The Star - No Blind Hope - Promise

The Star - Egg Tempera on gesso panel - Catherine Meyers - 2017

I've been busy this July and haven't had a whole lot of time to get to writing my usual post on my Tarot blog, which I've missed. But July is quickly coming to a close and I'm staying put, home for the remainder of the Summer. As much as I enjoy visiting and having some new experiences away, the best part is coming home, I must say, because it's very much my comfort zone. That said I need to get out of my comfort zone in order to grow, and to help me appreciate what gives me happiness and affirms how I alone am responsible for that.

This month I attended a wonderful - the 31st women's weekend with life long friends at the beach, saw a great concert with Rawlins Cross at Jost Winery, did a reading for a beautifully spirited young woman and we all ate scrumptious food.

The week before I was over the moon to be included as one of nine students in an egg tempera Master Class with renowned egg tempera painter Tom Forrestall and his son William Forrestall for five days. This was truly a life time opportunity, one of those self-actualizing experiences I'd say for me.

Comfort zones and self-actualizing experiences is a good segue-way to my topic this morning. Connecting with my own creativity, the study and practice of reading Tarot have been both for me over the years, and have changed my life in countless ways.

People often have misconceptions and are misinformed about how Tarot works, and there are probably just as many interpretations and explanations of this, and it's not much wonder folks are often left confused and skeptical. None the less, it's very important I believe to ask and to get the answers to our questions.

If we can dig deep enough, I think we can find our own answers to the question, how does Tarot work, much in the same way we come to understand how creativity works. I'm of the opinion that creativity and Tarot share many similarities and characteristics. In particular they both share two primary elements and qualities when it comes to intuition and perception. One primary per-requisite and conduit to both intuition and perception is having a open heart and an open mind. This has always worked for me. It doesn't mean that the difficulties of life disappeared but I was stronger because of the difficulties, not in spite of them because my heart and mind were open in trust and in faith.

I can give metaphysical and even scientific explanations what quantum physics calls entanglement regarding Tarot or creativity, but I think it all might just come down to what individuals are curious about, enough to find the answers to their questions. It might sound cliche, but it's also following what makes you happy, what Joseph Campbell calls "following your bliss." And for me creativity, reading Tarot and making connection between the two gives me great satisfaction, reward and happiness.

Being human beings, we can't find all the answers to all our questions and there is a certain beautiful mystery to life that can either leave us feeling skeptical and cynical or we can choose a faith based approach, with a trust in knowing that we can ultimately relinquish control, trust the world of the unconscious and trust life enough to take its course.

The Star - I Feel Good!

The Star, the card I drew this morning is a very welcomed positive and hopeful card for me this, the first weekend of Summer. It is a card symbolizing the feminine side of nature-feeling, instinct, imagination and intuition. It is the promising Star of Hope.

My past week has been full of delightful, special surprises. Especially rewarding was seeing the fruition of all the work the students created after participating in the PAINTS program over the past three months in our local school. They'd sent out invitations to their parents, family and friends, inviting them to attend their final art exhibit. It was so well received and so wonderful to see how much their confidence soared, and how proud they were in what they accomplished and to now share this with their friends and families was very special. It was a kind of celebration of the power of creativity and imagination. It made me feel very hopeful in my outlook and inspired in so many ways, after having learned so much from this imaginative and creative, great group of insightful kids.

We haven't had a good rain for a few weeks now, and so the gardens are dry. As I was watering my garden early this morning, and was very pleased to see the water I had given the plants last night, which wasn't a whole lot, actually had made a big difference. My tender plants looked perky, like they were almost saying, look at us, we feel good! I'm certain they'd grown more over night because of that small amount of water I'd given them yesterday.

The new young plants in my garden remind me of the children I've worked with, in that, a little bit of encouragement, nurturing, and a hopeful positive attitude is just like watering your garden. A little can go a long way, and can make all the difference.

Similarly I see in this Major Arcana card, The Star that embodies the mythic image of Pandora, who is  looking past all life's negatives toward the light. She sees in spite of the Spites, who have been unleashed by Zeus. She has her focus on Hope.

Some may consider her, The Star naive, seeing the world through rose coloured glasses. I don't see her in this way. She embodies a hopeful, encouraging attitude, full of faith and has an intrinsic trust, that things will work out. The Star represents believing that all shall be well, not about being in denial, but about loving, living and accepting life on life's terms.

Human beings need to know, and strive to be individuals that reflect this kind of attitude toward ourselves, toward others, and wearing the world like a loose garment.

I know speaking personally, I could've never accomplished, achieved or overcome all that I have in my life without having some of this same kind of outlook, that has it's foundation in faith. This positive attitude was imparted to me through the example of other mentors throughout my life, much like Pandora.

The Star - Don't Let The Bastards Grind You Down

The quote that I often hear repeated "Don't let the bastards grind you down" is a good way to describe this Major Arcana card, The Star. Here we see hope and inspiration embodied in the image of Pandora who in myth opened the chest which Zeus maliciously gave to mankind and now Pandora has released all the Spites.

This card embodies the experience of hope, meaning and faith giving this promise in the midst of difficulties.

 I thought the above quote was attributed to Viktor Frankl, who survived the Nazi concentration camp and wrote Man's Search For Meaning. I think he would have certainly identified with this outlook when he said " “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

These quotes I believe describe what it means to let go.

Saint Francis of Assisi described letting go well.

"Wear the world as a loose garment, which touches us in a few places and there lightly” – St. Francis of Assisi

This is what I have found I've had to do throughout so many times throughout my life and it has become my own personal philosophy and perspective towards life in general. I've learned to wear the world as a loose garment and I've had to change myself and my attitude toward the situations I couldn't change.

 It sounds simple enough, but it isn't. It's an attitude and skill I've had to practice and continue to make it a life long habit. For me it's about learning to detach with love. Before recovery I was attached to just about everything; my hyper-vigilance and waiting for the other shoe to drop, attached to the past and the future, and attached to my misery and all that it entailed.

I'm so very grateful  every day, that I was introduced to the philosophy of letting go and that star of Hope.