Happy New Moon in Libra! We’ve just passed through the autumnal equinox, here in the northern hemisphere, as those in the southern hemisphere have passed through the vernal equinox, and together we experienced the point of balance between summer and winter whether we are coming or going.Either way, this equinox also takes us, via the sun, into the sign of Libra, of balance and harmony, ruled by Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. With both the Moon and Sun in Venus, it’s a great time to look at our relationships: with ourselves and with others and give loving attention to those we are in close communication and proximity to.
Love, Libra and the Tarot
"Libra is represented by the scales in Astrology. So, the harmony-seeking duality of Libra is heavily represented in the Justice Tarot card…Coming to any decision, she weighs both her intuition and expertise to balance the karmic laws of the UNIVERSE!”
~Tarot.com
This October is a good time to give those loved ones (and ourselves) the benefit of the doubt and to look for the good, the true and the beautiful in everything and everyone.I see the Justice card in The Sun and Moon Tarot, the deck that works with me, as a card of taking stock and actually re-framing, looking for the blessings in the lessons and the difficult places in our lives, finding the pearls that have been created around the little sandy pieces of grit that got stuck somewhere in the past.The scales in this card hold a heart and feather reminding us that the way into heaven (specifically in the Egyptian Book of the Dead) is opened with a heart that is lighter than a feather.How have we lived and loved our lives? How do we feel about it? Is there anything more important than love? Love for ourselves and love for the other? How do we both correctly judge/take stock of the situation and also love it? The sword the angel holds asks us to take stock, to use our mind, our keen intellect, for the good of ourselves and each other.
“It is said that justice is blind, there are no favorites and the emotions are not brought into it...As an air sign Libra can have a certain intellectual detachment...at other times the harmonizing influence of Venus prevails bringing mercy and understanding.”
~ Gnosticmuse.com
When this card appears in a reading it asks the querent (the person seeking guidance with the cards) to take a look at the situation, and similar situations in the past, with a frame of love, finding the good that is and has been offered, even if we weren't ready to see it until now. After all, what is the one common denominator in all of the experiences in our lives other than the truth that we, each one of us, as the center of our own life, are the ones involved in every one of those situations?And as I investigated the Hebrew letter that appears on this particular card, tet/teth/teith, I was delighted to find out that in its many definitions and symbolisms it reveals something similar...
A Kabbalah Perspective
“Tet is the way of nature (Teva) – the way of goodness (Tov)...It is connected to a journey and to the search for truth; a constant struggle, a thirst to know...The question of Tet is: How to be pleased with our lot without accepting the fixation of given situations?”
~ Erez Grinboim The Genetic Code of the Hebrew AlphaBet
“Teith, the 9th Hebrew letter has a literal meaning of basket or nest, and is the symbol of the good טוב in all creation. It has to do with purity and impurity, teaching us to choose the good, and also the realization that even within the bad things that happen, there is hidden good.”
~ Walkingkabbalah.com
One of the main lessons of my life so far has been about accepting (and loving) the idea that as a spiritual being having chosen a human experience, “I” also chose everything in my life, my parents, family lines, childhood traumas and subsequent repetitive life lessons. It is all for a purpose, to bring more of myself and my gifts and my love to the world.As I have embraced this concept, my perception of life has lightened up and I have been able to be more compassionate and kind to myself and also to others; I am less and less judgmental, more forgiving and more and more curious about the world around me.When we free others (and ourselves) from our judgment and take ownership of our own pain, we actually step off of the wheel of karma and consciously choose not to go through a situation again in any of the possible roles (victim/perpetrator/hero, meanie/weenie/genie, etc.). As we look for the gift in the challenge, the learning in the lesson and the healing in the wound, we transform the situation and come to the realization that all of life is happening for us not to us.It is from this place that we begin to feel our power, in connection and co-creation with higher power; as we feel the energy of the universe working with us we let go of the imagination that it or anyone or anything is against us!
