“What do we need to learn right now from the Coronavirus?”
I meditated on the question, turned to the deck for answers and this what the Oracle had to say.
Pull away from the world outside and make peace with who you are. Detach from drama, gossip, petty politics and paranoia. Detox from the negativity periodically. Switch off all electronic devices for a while. This is a time to regenerate, recalibrate and recharge. Fill yourself with the knowing that deep down we are all part of a massive transformation and change. Hope is there within all of us, but first we need to learn the lessons of unity. To the corona virus, humans are all the same. Yellow. Brown. Black or White. Compassion and caring for self and others. Collaborating and sharing learnings. Breathe.We are all one. And together we can overcome.
Energy flows where attention goes. Choose to be mindful of your thoughts today. Direct your attention from what could go wrong to what could go right (and will) 🙂
For customised readings and guided healing meditations, get in touch with me at mita.bhan@gmail.com
Last night’s Delhi riots have triggered a lot of people. My 82 year old dad spoke at length today about 16 August 1946 in Calcutta when thousands lost their lives due to communal violence. He was 8 and had been instructed to stay at home and take care of his younger siblings. Curiosity got the better of him and he climbed on the table to look out the window. He witnessed the mob chase down one of his neighbour uncles and hack him to pieces. Not something a child of 8 should see, but the memories were still so clear as dad described the horror. The loss of a neighbour who ruffled his hair and retrieved his cricket ball. An inoccent hardworking man. With a family who waited for him. With a little boy who never forgot him even after 74 years. (Who shared his story with his daughter who could do nothing, but cry and pray for the loss of inoccent lives down the passage of time.)
My mom only had one eye. I hated her… She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers to support the family.
There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed.
How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school one of my classmates said, “EEEE, your mom only has one eye!”
I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day and said, “If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?”
My mom did not respond… I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings.
I wanted out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real hard, got a chance to go abroad to study.
Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts. Then one day, my Mother came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren.
When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, “How dare you come to my house and scare my children! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!”
And to this, my mother quietly answered, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address.” – and she disappeared out of sight.
One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So I lied to my wife that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old shack just out of curiosity.
My neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have.
“My dearest son,
I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children.
I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up.
You see……..when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine.
I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye.
La Douleur Exquise, a French phrase for the pain of wanting the love of someone unattainable Goddess Deck, personal collection
He couldn’t help him himself. He didn’t choose to fall in love. It just happened, the only problem was she was married and leaving her spouse was simply out of the question. When I read his cards I could see the deep love he shared with her – the kind of love where happiness and sadness went hand in hand.
He was younger than her. Settled in a high paying job. Perfectly eligible for marriage himself. And his mother and aunts made sure they showed him pictures of various girls who they felt would be his Mrs Right. Most of the time he ignored them and sometimes would even shout at them for bothering him, his voice riddled in pain and frustration.
He had tried letting go. Multiple times. In multiple ways. But somehow she found her way back into his heart and once again they’d chat, or meet. And once again he’d return to his room lying awake through the night, wondering if this was his future.
His question was simple.
“Why has she come into my life if I cannot have her as my wife?”
For one second look at this question not as a human being. But as a soul.
Love is never limited to romantic love. Love is like an umbrella encapsulating the different shades of love. And if we as souls want to experience the true meaning of Love, we need to experience every aspect of love. The joy, the pain, the longing, the peace. In lifetime after lifetime. Be it unrequited love, sibling love, platonic love, romantic love, spiritual love. Each lifetime brings a different scenario, a different learning. Lessons would be repeated until the learning was complete. And the advanced lessons would get harder.
“So what is my Soul Learning?” he asked
To accept and not resist. Love is harmony. Love is being at peace. First with ourselves and then with the other. A part of you still struggles and suffers this way. Make peace with the side of you that cries in pain. Begin to fall in love with yourself. Which part of you brings you the greatest happiness, which part of you still struggles. Embrace the shadows, find completion in yourself. Accept yourself wholly.
“And then……”
When you accept your self, you accept the other unconditionally and the situation for what it is in reality, not the way you would like it to be, something we all do when we fall in love. We think of “what if” “why isn’t it? instead of appreciating the greatest lesson in life. Love.
“You mean love her unconditionally but ….wouldn’t it would hurt so much…”his voice broke for a second.
The feeling of love we all seek, does not lie in the receiving. It exists in the giving.
