KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

April 25 through May 1, 2022

The major event in the heavens this week occurs on Saturday when the Taurus New Moon/solar eclipse sets the stage for a shift in focus, energy and direction over the next six months. This is the first of two eclipses in as many weeks, the next one occurring on May 16th. As we examine our lives for the next two weeks, we'll be better prepared to make changes once the second eclipse occurs in May. With an ethereal Pisces Moon overhead Monday and Tuesday, we should avoid making any hard and fast decisions, as information is cloudy and doubts tend to hold us back. That's not a bad thing, it's just the Universe protecting us from moving in the wrong direction! Clarity returns on Wednesday as the Moon charges into Aries and doubts fade away. We'll be inspired to take action and more action, especially when Mercury moves into Gemini and Pluto turns retrograde on Friday. Gemini is one of two signs Mercury rules (Virgo being the other one) and so our thoughts and mental prowess will pick up full power under this influence! Our thoughts may pop up faster than we can speak them as new ideas and inspirations bubble to the surface for the next few weeks. Pluto's shift to retrograde motion may be almost indiscernible, as it's more a generational influencer than a personal planet. However, as it retrogrades for the next five months, we may see improvements in global concerns, such as climate change.

Tarot: Looking at Both the Mundane and the Divine, by Lisa Freinkel Tishman, PhD

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

I'm a shaman and a mindfulness teacher. You may not think that these two identities are at odds, but I'm here to tell you: they are.

The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that a shaman, "is a man or woman who is regarded as having direct access to, and influence in, the spirit world which...empowers them to guide souls, cure illnesses, etc..." Shamans divine—"divine" here in the verb sense of the word. Shamans practice divination, meaning that they receive truth from divinity. Shamans light sacred fires, peering into the dancing flames. They gaze into the fathomless depths of an obsidian disc. Or perhaps they sift through the dregs of a holy brew and channel hidden messages. Shamans receive truth from the beyond.

In contrast, we mindfulness teachers are continually pointing folks back to the here and now: to this body sitting in this chair, sipping mint tea as the birds start to sing on this particular drizzly spring morning...Mindfulness, in other words, guides us back to our own ordinary experience: to this collection of skin and bones and intestines and hormones, moods and thoughts, burps and belches, eyelashes and finger nails and tastebuds.

Shamans channel truths from elsewhere. Mindfulness practitioners bring loving, non-judgmental attention to the world all around us. Shamans reveal—unveil the hidden. In mindfulness we just point: look here. It is what it is.

Shamans try to fix things, cure things, manifest new outcomes. In the ancient world, kings and commanders sought to win battles, gain wealth, woo their women with shamanic help. For every Stannis Baratheon seeking the Iron Throne, you had someone like the Red Women divining and spellcasting at his side. Heck, even Nancy Reagan had her astrologer, Joan Quigley. Nancy brought Joan into the White House after John Hinckley's failed assassination attempt on the President. She hoped a shaman like Joan could save Ronnie's life—preserve his power—and shape the future of the free world.

In mindfulness practice, however, we're not trying to shape anything. As I tell my students: nothing is broken, nothing needs fixing. Let's hunker down in life as it is—noticing what's already here and all around us. This is the path to accepting ourselves and to finding our way home. This is not about power, exactly. This is about peace.

Shamans offer power and influence from beyond. Mindfulness offers peace and humble self-acceptance right here.

How can I be and do both? Shaman? Mindfulness teacher?

In my book Mindful Tarot, in fact, I make a sharp distinction between between a "mindful Tarot" practice that points us to the world right before us—and a prophetic or shamanic practice that looks for answers from a world beyond.

But, I'm also living proof that when we deeply investigate what it means to be mindful—what it means to bring loving, accepting attention to the world all around us—then that's precisely when the world of shamanic magic begins.

I learned this truth at a silent Zen meditation retreat a few years back. I was the retreat leader, and part of my job was to figure out where everybody would sit. It sounds easy, but people were coming and going all week long—and since meals were being served in silence, in formal Zen style, right at our seats—my job included a complex game of meditation hall Tetris.

