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Most of us are thinking about the epic disaster in Japan this week and wondering what we can possibly do to help. We’re also dealing with a flood of emotions or are putting up walls to keep the despair out. There must be a better way. So this week I did a “wisdom reading” for my “Card of the Week” and asked:
How should we then respond, to the epic tragedy in Japan? or whenever despair for the world begins to immobilize us?
(The video’s a little long – 10 minutes – as I ended up pulling three cards instead of one.)
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this 3 card reading, and to hear about your own strategies for dealing with despair over the state of the Earth. (Please click through to the end of this post, where a friend has posted a response to this blog much more eloquently than I could ever do. She speaks with the authentic voice of experience. Thank you.)
I received a beautifully written email in response to this post from a longtime blogosphere friend with longterm experience in working with poverty-stricken nations. I have her permission to post it here. (Bold and italicized portions are mine, as I think those points are so important.)
I was so drawn to your spread that you posted this morning. I have not watched the video yet, but my gut reactions to the cards were very strong. I started commenting on the blog, but I have a lot to say and decided to just write you. Because my life’s work is in development — improving livelihoods for the poorest in the world, I have strong opinions about our reactions to these disasters.
Just like your figure in the 5 of Water, these events leave us paralyzed. We are left with our sadness and a sense of helplessness and on some primitive level, a fear for ourselves. Our challenge is to find a way to be thankful for the bounty in our own lives and use our position in a way that actually helps — our gifts are for sharing.
But it is the Temperance card that struck me the most. People do not realize how very long it takes to dig out of a disaster. Haiti will not recover to it’s previous level (which was very low) for at least 10 years. The pain goes on and on. So every time there is a disaster, we sink into the shock and sadness of your 5 of Water, then we rush forward giving away our entire 9 of Earth garden bounty then we are depleted and we forget. This means we snap back to the 5 of Water when there is another disaster and start the process again.
I advocate for a strategy of Temperance at all times so that our giving is meaningful and impactful and so that we are not paralyzed with grief. Our constant compassion can make a much great difference than desperate bouncing from one emotion to the next. There are many organizations out there who are very good at helping people who are hurting. Immediately after a disaster, the people who do relief work are needed. Just as important, organizations that do long term development are needed and we seem to forget about that when our attention is snapped from one disaster to the next. I make a point of donating money to both kinds of organizations consistently — whether there is a disaster or not.
I give to the World Food Program for disaster relief every year and I give to the Clinton Foundation for long term development every year. This gives me a sense of calm and relieves at least some of the guilt and helplessness that these tragedies bring forward because I know my gifts were there in advance — I was not caught off guard.
I have been to some of the poorest places on earth and I have seen first hand how people trying to help can become completely ineffective or even damaging if they let their emotions get the best of them and try to fix everything.
If we each recognize our own gifts (have the confidence to know what is in our 9 of Earth garden) and give those gifts in the very best way that we can, we will make a difference. Gifts given with focus and deliberation have real impact.
Just my two cents!
I am traveling to Pakistan in the morning. Remember when everyone was rushing to help them with floods a few years ago? How quickly we forget.
Thank you for this, Joanna. Regarding the 5 of Water, I do think it’s okay to look away from the news — not to be in denial or withdraw energy or tangible help, but to stay strong and in balance. I’ve heard a lot of people in the last few days saying that they wanted to stop watching, as if they felt guilty about that. I think it’s important to remember that the 24-hour news cycle is not in synch with the human heart/mind/spirit. We can step into it, gather the information we need to be connected and informed, and then step out again before we become overloaded with despair.
thank you for this, Joanna. You read the three cards with such simplicity and clarity.
I love the message… the healing of the ‘Middle Way”.
Being able to hold grief AND joy for ourselves and the world, action AND stillness, fear AND trust.
Perhaps one thing that we who are far from the ‘scene’ can do to help is to really USE this fact that we are all right and in Balance(Temperance) to send loving kindness, gentle compassion and physical help to those who are in turmoil. Blessed Be, dear sister.
I am so thankful to you Joanna. I felt like your card reading spoke directly to my feelings of despair and helplessnes about how to respond to the disaster in Japan. Your voice, your words, your insights, had a very calming affect while also being inspirational. I have renewed energy. May our collective energy work to bring healing not only to those in Japan, but to all who feel devastation from this tragedy. Blessed Be.
Thank you for the beautiful reading and for posting the links and your thoughtful friend’s email. It was all helpful. After the Indonesian tsunami and 9-11 I felt such a long sense of despair and helplessness that my husband and I sat down and thought through a long term plan for contributing to global charities we felt make a consistent difference. And we give to them regularly. We’d given both time and money to other causes prior to that time, and we still do of course, but we also now give to relief efforts so that the money is there for disasters both in the news and those that slip by more silently.
I don’t respond often (so little time, so many webpages!), but I want you to know how much I appreciate the small nuggets of peace and humor and wisdom that I gather from your online presence.