“I get it”
The deck was closed. The lesson learnt. For not just the young seeker in love, but also his old Tarot card reader.
Once a king called upon all of his wise men and asked them, “Is there a mantra which works in every situation, in every circumstance, in every place and in every time – in every joy, every sorrow, every defeat, and every victory – one answer for all questions? Something which can help me when none of you is able to advise me? Tell me, is there any mantra?”
All the wise men were puzzled by the King’s question. After a lengthy discussion, an old man suggested something which appealed to all of them. They went to the King and gave him a ring with words engraved into it, with a condition that the King was not to read it out of curiosity. Only if, in extreme danger, when the King finds himself alone and there seems to be no way out, only then he can read it. The King wore the ring without reading the engraving.
Some time later, the neighbors attacked the kingdom. The King and his army fought bravely but lost the battle. The King fled on his horse and the enemies followed him. The King found himself standing at the mouth of a deep ditch. If he jumped into it, there would be no way out. The sound of the enemy horses were approaching fast and the King became restless. There was nowhere else to go.
The King remembered his ring and about the engraving. He decided to read the message. “This, too, shall pass.” The King read it again and again until something struck him. Yes! This, too, will pass. Only a few days ago, I was enjoying my kingdom; I was the mightiest of all the Kings. Yet today, the Kingdom and all its pleasures are gone. I am trying to flee from my enemies. But just as those days of luxuries have gone, this time of danger will pass, too. Calm came over the King. He remained still and silent. The King looked around at the place where he was standing and realized how beautiful it was. He had never known that such a beautiful place existed in his Kingdom.
The revelation of the ring’s message had a great effect on him. He relaxed and forgot about his pursuing enemies. After a while, he realized that the noise of galloping horses had receded and that his enemies had lost him. The King gathered himself and reorganized his shambled forces and fought again. He defeated the enemy and reclaimed his empire. When he returned to the city after the victory, he was received with much fanfare. The whole capital was rejoicing and everyone was in a festive mood. Flowers rained down upon the King from every house, from every terrace as he trotted by. People were dancing and singing. In this moment the King thought to himself, “I am one of the bravest and greatest Kings. It is not easy to defeat me.” In all of the celebration an ego emerged in the King.
Then a ray of sunlight caught the King’s ring and sharply flashed into his eye reminding him of its message, “This, too, shall pass.”
He lowered his gaze and his valiant expression changed to one of humility. He realized, again, that if this, too, is going to pass, it is not yours. The defeat was not yours. The victory was not yours. You are just a player. Everything passes by. We are witnesses of all of this. We are the beholders. Happiness comes and goes. Sorrow comes and goes. And Life? This, too, shall pass.
We all have something we like to collect, keep or hoard in vast quantities. Stuff we don’t even realise we have too much of until someone points it out to us.
I recently discovered my mom who I thought was the queen of declutter was quietly hoarding a secret collection of hand towels. We were decluttering her store room and discovered enough hand towels to open a shop. Not only was she not using them, they were only taking space in her store.
While persuading her to part with bundles of pastel, fluffly hand towels she kept saying “They will come in handy” and I asked her “How many?’ and we both burst out laughing as we packed them in a few cartons for donation.
Do you hoard things which you never use keeping them aside for a rainy day? Have you ever thought how much lighter and freer you will feel without them?
When we were kids my Mother believed whatever significant happened on the 1st of January would recur the whole year through. Initially Dad would laugh at her words but one year we did fly on the 1st of January, and guess what, we travelled a lot that year. Another year unexpected house guests came on New Year’s Day and you can guess just what happened in the following 12 months. Her theory was proved right year after year with examples.
Soon Dad became a believer.
Each 1st of January, he would insist we write down our resolutions for the year ahead and if that wasn’t drudgery for a 9 year old, he also made it a point for us to study a bit on 1st of January, believing thats what we’d do the whole year long! While Mom ensured we did housework with her. On Dad’s part he worked and he cleared and organised the papers and bills. Something they both still do.
Today when I look back at our family traditions, I realise I have imbibed quite a few of them on every New Year. My teenager will agree as he shuffles to his books with that sullen bored look I must have had at his age, my husband will skip the carbs. And I sit down to write to wish all my readers a Happy Peaceful Productive 2020. Sharing with you what I have learnt.
What rituals and traditions do you practice on New Years Day? What would you like your future generations to learn from your Elders?
