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Day 214 – Tarot Cards and Essential Services?

Monday, 2 August 2021

Essential. Day 214 Layout in order of appearance: The Lovers, Aloneness, Ripeness, Totality, Participation, Integration, The Master, Experiencing, Guilt, Silence.

Essential Context

Well, we’re in lockdown, and my husband is working from home again.  It’s nice to have him here; we work well together in the same place (in different rooms).  A pre-meeting chat on my work front sees me react to an indignant remark about a tarot reader considering herself an essential service.  

Working in a very “corporate” world, I had agreed that I wouldn’t consider a tarot reader an “essential service”.  To my astonishment, I caught myself making the automatic, unthinking response.  It was a societally acceptable response, but how much thought had gone into it. 

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not that much of a rebel that I need to buck societal nuances for the sake of it – anymore. 😏  The response was flippant, and I had even owned I was a tarot reader.  But following it with I didn’t consider it an essential service.  Then again, it’s not my living.  I knew when the words left my mouth; I was about to give myself a serious chat.  

The warning comes from years of flippant, definitive stances I’ve taken, only to wind up on the reverse and proven, not necessarily wrong, but certainly had my extreme view adjusted.  It’s like in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989), where everything Dr Indiana Jones (Indy) tells the students about archaeology, later, literally comes to pass.    

So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. You do not follow maps to buried treasure and "X" never, ever, marks the spot.

Dr Indiana (Indy) Jones

Thinking on Automatic Responses

Likewise, I thought about Tarot readers and automatic responses about “essential services” after the meeting.  Here go the questions: “why would she think the classification could apply to her?”, “why do people really go to tarot readers?”, “what can a tarot reader offer in times like the pandemic?”.   My friend Pauline succinctly told me once she simply needed to talk it out, and the cards seemed to be a conduit for me to get the information from her.  

So, then I played a scenario over in my head of a woman (Sandy, for story purposes) whose husband had lost his job to COVID, they were okay for the moment, but Sandy was worried about the future.  Now psychologists don’t deal with speculation on the future – that’s for stockbrokers, crypto experts, weather personnel and psychics.

On an inner level, Sandy knows the future is mercurial.  Having the ability to talk about her worries to someone who might find that light at the end of the tunnel is worth it to her.

So, tarot readers provide minor stress relief and hope amidst dark times.  If Sandy were lucky to find a talented reader, they might even get assistance.  For instance, a tarot reader had once intuited a phone number for the Blue Mountains Meditation Retreat to help me manage my anger. 

Because life is cyclical in waves of happiness and sadness, the tarot reader might stop at a lighter point.  There’s always sunshine after rain, right?  Providing an outlet to someone in times of distress equals mental well-being.  In some respects, you could view a Tarot reader as an essential service.  There, now I’ve thought about it. 

Today's Cards

Essential

The Cards - Essential Analysis

Carryover Cards

No cards carried over from yesterday.

Cross

The Lovers is in the Now influenced by Aloneness, which I read as a union of the self.  The harmonious working together to foster outcomes bigger than the sum of the two parts.   

Ripeness is a state of readiness and reflects today’s Goal.  I’m sensing that the Yin cycle (refer to Day 193) is beginning to hit its awareness as dormant words, like “tarot”, are returning without my prompting.  For example, in the pre-meeting chat.

Participation is in the Recent Past and provides the foundation for The Lovers to continue a similar vibe.  Participation is collaboration, and The Lovers is the union of participation between two people instead of a small group; that would be the meeting.

Totality in the Distant Past probably reminds me of old bad habits like making unthinking or poorly thought-out remarks.

Future Energy is Integration, and you can see the progression from the Recent Past.  It moves from the separate individuals participating in an activity to The Lovers, a union of energy, which brings about Integration. In other words, the answer isn’t as cut and dry as we’d like it to be but by integrating the idea of essential with non-essential, we take the elements of the truth in both and work with the result.

Base

My Feelings are like those of The Master when it comes to this topic.  People believe The Master sits comfortably with his emotions, looking at issues neutrally, neither with passion nor dispassion.

Others’ Views is that I’m Experiencing life and potentially growth in this case.

Hopes & Fears has Guilt.  Did you know the last time Guilt made an appearance was 53 days ago?  Anyway, I fear that I may have given others the wrong impression of my views on the topic.  I hope in future; Guilt doesn’t happen by avoiding unthinking remarks.

Silence is the Outcome, suggesting perhaps that the Guilt stops and Silence with inner peace appears.  If we’re talking about the remark and my thoughts on it, it would seem I will be content with my conclusion.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 214

Day 208 – From the Cancellation of NZ – Opportunity!

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Day 209. Opportunity. Layout In order of appearance: Intensity, Breakthrough, Transformation, Fighting, Maturity, Thunderbolt, Awareness, Letting Go, Friendliness, Sorrow. Washing Machine

Opportunity Context

It’s Official.  The New Zealand ski trip has had the flights cancelled by the airline.  On Day 204, I was devastated by the cancellation news; today’s confirmation provided an opportunity.  I’ve wanted to visit the Northern Territory,  for some time, and the Larapinta Trail Walking Tour seemed like my perfect substitute vacation.  It was quite the discovery to realise my husband saw things differently.

In my mid to late twenties, I travelled extensively on adventure holidays.  These vacations usually gave me the longest time away in another country and got me closer to the non-touristy culture in the safest way possible.  

The long trips were because the countries had a superexchange rate against the Australian dollar; plus, you were camping and providing transport (your own feet and legs). Why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to stay longer and see more?  Okay, there were other modes of travel, like camels across the desert, train trips, elephant safaris, white water rafting down rivers, bicycles, and trucks like I mentioned on Day 188.  But there were also treks.

TV series like, Naked and Afraid, Eco-Challenge Fiji, Long Way Round, Amazing Race, Travel Guides Australia/ New Zealand, and Travel Around the World, only fuel my desire to relive past elements to experience somewhere new.  When New Zealand’s cancellation confirmation came through, this was my opportunity. 

Nothing but Positives

All I could see were benefits.  The timing, I thought, was serendipitous since it was inside the exact dates we had booked for New Zealand.  The exercise level was introductory to moderate, and the cost initially appeared the same.  And, I would be exercising my ankle regularly, and there would be no hampering reason or ready-made excuse of, “I don’t feel like it” to avoid it. 

Getting away from junk food and eating healthy for a week would be a bonus.  It would be an excellent way to detox and lose weight with a bit of luck.  The detox wouldn’t just apply to the physical it would provide a mental detox as well. 

We would learn more about the indigenous population, get back to nature, the weather would be good, read or listen to a couple of good books, and hopefully sleep under the stars.  The best part would be no cooking, carrying bags (except a day pack) and arriving at a new destination with everything ready to go – camping posh-like.

An Alternative View

Except, and it’s a big EXCEPT, my husband didn’t see the cancellation and opportunity in the same way.  The flames of enthusiasm got tested.  Something so natural to me was something alien to my husband.  

It took me by surprise that our ideas of vacations varied so much.  Thrown, how had we gotten this far in the relationship to realise our vacations styles were at odds with each other?  Sure, assumptions happened when underdeveloped countries we travelled to for SCUBA trips hadn’t phased him.   Okay, it’s gold class roughing it. 

The big awakening was when I realised my husband’s travel experiences, before me, all had an air of sophistication.  That’s okay; there have been those in my past too.  However, I forget that not everyone wants to have the holidays I have.  While the type of trip I went on wasn’t too radical or unusual, there are fewer travellers on this slightly riskier trail – even the gold class version.     

But when I was young, I had to choose where to spend my money, and to my youthful mind, length of travel was more important than “quality” of travel.  Hope that makes sense.   Although I’d argue the quality I received was equal to any of the more sophisticated travel adventures.   

Reality versus Fantasy

After a long chat around the fact, my go-to holiday might just be an “ideal but never really happen to my holiday” from my husband’s perspective.  My husband confirmed the trip style had thrown him, as did my willingness to just jump at the opportunity without any preparation.   

However, it was the first time he’d had to consider the option.  He’d decided it wasn’t something he was against doing or trying, but his concern was around my physical fitness.

Was I really ready for this trip with the state of my ankle?  If I were honest with myself and try to be, I would need another month’s preparation before going on the trek.  The extra month would allow us the opportunity to practise and increase our fitness levels and be confident we weren’t embarking on a trip beyond our skill level.  Sadly, we don’t have the extra month or the opportunity to push it out.  Bugger!  (Day 188)

Today's Cards

Opportunity. Day 208. Tabled list: order of appearance. The Fool, Suppression, Transformation, Inner Voice, Change, Guidance, Breakthrough, Adventure, Celebration, Existence. Standard Shuffle

The Cards - Opportunity Analysis

Carryover Cards

No cards carried over from yesterday.

Cross

The Fool is Now making plans without looking at the potential impact; he is loftily dreaming of a “red centre” escape. 😁  Suppression impacts The Fool’s enthusiasm from taking full flight.

I am pursuing my Goal of Transformation, where I change the inactive state of current existence and the cancelled active holiday to another that included being active.

This Change happened in the Recent Past when the New Zealand trip got cancelled.  Further, in the Distant Past, it was about listening to my Inner Voice for these types of trips.  The good thing is the apparent misalignment of trip styles came out into the open.

It also looks like the Change (Recent Past = cancellation of the trip) triggered the Transformation (Goal = new journey). 

Guidance is the Future Energy, suggesting help for another vacation from Renae, the fantastic travel agent, could be on the cards 😉.

Base

My Feelings about the whole interaction today is one of Breakthrough.  Had the situation not arisen, my husband and I may not have talked about my longing for the occasional walkabout travel.

Others’ Views is Adventure.  Today, more than usual, the image strikes me as a vulnerable child heading off on an Adventure.  It may very well be how I was perceived today.

The Hopes & Fears spot has the Celebration card.  Celebration is what my emotions did today.  The excitement is hope for a familiar but new Adventure and the fear that it won’t be possible or conducive to uptake.  Or simply reality setting in that my ankle’s healing hasn’t been put to any rigorous testing to know whether it could hold up on a sustained walking trip in central Australia. 

Existence is in the Outcome position and captures that interconnectedness between yourself and time, realising that no one in the world can be you, past, present, or future.  It initially caused the disparity in views but talking about it when thrown and rallying from the disconnect.  Luckily, there is also no one else like my husband, and between us, we could talk it out. 

So, I don’t know what opportunity will present itself or if we will ever go on my kind of walking vacation – it might end up being just me, but we’ll see.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
Links

Tarot Day Layouts
Travel Guides Australia (TV Series) My notions were inspired n part by Season 1, Episode 5, “Top End” and Season 4, Episode 2, “Red Centre”)

End Day 208

Day 193 – Yin-Yang 20-year Cycle Hypothesis

Monday, 12 July 2021

Yin-yang. Day 193. In order of appearance.:Intensity, Slowing Down, Schizophrenia, The Master, Courage, Awareness, Exhaustion, Postponement, Comparison, Laziness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Yin-Yang Context

For many years I’ve talked about mental health and metaphysical ailments.  When I say mental health, I’m talking about meditation and mindfulness exercises.  A friend, Rick (not name), many years ago mentioned the world went into 20-year cycles of yin-yang.

