Strength, Reiki, and Tarot
Sometimes I ask the cards to be my Reiki teachers. I pull a single card for whatever question arises around the healing journey, and I free write or voice record what comes through. I love being surprised with how intuition speaks through whatever card shows up.
Today’s question for my RSW deck was “What is the best way we might take care of ourselves in this moment?”
I shuffled, then spread out the cards. My fingers danced over the undulating line, then hovered, and a single finger drew one out. I flipped it over.
Strength.
Right away my eyes were drawn to the energy of gaze held between the two figures on the card. The maiden and the lion stand connected on their path, looking at one another.
The first line of the Gokai surfaced in my awareness.
Kyo dake wa…
For today only…
What does that mean, for today only, when it comes to the image on this card? It guides us to acknowledge this moment, right now. Stop what you are busy doing. Take a pause. What is the lion trying to say? How does the maiden respond?
I deliberately softened my vision and began to see the two of them as one - the animal body of lion, authentically expressing itself as the beast it is, merging with the purity and tenderness and of maiden. Strength is being unafraid to stand with and witness the natural wildness of your own animal body’s expression, placing a gentle hand on its portal of communication, ingestion, breath and potential ferocity … the mouth.
Harness the inner strength to take time out for yourself. To notice what your body is communicating to you. And to respond not with judgment or swallowing it all back down, but allowing its expression.
Breathe gently and gaze at the lion. Go inward to acknowledge the feeling body, touch your wild authentic self…
Kyo dake wa - For today only.
Strength card Reiki teacher says:
It takes courage to do this kind of looking and feeling.
Take a pause
Sit and breathe into your sweet, natural animal body
Soften and allow inner tensions to relax
Invite them to release from your energy field
Self-soothe, then get back into the groove.
Tenderness and kind self-regard IS strength. Not abandoning ourselves… is strength.
For all you fire 🔥 people - I know this pausing and feeling can be frustrating! And maybe uncomfortable! You want action! You want results fast! I know… and you are right! But the earthbound body is slower to process than the quicksilver mind… body needs the loving presence of that sweet, pure maiden energy and healing awareness. Strength card says: if you manage your lion’s nervous system with compassion rather than confrontation, you will be rewarded with an inner calm and power that nothing - and no one - can disturb.
The beautiful healing system of Reiki gives practical tools you can use day to day to care for your lion in simple but powerful ways. A Reiki session can help the body relax and release stored tensions, freeing up energy to do more things you love.
Many years ago, before I began acknowledging how this realm of energy work might help me in my life, I was in resistance. I was just fine - I was gonna stay tight like a bud and “take care of myself.” Why would I ask for help when I knew everything already? Why would I waste money or time on something irrelevant to my actual real life when I had others things to take care of? My lion was snarling and self-sufficient, and my maiden was in a constant state of vigilance and worry.
Until one day, I said yes to an invitation. I was curious and allowed that energy to guide me. I joined in on a group intuition development class in someone’s living room… Little by little, the bud began to open.
Now I am in full understanding that I know nothing! And somehow, I am less worried and less afraid. I see strength in a different way. I am open to so much more. The lion and I walk harmoniously together on our path. Life flows more easily and I studied and practiced diligently to become a Reiki shihan / “master” with Yolanda, The Energetic Alchemist, to be able to work in this beautiful healing realm for myself and others.
“Master” sounds good but is in reality a misnomer. It doesn’t mean I have “mastered” anything, and sometimes my lion body has a freak out. But I can access that soothing maiden more easily now. I use my Reiki tools to gently guide myself back into balance. I reach out for help if I need to. The word shihan translates to being a “good example.” It really is just a state of staying in compassionate connection to yourself every day, noticing the ways energy moves through you, and managing what comes up just a bit better, moment by moment.
