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I wonder what Yoda would say if you put him in a hall of mirrors.
I wonder what Yoda would say if you put him in a hall of mirrors.
Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip: Tarot contemplation in the time it takes to sip your coffee.
Today’s card is from the Alleyman’s Tarot which, as you know, is hands down my favorite deck. The deck is a masterpiece of art and Tarot and experience. It is to a Tarot reader like a Stradivarius that pulls the best from a master violinist. It teaches you and I, both at once, which in itself is part of today’s message.
Let me ask you this: how comfortable are you looking in the mirror?
The narcissistic part of us stops at the surface. We look in the mirror to style our hair, shave, apply makeup, floss our teeth or what have you. But what would happen if you stopped for a minute and looked into your eyes.
Not AT your eyes. INTO them. Look at your own eyes like you would look at the eyes of a lover. Look into your eyes as if you were trying to read the soul of a stranger.
They say the eyes are the window to the soul, despite our public facing face. A mirror is the window to your own eyes, your own soul.
What do you see there?
And why do you care.
Tarot is a lot of things. It’s a guide through confusion and uncertainty. It is a comfort during emotionally difficult times. But Tarot and all the woo woo is also all about self-knowledge, personal growth, just generally making a half decent effort to be a better person.
Try the mirror thing once. It can be a little intense depending on what kind of emotional or mental space you are in at the time.
Or not (for precisely the same reason.)
Any mirror can be a little like the Mirror of Erised from Harry Potter. The mirror reflects the person with their most sincere desire, and that the “happiest man on earth could use it like a normal mirror.”
I wonder if that is why the lockdown times of the early covid pandemic were so difficult for some people. I wonder if it was less of a natural introvert vs extrovert thing as much as it was a time where we were forced to spend some quality time with ourselves and maybe not liking it so much.
Or discovering that we liked it quite a lot.
When you try to sense the soul behind the eyes you see in the mirror, I suspec the comfort level varies with the happiness and contentment of the person using the mirror, just as with the fictional Mirror of Erised.
For the person most comfortable in their own skin, the person most accepting of themselves, the eye gazing exercise is just like using a mirror normally.
In a hall of mirrors, you can’t escape yourself. I can imagine it forcing self reflection, both literally and figuratively. Bruce Lee is known for both his self-confidence and his wise life philosophies. In the hall of mirrors scene from the 1970s movie Enter the Dragon, Lee creates a character that is calm, poised, undisturbed by being confronted with himself. What would today’s self-help people on social media feel in that situation? What would they do? Think of anyone you consider wise or any sort of spiritual teacher. What would you guess they would do?
If you suddenly, unexpectedly found yourself in a hall of mirrors, how would you feel? What would you do?
What would Yoda do in a hall of mirrors?
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Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip Tarot where we contemplate Tarot in the time it takes to sip from your coffee. Today we are picking up on a second thread of meaning that parallels the meanings we talked about in the Hold Peaceful Space post and episode.
Please feel free to go back to that part of this Nine of Wands reading at the link above or in the podcast episode menu.
Today, instead of thinking about the space within, the nine of wands asks us to think a little bit about the boundary that defines that space.
Last time we talked about the tone and energy and environment of a space, be it a physical space or mental one. The two are parallel. Think of a literal room. If it is cold and noisy and missing a window, would you want to spend the night there? The same is true of our mental and emotional spaces. You might be in a literal unpleasant space but still hold a warm peaceful place within. It isn’t easy, but sometimes one can lead to the other. An inviting and comfortable literal space supports a happy, confident mindset. A happy, whole, and peaceful mindset supports creating a better literal situation. Nature abhors a vacuum and will fill whatever kind of space you hold accordingly.
But you can’t hold or create any space at all without some sort of boundary. A teacup is the classic Zen example. Without its sides, the teacup doesn’t exist. A teacup needs substance, like wood or ceramic. A teacup made from rice paper isn’t going to work for very long. Yet, almost paradoxically, it is the empty space that the teacup bounds and defines and holds that makes the teacup what it is. The space it holds in essence and function defines the teacup. No empty space, no room for tea and it’s not a cup. Only the empty teacup that is holding space can be filled with tea.
That was the main message. The undercurrent of energy, focused on the cup holding the space instead of the space itself.
For an intuitive, energy sensitive person sometimes the teacup is thin to the point of not knowing where the tea begins and air around it ends. To a very sensitive person it’s all tea. For anyone, if the boundary is damaged, the tea is drained away.
I’ve been working with cards and intuition since the early 1990s and reading Tarot professionally for almost – good gravy – twenty years now. In my experience, Tarot clients are an intuitive and energy sensitive group of people. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t have been drawn to Tarot in the first place. It takes some modicum of intuition and insight to be able to use Tarot for the inspiration, comfort, personal growth and creative problem solving that Tarot was always intended to provide. (We’ll save my ranting about predicting the future for another day.)
Because of that inherent sensitivity, I did readings with some really uncomfortable people in late 2019 and 2020. Many had a vague sense of something wrong, but couldn’t quite figure out what. Other people felt overwhelmed by one specific thing, but the feeling was stronger than usual for the situation. All sorts of things came to the Tarot Table that year. Many of them felt as if the issue was outside of them, not internal. Even though I was reading for them about their specific concern, it also felt like something on the outside was tapping on their teacups like that movie trope of tapping on a wine glass to get attention for a toast. One reading after another, the message was that they were individually OK but that they were also resonating and vibrating with the high voltage zeitgeist energy of the times. It’s like that physical phenomenon where if you sound a note loud enough, nearby bells or instrument strings that are tuned to that note will vibrate along with it. The stress and fear of the pandemic had all of our intuitive teacups quivering.