So, what did Rick mean when he said yin-yang and 20-year cycles?  Imagine for a moment that yin and yang are characteristics – not hard since this is partly what the symbol is trying to represent.  You know, the dichotomies of natural forces, each with its unique attributes and the gentle transition between the two.

It’s much like day and night.  These are the most appropriate for Rick’s statement of bi-decade cycles.  Day and night have distinct characteristics; however, to transition from day to night, we need to pass through dusk.   Likewise, to move from night into the day, we need to pass through dawn.  

For anyone, who has done an all-nighter or woken before dawn to see to sunrise, there’s not an exact “aha” moment to point to when the sky is bright, even if you sense and can see the gentle graduation of light. 

Of course, there’s sunrise and sunset to mark specific times when the sun crosses the horizon in respective locations.  The yin-yang cycles work in much the same way with the years. 

Rick mentioned his observations were that the even decades were typically the yin peaks amid yang dominance.  For instance, the ’60s had the Vietnam war; war is a very yang energy, but at its peak was the hippie movement, which he considered very yin.  

The Dusk & Dawn of Yin-Yang

In the dusk and dawn analogy, the peak of hippie and war was midnight and midday (figuratively speaking) of the 20-year yang cycle.  He likened these moment years and the odd decades were like the yang’s turn – but not exactly.  The peaks got offset by a couple of years from the turn of the decade, 1963 (maybe) to Rick’s mind.  

It might be observing the 20-year cycles at the height of their popularity, works like this: the 60s had eccentric hippies, peace, and beans, leading to the 70s of finally ending the Vietnamese war. 

The 80s were about flamboyance, which led to a financial market recession, and there were arguably many psychic fairs and self-help gurus about – at least, around where I lived.  Following the 80s, exuberance was the lean, mean 90s, self-help morphed into management and leadership books, and the home computer age was born. 

In the naughties (the 00s), we were back to healthy eating and living and recreational drug used seemed to be more a hot topic, and by the mid-10s travel, fitness was back but in a more rounded approach.  Now we hit the 2020’s, and subtle signs indicate we’re heading back into a yin cycle, prompted in no small way by COVID-19 to look at our mental health and looking at our inner selves.

Supporting Rick's Hypothesis

To support Rick’s observations, I searched the Internet and came up empty-handed.  There is nothing but fortune-telling games and the sexagenary (60-year Chinese Astrology year cycles).  The Chinese Astrology uses 60-year cycles, and within these, there are 20-year branches but nothing to hint at Rick’s hypothesis.  

Yin-Yang for Today

So, what has this got to do with my day?  Lately, I’ve been talking about tarot, mental health, mindfulness, meditation, and intuition more than I have in a long time.  All that self-reflection and self-help and analysis ring true for a while, then people get sick of hearing about it, and it goes off the boil. 

It’s not because they don’t like the topic or eschew it – although there are some; it’s like the market for this type of knowledge reaches a tipping point.  And as suddenly as it seemed to have arrived, it goes away.  Like after a sleep where you know you’ve dreamt but don’t quite remember how you got to sleep. 

People needed time to assimilate the new information, plus other more physical concerns began to take over.  Then that too reached its peak, and people sought something with more meaning and depth.  And the cycle starts again with a yawn. 

Like a person who wakes up but isn’t sure they want to talk to anyone just yet, but at some point, most likely after a cup of coffee, talking happens.  Talking is almost an act of courage by this point, but once you get going, nothing can stop you!

I raise the yin-yang cycle because the aspect of my life, without prompting, is being discussed once again, which is what happened today at work.  The yin has subtly been reawakening, but we’re beginning to see its light over the horizon.

Today's Cards

Yin-yang. Day 193. In order of appearance.:Intensity, Slowing Down, Schizophrenia, The Master, Courage, Awareness, Exhaustion, Postponement, Comparison, Laziness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Yin-Yang Analysis

Carryover Cards

No cards carried over from yesterday.

Cross

Intensity is in the Now influenced by Slowing Down.  The Goal of the day is Schizophrenia.  The Master sits comfortably in the middle of the layout in the Distant Past position and has loaned his energy to the more Recent Past to give it Courage to pursue intensely.   From the Intensity of Now to the Future Energy of Awareness.

Briefly, Intensity is the energy behind rekindling an old flame, talking about some of the psychic moments of my past.  The topic arose after a “Slowing Down” period, where I caught up with a colleague, and the discussion came about naturally.

To talk or not to talk about having psychic moments was the question today (Schizophrenia), and to talk about those moments took Courage.  Later in the day, the Awareness of the yin cycle returning began to take hold.

Base

The current phase is Exhaustion.  My Feelings are that I’m exhausted from exerting myself without tapping into something more fun, something that will bring me back to enthusiasm.

Others’ Views are that I’m delaying (Postponement) doing what I love doing.  

Contrary to Others’ Views, my inner Hopes & Fears reflect I’m comparing myself with others (Comparison), or I fear I am coming up short.  My hope is the comparison shows me progressing favourably.

The Outcome shows Laziness, and this might just prove the Others’ Views right. In that, by postponing it, things I’ve worked hard to build might start crumbling or falling behind.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 193

Day 192 – Reverse Engineering Pitfall

Sunday, 11 July 2021

Pitfall. Day 192. In order of appearance.:Adventure, Traveling, The Rebel, Totality, The Creator, Letting Go, Rebirth, The Miser, Breakthrough, Ordinariness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Reverse engineer a decaying office chair; why not? I thought.  And the follow-up phrase uttered by many fools in the past, “how hard can it be?”.  Now that’s a pitfall

Pitfall Context

Today, I had a brain fart, and it was to reverse engineer a rapidly deteriorating leather office chair I use regularly.  Why not?  I thought.  And uttered by so many fools in the past, “how hard can it be?”.  My recovering of the cheap chair worked a treat and only took a weekend!

Indeed, I am and have been the fool to utter the words, “how hard can it be?”, right up there with the likes of Jeremy Clarkson (The Grand Tour).  Oh, what company to keep 🤔. 

Don’t misunderstand me; I wasn’t working under the false assumption the more complex chair would finish in a day.  The unpicking alone took forever, and I did pay close attention to the details to make it easier to put back together. 

However, one of the pitfalls of not being the developer is the inspiration that drove the design in the first place isn’t there.  Thus, making it more difficult to piece all the elements back together.

Despite my best attempts to remember how it stitched together when I get to piecing the fabric together, I’m scratching my head.  Something as simple as the back cover, and whether the broader part of the material should be wider at the top or bottom, got forgotten between the unpicking and resewing. 

At the end of the day, the chair’s back was unpicked.  I also managed to identify the fabric pieces for each section of the chair.  The replacement fabric wasn’t leather and needed interfacing to make it workable.  Nothing could progress until next weekend.

Pitfall Observations

By the way, “brain fart” is a word used colloquially in Australia on occasion when a person thinks they’ve had a great idea but, in the end, is a stinker of an idea.  At this stage, I don’t know if the idea is going to stink.  What I do know is there is sewing equipment all over the dining room awaiting use.

It’s funny how even though the blog today was about a chair, it could apply as a metaphor for life.  Sometimes, no matter how hard to try to make something old new or try to recreate a situation, there’s no getting it back.  It’s one of the pitfalls described by many wise persons as a moment we cling to that neglects the now.

Today's Cards

Pitfall. Day 192. In order of appearance.:Adventure, Traveling, The Rebel, Totality, The Creator, Letting Go, Rebirth, The Miser, Breakthrough, Ordinariness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Pitfall Analysis

Carryover Cards

No cards carried over from yesterday.

Cross

The cards are showing a little Adventure influenced by Traveling.  The Goal is to be The Rebel in control of who we are and unconcerned with public opinion.  In this case, public opinion was the wise words of my husband.  Remember that’s the pitfall of a proper fool; it is also what gives you the Adventure.

The Creator is in the Recent Past moulding circumstances, probably when I thought it was a good idea to redo the chair instead of buying another one (it was an expensive chair!). 

Totality is in the Distant Past is likely to be the moment I undid the stitching.  The leather had deteriorated so much that little bits of sticky black leather flaked off during the undoing.

The little Adventure is the trip (Traveling) to the haberdashery store for the backing fabric to prevent the replacement fabric from fraying.  Hot on the heels of Adventure is Letting Go, whether this means Letting Go of the making the chair altogether due to lack of skill or simple the like-for-like attempt. 

My husband has already suggested just doing a sleeve instead of trying to recreate the original.  I’ve only just started, and depending on how easy this is to progress will determine the route to the finished product.   Sometimes, in life, you just have to step into the pit and fall – it can be the best way to learn

Base

My Feelings are of Rebirth, reawakening the excitement of the challenge. It’s strangely exciting to tackle something of this size and complexity for which I have minimal skills and a lot of over-enthusiastic gusto! 😁

Others’ Views of me is that I’m The Miser.  True, I am trying to save money, but the chair is old and falling apart, and a replacement one is expensive.  There is also the fun of giving the replacement a go.  If it doesn’t work, I’ve lost $20 in fabric and a couple of challenging weekends where the dining room is a mess.

Hopes & Fears are me hoping for a Breakthrough in discovering there’s an easy way to recover a chair.  On the flip side, I fear it will be more complex than initially anticipated, and it will beat me.

Finally, it’s the card of Ordinariness in the Outcome position.  Let’s face it, recovering a chair is exciting for the doer – en Moi – but is pretty ordinary.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 192

Day 188 – Flies, Bugs, & Australian Slang

Wednesday, 7 July 2021

Bugs. Day 188. In order of appearance. Letting Go, New Vision, Suppression, Playfulness, Control, Rebirth, Trust, Creativity, Flowering, Intensity

Bugs Context

Today, I toy with how immigrants and bugs in Australia have transmuted a word initially thought of as rude into something less insidious.

Many, many years ago, when I was about 22 and an office secretary, I worked beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a company in an office on the fourth floor.  It was summer, it was hot, and the lift (elevator) was out of order.  

One of my jobs was to put a note on the lift doors on the ground floor to let staff know they would need to use the stairs.  The business I worked for received many courier deliveries, and it was expecting the stationery order. 

The sign I put up said in large print, “Welcome to work!  The lift is out of order, so you’ll need to use the stairs.”  In small print, I added, and I intended to let couriers know we understood their plight, “If it will make you feel better, be glad you’re not the poor bugger who has to make deliveries to us.”.  

When the admin head, Marge, arrived and saw the note, she kindly asked me to reword it to exclude the word bugger.  A little shocked to be asked to remove, to my mind, a harmless and frequently used term.  After all, a TV ad had a dog use it (the word forced the ad’s removal).  Marge explained the technical meaning, and it mortified me because it certainly wasn’t my intention to use it like that!

