Tarot is a mirror for human experiences.
Practically every joy, fear, hope and thought can be expressed through the cards.
I am a strong believer in taking responsibility for our lives.
I often say that the future is not set in stone, that our thoughts, words and actions have repercussions in our present and in our future.
That said, I also believe that we cannot control everything in our lives. It makes sense, since everyone around us also has freedom of choice and their actions also affect the situations they are dealing with.
Some cards more than others reminds us of how fragile we really are.
The Wheel of Fortune, Death, The Tower and The Hanged Man, come to mind.
When I see the Wheel of Fortune
I am reminded that sometimes fate touches our lives. All of us will, at some point in our lives, be in the right place at the right time…or in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Death card
reminds me of the impermanence of life. People and situations valuable and dear to us, will sooner or later exit from our lives, or us from theirs.
The Tower
slaps us hard from time to time. It reminds us that most of our securities are just illusions.
The Hanged Man
is the moment when we understand the three previously mentioned cards and we surrender to those forces that are bigger than us.
The Hanged Man experience can take many forms.
We may just stay still and absorb all that is going on.
We may curl up and pray or hope for the best.
We may raise our arms and surrender.
We may observe, absorb, change our perspective and later on, our direction.
The moment someone wins a huge lottery, or misses the plane that never makes it to the destination, are positive Wheel of Fortune moments.
The day we relocate to another city or another country, or end a relation that no longer nourishes us, we are experiencing the Death card..
When a natural disaster hits and drastically changes the lives of people, we see the Tower at work, as well as the shadow or extreme of the Wheel of Fortune card.
What is the point of all this writing?
A reminder to live in the present, because the future is not a given.
Let’s rephrase our questions to the cards.
What is today’s lesson? How am I affecting the present situation? What can I do to reach my goal?
I am thinking that is better to try to live fully in the present, rather than being overly concerned or dependent on the future.
The cards are from The Ancestral Path Tarot deck by Julie Cuccia – Watts.
