You are wise.
You are capable of figuring out your situation.
You’re an expert on your own life.
Your personal power is considerable.
All of those statements are true. Yes, really. You might think they sound funny coming from someone who offers tarot consultations, but ultimately my job is to remind you just how wise you already are, to remind you that there are helpful answers and deeper questions within you. I’m a tourguide of the soul and its perspicacity. Our map is the pattern of cards that we lay out before us. I love providing the framework for this tour to your Inner Teacher’s repository of knowledge where the answers to what you most need to know or learn at this time lie waiting for you to discover them. How does this happen?
- Both of us set a clear intention for your session and do the preparatory work to make that happen.
- A layout/map of the session of created containing open-ended questions that invite us to see the cards in ways that are relevant to you and your area of exploration.
- During the session, we listen to one another (and whatever else comes into the moment) with attention and we speak to one another with respect and attention.
- Confidentiality is assured. Your name and particulars are sacred and not for general consumption.
- We know that it’s OK to feel what we need to feel about certain issues that come up in the consultation and we know that we’re in safe enough space to talk about those feelings.
- We work together to come up with concrete, doable actions that are based on a card’s most helpful qualities so you can ground the consultation in your “real” world.
Using the Jean Noblet tarot pack, I’m choosing a card to respond to, “How can people best remember their own wisdom?” I receive LEMPERATRISE (the Empress). People can best remember their own wisdom by sitting still and noticing what’s happening in front of them. They can remember their wisdom by holding on to symbols of their personal authority. They can remember their wisdom through surroundings and activities that are nurturing, caring, safe, and nourishing.
Now, one more time:
Your personal power is considerable.
You’re an expert on your own life.
You are capable of figuring out your situation.
You are wise.
nice.. thanks, James.
You’re welcome, Judy. I was happy that Trump III showed up.
It is always pleasing to be reminded of these truths. Thanks Mr. Wells.
You’re most welcome, Mr. McGregor. What would you like to tell people here about how *you* create the conditions to help people remember how wise they are?
Lovely! I can see those four affirmations as a spiral meditation…
Mmm…lovely imge and idea, Deb. What might that look like in practice?
Good question! The original meditation I’m thinning about came from a Buddhist meditation (I believe). In it, as you repeat each statement, you take a step up a spiral staircase (in your mind), and feel the energy of that statement. The four statements are repeated in order for as lone as you care to meditate.
I don’t recall the original clearly, but it was something like “I am strong. I am healthy. I am filled with loving-kindness. I am at peace.” Each completion of the set of four leads you upward, towards a more complete experience of the truth. For me this is amazingly powerful. With each completion of a step, I felt the most wonderful sense of wholeness.
In this case, I’d use the statement order you used at the end of your post–it has that same feeling when completing the “You are wise.” statement that the original gave me… It could certainly start out as a guided meditation, and then continue individually… I like it more the longer I think about it!
Thank you for this description. Do keep us posted about what you come up with.
I love the way you continue giving the power back to those who look to you, James.
It’s a constant practice to stay in that space, Andrea. Part of me sometimes just wants to jump in and fix things and be bossy, but in those moments I take a deep, long, wide breath and remind myself that the person is hir greatest source of wisdom. The cards and I are simply there to remind them of that.
James, this is beautifully done! I use a statement “You are whole and complete unto yourself, this process just facilitates a process.” Yuck! LOL yours really expresses much of what I mean, way more clearly.
Your statement is lovely, Shari. What I’m trying to do now is write a series of things based on the comments in the “I Don’t, I Do” post from a couple of days ago. I hope that this is a worthy first follow-up.
Indeed it is! I love that you are doing this, and inspiring/inspiriting (I actually typed inspiriting in error; replaced it but thought I’d leave it in too) others (myself) as well to really think and then speak it clearly. I am so glad to see you continuing with it and look forward to more.
It’s the perfect word, Shari! To inspire means to take in spirit, to breathe in the holy creative power of the cosmos. May we truly do this in our work and in our lives. Blessed be!
I keep telling myself those 4 statements because I am often tempted to forget. I was going to ask you how to embody those statements because reading them sometimes is not enough. But then I decided to just say “Thanks for the reminder.”
Hi, Paul,
So great to see you here!
As far as embodying the statements, here are three questions based on them:
* What concrete, doable action (small and symbolic, larger and out in the world, or somewhere in between) can you imagine yourself doing over the next 24 hours that feels wise, capable, powerful, and like you know yourself well?
* What concrete, doable action can you imagine yourself doing over the next week that feels wise, capable, powerful, and like you know yourself well?
* What concrete, doable action(s) can you imagine yourself doing over the next month that feels wise, capable, powerful, and like you know yourself well?