When that kind of resonance happens, it can be helpful to think about our boundaries. In other words, when the outside world is ringing your teacup, know your teacup and make it as strong as you can.
Here is an imagination experiment to show what I mean.
Take a deep breath, close your eyes and imagine.
Imagine you are surrounded by something that symbolizes protection to you. Imagine you are are in a submarine or a safe room. Imagine you are in a fort or a castle keep. Imagine you are holding a black crystal or wearing a superhero cape. My favorite is to imagine wearing one of those bomb squad blast suits or one of those hazmat suits with the big clear visors like in the movie Outbreak. Whatever symbol you choose, imagine you are surrounded, safe, and protected from any outside influences on your mood.
I’m not talking about you being attacked by psychic vampires or hexes or being beset by negative influences….I’m just saying leave your stress-y mess at the door and be your own true self for half a minute.
Here’s the thought experiment – when you imagine that protected place, how do you feel in there? If you go into your mental bomb shelter and still feel that something is wrong, then you have a different problem. It isn’t a matter of resonance to outside energies. If you go into your hazmat suit and feel like “HEY! It’s kinda happy in here” then that also shows you what you need to do next.
This mental exercise shows you whether your next step is yin or yang. If you still feel bad inside your imagined shelter, then you need to turn your attention inward with self care, self love and healing. If you feel happy inside your mental safe space, then that is a call to turn your attention outward for a little practical, down to earth planning and problem solving.
You can’t hold space without something to hold it in.
This kind of mental exercise helps you learn your teacup.
Don’t save this quick little boundary check just for when times are tough and situations are stressful. The nine of wands came along today to remind us to pay attention to energy boundaries and healthy psychological and emotional boundaries at other times too. Try the mental exercise when things are fine. Learn what it feels like when things are OK both inside and out so you can recognize when things are OK inside but you are reacting to stress from outer collective energies.
Tend to your teacup so it holds good space for your tea when you need it to, so to speak.
Thank you so much for reading and listening!
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You’ve heard the term “hold space” but what kind of space are you holding?
What is inside that space we are always talking about holding?
Hello and welcome to Sage’s Short Sip: Tarot for your day in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Or tea. Or adult beverage. Or whatever it is you are sipping this time of day. I’m glad you are here.
Every profession loves its jargon and jazzy acronyms. Spiritual or psychic work is no different. Speaking just for Tarot readers, we have a whole glossary of terms that make sense to us, but may or may not make sense to people who don’t spend their day immersed in the woo woo.
The phrase “hold space” is an example.
It is a little hard to imagine, since there isn’t a really good physical world analog. How do you hold space? In a jar with a lid? Does a bowl or coffee mug count?
Holding space is a mental and emotional process more than a tangible thing, although there are tangible things that one can do to symbolize and support the internal process of holding space. That’s why sometimes people who want to find long term romantic partnership are sometimes advised to clear out a drawer or a closet and literally make space in their life for the soulmate that they hope to find. It creates a mindset as much as it creates a later convenience.
It’s a hard thing to put into words, but I would define holding space as “mindfully allowing” combined with the far more familiar “save my seat.”
When we say hold space it also relates to the principle from science that “nature abhors a vacuum.” When we create space, nature tends to flow something into it. If you put a bowl out in a rainstorm, it collects more water than a brick because of the space the bowl holds that the brick doesn’t have. When you pull back on the plunger of a syringe, it holds space in the barrel for the medicine to flow in.
When we admit that something can be a part of our life, then we save its seat, we save that thing’s spot in line next to us. Admit can mean confess or confirm the truth of something, or it can mean allow someone in, as a ticket to an event is admission to that event. When we admit that we want something, that is a step toward admitting that thing into your life.
Doing the literal work or preparing a literal space is another step.
Today’s nine of wands points out another aspect of that process. It’s an aspect that I don’t think gets much thought or attention sometimes.
Desire and a fear and desperation that you may never get what you want can make the whole holding space thing messy if not impossible .
If you want to save space, to hold space for something or someone to come in, the quality of the space may affect the admission process.
Think of a literal room.
If a room is cold or noisy or missing a window or missing a big part of the outside wall…who or what would want to inhabit that space? If a room is secure, comfortable, quiet and inviting, who or what is going to want to stay there?
If that room is metaphor for part of your heart, mind, awareness or emotions, what are you asking in? What is that inner room going to attract? More importantly, is that inner space you are holding one you are willing to live in one the hoped-for person, thing or situation arrives?
The theory applies to anything. If you hold a peaceful place within, then you can be safe and warm and comfortable and happy while you are waiting for your invited guest to arrive. You can be safe and warm and happy even if the invited guest never comes.
Whether you are hoping for prosperity or a soulmate or whatever it is, pay attention to the mental and emotional space that you are inviting the wanted person or thing to enter. The more peaceful the space, the happier the end result.
Thank you so much for reading and listening. I have a few more thoughts about this card and empaths, but we can pick up that thread another day.
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Sage Sips / TaoCraft Tarot 
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