Stillness 11-19:
During last week’s healing summit I gave a tarot reading in which I turned over the card of the Hermit. It’s not surprising that he showed up, considering that most of us are living like hermits just now. But as I gazed at the energy of the card, I saw its healing message as a shining lamp rather than the more traditional sense of the card, which is inner learning and “know thyself.”
But of course they are one and the same. As I watched the Hermit carry his guiding lamp for each one of us, I thought how a lighthouse holds light in its glowing heart, but also beams it out to guide ships to safety and home.
How can we shine our light, especially if it feels shrunken, tired, discouraged, or anxious? Sometimes the small lamp-flame flutters to a bigger glow when we reach out to others and offer warmth and light. It literally makes us feel better to make others feel better. Remember when you were a child and you created a special drawing or miniature sculpture and offered it to a parent a friend? The reverence for your work and for the gift being offered was profound.
That means receiving is just as important as giving. Imagine if you said to a child who brought you their present, “Thanks, but I really don’t need that…” or “It’s too much…” or “Give it to someone who really needs it…” We say that to each other all the time, as though we’re doing the other person a favor by rejecting what they offer.
Worse, when we’re grown-ups the “gift” tends to be advice. Sometimes when we’re given advice, we feel we’re being criticized or we think we know better, so we respond brusquely or defensively. But most people offer advice from love and a longing to be of help. They cherish the advice they offer as a child cherishes their lovely drawing. When it’s rejected, they feel annoyed or even crushed. Practice pausing and thanking anyone who gives you advice before reacting or responding. Imagine them as a beloved child handing you a precious project.
Because we’re all children in our hearts. Even the smallest of decorations of a yellow leaf with a red berry and perhaps a sprinkle of earth on top matters far more than we imagine. I’ve learned that part of being a lighthouse is letting others be lighthouses too. We all want to help each other, to offer sustenance or encouragement. The more we remember how we offered and received as children, the more we remember how we can be light and give light and receive light so there’s more and more of it in the world.