwood,   November 22, 2017