Over the years, I’ve often thought about that incident when the word arose in everyday conversation by others.  Again, if I mentioned to them what it meant – they too were horrified.  This disconnect between what we thought we were saying to what we were meaning kept my thoughts going. 

The Dawning of Bugs

It wasn’t until my trip through southeast Africa that I stumbled across how Australians might interpret the word.  On the Africa trip were a couple of Danes.  By the way, Danes or Scandinavians always seem to be my trips.   As we headed off for the day, the truck had a flat tyre in the early morning.  One of the Dane’s made an innocent comment that it was the first “punctuation” we’d had on the trip. 

The native English speakers, looking at the flat tyre, got the meaning and context of the word ‘punctuation’.  It was also the incorrect word.  It made sense even if it wasn’t the word puncture.  However, if the Dane’s used punctuation out of context to describe a flat tyre, it might leave the recipient scratching their head.

Africa, like Australia, is not without its flies, bugs or bees.  Once we fixed the puncture, we all assumed our seats; a couple of us took a turn in the ‘dog box’ and drove until lunch.  After lunch, I sat in the back of the truck, and unluckily for the Danes, they chose the dog box.  Don’t get me wrong, the dog box is fantastic, but it was unlucky because the truck had driven through a swarm of bees, and they got stung.  To this, one of the Dane’s commented they didn’t like being ‘buggered’, meaning having been attacked by bugs.  Everyone laughed, but for me, the penny dropped as to how Australians might have adopted the term.

Image from Exodus Expeditions

Adoption of Bugger for Bugs

Australians are used to a variety of insects, in particular flies.  Flies come in all sorts of types; according to the CSIRO, about 400 species of the March fly exist in Australia!  They’re also known as horse flies.  Not to mention the blue house fly or bluebottle fly.  A phrase you might hear uttered by an Australian is, “I was running around like a blue house fly” (which translates to fast and all over the place).

Australia is also home to immigrants who aren’t from English speaking backgrounds, and the use of the word ‘bugger’ and bugs are a logical association.   Hence, I think this is how it became part of the Australian vernacular. 

It also explains why I didn’t find it offensive, having parents with strong European accents who used the word all the time.  Possibly from some of the outback trips, we’d taken as children. 

The majority of Australians wouldn’t know why they use it and would be upset if you mentioned its source word.  You see, it seems like a made-up word, and it makes sense in Australia to apply it to the constant onslaught of pesky critters.

Bugger, its Forms, and Possible Uses

Following are derivatives of the word bugger and how I think their origins began with bugs or flies:

Buggered off – slang short for ‘couldn’t be bothered giving it any attention, so just kept moving’.  Every time someone does an Australian salute – a quick wave of the hand to shoo flies – and the flies leave you alone, the flies have “buggered off”.  If you go somewhere and don’t care for the place and leave, you’ve buggered off. 

Buggered equals exhausted.  It applies when a person in Australia says they’re “buggered”.   Simply it means, they’re “exhausted from fighting”, and what’s unsaid, “off flies, insects or pests.  If you come home from a long day at work, or you’ve been as busy as a blue house fly, you’d be correct in saying you were buggered.  It has become synonymous with exhaustion.

Bugger!  Massive frustration, and again, if you apply it to the number of flies or bugs around.  The word is an accurate reflection of the mounting frustration that finally cracks your self-control.

If something’s a bugger, it’s because it’s annoying, like a fly constantly buzzing around you.  A phrase like, “well, that’s a bugger, isn’t it” translates to “well that’s annoying, isn’t it”.

Oh, bugger!  Like “oh, shit!” are sometimes expressed instead of the “shit” word to avoid swearing.  This word replacement also makes sense if you’re referring to flies that fly about, and or you happen to swallow a fly! 

So, getting back to my story with Marge and how I referred to the delivery drivers and the couriers as “poor buggers”.  Quite simply, their job, by nature and necessity, is to interrupt your daily flow, which is annoying.  So, they are people who “bug” you like bugs do, aka annoy you.

Bugs with Cuteness

Sometimes you could hear bugger used with gruff affection, like, “he’s a cute little bugger”, or “come here you rascally bugger”, or “he’s a cheeky bugger”.  Usually, the gruff affectionate form will have another adjective added before it to show its light-hearted intent. 

When applying this light-hearted version, it could mean that the person is annoying and endearing simultaneously.  Like toward your child, who you have caught being mischievous with their hand in the cookie jar.  It’s important to listen for the tone of voice.

The phrase “come here, you bugger” could work on many levels, from the angry to the affectionate.  However, there’s always a slight insinuation of annoying.  For instance, saying Neil’s a smart bugger could mean someone clever, but his cleverness can be annoying, or he’s both intelligent, and he’s annoying. 

Look at that; I’ve come to the end of the page – bugger!

Today's Cards

Bugs. Day 188. Tabled list: order of appearance. Letting Go, New Vision, Suppression, Playfulness, Control, Rebirth, Trust, Creativity, Flowering, Intensity. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

Only one card carried over from yesterday; Suppression, and it stayed in the Goal position.

Cross

Playfulness is in the Distant Past, and it a point to which I like to return, or should I say awaken anew.  In the more Recent Past, I’ve felt that I’m just going through the motions at work (Control).

The Control has felt necessary if I’m to suppress, and Suppression has been the Goal for two days, where I’m finding my sense of fun.  Work isn’t horrible; the people are “nice”; it’s just not fun or playful.

Today it’s me in the process of Letting Go of emotions and the Stress from yesterday.  New Vision influenced today’s playful interpretation of the word ‘bugger’.

By Letting Go of stress and, to some extent, control over the environment, a Rebirth of Playfulness can occur.

Base

My Feelings on Letting Go is that I need to simply Trust.  The card’s image is a person diving off an invisible diving board into an open sky; Trust is Letting Go!

Others’ Views is that I’m using Creativity or that I’m creative.  As I’ve mentioned on a couple of occasions, knowing how others perceive you when you’re not engaging with them is difficult; it’s tricky to read your cards because you’re not necessarily objective.

Hopes & Fears has the card of Flowering.  Flowering is about being at home with yourself, your sex.  I hope I can embrace Letting Go but fear it’s going to be challenging to do so.

Finally, it’s Intensity in the Outcome position.  Intensity is like a bushfire, wild and multi-directional, which is what Letting Go might do according to the cards.

Well, we come to the end of the day’s with bugs and bugger forming a peculiar relationship which strangely makes sense.   Now, I appreciate this is probably not how the word bugs transmuted into bugger, but it was a fun exercise to see how applicable I could make it.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 188

Day 184 – The Mesmerising Saxophone

Saturday, 3 July 2021

Saxophone. Day 184. In order of appearance.:The Master, Sorrow, Mind, Beyond Illusion, Existence, Harmony, The Creator, Fighting, The Rebel, Flowering. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Saxophone Context

My husband and I like to watch YouTube reactionists.  These YouTube clips are of people recording themselves reacting to movies or TV shows.  The reactors provide their thoughts and or critiques of the film or song.  Three of the reactors all mistook the sound of the saxophone in Lethal Weapon as “sexy”.  I think the sax’s mesmerising quality has a sexy connotation but is not solely so.

Okay, I admit when the saxophone sounded, it was to show how Murtagh’s daughter, Rianne, enters dressed to go out, and the sexy music plays.  It’s another moment in the movie when Roger realises his daughter is no longer his little girl.  It’s Martin reaction to Rianne that prompts the realisation.

In addition to mesmerising, the saxophone has a sultry, longing sound drawing the listener’s heart into a void of yearning, which is more than just sex.  Of course, sensuality is often associated with sex but is not sex; it can form a part but not always.  It was also the magical instrument of the 80s for me, although it existed obviously before then. 

Bob Seger’s song Turn the Page has the saxophone, and it’s challenging to find “sexy” although there is sensuality.  The saxophone conveys the singer’s loneliness on the road.  It harks of warmth, longing, and remembrance of home, like squeezing the last bit of water out of a sponge.

Today's Cards

Saxophone. Day 184. In order of appearance.:The Master, Sorrow, Mind, Beyond Illusion, Existence, Harmony, The Creator, Fighting, The Rebel, Flowering. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Saxophone Analysis

Carryover Cards

Only one card carried over from yesterday; Harmony moves from Outcome to Future Energy.

Cross

Today’s Now has The Master.  The Master, like Gautama Buddha accompanied by Ananda weeping over the souls, with Sorrow, who haven’t reached enlightenment because they are too occupied in their Mind.   I’d like to say it could be as simple as the cards telling that story of Buddha; alas, it is not.  My cards, my day.

To look at my day’s main thought against the cards, I’m comfortable in my belief (The Master) about the mesmerising quality of the saxophone.  There is sufficient evidence to support me.  What makes me sad (Sorrow) is how the saxophone seems to have become stereotyped (in the Mind).

In the Distant Past, the saxophone would transport you from one state of being to another, like the chrysalis from caterpillar to butterfly (Beyond Illusion).  In 1987’s, Lethal Weapon, Rianne’s transformation from a little girl to a young woman before her father’s eyes using Martin’s objective eye, using the saxophone to maximum effect on all its emotional levels.

The Recent Past shows the card of Existence which echoes The Master card for comfortableness and humility.

Harmony is listening to your heart and experiencing the connection between body, mind and spirit working together.  The Future Energy position is a continuation of The Master’s serenity and comfortableness within himself.

Base

My Feelings are I am The Creator of my destiny when it comes to saxophone listening.  If this position were the Immediate Future, it would be echoing The Master, Existence and Harmony. 

Almost in complete contradiction to how I’m feeling, Others’ Views of me is that I’m a little touchy or overly sensitive in the card of Fighting.

For Hopes & Fears, the card of The Rebel hopes to continue the current state of being and knows (fears) it’s changing.

The Outcome position has Flowering; lo and behold, it’s a woman comfortable in her sexuality and sensuality and emanates a sense of assurance in who she is – bring it on!

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 184

Day 181 – When Something’s Improved Away

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Improved Away. Day 181. order of appearance. Projections, Compromise, Healing, Harmony, Moment to Moment, Stress, New Vision, The Creator, Receptivity, The Burden. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Improved Away Context

In a world where IT is constantly evolving, it’s frustrating when a feature you love is “improved away”.  The phrase, I think, was coined in our office to apply to circumstances when an application or product is updated and a helpful feature removed as part of the improvement.

Today, I discovered one of the spreadsheet programs improved away a template I loved.   If memory serves correctly, there was an expense planning format.  The spreadsheet worked differently from a budget.  A budget takes an income and breaks it up into expected costs; its associated report bundles the results into categories.

Once you suspect a favourite or frequently used item has been moved, merged, removed, or bundled with some other things, you might spend some time looking to get the feature back.  Your search engine gets a workout as you seek a solution to the problem the improved away created.

