Four Pillars Society Tarot: The Star

NOTES ON: THE STAR

 (Healing Starts With a Cry)

Artist’s Notes :
 
 
How do you express it when your world comes crashing down around you and you start to doubt everything you know? Do you play the stoic and say “it’s just a flesh wound ma’am” and soldier on, allowing your wounds to fester as long as no one can see your pain? Do you get angry and rage at the world, driving people away from you until you either expire or heal? What would happen if you tried neither of those things but cried out your honest pain and need for solace to the universe?
 
Other beings tend to respond to actual need and honest emotion, not only on the physical but on the higher planes as well. There is a grace that can be found when we have truly hit our dark night of the soul. Sometimes all it takes to see that grace and that healing is to admit to the need for it.
 
True healing always begins with admission and understanding of how deep the wound is.
 
About the Archetype:
 
When we get hit by the Tower force, it is devastating. Much that we believed was true has turned out to be false and we don’t know what’s left. At our lowest point, we can hear a voice telling us that it’s going to be ok. We still have our essential selves and can rebuild. If we are open to it, we feel a sense of hope and renewal. Even if we have gone through the fire, we can make it and come back stronger than ever. It is then that we feel the healing energy of the Star. It is known in many cultures as the idea of grace or hope and was the last thing left in Pandora’s box after she let loose the evils of mankind.
 
The Star inspires us when we are at our lowest. It puts us back in tune with ourselves and allows us to feel once more a part of life. It is a feminine energy that liberates us from our despair and shows us that there are still positive and worthwhile things in life and that love is possible. At times we may feel resistant to the Star’s energy but it is always there.
 
 
Astrological Correspondent:
 
Aquarius(♒︎)-Aquarius is the energy of social justice and change. It wants to make the world and the people in it better. Symbolized by the water bearer Aquarius wishes to pour its healing waters onto the earth, starting new discussions and finding new paradigms. Aquarius is very interested in group dynamics, realizing that while one person can make a difference, it takes a concerted effort to effect change.
 
The Aquarian energy may also be a stubborn one with little patience for opposing viewpoints and methods. It also becomes bored with anything that is routine or that has been done before. Aquarius would much rather innovate better methods to solve problems. Aquarius is unsell-conscious in its approaches to just about anything and wants nothing more than freedom of self-expression. This self-expression can be anything from physical nudity to visionary art to inventing new devices that will enable mankind in new ways.
 
Aquarius’s somewhat aloof manner may be off-putting to some but this comes from living mainly within its own very active head ever looking to strengthen the flow of new ideas and new intuitions.
 
 
In a Reading:
 
When the Star turns up in a reading, it normally indicates a time of healing and renewal on all levels. It is often that this healing comes after a period of extreme turmoil as in the kind suggested by the Tower card. The Star is a card that signifies the grace of the universe and is a time when intuition is flowing and things look somehow better and brighter than they did before. The card can often signify a transformative time and a time of reinvention of oneself. The Star is often telling the querent to be open to the energies coming in and to the personal changes that one is making. It is all too easy to resist making the changes necessary but it will never be easier. It may also be telling the querent that they need to go back to basics or where they were before the previous upheavals happened in their lives. Take what they have and as long as they have their own being, they have quite a lot and build from there. The Star may also be telling the querent that they can turn things around before disaster strikes if they are willing to drop back and accept the needed lesson beforehand.
 
 
 
Reversed or Badly Aspected, the healing energy of the Star is still present. The querent tho is blocking it for some reason. Possibly in their minds, they feel unworthy to receive this grace because of their actions in the previous period. Perhaps they are so filled with bitterness and anger that they are not allowing the healing to happen. If anyone deserves another chance in their lives then everyone does and the healing of the goddess (or the universe if you will) is open to all. It may be that the querent fears beginning again, particularly in the aspect of opening themselves up to the possibility of new failure. The reversed Star may mean that the past with all of its disappointments has become more of a focus than the possibility of building a new future.
 
–GAR
 
 
Fate’s Whisper:
 
The origins of the stars are said to be the fragments of the dragons who die to the first use of the Word of Power Death. To escape their demise they shattered their entire being and scattered far and wide. Though deep down each dragon wanted to be whole once more.
 
Each becomes a star to guide their own to become whole once more.
 
Everyone will fall to their mistakes at one point or another. What matters at that point is standing up once more and learning what went wrong. So what have you done to begin healing once more?
–NF

Worshipping at the Altar of Our Past Wounds

 

“The strangest and most fantastic fact about negative emotions is that people actually worship them.”
— P.D.Ouspensky

 

Sometimes we become our wounds. We identify ourselves as survivors of abuse or survivors of depression and then see everything through that lens. Some things are very difficult to let go and I am not suggesting that abuse is not dramatic. However when we feel the need decades later to bring it up in every conversation (and I have done this with past hurts of my own) than we have grown too attached to the memory and the reactions that people have to them. Is this due to a desire to heal or is it due to some kind of benefit that we derive from the reaction that other people have to our plight? Is it possible we identify so much with our anger or depression that fear that letting go of the past will fundamentally damage our very structure?
Blessings, G

 

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Last RitesLast Rites by G A Rosenberg

 

Locked into the patternLocked Into the Pattern by G A Rosenberg

 

Tarot Post – Ace of Cups

ACE OF CUPS

 

Ace of Cups

Tarot – Ace of Cups (Revised) by G A Rosenberg

 

