Your Week Ahead: January 29 to February 4, 2023 – De-stressing Ourselves

Tension can mount very quickly in our lives especially if we don’t have a way of being aware of our inner biometric pressure. If we are always moving quickly, moving from one activity to another, serving this schedule or that obligation, or needing to making everyone happy before attending to our own well-being first, then we will no doubt come to exhaustion.

In our reading for this week, there is a clear indication that something needs to change if we are to have balance and physical or mental health. Occasionally, we may not know what to do or how to go about addressing things. In these instances, which is one likely characterized now by The Hanged One, we would do fine to wait things out and simply be present with our feelings.

This is a card that has a few sensations: confined in uncomfortable situations, realizations that come from stopping all activity, and seeing our situation from a new perspective. The Hanged One is a powerful card. It brings energy down into our body which then floods our mind with insights. However, we will need to work with what is happening in order to gain benefit.

The key here is not to struggle or run off or away from what is being revealed. The more we try to get away, the tighter the knot around our foot will become. We are tied ceremoniously to the Tree of Life. This is a ritual death that is preparing us for a new emergence. Relax and go with the flow and see what information the universe is providing. Calm the breath, take it in, detach from all the demands. As soon as we digest this experience and receive what we are meant to receive, we will feel as if we are taken down from our inverted position so that we can move forward.

Once right-side up, we could feel disoriented by the appearance of the 3 of Swords. Many people associate this card with grief. I would offer a more nuanced look at the experience of this card in its deeper meaning. Our hearts and minds are like muscles, and every now and then they get filled with toxins that require a good cleanse.

Like a good massage for our tissues and lymphatic system, so too are we cleansed of stagnant or repressed energy within our energetic body. The 3 of Swords shows a release of confined energy which has been locked in. Two swords can keep things stuck, each balancing the other and perpetuating an unchanging experience. The third sword comes along and releases the other two from their dualistic position and pushes a kind of pressure point where energy moves through us again.

It is the moment of saturation; where the sponge can no longer withhold water. Things kept inside are released and the forward movement allows us to be cleansed of the heaviness that held us back. I once had a very sharp pain in my stomach due to stressful experiences at work. I was sure I either had or was about to have an ulcer. I decided to see an acupuncturist and TCM herbalist (Traditional Chinese Medicine) for a five week program. I learned more about Chi and the body’s meridian systems and gained a bit more knowledge about what was happening in my body. She placed needles all over my body but especially in my solar plexus.

At about four weeks in, I experienced a release in my core area that was incredibly powerful. I had an emotional as well as physical experience that shifted everything for me. My whole stomach area was filled with heat, and a deep and full exhale came over me. The situation got better and better as well. Further, I began to understand what my body needed in order to prevent this pain from reoccurring. For me, it was getting back into road cycling. I learned how important it was for me. I began cycling to work and getting into a routine that would help channel the build up of stress, adrenal fatigue and emotional sensitivity I had when things got out of balance. A new life emerged as a result; this was just the beginning.

This personal experience is exactly how the 3 of Swords can show up. Translate that into different associations but the core meaning stays the same. The Hanged One says “stop” while the 3 of Swords takes that and moves through the blockage. It’s good stuff and we will breathe better and deeper as a result.

Now comes the movement from one experience to another and the passing away of elements not helpful to our future health, it seems. While The Hanged One is a ritual death, the Death card is the actual shedding of the skin. We “die” to the old and are reborn to the new. A brand new paradigm emerges and we are energized by the new body we, well, embody.

New vitality, new awareness, heightened vibration, new experiences or at least new approaches to experiences, all of this is coming to life and into being. The power to de-stress ourselves is the power to stand in our full energetic radiance and to express ourselves once again from our core. If we make some good adjustments, we can stand in that power so that we don’t lock ourselves down. We are powerfully free individuals. Enjoy the fullest breath, the tallest posture, and your most beautiful fullest voice.

Affirmation: I am becoming calmer and calmer. I take a deep breath and release the mind chatter that has weighed me down. I allow source energy to flow through my centre and to wash and cleanse me in its life restoring currents. A new Me is emerging as I feel my power increasing and increasing and increasing. I AM the centre of my being. I AM.

Thanks for reading, and I wish you a wonderful week!

Daniel Palmo

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