The Sun in Cancer: Let the Season Move You

over 5 years ago
dravengrey's photo

Draven Grey (dravengrey)

63 posts

The first day of summer approaches (winter for the Southern Hemisphere) and brings forth renewed endeavors for bringing life forward. In the Tarot, this is marked by the Chariot card, which is indicative of fortitude, victory, and new opportunities that enable long term goals to be reached. The Chariot also shows travel, planning, and free-will, but this is a card that carries a forward trajectory, where if we stop to see what is behind, we may just miss an opportunity to continue to carry ourselves to the more forward positions that we are seeking. The symbolism of the Chariot card is very alchemical (the changes that we make within ourselves), and shows the virtue of connectedness that we are able to achieve within ourselves, which, in turn, can help us to feel more connected to the outside world.

The charioteer moves himself away from the city, which can be seen behind him, and is representing the course of action that he takes, in order to truly find himself. Often times, the answers that we seek reside within ourselves, but if we fail to look within, it can be all the more challenging to see the beauty in the world around us. As such, Cancer provides a wonderful time for us to recognize how we are able to feel more connected to nature, but it is also able to bring about the stronger stance of openness to new thoughts, ideas, and new ways of progressing ourselves. When we look at our impact on the world, we are often able to find ourselves feeling stuck, but the influences that we adhere to can also provide greater answers to these questions. As a personal example of this, I watch the news in the background, most days, and have found myself feeling depressed, alone, and helpless in the world that I have been noticing. When habits form, it is even more challenging to break these habits, but as of today, I have decided to turn off the news, focus on myself, and use this as a means to provide a greater impact on others, to help others to find fortitude.

Nothing gives me more satisfaction in this life than being able to know that I have been able to have a positive impact on the world around me. My reach around the world has become more apparent to me as I speak with my clients from several different countries, that serve as a reminder to me that, no matter our culture, our upbringing, and our ways of life, we are all very much one in the same. I always strive to connect as deeply as I can with anyone that I speak with, so that they might be able to gain more clarity on what aspects of life are affecting them in such a way that it holds them back from bringing themselves to the forward positions of their lives. The Chariot card, in the new tarot deck that I have been working on, is going to be called the Merkaba. This is in conjunction with the seven chakras (chakra means “wheels of light”), and is indicative of how we are able to find ourselves connected to the earth, from the first chakra, all the way to our spirituality through the seventh chakra. The more that we are able to connect to ourselves, the more we are able to apply empathy to the world around us. For many, this can be challenging, but empathy is naught but the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” This is meant not only to show a roadmap for kindness, as kindness isn’t everything involved with empathy, but it is also where we are able to understand that, for as similar as we all are, we all have our differences. Acceptance for other people being different than we ourselves are is important to the nature of life. There is a stance of cultural relativism that comes from this, but it is also not, in its deepest essence, a stance of cultural relativism. There are things in life that we should just not accept, like murder, pulling scared children from their parents, or demonizing a group of people because their ways might be different from our own. “To each his own,” is a wonderful stance in life, but not at the cost of hurting or harming another person. What an individual or group does, says, or adheres to religiously, culturally, etc. should bear no impact on us, that we might take offense to something that doesn’t play physical harm over us.

over 5 years ago
dravengrey's photo

Draven Grey (dravengrey)

63 posts

What one person might call “sinful,” to another may bring about the deepest stance of love or spirituality. This is what makes us individuals and unique, and when we choose a path of acceptance, this is able to create a greater degree of love for humanity, when we don’t demonize positions of someone else’s experience. Being born in the United States, and having great great-grandparents that came from France to pursue a better life, I am often reminded of the privilege that I have for being part of a society that gives me the freedom to pursue my hopes and dreams without having to travel to far off lands, in pursuit of happiness, as this is granted to me by virtue of having had been born here. The Chariot card very much goes with this pursuit, and shows the fortitude of mankind. I am grateful each and every day for this, but it is not lost on me how many people, in pursuit of something greater than themselves, find nothing but hurdles and hindrances to get somewhere that I was most fortunate to have been born into. The Chariot is more than fortitude, as it shows the ways that we all endeavor to achieve something that is greater than ourselves, even if we feel lost along the way. Never let someone hold you back from who you want to be, and always know that if what you pursue feels right for you and is not in direct harm of someone else, then that is truly worth fighting for.