What's a Missing E Between Friends?
TAROT: JudgEment / LENORMAND: Letter, Garden, Heart / ADINKRA: Akoben
In preparation for these posts, I always pull a Tarot card first. The card I pulled this week is Judgement (XX). Before I talk about the image, or the card’s significance, I have to confess (former English teacher that I am) that the fact that there is an E missing in the spelling of the word JUDGEMENT kind of tipped me on my head. Judgment, without the E, is apparently an appropriate alternative way of spelling the word. This fact is confirmed by the fact that no red underline appeared when I just spelled it that way to test the theory out. For me, though, the lack of E is jarring. I need to get over myself.
There are things that we judge which are minor like that; things we can obsess over, if we choose to. It’s easy to obsess, I think, and perhaps a little bit fun, too, in that schadenfreude kind of way. Ultimately, though, that is an enormous waste of time. In this week’s Tarot card, a beautiful green butterfly is centered at the heart and throat, to symbolize metamorphosis. We are meant to exercise judgement in such a way that it moves us from grudge to grace; from blame to absolution; from wounding to healing. Lenormand agrees, with Letter, Garden, and Heart suggesting that before we write anyone or anything off (Letter) we think about whether that is the most loving (Heart) thing for all concerned (Garden.)
But, wait a minute. If I could insert a sound effect here, it would be the screeching sound a car might make when its brakes are hit too hard. Because that love and light perspective is way too “Puppies and Unicorns” for what these current times call for.
We are awaiting all kinds of judgements, are we not? (Looking at you, Judge Engoron.) We saw a huge 83.3 million dollar judgement assessed against the very same sweaty, seething serial predator E.Jean Carroll just bested. But judges sitting on benches are not the only ones who are expected to pass judgement here. Nikki Haley comes to mind. On the one hand, she has made it a mantra to say that the Orange One “was the right president for the right time.” She is quick to say she agreed with many of his policies. Now, of course, she is running against him. So she says things like “He’s made things chaotic. He lacks moral clarity. He’s just toxic.” True, true, and true. To paraphrase some poet somewhere, “ He was ever thus.” But what happens when he and his machine mow her down in the end? Would she serve as his vice president if the job were offered her? Would she wink and nod at us, as an actor might to the audience from a stage, miming to us that we ought not to worry; that she is busy being the good mother who will rein him in, as he meanwhile lays waste to… everything? Haley is no better choice of two evils, I don’t think. Her judgement is for sale, it seems. If that assessment seems judgmental, I accept that.
Adinkra gives us the symbol Akoben this week. It looks like a horn because it is the very horn used to sound a battle cry. It is, we are told, “a symbol of vigilance and wariness.” Indeed.
A client of mine recently discussed a phenomenon she found perplexing: the fact that so many people in the magickal community choose to be uninformed about politics, race, war. According to my client, these people consider themselves “above all that,” as they await some fifth dimension, Age of Aquarius ascension. I would gently suggests that the Akoben is sounding. It is the Akoben heeded by Black people who are holding Biden’s feet to the fire about U.S. support of genocide in Gaza. It is the Akoben sounded in the terrific new book TAROT FOR THE HARD WORK: an Archetypal Journey to Confront Racism and Inspire Collective Healing, by Maria Minnis, which, if you read and like what I have to say, you should purchase and support with an Amazon review, because it’s brilliant. It is the Akoben sounded by frigid temperatures in South Florida and torrential rain in Southern California. It is the Akoben of one of the two parties in our two party system wanting to close down the whole operation before forty-eight of the fifty states have even voted. It is the Akoben of…… and …… and …….
We are urged to exercise our good judgement on matters of such importance. Certainly we have cut our teeth sufficiently on judgement about an errant E, about the sartorial choices of TV commentators, about the Kelce/Swift romance, such that we are ready to move on to weightier matters that are of existential significance. Listen for the Akoben that calls you to attention. We must lead from the heart, by all means, but that should never mean abdication of the right use of judgement, whether, in the end, we add the E or not.
Amen and Ase
Yet again, your work never fails to inspire. My responses to your musings range from deep, intentional, days-long ruminating (typically around critical topics - your Jan 3rd post was incredibly sobering), to the resounding "Yes, girl!" (usually fueled by your political quips), and hearty chuckles, mostly because of your wittiness, but today because I'm an unabashed Swiftie. I also find the differences between American and British English, especially with regard to spelling, quite humorous. It reminds me of how some words are spelled and pronounced differently down here in the South. Case in point, I live across the river from "Phenix City," Alabama, sans the O, and in my town, the name "Jordan" is pronounced like "Jerdan." That's right, Michael Jerdan. Ha! Speaking of spelling and pronunciation, have a great FebRUary!