Change

Traditionally the Wheel of Fortune, this card is titled Change. Again, such a great depiction.
At the centre of the swirling wheel of information is the yin and yang symbol of balance. To me this all about balance. The questions to ask is how what thoughts or beliefs are causing you flux in your life? And what about them do you need to change to get from the outside to the inside – that spot of peace and balance.
I’m pretty sure I know exactly what this card is talking about here. In a personal level, I feel I’m holding on to certain thought patterns so tightly that I’m the only one on this emotional ride, and guess what, I have motion sickness so it’s not pretty at times.
I decided to pull another card wondering how to do this. I got number 14, traditionally Temperance. When I first started learning tarot the key word for temperance that kept popping up is balance. But this just makes so much more sense to me now. Integration. It’s not about finding the delicate balance anymore. It’s about integrating concepts that until now have been very dualistic. The very idea of balance would indicate two contrasting ideas in itself. Look at the amazing illustration on this card. Masculine vs feminine; day vs night; wrong vs right; we’ve come to buy into such contrasts over the years that we forgot that it all come from the same place.
Both majors. Big issues or changes. You could be dealing with new broader or loftier concepts today. Do you notice the similarities between the cards? What I remind myself when I need to is that there is no wrong and right, no victim and victor, no dark and light, past issues and future hopes, but that it just all IS.
At the end of the day, whatever way works for you is good. To say some work better than the other will just take us back to square one again.

Joy to the world, a new deck has come!

Surprise!

Joy to the world, a new deck has come.
Let me, rip open, the packaging!
There are few things in this world that are as exciting as opening a new deck of cards, especially when they are a ‘because I love you’ surprise.

I have been thinking of getting back to a card a day practise but in a way that helps me explore my tarot more too.
So I’ve decided to start ‘A Month In The Deck Of’ where in I will be exploring a tarot deck by pulling single cards as often as I can and exploring different spreads with the deck.
I was wondering which one to use when the husby surprised me with the Osho Zen Tarot. So the universe has spoken!
I love me a good tarot box set and this one is beautiful. I would say though that I wish this came with the standard organza bag as I don’t like leaving cards at the mercy or my butterfingers out in the open. I tried that once and it did not work well.
Anyway the deck is beautiful and I had a bag to spare so all is forgiven.

Straight out of the box I pulled a card for the day. And I got the card ‘Trust.’
Traditionally this card would be the knight of Water / cups but I liked at it for a moment and thought that it just made so much more sense.

Look at the man free falling. He just dove out without a second thought. What a beautiful sense of peace this card brings with it and look to the bottom to see his rewards – an almost cotton candy like brightness that you can almost imagine being warm, soft and fuzzy – much more than the knight ever thought it could be. It’s profound yet simple really. Take a few seconds to answer these questions: where in your life are you second guessing yourself? Why are you unable to take that leap of faith? Why it is so difficult for you to trust that EVERYTHING in your life is going to work out ok? What are you afraid of loosing? Does the thought of rewards beyond your expectation frighten you? Why?
So many amazing things to think about. I took a moment to look at the book. I tend to leave this part till the end or avoid it altogether as I like to make sure I have drawn every possible personal interpretation to the card first. I love these words from the book: You cannot loose your real treasure.

 

 

 

I’ve never bega…

I’ve never begun any important venture for which I felt adequately prepared” ~Sheldon Kopp

Don’t wait for things out there to e perfect. If you do, you could be left waiting a long, long time. Take it from the one time Queen of Procrastination, just lift up your fancy dress and get to it!

Things my cat got me thinking about

Manku may have been a great many things – pricey, moody, fussy – but most importantly, he simply WAS. He was all these things with everyone and even the love of his life, my mom was never spared a good dose of his indifference. If you ask me, that’s something wonderful and rare in the human kingdom.

       All my life to this very day I see people who have two, three or more personalities crammed into their bodies. One minute, they say and do one thing, the next minute Mr Hyde takes over and does or says something different followed by the whoever else they have stuffed down there. Living abroad, I see so many people with two distinct accents, one Indian and another more buffed up version of the Queen’s English. I even notice that body language and tones change when the person comes into contact with people from different groups. Isn’t this switching of identities exhausting? And who told you that the real you is not good enough to begin with in the first place? Manku would have none of this. That he existed was a simple and a logical enough reason for anything.

       So if the Manksy hissed at you, piddled in you slippers, disappeared on your arrival or did just the opposite and sat and stared at you and watched your every move when you came home, he did all those things with us too. Honestly, can you say this about yourself? Can others confirm this about you too?

       I still remember the first few days when Manku came home. Mum put out a bowl of food and he ate till he was full. She put out some water and he drank when he was thirsty. Since kitty litter was unavailable at the time, we put out a tub lined with newspaper and when he went, he clawed at the newspaper to cover up his business at the bottom of the tub. He waited a few hours for that tub, but as soon as it was laid on the ground, he knew exactly what that tub was for and what he had to do.

       He had no Meow mum or dad to teach him these little kitty ways that in two months of his life were so strongly instinctive in him. I’m at a point where I am just beginning to understand this one myself. But I honestly believe that each and every one of us comes with this inner programming. Our world is designed to make us think that it is however a whole bunch of different things. When is the last time you had a real strong gut hunch or a sense of inner knowingness  about something? Did you act on it? I can’t tell you the amount of times I have heard people regret a decision they knew they should have made.

If you aren’t already in touch with you gut feelings / instinct, now is as good as any time to start.

       Many people have commented on Manku’s nonchalant stare. But if it was really so nonchalant, then why did it move them in a way that even they were unsure of. It’s because he took thetime to look into you. Not at you, at your clothes, your jewellery or shoes, but into your eyes. Do you really look into the eyes of the person you talk to? It’s one of the most eerily profound ways to connect with someone, especially if they choose to reciprocate. Let me know how it made you feel if this has ever happened to you or you try it with someone special during a meaningful conversation.

       I have a Masters in English Literature and worked as a journalist for a few years in Mumbai. The most profound thing that Manku taught me was that words are overrated! Talking for that matter, in may situations is highly overrated too!

So many people I meet are uncomfortable in silence. They feel compelled to fill the silence with words no matter what they are. I often find myself talking to people wondering why exactly they feel the need to tell me certain things about their lives. And this compulsive need to talk means that we end up talking about the same things over and over, and over, and over and over again. As Manku would say if he could speak, “Yaaaaaaaaawwwnnn!”I can almost see his whiskers twitching :p

        In his (just about) 13 years with us, Manku never spoke. He barely meowed! And still he changed the four of us for the better. I’m sure anyone with a beloved pet can say the same of them. So then why do we humans think we have some evolutionary upper-hand on Earth? Why do we feel obliged to shower each otherwith our “knowledge” and “life experience”. Why can’t we learn from the beautiful animal souls in our lives that just being, and simply showing up very often can fix almost anything. When did you last do that for someone you loved? When did someone you love last do that for you? How lucky you are if you have someone who can offer you their pure presence.