The Tarot, Self-dialling 999

Thoughts of Good Friday

The Light of The World, William Holman Hunt, 1851,

Good Friday. I always used to think as a girl, what is good about it? They killed him. Even if he was resurrected and saved the soul of the world entire, still, he died a horrible death, and his mother could only watch in utter agony, and do nothing to help her beloved child. And I didn’t like the idea of someone dying for me for sins I was guilty of the minute I was born.

People watch the world, watch the news, watch other people. They feel it, but people can only handle so much. They do care, they mind about it, and sometimes, when they can, they dig down to help, anyway they can do it.

But...

“Happiness we can only find in ourselves, it is a waste of time to seek for it from others, few have any to spare. Sorrow we have to bear alone as best we can, it is not fair to try to shift it on others, men or women. We have to fight our own battles and strike as hard as we can, born fighters as we are.”

― Axel Munthe, Swedish physician, psychiatrist, author, THE STORY OF SAN MICHELE (1857-1949)

This was a man who used to visit a zoo expressly to hold through the bars, the finger of a bored and lonely gorilla, so it would have a bit of company. It got to know him but it might have ripped his finger right off. It didn’t, but it could have. Health and Safety. It couldn’t happen today.

Self dialling 999. Images from the Smith Waite Centennial Tarot

The cards, 999, Mutable Air, Mutable Fire and Mutable Earth, Gemini, Sagittarius and Virgo, tell a story of worry, tears, sleepless nights. (9 Swords.) Then we make a decision, take a stand, take action, applying stamina, persistence, until we shift the thing, or find a new way to accommodate the challenge. But we don’t roll over. ( 9 Wands.) Outcome, Results, comfort, generosity. Paying it forward, even though we largely did it by ourselves. Service. (9 Pentacles.)

We were stronger than we knew.

And maybe, who knows, it may seem impossible right now, we may still yet pull a Nine of Cups. The healing Chalice. The Grail Cup. Comfort and Grace. Inspiration. Beauty. A birth or a rebirth. Our Cup overflows. One sip in a lifetime may suffice as long as light lasts. And beyond. If there is a heaven, the fourth number 9 card is it, and the 999 cards spell out the path.

Thank you for reading.

Back again soon :)