Do you remember Tetris? That video game where you manipulate falling blocks so that they slide neatly into place? At this retreat, I needed to figure out how to arrange the room throughout the week. I had to keep all the gluten-free people in one corner of the hall, and all the vegans in another. And where would I seat Sally, who had to avoid legumes at all costs? Could Billy take her place at mid-week, or would his life-threatening allergy to onions and garlic confuse the cook and the food servers too much? In this complex culinary choreography, how could I make sure everyone got safely and promptly served throughout the week?

I remember sitting during a meditation period one day and instead of bringing my attention mindfully back to my breath, I couldn't stop obsessing over a mental map of the room. I focused my mind's eye on an internal image of the hall, picturing how I might move chairs and mats around as the week unfolded and participants, with their nut allergies and such, came and went. In my mind's eye, I kept shuffling the pieces of the puzzle around, trying to map the perfect flow of bodies. I was trying to fit everything into place.

The effort was exhausting! My mind couldn't stop churning.

And suddenly it dawned on me: this is what we do with all of the pieces of our lives, every day. We create mental maps, as it were, of places and people and things of our world—and then we try to maneuver the parts so that everything fits.

We do this in ways both subtle and obvious. At the more obvious level, I might imagine my drive to work, picturing how the traffic flows at 7:35 a.m. and trying to plot the perfect, quickest, easiest route from door to door. At a more subtle level, I might worry about a difficult conversation I need to have with my boss once I get to work, and I might picture all the things I could say and all the ways she might respond—trying in advance to control the dialogue and achieve a favorable outcome.

But the fact is, when we play Tetris with the world, we often lose. We all know how easy it is for our mental maps to be wrong, and for our calculations to fail. Traffic patterns often defy our expectations, and difficult conversations often go sideways. The truth is, it's hard to maneuver our lives. All too frequently, the world pushes back. Life usually refuses to slide neatly into place.

That's why I love the Tarot so much. When I draw the cards and lay out a spread, the pieces of the puzzle fall precisely where they fall. My job as reader requires that I interpret the pattern right in front of me. I don't get to move things around—to return that pesky 10 of Swords back to the deck, or to move the 9 of Cups into its place. I can't play Tetris with Tarot. The cards I've pulled are precisely what I must work with. Anything else would feel like a cheat and a dodge. If I'm going to get serious about Tarot, I need to make sense of whatever cards I pull, learning to interpret them in their own terms, right here and now.

Indeed, Tarot teaches me to accept the hand that I've been dealt.

What a metaphor for life! How often do we take a long deep look at what is—at the cards we've been dealt, in life—and accept them without hesitancy or reserve? But such is the work of mindfulness, where we bring open and kind attention to our present-moment experience. Mindfulness asks us to take our time, to open our heart, and to accept the patterns of life just as they are.

In this mindful decision to play the hand we're dealt, we also find the origin of shamanic empowerment. The shaman's insights emerge from the patterns that the world provides, whether she consults the wheeling constellations of the sky, the spread of the cards, or the reticulated swirls of a crystal quartz.

Because the insights of the shaman can seem profound and life-changing, we tend to think their source lies beyond mere appearances, beyond the everyday. But indeed, the shaman's true strength precisely derives from the everyday. She refuses to turn or twist things around. She sees, deeply, the ordinary patterns that others bypass. Her power lies in her ability to examine the world unwaveringly, in its truest form. She really looks at the world, precisely as it appears, here and now.

Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt once called mindful contemplation, "a long, loving look at the real." Mindfulness requires gentleness and love, and a deep willingness to encounter reality.

Being a shaman requires the same love, the same extended embrace of our lives. If shamans have the power to cure and transform, this power begins in love.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2019. All rights reserved.

Do you believe that everyone is psychic, or at least has the potential to be? If so, is there any reason someone should not pursue the development of their abilities, or any preparation one should undertake before doing so? I've been interested in this subject for a long time, and am thinking about developing my own psychic potential, but am a little nervous of getting in over my head and not knowing what to do. Thanks!

