holding our ground when changing truths shake our foundation.
talking tarot #39: Justice and King of Swords inviting us to be in relationship with changing truths.
I try to draw the tarot cards for our collective reading at least one day before I’m planning to write. I love to give myself at least one night’s sleep as it gives me time to gather the wisdom and bring it to the writing process. Since I drew the cards for our reading: Justice and King of Swords, I read a wonderful article by Abigail Rose Clarke on her Substack Bones Made of Stardust. Abigail shares a lot about tarot and her relationship to it, she’s also a somatic practitioner (person who includes body work e.g. movement, energy etc.) so check her work out if you’re interested.
The article I read of hers is called ‘the balancing act of lust, and other things the tarot teaches me’ and in this article she shares a truth that has shifted my perception of tarot. The major arcana are made up of 21 archetypes and they are in a particular order with The Fool as number 0 and The World as number 21. There are many interpretations and it is said that as humans we may travel through these experiences and the order does have significance. Of course the significance of the order has been interpreted in millions of ways.
Of the more traditional decks I use the Rider-Waite deck, which was created in the 1950s. In Abigail’s article she shares that in creating this deck Waite decided to swap the Justice card and the Strength card. In the Rider-Waite deck the Strength card is number 8 and the Justice card is number 11 and previous to this including in a deck by Thoth and the 14th century deck Tarot de Mersailles the Justice card is number 8 and the Strength card is number 11 and in Thoth’s deck it is known as Lust. I’m still trying to get my head around this because I believed that the Rider-Waite deck was as close to the ‘original’ deck as possible and I had this deck’s order as being a foundation to build from. I put ‘original’ in inverted commas because locating an ‘original’ in tarot is difficult to do, similar to yoga in a way. Searching for the roots for one particular truth is not very doable and in this search for a foundational truth we may be missing the beauty unveiled in complexity.
I say all of this, not to delve into the history of tarot, although that is a journey I am on, it is to say that my foundation of what I believed to be true was shaken upon learning new information. I am making this connection for this reading because both Justice and King of Swords diligently seek and serve truth. Therefore our reading today is about truth.
As an activist, an avid reader and seeker of wisdom I am always unveiling new truths that shake my foundation to the core. I think one of my first truths that quite literally brought me to tears, was when I realised that girls were treated differently than boys. I can’t remember why I realised this, what I do remember in scrunching up into a tiny ball, I must have been under 10, with my head in my hands feeling the tears running down my forearms and dripping onto my knees.
Another big truth, maybe a decade later, was learning why, as a mixed Indian and British person, I existed here in the UK. Why am I here? The violent truth of colonisation was presented to me when I delved into my family’s history of migration. This shook me to my core. I remember thinking ‘I am a product of colonisation’. I felt colonial trauma running through my veins and I remember having moments of dissociation where everything feels like it’s expanding around me and I’m adjusting to this new reality.
Learning a truth that shakes you to your core can take some major adjusting. I feel like it’s a skill to be able to learn a truth and allow for it to take up space in your current perspective of the world. In yoga philosophy, maya, is the illusion that we hold about the world around us and slowly through mindful practice the illusion dissolves.
A more recent truth is understanding that colonisation is still very much alive, empire has not ended. We clearly see empire through the colonising of Palestine, the ceasefire means we can breathe deeply, and Palestine is still under violent colonial occupation. We clearly see empire operating in African countries including Congo, where French companies among other Western companies, are extracting Cobalt, a resource that builds the tech and electric cars we use worldwide. Congo is considered a ‘poor’ country, yet has the largest amount of Cobalt in the world. A peer of mine asks the question: if Congo is so poor why are Westerners still over there stealing their resources? Although countries, like Congo, and many others have their ‘independence’ from what we traditionally believe as empire, Western colonial powers have not left, they are controlling and stealing through other means including through capitalist measures.
In the Radical Tarot, written by Charlie Claire Burgess, they share that the King of Swords for them is transformed into the Steward of Air: The Advocate. The Steward of Air is diligent about the truth, using critical thinking and fact checking skills.
In some ways, I believe, they are acting as a Steward of Truth. This means they hold that what they believe to be true right now, may not be the case tomorrow morning or next year and that’s okay. They understand that truth changes. We see this in traditional science so much, one theory that’s believed to be true, for often centuries, gets debunked and replaced with a new truth. Truth isn’t static, it shapeshifts and contorts and as a Steward of Truth we are invited to build a foundation for ourselves that incorporates the possibility that what we believe to be true, including aspects of our own identity, may change. This is a skill needed for building a new world and for moving us toward collective liberation.
With Justice we are not talking about the current criminal ‘justice’ system, or any legal or policing structure for that matter, as these systems of ‘justice’ are not fair, they are poisoned with oppression, with oppression often being at the core of why a legal or policing system was set up in the first place. Justice means balance, it means harmony, fairness and truth, is an essential component in how we achieve justice. Abigail Rose Clarke in her article, shares that when we think of balance, we must also hold that the nature of balance can change depending on certain truths that are unveiled. We may believe that the scales are balanced until we learn truth which shows that the scales were never balanced in the first place. Again, there is something really important about being comfortable with things literally changing the nature of our perception of the world and of ourselves.
When I talk about change, I always have to refer to Octavia Butler’s series of two books, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talent. Octavia creates a spirituality in these books called Earthseed where God is Change, yet, we do not worship this God of Change. If God is change, then we can shape change through action, through being prepared and being able to hold our foundation when truths are unveiled. I think that the spirituality of God is Change helps me hold the notion that truth changes, that what I believe to be true may not be true tomorrow or next year. This allows me to be fluid, to hold multiple perspectives and seek wisdom that leads to more connection rather than separation. Yoga, of course, also helps me with this as I ask the question: is it or am I causing separation?
I have a visual in mind about the changing-nature of truth, it’s like a bendy, twisty and curvy shape that’s purple. It’s glowing and shapeshifting, constantly moving. Maybe I’ll ask my loving partner to animate this visual that’s arising in my mind. Are you picking up a visual of this idea of truth changing? What does it look like to you?
The things I’m seeing in the news at the moment is outrageous, so much so, I don’t even want to write or talk about it, instead I retreat, log out of instagram to write about truth and upskill myself in shapeshifting change. I spend time here with our online community and in my local area, York, building our in person community. There’s something here about the yama brahmacharya, inviting us to consider where best to place our limited energy. We are going to be pulled in all directions with these people in power pulling all these outrageously violent things. Don’t get me wrong, we have to keep aware and stand up for what’s right and also let’s take the time to build up ourselves spiritually so that we can tactfully meet change and shape change effectively. This requires an element of disengaging with the firefighting of each and every outrageous thing.
Who knows, I might disagree with what I’ve shared in this post and I hold that to be the most truthful.
What are your thoughts about truth? What are your interpretations of our collective reading: Justice and King of Swords? Have you done a reading for yourself this week? I’d love to know.
In solidarity, with love and care
Amy