For too long my spirit  felt depleted
I didn’t know what was needed
Emptiness contained within me
Not so much emptiness as a polluted sea
run dry

 

Now out of nowhere, something new has appeared
this cup in front of me has washed away my fear
I feel reborn; love and creativity
has given me renewed vitality
Renewal

 

The cup’s been offered

Drinking from it heals the heart

and renews the soul

 

The suit of cups in the tarot represent love and our emotional natures. How open are we to receiving that which is offered? What conditions do we place on love and how are we in relationship? The ace of cups (like the other aces) is a seed that contains within it all of the healing and renewal that love can bring. How ready for it are we? Can we drink deep from the cup offered or do we reject it either because we mistrust what is offered or we fear where this new road can lead. The Holy Grail in Arthurian legend healed the land until it was misused and taken for granted. How willing are we to be healed?

When the Ace of cups, shows up in a reading, it represents new love being offered. This can come from another or it can come from within. It often represents a new period of potential joy.When reversed, the Ace of cups indicates a blockage to this renewal. What is stopping us from accepting what is offered? What connection are we not allowing to happen?

Quote of the Day – July 26 2012

“Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.”
~ Henri Nouwen

 

This quote comes by way of an amazing being, Brad Morris of Cowabunga Life. Even though he used it in his newsletter today, it’s striking deep chords.
I’ve been seeing the wounded heart in so many of the people I respect and learn from of late and feeling my own as well. Learning to reveal the wounds not having them hidden away and scabbed over is a lesson in progress for me as I’ve discussed before. Tho why is it difficult. I can’t recall a time when I lost respect for anyone when I saw their flaws just admiration for how much they’ve done to overcome it. Maybe as I become more comfortable in my skin I can find that level of bravery as well.
Blessings, G

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Orb-It by G A Rosenberg

Quotes of the Day – June 10 2012

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
― T.S. Eliot

 

“Healing for me is being able to sit next to the butcher and say ‘Yes, I’m sitting next to the butcher now,’ instead of saying ‘there is no butcher’.” 
― Tori Amos

 

 

Two very different quotes from T. S. Eliot and Tori Amos feels very appropriate to my evening. Mr. Eliot’s quote speaks of endings and beginnings and their interrelationship. After all every moment is the ending out our lives up to now and the beginning of what is to come.  As I have stated elsewhere I love crossroads and the thought that NOW is ever a crossroads becomes comforting to me. Always a new doorway beckons and the new universe next door is within reach. But then to bring in probably my third cliche in one paragraph (I don’t mind repeating cliches, most of them would not have become so without containing a modicum of wisdom) I get reminded that in order to truly begin anew I have to leave something behind.

Tori’s quote speaks of healing and naming our wounds for what they are. Acknowledging the butcher or the insecurities that keep us frozen in old patterns unable to move. Naming my wounds brings me one step closer to moving on. Mine of the evening are insecurity and lassitude. I need to give both up to go through the crossroads and find what I will.
Blessings, G

 

Play your cards right
she said
as she rode upon the wheel
and you may know

 

you spread them out before youfailing to see
the irony
of asking an outsider for insight…

 

 

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Karma by G A Rosenberg

Psyche by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – April 27 2011

“Every time we fix something that broken, whether it’s a car engine or a broken heart, that an act of magic. And what makes it magic is that we choose to create or help, just as we can choose to harm.”
― Charles de Lint

There’s so much out there that needs fixing. So much inside of us as well. At the same time, I’ve been noticing something more and more of late. So much of finding our way to health has to do with forgiving ourselves for being hurt in the first place. We forget that we’ve placed those lessons in our path because they were what we most needed to become the people we are. How could we comfort someone who’s life is hurting if we never felt hurt ourselves? How could we relate to lost love, lost chances and lost hope and help others to heal themselves through it if we had no basis to relate? Each of my scars mental or physical throughout this life and all others have been tickets to empathy and compassion so I am grateful for them.
Blessings G

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Watching the Fractal Sunset by G A Rosenberg

Abstract B by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 17 2011

“The thing with pretending you’re in a good mood is that sometimes you can. “

       –Charles deLint

a realization of how something might have cut
a small tear in the soul
now with grace, it starts to knit..
The tower falls, the light of day comes
then we get to see what comes next
— G A Rosenberg

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Ragnarok’s Due  by G A Rosenberg

Thoughts About to Crystalize by G A Rosenberg

Quote of the Day – October 16 2011 — Some Musings — Pre-Occupied

“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it. “

        –Tori Amos

 

Occupy Vancouver in its first day has been amazing. 5000+ people (I have a feeling that if you counted everybody who came and went throughout the day, the figure was much higher). People coming together because they realize the need for change in how things have been done. Whether they were talking about changes in our political systems, our financial systems, our educational systems or in the way we view things, there was a deep realization that we need to evolve new ways of dealing with ourselves, each other and our planet. Still there was more joy than anger. We shared laughs, marches, slogans, hugs and purpose. I look forward to watching the occupation movement evolve. Will change come from it or will it be ultimately a release  of built up social pressure, I have no surety. Something has begun with this movement in this next month and I look forward to seeing it continue. Few things in my life have made me feel quite as proud as participating in today has.

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I don’t know who this lad is but somehow he and his sign  symbolized today nicely for me. I want this boy (and all children including of course Zev) to grow up in a world of growing hope and happiness.

 

Heart’s Vision by G A Rosenberg