IX The Hermit

This week’s Tarot-Draw is the ninth Major Arcana card The Hermit.

It’s easy to be enlightened on a mountain top.

There’s no one around to piss you off.

Except that goat. He knows exactly what TF he is doing.

Down in the valley of muck and everyday life is a different story.

A story of peopling, and interactions, and transactions…

An ascetic lifestyle is not conducive to being head of household and vice versa.

So stop with the unhelpful expectations.

Where are you? Where is your practice?

City life got you trying too hard?

Give yourself some space and time to look at your bigger picture.

The memory of drawing card one feels like it happened lifetimes ago.

At card 78 it very much feels like standing on a mountain top and peering down at the journey it took to get here.

I’ve been using a random tarot generator to work thru the deck and today’s card is the first card that appeared.

That’s a fun coincidence.

Before I had to hit refresh many many times to get a card that hadn’t been drawn yet.

Now, I choose to interpret that coincidence as more than mere coincidence.

I’ve elevated it to the level of synchronicity.

I’d been worried that in my zeal, to have The Hermit be the last card in this series, I may have unduly influenced the outcome.

Now I see it as a sign of things flowing synchronistically.

I’ve missed that feeling.

Not gonna lie - I was hoping to open some kind of portal or unlock something or some super power inside.

Instead I’ve had a day of the most annoying mundane problems pile onto one another.

Chop wood, carry water right?

The Zen quote of “Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment chop wood and carry water” feels eerily appropriate.

We learn and experience so much, but chores don’t give AF about your unverified personal gnosis.

There aren’t dishes on the mountain top, but if there are they’ll need cleaning as soon as you finish using them.

As I drift further away from the magic of the moment I see myself caught up in survival mode gathering worries and stress factors.

What’s coming next?

How?

What’s the appropriate pace?

What should I be doing?

Luckily I know the sounds of oncoming overwhelm and can offer a different chew toy to distract the puppy mind.

Like the Hermit I can see the piles of bullshit that forced the climb to be long and treacherous at times.

Perhaps most importantly I’ve watched myself enough to know when it’s my crap and when it’s somebody else’s.

Hopefully on the climb back down we can avoid the stinky spots.

This week in Psychic Sleep we’ll touch on themes of: spicy synchronicities; chores; and the scent of achievement.