JANUARY,The first month of the year,A perfect time to start all over again,Changing energies and deserting old moods,New beginnings, new attitudes
~Charmaine J Forde
One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart! What about - ? Let's get together and feel all right As it was in the beginning (One Love!) So shall it be in the end (One Heart!) All right!
~BoB Marley,One Love
Start your lives over.
Everyone is totally forgiven, no matter what.
~Rumi
So here we are in the New Year, traditionally a time full of all sorts of new beginnings. Personally I’m in the midst of a series of them...I’ve just given notice on my old living place and am moving towards a new one. I completed a 5 month temp job at the end of 2017 and am beginning a new one on January 2nd. At the time I’m writing this I have plans to have a conversation on the possibilities of moving forward with a renewed relationship...So many fresh starts!And as a collective, the counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura are rising from the ashes of the largest fire in recorded California History…we are picking up the pieces, brushing off the ashes and dust, and starting over again.Sometimes I wonder if these articles are writing me or if I am writing them. My last article on fire came out just a few days before that fire started, and I have planned for all of 2018 to go through the minor arcana of the tarot by number, starting with the Aces; I hadn’t realized that the circumstances of my life would appear to come along with the articles I write!
I once had a thousand desires, but in my one desire to know you,all else melted away.
~Rumi
So here in January we have the ACES, numerologically the number one. In my Waldorf teacher training my perception of numbers was turned on its head with the concept of the largest number in the world being the number 1. Everything comes from one; when it splits it becomes 2, 3, 4 and so on into infinity...the number one is wholeness in its entirety and all of the other numbers come from one. I like the image of the fertilized egg, which after conception just splits and splits and splits, duplicating & differentiating and eventually becoming a complex human being.
An Oak tree is a daily reminder that great things oftenhave small beginnings.
~Matshona Dhliwayo
You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.
~Rumi
What a powerful concept. Ones are also known to be intiatiatory, they push forward into new realms. One is the Alpha and the Omega and the impetus to get us moving into and through that journey of wholeness. It's the first step that begins every journey and we must muster the courage or the bravado, the determination or the naivete, to put that foot forward and take the step. The Fool’s Journey (and every one of us must be a fool, wise or otherwise) comes around again and again in life.
As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.
~Rumi
Aces are the tarot’s symbol of new beginnings. So let’s begin the journey through the aces. We’ll start with the Ace of Wands as wands represent spirit, fire and action.
And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.
~Meister Eckhart
The Ace of Wands in the sun and moon tarot, the deck that resonates with me, is represented by the close up view of a fiery torch lighting up a dark night. It is not only indicative of new beginnings, it also lights the way for others. Wands are action in this world as well as spirit, when the Ace of Wands makes its way into a reading it is a symbol of a powerful movement forward, initiated by spirit, guided by the light of positive action. The fire is magic and power and impetus, and sometimes we need someone or something to light a fire under us and get us moving.
From my point of view, God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it,and a spark of divine light is within each of us.
~Pope Francis
As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.
~Carl Jung
For me this recent fire was powerful in this respect. I had been thinking of moving from my home for a long time. Especially as I am doing some regular work two cities over from where I’m living and the morning traffic is congested with much needed freeway improvements in process. I do not enjoy commuting and prefer to be in the town where I live and live near my work. During the fire I was evacuated and stayed with friends very near to my current work, the short commute and lovely re-connections in the community inspired me to take the actions necessary to get moving and make my move.And this powerful action forward in the material world is likely to create for me the circumstances in the next card.
The Ace of Pentacles in the sun and moon deck is represented by a single pentacle in the center of a shield surrounded by the intricate symbolism of the Celtic flower of life on a golden orange background; from behind the pentacle/shield, luscious green ivy is growing and spreading. It represents new beginnings in the material world, the initiation of wealth, good health, and all things positive. It is grounded, rooted in the physical world and lets us know, when it appears in a reading, that good things are not just coming, they have actually rooted and sprouted and and are well on their way.
Nature is infinitely creative.It is always producing the possibility of new beginnings.
~Marianne Williamson
Not only am I moving closer to work, my rent is going down, as is my commute and traveling costs and I will be able to ride my bike to work so this move will increase my health and physical wellbeing along with improving my financial situation. It feels like a win win win, and that’s just the things I know about! I imagine that there all sorts of other new beginnings engendered by this one.And I am so excited to find out what’s next!!!
