Spirituality
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THE IMPORTANCE OF HISTORICAL CONTEXT THE “FLIGHT TO EGYPT” Does it make sense to say that historical context matters when trying to understand something? Let me offer a joke (because sometimes comedy teaches what argument can’t). A teacher asked her Sunday School class to draw a picture of a Bible story. One child held up…
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REAL-TIME POSITIONING VS. MAP DATABASE BEING FOUND As suggested in the Quick Start guide, people’s usual interaction with Tarot is to bring it questions, in search of answers. In this respect, Tarot is just like Apple Maps, Google Maps, Waze (or whatever GPS navigation system you use) in showing us where we are and suggesting…
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A PLACE TO BEGIN, OR BEGIN AGAIN This chapter offers a way to begin reading Tarot that is simple, grounded, and immediately usable. You do not need prior knowledge, special gifts, or belief in anything supernatural. What you do need is a willingness to slow down, to listen, and to take responsibility for how you…
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THE WISDOM OF KNOWING YOU DON’T KNOW Most people come to Tarot with a question. Sometimes it’s a practical question: What should I do about this job? This relationship? This decision? Sometimes it’s an emotional question: Why am I stuck? Why do I keep repeating this pattern? Sometimes it’s a spiritual question: What is life…
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Transcendentalism, Part 1: Introduction
It was the Persian mystic and poet Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī who said, in the 13th century, “The task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” These words are at once hopeful and sobering. Love is a human potential.…
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Since its founding in 1970, the French magazine called Charlie Hebdo has been a vocal advocate for free expression and liberation from forms of power that demand unquestioning, unthinking obedience. It’s been the target of three terrorist attacks. The one in 2015 led to the death of twelve people including the man whose picture you…
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Someone asks, “What is Unitarian Universalism?” “What do Unitarian Universalists believe?” What do you do? People are going to ask. It’s inevitable, in this world in which folks are generally not familiar with what those two very long words strung together, “Unitarian Universalism,” mean. I think elevator speeches (brief statements between 30 seconds and 2…
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Sex therapist and educator Marty Klein, Ph. D., says that people ask him all the time about what “normal” looks like. His reply? “I say forget the number of times people have sex per month, or how often someone masturbates, or how long it takes to climax. Those averages tell you nothing. Knowing that you…
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Owning Your Own Shadow
The concept of enlightenment, often associated with spiritual awakening, is explored in connection with the psychological concept of the “Shadow” by Carl Jung and others. The “Shadow” represents the suppressed or hidden negative aspects of ourselves. It is emphasized that acknowledging and integrating the Shadow is essential for inner balance. The need to recognize the…
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Part 1 Some time ago I posted on Facebook one of my all-time favorite Unitarian Universalist jokes: How many UUs (that’s how we shorten our VERY LONG NAME) does it take to change a lightbulb? Here’s the answer: We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a…
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