Technically, this post is synchronicity because Jung considered divination to fall under it. I don’t know if he was thinking specifically about the tarot when he made that decision, but since he wrote the intro to Wilhelm’s edition to the I Ching, an ancient Chinese divination system, I don’t think he’s turning in his grave about this post!
Curious about the top kill procedure that BP is planning to use today to stop the gushing geyser in the gulf, I found two interest sites – here, where Jacques Cousteu’s grandson take a dive into the muck – and this explanation from CNN.
Please click both links before you read on. Once I watched the CNN video, I decided to do a tarot reading on it. I don’t ordinarily like to do this kind of thing because my emotional investment in the outcome may influence the cards I select. This is why it’s so difficult to read for yourself or for people you love. But oh well, I did it. My question was: Will the top kill procedure work?
This spread is called the ladle spread and is from the book I co-authored with Phyllis Vega, Power Tarot. The position meanings are, from the left: 1) the issue 2) hidden potential 3) what’s emerging 4) what’s visible 5) what you pull out; 6) resolution
1) So let’s start with the issue. The 10 of wands. A burden. Well, that’s a no-brainer. This burden is so huge that it’s costing BP zillions. So the issue card fits.
2) Hidden potential, The Hermit: Okay, if it doesn’t work, then BP becomes Diogenes, searching the world for a truth- i.e., WHAT MAY WORK.
3) What’s emerging: The Star. This card is right up there with the wish card, the 9 of cups. The solution looks good, positive, amazing. Careers are saved. The environment is salvaged. It looks as if it stops the leak. (Then again, this could be my desire my speaking, that’s what’s tricky here) It may stop the leak long enough so that planetary healing begins.
4) Ace of Wands. What’s visible. What’s visible is that most of the damage isn’t visible. It looks like a walk in the park, a new beginning, hopeful. But is it?
5) 2 cups. I love this card. In this position, what you scoop out, the most important card in the spread. 2 cups, to me, is about unions, marriage, coming together. This is positive, folks. It looks like it’s the solution.
6) 8 pentacles. Resolution. They (BP, the engineers working on this) are novices at this solution stuff, grappling in the dark, it unsettles me. I would prefer to see something a lot more uplifting here. Since this card left me so uneasy, I drew another card to open up the 8 of pentacles. It was The Fool. I’d post it, but my BlackBerry took an awful, washed out photo.
The Fool is the beginning of the tarot, card zero, the new journey. Usually, to me, it’s a positive card, indicative of a new journey, new horizons (no pun intended) though somewhat naive, innocent. Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief.
But the fact that the photo was washed out bothers me. I think the BP solutions works – for awhile. Maybe it buys us some time to do cleanup, to tend to the wildlife, the marshes, the beaches, the damage. But then it’s a washout. I hope I’m wrong about that last part. I hope other people have greater, more positive insights that reassure us the gulf won’t end up as a dead sea, that we’ll get a second chance.
OK. I just checked. Quoting AP News: The "new huge gushing plume is 22 miles from the original gusher and is flowing towards Mobile bay in Alabama".
What now, Guys?
cjc
Another alert, this one from the 6:30pm EDT NBC news with Brian Williams: A new heavy outflow of oil has been detected that is separate from the original one.
