The Wonder Remains….

 

“Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains.”
— Alfred Whitehead

 

Philosophy begins when we look at ourselves and look at the universe and say something along the lines of “Wow, how did this all come to be? How did I come to be part of this?” “Who am I to ask these questions?” As long as we question and don’t become too attached to the answers we have at the moment being the correct one beyond all others, our sense of wonder remains. After all if the universe is indeed too big to understand all at once than any answer we find to explain it will be at best partial. Which means there will always be something new to discover, to explain further and deeper and to wonder and marvel at. Wonder comes when we find that there are places on our reality map that we have yet to explore. Wonder and courage in this sense go hand in hand. For it takes courage to admit that our current explanations are merely approximations and may in fact be mistaken. This quest for Truth may not be for the faint of heart but wow is it ever worthwhile.
Blessings, G

 

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Fire Cat and SorcererFire Cat and the Sorcerer by G A Rosenberg

 

Cabana MandalaCabana Mandala by G A Rosenberg

Tarot – Seven of Pentacles

 

Seven of Pentacles (Failure / Stagnation)

 

Seven of PentaclesSeven of Pentacles by G A Rosenberg

 

Fruit lies on the vine
Love and effort placed it there
Soon we’ll have a feast.

 

Fruit lies on the vine
Neglected it rots away
sowing future seeds

 

With so many seeds planted
and a bountiful harvest
food for thought and body
abundantly present
I rested on my laurels
No not rested
I stopped
and let the world
turn without me
not realizing
the inherent contradiction
of how we and our worldview reflect
and so the fruit rotted on the vine
and a season lost or suspended
yet from today’s failure
tomorrow’s successes bear fruit .

 

The suit of Pentacles refers to the element of Earth and of practical matters such as money and partnerships both of a business nature and of the home. They can also represent nature, the Earth itself as well as our bodies. Sevens represent our desires and wants and the paths and challenges we take to achieve them. When we reach a certain level of success in our pursuits, we often stop and take time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Sometimes when this happens a certain amount of inertia can creep in and we may find it difficult to return to our tasks with the same amount of effort we put into them. How easy it is to keep looking at our beautiful garden and ignore the creeping weeds or the fact that it is time to harvest a new season’s growth rather than leave it for the birds or to rot stagnant. When this happens, it helps to see it as a wake-up call rather than a reason to despair. For properly tended, the field left fallow will in the next season prove even more productive.

 

Astrological Correspondence – Saturn in Taurus – The Saturn in Taurus energy is one that builds slowly and pays attention to detail to ensure that the exact results desired happen in the order and time frame desired. Saturn in Taurus can become stuck though and continue following the same routine long after it has worn out its usefulness. Eventually tho, given the practical nature of Taurus, a course correction will take place and a new more productive routine ensue.
There is also an element in the energy to ‘making up’ perceived inequalities from the past, ever trying to play ‘catch-up’. This will eventually result in pursuits of a higher nature.

 

I Ching Correspondence – 12) P’i – StandStill / Stagnation

_______
_______
_______
___ ___
___ ___
___ ___

The Trigram of Heaven is over that of Earth. The idea of that is that Heaven rises and Earth falls and there is less and less relationship and interplay between the two, resulting in stagnation. During these times when there seems to be little productivity, it may benefit to sit things out for awhile until further growth and progress becomes possible. It is very easy to force oneself to work at a pursuit that he does not feel invested in but the effort will reflect his interest. It is better to wait until the interest is renewed which given that harvesting crops or ideas tend to be cyclical will come around again.

 

In a reading the Seven of Pentacles can refer to a project that has stalled or stopped being productive. It may feel like a plane that is circling the airport yet unable to land. What is obstructing the project or the landing strip? Is it just a matter of time? The Seven of Pentacles may also be directing us to look at how we have been attending to the project at hand. Have we been actively invested or are we just going through the motions? What is the purpose? Have we set our sights high enough? There is an implication in the Seven of Pentacles when it occurs in a reading, that once this period has run its course, it will be faced with new internal growth and maturity.

 

When the Seven of Pentacles turns up reversed then what was previously stagnant may now be resulting in new growth. We may feel a sense of renewal as things start moving again. It may also mean that we have abandoned the project that had grown stagnant on us in order to focus on more lively pursuits.

On Freedom and Rights…

 

“All men are by nature free; you have therefore an undoubted liberty to depart whenever you please, but will have many and great difficulties to encounter in passing the frontiers.”
― Voltaire

 

I have begun to winch a little bit every time I hear about someone trying to get equal rights from their government. They do not understand what they are doing. What they in fact are doing is asking and / or demanding recognition of their rights. NO ONE has to ask for rights that are inherent to us by the universe. As soon as we ask permission from the government or anyone else to be allowed to do anything than we are affirming our subservience to that government and allowing one more infringement on our freedom.

I find it a bit sad how easily we are willing to give up our freedom. We do it by asking for permission to be ourselves and we do it when someone fails to recognize our rights and we turn ourselves into their victims.

 

“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”

– Sigmund Freud.

 

I find it a bit sad how easily we are willing to give up our freedom. We do it by asking for permission to be ourselves and we do it when someone fails to recognize our rights and we turn ourselves into their victims. It seems that this lack of ability to recognize and take responsibility for the freedom of another is the fundamental illness that individuals and societies fall prey to.

Blessings, G

 

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Energy RisingEnergy Rising by G A Rosenberg

 

Conjured AbstractionsConjured Abstractions by G A Rosenberg

Interwoven Plot lines in the Story of the World

 

“I watched the people passing below, each of them a story, each story part of somebody else’s, all of it connected to the big story of the world. People weren’t islands, so far as I was concerned. How could they be, when their stories kept getting tangled up in everybody else’s?”
— Charles de Lint

 

Have you ever stopped and listened to the story of the world? Have you leaned in close and heard the whispers of life that pass by you? There are many ways to connect if you’re open to it. Perhaps the easiest is become aware of the thread of your own life and see where it touches others. Follow their threads for awhile. All it takes is compassion and willingness to feel their thread without judgement of width texture or colour. What threads go on from there. After awhile you start to realize the shape of the tapestry, the repeated motifs and where the strange turns come in. Eventually if you’re lucky you may come to realize how deeply each of us is connected to every other thing on this world just one of the billions of interwoven plot lines in the story of the world.
Blessings, G

 

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Dream PriestessDream Priestess by G A Rosenberg

 

A Multi-dimensional Soap BubbleMulti-Dimensional Soap Bubble by G A Rosenberg