Opening the heart chakra with the Wild Unknown Tarot

Wild Unknown Tarot, 2012

The deck for this week is The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans (Wild Unknown, 2012). It is a curious deck, made of line drawings with minimal colouring. There are no people in the deck, and only a few man-made objects. It's mostly animals, a few plants and a few bugs. The deck does not depict nature in all its lush abundance--it's quite an austere deck, really. It's almost like it shows a shadow side of the natural world, the stark nobility that lies beneath the green and gold glow of the life force in nature.

Today's card is 9 of Cups, a card that traditionally signifies great self-satisfaction. I like the way the cups here are arranged in big semi-circle, leaving the centre of the card open. The crescent moon sits at the top of the card; to me it signifies spirituality and the continuous cycles of life. The empty space in the middle of the card suggests an openness in the heart, open and empty and ready to receive connection between self and other. It reminds me of the motion of the arms arcing down toward the floor as you descend to forward bend in yoga sun salutations, and also the upward motion at the end of the sequence. The move, and this card, seems to represent the clearing and cleansing around the heart chakra that clears the way for connection and experience of the all. Yoga is, after all, about connection between the self and universe.

Today's yoga practice for me was a series of sun salutations done to the words of the Lovingkindness Meditation:

May I be well. May I be safe. May I be peaceful and at ease. May I be happy.
May ___ be well. May s/he be safe. May s/he be peaceful and at ease. May s/he be happy. (an admired teacher)
May ___ be well. May s/he be safe. May s/he be peaceful and at ease. May s/he be happy. (a loved one)
May ___be well. May s/he be safe. May s/he be peaceful and at ease. May s/he be happy. (a neutral person)
May ___be well. May s/he be safe. May s/he be peaceful and at ease. May s/he be happy. (a challenging person)
May all beings be well. May they be safe. May the be peaceful and at ease. May they be happy.

The 9 of Cups to me today shows that big cleansing openness to wellness, safety, peace, ease and happiness that is there for the taking, if we just breath in and pull it into ourselves.