Indeed, removing something from someone that they have become used to is incredibly difficult.  There’s a surprising kind of stress associated with slight separation or loss.  And that’s not just in the IT world, although separating us from our mobile phones has the potential to form into a full-blown phobia or nomophobia (netdoctor).  Try to take anything away that has been beneficial to someone, and you’ll get a fight.  Have you tried taking candy from a toddler – note, not baby, that’s the easy one; now, a toddler is on an entirely different level.

As we head into day one of another three-day lockdown and speak of trying to remove something beneficial, I’m reminded some organisations implemented work from home strategies in response to COVID’s enforcement.  The main reason for this pushback is that people have discovered the convenience of putting a load of washing on while attending a meeting.

Today's Cards

Improved Away. Day 181. order of appearance. Projections, Compromise, Healing, Harmony, Moment to Moment, Stress, New Vision, The Creator, Receptivity, The Burden. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

Two cards carried over from yesterday; Moment to Moment moved from Hopes & Fears to Recent Past, and New Vision stayed in the Feelings position.

Cross

Projections are in the Now influenced by Compromise.  What I forgot to mention above was today was my rostered day off.  However, it is also the end of the financial year in Australia, which equals timesheets, last-minute financial adjustments, and is an arbitrary date that motivates many business decisions.  For your information, the abbreviation we use for the End Of the Financial Year is EOFY. 

So, why did I raise the day off?  Well, timesheets needed completion, which I forgot to do yesterday, and I had scheduled a meeting I was going to attend.  As a Compromise, I decided to hand over my meeting notes to another invitee (ooh, Projections can me handing over something) and let them run the session, but I would log in to do my timesheets.

Healing is in the Goal position.  My Healing was going to take the form of catching up on work. 

In the Distant Past is Harmony, Day 179 had the Harmony card in the Future Energy spot and has moved from there into the Distant Past over two days?  On Day 179, I had been frustrated by events where I needed to justify someone else’s actions, unpleasant and left me on tenterhooks but happened in the meantime to create a time of Harmony.

Moment to Moment is in the Recent Past, continuing the harmonious feel and leading me into Projections, leading to an environment with a Future Energy of Stress.  The Stress is most likely me needing to have a difficult discussion with the person involved.

Base

New Vision has stayed the Feelings spot since yesterday.  Yesterday, New Vision was about getting to my source or core.  Today, New Vision relates to a new way of existing and opening up.  However, there’s the possibility I’m opening up because I’m projecting my feelings of trust onto someone else.

Others see me as The Creator, and The Creator in Osho describes it as being able to enrich his own life and those of others (p.48).  I like the idea.

Hopes & Fears has in the card of Receptivity.  Receptivity echoes the opening up of New Vision; there’s the fear of abuse for being trusting with any opening up.  The hope for the opening up is that trust will breed itself and others are able to confide and trust in your generosity.

The final outcome is The Burden.  The Burden in this case is the need for me to action something I’d rather not.   Maybe the discussion with the person I’d been justifying – we’ll see, it might be something completely different.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 181

Day 179 – Making Excuses for Others

Monday, 28 June 2021

Excuses. Day 179. order of appearance. Totality, Ice-olation, Completion, Existence, Consciousness, Harmony, Conditioning, Aloneness, Ripeness, Fighting. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Excuses Context

When it comes to people, I care about, and there are many, I get protective and sometimes feel I need to make excuses or justify why they do things the way they do.  Making those excuses are because not all the people I care about, care about social nuances.

Why does how someone behaves even matter?  It depends upon the situation, mainly in a social family and friend situation, it’s not an issue.  When you bring over a new friend, Mary (not name), for dinner, they’re shy and don’t offer to help with the dishes.  Later, once your friend has gone home, you need to justify why they didn’t.  By the way, this isn’t what happened today but something similar from my point of view.

In the example of not doing the dishes, when I went to Mary’s place for dinner, and I got up to do the words, they growled at me for even insinuating to do them.  I was their guest, and it wasn’t right for the guest to do the dishes. Justifying Mary’s actions to my family as her being polite by not offering got a slew of mockery.

This kind of justification constantly brings forward an internal battle, and it depresses me.  You try so hard to defend sometimes the indefensible, that it is exhausting.  In the past, there have been one or two “boyfriends” where I’ve felt I had to justify their actions or inaction to others I love.  To quote Kamal, a singer in the 70’s (?) “why are people so unkind?”.  The question is certainly something many people have pondered. 

Today's Cards

Excuses. Day 179. order of appearance. Totality, Ice-olation, Completion, Existence, Consciousness, Harmony, Conditioning, Aloneness, Ripeness, Fighting. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Excuses Analysis

Carryover Cards

Only one card carried over from yesterday; Conditioning moved from Others’ Views to Feelings.

Cross Excuses

Totality is in the Now influenced by Ice-olation.  Totality being the commitment, I throw myself into protecting Mary with excuses and Ice-olation in not knowing 100% whether I should be “a” defending her or “b” having a quiet talk to her about it”.

My Goal was Completion; I just want to end the justification cycle but don’t know how to change the situation.

In the Distant Past, I have been at ease with my Existence and connection to the world.  More recently (Recent Past), Consciousness has crept in, and I’ve realised why making excuses is draining.  I’m not true to myself.

Future Energy suggests a way of working out the impossible by having the Harmony card.

Base

Conditioning needs to break if my Feelings on today’s situation are correct.  I do agree.

Others view me as being alone (Aloneness), in my view, maybe?

In the Hopes & Fears position, Ripeness says I am ready to wish (hope) I could move on from worrying about what others think.  At the same time, I fear not worrying (fear) about what others believe will lead to a breakdown of intolerance.

Finally, Fighting is in the Outcome position and is my tenterhooks warning card to tell me to be extra careful when dealing with people, as I might be on the tired side and say something I might regret.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 179

Day 177 – Gifts that Come at a Cost

Saturday, 26 June 2021

Gifts. Day 177. In order of appearance.:Traveling, Turning In, Experiencing, Guidance, Understanding, Inner Voice, Exhaustion, Change, Conditioning, Creativity. Shuffle method was Standard Shuffle

Gifts Context

A spontaneous trip to the Tweed Coast has me receiving gifts, a relatively new laptop.  After the first four hours of it being mine, I realised there was a cost to pay.

Gifts that Come at a Cost

When a friend gives you a gaming laptop they’re no longer using; it’s important to not just wipe user data but to reload the operating system.  Trust me, not doing the wipe can cause you pain.

The gift of the laptop was incredibly generous.  Okay, so I paid a small amount for it, but it would be worth it. Wouldn’t it?  This weekend we went to my bestie’s place.  Her husband is the one who has been helping me with cryptocurrency. 

Because I use many Apple products, it’s difficult for Stew to help me navigate around the screen and environment, even if he had visual access to my machine.  His old laptop became my new laptop.  This new laptop was going to make my life easier.   Stew was going to help set up everything and be ready when I went home.

Setting up was anticipated to take a long time because applications needed installation and new links established.  When it comes to technology, you get used to a level of responsiveness and expect the same responsiveness everywhere.  If the responsiveness isn’t delivering, you can become impatient.  

There comes the point where you are mockingly banging your head on the keyboard because of the PCs slowness.  You can literally make a cup of tea/ coffee between clicks on the screen.  I am not kidding!  Argh!!!  Because it was a gift, I didn’t want to bag/ rag on the computer’s slowness too much, and certainly not in anything but a joking tone.

There’s also an additional level of expectation if you’re the gift giver that the gift you give will function as well as it always had for you.  When it’s not performing as expected, you’re a little embarrassed.  Then between gift giver and receiver, exhausted and tired, the tension can build.

Realising the Gift is Broken

Even the most optimistic soul needs to know when to call it a day.  There was a little bit of tension, but neither one of us wanted to upset the other.  After all, we respected each other enough to feel the moment and then let it go.  

Late that night, Stew suspected his error.  Realising you’ve made an error in not reinstalling the operating system has just caused a delay.  Of course, it’s an older laptop, so it might also have processing issues. 

Luckily for me, Stew had a second spare laptop!  Wow!  Overnight Stew set to give the new old machine to do a complete wipe and reset.  You know the saying, if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try and try again and then quit – there’s no point making a fool of yourself!

What impressed me was that we did curb our tension; I suspect that we both realised it’s late and the computer was the cause of frustration.  Not getting upset by it, just impatience; I feel it helped us both.

Hopefully, things will look better in the morning.  🥱

Today's Cards

Gifts. Day 177. In order of appearance.:Traveling, Turning In, Experiencing, Guidance, Understanding, Inner Voice, Exhaustion, Change, Conditioning, Creativity. Shuffle method was Standard Shuffle

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

Two cards carried over from yesterday; Change moved from Future Energy to Others’ Views, and Conditioning moved from Distant Past to Hopes & Fears.

Cross gifts

Travelling in the Now describes the travel neatly to my friends’ place.  The journey was an impromptu excursion for the weekend.

Turning In is the Influence position.  When my friend called and said we should come down to get the laptop and do it this weekend because some of the cryptocurrency needed investing in a certain way – I went.

I like to think my decision wasn’t motivated this weekend by money.  But that’s probably a lie, I tell myself.  Just because I don’t think about money, all the time doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a hold on me.  This motivation made me reflect (Turning In) on my substance.

As it worked out, Goal wise I’m also motivated by Experiencing new and spontaneous activities.  An unplanned trip to the Tweed Coast was the best activity to tick that box.  It also provided an opportunity to confirm some advice I’d received in the Distant Past for Guidance on cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency is such a rapidly changing world.  Last time, Day 163, it was all about getting Panthers and Sharks.  This time it’s ditching the Panthers and buy more Sharks!  That would be great if I knew what it all meant.

With much heavy thinking and asking many stupid questions in the Recent Past, I gained a glimmer of Understanding.  Comprehension is what drove the travel.  Get it? “Drove” is what you do as part of travel. 

Now that I have Understanding the Future Energy, it tells me to listen to my Inner Voice on what to do next.

Base

My Feelings are of Exhaustion.  Before the impromptu travel, I was looking forward to catching up on writing articles and sleep.  I enjoy being with my friends, but there are times when taking a much needed time to recover from the week’s ravages is necessary.

Perhaps my questions stopped, or maybe I’d conveyed a level of knowledge when it came to the gift, but Others’ Views is that I have a Change afoot or I am changing.

Hopes & Fears were Conditioning in the Distant Past yesterday, but today steps in for hope and fear.  Conditioning is about stepping away from the artificial ego. It’s the one to gets upset before you’ve had a chance to think about things.  I hope to not succumb to my fake alter ego and fear I don’t have enough control over my mind to shift old habits.

 Conditioning is also about training your mind to be more focused and more receptive.  To do this, you need to use your Creativity, which is the link to your intuition.

The final card is Creativity.  Creativity is required to piece together the new information into an accessible and logical format.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 177

Day 176 – Metaphysical Bladder Control

Friday, 25 June 2021

Metaphysical bladder control. Day 176. order of appearance. The Creator, Innocence, Beyond Illusion, Conditioning, Suppression, Change, Control, Existence, Rebirth, Participation. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Metaphysical Context

On Day 173, I wrote about incontinence and the woes of having the buttocks surrender to gravity.  Today, the thoughts are back, but I’ve decided to look at the metaphysical aspects.

