Cat’s Bits for May 28- June 3
The Hanged Man: Knowing When to Surrender
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May Events:
May 29: Memorial Day
June Events:
June 9: Full Moon at 9:10 am EST
June 10: Celtic Tree Month of Oak begins
Flag day: June 14
June 18: Father’s Day
June 21; Summer Solstice and Sun enters Cancer at 12:24 am EST
June 23: New Moon at 10:31 pm EST
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The Hanged Man: Knowing When to Surrender
The image of The Hanged Man has been showing itself to me over the last month. In the past six months or so I have felt like I am in a holding pattern. In the last year a lot has happened my husband both lost and gained job. We lost two beloved pets, one of which was my bonded familiar. Fighting depression and hormone changes and watching my mom make the slow decline into the forgetfulness of old age. It’s been tough to deal with as anyone who has gone through any of this will know. I went through various stages of fear, anger, resentment, sadness and not to mention completely out of balance. There is after all only so much you can deal with before shutting down. I felt like I had no one to turn to, after all everyone has their own problems so why should they care about mine. So I turned to the only person who could help….. me.
I started by working through and letting go of the negative baggage. I found it was imperative to know and separate the things you CAN do something about as opposed to the things that you CAN’T. But as I continued to plow my way through I began to realize that the upsets and turmoil lost their punch. This made them easier to work with and heal. They became less important and I stopped letting them steal my power. It was unbelieveable how much energy was freed up by this process. Some days scraps of negative trash still pop up out of nowhere. “Work in Progress. Please excuse the construction trash!” The truth is that we are all a work in progress,. We do the best we can and keep working at making ourselves better. Then The Hanged Man showed up.
I have been a pagan for over 25 years and repetitive signs mean a lot. During this time I have received signs in stones, animals, weather and many other things but never as Tarot card symbol. When my husband asked me why I was sleeping in Tree Pose, I laughed it off. Then I realized that during the down times in dance class I was standing in Tree Pose. I knew there was a message here but couldn’t work out the connection. The third time’s the charm as they say and so it was. I was reading The Lady of Rivers by Philippa Gregory where the heroine Jaquetta, who has the powers of an oracle, pulls a tarot card for Joan of Arc. That card was The Hanged Man. He is there willingly, hanging in limbo. He is tied to the tree by his ankle but he can let himself go at any time, but for now he is surrendering. Letting life unfold around him naturally .Now I have a new word for “shutting down”, it’s surrender. Sometimes we must surrender ourselves to what’s going on and let things play out before letting ourselves go and moving on.
So what does The Hanged Man symbolize? Let’s take a look………………..
Reversal of values or attitudes / Patience / Surrender or Sacrifice / Deepening of experience /Peace / Independence /Understanding
This card is a symbol of gaining deeper experience, it’s a kind of initiation. We gain the most from this initiation by surrendering and simply letting ourselves go to the Divine Source. We allow ourselves to wait patiently, making no demands and having no expectations. We let of the need to be in control and it is through this that we gain understanding by letting go of the need to understand. Our reward freedom and peace which can only be found in surrender. This card invites us to examine our values, attitudes and priorities that we have in regard to life.
The signs to help us along our path are everywhere. We must be awake enough to see them, open minded enough to grasp the knowledge they bring, honest enough to see how it applies and courageous enough to take the necessary steps help ourselves.
Bright Blessings for a Magickal Week!
Cat
(C) LBolotin 2017
Laura (Cat) Bolotin has been following an eclectic pagan/spiritual path for over 25 years. She currently lives in Western Colorado where she enjoys communing with nature, desert crawling, belly dancing, nature photography, jewelry crafting and writing stuff she hopes will help others along their path. She is married and owned by 5 cats.
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Please feel free to check out my websites!
Cat’s Treasure Trove: An Eclectic Collection of Jewelry and Gifts! http://catstreasuretrove.weebly.com
The Desert Path: The Dusty Ramblings of a Desert Pagan. https://catsister.wordpress.com
Sacred Spirals on Facebook: The Place Where All Paths Meet https://www.facebook.com/groups/sacredSpirals/
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