David

Susyn:

Everyone has psychic abilities or at least the potential to develop them. Some people ignore or explain away their abilities for the exact reason you cite: They have no one to advise them in this arena, and they feel nervous exploring this realm alone. Many people's psychic gifts show up at an early age. How the people around them react to this often dictates whether they embrace their gifts or try to repress them. If they end up repressing or ignoring them, their abilities may reemerge later in their adult lives.

Luckily, these days learning to nurture and promote your psychic abilities is much easier than it used to be. There are endless websites, internet forums and local communities through which you can get guidance as you explore the world of metaphysics.

I recommend you make a list of different methods available for people who want to explore and expand their psychic gifts. Pay attention to which ones you feel drawn to. This will give you clues as to which avenue of psychic development you'd like to pursue. For example, you may be drawn to tarot, but shy away from channeling. You may have had experience with intuitively knowing what is going to happen next, but not much luck trying to interpret dreams. Once you zero in on your personal skills and interests, you can narrow down the field of study you should concentrate on first.

Although you can work to develop your talents on your own, I don't recommend it, for it will limit your growth and can also lead you down some unsettling paths. When we open up our psychic abilities, we also naturally open up to the spirit world. If we're lacking in knowledge and preparation for this sort of interaction, we're inviting trouble.

As you begin to explore your psychic gifts, the first and most important thing you must learn is how to protect yourself. Most psychics begin by surrounding themselves with a bubble of white light to raise their vibration and energetically align with only the highest and best experiences. One common mistake people make when first starting out is assuming that all psychic information comes from themselves. It takes knowledge and training to tap into a specific source of psychic information.

There are many good books on the subject, but it would be much better for you to find a mentor or group of spiritual seekers who can walk with you through this process. They will be able to share their own personal stories and validate what you are experiencing. Like any area of study, the more you learn, the more you will be able to develop and effectively use your psychic gifts. Good luck to you!

*****

Oceania:

No two people are exactly alike, not even identical twins. When it comes to abilities of any kind, each of us embodies a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses. Being psychic falls on a spectrum, just like being creative or athletic: some people demonstrate the ability early in life, others develop it over time with training and practice, while still others struggle or take no interest.

To be psychic is to have keen intuition, which is a combination of awareness, sensitivity, empathy, receptivity to input from the the unconscious and Spirit, and seeing from a holistic perspective. You can begin to exercise your intuition in small, simple ways. When the phone rings, guess who it might be. Before glancing at a clock, guess the time. Before someone speaks, guess what they might say. The idea is not to think, but to merely notice what enters your awareness.

You might choose a tarot deck you feel drawn to and gaze at the imagery on the cards. Notice how each card makes you feel and what message it conveys to you. I recommend you also work with the great spiritual tools in Kajama's Spiritual Toolbox, for the better you get at entering and working with this level of awareness, the more you will be able to consciously access intuitive guidance.

You mentioned that you're afraid of getting in over your head and not knowing what to do. It's true that developing your psychic abilities can lead to some rather unusual moral dilemmas. For example, aspiring psychics sometimes ask whether they should share unsolicited advice with others. If your aim is to be of service, then you should focus on attraction, not promotion: if someone sees you as a role model of how to live a wonderful life, they will proactively seek your input and advice.

You might be similarly worried about getting in too deep if you were developing scientific, business or political power to the point where you could help or do harm to others with it. You can relax and feel confident about moving forward if you commit to using your abilities within the context of your own spiritual values, assuming that you desire whatever is for the common good.

I believe psychic abilities are enhanced when we live by the principle of ahimsa, which is Sanskrit for do no harm. This means avoiding violence in thought, word and deed. Do your best not to impose suffering on your fellow earthlings. To participate in harm, even indirect harm, requires denial and turning off your empathy. I believe your studies will be enhanced if you consider them a sacred journey, and practice ahimsa as your guiding principle.