Can Men get Pee-leak?

But first, I thought I wondered how men managed to have pee-leak.  The outlet is smaller than the primary one women have, and if women work at their PC muscles with pelvic floor exercises such as Kegel, it can prevent leakage.  So, do men leak as they get older?

I consulted an expert, my husband, being qualified by having the opposite to me.  He said simply, there’s nothing to control at the outflow point.  Ah, this makes sense.  However, doing a couple of browser searches revealed men could also use exercises like Kegel to control their bladder, too (Healthlinkbc).  Who’d a thunk it!

A Metaphysical Look at Pee-leak

You really do learn something new every day.  If I move away from the slightly depressing physical elements of pee-leak and look at the metaphysical, maybe things will pick up.  Looking at the mental patterning or conditioning might help to improve motivation and subsequently the physical aspects.  

My favourite go-to person for metaphysical advice on ailments is Louise L. Hay.  Specifically, The List says, “Incontinence is Emotional overflow.  Years of controlling the emotions” (p.200, You Can Heal Your Life).   Whereas, Annette Noontil says, “[i]ncontinence [is you feel] guilty of not being loyal to yourself to go after your goals, because you do not know how to obtain your goals or wants.  If old – Thinking that you are too old to go after new things” (p.67, The Body is the Barometer of the Soul).

So, not much help from Louise or Annette, just more hard work.  Stop controlling my emotions and be loyal to myself and pursue my goals – I thought this is what I was doing.  Oh, wait a minute, for me, it’s to continue doing what I’m doing.  I might just include those PC/ pelvic floor exercises as a backup.  Then I’m pursuing my goal of not wanting to smell like pee when I become older.  🧐 

Today's Cards

Metaphysical bladder control Day 176. order of appearance. The Creator, Innocence, Beyond Illusion, Conditioning, Suppression, Change, Control, Existence, Rebirth, Participation. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

Only one card carried over from yesterday; Innocence moved from Goal to Influence.

Metaphysical Cross

I’m going to break with my usual format and begin in the Distant Past with Conditioning and, ooh, breaking with tradition.  The Conditioning card is about breaking away from the perception that this is how things get done.  

Although the cards laid in a particular order, the story’s telling doesn’t have to begin with the first card selected.  Sure, it helps if you’re reading for someone to start at the Now and thread your way back to the origins.  But this is me reading for myself, and sometimes trying a new perspective might enhance the experience. 

The other thing to remember is I’m breaking my Conditioning, not anybody else’s.  In light of today’s musings, my Distant Past would be too polite to ask about elimination areas of the body. 

However, when you want to break out of illusion and go Beyond Illusion, and Beyond Illusion is the first wing-flaps of a butterfly you need to create. Those initial wing-flaps are also a little tentative as I try out and voice the new questions.

Today in the Now is The Creator.  The Creator is the potter moulding clay; his influence is Innocence.  Innocence is looking at things in a new light with a fresh perspective.  A new view is what I discovered about the metaphysical aspects of pee-leak.  I’m pleased with the information.

Recently (Recent Past), I’ve been suppressing (Suppression) my curiosity, not so much the interest but the vocalisation of thoughts.

The Creator is working to mould things in a new way, and the Future Energy spot shows the card of Change.

Base

Control is an intriguing card to show up in the Feelings position.  It works on a couple of levels, one being the purely physical aspect of disciplining myself to do the exercises required.  On the non-physical, Control can also limit spontaneity and appear dull and lifeless (Osho, p.94). 

Position eight is Others’ Views and holds the card of Existence, which is about being unique and humble.  It’s what our physicality makes us, isn’t it?

Hopes & Fears holds Rebirth. Here’s hoping that the Change is pleasant and doesn’t put me onto another learning circuit.  The last sentence also encompasses the fear which the hope is trying to avoid.

Finally, the Outcome card is Participation.  Perhaps, we can avoid the expectations that incontinence is an inevitable part of the ageing process if we participate in physical and metaphysical exercises.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
End Day 176

Day 174 – Sibling Rivalry Between Countries

Wednesday, 23 June 2021

Sibling Rivalry. Day 174. layout: order of appearance. Politics, Integration, Creativity, Maturity, Patience, Comparison, Abundance, Participation, Clinging to the Past, Postponement. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Sibling Rivalry Context

Talking to Tabya about my New Zealand (NZ) ski trip was exciting – Day 170.  It became disturbing when sibling rivalry was worse than I thought.   Tabya mentioned she had lived in NZ.  My comments went along the lines of, “Wow!  What a fantastic experience to live in NZ!”.  Tabya agreed it was impressive and beautiful, and she had lived on the North Island.

The discussion took on a darker tone when Tabya mentioned New Zealanders don’t like Australians.  “Really?” was my response began, follow up with “it’s in that joking but seriously competitive way, right?”.  To which Tabya replied with “no.  It’s more like hatred.  Don’t get me wrong, New Zealanders love Australian money, but there’s an underlying resentment as well.”.    I was seriously dismayed.

Rivalry from the Beginning

Ever since the early days, New Zealanders and Australians have been kind of siblings.  Even the rivalry for who is the older could generate some debate.  For instance, the first European to land in Australia was Willem Janszoon in 1606.  He didn’t do much and left.   Dirk Hartog left after leaving a plate with his name on it in 1616.  William Dampier landed in Australia in 1688, documented some flora and fauna and left.  In 1769 James Cook landed, and Australia was born to the British motherland.

Abel Tasman landed in New Zealand in 1642, had a look around, didn’t get along with the Māori natives and left.  In 1770 James Cook landed and began negotiations with the British motherland.  New Zealand is the leaner and fitter sibling, while Australia is the larger and older other.  Since the first couple of visitors to Australian shores don’t really count and Abel Tasman’s visit to New Zealand is also a non-plus event, we’ll use Captain Cook‘s visit as the start point.  This way, I can say Australia is the older 😏. 

Rivalry to the Max!

So, you see, even about the landing dates it could get competitive.  When it comes to sports on the world stage, Australia punches above its weight. If that’s the case for Australia, then it’s even more impressive with the number of victories New Zealand has.  The sibling rivalry, I thought, was limited to sports. 

It was undoubtedly the case when a former boss of mine would receive phone calls from across the pond from his NZ counterpart, ribbing him about the poor performance Australia put up in the latest: cricket, rugby, netball, the under three crying marathons, chip-eating, eye-blinking, dog show, ant race or whatever contest you can think of was on between the two countries.  Likewise, my former boss would ring back when the reverse was true.   

Note, I’ve taken some creative liberties with the events to give you an idea of how competitive it could get between the two.  Nobody really wants to win the under three crying marathons!

The rivalry is well known; it’s even made it to Geography Now YouTube episodes; I can’t remember which one – so check out both Australia & New Zealand!

Sibling Rivalry Thoughts

This discussion made me think of sibling rivalry and what might make it happen.  In one of the self-help books, I’d read that it’s all about energy, or more accurately, getting it.  Getting attention manifests itself as attention-seeking.  The theory went if we get someone’s attention, we get their energy or “power”. 

The book went on to say how we needed to transition from the watchful attention our parents gave us as children to know how to obtain energy from the world around us. Getting power from beauty and existence as a whole; examples were from trees, plants, oceans, lakes, rivers, and animals were a transitionary stage from people to animals to nature. 

I understand this notion when it comes to sibling rivalry; if I want the attention of my mother and my sister does likewise, and the other gets that attention, one of us might feel like they’re missing out.  It’s where the FOMO (fear of missing out), jealousy, resentment come from and learning to become centred and mindful of when you seek validation reduces the dependence on other people’s attention.

An extension to seeking out energy from a different source other than your parents or friends is competition.  You compete to win.  Winning attracts attention which is synonymous with energy. 

Another side effect of a competition is it makes competitors seek out improvements. Each party understands that it needs to come against a worthy adversary for it to feel successful.  Without a worthy opponent, you can get lazy.  Maybe this is why Australia and New Zealand do so well?

Conclusion

Of course, when you want to remember what book this all comes from, the book’s name escapes you (me).   Maybe many books contained similar information, and I just smooshed it all together into my brain. 

I’m also not sure how sibling rivalry would work with countries.  Is it because Australia gets all the attention when eyes focus down-under because of its size and deadly animals when NZ is arguably proportionally just as accomplished without the fatal animals? 

Does this mean Canada is the NZ to America?  And is America the older sibling to Australia, who thinks they gave the middle finger to “mum” but is secretly still trying to win approval by showing how rich and happy they are to be living away from home?  Nah… just playfully speculating.

In any case, I’m hoping Tabya is wrong, and it’s only a select few who feel this way, and it’s not pervasive and entrenched into the psyche.  At the very least, I’m an Australian bringing in money 💰.

Today's Cards

Sibling Rivalry. Day 174. Tabled list: order of appearance. Politics, Integration, Creativity, Maturity, Patience, Comparison, Abundance, Participation, Clinging to the Past, Postponement. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

No cards carried over from yesterday.

Cross

Politics is in the Now influenced by Integration.  The layout of these two cards makes sense to me.  Tabya’s comments took me aback and put a pinprick into a softened balloon (it doesn’t quite burst but begins to let the air out slowly). 

Politics was the mask I wore to show this hadn’t quite affected me, and I was buying time to sort out my thoughts as I worked on integrating this new piece of information into my view of NZ.  Hopefully, before my opinion deflated.

The Goal is Creativity.  Blending new information into a worldview requires Creativity on how best to make it fit without losing the affection I have for the relationship between Australia and NZ.

In the Distant Past is Maturity and in the Recent Past is Patience.  Being an adult means not succumbing to the emotions of what others have to say, even if you don’t like what it is they have said.  The trick is to acknowledge the feelings.  In the Distant Past, controlling my emotions at times like these is a lesson I’ve had to learn repeatedly, especially when I’m protective over something I believe.

Patience, I applied it to my circumstances.  One of the things I was thinking was I would need to wait and see for myself when I reached NZ.

Possibly, predictably Comparison is in the Future Energy position.  Thanks to the discussion, I will constantly watch anyone from NZ and compare them to what I’ve learned.  And as we know, comparisons are unhelpful, for it gains me nothing but some wariness.

Base

So, what are my Feelings toward Politics which I seem to have in Abundance?  Perhaps it’s the Maturity of knowing when not to react.  After all, Tabya thought she was helping me. 

Others’ Views has Participation.  I see this card as participating in travel and acknowledging the information in the conversation without buying or rejecting it.  In short, the jury’s out until I’ve visited.

Hopes & Fears has Clinging to the Past.  This card in this position makes sense to me because I’m clinging to the warm fuzzy feeling of NZ and Australia being mutually respectful sibling rivals, both being fiercely competitive, knowing it will drive ourselves and make others better.  It’s why I believe the two countries are so successful – we push each other – or so I hope.  Fear is “please don’t let it be otherwise”.

