Misha Hoo's Blog - Posts Tagged "change"

The young woman sat down brusquely in the chair, arranged her shopping bags to the side and looked at me with a confident smile.

“So,” the accent was unmistakably German, “tell me something nice about my future!” she commanded and I could tell it was going to be one of those days…

As a Tarot Reader, my forte is guidance and healing; I prefer to assist clients in finding their own wisdom, rather than telling them what to do. “I don’t do future predictions” is my fall-back position. It sends the dreamers scurrying.

I have pondered on what is behind the desire to gaze into a crystal ball and know certainties about our future. Apart from the frivolous interest, like future gossip, “oooh you’re going to meet a dark handsome man…” we want to be assured that all will be well. We want to know that nothing really bad will happen to us and, like my young German friend, we want to hear someone tell us something positive or uplifting so we can walk away feeling better about our current problems, despite having done nothing to actually change the things we may be unsatisfied with.

By placing our future in the hands of fate, we avoid taking responsibility for our choices. In traditional Tarot, the Change card is called the Wheel of Fortune and reminds us that life is cyclical - we reap what we sow. The beauty of that realisation is that when we are not satisfied with our current situation, we can look back and discover how our choices led us to that place and make changes for the future.

A few months ago I watched a large flock of Egrets arrive from the south and take up residence in a small cluster of trees. They do it every year, their instinct telling them it is time to move, time to change. They took a while to settle in after their long haul flight, flapping and jostling each other until they found a comfortable spot. It was a bit like watching the flocks of tourists arriving at the start of the dry season, excited to be on holidays but a little frazzled at being out of their comfort zone.

As a Tarot Reader I am often asked “Will I quit my job? Will I get another job? Will I sell my house?” and the answer is always “Yes, of course…” the question really is when...

In truth, we will only change when we are really ready. If the change is an easy one, we usually jump at the chance. If the change is a bit intimidating or we have a lot of fear around instability, then we are likely to put it off until we are pushed. People often come for a Tarot Reading when they need a push. They have made up their minds, you can see it written all over their face and they just need someone to give them a little push, to confirm that their decision is the right one and off they go, wings flapping, flying off on their next adventure.

The other factor we need to consider is when the universe (big picture, outside forces, cosmic order, Divine Will or all that stuff out there) is ready to change. We are not alone, we are part of a very big ecosystem and, as anyone who has ever nervously watched an approaching cyclone knows, there are forces in the universe way beyond our control. Your choice then, is how you react.

When change is unexpected, we often resist and change, like a strong wind, can sometimes throw you around. Life can become frantic, difficult, out of control... In the centre of the chaos however, there is stillness, the eye of the storm is calm and wisdom is found within. We do not learn by avoiding difficulties, we grow through our experience of them. By weathering life’s storms we develop inner strength and fine tune our internal navigation system to respond to life’s changes. The wheel of Change reminds you that when life gets tumultuous you must return to the centre of yourself and find the stillness within. Now, from that central place of strength and serenity, decide your next move.

For questions and tips about reading Tarot ~ Ask The Hoo

“I had a dream that I was riding my bicycle across Australia,” she said as she looked at me seriously. I nodded, remembering a crazy Israeli friend who had done just that. Then came the question, “Do you think I should sell my car and get a bike?”

When her youngest daughter decided to move out of home unexpectedly, this woman’s whole life changed. She quit her job, sold off most of her belongings, packed the car and headed for the coast. A rewarding journey of valuable solo time and volunteering at festivals emerged as she surrendered to the unknown, guided by intuition and good fortune. Now it seemed that wasn’t enough as her dreams prompted her to downsize further. It didn’t surprise me at all when the Destruction card was the first one she picked out of the deck.

Brave are those who answer the call for change. It takes courage to give up certain structures which have made us feel secure and we often rely on our jobs, houses or relationships to provide that structure. However every structure that supports us will eventually become limiting as we outgrow it and then we need to expand, renovate or sometimes break down the structure completely in order to build something new. We can see then that Destruction is not a negative quality but rather the power to deconstruct, to disassemble, to pull apart in order to rebuild anew.

I often see people going through these significant changes at puberty, just before 30 and at midlife, however they can happen to us at any time throughout our lives. The midlife change has perhaps received the most bad press, often being misnamed ‘midlife crisis’ and yes indeed it may feel like a crisis as we look around and wonder what has happened to our childhood dreams, our grand plans or our waistline…

Life rarely happens exactly the way we want it and sometimes we get caught on a rollercoaster of work and responsibilities, becoming so busy that we have little time to reflect. When we do stop and look within, we may find that we are unhappy with our accomplishments, disillusioned with life or we might feel misunderstood and resentful of the ones we love the most. The purpose of all this angst however, is to make us reassess our values, to take a good hard look at where we are now and then decide what comes next.

Whilst this process can happen quickly, it certainly need not happen thoughtlessly. Feeling cramped in a relationship or lifestyle is a poor excuse to heartlessly ditch it and set off in pursuit of something more fun. In order to grow we need to honour our responsibilities and consider deeply any changes which will significantly affect those close to us. However there are times in our lives when we feel the pull of change, when life is asking us to move on, when we know that we have done enough, contributed enough and it is time for something new. It is when we become stagnant that our souls will call for change and it is that call, that whisper in our ear, that pull on our heartstrings that we need to listen to.

Sometimes our lives get deconstructed for us, like the man I did a reading for last week. His house had been demolished by fire, all of his possessions were gone and he was left with literally just the clothes on his back. He had no further need for spring cleaning. He was philosophical in nature and whilst he admitted to feeling sad over losing photographs and personal items which held sentimental value, he mostly felt as if a big burden had been lifted off his shoulders. Without the attachment of all his possessions and with a sizeable insurance pay-out, he headed for the airport, ready to take that long vacation he had been meaning to find time for.

The more in tune we are with the cycles of our lives, the more freely we can flow with the changes. Are you in a period of laying foundations, building or breaking down structures? Is it time to consolidate, or time to deconstruct? Where are expectations, attachments or fixed beliefs limiting your growth?

For questions and tips about reading Tarot ~ Ask The Hoo