I was half listening, cooking dinner, but distinctly heard that and went into the LR to hear the rest. That outflow is headed in a different direction, towards a different state beachfront. As we now have finally been informed, the gallons gushing daily are in the millions, not in the thousands. I do not feel that they are going to be able to stop this. As an RN/Registered Respiratory Therapist, I worked with positive and negative pressure respirators when they were on the patients. The respirators have venturi valves inside of them and operate by many of the same principles applicable to pumping oil from a well. It is applicable to pumping: pushing and pulling with positive/negative pressures, oxygen-air mixtures through a medical respirator connected to a patient, usually through a tracheotomy on the receiving end, but the source for operating the respirator is either a portable O2 tank or, in hospitals, the outflow plug in the wall behind the bed. If a venturi valve leaks and its broken or twisted diaphragm is repaired, then it is generally a successful repair and the respirator continues its job. But….the SOURCE of the gases, (in medicine, O2 and air mixtures), must be stopped for repair, or the tube joined to the venturi valve will break in another, separate place, ad infinitum. The BP engineers may be able to topfill the original blow-hole that is spewing, but unless they can somehow reach the valve that is still allowing the oil to gush through the "tubing", (pipe), it will keep blowing out holes along its path from its source. Positive and negative pressure gradients are the same in these applications. They can cap the one that is spewing, but until they repair or stop the valve that is pushing the oil through the gusher, it will just blow open another hole. That is what it is doing now. Bad news. Bad, bad news. They mentioned briefly in passing right after the explosion that the oil depth itself was coming from as deep as five miles beneath the rig, with the drill gushing apparatus 5,280feet or so below the surface. How are they going to reach that "bottom" valve that is feeding the outflow, to stop it from continuing to blow out new holes? They need to hire a top-notch astrophysicist to draw up a workable plan. Otherwise, I fear it's not going to stop. cJc
Will check out the link! Thanks, debra. Wonder what the hell happens now?
"BP had to halt its ambitious effort to plug its stricken oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday afternoon when engineers saw that too much of the drilling fluid they were injecting into the well was escaping along with the leaking crude oil."
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/28/us/28spill.html
Update – so far, so good.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-oil-spill-stopped-top-kill-link,0,1045555.story?track=rss
Now we need to keep our fingers crossed, send positive energy and visualize clean water. That last one is going to be the hard part, but we have to try anyway.
Raksha – I usually see the 8 of pents as a positive card, too, but it bothered me that an apprentice card was the resolution. We'd like experts to be in charge of this mess – not novices. I do like your take on it, though, particularly combined with the fool.
Re "Raksha, I think you're on the right track with your thinking, but the scope of the descent unfortunately will be much larger before the ascent. The oil leak might simply be a symbol of what's coming."
Rob: I hope I didn't come across as minimizing the scope or the long-term effects of the disaster, because along with everyone else I believe the ecological fallout is going to be catastrophic and persist for decades. What I wrote last night was my attempt to explain why the Tarot reading didn't seem to address the horror of the situation but to look past it.
I was also influenced by Gypsy's account of her dream which I had just read in a previous comment, especially the fact that she identified the man in the tunic as Hermes. When I read that, I immediately thought, "Hermes Trismegistus." I took that to mean that something (I have no idea what) will come up unexpectedly to make the situation less catastrophic than it would have been otherwise. Not "good" by a long way–just not the worst-case scenario.
Another thing: I don't read the Eight of Pentacles as negatively as Trish does. I've always seen it as a card of craftsmanship and constructive effort. The way I read it in this context would be something brand-new in the field of green technology that will become manifest in response to this oil spill.
But the fact that she was dissatisfied with the Eight of Pentacles and drew the Fool as an alternate is also very important. The Fool is always a card of new beginnings, and yet it has a trickster-ish quality that should never be discounted. Something brand-new and unforeseen is going to enter into the equation.
>>This massive oil spill is the descent that precedes the ascent. The ascent will be the beginning of the New Age we've been waiting and hoping for all these years.
Raksha, I think you're on the right track with your thinking, but the scope of the descent unfortunately will be much larger before the ascent. The oil leak might simply be a symbol of what's coming.
Maybe it won't happen in our lifetimes, but it feels like the planet is getting ready for a face lift, a 'cleansing' of sorts that eliminates a substantial portion of the clever and annoying creature on the surface who are threatening the planet's health. – R
just checking in on you two over here, macgregors!
have been staying a bit abreast of the packing procedure since yesterday via live cams etc – this morning it seems that there is now mud coming up around where the gas/oil continue to spew – someone saying that's not a good sign –
thanks again for that great card reading!
and wonderful reading all the thoughtful comments!
wv = revies = revise? reviews?
I followed the instructions at the beginning of the post and read both articles to make sure I understood what BP was proposing before going on to the reading.