Finally, the Outcome is Postponement, which I’ve been doing on posting this blog as I try to remember the books from which my thoughts came.

 

(published ten days later and still couldn’t remember!)

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7

  2. Geography Now, Australia (Friendzone) 

  3. Geography Now, New Zealand (Friendzone) 

End Day 126

Day 173 – All Work and No Play

Tuesday, 22 June 2021

Day 173. Tabled list: order of appearance. New Vision, The Burden, Letting Go, Ice-olation, The Miser, The Lovers, Thunderbolt, The Source, Adventure, Consciousness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

No Play Context

All work and no play sends my mind to the depressing thoughts of getting older and the squeamish topic of incontinence.  Eww…

Every now and again, I get into these moods where I feel my life is all work and no play.  I then live on the “edge” by not doing routine things, for which I pay for the result later.  It’s a form of self-sabotage.  The other thing I do is think about the ageing process, specifically, incontinence – which is the only word in my notebook against today’s date.

Not a pleasant subject, and some of what I might write might gross you out.  Suppose you’re keen to become disgusted read on.  Otherwise, I recommend catching up on another post 🤧.

The Wayward Thoughts of No Play

Presumably, this note is not referring to the amount of dribble you occasionally hear in meetings.  Don’t get me wrong; I love dribble 😃.  Of late, however, incontinence is something that’s been on my mind.  I suppose it’s not just incontinence; it’s also constipation (but let’s focus on one today). 

Because all work and no play makes me restless, the words and phrases uttered by people ring in my head.  For instance, “old people smell like pee”, or concerning someone’s nan (passed away now), she had painful urinary tract infections, my grandmother missing the toilet bowl.  While the occasional not reaching the toilet as an adult might be down to poor timing or laughing too hard.  Or, if you’re like me, you’ll get absorbed in what you’re doing and ignore your body’s hints until the very last minute.

Possibly the reason it plays on my mind is my butt dropping.  To be expected, gravity and all. A comment in Endgame about Chris Evans’ ass, while hilarious, reminded me of a comment by a Hollywood female, missing out on a role because her arse had dropped an inch.  Yes.  It could be sour grapes or bad Hollywood.  Whatever the reason, exposure to the comments triggered the tangent thought process in me.

What does a dropping butt have to do with pee smell?  Well, when the butt is high, there’s room to pee freely; as the butt drops, it begins to impact on the space you have to pee, thus potentially rerouting the stream’s path – potentially leaving you smelling of pee if you don’t thoroughly wipe.   At this point, I’m weirded out by writing about it – another day.  But it’s certainly a motivating factor to increase my exercise.  Then how do you tighten the skin? Argh!

Upside

While it’s easy to get depressed over something like ageing, it’s worthwhile remembering, like the comments uttered by Danny Devito’s character, Eddie in Jumanji – The Next Level, ‘[g]etting old is a gift. I forget that sometimes, but it is.’ because it’s better than the alternative.  So, enjoy the moment and maybe a sense of curiosity with dashes of humour thrown it might make the process of ageing easier.

Today's Cards

Day 173. Tabled list: order of appearance. New Vision, The Burden, Letting Go, Ice-olation, The Miser, The Lovers, Thunderbolt, The Source, Adventure, Consciousness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

Only one card carried over from yesterday; The Source moved from Distant Past to Others’ Views.

Cross

New Vision (Now) is either struggling to be born because of or despite The Burden (Influence) laid upon it.  The New Vision is the result of aiming of Letting Go (Goal).  Ice-olation in the Distant Past reeks of my depression and recently forces The Miser (Recent Past) to the surface, but diamonds form under pressure. 

The Lovers Future Energy of communion, awareness, and connection produces a union that is not just for themselves, but the relationship fosters compassion around them.  Thus, implying the New Vision will bring about an environment beneficial for more than just the people immediately involved.

Base

Thunderbolt is symbolic of change and represents my feelings (Feelings) about the New Vision.  It’s a shakeup because Ice-olation cannot continue to exist.

Once again, others view me as connecting to The Source.  My guess is others’ views (Others’ Views) are that I am calm and balanced.

The New Vision brings about hopes for a new Adventure because it’s not something I’ve done before.  But, on the flip side, Adventures also has an element of the unknown and fear is born from uncertainty.

Consciousness in the Outcome position echoes the card of The Lovers in its awareness and implies the Future Energy’s Consciousness has universal implications – just look at the image on the card.

That’s it for a day where it seemed like it was all work and no play

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
  2. My Soul Embrace FAQ
End Day 173

Day 169 – Ageing, Dying and NDE

18 June 2021

Day 169. Tabled list: order of appearance. We are the World, Ordinariness, Thunderbolt, Suppression, Transformation, Control, Patience, Playfulness, Ice-olation, Ripeness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

Ageing Context

Today, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about ageing. It’s something I think about a lot.  When I was younger, I’d heard from Buddhists that the fear of dying is what unites us and overcoming this fear would bring peace.  Similarly, in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, fear is described on pages 3-4.  If this were true, then I wanted to get over the fear to live my life.

Careful What You Wish

By that time in my life, I’d had a bit of experience with the phrase, ‘be careful what you wish for but not enough to watch my thoughts on the matter.  At the time, I’d wished there was a way of dying without dying, without causing anxiety for those I love, and avoid pain – pain I thought was what scared me most.  Ideally, I wished the process of ‘trying out the death experience’ should be as close to going to sleep as possible.

I wanted to experience dying or close to it so I could eliminate the fear of it.  Simple, right?  And so it was, I received a near-death experience or NDE on my travels.  All elements of my wish fulfilled.  True.  For a long time, the NDE satisfied my curiosity about death, and it allowed me to live happily. 

Then I began to get older.  The body shape changed, things started to drop, and birthmark-like spots appeared.  At no point did I realise it wasn’t the dying people feared; it was the ageing process. It’s the scary possibility of becoming one of the people you felt empathy for because the age they were was so far away from your own.

As you become older, your wisdom increases a little but so potentially do some of your fears.  This thought prompted the thoughts of not just the body showing signs of Ageing but also the mind.  The assumption is because the body is Ageing, so then might the brain.

Ageing a Different Way

What if the mind continues to grow in a way that outgrows the body’s capacity to hold it?  Stay with me :), remember when you were a teen, and you knew everything there was to know?  You thought your parents had grown out of touch with reality?  But somehow, your grandparents were able to understand you?  What if your grandparents were going through a similar stage, but an experience cycle further along?

I mean, by experience cycle between the ages 0-9, you experience cycles from a never seen before perspective.  Then, from the ages ten to 19, the pattern sort of repeats itself, but you’re exposed to similar experiences, but this time with consciousness for the first time. Then, finally, when you get to the age of twenty to twenty-nine, your affairs are more profound, and this time you have some tools, knowledge, or both on how to tackle things, including the unexpected, and so on it goes.

Each of these is cycles; you can liken then to playing a computer game like Mario Bros; when you first start, the activities are manageable. As you become accomplished, the level increases in complexity to challenge you to grow your skills.  In a sense, you ‘level up your ‘experience cycle’.  At each stage of increasing your agility and adaptability, you improve.

Responsibilities of Ageing

Someone younger can never know what it’s like to be older.  Therefore, it is the responsibility of the older person to tolerate the younger and educate and prepare where they can.  Remember, when you were in your teens, you thought you knew it all; how to solve world hunger, how we could run the country better, and you thought your parents didn’t know how to have fun anymore.

What if by the time you’re in your later years, you once again ‘level up in a way where those younger than you cannot understand you.  At 50, are we still the teenagers of old to someone who is 80?  Still, assuming we know what is best for our elders without knowing what it’s like to be there, but simply judging their physical and mental interactions?  Could some of the elders’ changes begin to play with timelines differently from what we can relate at a younger age?  Should we be supporting a safe environment without assuming the place their in is ‘unnatural’?

Today's Cards

Ageing & Dying. Day 169. Tabled list: order of appearance. We are the World, Ordinariness, Thunderbolt, Suppression, Transformation, Control, Patience, Playfulness, Ice-olation, Ripeness. Shuffle method was Washing Machine

The Cards - Analysis

Carryover Cards

Only one card carried over from yesterday, but Thunderbolt remained in the Goal position.  Thunderbolt over two days suggests a shakeup over an extended period.

Cross

We are the World is in the Now influenced by Ordinariness.  Ordinariness has visited a lot in the past seven days.

Thunderbolt is in the Goal position and has visited frequently in the last couple of days as well.  Suppression in the Distant Past is a good indicator of denial or even suffering from depression. When I get depressed, it appears because I haven’t been looking at something I need to look at; sometimes that’s because it would mean upsetting someone I love or changing who I am; either way, I’m not being true to myself and suppressing my inner light results.

A Transformation in the Recent Past probably means something I was suppressing has either surfaced and changed the way I am regardless of my attempts to hide it.  Is it something that has emerged, and given the thinking about ageing, it’s probably been something I’ve been ignoring.  Or it’s something I haven’t wanted to look at and has made its way to the surface without the ability to rebury it.  Transformation is much like being born and unable to return to the womb.

With We are the World emerging from the Transformation is seems a bonding or community spirit has resulted when living every day. So it looks like; however, I’m trying to establish some Control if the Future Energy card is any indication.

Base

My Feelings on the subject is that it’s just a matter of waiting to see what evolves, Patience.  Ageing as you get older is one of those things you don’t necessarily want to hurry along.

On the outside, Others’ Views are those of Playfulness which would be trying to simply enjoy each moment as it arrives and live life to its fullest. 

Probably the thing that scares me isolating (Ice-location) myself from the world and unable to connect to those around me.  This fear comes from years of suppressing parts of who I am, even to those I love the most. It’s not so much a thing these days, but I know I’m good at it. My hope is I’m not hiding anything from myself which will surprise me.

Finally, the Outcome spot has the Ripeness card.  Interesting the Ripeness card has shown up when I have ageing on my mind.  The time is right for me to explore the topic, and perhaps, I need to simply surrender to the experience of ageing rather than fighting it.  However, I need to find a way to live as part of the world and not try to look like a doddering old fool while behind the scenes allowing myself moments to be so.

References

  1. Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
  2. Rinpoche, Sogyal, 1988, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Random House, UK (Link to bookstore)
End Day 169

Working the Year of the Metal Cow!

Stylised image of cow looking over shoulder with text of Year of the Metal Cow.

Welcome to the Year of the Metal Ox or Cow!

The Lunar New Year celebrations begin on the new moon and finishes with the full moon two weeks later.  In the previous post, Year of the Rat – in review, isn’t necessary before reading this post, it might be helpful. There’s likely to be some duplication in this post.

One of the things you’ll notice is that I like referring to the Year of the Ox as the Year of the Cow, this is because the Asian Lunar signs follows the yang-yin pattern.  Yang is considered to be masculine and yin is considered feminine.  Therefore, the animals of the yin years should reflect the female of the animal.  