This is a wise reading. I would add that little can be done by those who really care and ‘feel’ the suffering of the planet because of human mistreatment (the feeling of inability to react really and effectively in the 5 of Water card). There is the individual and communal contribution, spreading the word, raising awareness in our everyday environment, planting ‘seeds’ in people’s consciences and see them grow (9 of Earth). But in reality the solution will come though modesty when this proves to be the only path, inevitable pain and fire (Temperance). What we see and experience now is a hint and a snapshot of where we are heading in this greedy world we have built.
love and blessings
I was just reading a completely unrelated book on the western traditional energetics of herbalism. The author spoke of the traditional methods of healing which were in effect viewed as an Alchemical process within the body whereby within the body fire and water were what kept the process going and in a state of harmonious movement, never going to extremes, but not static or stagnant. Wind provided the movement, the direction, Spirit is the Magic that makes it all happen, Earth is the matter, the material, the physical. This immediately brought to mind this reading, and the healing represented by the Temperance card, and literally, the nuclear reactor which is out of balance. This tragedy going on in Japan, and especially with the nuclear reactor, is a clear reference to our disjointed, disconnected way of perceiving the Earth, of perceiving the human. (Interestingly, we – from all around the world – are providing the Spirit element to this alchemical reaction through our prayers, rituals, meditations, visualizations.) When we heal this situation with the reactor, we (All Nations- all people) will have learned something about healing, as a whole, for every aspect of life itself. Perhaps not on a conscious, mental level by all people, but on a spirit, subconscious level. May this new awareness guide our future decisions.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for this, Joanna. Regarding the 5 of Water, I do think it’s okay to look away from the news — not to be in denial or withdraw energy or tangible help, but to stay strong and in balance. I’ve heard a lot of people in the last few days saying that they wanted to stop watching, as if they felt guilty about that. I think it’s important to remember that the 24-hour news cycle is not in synch with the human heart/mind/spirit. We can step into it, gather the information we need to be connected and informed, and then step out again before we become overloaded with despair.
thank you for this, Joanna. You read the three cards with such simplicity and clarity.
I love the message… the healing of the ‘Middle Way”.
Being able to hold grief AND joy for ourselves and the world, action AND stillness, fear AND trust.
Perhaps one thing that we who are far from the ‘scene’ can do to help is to really USE this fact that we are all right and in Balance(Temperance) to send loving kindness, gentle compassion and physical help to those who are in turmoil. Blessed Be, dear sister.
I am so thankful to you Joanna. I felt like your card reading spoke directly to my feelings of despair and helplessnes about how to respond to the disaster in Japan. Your voice, your words, your insights, had a very calming affect while also being inspirational. I have renewed energy. May our collective energy work to bring healing not only to those in Japan, but to all who feel devastation from this tragedy. Blessed Be.
Thank you for your calm wise words Joanna.
Lunaea, Judy, Gale, Betsy . . . thank you all. You all have part of the answer. Hugs.
You have shared such wise and beautiful words Joanna, I feel so much calmer and more focused now. More then ready to send out joy!
Thank you for the beautiful reading and for posting the links and your thoughtful friend’s email. It was all helpful. After the Indonesian tsunami and 9-11 I felt such a long sense of despair and helplessness that my husband and I sat down and thought through a long term plan for contributing to global charities we felt make a consistent difference. And we give to them regularly. We’d given both time and money to other causes prior to that time, and we still do of course, but we also now give to relief efforts so that the money is there for disasters both in the news and those that slip by more silently.
I don’t respond often (so little time, so many webpages!), but I want you to know how much I appreciate the small nuggets of peace and humor and wisdom that I gather from your online presence.
This is a wise reading. I would add that little can be done by those who really care and ‘feel’ the suffering of the planet because of human mistreatment (the feeling of inability to react really and effectively in the 5 of Water card). There is the individual and communal contribution, spreading the word, raising awareness in our everyday environment, planting ‘seeds’ in people’s consciences and see them grow (9 of Earth). But in reality the solution will come though modesty when this proves to be the only path, inevitable pain and fire (Temperance). What we see and experience now is a hint and a snapshot of where we are heading in this greedy world we have built.
love and blessings
I was just reading a completely unrelated book on the western traditional energetics of herbalism. The author spoke of the traditional methods of healing which were in effect viewed as an Alchemical process within the body whereby within the body fire and water were what kept the process going and in a state of harmonious movement, never going to extremes, but not static or stagnant. Wind provided the movement, the direction, Spirit is the Magic that makes it all happen, Earth is the matter, the material, the physical. This immediately brought to mind this reading, and the healing represented by the Temperance card, and literally, the nuclear reactor which is out of balance. This tragedy going on in Japan, and especially with the nuclear reactor, is a clear reference to our disjointed, disconnected way of perceiving the Earth, of perceiving the human. (Interestingly, we – from all around the world – are providing the Spirit element to this alchemical reaction through our prayers, rituals, meditations, visualizations.) When we heal this situation with the reactor, we (All Nations- all people) will have learned something about healing, as a whole, for every aspect of life itself. Perhaps not on a conscious, mental level by all people, but on a spirit, subconscious level. May this new awareness guide our future decisions.