Your Week Ahead: February 25 to March 2, 2024 – Surpassing The Way

When we are perplexed, caught up, and focused on what we want or where we want to go, we are invariably working with only one side of the equation: what we know and what is here. Our present is definitely the place to bring our awareness. However, inherent in our desire lies the seed for a paradigm shift, meaning, we are changing over into something new by the power of that desire. What we know can’t necessarily help us because the future will change. What is here will be different because we will see it differently. A quantum line is being crossed. All we can do is prepare for it.

In this week’s reading, we see just that: a preparation for something new. In our first card, the 7 of Swords, we see a man carrying a girl out of the water while a bandit watches above. Generally, there are a few meanings to this card depending on other surrounding cards. It signifies a bold step where action is sometimes necessary despite not knowing all the information needed.

There is a caution to be mindful of not seeing past one’s own immediate needs. Acting solely within that framework, we can lose sight of what we are gaining, and we will simply not accomplish anything of real merit and we could end up where we started. At the end of the day, we may never know how things will unfold unless we try, hence the bold step. All we can do is endeavour to have integrity and honesty, and to be aware that we are not caught up in what we want that we cannot see the larger picture or consequences.

I would also offer to be mindful of what information we share with others. We don’t want our bold step to be too revealing of our plans lest we invite any potential obstacles in the form of other people’s views. A certain amount of skill may be needed so that we sidestep any attention. The girl being taken out of the water could represent what we want to protect. Telling people about it might not be the thing to do right now.

This quality meets up with the card of courage, the 7 of Wands. Traditionally, this is about rising up to the occasion and showing one’s skill. Opportunities are presented which will have us feeling challenged, yet we may very well enjoy it. Here, the girl seems to have been placed on a bed where she recovers. Seeing to it that she is safe is where we come in.

The idea is that we cannot assume anything; we must defend what we wish to bring forth. The desire to rise up and be seen, to be taken seriously, to show our talents, all of this requires courage. We shouldn’t feel as though once we become visible, we will be taken advantage of. This would only increase our stress and our attachment to our ego’s claim on what it wants to conquer.

Here, there is a more subtle element at work. The standout card is Death, and it is also a major arcana card. This suggests that we are working with its larger implications in our lives. In this card, we see the girl lying atop a funeral altar at the foot of a dark cave. Everything that happens in this reading takes place before that cave entrance. Beyond that, there is silence, no image and no information. It is a line, and everything beyond that line is different.

This isn’t to suggest that some huge change will come upon us and that we have no say into what takes place beyond that line. Quite the contrary, this reading describes how we are preparing the way. We are bringing forth something dear to us up from the unconscious which needs nourishment and protection. We are endeavouring to protect it by attending to it. All that is left is to surrender it to the unknown and to let it transform into a new form.

When we participate in an effort of any kind, bring mindfulness to it and our impeccability, all that remains is to dedicate it to the profound universe which created the forum for growth in the first place. Handing it over to the Infinite is a way of linking our effort to the purity of that which brings about very profound insights into reality, so that it may in turn become beneficial for many on a universal level.

We could call this an enlightened approach. Yet, it is not that we are enlightened, but we can identify our small effort with a quality that is immensely larger. If we then lose the concepts of small and large, we step inside that world which is beyond concepts. At that moment, borders and lines drop and we move into a new paradigm. This is the death experience. Our world, or parts of it, are reorganized and recalibrated. Then, our cosmic butterfly emerges and the energetic shift we desired back in the 7 of Swords will take us on through to the next chapter.

Affirmation: I am that which I want to be. That which I am, I have already become. That which I become, I have already surpassed.

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

Daniel Palmo

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