While I suspect that the naming convention comes from the days where men were the jewel in the crown because they had more muscles than women and therefore more physical strength.  Physical strength which was required for battles and wars.  Men born in a yin year did not want to be perceived as weaker and therefore chose to name even the yin years by the name of the male counterpart.

Reluctantly, there is logic to using the yang counterparts, especially where the female counterparts – when translated – could be confused with each other. Such as the ox and boar in particular.  The female version for both can be called a cow.  Although, Year of the Sow would work for the boar. 

If the animals you are referring to is the Year of the Rabbit, then the female would be the Year of the Doe, which could get confused with the more common use of doe for deers and the year might get confused as being the Year of the Deer – oh dear! *smile*.     If it’s the Year of the Goat, then the female can also be called a doe. If the year is being referred to as the Year of the Cat, then it would be the Year of the Queen (unsplayed) – possibly giving women ideas above their designated station. Note, I am not sure that the female versions would translate the same way into Chinese characters.

It’s all about balancing the yang and yin and honouring both, wherever I can.  Honour the male in the yang, honour the female in the yin.  Both are strong in different ways.  In Year of the Rat – in review I mentioned that over the years I’ve made some observations about what might get you through each of the years.  For details on what your year is going to be like you’re best off seeking out the latest, “Your Chinese Horoscope for 2021” by Neil Somerville or the like.   

In the Year of the Rat – in review post, I referred to the characteristics identified by centuries of Chinese astrologers.  Various authors have written their take but the ones that have gravitated to be were written by Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean in “Chinese Astrologics”, and a book written by Neil Somerville on the current year’s sign on your own.  Somerville includes a bit of a personality profile for each sign before he talks to the impact which is what helps me work on what I honour for that year.   

The Year of the Dog was always my challenge, it was the final year at high school (age group 17/18 years).  At 18 you’ll encounter your opposite lunar sign for the second time, the first time is at the age of six and most of us don’t remember it too well – or I don’t anyway.  

My 18th birthday was in the Year of the Dog and I was in my final year of school – this is the final year before University where I grew up.  For most of my school life, I was fortunate to get through school using natural intelligence.  If I wasn’t able to get a concept, I was able to “fake it until I made it”.  At the time, my parents were going through a bitter divorce. My mother had to work long hours (double shifts at the kitchen – she was a Swiss trained traditional Chef) to get food on the table, and didn’t get much time to push us to do our homework.  As children, my sister and I thought we were living the dream!

However, that meant hard work was a foreign concept to me – my sister was naturally more studious, probably because she’s smarter than me on many levels.  In my final year at school, the lack of discipline around doing homework was a complete disadvantage.  In short, I failed my final exams.  There were a lot of reasons for this, in part, it was my stubbornness within an one exam to not do the whole exam (Physics) and in part because I hadn’t studied hard enough.  

There were some mind games of rebellion against my father that didn’t help matters.  Nonetheless, I failed and that’s what I needed to live with and within me I knew it was my lack of devotion and dedication to my studies.  After all, what you invest your time in is where you will gain your rewards – right?.

By comparison, those that had dedicated themselves to homework, assignments, and study all did well. Those like me, got a rude shock. Not that I was an exceptional student, I wasn’t.  I was good enough to pass most things either physically, intellectually or artistically better than most, but not as good as those that are gifted.  The goal I had was to be average, people and everyone liked average!  It didn’t attract too much attention either good or bad.  Since, the earliest school years, I’d been a good all-rounder, or as they say, “a jack of all trades but a master of none”.

Dealing with the results were a kick in the teeth, guts, and emotions all at the same time!  It was what started the questing for answers and possible ways to handle years like the Year of the Dog again. Some influence of the 60s still lingered in my parents and their friends enough that star signs played a part in my upbringing.  Doing karate as a extracurricular activity also brought Chinese star signs into my life.

By 1994, I was at the very invested in how to deal with the Year of the Dog.  That’s where I got Neil Somerville’s “Your Chinese Horoscope for 1994”.  Someone had mentioned that you needed to honour and respect the year that you’re in.  You honour it by including the traits of the year in your daily life and these things will attract favourable energy and outcomes. Somerville’s book provided me with the knowledge of the traits and I embarked on honouring those traits. 

At the end of the 1994 Year of the Dog, regardless of the challenges faced in my working life.  I made it through the hard work had been reflected in an appreciation award for the company.  It was a much better feeling than that of failure 12 years earlier.  From there, I continued to use Rigby & Bean and Somerville’s books as a guides around the traits to honour in each year.  It doesn’t mean that my life is a charmed life but it does round out my ability to adapt and strengthen my weaknesses.  Like that of hard work, I no longer solely rely on my natural abilities, knowing that I can work hard too. 

At this time, I’ll point out that I have not purchased any of Somerville’s other yearly guides.  Aiming to experience the years for myself.  Sometimes, I absorb the guidelines too much and prefer to look at it in retrospect.  Unsurprisingly, you’re unable to purchase last year’s  predictions at the end of the year *smile*.

So, what are the traits for the year of the Cow that need honouring?  Let’s take a look!

"... this is the year to achieve through hard work and conscientious endeavour.  it is a time to put business and home affairs in order.  It is not a year for flamboyance or hasty decisions."

Paul Rigby & Harvey Bean

For the short version of what to emulate in 2021’s lunar year, I would use the following paragraph from Somerville.  From it I would pick out the traits of equilibrium, tenacity, conscientiousness, resoluteness, methodical, determined and dedicated to an objective.  

The Ox is born under the signs of equilibrium and tenacity. Oxes are hard and conscientious workers and sets about everything in a resolute, methodical and determined manner. Oxes have considerable leadership qualities and are often admired for their tough and uncompromising nature. Oxes know what they want to achieve in life and, as far as possible, will not be deflected from their ultimate objective.

Your Chinese Horoscope for 1994. Neil Somerville

Personally, the words that I would keep in mind for the year are, “equilibrium and tenacity”.  Everything else will fall into those to characteristics.  For instance, the qualities listed in the Rigby & Bean book are: 

  1. Perseverance (tenacity)
  2. Being practical.  Avoid being too sentimental. (equilibrium)
  3. Balanced (equilibrium)
  4. Tenacious (tenacity)
  5. No-Nonsense with a touch of cheekiness – it’s not all hard work (equilibrium & tenacity)
  6. Aggressive  (tenacity & equilibrium.  Do not confuse aggression with violence, giving birth is an act of aggression, seedlings breaking through the ground is an act of aggression, chicks hatching out of shells are acts of aggression.  These aren’t delicate matters but they are not of violence)
  7. Family-minded family focused  (equilibrium)  
  8. Devoted and independent (tenacious & equilibrium).  
  9. Cautious at first then resolute (equilibrium)
  10. Actions will speak louder than words this year (tenacity and conscientiousness)

Being a yin sign, the cow is also nurturing (milk) and peaceful that likes equilibrium.  Yin balances out the yang from the year before and prepares us for the next touch yang in the Year of the Tiger ahead.  Being a yin year, it will favour the feminine and women.  It will be beneficial to honour the women in your life and indulging in your own feminine side. 

So, by being methodical and conscientiousness this year might win you favour with the year.  When I say, “win favour”, I don’t mean that a cow will rock up on your doorstep and give you a reward.  It’s simply saying that life will be that bit smoother.  

Don’t take my word for it, try an experiment – a safe one! (remember number nine above: Cautious) In the first month you could try honouring the cow’s traits and then the next deliberately reverse your approach.  Then compare the two month was easier. Of course, don’t try doing all the traits at once, just stick with equilibrium and tenacity as guide words with maybe methodical in there for good measure.    

Special note to those who are born in the year of the Goat/ Rabbit/ Cat, where the appreciation of the finer things in life might be tempting as well as indulging in art.  This is not a year where, “art for art’s sake” will pay off.  If you are going to create something, make sure it’s “practical as well as being an artwork”.   Lean into your strength of “diligence” for best results because this works in nicely with the conscientiousness of the Cow/ Ox. 

Good luck!   

References

Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean, Getting it together with Chinese Astrologics, independently published, link to a source is here but the site was “not secure” at the time of writing.  Therefore, I do not recommend purchasing from the site until it has become secure, whitelotusbooks.com.  If you do decide to purchase use a “burner” credit card (gift credit card).

Neil Somerville, Your Chinese Horoscope for 1994, The Aquarian Press 1993, ISBN 1-85538-290-3

Disclaimer

Advice given above is not professional and should be read with humour. Following suggestions does not guarantee results and information contained herein is based solely on personal experience and not factually recorded in anyway.

Michaela

Year of the Rat – in review

Image showing faded rat made of metal with text saying, "Bye, Year of the Rat"

Welcome to the East Asian Lunar New Year!

Since China has been around for many centuries and developed what is today the Chinese Astrological signs. Like with most things with a mystical element, I enjoy watching to see what parts of assigned characterisations apply.  The role I play is that of curious observer.  

Like with anything there must be a time when it transitioned from, ‘not existing as a thing to being a thing’.  Basically, from non-existing to existing.  The next set of questions are: “what person/ people made these observations?”, “why did it take off?” and “why are they male when it follows the principles of yin and yang?”

The next thing I do when I’m looking at things like the astrology signs and the like, is that I assume that some of the belief is superstition and it is coupled with some astute observations.  Let’s face it, looking up at the stars won’t tell you what they mean.  It requires a degree of observation and memory of the stars placement and an observation of mankind’s for personalities of people born within or against that placement.  Then it requires years and centuries to validate anything.    

With the Chinese astrological cycle being made up of 60 signs, memory and observation needed to be good for a long period of time to even observe the cycle. Did the person who first started with the observations go, ah this is similar to what happened 12 years ago but the people are a little more forthright than normal, they seem to have …. ah… how do you say it?  …. Fire!  

If it were superstition by itself, none of these “beliefs or observations” would have stuck around for so long.  And then there’s the part of environmental conditioning and being born into a world that observes it.  

I became interested in Chinese Astrology back in the mid 1980s.  At first, it was observing the year I was born in and those of my family and friends as objectively as I could.  Then in the 1990s I managed to stumble across a couple of Chinese Astrology books made super simple and super fun.  Nothing too serious.  Surprisingly, two of these books have followed me around.  When I want to know what a year is going to be like, I look up the “fun” version for the very concise advice on how to honour, respect and deal with the year.  To-date the observations have been pretty on-point.  For me at least.

For instance, Chinese Astrologics (p. 13, Rigby and Bean) summary for the year of the Rat was/ is:   

"... this is a good year for commerce, speculation and the economy in general.  It is a time for sensible investment and fluctuations will be beneficial.  There will be some arguments and a few surprises!".

Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean

Did you just go… “Ha! How wrong is that!”.  Not so fast Kimosabe!  Last Lunar year was the year of the “Metal Rat”.   

