I think even the most positive people are beginning to wonder if we are finally reaching the end of times. The 2010s witnessed many social/political issues boiling over. All over the world, tensions are on the rise.
People are either angry, afraid… or worst, jaded.
For me, the most frightening part of all this is that there is no more productive dialogue. Everyone is shouting over one another via social media. We all enter conversations with our minds already made up and refuse to listen. Contradicting opinions offend our senses more than the smell of rotten food.
Someone online mentioned that the Shuffle Tarot – which takes the RWS characters and shuffles them into other characters’ scenes – is a perfect deck for 2020. I agree. It takes everything that is familiar to us and throws it into a giant mix bowl. I’m hoping that, like this deck, while the process is messy and confusing, the end result is a brilliant new world order.
So I asked this deck how to stay positive during these chaotic times. Until that new order is reached, how can I feel and act in a way that is true to my feelings while not falling prey to all the divisive speech we are constantly subjected to?
Temperance, visited by the lady in The Star, reminds me the importance of Faith. Now, more than ever, we must find the courage and strength to have faith that things aren’t all bad. Yes, our attention is drawn to all the negative things in our modern world, but to purge a disease, we must first bring it to the surface.
If we maintain our faith, we can see our current times as a part of a larger process of transformation. In the individual spiritual journey, some of the hardest steps to take are those that takes us deep into our subconscious and forces us to face our own shadows. Perhaps humanity as a whole has reached the same point in its journey. Instead of believing that the final apocalypse has arrived, maybe this is just the part before things get better.
The 3 of Cups provide sound advice on how to act during these times. I’m not a religious person but these three cups being filled by the blood of a bleeding heart reminds me of the Christian Eucharist.
This can be our communion. Although it is pain and suffering that brings us together, by acknowledging our own and each others’ suffering, we can heal and grow strong together. Maybe one day, people from different ends of the political spectrum can all raise a glass to these times as something that humanity conquered together.
We don’t have to agree on everything. But if we can all agree on the fundamentals of human right and dignity, perhaps we can come to genuine and respectful compromises that eventually enhances all lives. Instead of taking sides and drawing lines in the sand, maybe we can just be people who are all sitting at different tables in the same bar, drinking from the same tap.
The Mechanics of Tarot 