Note: This piece is a bit dated...it was written in November of 2005...but I hope that it's inspiring none the less.
Some time ago, I saw something on the internet that made me think. It was a quote, and it said:
Wiccans must be wringing their hands as such evil is meted out by our nation. Will such evil be served back to us threefold? The misery that might befall us by our wickedness is difficult to imagine, no?
And yet, even the darkest times can be cause for hope. Read On...
Yes, these are dark times. We have an illigitimate president, installed by judicial coup d'teat (and sustained by questionable election practices four years later). We have senseless death and destruction in Iraq bequeathed by lies and deception. Our civil liberties and women's rights are threatened now more than ever.
And out nation is running a system of gulags.
This is just the short list, too. I'm sure all of you could add things to this listing, horrors we are all facing. However, I think examining one of the cards of the tarot can show that even in the darkest of nights, there's hope.
That card is called "The Tower", card number XVI of the major arcana and one of the three cards known as "the dark night of the soul". I have had a facination with this card in relation to our country for four years now, and it all started with September 11th, 2001.
When I was watching the trade towers burn, people jumping to their deaths, and the video played over and over of the second plane hitting the towers, a realization hit me. I'm seeing the Tower card from the tarot being played out in real life! The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. To show just how errily similar this scene was, allow me to discribe a common image of the Tower card:
A tower is in flames, almost exploding from within. A lightening bolt from the sky is the source of the destruction, and people are falling, often screaming, towards the earth.
A building in flames...distroyed from the sky...people falling...to me, it was unmistakable. I knew then, that the Tower card would bear great importance and relavance for our nation for the coming years.
Just what does this card say? Well, traditional interpretation of the Tower speaks of an earth-shaking experience, of one that is life-changing. Quite often, this is one of unsettling ramifications. Something BIG happens, and it feels terrible at the time, only later we see that the shake-up we experience is a needed one. It can shake our world and rattle our senses, even leave us feeling shattered and torn down for a time, but these feelings are only temporary. Later we see that yes, our world was torn apart, but it just so that we could start again and do things better this time.
The person who designed the deck I use, Ellen Cannon Reed (The Witches' Tarot), discribed experience of the Tower as such:
"It will shake you to the depth of your being. It will shake your faith, your courage, and your belief in yourself."
Our nation is being led by someone who would lie us into war. His administration staffs traitors who commit treason. Our sons and daughters are being twisted into leash-holders at Abu Ghraib. Our nation has built a concentration camp in Cuba. We've revived the Soviet-era gulags on the same soil where dissident blood was spilled. Our congress is led by people who really don't give a good god-damn about our welfare.
It's a rough time to be a patriot.
And yet, remember the message of the card that has ruled us for the last four years: It will get better! Yes, things look dark right now, and we doubt our nation, our countrymen, ourselves. However, out of the ashes of this destruction will rise a new way, a new era, a new beginning. We can do things better this time, after the deadweight has been shed like so much dead skin.
Look at things as they are: Those who built this gulag of the American spirit are going down in flames. Libby indicted. Rove on the block. Frist under investigation. DeLay deposed. W's poll numbers tanking like the titanic during iceberg season. Everywhere we look, the old order is crumbling under the weight of it's own entropy. And like an old, rotted tree that falls in the forest, it's decay makes room for new life in it's place.
Remember, the next card in the Tarot is the Stars, a card denoting creativity, inspiration, and aspiration...having the creative energy to reach for the stars.
We are indeed on the crest of history, and we must keep ourselves from falling into the depths of dispair...that is, if we're really going to reach for the stars. In the words of Rev Jackson...keep hope alive!
Blessed Be,
Taliesin