Sunday 18 September 2016

Greenwood: Dedication

What should be the focus of my spiritual practice this week?

Greenwood Tarot, Ryan & Potter 1996
I have not engaged in any formalised spiritual practice in a very long time. This last week has been hard, and I believe that returning to a daily spiritual practice can only be a good thing. I've been playing with the Greenwood all week, just shuffling and looking at it and reading the book, not doing any readings, trying to decide what role it should play in my life right now.

The image here is luminous. The female figure in blue robes, decorated with spirals and leaves, having swan feathers in her hair, plays the bow with an arrow like a violin. More arrows shoot out from her in all directions. Thousands of luminous flecks light up the area around her. It's like she puts out her energy and receives luminous energy back in return. It is an interplay between herself and the universe. But she cannot experience this without the key ingredient of dedication.

'To heed the calling to dedicate one's life to any skill, spiritual path, belief system or philosophy requires sincerity, self-discipline and hard work. It is a sacred summoning that requires time and effort,' writes John Matthews and Mark Ryan, in the Wildwood Tarot companion book (which is more or less an expanded version of the Greenwood companion book.)

The card I've drawn spells it out very plainly. If I want a spiritual practice, I have to do it. I can't just think about it, intend to do it, or write journal entries about it. I must do it, and that requires dedication. The card portrays the rewards of this dedication very well.

5 comments:

  1. What a perfect card to answer this question. Beginning with any kind of spiritual practice is not that difficult but sticking with it is hard for me
    I might ask the same question to my cards today too :)

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    1. :D What answer did you get?

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    2. I got the Empress. She tells me the spirituality can be found in doing things with love ant attention like baking an apple pie for my husbands birthday or working in the garden

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  2. Hmm, I'm just working on a post on motivation for my vanilla blog. One thing it talks about is finding something enjoyable in whatever practice you want to keep up. If you don't actually enjoy it, it's harder to stick with. Sometimes you have to work to find what is good about it, but placing your focus there strengthens it, and helps keep you motivated. So, for example, if you were to chant, what do you find enjoyable about chanting? If it's a daily seated meditation, what is the best thing about doing that? How does it make you feel good in the moment? And how does it benefit you beyond the act itself?... :)
    Love how you describe this card. It's very different to the Wildwood version, lovely in a totally different way!

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    Replies
    1. Greenwood is a wonderful deck. I look at it side by side with the Wildwood, and I just prefer the energy of the Greenwood. :)

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