I spent yesterday in quiet contemplation, and in the evening I finally felt called to pull cards. The question I asked was “what impact will this decision have on who we become as a country?” Here are the cards:
The way I always begin this spread is to decide which card will stand in for the issue I will be asking about. I selected the (Moon) as my central card, as it is the card for identity, for reputation, for our own understanding of how we, as a country, can decide to take up space in the world.
I shuffle my deck, and then turn over the cards, one by one, until I reach the one I am looking for. Statistically speaking, it will be somewhere in the middle of the deck. Occasionally though, it comes very early or very late in the flipping. This time, in my search for the Moon, I found it in just the second card I turned over. Only the Tree came before it. Therefore, I set the Moon on my table, with the Tree to its left. Then, to get my traditional line of 5, I pulled the three cards which came directly after the Moon. That line gives us our reading summary:
Tree / Moon / Clouds / Heart / House
When, as in this case, I am unable to place my focus card (Significator) in the center of the line, I am alerted to the fact that whatever card IS in the center of that top line is central to the message I am being given. Here, the central card is Clouds, which is the card for confusion, disorder, unclarity.
Indeed.
When I look at the line as a whole, it reads: Our roots, our branches, our leaves, our foundation and our very life force as a country (Tree) is at issue. Our reputation and our sense of self (Moon) has been upended in a way that has left us dizzy (Clouds). What is this country that we pledge allegiance to, sing anthems to, love? (Heart). At our core, who are we really? And who do we want to be? (House).
Next, we move over to the left, to the Tree again. This time, we will look at the vertical line that comes down from Tree. This line will speak to what has been:
Tree / Woman / Sun / Rider
We have looked at our history, our progenitors, our lineage (Tree) in a fairly passive, Yin, (Young Woman) way: we have trusted that our Founders meant us well, that the three branches of government mean us well, that all would, in the end, always BE well. But yesterday’s news provided us with a searchlight beam, a glaring awareness (Sun) that there are other messages (Rider) we must take from recent events which are far less rosy. My (Rider) wears armor and carries an olive branch to make the case that sometimes messages are hard to hear, and our tendency to “shoot the messenger” is a real one, albeit unhelpful and a distraction. There are things about this country we must look at with a dispassionate eye under a bright light. The events of yesterday and of the recent past have presented us with just such an opportunity. Tree mirrors Rider: There is news (Rider) we (Tree) need to pay attention to. Woman mirrors Sun: We need to awaken from our Yin openness (Young Woman) to the myth of how terrific we have always been, and see what is really real (Sun.)
The next vertical line tells us more about what has happened:
Moon / Birds / Dog / Snake
There are “wheels within wheels” Ezekiel 1:1:22 at play. Our country’s identity is (Moon) here, you recall. The Moon is a round object, and not by accident, metaphorically-speaking. What is also round is a ball that gets tossed around. Sometimes the game is a simple one of catch. Other times, strategy is required to get and keep a ball in play. There have always been backroom machinations when it comes to the molding and packaging and selling of what America means (Moon.) The public is given one version, but it is not the only one. The other one, the real one, is the one crafted by Citizens United, The Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, the “Christian” Right, and others of their ilk. These are entities who have a vested interested in our being distracted by fast talking actors to the extent that we are unaware of the scenery being moved around backstage. In the meantime, these entities meet (Birds) in secret, often wearing judges robes and appearing to be benevolent and fair (Dog) when really, they are (to go all French Revolution here) enemies of the people (Snake.) We can mirror the cards Moon and Snake, to make the case that their intention for what America is (Moon) is at odds with what she ought to be, and that their intention is malign (Snake).
As is so often the case with Lenormand, the center line really lays things bare:
Clouds / Anchor / Mice / Fox
Even the pundits among us are confused (Clouds) by yesterday’s decision. The cabal’s intention is exactly that: to keep the populace confused(Clouds) and anxious (Mice) so that they can continue on their nefarious (Fox) way dismantling the state as we have understood/hoped/believed it to be, in favor of erecting the ethno- “Christian” entity that has been their plan for us all along: Roe…Affirmative Action….Consumer Protection Bureau…. HELLOOOOOO??????
The Court has said their decision yesterday is one “for the ages.” That is only half the intention. The decision is actually one for 45. His situation was the entire context. To claim otherwise is (to put it politely) disingenuous. The Court has told on itself. They lied during their confirmation hearings, to a man (and a woman - looking at you, Amy.) They are all in for 45, a convict, a thief, and a rapist. Just saying. They have, with a few pen strokes, dismantled democracy, and they did it in our faces, smiling. Our sound and our fury signifies to them absolutely nothing. They said what they said. Period. End of story.
