Over the Hump by Kate Mura of Group Tarot
A space for tarot reflection for the day, week, or moment it comes across your screen. Each of these is reworked intentionally for The Edge, from the egregore of Group Tarot’s Card of the Week, to center education, diversity, and intuition.
Partial content copyright 2023 Group Tarot. Used with permission.
How was your Independence Day friends?
Or, as a friend of mine recently renamed it – Interdependence Day. For we are all interdependent on other lives in some form and fashion.
Were you able to keep your fur babies and friends with PTSD calm and cared for?
In spite of grief, the current hot air for my personal hot air balloon body, I spent the day getting ready for Oregon Country Fair. There will be no Card of the Week next week as I am one of the last to leave fair, helping clean up our camp and stages.
On the fourth, bins were filled, good food eaten, camaraderie welcomed.
It’s more than a little weird leaving for three celebrations – the fair, my sweetie’s birthday, and our 10 year anniversary – while having this internal bubble of grief and separation.
Yet, juxtaposition is life. Is normal. Is a humble and empathetic reminder that we have no idea what’s going on underneath the surface of folx we meet.
It reminds me of a beyonds exercise we did when I was studying at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre…
An individual was given a physical score to do. For example, enter quickly then pause three seconds right before you get centerstage. Look to something down center. Look upstage. Look to where you just entered from. Walk out backwards opposite the way you entered.
The student then left the room and the teacher gave the audience a beyond – a set of given circumstances the performer was either leaving or going to. Or a physical state they were in.
The student’s job was to just do the actions without any emotional response.
The audience reacted in different ways, depending on what the outside circumstances were.
The information learned – as student and audience – were HUGE! Not the least of which was, we don’t always know why the audience, or another person is having the reaction they’re having.
It’s a fun game to play while people watching, and oh the people watching that can happen at the fair!
Imagine a different set of beyond circumstances for individuals you see, change it up, and notice if your perception of that person is different if they:
- Just worked 36 hours loading out a show after doing two performances
- Won the lottery
- Came from a funeral of someone they despised
- Came from a wedding of someone they envied
- Lost their wallet
- Secretly want to be dancing EVERYWHERE
- Are color blind
- Are itchy all overAre walking with a brand new prosthetic leg
- Those are just a few ideas to start you off.
Then notice what you notice.
Today, I was a bit torn as to which deck to use, Gentle Creatures kept calling out, and the last two times I’ve used this deck, I’ve cried and I’m kinda tired of tears.
Yet, my other decks are quiet.
So, Gentle Creatures it is…
We are given,
Secrets.
Oooooh… isn’t that appropriate for what we’ve just been talking about! Another way to play the above game is to imagine the secret an individual has! It’s also really fun to come up with a secret, then see how your reactions and opinions shift if different individuals of vastly different ethnobiographies and ages have the same secret.
This is also the card that’s the box cover… I hadn’t noticed that before…
Here, our fairy is nose to nose with our furry creature.
Are they silent?
Sharing secrets telepathically?
Simply breathing together?
Who is whispering and who is listening?
Are they kissing? Does one want to and the other not? Do they both want to?
The forest is dark and small white butterflies or moths or fae or fireflies or moonlight illuminated petals blowing in a gentle breeze, glow.
The night, of course, is an excellent time to share secrets with a trusted confidant.
Everyone deserves a secret keeper or two who will hold information without judgement.
And we all have the capacity and care to be secret keepers for others too.
Of course, if keeping secrets would cause harm, there are many appropriate steps to take to create health and healing, depending on the circumstances. Do you have culturally competent mental health resources to share?
Other times, sharing and holding secrets strengthens bonds. In many magical traditions, To Keep Silent, is associated with the North/Earth and is an important charge.
In most situations, consensually sharing secrets – whether with a friend, tree, therapist, Deity, or stranger – is helpful. I know I feel lighter when some life force that truly wants to listen, hears what’s on my heart. This is part of the impulse to change asking, “how are you doing?” to “What’s on your heart?”
PS ~ Look for my article, “Mindful Actions of Rebels and Priestesses” in the Cartomancer’s Summer Edition
More about the Creator: https://tarotbyarwen.com/books-decks/
To Purchase this Deck: Check in with your local brick and mortar first. Otherwise, my Bookshop is always open to you.
Recommended Reading: I found this video, which is a good introduction to cultural compentency in grief: https://grievingstudents.org/module-section/cultural-sensitivity/
All the b.e.s.t,
*b.e.s.t. = beautiful. equitable. sustainable. timely.
Release mundane responsibilities to refresh yourself in New Mexico Oct. 1-7 for a Writers and Creatives Retreat. Learn more here
Special Offer for The Edge Community
Use promo code “TheEdge” for 25% off Kate Mura’s readings and private coaching
Dive Deeper
with a personal reading, couple, thruple, polycule or friend’s group reading here