My take on it: It's a stunningly positive reading in response to a question about one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The incongruity is what hit me between the eyes with this one. In my limited experience with divination (Tarot and I Ching), whenever that happens I get the feeling that the question being answered is the question that should have been asked, not the one that actually was asked. I'll try to elaborate on that as well as I can.
The card at the beginning, the Ten of Wands signifying an enormous burden, is self-explanatory. I think we all agree with Trish's interpretation of it. But as I read through her interpretations of the subsequent cards, more and more I felt that the focus on BP was too limited, as understandable as it is in this crisis.
I think the "top kill" attempt will be successful based not only on the presence of very positive cards like the Star and the Two of Cups and the Ace of Wands, but also on the absence of catastrophic cards like the Tower. I always try to look at what isn't there as well as what is.
And so I think this reading is really "about" a sea-change (if you'll pardon the sick pun) in the consciousness of America. The change we have all been hoping for but despairing of ever actually seeing. I'm not going just by the reading itself, but by the politically-toned comments after the first link and in this thread too.
Obama is strictly a figurehead, and now everyone knows it. BP is calling the shots and the POTUS–supposedly the most powerful man in the world–is not the guy in control in a national crisis. The corporations run the country and everyone knows it!
That's the important thing here–what the American people will do in response to this knowledge. Because not only do they know, they know that they know. In other words, denial won't work and perception management won't work either. As someone said in the comments section after the first article, "Too big to fail is too big to exist." We're going to be hearing that a lot over the next year, and from some pretty unlikely quarters too.
I could be wrong of course, but I believe what we're going to see over the next two years is a mass movement to end the legal fiction (and obscenity) of corporate personhood, which is the key to any kind of real change.
I almost can't believe I'm writing this. I decided to wing it for a change and write spontaneously and intuitively the way I write in my journal. It might even be a good time to try some real channeling when I'm off the computer, because I usually do it longhand (automatic writing).
But it's amazing how much more hopeful I feel since I started writing this, even compared with the way I was feeling yesterday–cynical, demoralized and depressed. I was preoccupied with subjects like the Holocaust that are of intense interest to me, but depressing just by their nature.
Now I'm remembering my teacher Jonathan saying, "Every ascent is always preceded by a descent." He said this is a kabbalistic law and invariable…that it ALWAYS happens that way. It made such an impression on me at the time that I wonder how I ever could have forgotten it.
So that's my take on the reading. This massive oil spill is the descent that precedes the ascent. The ascent will be the beginning of the New Age we've been waiting and hoping for all these years.
Blessed Be,
Linda
I want to just say that Jenean's 'man' instantly conjured up Hercules to me.
So 'a Herculean effort?' or a world that doesn't yet realise it's own (spiritual and physical)strength to overcome it's demons/problems.
Therese – your word verification expresses your position perfectly!
Wow. Thanks everyone for posting all these readings and dreams. I feel a physical distance from the gulf spill in the NW here, with little feeling this will impact the Pacific and a remedy/repair/resolution or something will happen, eventually.
But still, the themes of greed, neglect, explosions, delays, systems that don't work, etc. are all at play here in my life. The stakes are very high, could be long term attention and clean up involved. For me, it's disconcerting but fascinating to compare the macrocosm events to the microcosm in my sphere.
And my role in both spheres is only as an observer-supporter. There's nothing I can or could do. All are out of my hands and control. I truly can do nothing but hold positive intent for healthy well being on global and personal levels.
So that's what I will do!
WV: renewit 🙂 renew it!
Nancy – I hope it works, but I'm not holding my breath.
Lyn – your reading is most interesting! I haven't heard of these cards, but will Google and take a look. Also going to check the news to see what, if anything, has developed.
Connie – we knew that anon wasn't you!
I felt that Jung's intro to Wilhelm's I Ching was a door that never closed. I believe you're correct about influencing cards by your wishes..but the BP/top kill (amazing how rapidly phrases enter the language) situation may be outside the realm of personal desire. Let's go with that.
I read from a deck called The Key to The Kingdom..regular cards, very intricately illustrated.
