MID-WEEK MINDFULNESS DIVINATION

Having planned being in an 8-week Meditation Retreat before our current Covid-19 situation, I thought that “sheltering-in-place” would make it much easier to stay within and practice. Well, having no expectations being a primary rule of mine and being sensitive and human, I have felt the undercurrents of our pandemic like the rest of humanity. Outside of my retreat, I try to take a few hours a day to catch up, continue my writing, and unfortunately, like many of you, am inundated with tons of data from this Coronavirus situation which leaves my head spinning and my heart distressed. I couldn’t sleep and I decided to ask the Oracle what was really behind the scene of the pandemic, regarding the overall situation in the world and what we are being told.

I was surprised, yet almost relieved when I pulled KEY 15 – THE DEMON, as it explains so succinctly what I believe we are all sensing within and without.

What a perfect correlation to the coronavirus’s beginnings – serpents, bats & tails – as the origin of the virus as of this date is attributed to bats and pangolins. The card speaks to the use of unbalanced forces and the awful trade & destruction of this species which was unknown to many of us before this pandemic. Yet it is a serious worldwide issue where thousands upon thousands of these poor animals have been torn from their natural habitat, tortured or killed for medicinal purposes and are nearly extinct and have now been linked as the cause.

Bats, as symbolically stated above, are a metaphor for the disruption in the natural order of our world today. Nothing is as it was. But our constant fast paced and invasive movement around the world – was that really natural? Bats in their environmental habitat are a wonderful part of nature’s ecosystem. I remember each year at my home in France, when the little bats would arrive in early summer, make their homes behind our high windowed shutters and once sundown arrived, fly above us in the air and feast on the summer bugs and mosquitos nightly. And then one day, poof, they were gone. We were grateful for their yearly presence.

Another name for The DEMON is MELANCHOLIA.

MELANCHOLIA is severe depression characterized especially by profound sadness and despair. Many around the world are feeling deep gloom being separated from loved ones, confined to small spaces not allowed connection, losing their employment, seeing their towns shut down with businesses and the local and global economy disrupted.

The DEMON is Exalted Creativity.

Yet we are also seeing others finding amazingly creative ways to meet friends, families, do yoga and exercise on all sorts of platforms. It’s becoming a weekly ritual, the new normal. People are sharing recipes, and as parents have been forced to work at home ideas for teaching and creating projects with the kids. And working at home is taking on new forms and timing – businesses are realising that families are as important as the company, and if these families are thriving then their employees and the business will thrive as well. Restaurants and private chefs are delivering and have whole meals ready for pickup. Food Banks and other services are working overtime as well and need our support. All the above keeps these small and local businesses alive and we as the detainees well fed. Plus many, like myself, are choosing to do some deep inquiry, contemplation and meditation with others around the world. I sense that some of these ideas will continue after the crisis is over and even more creative means will evolve.

The appearance of The DEMON means you must now battle The Typhon, with the careful, protective watch of the previous card, KEY 14 – The ANGEL, attributed to Equanimity and the ability to Harmonize. She is not close enough in presence because you have pushed Her away, so She watches from a distance. This is a battle in the greater war that you must confront with only the personal knowledge and tools attained thus far…

As described in the divination, The ANGEL is there, waiting, and GAIA, even though we have trampled and destroyed parts of her living eco-structure. Even now we have plans to bombard the angelic atmosphere above with thousands of satellites, and just as we have done with our oceans, we have left tons of debris out in space that circulates our beautiful globe. We have no idea of the health impact on the atmosphere, nature and our own bodies. But there is hope seen from the wonderful images circulating through our feeds as the Earth heals from our FULL STOP. Can we learn, can we change? Who is The DEMON and who created this virus?

In Buddhist mythos, when the Buddha defied the Mara, or demons, he closed the defeat of the Mara with bended right knee, left knee up, his left hand upon the left knee, palm facing upward to the heavens, and his right hand clasped around his right knee, with the fingertips touching the earth. This posture is the Earth Witness Mudra, representing steadfastness, which a practitioner can utilize now as a means of receiving divine power from above, powers of the Earth and nature spirits from below, and fortified, face The DEMON and defeat The Typhon.

So back to spiritual practice, it’s the only way to slay our inner and outer demons, to create a whole new pristine view, a whole new paradigm and it doesn’t matter what path – one just has to choose. We have been given the gift of time for creating a new vision, using what has been passed down from the indigenous elders’ vision, which sees Mother Nature as sanctified with Her Sacred Lands and Holy Waters. She’s showing us clearly what we have to do as the air clears, the waters clarify, and the animals take back their habitats – how much more of a sign, a lesson do we need? It is time to turn to the Mother, “the Perfection of Transcendent Wisdom” the Prajñāpāramitā, the perfected way of seeing the nature of reality.

The lesson to learn from The DEMON is this: the Mystery of Sorrow; the Mystery of Change; and the Mystery of Selflessness. (Liber B vel Magi).

This text is very close to the Four Preliminaries/Precepts/Thoughts of the Dharma:

“There are four thoughts that turn the mind to the Dharma:

1. Thinking about appreciating the precious human life
2. Thinking about death and impermanence, that the opportunities that we have now with this precious existence are not going to last
3. Thinking about the laws of karma and cause and effect, in other words how our behavior affects what we experience
4. Thinking about the disadvantages of samsara, of uncontrollably recurring rebirth.

If we appreciate the opportunities that we have now with this precious human life and if we recognize and acknowledge the fact that this life is not going to last and that we are going to die sometime, if we recognize that our behavior is going to shape our experience in this life and also after we die in future lives, and if we realize that no matter what we experience in the future, because it will arise from behaving from confusion, will have a lot of difficulties and troubles, then we will turn our minds to the Dharma.”

KEY 15 as Capricorn is both the Great Builder and the Great Destroyer.

The DEMON is the corruption of KEY 6: The LOVERS. What The LOVERS and The DEMON together reveal is that the notion of good and evil, right and wrong exists within each of these two paths. Either can lead to divinity or to damnation...There can be no life when the Light and the Dark are extract from one another and separated. The two must coexist for there to be Life.

As Humanity moves forward we have a chance to rebuild constructively with consciousness and awareness, incorporating and addressing the Shadow that is so overwhelmingly omnipresent in today’s world. In the YIN YANG symbol of the TAO, each half contains a point of the Light and the Dark. It is our choice which path we take, moment by moment, day by day, year by year. Can you face your demons? Which path will you choose?

The divination of the week was from the wonderful Spirit Keepers Tarot.