I have quoted the historical figure John Proctor more than once in my articles. He was the farmer in 17th Century Salem, unjustly hanged for witchcraft. In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller has Proctor make this observation about his accusers and their supporters:
“We are as we always were. Only, naked now.”
For me, this is the glint of good news in all this miasma of misery. There is no doubting the Court’s intention. As they would have said in Salem 400 years ago, “We cannot blink it.” We see what we see. We know what we know. The question that remains is, now what do we do?
The next lines of Lenormand have some guidance here:
Our 4th vertical line is Heart / Key / Star / Ring
Positionally, this line and the next provide support and guidance for us moving forward. For me, this line reads: To whatever degree we can be that “shining city on the hill,” that beacon of virtue, we must recommit ourselves to more than the letter of what that means. We have never, in our history, examined the spirit of it, and that has been to our detriment. How do I know? Slavery, Jim Crow, homophobia, misogyny, patriarchy, pay disparity, housing disparity, educational disadvantage, food deserts….need I go on? Whom do we value? What do we love? What do our answers to those questions tell us about who the nation is, what she might become? Answering these questions about what we want to value and to love (Heart) is central (Key) to creating a future (Star) to which we can be proud to authentically commit (Ring.) Anthems and pledges are….so yesterday. So how we might demonstrate commitment to forging this new nation is worthy of a discussion or three. And, by the way, the forging of a new nation requires a dismantling of the old order. That is no quick, fun, or easy task. It is, however, necessary. Physics tells us this: it is impossible for two things to occupy the same space at the same time. Of course, quantum physics would perhaps beg to differ, but we are here in this dimension, and evil cannot coexist with good without one being frequently mistaken for the other. Case in point? The Supreme Court. Boy, did they fool us! But, when you know, you know. We cannot “blink it.” What version of ourselves will we choose to love (Heart)? How will we move sentiment to action we can commit to (Ring)? To what can we, in the end, pledge allegiance? What real, true, hard won version of America that has, to date, never yet existed?
Our 5th vertical line is House / Bear / Ship / Coffin
The (House) here is the body politic, and it must be dismantled and transformed (Coffin.) All that has gaslit us and controlled us must be dealt with. From 45 to his lackey supreme court (no capital letters deserved) here represented by (Bear) in all its monarchical, narcissistic raiment, all must be put on the next (Ship) out to sea, whether that is via vote or impeachment or imprisonment or the way of all flesh.
If I seem a tad exorcised, I am. Surely, you must be too, for that is the first, required step.
Finally, the 3 cards over to the left of the main reading serve as a postscript - last words from Spirit, Higher Self, whatever you want to call it:
Child / Clover / Man
We cannot patch up what is old and then call it new. Yesterday was perhaps the clearest inflection point most of us will experience in our lifetimes. This really is a good versus evil struggle, and none of us can sit this one out, because it is of existential importance. The court and 45 and their cabalistic controllers would have us either ignore what has happened or engage in the great wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. I acknowledge that I took yesterday to engage wholeheartedly in the latter. Today is a new day, though: the dawn of our new, clear reality; an opportunity for us to reset our reactions; the chance to participate in the building of a “shining city on a hill” that is no mirage this time, but the real deal, hard won and better cherished, because we have been reminded, the hard way, of how gossamer the threads are that hold it together. (Child) is the card for such newness, freshness, authenticity.
The cabal would appreciate it if we remain to stunned and saddened to act. Our best weapon lies in the next card (Clover). We have the right and an obligation to seek and create happiness and joy, even in the midst of….all this. We are told in Psalm 30:5 that “
“Darkness may spend the night. But joy comes in the morning.”
All of us here chose to incarnate in this place and for such a time as this. We were MADE for these times. Darkness did indeed spend the night last night. Let us seek joy in a Yang/(Young Man) way: seeing joy as our birthright, our founding of a new nation, a job we are totally up for. Let us find our place in this work, for there is no job too small: vote, petition, discuss, gather, do spells and incantations, pray (if any of those are your thing), cook and feed, heal and encourage. I will continue to write. I hope it helps a little. I wish us all joy in this undertaking.
Amen and Ase
Thank you for the amazing level of detail in this commentary. Dare I have a bit of hope?
Thank you for this, Erika. The higher voice of reason and the imperative call to action are helpful. I blink not. 💞