Co-Creation and a Benificent Universe
“Teith also represents femininity, pregnancy. It includes the kindness and mercy of creation and the principle that everything is eternal and nothing is ever lost…It teaches us to distinguish between the good and the bad, and by choosing the good to clean and purify and thereby to do that which is impossible, to erase the bad deed that was done. It contains the principle that nothing is lost, nothing is wasted, and all is eternal…”
~ Walkingkabbalah.com
This is not an easy thing to do, sometimes we need to start with the little things before we can get to the big ones. When I was 17, I accidentally hit a car on the side of the road and scratched its paint because the brakes in my car weren’t working; I was mortified, had little money and still, despite the desire to run away, I left a note on the car with my phone number.When the amount I owed to the other car owner to fix the paint was so overwhelming for my high deductible insurance and minimum wage high school student wages, I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. At some point, I said aloud, to God, the Universe, creation, or maybe it was just my best friend at the time, whoever was listening, that I wanted my own burdensome big old boat of a car to get totaled and for me to be nowhere near it.I said it and I didn’t think of it again until a few months later when we received a call in the middle of the night from the police letting us know that a drunk driver had just smashed into my car. In that moment I remembered my wish and let out a whoop of celebration and thanks!My mother’s first reaction was “What if they don’t have insurance?” to which I replied, “Don’t be silly, of course they do, the universe just granted my wish!!!” And they did, the car was totaled and I got enough money out of the settlement to pay off the other car repair and to replace the block in my mother’s old Volkswagen Bug that had been in storage and became mine.This was my first major clue that I live in a beneficent universe. Now let me tell you the most recent, seemingly more difficult reframe opportunity that was, actually almost as effortless, although not in any way painless...
Love and Higher Awareness
“The image of the letter Teth (Theith, Teith) is the coiling of a serpent. It represents potential power…spiritual awareness which builds up…and is then released to create an heightened awareness in order to remind [us] of [our] divine origin.”
~ Soul-guidance.com
About 2 years ago, I was gifted with the opportunity for a penultimate life lesson, and while I was intellectually cognizant of it from the beginning, I now feel it in my bones and in my heart and in the reflections of my life: the gift of self-love, self-cherishing, self-respect and exquisite self care.It involves the last emotionally unavailable relationship partner that I will ever entertain after, up to that point, a lifetime of unconscious dedication to the attraction & engaging of such prospects. He was everything I thought I had ever wanted: intelligent, attractive, accomplished, wealthy, educated, cultured; he gave me butterflies and triggered all of my childhood and adult fantasies and imaginations of love.Early on he promised me everything if only I could wait for just a bit and yes he had some crazy similarities to my unavailable father that I openly acknowledged to myself and to him as they appeared. And still, on purpose, I loved more and wondered more and judged less and let my heart break open in such a beautiful way that I am so incredibly grateful for the experience.I simultaneously took care of myself and explored something that turned out to be "just" a fantasy in one way, as it was an incredible healing journey in another. And because of my dedication to the benefit of the doubt, along with my capacity for love & curiosity, he was more honest, transparent, vulnerable and forthright than I think he had ever been in his life.Throughout the entire journey I had incredible dreams where he played the role of my animus (the male part of myself) coming home to me, in consciousness and love, in healing and reparation. Over and over again we came together symbolically in my dreams, and through that aspect of myself I came home to myself in deep and profound ways that I had never felt before.The physical relationship was never consummated, by our conscious & intentional choice, but the spiritual relationship and the healing was powerful, profound and complete. I dedicated myself to loving more, forgiving more, seeing the best and to follow through to the end of the entire situation with more love than I had ever had the capacity of before. And I did it and I am still doing it.The turning point, which was the most difficult and took the longest amount of time, was the capacity to work with my own unconscious in order to release the man and keep and integrate the dreams. I have learned to trust my unconscious and the communications of my dreams and visions and allow then to deeply inform my life, and in order to do that I have also learned to trust my self and my journey, despite what it looks like to others.A dear friend accused me of being "unrealistic" and she appeared to me to pity and feel “sorry” for me, which triggered an angry reaction from me. For this is a journey I chose to take, with full consciousness and while I broke my own heart wide open, he also broke his, but we did not break each other; we loved each other and ourselves, got the lessons and let go.And I intend for my conscious journey to be honored and respected by those who love me, even if it hurts me, and is painful to watch, triggering something for their own journey. This showed me how important it is to be careful who I share my deepest self revelations and journeys with, especially while I am in the midst of them.Parts of me still wants that past imaginary love to manifest in that specific form and other parts of me are so utterly grateful for the lessons and SO EXCITED to find out what’s next! I am fine with those parts to exist together in the present moment in the mystery that is me. For what I found through that wonderful, magical and difficult experience, was a path home; to myself and to my incredible capacity to take exquisite care of myself. And if that isn’t magic and sacred and divine, I don’t know what is.So please do come by on the Libra New Moon, Saturday September 28, or October 26th (the fourth Saturday in Obctober) to see how Justice and teth play out in your cards and in your life!Blessed be.Kristine Thandeka Marie
