Iced Mint Tea

It has been eons since I last picked up my Tarot deck, but yesterday I felt compelled to sit with it for a while. Specifically, I wanted guidance on how to manage my anxiety during this Covid-19 season. Spirit came through in the most crazy wonderful way via my beloved Fountain Tarot. While I asked for personal advice, the message that came through was so universal that it has to be shared.

The very first thing that struck me was that all five cards in this Clarity Spread were Major Arcana cards. This suggests that the situation is inevitable to a great extent – and I believe it truly feels so for many people around the world.

These are certainly not new revelations, but instead, timely reminders of what our innate wisdom has always been telling our ego. Here goes:

The Tower is self-explanatory, representing the shit show that’s happening right now. Crumbling foundations – think the overwhelmed healthcare systems, exposure of governance flaws, the capitalist economies that are failing right now. Loss. Painful change. It’s a card of destruction and upheaval. Nuff said.

The Magician poses us a challenge. Are we going to be focused and determined enough to realise new possibilities, be it in our individual lives and on a societal level? Have we been consumed with the wrong priorities (e.g. materialistic desires, the me-first mentality, lack of connection to Mother Nature, always looking externally for validation)? And if we see a new way forward (e.g. being more present in every moment, being more supportive of the community, living with less stuff, etc), can we use this downtime to change our lives and mindset around? Magician (numbered 1) is also a card of beginnings. There is infinite potential to what we can achieve if we set our mind to it.

The Death card supports the Magician here. Something old has to die to make space for new energies and situations. What isn’t serving your highest good right now? For me this season as a self-employed person whose work load (and hence income) has decreased, I need to look at the attitude of scarcity and fear and kick it in the ass. This is how I personally can move forward with ease and positivity. And I don’t even need to talk about non-essential shopping – banned! For good, I hope. Instead, resources can be channeled towards supporting someone else in need. There are many ways to do that within each community. On the macro level, business leaders and governments need to examine systems and make changes to what’s not working. It is the only way we can all move forward as a human race.

Joy and pure light (represented by the Sun) is waiting to surface. It now sits beneath, waiting for our collective wisdom to create space for hope and positivity to take root. The Sun is reflective of the optimism and lightness of a child, often more enlightened and selfless than adults are. There is the opportunity to make things right, make things better, if we allow ourselves to.

With the attitude of the Sun and Magician, we move upwards to the Empress, our (or my) key spiritual lesson for this season. She represents nurturing patience, abundance and creation. For those of us lucky enough to have a roof over our heads and feed ourselves with no worry, will we have the fortitude of the Empress to guide our loved ones and the community through this uncertain patch? As an icon of creation, the Empress also invites us to start something new – a more conscious way of living, a creative endeavour to lift others up, a new business that is authentic to you and your beliefs.

There is no denying that Covid-19 is forcing everyone to own up to their own crap, false beliefs and unsustainable ways of living and operating our countries and businesses. There is the opportunity here to make things right and lend a hand to the most vulnerable amongst us. What would you choose to do?