The 8 of Swords and Ace of Wands
With the new year on the horizon, I have been thinking a lot about the ideas of grace and generosity.
I am going through a very dark period of grief, so my own emotions are my priority. I feel buried by these feelings and do not have a lot of generosity for others.
I am not talking about generosity when it comes to giving my time or money, but when it comes to giving my laughter, energy, or kindness.
I can feel it most when people are trying to bring some levity or lightness and I cannot match their effort. I often find myself thinking the worst about others and shutting down when I feel slighted or hurt.
This is understandable when we are going through dark times and we should not be excepted to be beacons of energy or light. But what I notice is when I don’t have grace or generosity for others, it makes me feel worse.
This is where the Ace of Wands comes in to support us. It is all about the generosity of spirit and connecting to what makes us feel alive. It is an Ace Card, so it has all the potency of the Wands cards in one.
Wands are about passion, fire, and spirituality. They call us to do what makes us feel energized and purposeful. They call us to be our best selves.
The Ace card says, even when depressed, sad, or anxious we can still find some small grace. We can acknowledge other’s presence and their efforts of love. We can try to soften instead of harden when we see their warmth.
We can even try to see the best in others when our mind is thinking the worst. If someone is coming off cold, we can remember it might have nothing to do with us. That even when we are going through the heaviest of times, others are carrying burdens as well.
Instead of going dark when you faced with other’s light, try softening your heart. Try to be generous with a little bit of yourself and see how it feels. Try to give grace to those that say the wrong thing or don’t show up the way you want.
Give yourself that grace too. We are all doing the best we can in any given moment. The softer we can be, the lighter we will feel even in the worst of times.
The 8 of Swords is the card of confusion. It partners with the Ace of Wands, to point us back to the message of the Ace.
When we are feeling confused or stuck in our thinking, connect back with your spirit. Draw yourself to whatever makes you feel the warmth inside of you instead of the cloudiness of your head.
You can do this by putting your hands on your heart and imagining a torch, like the one on the card, glowing inside your chest. Feel its heat and see how the flame dances.
Know that you have access to this fire at all times, even when it has dimmed. We can grow this flame by bringing more grace and generosity to yourself and others.
My hope for 2020 is we can keep our torches glowing through more love and light for those we meet on our path.
Mantra for the week: I connect to my spirit in times of confusion. I meet myself and others with grace and generosity.
