I had a hard week on all levels of my being –physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I’m not new to the raucous life rodeo, but these last days have kicked my ass. Usually at least one of my antennae seems to be on straight, but this week I felt as if I was totally off kilter, stumbling like a drunk who drank too much of the wrong energy.

As I practice mastery of my ancestral spiritual skills during this tumultuous historic period, I find the Tarot never fails to amaze. Heartfelt exploration of the cards proves to be a wonderous navigational tool for spiritual living that merges art with mythology, psychology and metaphysics. Tarot offers a deep dive into current states of mind and an opportunity to make life course corrections.

Since I feel out of balance I decided to work with the Temperance Card XIV. I pulled this major arcana card from a selection of 8 decks to study for healing and guidance. Meditating on a single card as expressed through several artists’ vision is a joyful and newly illuminating way to explore the energy the card historically imparts to the practitioner.

The psychic download of the spread was of course everything I was already focused upon – the alchemy of living in time and space here and now. Questions: How do I navigate my life in a world going mad? How do I participate in making positive change while keeping my health and sanity? What do I tell myself when I awake to fully face my day with mastery and open heartedness when I know bullshit is coming down the road? How do I elegantly face ignorance, oppression, suffering and my own seething rage? How do I know which life tests to take on as battle and which ones I need to just let go? How do I master when to act and when to rest?

More questions arise: How do I express myself authentically while nurturing my survival in a world that commodifies every aspect of my existence? How do I integrate my intense dream landscapes with my daily wake life that requires me to stifle so much of my creative energy? How can I strive for balance while living in a world so out of whack that it has become a clown car caricature of what we all know is possible to manifest?

I have to rethink what skills I have attained thus far physically, mentally, sexually and creatively, and emotionally. What do I bring to the human party of being present? How do I balance all of the forces within and without me in a harmonious joyful dynamic experience of living? The card at the center of this spread shows ourselves as soul, as a being in the world but not of it – let’s say our guardian angel, which I understand to be a higher octave of ourselves. How do I shift my focus to her elevated state of consciousness that is embedded within me?

The reverse of the Temperance soul card shows power behind her back as she faces the gallows. This hit me as a key takeaway. The entire spread is about seemingly disparate energies coming together like the eagle and lion in this card, and the Thoth deck, as well as the entwined dragons in the Wildwood deck shown above. They are in a momentary peace because they have balanced the tension between them. Equal forces respected operating in a complementary relationship and so they have attained equilibrium. Lightbulb! As the soul card looks toward the hangman gallows it appears to be only a fear of the future or a regret of the past that hasn’t released. But in the present, if it comes to pass, and if there is death, she has done so much work on herself and accumulated enough spiritual power of self awareness that she WILL face it with spiritual grace.

See part II for more on this Temperance Suite reading I explored Namaste all sentient beings, ancestors and relations. Peace be unto us all. Peace and balance. Blessings from the Bluedog Temple!