Two Ways of Spreading Light

The Sun ~ Devas of Creation

Nothing like waking up to a sunny, light-filled day within and without. Today seeing this card I could feel my inner body light up ever so briefly as if in greeting of this Deva. They offered their salaams to each other is how it felt, the sun in me greets the sun in you, we meet in the warm light of the manifest. The Sun is the unifying pole around which our solar system turns, the life-giver providing us with essential warmth and energy necessary for our planet's continued existence. If you look closely at the lower right corner you can see the eyes and fiery streaming hair of this Deva. Seeing this card I feel encouraged to express the voice that sings, that says yes, that embraces the moment with passion and interest and expansion. Where in my day might I find that voice...

Karma ~ Tarot of the Spirit

The calm crevice of Truth
Truth that breathes hollowly, sends chills.
dispels illusion by the still cool air of the Moon
Truth at the breathy core
Whirling, twirling
the dance of Karma
casting off excess bit by bit
until remains a breathless core
which lives and learns and breathes and grows
from one life to the next
without expectation.

This card, called Karma in this deck, is the card often entitled Justice in the RWS system, Adjustment in the Thoth system though it's Key 8 rather than 11 as seen here. The semantics of 'karma' have a murkiness to them. The word essentially means activity, action, work or deed. Activities have consequences both positive and negative. As such the laws of cause and effect are implicit in the word karma. My actions and intentions of this breath affect my experience of the next breath. Seeds ripen. Says the Buddha, If you want to know the past look at your present, if you want to know your future look at your present. Seeds ripen.

This card stands at the midpoint of the Major Arcana between Keys 1 and 10 and Keys 12 and 21 mediating between the lessons inherent in them, balancing them, adjusting them. Here Karma appears like a spinning top with insect wings. The central axis is a sword which is whirring as if in continual motion. Above it is a leminscate figure suggesting the endlessness of the movement. To the left and right we see two pillars meeting at the center like pencil-points. The sense of as above so below comes to mind or put another way, as within so without. And they remind me of the pillars of the High Priestess implying the sense of navigating inner and outer realms in a balanced way.

Two of Water ~ Sacred Cord ~ Tarot of the Spirit

More balance being asked for my attention in the Two of Water, traditionally the Two of Cups. It's entitled Sacred Cord and there is the sense of the heart moving towards its home. The sacred cord is that quality of interest and engagement that connects us to the object of our affection and devotion, what calls us home to ourselves.

We see two chalices containing the waters of the cosmic sea overflowing with movement and abundance. On each chalice is a six-pointed star representing the integration of masculine and feminine energies. The sea reminds me of the gown of a sea goddess gracefully rippling and changing, the paradox of Love...She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes.

Above the two chalices are a male and female figure, she winged, he with flippers, she dark, he light. Their hands are joined in a lemniscate figure suggesting perpetual movement and overseeing and blessing their union is the sacred, indwelling immanence. This is the alchemical marriage, the process of simultaneous dissolution and individuation.

Looking at these three cards together I'm aware of the appearance of the lemniscate in the two Tarot cards, the endlessness this suggests, this as crowning energy, that which reaches beyond the small self towards a new horizon, towards vistas of awareness that include a comprehensive reality beyond self and other, beyond a duality that suggests form and void are separate. How to marry those two, how to bring about the sacred union they so desire in us, as us. With the Light of the Sun says the Deva, with a flaring up of attention, the solar burst of engagement, with the warmth and kindling of interest. Which is to say Love. Because ultimately the line between interest and love thins to nothing.

Devas of Creation ~ Tarot of the Spirit

There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.  ~Edith Wharton