I get a stagnant situation, inert behaviour, too much time lost on what has already occurred. Too much crying over spilled milk. Much time spent on starts and stops. Then a turning point, with new clarity will arrive after a disaster, something totally out of balance that will arise because as they say, too many cooks really spoiled this broth…
Somehow the lasting outcome seems to be the second chance..because a new "key" is found and many heads will roll..many of those to blame will be replaced.
I see the action over a year. As you say, new horizons.
Rob, that "anaonymous" comment above didn't come from me, cJc. Just wanted to clarify that although you probably figured it out. Saw on NBC nightly news they're doing the deed tonight but don't have great expectations that it will work, and that if it doesn't, it can have grievous repercussions. What an unholy mess. cJc
sounding a little bit like what was predicted,,,,,,, ? is does humanity have any control,, Heh Rob…
And we mustn't forget the NKorean/SKorean conflict in the midst of all this turmoil. Folks tend to think we can blow NKorea off the map with no consequences. I was alive during the Korean War. Two of my BILs and many friends participated in that war. The country may be small, but its military and political leaders have no concept of the value of human life, and it's like thrusting a stick into a hornet's next…all hell breaks loose and the hornets sting everyone and everywhere. So much going on besides the oil spill. Too much. Mother Earth is heaving her guts out…please excuse this overt RN language…and we're approaching what the experts, who have been wrong in the past, are predicting to be a horrendous hurricane season. On top of the oil spill, this could be the straw that ultimately breaks the proverbial camel's back. I know I sound like a doom and gloom prognosticator, but things aren't looking so good from any perspective. Something positive must occur and shift our little ball in a different direction. cJc
Well, let's not forget where all this 'Drill, baby, drill,' fever came from. That was Sister Sarah and McCain. It was, and remains, the GOP's slogan for solving energy problems.
Obama keeps trying to appease the far right and the results have been terrible: a bastardized health care program that favors the insurance companies and his promotion of off-shore drilling two weeks before the blow out.
Amazingly, a substantial part of population in the U.S. thinks the government is trying to take over corporations when it's the other way around. The corporations run both political parties. It's corporate democracy – an oxymoron. The regulators and corporations are in bed together–sometimes literally so.
There are two competing world views that are so opposed to each other that the situation can't continue much longer. We need to shed the past and shift modes or plummet into the abyss. – Rob
Agree about Obama. His shouted demand, "PLUG THE DAMN HOLE" that he made yesterday is a tad too late, I'd say, in terms of his being the Commander-In-Chief. And his visit to the site should have been immeidate if not sooner. Going there a couple of weeks later was a huge mark against him. Reminiscent of the American President ordering the attacking of the Japanese fleet AFTER the bombing obliteration of Pearl Harbor, even though he'd received warning about the imminent attack, just as close off-shore drilling had been chastised, with sound reasoning and judgment. Shutting the barn door after the horses have escaped. Surely if the current administration had moved much more quickly, at least perhaps certain measures could have been put in place that may have made the catastrophe less destructive. Shouting PLUG THE DAMN HOLE now was totally ineffective and carried no meaning whatsoever. It's almost a joke, as if by his statement, the thing can be a Done Deal. Geez….
OMG I hope you are right about this plan working. This company is the most inept, irresponsible, greedy one to date. And we have been bombarded with these qualities lately. I feel the earth groaning. I can't sleep. I wake up thinking about it. I hope this kills all off shore drilling. I think it's time the people take control out of the hands of greedy corporations. As for Obama, he has greatly disappointed me in this instance. We should have taken immediate control and then frozen their American assets until it was paid in full.
Thanks for doing the I-Ching. I hope you are right.