Metal adds a whole new dimension. It is associated with cutting tools.  Metal is great if you are a chef, surgeon or lumberjacks for knives, scalpels and axes, respectively. When it comes to the economy we’d need to go back 60 years to look at 1960 for the last Metal Rat.  It looks like the USA, at least, also had its economic challenges and like 2020. By the end of lunar 2020 year things were beginning to settle down.  It’s probably fair to say that it should be worded that “this is a year for commerce, speculation and the economy in general”, omitting the word “good”.  

As for the rest of the statement, it’s fair to say “bingo!”. Heads of state clashed with each other over how to handle the Coronavirus pandemic.  Obviously, COVID-19 was a “surprise!” in and of itself. Other stuff the year focussed on were: energy, charm, self-control, opinionated, shrewd, social, congenial, clever, resourceful, and generous.  

From my own observations over the years, if you exhibited and honoured the traits pertaining to that year, the year would look more kindly on you.  

So, in a few quick words against each point from a general perspective:

1. Energy or energetic – There was certainly a lot of hustle happening around getting technology up-and-running for a work-from-home world. There was certainly a lot of activity in the medical and health sciences arenas too.  Ah, what am I saying, it at some point you were expending energy to do something different in your life.  

2. Charm – from a personal perspective, the leaders of each of the Australian states, mostly fostered or displayed charm.  The states with leaders that began their communications on COVID with displays of positivity in the form of thanking people for getting tested and thanking others for isolating and following the health advice restrictions fared better than those when they were frustrated with parts of the population for doing the wrong thing.  

3. Self-control – A big year for mental health.  Self-control to me is all about mental health.  It’s how you cope with change and pressure.  If you’re charming and appear in control the year will reward you. 

4. Opinionative – while every country had their share of rightful skeptics regarding the restrictions for COVID-19.  Those who thought they were right and everyone else was wrong or those with strong opinions regardless of the correctness of the statements also got attention. This most prevalent in my world during the US election. 

5. Shrewd – in a year like this year, you needed to be shrewd to survive.  If you were shrewd you were most likely rewarded for your shrewdness or resourcefulness.

6. Social – definitely a focus for the year was the way we interacted with each other socially.  Etiquette around socialising aspect shifted.   In a year when socialising was hard if you socialised or found new ways to socialise you could avoid “cabin fever” for the most part.

7. Congenial – how often were we “in this together but apart?”. This year in particular if you were congenial, the year would by rights reward you with congeniality right back at you. 

8. Generous – those with a generous spirit hidden inside came to the fore this year.  Again, if you were generous with something you got repaid in kind.  Caution:  if you were generous with anger you that energy back just the same.

That’s it for the “Year of the Metal Rat”.  It was a tough year and one unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry.  Next we move on to the year of the Metal Cow.  

References

Paul Rigby and Harvey Bean, Getting it together with Chinese Astrologics, independently published, link to a source is here but the site is “not secure” and therefore, I do not recommend purchasing from that site until it has become secure: http://whitelotusbooks.com/bookdetail.php?id=N2691

Random thoughts on Australia Day!

For those unaware 26 January in Australia Day in, you guessed it, Australia.  This is when the European settlers claimed Australia as its own.  Unfortunately, this neglected the thousands of years of occupation by the incumbent indigenous population, the Australian aborigines.   To them Australia Day is known as Invasion Day.

Thankfully, society has moved from the barbaric actions of the new comers to finally acknowledge and treat with respect the indigenous population.  There has been talk of moving the day, however, I think this is unlikely.

Australia Day is a day where the efforts  Australians have made to Australia for whatever reason receive awards.  The problem with this is when it comes to acknowledging the outstanding indigenous contributors who struggle with the day.

Now, I am far from an expert in indigenous affairs and therefore anything I put forward is not meant to be offensive to anyone at all.  But there’s a part of me that has always thought that there should be two days for Australia Day.  The 25 January celebrating the indigenous population’s contribution. Being on the day before Australia Day being symbolic of their existence before European’s landed.

Twenty-six January can then be for the celebration of landing on the wonderful soil that is Australia for the European settlers. Perhaps we need another day, the 27 January to celebrate the harmony between the two parties.  But perhaps 13 February “Sorry Day” is a better day to celebrate the coming together of the traditional owners and the new settlers.  It’s probably too messy for me to figure out.

Day 008 – Doing things Properly

8 January 2021

Celtic Cross Layout of daily cards.1 is Now, card is Friendliness.2 is Influence, card is Totality.3 is Goal, card is Silence.4 is Distant Past, card is Postponement.5 is Recent Past, card is Celebration.6 is Future Energy, card is Thunderbolt.7 is Feelings, card is The Creator.8 is Others’ views, card is Past Lives.9 is Hopes & Fears, card is Laziness.10 is Outcome, card is Morality.

Today's Cards

Tabled list:position number, description, and daily card.1 is Now, card is Friendliness.2 is Influence, card is Totality.3 is Goal, card is Silence.4 is Distant Past, card is Postponement.5 is Recent Past, card is Celebration.6 is Future Energy, card is Thunderbolt.7 is Feelings, card is The Creator.8 is Others’ views, card is Past Lives.9 is Hopes & Fears, card is Laziness.10 is Outcome, card is Morality.Shuffle Method used was Washing Machine.

Context

This morning I woke up, shuffled the cards laid them out and noticed that Thunderbolt appeared in the deck.  Last time Thunderbolt graced my cards while I was on vacation I got back to work and discovered that my job had changed.  

It meant that I was going to move physically but more importantly the result of the move and change of job would mean a complete stocktake of my life.  Unfortunately, there was no extra money.  The change prompted doubts, suspicion, and flattery all mingled in together.

You see, Thunderbolt is about a dramatic shift in the physical surroundings – that’s at least how I’ve always interpreted the card of The Tower – in some other decks this card is called the Tower.  The imagery or how it is depicted is similar too.

As you can imagine, I got nervous.  Without really focussing on the other cards and not wanting to until the day passed so I could form a retroactive perspective on events.  

It turns out the change to my physical surroundings was announced on the news and to me when my mother and husband rang to advise me of the Premier’s decision. 

Yep.  It’s the greater Brisbane area of Queensland, Australia.  We were going into level 4 lock down as of 6:00pm for three days.  Thunderbolt  card now makes complete sense sitting in the Future Energy position.  

It also makes sense for yesterday’s Change card .  And although I refer to the position as the Feelings position, the position has typically also covered on upcoming feelings.  The timeframe I’ve read this at is within the next one to seven days.  The duality of meaning was there yesterday, I just hadn’t had my precognition turned on :).

Now you have context, let’s see what the other cards had to say.

The Cards

Position one had Friendliness.  The night before I talked with my husband about getting the dinners for the weekends.  We had used all the HelloFresh meal kits for the week and decided that we needed a few things from the supermarket.  

Not thinking the shops would get too busy for a three day lockdown I didn’t rush.  But I did decide to go earlier rather than later so I could get back to doing things for the website. Kind of like, the sooner I go the sooner I’ll get back.

Glad I did, the line at the local supermarket was already quite long 200 metres, maybe.  Anyway, in line which was the Now position when I did the cards this morning.  While waiting there was a bit of solidarity.  If you like, a Friendliness.   

Totality as the Influencer in this circumstance meant that I need to commit totally to the shopping.  But there is the subtle hint at the total lockdown to come.  The nice part of going into lockdown was all the support from family and friends we received. Very touching.

Silence in the Goal position can be read as literal or figurative. The Osho book refers to Silence as a quietening of the mind.  For me, it’s bliss. A time to turn inward.  It is like a sense of being one with the universe.      

The Distant Past has Postponement. So, there were certain things I was postponing yesterday; going to the shops, contacting the web developer and approaching a friend to help me out with some editing.  Most of which I had dealt with.

Naturally, dealing with things that I’ve stupidly been postponing brought with it the cause for Celebration.  And look at that, the Celebration card is in the Recent Past position.  What else can really be said?  Postponement overcome created the Friendliness I felt with my fellow line-upperers (yes, I know that’s not a word) which in turn is cause for Celebration.  

Now, how does all this fit in with the Future energy position of Thunderbolt.  Remember that the Thunderbolt card is about the change to physical circumstances and the trigger for a reassessment of one’s situation.  Just because I know its coming doesn’t mean I’ve lived it :).

I fully expect that the Future energy card will last the three days.  It will be interesting to see if Thunderbolt appears at all.  Personally, I’d be surprised if it did since it’s the future position.

The Feelings position has The Creator.  The Creator is about working on oneself to improve oneself.  So, the card and position implies that I will be working on myself creatively.  

On the other hand, I have found that this card can have the other kind of creator that works with nurturing something beautiful and physical into being.  There is a plan to put together a media gallery tomorrow.  We’ll see if I do any deep diving on myself.

Others’ views is Past Lives.  Not quite sure how to interpret the Others’ views position when I’m reading for myself.  It’s much easier reading this position for others.  I find there’s more of a distorted view on anything I think other people might be thinking – as good a guess as it can sometimes be.  

No! In the beginning I said that when I view Past Lives it is for this life time only.  The cards or I know this.  So, this is why it has come up to read with that interpretation.  Others’ views then means that I am bringing back what I used to do.  That’s for those that have known me for some time, that is.  Makes sense.  There’s a lot of my Past Lives cropping up at the moment. 

This next card in the next position does not come as a surprise to me.  Laziness is one of my greatest Hopes & Fears. Oh! To fully enjoy the contentment of being able to sit back and not worry about things slipping.  

On a more serious note, I go into overdrive whenever Laziness crops up in a reading.  There’s a make sure that I’m kicking myself off the lounge and cleaning, reading, typing, creating or just doing something.  Then the fear sneaks in that I will miss something. Especially the thing the card is actually referring to, which is probably what I’m lazily avoiding because I’ve “been there done that”.   

The title of this post is “Doing thing Properly” and the card of Morality’s appearance in the Outcome position had me pursing my lips.  Had this post been written before the day had transpired the “irkiness” I felt at seeing it would have come through.

However, here is a situation where the card makes complete sense. The Morality card symbolises societal conditioning and conforming to expectations.  Words that usually arouse the prickliness in me and whispers for me to see if the boundaries are spongy or breakable :).  

It took quite a bit of self-discipline to quell that rebellious reaction.  Luckily, I’ve learnt not simply to blindly rebel to something when someone says it’s moral and assess whether is has validity for me.  Of course, in this case it completely makes sense to follow the “right thing”.

Yet the COVID lockdown announcement encourages people to conform to do things properly – social distance, wash hands, wear a mask.  Ironically, by conforming and doing these things you are actually heroic.  You are contributing to stopping the spread of the virus and potentially saving lives.   All by doing things properly.

Morality from Osho’s intent, is about being sequacious (thank you Susie Dent – UK Countdown for the word of the day) and unthinking.  It’s all about revalidating what the right thing to do is.  From a Chinese proverb, “he who believes too long in something soon becomes wrong”.  

It’s the “half life of facts”, if you don’t keep renewing the data you have it will become outdated.  Basic mathematics is used daily and is tested for validity and is therefore kept up-to-date’ so too should morality be tested to retain validity. 

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