Transparent Oracle Sunday!

70, The Web (Within). Within is the direction of the Self, and thus the cards associated with this direction deal with the ways our Self connects to the world and perceives the world, and the Self.  This direction is mostly abstract, and yet is our bridge to the Universe around us.  The Web represents the Web of Life, and the delicately balanced and interconnected nature of the Universe and its workings.  This card is not only a thing, but it also represents an action: weaving. 

31, Gateway: Winter (North). North is the direction of Earth, and thus of the physical or physically formed or manifested world, and of nurturing, health, finances and security, and the wisdom associated with living simply, being well-grounded, and being in touch with our physical body.  Because this Gateway is square and solid, and appears unshakable and immovable, it seems like a safe place, or a strong foundation upon which we can exist and prosper.

25, Landscape: Ocean (West). West is the direction of Water, and thus, of feelings and emotions, relationships of all kinds, cleansing and healing, the wisdom associated with natural endings, and the bubbling up of pure joy.  Oceans are huge and magnificent; they are considered the cradle of life.  They can be calm as glass, but beneath that smooth flat surface lurk powerful predators.  They can be rough and deadly, yet if we travel down a short distance, all is quiet and silent.  The Ocean card is about death and life, about destruction and creation; and amidst the chaos, healing and purification.

Whhoooaaahh!  This is the most potent and mysterious mandala I have ever thrown; this one tickles my brain the way that the platonic solids and symbolic and  spiritual maths tickle my brain.  Initially, the Gateway and Ocean cards appear like an ornate picture frame, with The Web as the picture or painting within the frame.  The image is stationary, but the interpretation is certainly NOT.

My Web is Within a Gateway, framed and supported by a Landscape.  The frame that is created by Winter and Ocean is created through a dynamic balance of a physical-world focus and a focus on less tangible effects such as feelings and emotions, and the rejuvenation that comes after allowing those less tangible effects to rage over and through us.  I am being told that these two opposite focuses are indeed connected.  Their interactions create the unique being that is me, and just by being alive and by living my life, I am affecting my environment.  Like the flapping of the butterfly wings in Africa that in the end form the nasty hurricane that moves up the East Coast of North America, I have an affect.  I need to remember this, and I need to tap into these effects, choose them consciously and with Harm to None, and ride the wave.  Scary, yes, but this is the only way to truly learn who and what I am, and where I am going. 

The picture being framed by Winter and Ocean is a Web, and at first glance it appears like the web of a garden spider.  But after a second look, I realized that the Web was not made of concentric circles, starting large at the outside of the web and each individual circle getting smaller until the center point, like ripples on a pond’s surface after a stone has been tossed in.  This Web was made of a spiral.  Could this be the test that has been hinted at recently?  The Web represents so much, all of the new concepts I have perceived and come to understand, but that focus has been very much inward so that I could understand how these new concepts could be woven into my personal world view.  Maybe now I am being asked to perceive and understand the effects I have on the world around me, on the emotions and feelings and the security and well-being of others, and my world.

I am only one person, and I have had to come to peace with the knowledge that I can’t change the entire world.  I can only effectively change myself, and maybe to an extent, my immediate environment.  But perhaps, just perhaps, by understanding that this type of energy spirals outward into my world, as well as inward towards the center of my Self, I might begin to believe that I can affect a wider area than I thought.  And belief is powerful.

I looked at my mandala a second time, and this time I saw a warning.  The waves of Ocean were washing over and around the Gateway doorways, as if a tsunami had flooded everything, or maybe, in keeping with my Chaos Theory metaphor, a hurricane had blasted through.  But here is the thing: yes, emotions can be overwhelming at times.  If we don’t fear them or avoid them, if we are able to let them wash over us and then look beyond them, we will see the connections.  We will see the purpose.  And we will see the lessons we can learn and growth we can attain by accepting the situations.

LOL, I see an ocean voyage in my future!  Get out the life vest.  Or maybe, a perilous tightrope walk over a thin stone bridge.

$>