Oh my gosh, Gypsy! Your dream has a chilling, (thrilling?), similarity in its "feelings" to an actual event concerning the moon, etc., that occurred last night here in my neighborhood shortly before 10:30pm EDT. I sent it to Trish and Rob, then followed it up this morning with another email.. I'll forward it to you because of the symbolic similarities in your dream and in the overt experience here last night, which you didn't know about. There wasn't a "man" involved here, at least not one that we could see. Gee whiz. So many synchronicities abounding among those of us who visit this site! Haven't heard yet from my son, who may have had an event. He usually phones me on his lunch hour at the rehabilitation center where he works. Will keep you all informed if he has further experiences, dream or otherwise, as he is unintentionally finely-tuned to such things. "Someone" in one of his dream ventures called him "DayWalkerEarthly", so he decided to adopt that for a screen name, and it is fitting. I often wonder where this child of mine originated! cJc
the man seemed to me "intervention" oriented – with this shooting star heading to earth – his appearance was like that of stereotypical illustrations of hermes even except for no wings – but the bottom line was that whatever catastrophe there was going to be had been intervened – and a sense of relief – and especially interesting to me when i read that your "star" card also looks good/positive – which was really the connection with your post that i made – [ie my star dream/your star card] –
great great post – more than intriguing to be able to follow your reading!!! oh, and the thing of the "wash out" –
i caught a glimpse of james carville [one of my favorite political guys] on larry king [i think it was his show] last night – and he was eating obama for lunch for not having taken a more active role immediately!!! i mean, ate him!! he was beside himself!! you guys may have seen the show?
thanks so much for sharing your reading all the way through! loved it!
Gypsy – my feelings, too, that pressure. Your star dream is very interesting – archetypal in the sense of a man ascending (religious?) but other than that, no clue what it means!
oh, geeeezzzzeeee……..reading these posts and comments is like looking inside my own head and dreams – hearing my own voices –
about the STAR –
this past week my dreams have become increasingly intense – but given the moon phase, in and of itself, increased intensity is not unusual during this time – however –
the one i had just this morning is different in tone and in content – actually, i had already been awake and up and about several hours but decided to just "lay" down for a few minutes before really starting the day – anyway – the dream pieces that i remember are these:
in the dream, i am the observer, not a participant initially – i am looking upward into the sky and am aware that there are others beside me also looking upward – there is a large object [i sense that it is somewhat "round" like a star appears and firey] coming across the skies, from left to right, and a sense that it is coming to earth – i turn my head just slightly to say something to someone about it coming down and the person points up and says to look again – and there, also in the sky is the figure of a man – a man in a white tunic – (the sleeveless tunic has two stripes of black around each arm hole and the bottom and the waist is cinched with a black belt and he wears black gladiator like sandals and a band around his head [not sure why these details are important but i remember them]) – the man has his back toward us below as he ascends upward and a bit to the right into the sky as he heads to "catch" the "star" – and then i say – or someone says – that it's going to be ok because he is going to catch it –
any thoughts????
about another explosion – my "feelings" about plugging this thing have been that if the hole IS plugged, the pressure will be so great as to cause the pipe to burst, thus resulting in another "explosion" –
ok, now to go back and re-read your post, slowly, this time 🙂
wv= dista = distance? – or "sadist"?
That 10 of wands could also address the procedure itself – smothering the oil.
Orninarily I'm an eternal optimist, hoping and expecting the best. In this situation, however, I have a (psychic) sense that the Gulf Oil Rig explosion and its consequences are just a 'drop in the bucket' of many such catastrophes, or of other incidents that will intensify the problems. I've tried and tried to pull myself away from this feeling, but it remains. What I am 'seeing', in my mind's eye and completely unsought, is a second explosion of some kind not far from the initial explosion that set everything off. I see red and gold flams licking the sky, and balls of fire in the air. And for some inexplicable, totally unknowable reason, I keep hearing the name, "Miranda". I don't think this is the legal recitation of a perpetrator's rights. Maybe a tropical storm or a hurricane in the Gulf a few months from now…I haven't checked out the names of the Atlantic 2010 season yet but will do so momentarily. It may be a person's name. And Miranda may not be exactly what I'm hearing. It could be close but not exact. Melinda, Melissa, etc. I'm listening and waiting for more.
In any event, I hope the Tarot is on the mark and that BP, or someone, finds the fix for the disastrous ever-increasing 'infection' of oil. cJc
wv: enthnnal: ethane (gas), or ethannal (hot)?
Even the best case scenario, BP successfully plugging the leak, is still really bad, so that may account for the washed-out card. I am sending all my hopes for something good to happen today. We really need it.