The Ace of Swords is the beginning of a new way of thinking, of looking at the world. The image in this deck is that of a single upward pointing sword in a bright blue sky whose point is crowned by bright yellow gold sunlike rays and whose crescent moon hilt is nestled in clouds with a snake wrapped around the handle. It represents a new integrated thinking: combining the solar, lunar and earthly aspects of this thinking/being human. When the Ace of Swords appears in a reading it is indicating that the querent is just beginning to look at the world from a new perspective, likely one that takes more into account than it had in the past.
When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.
~Khalil Gibran
I have found that once my eyes have been opened to a new perspective, be it spiritual, emotional, philosophical, scientific or otherwise, it often changes my view of the entire world, its as if it adds a new tint to my rose colored glasses. This new aspect is then completely integrated and becomes part of how I see the world, only changing as new concepts and thoughts and feelings and surprises are added. These things can’t just be un-known or reversed, they become a part of me and unless I’m willing to medicate or distract myself to the point of utter nonsense, I am changed for the better. I think this is part of the evolutionary process.
Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candur.
~Tom Hanks
And even though I think I might “know” certain things, I have found that sometimes letting go of knowing is just as important. It takes me to a place of wonder, of curiosity, of asking questions instead of assuming...
Which brings me to my most recent journey of love, represented by the Ace of Cups. In this deck this new emotion filled journey of love is represented by the Holy Grail, the supreme chalice of love, floating on water with a heart centered in its cup and bright rays of white light shooting out from the inside of the bowl (as if it contains the whole of the moon itself) into a dark blue sky, at the center of which is a rainbow ray shooting straight upwards from the middle of the chalice. In the grail’s reflection on the water is a many petaled lotus, continuously unfolding. The symbolism of this card is a new journey of great love, beginning from the source, from the great wellspring of eternal love that is in each and every one of us. When the Ace of Cups appears in a reading, it speaks to the idea of self love first which extends out and offers love to all. The rainbow is the connection right to the source of love, to our higher power, our higher self, to the universal concept of love, to God/dess.When we access divine love and become the source of love for ourselves, we cease to look outside for the validation and love we need and instead shine forth love from the inside, offering it unconditionally to others. No one needs to do anything but show up as themselves in order to be loved by us and through us. We no longer need the world to mirror love for us, we simply exude it and it lights up everyone and everything around us.
The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
~Thomas Merton
Recently I have been asked to step into a place of such extreme self love, so much so that I might even be ready to begin to love another. I have been able to engage wonder rather than assumption, trust rather than suspicion and to waylay my own fears and darkness by trusting myself, trusting love unfolding and trusting the universe/God/dess/Spirit/Creator/Love so much that I am allowing for my heart to break wide open to the journey of love.This man will not break my heart, but he may continue to break my expectations. My experience of our journey, so far, is transforming my personality’s expectations of it’s perception of love, which is turning out to be a wonderful thing. And more is still unfolding; and all along the way I am loved, I am love and I am loving.
I will find new meaning in every joy and sorrow In that silence, I will hear the voice of spirit, And freed from this world, I will see another worldWhere the end is another beginning.
~Rumi
This is a continuous and renewed journey for me. In the past I have found myself defensive or expecting the worst and reacting preemptively; now sometimes those thoughts come, but I do not follow them down the rabbit hole, I simply watch them go by as I return to a place of wonder, vulnerability and love. This doesn’t mean I don’t feel, and feel deeply all sorts of difficult emotions, feelings and old patterns. It just means I feel everything, notice all of the filters and charges of the past and the wounds and scars that I have collected along the way, and then again return back to a place of loving witness where I can release them and still feel utterly loved.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
~1 Corinthians 13
When I offer the benefit of the doubt and compassion and kindness to myself and to everyone else, the world is a much more comfortable and livable place. When I realize that a person is not trying to hurt me, only trying to navigate their own shadows, hills and valleys, joys, wounds and scars, current and past, I have so much more patience and love for them and for myself.So my wish for you all, this new year (and every year, not to mention every moment), is not only wonderful new beginnings, of every sort, but also so much love...may all of your holy grails runneth over with the sweet waters of the everflowing wellspring of love deep within your own heart. We all have this capacity, may we offer it freely to ourselves and to each other and love this world entirely as we journey forward into our next evolutionary phase.
One love, one blood One life, you got to do what you should One life with each other Sisters, brothers One life, but we're not the same We get to carry each other, carry each other One…
~U2
May Light always surround you;Hope kindle and rebound you.May your Hurts turn to Healing;Your Heart embrace Feeling.May Wounds become Wisdom;Every Kindness a Prism.May Laughter infect you;Your Passion resurrect you.May Goodness inspireyour Deepest Desires.Through all that you Reach For,May your arms Never Tire.
~D. Simone
