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Many celebrate Easter today because of the certainty that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all human kind some 2000 years ago.
Although this is a good story, personally I wish we would all be spared the certainty part. I see that every time someone is certain of anything, a war starts somewhere.
Not good.
Now, what if instead of being so certain, we would ask the cards to tell us what question we can ask on Easter day? What is a true question appropriate for Easter? What is a surprising question that overrules our cultural consecrations?
Let’s see:
The Sun, The Magician, The Fool
Here’s the first essential question:
How do we go from two to one to no one? I’m attracted to this question right away, because in the context of Jesus’s story, the notion that Jesus was some sort of a tantric nondualist witch is becoming increasingly popular. Just look at Richard Rohr’s books to get an idea. ‘Jesus built circles, not pyramids’ the man says in his book, What the Mystics Know, and that’s quite something, given that Rohr is a Catholic priest who knows everything about dogma and hierarchy. For a version light and true, check out Carolyn Elliot’s insightful essay, 7 Insane Keys to Practical Magic.
So, was Jesus a magician, seeking to unite people, make man and woman equal? This is the second essential question. Perhaps he was. When the job for the humanity was done, he packed his magical table and took off, free, as one is already. That’s the lesson.
Hmm, this begins to sound like something Odin and the Norse gods would do. You know, go from place to place, help the men in need and impregnate the women, infusing them with a shot of sacredness.
But what if the third essential question here is more interesting than the first two? What would happen if we simply departed from the idea of sharing, and stuffing ourselves with golden eggs, and instead focus on what we can do for ourselves? How we can magic ourselves into the kind of existence that’s free of any expectation? Any judgment? Any certainty, indeed?
See, I like this question the best.
I think I’ll spend my Easter days thinking about its implications, and preparing for my run of new Tarot Prompts, which is a series of 11 readings for 11 days in a row, when I read the cards with view to letting them ask me a question, rather than the other way around.
I share this work with others. This is not a class, but a sustained demonstration in the art of asking questions.
If you haven’t seen the call yet, give it a look. Right now we’re a group of 30.
♥
P.S. Registration closes in three days. The prompt series starts on April 3.
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Cards and Magic. Stay in the loop for cartomantic activities.
TAROFLEXIONS 
Is it required to use a Marseille deck for Tarot Prompts?
No, not at all. This is not a class where I ask people to play with a specific type of deck. Think of the prompts as a gate towards contemplation, where we play with the idea of what it means to ask an unconventional question. Basically I lead this by example. I offer 11 readings in a row, as questions, not answers, and then offer the people on board to talk about their own impressions. Cheers.
Talk about synchronicity…
I just came from an english class about the meaning of easter with the kids here in Timor. We started with the question of why did Jesus sacrificed himself for us. “To deliver us from our sins” was the immediate textbook answer. But I insisted “Why would a man die to correct our wrong-doings?” and “why do we take time off to celebrate such a thing?” Some answers flew around but in the end they all seemed to agree on two things “We’re special” and “we were made in god’s image”. This, again, is what is force-fed. But it raised the question “What is so special about us that we deserve such a thing, that a man dies because of our sins?”
Some of them are sweating now… A few start to giggle. Uncomfortable that I’m raising such questions. Timor is a catholic country and the faith has served them well during the most difficult times, providing comfort and a reason to fight.
Then one of them comes out with this pearl “so that we may open our eyes”. “To what?”, I ask, only to be greeted with more silence. So I switched gears and asked them where is god. Immediately, they answered in everything. When asked what did that meant, more nervous giggles and uncomfortable looks. And the dreaded silence. I start by giving examples. “Is god in the trees?” Yes, they say. “In the sea?” Yes, they reply. “How about in us?”, I ask. Yes, they say. So, what are we to see, that needed such a powerful act? “That God is inside us”, they mumble. What do we need to see, then? I insisted, That maybe we should not attend to things that brings as down, but maybe do stuff that brings us closer to that little piece of god inside us and let it shine.
This led to the discussion of that famous Crowley’s phrase, “Every man and every woman is a star”. Curiously, they all focused on the part of the star and not on the part that men and women are equal. So I started asking them what did they think about when they heard the word “Star”. A few answers like “wonderful”, “great”, “brilliant”, etc came forward. The technical answer of “we’re all made of star particles” also came forth. Then came the juicy stuff: source of life; source of heat; a part of what we see / what exists in the skies; power; energy. One of them related the word star to the Star of Bethlehem, which I found had a rather nice touch, since it brings it to the Christ theme all over again. When asked what they thought Crowley meant with that sentence, they said that people are powerful.
As powerful as God?”, I asked. “No!” was the immediate answer. So how powerful? They couldn’t say.
I said “look around you: you have cellphones, electricity. You can fly and travel under the oceans. You can reach other planets if you want. Look how any of those things would be impossible just 300 years ago. And we did it. We might have taken our time to get there, but we did it all the same.”
So maybe, I concluded the easter is there to remind us that we also are capable of impressive things. If we set our minds to it, there is. And maybe this one guy had to die to let us know that we shouldn’t waste time with sins. But instead to elevate ourselves by using that “God particle” that we have inside us.
Good teachings, Miguel. Carry on.
Camelia I just wanted to say Thankyou for your tireless posts, emails, seed thoughts etc,,,, you always give me plenty to ruminate on, really just inspired, bless you for doing this.
Ah, thank you, Monica. Keep going.